round up

here's what i'm thinking about this afternoon:

boy woes - no one would read this blog if i didn't throw a tidbit or two in here now and then.

• boy #1 - have hung out with him a couple times now - both times ending in me sleeping platonically in his bed. not sure what's going on here but if sleeping is all i'm doing in a bed i'm going to do it in my own apt. do have to acknowledge, however, that boxa sent me a great postcard awhile back that says 'damn right i'm good in bed - i can sleep for days'. amen.
  

• boy #2 - have what i would consider great chemistry, enjoy hanging out/talking to each other and we're doing it more and more, but he continues to tell me how many dates he's going on, how he just wants to go to places to meet girls, etc. meanwhile i just want him to ask me out dammit. he just broke up with his fiancee, so i suppose it's not only to be expected, and it's not something i want to get myself into right now, but at the same time - irritated. i am greatly enjoying the verbal jousting and flitzing though.
  

charleston

had a great time down in south carolina for an extended long weekend. ended up with some warmer than expected weather (75!) and actually got a bit of a tan, which was a nice reminder that spring is on its way eventually. it's funny to watch your parents interact with their parents and to see the pictures on the wall of your parents before they were your parents. my grandparents have a picture of my mom with long hair, wearing foul weather gear and drinking a beer on the deck of their sailboat the 'cygnet' from back in the day. kept looking at that picture while i was there and being reminded that our parents had their own hopes, dreams and plans before we came along.

my dad has just gotten an itouch and in typical 'man in the yellow fleece' behavior, kept looking for wifi EVERYWHERE we went so he could check email and send pictures. this ranged from the outdoor market downtown (no), dinner on sun night (yes thanks to the hotel across the street), to the seafood market in mccleanville, sc across the dirt road from the shrimp boats 50 miles north of charleston (no. they hadn't even heard of wifi). his go to location was the dock across the street from my grandparents house (the neighbors wifi came across the pond).

my dad is also super conservative, as is my grandfather, so there was a lot of of fox business watching, price of gold and the alarming trends in the stock market discussion, and reading of laura bush's autobiography and 'the fourth turning', or 'what the cycles of history tell us about america's next rendezvous with destiny' (hint: it's not good). really made me feel more optimistic about the state of the world let me tell you.

other

• loving that it's lighter out later. and daylight savings in 3 weeks!

• toenail polish color of the moment: escapades

• listening to: 'we are the people' - empire of the sun, 'never gonna leave this bed' - maroon five, and '(sitting on) the dock of the bay' - otis redding (see aforementioned wifi scenario)

in the words of a girl i used to babysit, 'that's enough'. going shopping for spring shoes to match the spring dresses i bought this wknd. it is not too early for peep toe shoes in my opinion.

(sitting on) the dock of the bay

My grandparents' dock on Hobcaw Creek - Mt. Pleasant, SC

lowcountry

The Lowcountry (official spelling, sometimes spelled Low Country or just lowcountry) is a geographic and cultural region located along South Carolina's coast. The region includes the South Carolina Sea Islands. Once a location that was known for its agricultural wealth, the Lowcountry today is internationally renowned for its historic cities and communities, its natural beauty, and its unique cultural heritage, which have attracted millions of visitors and thousands of new residents. - wikipedia

charleston bound tomorrow! :)

winter carnival 2011: we laughed, we cried, we threw up

a word to the wise: this post is going to be an entirely gushy 'i love sigma delt so much' post, so if you're not in the mood, i would suggest skipping it.

winter carnival was a total blast. the air was clean, there was snow everywhere and the oobleck light was on in baker tower. (some people call this the money light, but those people have never read 'bartholomew and the oobleck'). there was also just a general feeling of excitement - main street was bustling and winter activities were happening it was winter carnival. it's always been my favorite big weekend maybe because it is so unassuming. hard to say.

spent most of the weekend at sigma delt, but i did get up at 7:30 to go register for club officers weekend and listen to a presentation on athletics. did you know that dartmouth has 34 varsity teams, while the average division 1 school has 19? i didn't. i also took a student to eat (aka TASTE) at molly's. it's a program that connects alums with current students who have similar academic, activities or career interests. was enjoying my role as 'older and wiser and sketchier' alum and had a great time chatting with a bg '11 about life, dartmouth and the real world.

the rest of the time i was in the basement. sd had a nascar party on sat afternoon - they ordered $570 worth of kfc for the occasion. kfc is good under normal circumstances. after playing pong for six hours it is AMAZING. there was also a jaguar parked in the parking lot that didn't work. sigma delt hasn't really changed.

sd is switching over to the full size frat tables in order to compete in masters, so my game was a little off, but it was a blast to play and hang out with the girls. i think the best thing about it was that i think my '05 - '07 sigma delt friends would be friends with the current sd undergrads - something that makes me really happy. at one point we raided the flare closet in the library ala our mlk trip several years ago and played pong decked out in our flare finery. i was wearing striped green and white tights that i dubbed my 'witches of eastwick tights'. ended up sleeping in them b/c i didn't want to take them off.

sd has a new $3k speaker system, so we rocked out to 'like a prayer' and 'it's all coming back to me now' was a religious experience, but in true sd fashion, the music had been erased by accident the day before, so we heard a lot of the same glee and katy perry songs. had a fantastic fantastic time hanging out, but it always must be said that wasn't the same without the usual suspects. the setting is, the smell is, the tables are, but the people that should be running down the stairs to be a fourth are missing. totally crashing the '06-'08 10 year reunion! i would also like to note that some kids were playing pong to 'climb every mountain' of 'sound of music' fame around 2 am on sunday morning. at first i thought this was a mistake but no - they really wanted to be listening to that.

buying sd cases of beer to be delivered tomorrow by stinson's for meetings b/c i kept trying to buy them beer to no avail over the weekend. least i can do to say thank you for welcoming me back, being super awesome and letting me rage like i was an undergrad instead of an about to be 28 year old with a job and apt in nyc. that's pretty much priceless.

sosososososo much sd love.

oh the places it snows

hello friends! my mind is very much focused on dartmouth these days (who are we kidding - when is it not?) partly because winter carnival weekend is upon us, and partly b/c i'm running around doing dartmouth stuff for the d club.

the dartmouth/yale hockey game last weekend was a blast. really fun to put on the dartmouth gear and go and cheer. we had great seats in the dartmouth visitors section, with the exception of this stupid yale fan who was clearly misguided as he felt he needed to yell obnoxious things at the dartmouth team while surrounded by dartmouth alums. sadly d did not prevail, but it was a lot of fun, though i was swearing an awful lot to be in a family-type environment.

tonight's the dartmouth winter carnival party in nyc - expecting a good turnout for that and i've made what i consider to be a kick-ass playlist. was asking my brother if he used the pandora app on his i touch b/c it's good for parties. his response: too bad every playlist i've ever made is better than any pandora shuffle. hands down. (i'm inclined to agree).

heading to hanover on friday night for winter carnival and club and affiliated group officers wknd (CAGOW). haven't been to wc in a couple of years and it's my favorite big weekend so really looking forward to it. sadly celeste won't be able to accompany me, but we're planning another trip for the spring. link to my blog post a couple years ago summarizing the winter carnival themes of the last 30 years here.

am attempting to stop being so lazy and be more disciplined - aka get out of bed before 8:30 am every day and get to work earlier - so i have to stop dawdling and get dressed but a quick twitter run down:

• just purchased my verizon iphone. hope it gets to my office b/c it wouldn't let me ship to a company so i selected 'residence' and made my company name the first name. time will tell.

• txtfln: (716): Some guy stole lobsters by hiding them in his pants. We should strive to be like him.

• feb 5th was my four year anniversary at nbc. hard to believe it's been so long - i've had a lot of different roles - but wow.

• bought my ticket to southern cali for diana's bachelorette in may. the weekend is being held at one of her friend's beach house in newport beach. super psyched to hang out!

• my brother on a presentation he gave at work: 'presentation was on the ge harmony topload washer. it went well but i talk too quickly for kentucky.'

• my old coworker on winter/groundhog day: 'the groundhog is going to run for cover. the groundhog is going to shi*t his pants.'

• 'i'm not a writer but i do write.' - read this on someone else's blog and i really like the concept. i've explored my thoughts on writing on the blog ad nauseum, but this seems to sum it up very well.

• PATIENCE, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue. - ambrose bierce 'the devil's dictionary'

lastly, will leave you with the lyrics of a dartmouth song that i've had stuck in my head for the last couple days called 'dartmouth undying':

Dartmouth there is no music for our singing
No words to bear the burden of our praise
Yet how can we be silent and remember the splendor and the fullness of her days

Who can forget her soft September sunsets
Who can forget those hours that passed like dreams
The long cool shadows floating on the campus
The drifting beauty where the twilight streams

Who can forget her sharp and misty mornings
The clanging bells, the crunch of feet on snow
Her sparkling noons and crowding into Commons
The long white afternoons, the twilight glow

See, by the light of many thousand sunsets
Dartmouth undying like a vision starts
Dartmouth the gleaming, dreaming walls of Dartmouth
Miraculously builded in our hearts

valentine's day special

february! i said rabbit rabbit today - did you?

am strangely excited for valentine's day. strangely b/c there are no special people in sight, just, as julie fiedler used to say 'lots of unspecial people' around. but i'm still excited. i think it's because i like red and pink and candy and flowers and the feeling of love in the air. and it seems to warm up february a bit.

and of course this february is better than last february because we are not dealing with the emotional trauma of the olympics this time around. in fact, rowena and are planning to go out on valentine's day to celebrate 1. it not being the olympics and 2. because our 'true loves are out there and they can go f themselves'. (thank you someecards).

had a delightful last couple of days - caught up with cody and ceppos last thursday for some lobster mac and cheese at 'nolita house' and hot toddies at 'puck fair'. friday night had a former coworker/fun people who like to hang out happy hour that turned in to multiple hours when we went to 'cherry hill tavern' and had beacoup $5 PBR and whiskey shots. dragged myself out of bed on saturday morning to represent the dartmouth alumni association of nyc at an ice skating event in central park. put on the dartmouth sweatshirt and headed over to ice skate. that was something i've been wanting to do in nyc for, and it was fun to meet some new people and talk dartmouth. hadn't ice skated in a good long while - maybe since the freshman crew team went on occom pond many years ago - but it all seemed to come back pretty quick despite the intoxicated/still drunk state and it was a perfect day for ice skating and enjoying central park in winter.

sat afternoon i continued my winter sport day by playing flag football in the snow on the west side. i'm excited to play more flag football in the upcoming weeks - really enjoying it, but was so tired/feeling miserable from friday night i had to go to bed soon after football ended and did not make it out on sat night. woke up feeling like the world was my oyster on sunday morning for brunch with celeste and then to go drink again while holding down the duke fort for vin at the duke/st. john's bball game at madison square garden. sad to say duke lost but enjoyed the atmosphere and the game and the beer!

having a mini winter carnival of sorts this weekend when i head up to new haven for a weekend of pong at lamb's in new haven. the current plan is to play 3 games of harbour - which means in my mind that there is a 30% chance of death. we're also going to see the dartmouth/yale hockey game on sat night (i guess see is a relative term given the drinking plans). yale is currently ranked #1 in the nation - so it should be a good game - and looking forward to putting in some 3rd period hockey game facetime.

lots of good things/fun times ahead and a happy birthday to will!