Here I am, back where I started

Well. It's been a week. I've been on a few airplane rides. I've been to a wedding. I got a super cool reversible SpongeBob Squarepants watch from Burger King. I then, within hours of getting it, left it in the hotel room and now Jen is holding it hostage. I've been home to Davison. I've been to State (twice). I've eaten a lot. And now I am back here in my apartment, eating Au Gratin potatoes for dinner.
I'm sure there were some good stories to tell about all of that, but it's the kind of thing where you have to write about them when they're fresh in your mind or you forget.
Which I did. Forget them, that is.
My mom made some really good pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving. I wish I had some. Right now. If she wanted to.. I dont know, maybe, send me some?, I'd be okay with that... :)
You can check out the wedding pictures on the picture page. I'm not in any of them, because I was taking them. To see them, click on the "all" button on the left hand side of the picture page.
Today we went looking for a Christmas tree. We drove 30 min north of Yonkers to this farm where we picked apples in September and pumpkins in October. I'm upset with them. Do you know how much the absolute cheapest Christmas tree was?? $75!! GET REAL. I'm not talking six foot gorgeous trees. I'm talking four foot trees with three branches. And that was the other thing. There would be the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and there would be this seven foot nicely filled out tree- and they were both $75. I'm writing these people a letter, oh yes, I am. But, we went to National Wholesale Liquidators (read: shadymart)on the way home and bought this pathetic fake tree, I love it, it was $15. And I put every last one of our ornaments on it, despite the fact that it is much smaller than the tree we had last year. Pictures to follow, shortly.
The funny thing about being back at home is that nothing I have to do went away while I was gone. What the hell? WHATS UP WITH YOU HOMEWORK?? ARE YOU STALKING ME OR SOMETHING?? JUST SITTING HERE WAITING FOR ME TO GET HOME?? Seriously, get a life.
And lastly- Jen, Ryan, Jon, Jackie, Paul and Joe- I made the reservation for New Years Eve- Just so you know!

Ramble

I'm at work for another 32 minutes before I can leave and go pick up Rob and get on a plane and go on vacation for a week. All I hear all day long is keyboards, click clicking all over the place. When I'm older, the sound of it is likely to send me into an uncontrollable nervous rage. But for now, it's just kind of irritating. Do you know how many books I have out from the library right now? Fifteen. That's bad news, because, being me, I am bound to lose at least one of those.
Last night, I decided to paint my nails, because we're going to a wedding and all. But I only had one thing of nailpolish. But Rob said it looked nice. I did one hand and started having second thoughts. But oh no, Rob said it looked great. So I kept it. It's bright pink. I feel like I belong at the Copa Cabana, sipping some drink that ends in 'tini'- like 'kissatini' or 'bikini-tini'. I feel like I need to have big hair to wear this nailpolish. Nice job, Rob, you suck as a nailpolish consultant.
clickety-click-click-click-clackclack.
Last night, for dinner I made Cream of Wheat. But it just wasnt working. And I couldn't figure out why. So I gave up on it and made pasta instead. Later, when I was putting the pot away, I figured out the problem. I forgot to put water in the bottom of the double-boiler. Hmm.
22 minutes.

What's with six members of Bush's cabinet resigning?

Aloha

So today I saw a license plate from Hawaii, and I thought to myself, Hmm.. I dont think I've ever seen a Hawaii license plate before! And then I realized that that was most likely because Hawaii is an island. So I thought to myself, how in the world did this car get here? These are the two scenarios I came up with.
(1) It was brought over on one of those boats that brings cars over oceans.
(2) The person who drives it is from Hawaii, but lives in NY for school, so they bought a car here, but registered it for Hawaii, and therefore got the plates.
But... those were kind of boring explanations.
If you have any other possible scenarios for how this Hawaii car got here, especially scenarios involving the following things-
1. espionage
2. a high speed car chase
3. a one-legged dog
4. Hawaii actually being connected to the US, but the government not wanting us to know because it will decrease the exotic factor
I would very much like to hear them, please post on comments.

What's the deal, CNN?

It's a wierd news day.
These are the stories that I read when I went on CNN.com this afternoon
"Grapefruit-sized ice chunks fall through roof of house"- Apparently some ice chunks formed on an airplane and then fell off and into this girls room? And they've got a picture of the girl sitting on her bed and this massive hole in the cieling above her.
"Great-Grandmother set to deliver twins" This 59-year old woman is having twins. She had her tubes tied. Her response? "They came untied."
Scott Hamilton has brain tumor. Umm.. depressing.
"Police Use Stun Gun on 6 Year Old" So this kid was in the principals office and got mad and broke a picture frame and started threatening the principal with a chunk of glass. That strike anyone else as kind of funny, or am I just sick? To me, it's straight out of a Ben Stiller movie. Anyhow, the police used a stun gun on him.

Bridget Jones came out today. The reviews don't look so good- that's too bad, because I really loved the first movie. I'm at work and there's nothing to do. And I found this site

Hee Hee.

Rob's response when I told him about this cracked out eye doctor I went to see today-
"Riighht.. and this guy had his own practice? Like, in a building? Or did you have to go through the kitchen to get to his office?"

How To Make a Weiner Dog in Five Easy Steps

Today I got a package from my dad in the mail. Inside was a "Learn to Make Balloon Animals" kit. What he's trying to do is freak me out, because he knows how much I hate clowns, and he's being like 'look! you can train to be a clown with this!" But this time, the jokes on him, because I think making balloon animals (when you're not dressed up in gigantic shoes) is cool as hell. So far I've made an octopus and a weiner dog. As soon as I figure out where Rob hid the digital camera, I'll take pictures of my creations and post them here.
I'm a page and a half through writing my Gatsby paper and I'm contemplating suicide. I have no idea where this paper is going. It's the freaking easiest, most obvious question in the world
( 'discuss the idea of East and West in Gatsby') but for some reason I just cannot structure this paper to make and sort of sense.
That's all for now. There's a balloon penquin calling my name.

Things I've Done This Morning to Avoid Doing All the Work I Have to Do

1. Read the washing instructions of our towels to Rob- in spanish.
2. Hummed the Star Spangled Banner really loud
3. Offered to shave Rob's legs.
4. Did an interpretive dance to a song he was playing.
5. Helped him change the words of a love song he was playing so it became a dirty song.
more to come, i'm sure.

COME ON, PEOPLE!

So, I've decided that there is absolutely no 'community' in my writing program. The thing is, the people are really nice, I talk to them in class and when I see them around and once a month we have a reading where everyone comes and eats pizza and drinks wine and reads their work in progress. But that's it. No one gets together on the weekends or anything like that. Now, I know that some of it is because a lot of the people in the program are older. In my workshop of nine people, three of them are over 30. Me and this guy Joe are the youngest in the entire program. But, what the hell does everyone who isn't old with a family do all the time? I thought for a while that maybe people do get together, and I just didn't know it, but I've been talking to the other people and they're like "no, I never hang out with anyone". So this kid Joel decided to organize a get-together for everyone at this little bar downtown Bronxville. 10 people show up. COME ON PEOPLE!! TV ISNT THAT INTERESTING. And this is coming from someone who is often very anti-social.

Ray, the Super, is irritating me. Our oven has been broken since Monday. Rob called about it on monday and left a message. Rob called about it on tuesday and left a message. We saw Ray wednesday on our way out for dinner (because we couldn't cook with a broken oven) and Rob asked him again, and he said "are you going to be home tomorrow morning?" I said I was, and he said he would be by to check it out. I waited until 11:30, and finally decided I had things to do. On the way to work this morning the elevator came up and he got out and saw me and suddenly remembered and said "oh, are you home, can I check that out now?" and I'm like "no, I have to be at work by 9 am (it was 8:50). But I asked him if he had keys to our apartment and he said he did so I told him it was fine if he just went in there and looked at it. Did he? No.
I'm trying to be patient, and I'm afraid to ask again because Ray will tell me to go to hell in a heartbeat.
I met with a professor about taking intermediate photography as my elective next semester. She described some of the assignments to me, and I really like the way she teaches the class, and I think I'm going to take it. PLUS- it means developing pictures for free. I'm going to take some black and white pictures for Jackie and Paul at their wedding, and this way I'll be able to develop them myself. But, I'm torn, because there's also a class second semester about the sixties. I'm in love with the sixties, I think they're so interesting. What to do? Feel free to vote via the comments.
I have to finish reading Gatsby so I can write a paper on it. I have to tell you, everyone seems to love this book, and I'm not seeing what all the hoopla is about.

HA.

This is from Rob's site, and is damn funny.

"But the biggest reason why Kerry didn't win was voters. What the hell. 120, 000,000 aint bad. But we can do better. I think that next time we should sign a petition that bans P-Ditty and Christina Aguilara from do anything other than write bad music. Vote or Die? A lot of people must have died."

Recuerdo

So, I don't like poetry. Okay, I don't like a lot of poetry anyhow. I find that it takes so damn long to try and decipher what their trying to say that it takes all of the fun out of it. And sometimes it tends to be, well, melodramatic. Yes, there are exceptions. But if you said to me, here, here's a book of poetry, I would say 'no thanks'. But we read this one in class last week and I really liked it.

Recuerdo
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

We were very tired, we were very merry-
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable-
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.

We were very tired, we were very merry-
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And teh sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.

We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed, "Good morrow, mother!" to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, "God bless you!" for the apples and the pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.

The 2004 Survey

Oh yes, it's that time, once again...
Copy it and fill it out on your site too!

1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
Voted, got married, moved to NY, started grad school, flew on Aer Lingus, got up on a table at work and did an Irish jig for 13 Irish customers (true story!).

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I never had any. Next years- pay off the damn credit card. Right, cause that'll happen...

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
umm... no.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
again, no.

5. What countries did you visit?
Ireland

6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
A little more $. A published story. A fondue set- I asked my parents for one for Christmas. And then?? WE WILL DIP EVERYTHING IN CHOCOLATE, HA HA! And.. I'd like some Oregon Chai. Every time I go to the stupid grocery store their sold out of the original kind. And some pumpkin bread. My mom said she would send me some and I haven't seen a crumb of it yet. What's up with that, mom? :) Do I sound hungry to you? I feel hungry right now.

7. What date from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Remember when Jen and I got up at karaoke night and sang "I Will Survive"? That was a good one. Was that even in 2004? I dont know. A few of the Tuesday Girls Nights with Erin and Sara. This stuff is so hard to remember a whole freaking year later.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I got into four of the seven grad schools I applied to.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Despite my five month plan, I have failed, once again, to pay off my credit card.
But hey, if youre going to fail, fail miserably, and that I did. (Does this sound familiar? Hey, that's because it was the same thing I put last year..)

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Well, there was that one night that I cut my finger open while I was washing a big knife and I ran downstairs to Dave's with Rob's boxers wrapped around my finger to stop the bleeding and ended up going to the emergency room. I got two stitches.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
An MP3 player. I use it alllll the time. A disk drive for my computer (boring, but so true! until it broke recently)AND- NETFLIX!! Netflix is freaking great. And my subscription to Oprah magazine. If you have a problem with Oprah, I dont want to hear about it.


12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Sierra's when she won I Spy by claiming that what she saw was an invisible swinging monkey that no one else could see.
Also, Axel's when we went camping and he said "Who do you think liked s'mores more, Lewis or Clark?"

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The people of Michigan when they voted to pass the ban on gay marriage.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Earlier in the year- to going out, eating out, having fun.
Later in the year- to one very expensive room in a big building with an elevator that's broken on Fridays.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The wedding, going to Ireland, getting the wedding video from Joe, going home for Thanksgiving.

16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
The theme song to Sex and the City, because I spent two solid weeks watching every episode from all 6 seasons.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?toss up
ii. thinner or fatter? basically the same
iii. richer or poorer? Oh that's a funny question. I am quite a bit poorer this year, thanks.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
reading, hanging out with people, playing Balderdash, eating oranges

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
worrying about nonsense, bitching about my job at Comstock when it was actually a really good job for the timebeing.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
At home in Davison, which will be nice.

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
My sister, easily.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Desperate Housewives! And, I have an addiction to the Apprentice, as you all know. Yes, I am ashamed. Close seconds- Daily Show, Jeopardy. I'm beginning to love Law and Order, my sister's fault.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I dont really think so.

24. What was the best book you read?
White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Awesome book. And I'm not ashamed to say I read two Dan Brown books- the DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons and enjoyed them both.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don't think I discovered anyone new. Sorry. Want to know who I like? JoJo. Dont tell anyone, it's embarrassing.

26. What did you want and get?
A hammock. I spent plenty of time swinging in my hammock. And a shirt from my dad that says "Talk nerdy to me, I love the geek speak."

27. What did you want and not get?
A pony. Ha! just kidding! I dont know really.

27.5 What did you not want but got?
Fleas. Ha! just joking. I added that question just so I could say that.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Garden State!! Anchorman was a close second.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 23, and I drove to Chicago to see Lily and we took a picture together next to a giant baby head statue. Then I came back to Kzoo. I went out to Shakespeares with Rob and Jon and Jo and Ryan and Jen and Joe. I swear I only had two drinks. But by the time we left I was...well, drunk. I insisted on Rob taking me to Meijers to get ice cream,even though it was on the complete other side of town, and since it was my birthday he gave in. When we got there, we walked inside and I totally couldn't remember why we were there so I turned to Rob and said "what are we doing here?" and then he got pretty mad at me.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More soup in bread bowls from Panera. A trust fund.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2003?
I would call it a mix between "hey, this is clean, I'll wear it" and "hey, this isn't clean, I'll wear it anyways". I would call it the year of the sweatshirt.

32. What kept you sane?
Pop. I love pop. Mmmm.. Coke in a can.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I may have a crush on Jon Stewart. And Elliot from Law and Order.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Please, let's just forget it. I can't think about it anymore.

35. Who did you miss?
My sister, though Rob will say "how can you miss her, you're on the phone with her for an hour every day!", Danny and his badnickness, my mom and dad, Tanya and our champagne dates, Erin C, absolutely everyone in Kzoo (desperately), Food Dance and everyone who works there (except Paul H. who I couldnt stand) even though I was desperate to get out at the time, Sar because even though I see her every few weeks or so we used to live together and that was fun.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I have been sitting here for a long time trying to think of someone new I met and really got to know well, and I can't come up with anyone. There are a few other grad students at Sarah Lawrence I really like, but no one I've gotten really close to.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2003:
Park in well lit places so no one breaks into your car. One Long Island Ice Tea is plenty, no need for a second.

38. Quote a song/movie lyric that sums up your year:
"Uh, I just ate a big red candle"

Good Morning, America
You're certainly a scary place to live today.

So all morning as I was watching the news, I was trying to post but blogger wouldn't work, and I think that maybe that was a message from God, because I was pretty pissed this morning, and probably shouldn't have been allowed to vote.
For your reading convenience I have divided this post into two parts 1. election stuff 2. other stuff. This way, if you want to skip right past all of my angry stuff, you have that option.

1. Election stuff
a. Well, I have to say, congratulations to Bush on actually getting ELECTED this year and not APPOINTED. That's the first step to being a real-live legitimate president. Don't get me wrong, you're not there yet, but you've made a step.
b. God save us.
c. seriously, i really was trying to do a good job about not being bitter, but... well, I'm not.
d. Michigan. You let me down. What is up with you? I love you so much and then you went and passed the law banning gay marriage. Here is a question I have for you, if you were one who voted to pass it. Do you reallly think that you have the right to tell people that you dont know if they're allowed to get married? No, Realllllly? If you do, I would like to hear your argument, so please post a response on my site. Here's the challenge though. You're not allowed to use religion as a reason. Because, as you'll recall, not everyone in this country has the same beliefs, so I can't imagine why you would try to govern the entire country by one set of them. I suspect that when you take religion out of the picture, the only thing people will say for a reason against gay marriage is something that comes down to the fact that people feel uncomfortable about it. And really, do you think that's a good reason to pass a law? I just dont. Some day I'm going to get elected and, since I think pork is gross, I'm going to pass a law that no one can eat pork. No seriously, I am, just because I feel uncomfortable about pork. What do you mean do I have a right to tell you what I eat? OF COURSE I DO, I GOT ELECTED.
e. more election anger later, I have a conference in 4 minutes.

2. Other stuff.
a. So my Party Assistant job this weekend- I'm working a party for PETA. Oh, PETA, you're thinking, the animal rights group. NO. Here at good old SLC, PETA stands for "People Eating Tasty Animals". No, seriously. They're having a pig roast. Gross.
To comment on this matter, I'm going to have my sister as a guest opinion on my blog, because she doesnt like meat, and believe me, she will tell you about it.

Hello.
please vote.
thank you.