pearls

the one thing i love about gmail is its search capability, which, unlike folders, leads to some very random browsing. while looking for another blitz that apparently shared some key words with a set of meeting minutes, i found the below gem from the 05 sophomore summer:

"so, hulia, unlike the rest of us, was stone cold sober and as a result, these minutes are the ideal of what mtgs minutes should be. unfortunately, that is not what we prefer - we prefer jumbled up hilarity. fortunately, i was in a v. wrecked state so i will do my best to improvise.

first off - there was a v. poor showing for mtgs. those who were there had to drink twice as much to make up for the rest of you. speak to karla, ilana or myself if you are interested in the effects of 'taking one for sd' when it involves tequila shots and other assorted 'left-over' (read: drink up!) alcohol"

thankfully boxa was not stone cold sober the entire time we were in puerto rico. though she clearly doesn't need any potvaliance to make her points: she has no qualms calling things as they are, especially if she is able to work in the word "bucko."

in any event, finding that first blitz inspired me to dig through other meeting minutes. i found this clip from Lindsay Clayton 04's minutes that, had all the people below been present at our vacation, would almost be a complete caption of all of the non-drinking pictures we'd taken:

"PLEDGE WALK-OFF Highlights:
(a) Robin worked the pretzel
(b) Alette perfected the backward platapus slide
(c) Pryor mastered the drunken shimmy
(d) Whitney learned nothing from last week. Number one, it is painful to pull your underwear out of your pants. Number two, don't you know you should always go front to back, not back to front? No sense risking a UTI!"

in what is perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy, we are growing older but not up. though i am inspired by Clayton's example in referring to pong as "ale-tennis" in her WASP minutes. and of course, lyon did take the advice about shining the pearls.

fark

from fark.com - a list of all the labels on the site. i think we should all go around labeling the things that happen to us in this manner (j/k j/k). hilarity ensues.

[Advice] - Used when Farkers have questions they'd like other Farkers to answer
[Amusing] - I amuse you? I make you laugh?
[Asinine] - So dumb it's unbelievable.
[Audio] - Sound bite.
[AudioEdit] - Digital sound editing contest
[Boobies] - Self-explanatory; usually not safe for work.
[Caption] - Post your captions to topical pictures.
[Cool] - 2 kewl 4 u, d00d.
[Dumbass] - Dumbass antics
[Florida] - Florida articles. Surprisingly common
[Followup] - Follows up on something posted yesterday.
[Hero] - Self-explanatory, don't ya think?
[Interesting] - Thought-provoking stories.
[Ironic] - It's like rain, on your wedding day.
[Misc] - Stuff what don't fit nowhere else.
[News] - Newsy-type stories. Generally stuff we didn't catch with a newsflash because we were drinking, asleep, or both
[NewsFlash] - Breaking News. The event just happened, may not have anything to do with how important the event is.
[Obvious] - Duh.
[Photoshop] - Post your "improved" photos.
[Plug] - People plugging their own stuff.
[PSA] - Information you need to know.
[Sad] - Stories that are genuinely touching.
[Sappy] - Stories that try to be touching, but fail.
[Satire] - Sites that poke fun at other stuff.
[Scary] - We can't believe stuff like this can happen.
[Sick] - Gross stuff; often not safe for work.
[Silly] - Not necessarily funny, but trying to be.
[Spiffy] - Sorta like cool, but spiffier.
[Strange] - Not even we can explain everything.
[Stupid] - Some things are just plain dumb.
[Survey] - What do you think?
[Video] - Video clip.
[VideoEdit] - VideoEdit contest.
[Walken] - Christopher Walken is God.
[Weeners] - Equal opportunity; usually not safe for work.
[Weird] - Like strange, only stranger.
[Wheaton] - Wil Wheaton is Cool.

read fark.com

yay!

omg - have been waiting all day for this. i try not to blog at work except for short brief things (have no desire to be fired) so had to wait til was home, had fixed the chix dish and it was in the oven before i could do this.

that said - went out in a manner of speaking last night b/c i was needing a little mid-week rage to take the hollow place of wed night mtgs. had been discussing bocce with will (i like winners) so was inspired to try to find a foosball table in the neighborhood. happily - there was run on 75th and 2nd, and ally was down, so we headed over to check it out. we get to the address given by city search and see a demolished shell of a bar (it looked like it was fun before it was demolished btw). v. sad. so we sit ourselves down at the bar next door and while we're sitting there they CARRY OUT THE FOOSBALL TABLE. it was like twisting the knife on the situation. i tried to persuade them to let us play right there on second ave but it was no dice. ally has a pic of the offending van that was carrying away the table - will post it when she sends it - but all in all was v. tragic as now the nearest tables are lower east side and west village. boo hoo.

chatted with jess on gchat today - the latest addition to the 'quick contacts' list that is growing longer by the day (am so going to be fired). sounds like all is well in seattle, minus random shootings at parties (scary). she proclaims she is white as a ghost and not at all optimistic of the color she will get as a crew coach, as now she has to wear clothes to stay warm, unlike the days when she actually rowed. thoughts boxa?

also learned today that a certain person who will not be named (she who must not be named?) is relocating from her apt across the street from diana in beacon hill to the big apple. this news prompted a flurry of blitzes in the boston and nyc areas. while i do realize there are more bars in nyc than boston frequented by d students, with my luck we are sure to run into her. ally had the insightful commentary that at least with her in nyc we can not only kick her car, but her, which is bound to be infinately more satisfying.

as was waiting for the light to change post work was pondering an expanse of wall on 23rd and park that is often re-painted to promote upcoming movies. the latest one is the posedien adventure - for those of you that don't know it's the adventure/suspense story of a cruise ship that flips in a tsunami and the people trapped inside must make their way from the top of the ship (now underwater) to the bottom so they can be cut out the hull. the wall depicts the ship, and the title, upsidedown. is v. clever and adventurous plot but have horrid memories of watching the original and i really don't like movies involving people trapped under water. (that scene in titanic where jack is handcuffed to a pipe and the water is rising scares the hell out of me). memo to self: do not walk that way to the subway after work until the scene changes.

looking fwd to tonight - d fiestas and some dancing. feeling the need to rage in a serious way - will see what we can do. time to get the rum flowing. ;-)

blog cloud

blog cloud

here's the blog cloud of the site . . . from snapshirts: 'a word cloud is a visual depiction of content (words) used in a body of text. the word clouds we use at snapshirts.com are arranged alphabetically and depict more frequently used words in progressively larger fonts.'

in other words - is a snapshot of my life (and the rest of the usual suspects from assorted locales) in the medium i do best . . . pretty nifty.

gchat

thank god for gchat. would be bored out of my mind without it, and with so many more people getting on board and only a click away, there are times where i think it might even be better than blitz (shhhh! i know that's sacriligious).

chatted with diana all day in a useless, squirmy meur! way. check out some of the convo:

dianamarie: to do waht?
rage?
me: yes
4:58 PM i am ansy
and need some laughing and drinkg
dianamarie: ME TOO
so antsy
yeesh
i can barely sit still actually
4:59 PM me: ceppos says meuur
to draw out the meuur sound
dianamarie: i like it
me: me too
5:00 PM bounce bounce bounce!
dianamarie: call on meeeeeeee
call me
call on meeeeeeee
call me
me: YES
5:01 PM the best song ever
dianamarie: agreed

diana's other new thing is saying, "i do what i want" - ala south park - which i now hear in my head constantly and i think ranks up there with 'supercalfragalisticexpialidocious' (sp?) as something to say when you don't know what to say.

huyett says she is saving all our blitz convos in gmail so she can read them at our weddings and call each other out for stuff (b/c we never do that). am rather looking fwd to it actually. fiesta all the time. now we must peer pressure laurak to get on board the gchat train - hear that laurak?

duh

memo to self: do not call d students on wednesday nights with the intention of having a serious convo with them as they are all wasted by 8 pm in preparation for mtgs.

silly me

high of 70 here in nyc - it wasn't so hard to come home from pr after all! speaking of pr - robin and i sat next to this guy on the plane who turned out to be a camp counselor at the camp where wet hot american summer was filmed (he practiced real estate law during the year). i think he thought we were making fun of him when we got all excited and told him that half of our friends were true life camp counselors (allette is off to tennesse today to check a job out in fact) and that whas was a hit in our crowd. i think it's fate don't you???

Top Ten

Ok, so apparently Ms. Lyon has dominated this blog long enough. I am going to add. I'm an idiot at this, so don't be too critical. Also Ms. Lyon has apparently already moved on from the wonderfulness that was Puerto Rico, but I haven't. Having nine fine friends in a six-person house with one bathroom on a sunny sunny beach was just too much to forget so fast. Especially now that my tanned face is peeling. A lot. As mentioned, I'd like very much for all of you to move to Minneapolis, so without further ado:

Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Move to Minneapolis

10. Karla lives here!
9. Susan Gordon also lives here! (grew up here, anyway, and comes home on vaca to play with me)
8. The Mississippi River runs right through the city and everyone knows that the Mississippi River is the new black.
7. I'm paying $450/month for rent - including all my utilities and internet.
6. I live in a house - with a basement, garage, 4 bedrooms, 2 roommates, one dog, 2 grills, a back yard.
5. The midwest accent. You know what I'm talking about.
4. When you say that you graduated from Dartmouth, people say, "wow, Ivy League!" instead of, "oh, I'm sorry, you didn't get into Harvard"
3. Minneapolis/St Paul is the Northwest Airline HUB. I don't know yet how this is beneficial, as NWA is also referred to as Northworst, but I think it's still a good reason.
2. The biking here is pretty sweet. Check it out.
1. I LIVE HERE!

useful

sometimes fark is useful and i don't mean just for the daily pirate update. here's a single-person's guide to expiration dates. if you're like me and charlo, and still haven't mastered how long it takes to eat things when it's just a few of you and how quickly they'll go bad - then you'll appreciate it.

granted - we're all on sigma delt time anyway where we discovered upon our first trip back to sd in the fall that the orange juice from the up all night party in june was still in the fridge, and the tv which had blown out on the friday before graduation (too many latenight s&tc watching! and real sex too - but that's beside the point) had still not been replaced. while lingley may be under the impression that having the '05s around is the reason she is failing out of d - we are tres useful for fixing the things that we never would have done while undergrads. phew - the real world is good for something after all . . . ;-P

yay exclamation point

here's a WAY fun game: see if you can guess my word of the month. the definition is this convo i heard on the subway on the way to work this morning:

george: oh hi bill
bill: george! where are your kids at school - st. pauls?
g: no - deerfield. yours?
b: they're in fl at school for tennis. alexander is serving 130 mph plus serves
g: oh great
b: did you get down to cocoa point this winter?
g: no - we went to costa rica for a week. thought we'd shake it up.
b: that's great. sure do like cocoa point. love those tennis courts. i don't like the beach though
g: why?
b: it faces the wrong way. you can't see the sunset
g: oh yeah. and the golf course is terrible. we're actually going to vista del mar now.
b: oh yeah? back in the day it was so formal. had to wear a jacket and tie for dinner all the time.
g: we think it's fine. kids gearing up for college soon huh?
b: yeah. it's such a difficult time for them. they're under so much pressure
g: definately. it's like up until now they haven't had to deal with anything and now they have to be perfect. and show they're really interested in the school. go visit and go to classes and stuff like that.
b: does that really help? alexander doesn't even want to go to college and i was like - uh uh no way - you're going to college.

at this point they get off the train at grand central. could not believe what i had just heard. could they be anymore (ding ding ding word of the month!) PRETENTIOUS???

amo tu

a brief foray into the world of relationships for a second.

first - one of my favorite sites for dating/relationship/what do i do type stuff: www.sharpman.com. don't be fooled by the gender labeling - this site has no nonsense advice for girls and guys alike and useful for getting an eye into the way the opposite sex thinks. a couple of my favorite articles talk about calling after a date, when you've been cheated on, and should you get back with an ex, as well as useful tips for meeting people at parties and getting numbers. the site also does a 'he said, she said' q+a thing called q+a with jack and jill, and has all sorts of stuff for guys about picking out shirts, or getting a haircut that works. i write less about that stuff b/c it's not the part i'm particularly interested in - but for the guys that read the blog - a good site to have in your back pocket if you ask me.

in the vein of picking people up - one of the trashy magazines i was reading over the weekend had this brilliant way to find out painlessly whether or not someone you were interested in had a significant other without investing too much time in useless prospects: ask the apple of your eye if they've been on a trip recently. when they start talking about it, you can ask if they went with friends. if they say no, you can be like so why did you go alone? not 100% foolproof - but pretty clever to my mind and ought to bring out whether or not they've involved sooner rather than later.

brilliant. (this is not to say i never learned other useful things from the trashy mags - got a subscription to one as a gift one xmas and it truly was the gift that kept on giving - but at this point, much like the d, if you've read one sex or rush article you've read them all - so was surprised and pleased to learn a neat little trick as such.)

more

another post to catch up on all the postings i haven't been able to do and yet desperately need to talk about.

these first two i wasn't sure i was going to post on - but seeing how i've tried unsuccessfully to explain them many times over the last couple days - i need to have them in one place:

first is courtesy of charlo's bro - a list of the top 50 things that make you feel like a man, and the top 50 gayest things of all time. if anyone's offended by that please let me know - reading it through i mostly find the articulation of ambiguous things like 'thinking about surviving a natural disaster' as manly to be hilarious, and the list of things that are supposedly gay (bunkbeds) as something i identify with as a chick so draw your own conclusions. colin super approved.

second is the list of all the movies that came out in 2005 and their porno equivalent. from fark of course. check it out. hilarious.

also found these startling stats. the people in this poll are not having good sex. it's as bad as those woman that think finding the perfect pair of shoes is better than sex. obvi they do not know good sex. observe:

FINAL TAKE -- Marketers, take note: The question, put to a representative sample of people, was, ''What is it that you wouldn't give up, even if it meant sacrificing a part of your daily routine?''

The answers, according to Health magazine:

Sex: 19 percent;

Exercise: 22 percent;

Coffee: 25 percent;

Television: 28 percent.

It's good to know what is important in life.

this info is courtesy from my new favorite column in the nyt - 'what's offline'. a smorgasboard of everything by paul brown. check him out.

home again, home again

phew! am back in apt 27. was going to title this post 'no one in particular' - but the jiggity jig bit seemed to fit better. been traveling since 4 am this morning - with some work sandwiched in the middle. looking out over the nyc skyline as we landed it sort of felt something like home - kind of weird b/c when i was growing up nyc was this mythical place that we'd try to spot as we flew onto boston, so to be like - wow - i live here was a bit weird.

lots to say - was hoping laurak would take over on the blog postings while we were all otherwise occupied - but i guess not. bad laurak!

trip was fantastic - the house was perfect - so darling and lovely for us and down the road from the beach. the grocery store (which we seemed to go to three times a day every day no matter how hard we tried to get everything in one go) was half a mile down the road along the beach and a v. pleasant walk. rather reminiscient of the tortorous sb trips to tn with the crew team except this time we had a beach and not strip mall and a delightful grocery store instead of a walmart and chik-fil-a for dinner. (no panera though - boo). we walked a lot - down down down the coast to chill on the beach for the day. someone commented as we were walking back one day that our outfits reflected our personalities v. well. maynard was in typical exploration style, and wearing a long sleeve blue polo button down and patagonia shorts, boxa, warding off the sun from her accutane skin had an ensamble of huge plastic turquoise framed sunglasses and a big floppy hat that she wore at all times. robin had her sarong tied as a head scarf and looked fabulous of course. diana and on a floaty skirt that made her looked dressed to go out with her black bandeau top, and karla had a skirt on to, only her top was a long sleeved olive and pink that clashed. allette had on her boy shorts that came down to her knees and a tank top, ceppos had her red and white string bikini top with shorts, huyett her green and pink button down, jcrew kakhis and patagonia messenger bag with her towel rolled up and belted down, and i was in a white button down and nothing else. i think that accurately sums us all up. =)

there was a lot of beer drinking, wave playing, sex talk, nudity (karla, robin and i did a v. special version of the 'call on me' video. if it ever gets out we're in trouble) sun set watching, exploring, making friends. everything is tres cheap - drank a lot of rum (who knew that the distribution center is on puerto rico?). boxa stepped on a sea urchin yesterday - had the spine in her foot for quite some time. nasty little buggers. brought home lots of beach glass - never seen so much of the stuff in one place. kind of felt like cheating, but by the some token, i want to make a lamp! maynard and allette cooked up some delicious concoctions on the grill - good stuff. karla tried her darndest to convince us all to move to minneapolis - the more she talked about how cheap it is to live there the more convinced i became. besides - i think i miss that girl too damn much to be so far away all the time. some drunk dialing ensued, most often to laurak - you were sorely missed friend. but you might have gotten that during the drunken phone convos . . .;-)

some stuff came out that hadn't before - i suppose that's what happens when you put nine girls who know each other v. well in the same place for for consecutive days without work to make us feel guilty for hanging out. definately all sunburned (oops i mean tan) but pretty rested and psyched.

def recommend the house to anyone thinking of doing a similar thing - it wasn't a good area for going out, or kids (though i don't think any of us have them), or if you wanted to explore pr or something. we were on the western part of the island, it was a small town, and we just wanted to hang with each other - but if you were looking for that, beach, gorgeous ocean and sunsets and fun with some of your favorite people then by all means - check it out. =)

hmmm

quick post before i launch myself out of this towel and put on my clothes (in other news - learned that a woman spends TWO YEARS of her life getting ready. will find the link to the story when i'm done getting ready.)

so we're going to puerto rico tomorrow at a ridiculous hour - and jet blue has just sent me my travel reminder and maybe i'm naieve (sp?) but does anyone else have trouble thinking that you would just forget you were supposed to be going on a trip in a few days and when you received that update in your inbox you'd be like, 'oh christ - i COMPLETELY forgot i was supposed to be traveling and if it weren't for this courtesy message from the nice folks at jet blue i wouldn't have gone anywhere!' and if anyone does think this is true than they must not be recent college grads that spend their days in blitz wars and twiddling their thumbs in an effort to make the days pass by and any sort of anything to look forward to is the shining oasis to claw towards. (okay - now am waxing poetic).

hit up the ivy league mixer with ally and rachel w. i think ally said it all when she commented, "i knew these kinds of things happened in the city but i never thought i'd go to one." they had a good happy hr - i'd go back for that - but the company, outside our small party, was less than desirable. charlo joined us later at blockheads (crike - that's twice in less than a week. i swear we're keeping them in business) in a hilarious state post her work open bar. i should have started writing down her quotes b/c they were up there with the, "i'm a sad panda b/c i can't find my tooth brush" ones - but suffice to say it was funny. in a good way. i love you friend. =)

i get to see celestia today for lunch - can't wait for one pm. she's been in the city a week and this is the first (and last) time i have gotten to see her. better late than never i suppose. speaking of that - must get dressed! eeeeek!

brief

post before i head to bed. on a night like this the only place you want to be is cozy like a bear under the covers.

just returned from pea fireside chat on the west side. interesting locale - i hope every night isn't as slow for them or i can't see how they're still in business.(important side note - bar nearby had a fooseball table - must go) it ended up being career advice type stuff - felt like we were back in 'just for juniors' in moore in that basement lecture hall that i should be able to remember the name of seeing how i had many a psych class down there - only this time i suppose we have a better idea of what we're getting into and we're just as confused and dissatisfied. hung out with kittery,and ally, charlo was detained by work. discussed reunion plans and had some drinks on good old pea. definately a first rate time.

had a heated discussion with ally and becker about how pong is much better than beruit. good lord - is a futile discussion i realize. there are just somethings you don't know unless you've been there and no amount of lecturing will change that. still, here's the link to the wiki entry on pong and the one about blitz b/c it's just so good. that's really all you need to know about d, which really is the OTHER ivy league school . . . =) i realize i'm preaching to the choir when it comes to most of my readers - but it's different at d and until you all come up and visit for green key you'll just never know.

ally and i had a lovely chat on the way home - discussed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - which we hope are not mutually exclusive, but it's hard to tell sometimes. hitting up this ivy league mixer tomorrow night - should be a good time.

both allette and cody are now members of the 'i'm an honorary sd' on the facebook. cody requested to be 'keeper of the festivities' on fri night so i acquiesced. not quite sure what it means to be an honorary sd when you are, in fact, already an sd - but just go with it.

will be out of commission thurs - mon for puerto rico festivities - so prepare yourselves accordingly. speaking of preparing, must pick up some sunblock. we all know i'll be getting the rash one of these days - (damn - is not confined solely to tn) so best come to terms with the fact i suppose.

bedtime for bonzos - happy tuesday and first day of spring!

way too early

oh man - way too early to be up on a sunday morning (in my defense - my sis had to get up early to get to the airport) - esp after the wknd we just had. funny thing is, didn't actually go anywhere. just drank a lot at apt 27.

friday night pwr hr was a blast - cody arrived in time for the festivites, as did allette. mulley and megh came over, so did joanna and dan and ppocket and the boy. even will put in a late in the game appearance - and apparantely wiped out on our kitchen floor - spilling beer everywhere (no wonder it smells like a frat basement in here. happily we acquired a swiffer yesterday and could mop it). i think it was cody who suggested we post the pwr hr toasts here (the sd pwr hrs consist of toasting to something every time you drink. i think we have 62 b/c we're just that sweet). see below - my running comentary is noted in parantheses:

1. st. patrick's day (someone has annotated the list with 'original' after that one)
2. cody being in nyc
3. good beginnings
4. happy endings
5. new mistakes and not old ones
6. red sox nation
7. not having to drink cheap beer in bars (we just do it in the apt instead)
8. not booting during the pwr hr (success!)
9. manicures and pedicures
10. drinking like we're at d again (amen!)
11. broken shot glasses
12. '07 friends and our 1 '08 (charlo's bro)
13. red wine
14. beyonce - the regular one
15. a quarter of the way done
16. the super hot call on me video
17. sketchy alums
18. former/presidents of the d
19. jessica simpson
20. mta (ie - subway. huh?)
21. skips!
22. andre 3000
23. being back up north (as opposed to in atlanta or out west)
24. looneys
25. mistakes and hookups
26. riding in the elevator with newman from seinfeld
27. making people feel awk
28. expense accts
29. manipulating ex bfs
30. 10 across a thousand (crew call)
31. finishing
32. if i said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me
33. karma (my karma ran over your dogma)
34. drunken injuries
35. explicitives
36. spring break
37. elastic band pants
38. radcliffe varsity women who are erroneously in my yearbook page
39. binge drinking and blacking out (RESPONSIBLE binge drinking!)
40. sd4life! + company
41. hiccups
42. needing more beer
43. to songs that make you want to take off your clothes (sadly - do not remember what the song was. allette?
44. leave or die (NO idea what that means . . . )
45. gmail
46. matt miller (where did that come from?)
47. hooking up in really awkward places (believe it or not that was not a self call)
48. colorado
49. re-piecing the night the next day
50. being in a sorority that might as well have been a fraternity (that was a self call)
51. self calls
52. getting housing in north
53. madonna - my idol and savior
54. pirates (arrrr!)
55. left hands
56. (can't read what i wrote)
57. being threatened by victoria's secret
58. artificial states of happiness
59. to being (something is written and then crossed out and replaced with) sweet
60. ending and not dying
61. overtime
62. self calls = way legit

we downed 60 beers (more self calls). i think st. patrick's day was adequately celebrated at apt 27 . . .

erin go braugh

ooo fiesta in the making! what started out as low key pwr hr has turned into swinging party - good lord. i apologize in advance - i hate it when this happens. but at the end of the day it's like the more the merrier right?

cody and allette are coming in, sheldon's coming down, celestia, megh, and mulley are coming over, and me, charlo and her bro are staying put (albeit cleaning a lot in prep) for pwr hr festivities. charlo's got a rocking pwr hr mix, and it's a v. time-friendly drinking game. you start at one time and know you'll be done an hour late. hooray!

as i've noticed with most major holidays and events in nyc - the city has an air of excitement and anticipation when you're out and about. it's one thing i really do like about it. never really celebrated st. patrick's day before - but everyone's gearing up for festivities that you can't help but be sucked in. am wearing green and considering irish car bombs - haha. my boss today was funny - i asked about doing something for a client and he's like, "no. we have to manage the fridays. plus - we have to get to the bar!" and while i realize that some people's employers have been paying them to drink all day (ahem robin) i found it quite amusing.

this one's for diana: itbyayfordrinkingholidays!

oof

just got home from running with the harriers, of ny harrier fame. six miles leaves me with ample time to reflect on stuff - so without further ado:

running in the city at night was fantastic. there are some times when the weather is just right and the night is filled with a hint of magic and you just want to get outside and run to get enough of it. tonight was one of those nights. a bit chilly when you stop - but perfect while you're moving. could even see the stars in the park.

speaking of the park, central park was JUMPING. there were tons of people everywhere. (surely i can't be the only person to be surprised at that?) it reminded me of the scene in finding nemo where nemo and marlin are on their way to nemo's first day of school and the crossing guard fish stops the swarming, busy roadway so that the kids (fishlets?) can cross safely. there were tons of other running groups, packs of bikers, lone runners, cross-country ski training people, it was so busy and bustling. i found that interesting.

the run felt good, though i know my legs are going to be dead tomorrow - i can already feel my calves tightening up. but tomorrow is friday and st. patrick's day, so in the words of dazed and confused - i'll put some ice on it and it won't be anything a few beers can't take care of. ;-)

jogged home with one of the women in the group - was chatting with her and she was talking about how she's at the stage of her life when all her friends are having kids and she's freaked out by it. i related how freaked out we all are about people getting married (though can't wait for the party - still finger on nose about not being first though - haha). is it weird that i hear people like this woman mention their husbands and i think - wow - it is possible to meet someone legit and maybe even someone you might want to spend a damn long time with and give up other people for in this godforsaken city? i want to be like - THANK YOU - you've given me hope. i guess it goes to show you never can tell.

okay - am gross and starving - gotta sign off for now. ;-) over and out.

sunny smiles

hello good morning. the sun is beaming through the window straight into my eyes - so am not smiling that much - but the desire is there. haha.

what's good in your life? my cousin, d '08 tdx, who will probably become a politician when he grows up, likes to say this instead of how are you. had a lengthy discussion with him about how saying this encourages dialogue and discussion beyond the one word reply of 'fine'. i think he has a point. you kind of have to wonder what people would say if you responded to their 'how are you' with a tirade of what's terrible in your life. give it a whirl i suppose.

charlo's bro made it, went to get some drinks last night and then came home to the apt where we tried to make pina coladas - except our blender had a disaster and oozed pina colada/rum/ice concotion all over the counter and onto the floor (on the plus side - it smells delightfuly tropical in the kitchen if a bit sticky). this is the blender we acquired when we got the coffee table - but i can't help thinking the guy who gave it to us wouldn't have done so if it didn't work. hmmmm. will have to play around with it when there is less valuable stuff inside it to ooze out.

we watched old school last night, which i am not as up on as i suppose i should be, then again, am not really a will ferrel fan (i am definately a luke wilson fan though - ooo pick me) - but in thinking about it - the plot of the movie is really just what we want to do with the sd retirement home - continue to live the good times of 10 w wheelock in the years to come. maybe by the time we're 30 it'll be okay to have ten girls living in one building without it being a brothel (stupid puritans). then again, and i think this is one of my new favorite phrases, we ARE all panhellinically related . . . =P

was talking to cody yesterday before she left htown to drive back to ct and i asked her if she had any shot glasses she could bring with her in prep for tomorrow night's pwr hr. or, i said, she could run over to the sd kitchen and find the ones left over from bequests. i don't get any response for a bit and then she returns with 'i found six!'. lol. somehow sd always provides. thought i think huyett in her unhappy quest to find her lost rainbows last year would agree that it also taketh away.

next thurs we'll be in puerto rico!

i win!

am getting such a kick out of this. as most of you know - i like to listen to my radio station from the cape - cool 102 - which broadcasts live over the web. anyhow - was listening as i was getting ready for work this morning - when they did masterpiece lyric theatre - where they give you a lyric and you have to name the song and artist. (a fun game to play in the car or when bored. it's pretty difficult sometimes) today the lyric was, "everything turned around" - which happens to be from the song 'go your own way' (a damn good song) by one of my favorite artists - fleetwood mac (shout out to gretchen and skips - remember when we drove to worcester soph spring to see them? good times. god i love stevie nicks) anyway - called 'em up and won some blockbuster rentals. told them to mail them to the fam's hyannisport address. tee hee hee - this is hilarious.

my all time favorite lyric, btw, is from the rolling stones 'satisfaction' - "but he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke the same cigarettes as me". don't know why - i just like it. ;-)

in like a lyon

sadly, are back to march weather in the metropolis. the early spring was not to be - actually had to shut the windows in apt 27. and it's usually a good 10 degrees warmer than outside.

i spend so much time navigating (and getting hopelessly lost) in the blogosphere at work that i get all fired up to read stuff and post on it when i get home (provided, of course, that we have blitz!) anyway - have discovered some cool stuff:

NEWSFLASH - starbucks is giving away coffee tommorrow (march 15) from 10 am to 12 pm. go exploit this ubquitous (sp?) chain's genorosity. (link from fark if you don't believe me) as a publicist i have to say they didn't do a v. good job of promoting the event, perhaps that's the idea, but then again, fark.com is an extremely well-read site - so maybe that was their game plan after all. bar trivia: starbucks is named after the first mate in moby dick.

ever one to subscribe to the 'don't you know that i love my music' mindset - thanks to charlo for alerting me to the website pandora where you can customize your own radio station. you add songs/artists you like and it picks other songs you might like based on a break down of the components of the songs you've picked. i think charlo and my favorite part of the whole website is when it says, "you don't like this song? we will NOT EVER play this song again". if only life, and men, were so accomidating. "you don't like what i'm doing darling? i won't EVER do it again." "growth and learning experiences got you down? that's enough of THAT - won't ever have to do them again." ha ha.

finished my ma taxes (i owe them money. idiots) and the federal ones - now just good old ny's to do. this is me getting really excited about the idea. have been on this weird kick for the last couple days where i have this compelling urge to be way on top of my to do list. kind of borderline obsessive at some points. charlo pointed out it's probably spring cleaning related. possibly, but it also might be a last ditch effort to feel like i have some control over my life. haha. now that is funny.

withdrawal

thank god we get to play pong in puerto rico - am suffering withdrawal like none other. haha - can stand not being on campus, and even not seeing my friends, esp with the massive blitz wars we've all been having every day at work, but without pong, is just a sad state of affairs. have to remember we can play next sat.

celestia will be back in nyc tomorrow - really psyched for that, and cody is coming in on friday for yet to be determined st. patricks day festivities. i talked to laurak on sat - she was on her way to the airport (somehow always seem to catch her coming or going) to visit her sis in colorado for sb for a week. (fun fun! though kristen has yet to be me and allette's friend on the facebook) and huyett is in for puerto rico! good lord this is going to be an adventure.

forgot to mention this in previous postings, but we walked over the manhattan bridge last sunday. was really fun - have been wanting to walk over the brooklyn bridge for ages so this was a step in the right direction. during charlo and my trip to the 68th st branch library on sat, i picked up a flyer about running in nyc which had a number of runs to do involving the bridges. kind of a neat idea. have also looked into joining a running club and i think i'm going to do it. this particular one seems to have a good blend of running and socializing - one of their rules is 'no jerks allowed' (sounds like they get it to me) - so will see how it goes, and of course, post the antics here!

uh oh - this is bad - have broken into the v. day truffles that were in the freezer. chocolate is a band aid no matter what they say. suppose am in danger of mulley/chocolate related weight gain. thank god for the six flights of stairs and above plans to join running club . . . :-P

amazing

the sd mottos, in all of their chalkboard paint and basement glory

courtesy of this incredible find. have fun

perfect

really good storypeople i came across just now. when i'm feeling contrary and not sure what/why/nothing in particular, everything in general, i go poke around on the site and look for the words to define it. (ally, when you read this, go to the site now. you simply HAVE to check it out. everyone else too for that matter). but anyway, i figured this quote would make a lot of people who read this smile, so without further ado:

today's mental checklist 1. things i know for sure - quite a few 2. things i don't know for sure - quite a few more 3. things i'll discover i don't know as i go along (only a rough estimate) - about as much as things I currently don't know 4. things i tell my children that i don't believe myself - lots, but now they're older i tell them i'm making it up & they can believe it at their own risk 5. things that make sense if you stop to think about it a. in daylight - lot unless there's media or government involved b. late at night - almost nothing, so it's better to just go back to sleep 6. things i believe that people a thousand years ago believed, too - quite a few but i lived in [nyc] when i was younger, so i have a good excuse

ignore the stuff about children, and i changed it from l.a. to nyc. otherwise - it makes SO much sense. maybe this blog ought to have a storypeople a day, or quote a day or something. maybe will just do the ones i really like every now and again. can't be scaring off the following you know.

whiter shade of pale

or in this case, grey. it's chilly and rainy in nyc this sunday - a radical change from yesterday's sunshine and heat. in manner of kevin g didn't wake up until two this afternoon - so it's a rather short day. but with nothing on the agenda, it's a v. enjoyable way to spend the day. and we are blessed with blitz for a bit - so have messed around online which is a rare treat.

was thinking - in nyc everyone is so impersonal that it is really odd when someone breaks the invisible barrier of themselves and shows a bit of themselves. kind of like when we were moving the couch down the street - people were commenting on the color and smiling at us - it was strange to see that people do notice other people and interact. it's almost like a craving for those instances here, for me at least. sometimes nyc can be a really lonely place, even though the thought that one only has to go outside to be surrounded by people, and you are never really alone is a reality. had a chat in the gourmet garage about raw peanuts (a necessity for making peanut brittle which i've been wanting to do for awhile) and it was rather unexpected. (did not find the peanuts btw.)

it's also odd when people treat you as much more grownup than you feel. like when my co-worker refers to me as her colleague on the phone or something. my first reaction is be like - i'm not old/experienced enough to be her colleague am i? all my life i've never felt as old as i thought people were when i am finally that age. used to go to running camp at d every summer (many fond memories of bopping around the d campus. we used to have fights with the tennis camp that stayed in new hamp. haha) but anyway, whilst a teenager in hs, i always thought that the students on campus for soph summer seemed SO old, and then when i myself was on campus for soph summer i sure as heck didn't feel as old as i thought they were. (i don't suppose the sd pool, acquisition of poison ivy while doing the ledyard challenge, or the other dumb things we did helped). just kind of interesting to think about. maybe it means i'm young at heart or something. or immature. hard to say.

wine and movies

quick post while ally and charlo pop downstairs for ice cream. sadly - was awoken at 8:15 this am (after three days of longing to sleep in) to the cable guy, apparently we were the first stop of the day - lucky us. unfortunately for megh, who was eagerly awaiting today as much as we were, the cable guy couldn't get on the roof - so are stuck without reliable blitz for another week. boo/sigh. sorry friend.

bopped around bloomingdales with tay tay today. we criticized things and caught up. great to see her, but could hardly stand the pretentiousness of the place. and i don't really appreciate being accosted by sales people every five seconds. i mean i go in there with a chip on my shoulder and attitude - so apologize in advance if i was rude.

charlo and i also accomplished a goal apt 27 has had for quite some time: we found some chairs! light, simple, goes with our au natural decor - we're psyched. the purchase also inspired us to do some major spring cleaning in preparation for next wknds visitors - always a good thing.

last night kicked the weekend off with blockheads and $3 dollar margaritas with ally and charlo. we ventured up a couple blocks to katie van's bday - caught up with some d peeps, including megh. was at the point where i don't really remember what i was saying (sorry if i offended anyone) but it was enjoyable and i feel like some plans were hatched (i think we discussed moving? am i right?). headed downtown post to see rachel weiner at a bar - some boy (who kept telling me he had a fiance as if that made it okay) insulted my pong game (didn't even go to d. don't know where he gets off) so OF COURSE i got offended. i take my pong v. seriously. to the point where i had a crush on this kid last spring and sd had an invite pong tourney and i wanted to ask him but when he told me he sucked at pong i had to be like no can do friend. i want to win. word to the wise to you all: d people take their pong VERY seriously - and while you may not understand it - if you love and care about your d friends at all, just go with it.

ally is over watching movies and drinking wine with me and charlotte. charlo is a fantastic cook and whipped up some delightful chicken dish. i went running today (in a sports bra and shorts!) for the first time in a long time, and am exhausted/legs hurt as a result. enjoying the company though. i keep thinking tomorrow is monday and am v. happy when i remember it's not. sunday. it's brilliant.

happy megh? =)

et al

and yet ANOTHER posting today - still more stuff to catch up the readers on.

found this incredible link on fark.com the other day - it's a 360 degree panorama of the paris skyline at night. anyone who has fallen in love with paris will appreciate. ceppos certainly did.

went last night to a wine and cheese tasting class on the way west side. was borderline sketch on the way over - was afraid for my life. the class was tres amusing - the woman in charge had a v. descriptive vocabulary of flavors and i like cheese enough to enjoy the tastings. could hardly keep from laughing though - the room was full of pretentious people talking about starting a new class of port and cheese or champagne (not sparkling wine mind you) and cheese tastings. guess i was glad i went - wouldn't have ever done something like that otherwise. i think i like soft cheeses better than hard ones and champagne over anything any day.

there's the cutest little dog that works in the office next to mine. he's shaped like a little black pig, with two little perked up ears and an affinity for the elevators. his name is badger and he is ADORABLE. and i know you all know my dislike for little dogs/little dogs in nyc, but badger is my surrogate dog in the absence of the logantor and his side-kick moxie. (my two german shepards). i love badger.

was watching the usual suspect favorite 'coupling' the other day - when one of the characters, jeff, introduced the concept of captain subtext.

from wikipedia:

Captain Subtext

Captain Subtext is mentioned in episode 2x03 - Her Best Friends Bottom. He is a mysterious figure who, according to Jeff, "lived in the attic and had secret meetings with my mum". He is equipped with a special "helmet of truth detection" that can process what someone says and extract what they are really saying, i.e. the subtextual message. During Jeff's youth, his mother apparently told him that whenever he told a lie, the captain would know this, and sneak into Jeffs room at night to remove a segment from his penis.

found this HILARIOUS - esp as am fond of the expression (and apparantly, capt subtext's sidekicks), "thank you captain obvious" and "you're welcome sargent duh. "coupling" is comedic genius. and jeff often is strangely on target in his ramblings. =P

bday fun

still in the process of catching up on posting - sorry to all. monday, as many of you know, was my bday - had a fantastic day - thanks to all who posted on my fb wall, messaged, imed, blitzed and/or called. was in the drugstore trying to decide what color to dye my hair (nothing major) and received four phone calls in the space of the time. in the end just gave up and realized the entire store had heard my bday stories multiple times and i just needed to leave.

was great to hear from everyone though - caught up with celestia who will be back in nyc v. soon - can't wait to see her, learned that lingley has broken her foot. i said good thing celeste, who spent several weeks on crutches frosh year, knows the quickest way to everything on campus and is bff with all the s+s officers.

anyway - thanks to all who wished me happy bday - at the end of the day was like - i have lots and lots of awesome people that like me a lot - and that's a pretty good feeling. wish you all could have celebrated with us over the wknd - (i think there was a lot of group drunk dialing). i'm psyched for what 23 has in store. =)

let's sing, let's eat, let's jiggle our feet

phew! had to set aside some time to write this post - it's been a crazy couple of days. hmm - back to friday - allette arrived and we promptley drank a lot in the style of d+d's fruit coolatas and rum - which caused us to try and friend laurak's sister on the fb. la lette had baked chocolate chip cookies that were delicious! she gets lots of points for that. when boxa and huyett arrived we swung into action and got our going out clothes on and traipsed down to the village to meet charlo and mulley at a bar called the naked lunch. this bar had a cover, had yet to pay a cover at that point in nyc, but it was worth every penny - as the music was basement music and we turned the bar into the sd basement minus pong tables. the yale boys were there - they get major points for demonstrating fantastic rage - including psi u style group singing, only they were singing to queen 'under pressure' and let us girls sing too, and singing to 'like a prayer' in the middle of a group of girls. absolutely fantastic. boxa was wasted and kept hip checking people in manner of pirahanaBITE!s, huyett was being followed by a sketchy italian, and i made out with a v. cute boy named justin for way too short of a time. sad. we made our way back up to the lower upper east side for pizza park and then to bed.

sat we enjoyed brunch at the ritz diner - i think we are now friends with them as we go there every weekend - then allette, huyett and i played with makeup in sephora, hit up the strand used bookstore and traipsed around union square for a bit. robin came in from brooklyn and we hung out with tunick in the whole foods, which we decided was the new collis.

went home early to get ready for the fiesta at mulley's.charlo spearheaded and dressed everyone with the semi-fancy attire for the party which turned out to be a brilliant idea and lots of fun - must do it again. rode the crosstown bus to mulley's and started celebrating. had a great turn out - v. snobby as the majority, if not all of the attendees were from ivy league schools and first-rate prep schools (third-rate, adj. definition: anything below the dignity of exonians. "so don't do it, it's definately third-rate" - any dean new dictionary of exeter language) but people from lots of walks of life. the yale boys represented again, coogan made an appearance (here's hoping we wind up in the alumni bulletin, ppocket naturally, megh, boxa and i were reunited with taylor who, if my inebriated memories don't mislead, i believe will be back in the city this coming weekend - looking forward to seeing more of her. littlechen put in an appearance - not entirely pleased with him for the fiasco that ensued post-party hmmm, and kintner! who had not seen in quite some time. some andover/cornell peeps as well. mulley had made me and boxa a cake, so we got to blow out candles, had delicious drinks that huyett whipped up (bacardi citron, sprite and cranberry maybe?) and lots of chatting and catching up. a fantastic time was had by all.

after a delicious brunch at the apt 27 fav, 7A (can you guess where in the city it is?) everyone departed - but was a total blast to have everyone around and we really MUST do it more often.

charlo and i rallied to go watch the oscar's at ally's. she has a tres chic apt on the upper east side (proper) and charlo and i were glad for a chance to be in on a mainstream television event since we miss everything else. (our dvd collection is growing by leaps and bounds however). a delightful, if exhausting, wknd.

awesome

haha - noticed the caption for this pic from the d late in the day - check it out. the guy has supposedly just removed a keg from the smokestack on campus. i love d. in my book, this sort of a prank beats anything MIT can come up with - even fully assembled airplanes on top of buildings. you have to admire d's dedication to rage. one can only hypothesize as to if it is the fabled golden keg post of xh/tdx keg race fame . . . ;-)

what is this, regional theater?

so am puttering around apt 27, cleaning and organizing before allette gets here and i come across the mail - which today includes a special surprise from ms. laurak - the wet hot american summer soundtrack! so hot right now. as she informs me - no actual soundtrack exists, but a dedicated fan tracked down all the songs to make the cd. love the lovely friends. and cannot believe that after all this time of worshiping whas hayden is still the only one of us that owns the actual movie, though laurak informs me she has ordered it. =)

aww friend - i certainly do miss you.

realized today that finals are coming up in htown - translation - must up the postings to keep up with people in need of procrastination on campus - ha ha. i always liked finals (aside from the stress and lack of sleep i mean) b/c normal behavior was suspended temporarily and it was okay to do whatever the hell you had to in order to survive the five days of torture. i call this the 'five cupcake theory of finals.' it's okay to eat five cupcakes in one sitting (i believe i did this frosh spring as was finishing paper of hell for LACS 1. boxa and i were big into the hostess cupcakes from topside, and she not only brought me MANY, she also edited my paper. she's a true friend) if that's what you have to do to get through.

and of course finals means final fairies (i don't think sd get's proper credit for starting this fantastic ritual btw) where those people lucky enough to be done with finals dress up like angels/devils and traipse through the library with shots for the poor unfortunate souls still studying. the thought of people streaming in and out of the women's bathroom on first floor berry still makes me laugh. =)

my hovercraft is full of eels

crike - this day is flying by. am feeling much better - thanks to all of you who have commented (au contraire ceppos - cody kept calling ME back! finish your art history paper) and offered happy messages in reference to my boo posts of late. how it got to be 1:30 i don't know. and thanks tres for cheering me up!

am so amused by the number of people that seem to associate me with 'rabbit rabbit'. jess just blitzed and mentioned it - (thanks darling for your message! made me smile), as did my friend from hs nicole. didn't realize it had made such an impression on people. i think at heart i like it mainly b/c it's a recognition of a new beginning and the passage of time. and also b/c it's kind of silly, and i'm somewhat superstious, and need all the luck i can get. tee hee hee.

on another note - i know some of you have asked me about this -i do not get up to blog at 5:30 am. (what do you think i'm getting paid for this?) i think the interface of this thing is on the west coast so it's three hours behind my computer clock. but if you want to go on praising me for my dedication and committment i won't complain.

thanks friends - love you all. =)

i don't wanna

ugh. desire nothing more than to lie in my bed, cozy like a bear, and eat chocolate and listen to cool 102. this day is going to be awful. am in such a bad mood given all the festivities ahead.

death and taxes

omg i hate this crap. have spent the last 4 and a half hours trying to figure out this stupid tax filing stuff. so obnoxious. i don't think there is any 'and' about the death/taxes thing. it's slowly killing me and charlo has had to listen to it. has put me in a horrible mood.

my dad was no help at all - he blitzed a month or so ago to tell me, "your mother will not be preparing your taxes this year so you had better get started." (this might give you some indication about what roles my parents play in their relationship) and then when i called in a fit he told me that if 10 different people did your taxes they would end up with 10 different answers and that i should marry an accountant. hmmm - not likely - but at times like this the idea is EXTREMELY tempting.

am so tired of all these growth experiences. in the words of storypeople, "i don't want another opportunity to learn and grow she said. i just want to eat crackers and watch oprah and pet my cat.' sadly - we have no cat - but there was a v. cute, fat one in the bodega when we went to get money for the indian food. a surrogate pet.

am in a v. bad mood. stomp stomp stomp.

snow!

yipee - it's snowing! this is the first snow i've seen in nyc - i've been elsewhere for every storm we've had thus far. i guess we're supposed to get a fair amt - am listening to cool 102 and it sounds like the cape is going to get hit pretty hard too. for the first time ever we have a window in our shower. just a little one, and it's high up - but it's nice to be showering and have sun, or rain or flurries close by. as close to an outdoor shower as you're going to get in nyc.

yesterday was ceppos's bday - hope they had fun last night - it sounded like some delightful plans were in the works. i was poking around the local blockbuster last night (ended up getting kissing jessica stein btw) and got a phone call from tay tay! she was still in nc, but will be back in the city this wknd and is looking fwd to joining in the bday festivities at mulley's. boxa and huyett are coming down tomorrow night (weather permitting) and the party is on sat. v. much looking fwd to the wknd.

have made everyone get on googlechat, which is good for keeping up with people, and bad for doing my work. i get a lot done still - and it's nice to have people a click away. =)

must get dressed for work!

happy day!

happy march everyone! i said rabbit rabbit - did you all? personally, i need all the luck i can get, which is why i subscribe to stupid superstitions that i learned about on nickelodeon 15 years ago. other people have confirmed it however, i would not still be saying it - haha.

so! blitz has miraculously returned to apt 27 - which ought to make the days until march 11 fly by (not that they don't already - but face it, we are all addicted to blitz). what a lovely surprise. now i can catch up on that correspondence i've been putting off and do my taxes! yay!

had a fantastic time with ally last night at absolute 4th in the west village. SUCH a cute place, and 2 for 1 specialty martinis. i was v. partial to the cotton candy martini (also had been dying to go there forever which made it that more satisfying) which came with cotton candy as a garnish. ooo i do like drinks that don't taste like alcohol. was delightful to catch up with ally as well, and we have some exciting plans in the mix. she's an upper east sider as well - so close by for partner-in-crime behavior. four martinis for 20 bucks. even the canoe club can't beat that. absolute 4th's the new go-to drinks place. ;-)