Juice worth the squeeze.

Pun totally intended. The weekend was full of ups and downs...and blood?

Let me start from the beginning as to not confuse my passionate followers...

This past weekend were our last two races of the fall season. Bittersweet, but not as much as it will be in the spring where I'll have to bawl my eyes out on the dock as I give my senior speech along with the other rowers getting ready to graduate next semester. God, I don't even wanna think about it.

Our first race was last Saturday. We're usually known for taking this invitational regatta home with us considering many of our team's boats blow shit out of the water. Granted, it's only a 1500 meter sprint and we're not usually competing against several teams. Just a few. But we try not to go into this race being all high and mighty because that's where karma sets in and we end up not doing so hot if we think like that. Plus, I was still assuming that the hosting team of this race still had those big, giant, Central European women recruits that freak out when there are free bagels and cream cheese being offered to the athletes before races begin. They are realllllly good. The giants, I mean. The Central European giants are really good at rowing. My first race was in the Women's Varsity 4. We didn't do so hot, letting Sarah Lawrence walk us (which never, EVER happens) but you win some and you lose some. Considering the circumstances, we put that race behind us and concentrated on the Women's Varsity 8 race. We were only going up against the hosting team, Dowling College. Yeah, the team with the big, European giant bagel eaters.

The mystical cystical was still around. Kinda trying to show itself off through my uni and racing shirt. Kinda embarrassing. I tried to not let it bother me during my race, making sure my spandex weren't laying directly on top of it, forcing me to row in agony and pain. I was going into my last chance at getting gold at Dowling, something I was never able to do in the past. I, along with other members of the rowing team, believed that this 8 was solid, strong, and pretty fucking fast. I remember my friend Boober Muff Dive (still, actual nickname is pending) saying in a somewhat Valley Girl accent, "I like really wanna medal." So the biffle nugget Kay Flay and I kinda went into the 8 race with the same mindset. We knew how capable our boat was of beating Dowling.

A majority of the 8 boat consisted of, ironically, novice rowers. Newbie boat nuggets that never sprinted 1500 meters on the water before. Me, Kayla, our coxswain Tor, and a freshman recruit were hot-seating the novice 8 that was coming back to the dock*
*Hot-seating is a term that means a few of the rowers who are in a boat that is coming back from a race are racing again and some are switching out. The people switching out with different ones coming in are hot-seating. Smell what I'm steppin' in?


The novice 8 came back with gold. Okay, okay, maybe we really do have a chance at getting me, Kayla, and Tor, the only senior females on the team, a gold medal. We rowed up to the start and before I knew it we were jumping off the starting line at a rate of 40 strokes a minute. I've never did a start at such a HIGH rate. Not even at practice when we rowed in the boat together did we get that high. We were running on pure adrenaline at this point. And when we settled into a pace, that was even high too...between 34 and 36 strokes a minute. Shit son.

It seemed like we were neck and neck the entire time with Dowling, with us being a little farther up then them. I coulda swore their bow ball (the end of their boat) was lined up with my seat (I sat 5 seat, which is in the middle of the boat). Someone caught a crab in the bow but we got it together within a stroke and still kept a slim lead ahead of them. Tor called the finish sprint early just in case Dowling pulled some shit outta their back pocket and decide to walk us (pass us) at the finish. We turned it on and beat them. I got my medal. It only took 4 years. During the middle of the race, my oar knocked into the mystical cystical, which hurt. Did it pop? I didn't care because like my title said, the juice was TOTALLY worth the squeeze. I couldn't have won my last Dowling race if it weren't for the amazing calls Tor did to make sure we stayed ahead the entire time, and the girls who pulled their fucking hearts out. Thank you all :)

Seniors finally get medals :)

Women's Varsity 8 champs <3

 My biffle nugget's dad flew in from Minnesota to see her race and he filmed the whole race, which was good because I'd like to see how we looked up against the not so big, giant Central European giants. I think they all graduated. Or their VISAs expired. Also, we made the Dowling coxswain cry. Also, our coaches said that was the first time a Varsity 8 beat Dowling. Good on us!

Cheaaahh

Not only did we leave with gold medals, we also won the most Women's Points, making Women's Rowing Champs at Dowling. The head coach, Bob Saget look-a-like, said it was the first time the women's team won the most points and he was really happy to know he can hang that plaque up in his office.






The next day was Fall Mets. Our fall season home race. We host it at the island we practice at. Since its uber crowded every year, the crooks don't come out for it. Good. Tougher competition = woof. Teams like Army, Fordham, Sacred Fart, and our arch nemesis Fairfield are some of the tough teams to beat. Despite our losses, our 4 did beat Sarah Lawrence this time. We made a few changes to the line-up, which worked out so much better. I'm sure our team will come back harder, better, faster, stronger...maybe minus the harder part. Long, wooden shafts don't really get me excited during a race, ya know ;)

It was great to see some graduate biddies who I've rowed in the past. It was great to see so many families come out to support us. And the food? Well, let's just say we were living like kings at these races. Thank you to the parents for the wonderful grub and support :)

That night, after checkin' out the spiffy sun burn/wind burn cheekers I got from the weekend of sun, cold, and salt water, I got me some Red Mango fro-yo (3 days in a row is NOT ok) with Boober Muff Dive then we went back to my place to watch some ridiculous old movies.

We watched Tart & Saved!, some of the many weirdo movies I own. We got great quotage outta those movies.

So you know how I mentioned how the weekend was full of blood as well? Yeah, well last night during movie night I went to go pee and the bandage I had over the mystical cystical was kinda gross. I eventually became brave enough to take the bandage off and saw the bubonic plague. Grody. I called a hospital in Bronxville, one that was probably nicer, cleaner, and more efficient at treating people well during emergencies, than the one I went to the first time I saw problems with the cyst.

I went to the ER with my friend Herm who came with. I was the first one there so I only waited for about ten minutes before being seen by a physician's assistant. The hospital was clean and the people kind. After waiting for thirty minutes the doctor came in, took a look, then went to draining the little fucker. But she didn't give me a local anesthetic so I felt. all. of. the. pain. With each squeeze, I teared more and more. Then she squeezed it really hard and I let out a whimper. Like fucking Bambi. I thought I could withstand pain but I got pretty dizzy so she laid me down while a nurse came in to clean the wound and put some gauze and shit on it. I was outta there an hour later. It doesn't hurt anymore, and the swelling went down. Let's just hope my stomach is back to normal soon. At least I got a gold medal out of all of this.

Holla!

As the world spin and dance in my hands, life is a beach I'm just playin' in the sand

I'd like to consider yesterday something to be excited about. Not so much for me because I apparently didn't know about yesterday until a week prior to yesterday. I used the word "yesterday" 3 times so far, 4 if you counted this sentence I'm typing now. Rapper Lil Wayne was released from Rikers Island Prison in New York. The 28-year old phenom was sentenced to twelve months for criminal weapon possession. The rapper's real name is Dwayne Carter and he served a similar sentence back in 2007 after a gun was found on his tour bus. Tisk Tisk, Weezy. He was released two months early for this recent sentence and rumors were that he went to Miami to celebrate last night.

I wonder if my name is somewhere in dem tatz.

My clown town friends who live on Fifth decided to throw a Weezy's Out of Jail Party at their humble abode. Wow. Any excuse to have a party I guess. But then again, I do enjoy this rapper. He has many a good tune to jam to. I, unfortunately, don't know the lyrics to his songs verbatim (unlike my apprentice who spits out his rhymes while simultaneously watching a game of beer pong. I bet she can even do this while she does laundry, washes dishes, runs a marathon, row a 5k, knits a sweater, etc.). What's so funny about this is that she can do this and make it seem like she's having a conversation with someone. I guess you have to see it to understand but we were spectating the pong game and she was rapping to Lil Wayne's "A Milli", making it seem like she was having a conversation with me. I died on the inside. Greatness.

Listen listen listen! "A Milli"
Great Mashup to this tune: "Viva La Milli" - Coldplay vs. Lil Wayne
I looked through my iPod Kramer to see what jams I had by Weezy. I had quite a few. I don't listen to them often but I reminisced about "Hot Revolver." I thoroughly enjoy that :) "Hot Revolver"

Since we're talking about all things Weezy-related, I remember when I was a frosh nugget, there was this kid I saw around campus with dreads just like Weezy. He wore one of those gigantic baseball-type caps. My suitemate was OBSESSED with this kid. He now plays on the basketball team, dreads no more :( His head looks a lot smaller withouth them. Meh.

This is gonna sound bad but I'm kinda inspired to walk around my house or maybe even campus (if I was THAT bored) with a styrofoam cup of "drank" and trip on campus. Maybe jam out to Lil Wayne songs on my pod. I'll just have to wait to do that when and if he goes to jail again. Congrats, Young Carter.

OVERWHELMING SIDENOTE
Haven't done a sidenote in a while. I'm covering for a friend in the office this morning. I have to answer phones, update this thing, run errands around campus (hopefully not today, it's cold out wahh), goof off on the computer, etc. I got a call today from some student (sounded like an older woman) who said she was graduating this spring and wanted more information on what she had to do and what not. I put her on hold and asked the Administrative Assistant who told me that information hasn't been mailed out yet. I told the woman that and then I guess I slightly mentioned something about senior portraits. She asked where she can get more info on that and I told her they happened two weeks ago. She got really irritated (but not at me, as she said, "Okay, I'm not aggravated with you but...") and sorta vented to me and asked me if it was wrong of her to be pissed and of course I felt super fucking uncomfortable at this point and all I wanted to do was give her a fucking fax number of where she can fax some document all graduates need to submit soon. Woof. I forgot what it was like to work up here.

Mystical cystical.

The fuck? There's nothing mystical about a cyst. I've been coming to terms that I lost my shit last weekend. And I knew that going into this week, it'd be rough. But so far, I've managed to get a new phone in the mail, my spare car key sent from home, new keys for the house, a temporary license e-mailed to me, and my new cards are on the way. But if my cookies couldn't get any soggier, I have to deal with the cyst on my tummy.*
*I almost forgot to mention another stolen item from last Saturday. I borrowed A/P/G's phone Tuesday afternoon to get ahold of a detective that wanted to ask me further questions about my stolen items. Apparently he tried to contact me via biffle nugget and mother. He wanted to know, for some odd reason, the serial number for my stolen mobile device. I figured I could find this out from my camera after my mom told me to take a picture of it for my records considering I was mailing the serial number and the portion of the box it was on into the rebate center, which I did weeks ago. I went to go look for my camera in my room when I realized that too was in my bag that was taken out of my friend's car at practice. Wow. When shit couldn't have gotten any worse. I had a mini freak-out sesh in the apt where my friend didn't know how to console me. I couldn't blame her. I wanted to break something/cry/whine/call my mom/curb stomp whoever stole our stuff in the first place.

I first noticed this nugget planet under my belly button when I was in Oz. Since I was younger I have been prone to getting these on my arms and one on my leg. My mom was worried so had me get them removed as to not have them turn into anything malignant. I'm sure they weren't but they would still come until they reached a hiatus for a short time. I got one on my arm and it was close to the surface of my skin so it hurt pretty bad if anyone ever poked me there or I was lathering up in the showah. I got it removed and it left me with a saturn-shaped scar on the side of my arm. It's a conversation starter just like the little "critters" or "boats" on my right arm. Since I do crew, it only makes sense that they are boats and I have two scars near each other so it looks like they're racing, with my wrist being the finish line...my boat always wins :)

But this one on my tum tum recently had been hurting and was kinda getting big. I didn't think much of it last week until it was starting to hurt more and more this week. It started looking like a fluid-filled sac. I freaked out and made an appointment at the Health Services center near campus. After people-watching the student receptionist as she laughed at pictures on Facebook (What? I had to keep myself preoccupied while I didn't have a phone to surf the Web with at the time), they told me I had to go to the ER and to get it drained.

God bless you? The marble under my belly button needs to be drained? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize my body was giving birth to an alien. And I was gearing myself up for yet another scar...awesome. What would suck is that if that did happen, I would've been stuck with a C-section type scar and I didn't even get fucking pregnant. But after waiting in the ER waiting room for an hour and a half, the physician's assistant who looked at it said, "It's not ready yet...It's not angry."

Huh?

"You see, it's still hard underneath. I don't wanna drain it. I'm so sorry (as she's pinching the 2cm planet )."
- "It's ok."
"I'm gonna put you on some antibiotics for two weeks. And put hot compresses on it as well. The heat and antibiotics will help the cyst drain on its own internally."

Is that supposed to leak out of my ass? Christ.

I shoulda knew what a hot compress was before I attempted to give myself third degree burns. Tuesday night I came home from Tor Tor's birthday celebwashun and wanted to put something hot on my tummy. I took this small washcloth outta the bathroom and chucked it into the microwave for 60 seconds while I took a piss in the bathroom. Upon my return to the kitchen, my roommate proceeds to go to the kitchen and ask, "What'd you burn?" curiously. When I took it out, there were three burning holes in it and it was smoking. I'm sooo smart, aren't I? Guess a hot compress is like a damp washcloth that's been heated or placed in warm water, then placed on the aching muscle or in my case, explosive-looking cystical area of the body.

I just really hope the swelling goes down. Wahhhhh. It hurts like a mofo.

And it didn't help that when I went to work the next day I was lethargic as fuck and got some 'tude from an employee. What a cunt. I remember seeing her around the office over the summer. Even then she had a stank ass look on her face. Does smiling make you break out in hives? Is that why you don't do it? Jeeez. This is how work went downnn yesterday at the job I like the least compared to my fun people-watching, socializing job at the student union :)
The kind lady who sits at the front row of desks that take care of student needs asked me in the back if I could fold some boxes for her. She was really appreciative of the help I was giving her. Mind you, I was doing this in the back in an empty cubicle which was right next to the crabployee. I'll call her...hmmm...tough one. Mean Slacks is coming to mind. She was wearing work trousers and was kinda mean when she spoke to me. While I was folding probably my fifth box, she comes around the corner to my cubicle and stands there. Not until I look up at her she says, "I can't take it anymore."*
*I kinda wish I responded how my roommate responded to co-workers at her job a few weeks ago: "I'm sorry but that's just how you are."

For a split second I thought she was gonig to vent to me about how much she hates her job (I mean, who wouldn't...not only do I hear the employees complain about that office but so do the students that come through it). But then I realized she would never vent to me about her problems. Christ I'm glad. "Oh, the noise?" I ask. "Yeah, I-I can't stand it. Can you like go up there and do that?" I paused to take in what she said to me. Then kinda looked up and was like "Uh. Sure."

"Thanks," she said, "I'm sorry." I picked up the cardboard to go fold them in the break room, where I was squished in a corner. Later on, I saw her getting paper jammed in the shredder. I knew how to unjam it but I didn't say anything. What I should have said was, "I can't take it anymore."

Sportgraphics.

I just spent the last twenty minutes laughing and slightly crying at the pictures taken at our race in Boston a few weeks ago. A company called Sportgraphics goes to several regattas throughout the year and takes photos of all the boats racing. Rowing papparazzi heaven. It's also the site where we can all gather 'round and revel in the embarrassing, hiliarious, and angry faces people make in the boats. Physical exertion never looked so good.

Here is the link to the site. https://www.sportgraphics.com/
If you know anyone who rows, what race, and what event they were in, then I'm sure you'll find dirt on them here.

"Fuck you" remix

I'm still bitter about my stuff getting stolen this past weekend. Reason being because of how TEDIOUS it is to get shit sorted out with banks, cell phone companies, and the worst...the DMV. I didn't realize how tough it was for someone to get a temporary licesense, or even better, have their phonecall taken after being on hold/transferred fifteen times just to get a supervisor's voicemail. How many people's cell phones do I need to borrow before being told, "Mmm, yeah, you can do that," or "That's not possible," or "You have to be in the state in order to receive more information." I've been on the brink of wanting to cry alll fucking day and it's only the early afternoon.

I blew shit out of the water on my last 5k erg test of my collegiate rowing career and final fall season. But still, the stresses of being a victim of theft are making it difficult to realize my success from earlier. It was even a shame to hear about a friend of a friend who was attacked this past weekend, being a victim of theft and violence. The people in this world make me so upset sometimes. The shit that people will go to lengths to do just to score whatever money they can get for God knows what is so pathetic. I wish I was an Avatar where money is not involved in living peacefully and one with nature.

In relation to my bitterness, I was listening to Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You," on my walk to campus (my keys including my car key was in the bag that the fuckers took so I have to wait for mom to overnight my key to me). If I had to say something to the people who stole from my friends and I, it would be that song. However, I would've sang different lyrics. Saying that, I got out of my class early today and went to the library to bullshit and get information on the things I needed to replace. The bullshit included writing my own version to "Fuck You."

The lyrics are as follows... (and here is the instramental version of the song so you can sing along to it)
Cee-Lo Green "Fuck You" (Instramental)

[I see you used my credit card with my shit you stole and i'm like,
Fuck you!
Oo, oo, ooo

I guess the change in my pocket was what you wanted and so,
Fuck you!
And fuck your friend,
who helped you steal, right outta our cars, ha now that’s fucked up (that’s so fucked up!). Now I have no phone and my money is gone so I say...
Fuck you!
Oo, oo, ooo]

You should be sorry, you broke my window, and rolled it up in the backseat. You pried into another car, took our bags, and my favorite Hello Kitty keychain.

I pity the fool that did this shit to us
(oh shit you’re an asshole)
Well
(just thought you should know, douche). Ooooooh
I've got some news for you,
yeah the cops are on your ass so haha.

[I see you used my credit card with my shit you stole and i'm like,
Fuck you! Oo, oo, ooo
I guess the change in my pocket
was what you wanted and so,
Fuck you!
And fuck your friend,
who helped you steal, right outta our cars, ha now that’s fucked up (that’s so fucked up!). Now I have no phone and my money is gone so I say...Fuck you! Oo, oo, ooo]



You probably waited, until we were gone, to go to town on all our stuff.
 We looked around but you bounced. 'Cause you pathetic, stupid, and weak.

I pity the fool that did this shit to us
(oh shit you’re an asshole)
Well
(just thought you should know douche)
Ooooooh
I've got some news for you: I really wanna beat yo ass right now

[I see you used my credit card with my shit you stole and i'm like,
Fuck you!
Oo, oo, ooo
I guess the change in my pocket
was what you wanted and so,
Fuck you!
And fuck your friend,
who helped you steal, right outta our cars, ha now that’s fucked up (that’s so fucked up!). Now I have no phone and my money is gone so I say...
Fuck you!
Oo, oo, ooo]



Now please, please, please explain to me why y'all are such douchebags? (douchebags, douchebags, douchebags). We did some good deeds and helped clean up but y'all still done took our bags (our bags, our bags, our bags).
Uh! Whhhy? Uh! Whhhy? Uh! Whhhy assholes? Oh! I hate you. Oh! You took my favorite keychain! Oooh!

[I see you used my credit card with my shit you stole and i'm like,
Fuck you!
Oo, oo, ooo
I guess the change in my pocket
was what you wanted and so,
Fuck you!
And fuck your friend,
who helped you steal, right outta our cars, ha now that’s fucked up (that’s so fucked up!). Now I have no phone and my money is gone so I say...
Fuck you!
Oo, oo, ooo]



It's not as great as the original but it gets my point across. This week I'm gonna have to pray my butt off that I'll survive it without losing my shit (mental shit).

The bottom of the barrel.

When I thought the weekend would only get better...after a long, arduous, stress-filled week (then again, when is it not?)...shit gets real. Like really bad.

Friday - do the Haunted House thinger with a majority of the team (great turnout btw). Got scared by zombies, clowns, and serial killers (everyone, including myself needs a good scared scream once in a while). Got woken up by drunken baffoons running through my house. Eavesdropped on said baffoons before going back to sleep (which wasn't until they left).

Saturday - woke up for an early morning practice with the whole team. Saturdays are the only times when the entire team can practice at the same time. We also were going to clean up the island as our community service project, a ritual we do every year. It sucks but giving back to the community is rather nice and should make people feel good about themselves...until people decide to break into people's cars and steal shit. Yeah. Steal. Like take from you without you knowing. See ya later, wallet!

What sucks is that we didn't realize this happened until we were done giving back to the community (Gee, thanks soooo much. I clean up the island, I picked up crack vials, dirty condoms, cans of beer, and cigarette butts to come back to cars that were broken into. Nice). This is how it went downnnn...

We were on the water by 7:20am at the latest. We didn't get off the water until around 10am. We had a team breakfast, shared some laughs, then proceeded to clean up the island. We did that for about an hour. We were getting ready to leave and my friend Tor notices something about her boyf's car that she drove to practice that morning. I thought maybe there was bird shit on there and the bird took a huge dump. But then I noticed her passenger side window was open. I got confused then came over and saw what she saw. No window. It was actually rolled up and put in the back of the car. Her purse missing. What. The. Fuck.

She notices one of our coach's cars too. The passenger side window wasn't there either. Pieces of glass everywhere. And her purse was gone as well. Fuck. The team comes over and sees the mess. Another teammate and I see a guy who was getting his boat and putting it onto some sort of trailer latched to his truck. We figured we could go ask him if he saw anything because clearly this shit happened when none of us were there. He said he didn't see anything and what not. We head back over and some people are surrounding my biffle nugget's car. I assume they were checking her car as well. But none of the windows were bashed in. They were looking in her car. Our friend who we pick up for practice looks in the backseat and her shit is gone. I go over to the passenger side and my friend is looking at the lock that is pried into underneath. My drawstring bag isn't there. Wow.

Anxiety, frustration, and this weird feeling of overwhelmedness comes over me. My heart kinda stops but I really didn't know what to think at this point. My shit was gone. Along with three other people's things. My phone (which I only had for a month and 3 days, along with the memory card that held soo many saved pictures and videos), my wallet (with my driver's license, school ID, credit card, debit card, and twenty six dollars in cash), and my keys (house keys, car key, pepper spray, and really spiffy Hello Kitty keychain and my kangaroo bottle opener). Other items of little importance included a mix cd I made for my apprentice boober buggy (still, a legitimate nickname is pending...but I was thinking about Boober Toes...she said no) and this new chapstick I bought*.
*both items come with a funny story: the mix cd I made was for said friend but the night before when we were going to the haunted house, I was listening to it in Noner's car. He asked if he could keep it until the  morning and I said no because I was gonna give it to the boober. Ironically, Noner's took the boober to practice Saturday morning and she knew I was in his car the night before and asked him if her mix cd was in here. Boom roasted. I suck. The chapstick: my biffle nugget bought the same kind before and I kept using it like a child so I finally bought my own. I only had that thing for like a week. Damn.

I called my parents with my friend's phone and told them what happend. They called my banks to freeze my accounts and reported my phone stolen. My other friends who had shit stolen called their banks and checked for fraudulent activity. Both of their cards were charged for four hundred plus dollhairs at the LIRR in Jamaica, Queens at around 8:30am. Wow, the fuckers moved fast. I found out today my debit card was charged for the nearly the same amount. Neat?

A cop came for us to fill out police reports or whatever. He told us that these incidences happened before in the same area as well as in other parks/public places...before the boober asked him if he's ever used his tazer. She got to know him rather well and the while being a supportive tit waiting around with us.

All I wanted to do was cry. My shit was taken. I thought back on things I did recently and wondered if I did anything remotely worth some bad karma. Who knows. I still don't know. I didn't cry until I got to Verizon with Tor, we drove in the car, air whipping my hair back considering there was no window to roll up since it was bashed in. I was becoming extremely overwhelmed with the fact that my shit was taken and I don't have anything to my name aside from my iPod (that I thanked Jesus I didn't put in my bag that morning. I usually bring my iPod with me wherever I go. Losing Kramer would've been the end of me). And this was pretty much the icing on the cake after my hard drive conked out weeks ago. Mind you, I'm using my roommate's other laptop. I am so greatful for her generosity and help. Love ya, Gi.

I got home from Verizon, cried a bit to Gi (while in my Hello Kitty bathrobe wrap-around thinger), showered, took a sleepy time pill with a LARGE glass of wine. I teared up during an episode of True Life: I'm Ending My Marriage before I napped for four hours in my deep depressed state. I woke up to scratching on my door from the biffle nug. I told her to come in as I still lay on my death bed. She asked me if I wanted to grab dinner with her, Frump, and Noners and that she wanted to buy me dinner. I didn't have to pay her back. She didn't want me to spend the rest of my night in such a sad and upset mood.

My guard fell down as per usual and she saw me cry. I told how frustrated I was and that this happening was just adding to the domino-effect senior year I was having. I can't even begin to describe how this semester has been panning out so far. Some highs but along with those came some awfully lowly lows. Woof times a million.

She put me in good spirits and persuaded me to resurrect from the dead. I got ready, drinking what was left in my wine glass. We got some grub, which I was mostly definitely needed considering I replaced lunch with a pain killer and two glasses of some yummy white. Ehh, not good. We had to stop at Target to get her boyf a quick costume. I started to feel hungover. In Target. At 8 at night. Pathetic. I didn't even go out yet nor did I have a costume. We came home, and Gi had some Girl Scout vests...hence, my Halloween costume was born(ed). I would be a drunk Girl Scout, my flask of vodka included. My goal was to earn my Drinking Badge that night and I must say that I did.

The rest of the night got my mind off of all the shit that happened hours earlier. I know they say everything happens for a reason but does that mean things get stolen for a reason too? Who knows. The Halloween party we went to was fun, but crowded. Packed to the brim with people, most of whom I didn't know. I was with good company and saw many of those friends who I haven't seen in a long time, let alone partied with. There were some great costumes as well. Hours go by and we trek to my friend Michelle's apartment, fail at teaching people to play Boom!, and frequent the McDoodle's yet again. I got shit on for my Delawarian accent (haome, phaone, & begal) as well. Great night overall with some really funny peeps. I even ended up going home with three guys at 3:30 in the morning. But hey now, let's not jump the gun and assume I made a sex tape. They crashed at my place after drinking heaps.

And I must say it was great to come back from my run this morning to see Tor's boyf in his boxers walking from my kitchen with my leopard-print snuggie on in full force. Greatness.

Totes McGotes.

I really couldn't tell you (or who ever is reading this) how this week has been. Granted I've been posting random shit on here pretty much all day err day, I've been stressin' out the ying yang. Maybe the fact that my iPod has been glued to my ears the whole week (like all weeks) makes being in the library on a Friday afternoon not too shabby. It's the only way I can get work done. For serious. My laptop, remember that? Yah, its dunzo.

Just some things that have come to mind...

• I still jimp (jizz in mah pantz) when I hear "Gallery Piece" by Of Montreal click dis and listen
• I still lose my shit when "Down River" comes on. Great concert click dis and listen
• A giraffe called me last night after she mysteriously hurt her toe. She didn't know what to do with a gushing toe. I told her to elevate it. Or wrap it up and worry about it in the morning. Mind you, we were both in a state of...contentment? (I prefer white, while she ripped jello shots in the Bend).
• I kinda slipped a little in my friend's shower last night. This was before I started drinking wine in there. It makes cleanliness so much more fun :)
• I got a snack wrap and small fry at McDoodle's with Frumpy at 3am. Normal.*
• I made a friend, an apprentice, jealous of said snack wrap. It's nothing to cry about because unbeknownst to her is that I don't live close enough to take advantage of this 24-hour McDoodle's. Last night was an exception because I slept at Tor Tor's. But maybe this is a good thing. Super Size Me 2? Nay nay.  
• I bought a pack of Hi-C juice boxes today. Nostalgic :)
• Avos were on sale today at Stop-n-Shop. 88 cents each! 
• Chipotle mayo...there are no words. Mmm sauce, literally. 
• I wanna dance right now but it's not allowed in the library. I'm going back to my apartment soon so I'll just do it there. 
• I need a Halloween costume...and a blow-up guitar. 
• I'm thirsty...wine or water?
• I miss the giraffe who called me early this morning. 
• Red mango after the gym earlier with Doodle Boober Wang Tang Tit Munch was totally necessary (I haven't come up with a name for said apprentice who was jealous of my Snack Wrap. Bullet numero 6 up top). Pumpkin Spice fro-yo, so festive, so good. 
• I listened to a great amount of rap today. Eh. But I'm making up for it by listening to my weird shit nowww. Mmmm Starfucker "Boy Toy" click dis and listen
• Dear Craigslist, please grant me with two reasonably-priced tickets for the Florence + the Machine Show on Monday, October 5th @ Terminal 5. Pretty prease. 
• "Basic Space" just came (on). And so did I. So sexual i lurve it.

There could have been other things to talk about. But I is tired. 

*On our way to McDoodle's, Frumpy and I saw a trashcan, an empty six-pack, and a pillow that looked like it was recently laid in. Part of me isn't surprised by this in New Gross. 

And finally...

I still have a crush on you, Musical Jesus. Why wasn't I here?

Refer back to post "Home, let me come home." (Oct. 9).

Tasteful or tacky?

Before we begin...

YES! My first page view from Australia today.

Currently listening to "Mary" from the new KOL album. This song reminds me of my only friend with the same name who is also my fellow blogger friend who I follow. I must say she is one of kind (and probably one of the few who understands my humor. God I miss her).

You ever see people around campus or at work that you don't know necessarily but often see in one day? Doesn't it annoy you? It bugs the shit out of me. It's like, why are you here all the goddamn time? If they're acquaintances of mine, I'll say "Hey!" in a friendly manner, assuming I won't see them again in the day. But then the second time rolls aronud (usually about a half hour later or sooner) and I have to awkwardly smile at them thinking, Oh, hello, tee, hee. Like what the fuck. Idk. I'm only ranting about this because it happens to me often.

NOW, for the post...
New fashion trend I heard in my Senior Seminar in Mass Comm class this morning: Drop crotch jeans.
The name alone fascinates me. This strikes my curiousity wayyyy more than Crotchless chaps. I'm wondering this trend from Europe will come over to the states. In fact, I think I saw a boho chic couple in Bali both rocking a pair. And I remember trying some on in Australia come to think of it.


A little Ali Baba for my taste but hey, that doesn't mean I don't like them. They're kinda cool. And if I could pull them off, I'd start the trend on my campus. Trend might be too strong of a word. Different look might be  more appropes. There's a first time for everything so why not?

 Talk about fashion blogggggg. Drop crotch jeans was actually a topic a girl in our class talked about during her presentation. Her presentation had a lot to do with fashion blogging. Hmmmm.

A very cool song I'm lurvin': I Remember Shelter (The XX vs. Deadmau5 & Kaskade)

My (less than) 5 minutes of fame.

I woke up this morning and looking at the collage of pictures on my wall, I noticed the still from a music video my friend PBerry directed and starred in for an Australian History class we took last semester abroad. He also wrote the lyrics to the rap. Each group had to create a project that involved a few of the historical places in Fremantle. Since he's all up on creativity and film and what not (hey, he interned for Young Hollywood in LA this past summer and also starred in an OK Go music video along with the rest of the ND marching band). I agreed to help out with his endeavor that I hope earned him and the rest of his group an A. Why I didn't ask to be in his group in the first place? I'll never know.

My friend KFitz & I being a tourist couple in the vid. 

If you haven't seen this prime example of music video innovation & excellence you're in luck because I've posted the link heeeeyah: "We Go Round Freo"

Here is the OK Go music video for "This Too Shall Pass", which PBerry and some others from the ND marching band played in: This Too Shall Pass - OK Go

Mashup!mashup!mashup!

I lurve mashups. They are just epic saucy. Sooo j.i.m.p. (jizz in mah pants). What's cool is when you put a famous speech in a mashup. I think that's a great way to memorize a speech for one of those middle school clubs where you have to memorize speeches and recite them in front of an audience (I forget what they're called but I carpooled with a girl who was involved in said club). But listen to this shizzle! It's a mashup to Martin Luther King Jr.'s amazing speech, "I Have A Dream" Listen Here!

Another great music site ^

PS: click on my spiffy screenshot and look in the top right hand corner and do what it says, prease :)

Greatest thing I kid could ask for.

I've seen this commercial about 4 times yesterday. Died every time it came on. I don't know how I feel about the product but the commercial is so frickin' funny to watch. The kids, the product, I can't even.

Be a really cool person and watch the official commercial advertisement. You can even Youtube it if you're really stupid and can't watch now:


PILLOW PETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shotty the panda or unicorn one. I kinda wish they made a koala one. Or a super duper cool hedgehog pillow pet. How awesome would that be?!

Shrimps for thought.

I go to this music blog every week to check out some new jams I can put on my pet iPod, Kramer. Its an eclectic mix of a bunch of different things not many of my friends listen to. But it's a great resource when looking for new tuneage. I really wanted this song but I can't find it anywhere to download fo' free let alone buy. It's weird but that's me and that's what I like. Give it a listen.

"Shrimps" by Homeboi

ps: i totally cropped/made this spiffy thang in MS Paint. Get some, mofos!

Just another manic mondayyyy

One of the worst music videos ever (just listen to the song)

Huff. And it's not like the past weekend was any better. It all pretty much went to shit last Saturday night when we came home from our race in  Boston, which to me, was a humorous finish to the day. Granted it was beautiful out, I don't think it was our best performance. But hey, you win some and you lose some. We didn't really have much to lose to be honest but it was great to get out there for a race and see where we stood against the competition. And competiting is exciting as is the course we raced at. The Charles River isn't exactly a straight shot down; it involved hard turns and lots of bridges. You fuck up and you could see yourself flipping and hitting another boat, something I didn't witness but heard happened.

What a bummer: Head of the Charles almost crash 2009

A few drinks and tiffs later and I was at a crew party. Didn't go to a bar where all alums and tons of students go to on Homecoming Weekend. Yeah, it was Homecoming Weekend and I guess the race/arguments I got into took all the fun out of me. I still drankkkkkk. But I didn't get slizzard. And it's my last year here and I still haven't gone to said bar. Whatever. I was just not with it that night. Sooo bummy and my friend from home sucks at answering her phone...well, her boyf's phone considering she currently doesn't have one. So I  have to text/call her boifrann if I need to talk to her. Ugh fuck nuggets.

The next day I woke up early and went on a long azz run to clear my head. I ran farther than usual, hitting an exit to White Plains but refrained from going all the way there. I turned around and came back to mi casa an hour later. Was my head clear? Nah. I felt the same way I felt before my run...shitty.

I had an exam to study for as well. Had plans to go to the library to study but instead laid in bed and watched trash tv. Drove my biffle to the dentist, got upset like a child (because I still felt shitty), napped, half-ass studied for my exam, and hibernated in my room until bed time. I woke "early" to study more but not really. Got to campus a half hour before the exam and studied a bit. By the time the exam came, as usual I thought the same thing, "Fuck it. There's nothing more I can retain now. So what's the point of cramming? Let's just get this overwith." I breezed through it and thought to myself maybe I am one of those people who don't have to study so hard for exams and still do well. But I feel this only makes sense to me in certain areas, math not being one of them. But I haven't even gotten the test back so we'll see what happens. I felt that I did ok and I wasn't stuck on any questions. They were all essay/short answer ones and I only had to do 5 out of 6 of them.

I went to the library afterwards to kill the 2 hours I had before work.*
*Before getting the bad news about my laptop, I went to the foodie corner to get a hot apple cider. But what's great about the fall at the campus library foodie corner is that they have seasonal drinks! I wanted to get the Tazo Chai Caramel Cider (I've ordered it before but the other lady who made it assumed since the word "Chai" is in it, it's simply just a chai with caramel syrup. Nooooo, I said CIDER too! Clown). The lady who made it today made me the right thing but basically added a whole closet full of sugar in it as well. I could just see how much fat I was adding to ass as she made it with whole milk (I didn't know milk was involved but ok...if I did I woulda said "skim milk" as usual), caramel syrup, and a sugar packet (really?) into my cup.

I figured I'd update this thinger but instead downloaded new music on the library comp because my laptop is dying...literally. I got my laptop back from IT who told me there was a problem with the hard drive. I have to take it to a Mac store to get checked out or be told that's it dead, nothing can be done to fix it. So farewell to memories of oz, blackmail on my biffle, music and shows I've downloaded, old research papers I busted my ass on, and everything else that was on there. I'm not as upset as I was when the comp quit on me in the first place. Mama kinda put things in perspective for me. She said that I'm not the only person this has happened to. It does suck but I'm getting a new comp anyways. And I figured the pictures from oz are on my Facebook. It'll just be a bitch to save all of them. As for my music, all of it is on my iPod so I'll just have to figure out how to transfer them from my pod to a new comp once I get one.

It's been a good 4 years :(...

I figure that I'm just too exhausted about all the shizzle I'm going through that it's not worth it to throw a chair out the window or punch a hole in the wall for anymore. It could be worse, you know.

As for school work, I really don't know how to do any. I do my homework when it's due but for long-term projects that I should be working on, I haven't. I stress about it for a split second then continue whatever I'm doing. I need to make a conscious effort to get a move on it before I start crying to my counselor about how my life is in shambles (even though I do that already...sorta). Like I said, things could be worse. I'm just in a really shitty mood and don't feel like doing anything except cradle a bottle of wine in my arms.

I got this bottle of organic "almost dry reisling" from oregon. It's pretty good! I'm glad I don't have night class tonight because I'll be hanging out with said bottle.

I need to get a move on my Halloween costume too. Fuck.

Don't piss off professors.

This is what happens when you decide to park in one of the faculty parking lots.

Not gonna do that again.

Purr pussy purr

Before I explain the title of this post, I just want to mention a funny story I overheard when I was putting stuff away into the storage closet at work...

I don't know the extent of the conversation but from what I heard it sounded like a group of fwiends having a debate about babies. And pertaining to this debate included phrases like, "...I thought you sent leave yo' baby somewhere, yo" and "Nah, nah I said drop yo' baby."

Part of me wanted to chime in and demonstrate to them my friend DJ Pauly D's sign language gesture for the word "abortion." Then again, "dropping a baby" could mean a multitude of things (ditching an old boo, tripping on acid?, or literally dropping a baby, which would totally not be cool at all).*

*by the way, I forgot to mention how I saw that movie Life As We Know It with Katherine Heigl and Josh "I'm-sexier-than-my-girlfriend" Duhamel. But honestly, I didn't care about either of them. Granted, the movie was cute as a button, but I really wanted to see it because of that cute-as-fuck red-headed baby. I'm not even kidding when I would tell my friends how I wanted to STEAL that baby. Adorable, complete and utter. Mind you, there was a scene of Josh dropping her. Poor thing. The baby that is.

I want you, babyyyy

How frickin' presh is she?!

Okay, so now for the topic at hand. Men who own cats. My friend Frumpy came to visit me at work (yeah, it probably seems like I do nothing except work but I was covering a friend yesterday. When I have free time, I do this) and told me about this topic he listened to on the radio being discussed. Many people, mainly women called in with their opinions. A lot of the listeners called in and said men who own cats are pansies, undateable, and down right gay. It just baffled a lot of listeners. I wish I heard this radio show.

To me, a guy owning a cat is not weird at all. I look at it the same way as if he owned a dog. But that's just me. To get an idea of what other people thought, I asked a bunch of people. I'm pretty sure I scared some of them because some people I asked who passed by my desk I didn't know that well. But they really filled me in and these are the sort of answers I got:

- Some people found it to be extremely weird for a single guy to own a cat.
- One kid said cats are girly and if a guy owned a cat that he was probably "feminine."
- My one friend, A/P/G, said it depended on what kind of cat, indoor or outdoor. But that's the only answer she gave me considering she had to leave. Loser.
- Some of my friends (guys included) thought the same thing I did, the idea not fazing them at all. Frumpy said cats work just like dogs do when it comes to getting girls. At least that's what I think he said.
- A few guys I asked weren't cat people, which was why they didn't like the idea of a guy owning a cat (one of them even lived in a household with two cats...but he also had a dog).
- Another guy said living with a cat reminds him of living with a girl...girls being catty and sneaky, a bit sly.
- A kid I just asked the question to (question being, "What do you think of a guy who owns a cat?") asked me, "Does the guy live alone?" I said yes, then he responded, "Well...then that's a little weird."

I'd say it's an interesting mix of opinions and I felt that I asked the question appropriately. Of course my friend MK who I was working with told everyone I asked that I was getting opinions because I'm dating a guy who owns a cat (which is completely false). Screaming it in the lobby. Thanks, bitch.

Here are two opinions on what other people think about guys who own cats:

"Sorry Fido, It's Just a Guy Thing" by Abby Ellin

Daily Blog: Do Real Men Own Cats?

Googling "guys who own cats" is interesting in itself, with results like, "Cute Boys with Cats: The Blog for Guys Who Love Pussy" (you should Google this fo' yo'self).

***SIDENOTE***

My friend Frank suggested I change every time I mention the word "cat" in this blog to the word "pussy." Christ.

Idk, my BFF Jill. You can be the judge of this. I lurve cats. I wouldn't mind owning one. Then again, my best friend is a human reincarnated cat so I guess I already do live with one. MEOW!

Man's new best friend?

Purple Pride.

Today is the first annual Spirit Day. On this day, all are asked to honor the gay youth who have committed suicide in the recent months by wearing the color purple. I didn't know this day existed until I was at work*. 
*where I got to listen to employees in their late-twenties bitch about other people within the workplace as well as the e-mails and phonecalls they receive from parents and students about financial issues. All the while getting stamp pad ink all over my fucking hands from stamping cardboard diploma mailers for three straight hours.


More info on today here: http://sdgln.com/causes/2010/10/20/purple-every-day


When I heard that people were urged to wear purple today, I felt bad because I am currently in tan, off-white garb with jeans and brown boots. Do purple silly bands count? Then I remembered that I did in fact wear purple this morning at practice. My purple Perth hoodie I bought at Between the Flags in Oz.


I do hope that this day will continue to symbolize the importance of respect and tolerance of others. But mostly respect and acceptance. When I hear the word "tolerance," which I heard a woman at work refer to about today, I feel as if it describes an action people feel they have to do rather than want to do to begin with. When I hear the word "tolerance", I picture an obnoxious child one is forced to be nice to while his or her parents are out of the house. I think of words like "fake" and "pretend", and phrases like "deal with," and "...something I have to get used to" when I think of tolerance.


Those who felt that they no longer had anything to live for - because dying seemed a lot easier than dealing with the bullshit other people put them through - chose a different route because they weren't accepted, let alone tolerated by their culprits. Rather, they were ridiculed, harrassed, bullied, humiliated and frowned upon before enough was enough. It's ashame how it takes death for people to recognize the discrimination that still exists in the world today.


But there's still hoping.


We have Canadian teen Brittany McMillan to thank for "Spirit Day." She thought of the idea in response to the recent suicides of young gay individuals. Her idea of wearing purple flourished through the Internet, mainly social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Even blogs picked up her idea (too bad I caught on too little too late) and shared it with followers. McMillan said the following quote on her Tumblr account about today:


"On October 20th, 2010, we will wear purple in honor of the seven gay boys who committed suicide in recent weeks/months, many of them due to homophobic abuse in their homes or at their schools. Purple represents Spirit on the LGBTQ flag and that's exactly what we'd like all of you to have with you: spirit. Please know that times will get better and that you will meet people who will love you and respect you for who you are, no matter your sexuality."


Well said I must say. Despite the day almost ending I urge anyone (like I urged 4 friends today) reading this to put on anything they have that is remotely purple. Shit, even wear blue and red together - those colors make purple; this would work if you don't own any purple. Most importantly, the article I posted above said to "symbolically" wear purple everyday. Victims of hate and violence should always be remembered no matter who they are. It is imperative to better understand the people we cross paths with because respect and acceptance, as well as tolerance of others is a start to making the world a better place (Not to sound cheesy here but it's true). 


Here's to Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase, Asher Brown, Cody J. Barker, Harrison Chase Brown, Caleb Nolt, Billy Lucas, Jeanine Blanchette, and Chantal Dube, as well as those others victim to hate crimes simply for being themselves. 

The sexy choice.

A recent topic has been on the rise in a few of my ad classes in the previous weeks...

But first, I want to say that I thoroughly enjoy my ad classes, despite them being three hour-long night classes. It's a time, once a week, where a few of us Advertising majors get together and discuss creativity and other ideas pertaining to this area of Mass Communication. In other words, we laugh and bullshit for three hours and talk about the advertisements found in past and current mass media and critique them. We also are given brands as semester pets (projects) and think of creative ways of promoting the brand/service/product in a new and innovative way. Why do I enjoy this? Mainly the topics being discussed. I've always had a liking for anything creative. Anything out of the ordinary. Anything that strikes a chord, good or bad. Anything risky, yet with a successful outcome. Anything that has to do with creating something is what I'm into and I think Advertising is an area in Mass Communication where creativity can flourish. Plus I'm not too keen on business.*
*And the people as well because they are crazy in the head like I am and their brains never turn off...like mine.

The said topic that was being discussed, and I'm sure it'll come up again in the future, was Mom Jeans.

According to Urbandictionary.com, Mom Jeans are defined as, "jeans highlighting the flat curvature of the 40+ buttocks. Similies: upside-down-heart shaped-butt. Commonly seen accompained with front butt. Extremly high waist, and always a crappy shade of blue or black. Usually found in Kohl's or Mervyn's."

Of course many people will have their own definition for the fashion faux pa of generations past and present. And I'm sure we all have those family members who rock them not knowing that they look absolutely ridiculous with uncomfortable denim resting on their tummy tums oftentimes adding muffin tops to the waistline. Not hot. Yes, high waist things are in (shorts, skirts, trousers) but not fo' mamas. There is fashionable and down-right "What were you thinking" moments when it comes to high waisted attire as well as a lot of other things (i.e. Assless chaps, jorts for men, shoulder pads). 


At the same time...WE CAN'T BLAME OUR MATERNAL UNITS FOR TRYING! They too crave to feel young again. They too want to feel hip. They too want to know what's in and what's out just like we do. 


I tend to do most of my shopping when I'm back at home in the First State. Not only because it's tax free-shopping heaven but also because my mom tends to come with. Actually, she always comes with (credit card always included). Not to sound spoiled, but yes, my mom does buy me clothes when I'm with her but not anything that I want. If there is an expensive jacket I really want, I'd buy it myself if I had the money and thought it'd be a great investment, or I'd wait until it's on sale or even forget about it completely. But if my mom and I stumble across something that my eyes catch, I always ask for her opinion. Not just because she'll most likely buy it for me but because I care about what she thinks. 


Mama would never call me a slut or say I look ridiculous in something. She's too kind to do that. And she knows that I am sensitive (trust me, mama is the first person I call when I need to cry). But growing up, she's always had input on the clothes I get. She's quite the fashionista herself so I trust her opinion - despite her long affair with matching sets. "Mom! You don't have to match everything that you're wearing...Jesus. People don't really do that anymore."


Granted she asks me if things look good on her and what I think about an outfit, I'd say she has good style for a woman her age. Shit, she looks better than me sometimes (sans shoulder pads)! 


But what I'm saying with all of this is that fads can turn awry or they can come back. We can put a label on things that we would call something completely different in the past (these types of jeans weren't even a type back then but now they are considered Mom Jeans, if you catch my drift). Actually, that really wasn't the point of my blog post at all. I kinda just wanted to share a really funny story but found it necessary at the time to write all this shit...


The topic of Mom Jeans came up in one of my ad classes. Tonight, the topic of Forever 21's Maternity line was brought up. Apparently the L.A. based clothing chain stirred up controversy with their new line of clothing for pregnant woman...or teens? Bingo. Some concerned parents of teenage girls (and maybe aspiring overweight gay boys) are wondering if the store is marketing to pregnant teenagers, maybe even promoting teenage pregnancy. Hmmmm. I honestly didn't know about the line until this class. When I thought it this, I was reminded of how my mother shops at Forever 21 and she is no teenager. She tends to buy sweaters mostly. But when I came home for Columbus Day weekend I did see a pair of Forever 21 skinny jeans and I KNEW were NOT mine. 

The Bend.

After "getting over my hill" from yesterday (which sadly included my laptop hard drive to have a seizure & die last night), I can give a much-needed recap of the weekend's events. Reliveable? Hopefully in the future. Because I thoroughly enjoyed not only seeing the amazing group of people (a majority of them at least) I studied abroad with but also to experience what it was like to bleed blue & gold (No, not you, University of Delaware. Indeed, you are fun, but you are not an experience like ND is. And you don't include amazing people as stated before).

If I could I would spell out every word, laugh, joke, occurrence, and epic moment in this little blog o' mine but I shant. Memories are sometimes not worth blogging about but meant to remember on one's own (mind you, some memories aren't worth remembering either, considering I didn't remember asking my loverly Ginger friend/fellow blogger/one true follower to smack me across the face when I was reaching that point of intoxication).

Our friend Anthony aka DJ Pauly D (who resides in Strong Guyland) accompanied biffle nugget and myself. We left lovely New Rochelle around 10:30pm on Thursday night. But before our road trip commenced, Anthony hit a car. Yeah, like backed up into our neighbor's car. "We haven't even left yet! WE HAVEN'T EVEN LEFT YET!" he screamed as he did this sort of whine as he banged on the steering wheel. It was raining kind of hard...

***SIDENOTE***
Oh ma ga, this really super duper cute RA walked into the student union. I have such a frickin' hey-i-dont-know-you-but-i-like-you crush on him. God, he's dweamy. 

So it was raining pretty hard and I saw that someone next door was standing on the porch outside. But I wasn't sure whether he was facing us or his back was turned. That's how hard the rain was pouring.*
*Like it was earlier that day when I went to practice, which was outside and before we got onto the water it was drizzling and by the time we finished our FIRST trip out there, I was already drenched. Nice. One long-sleeve shirt and Soffe shorts later, and I was pouring rain out of my sneakers. Went home, changed into dry clothes and showed up a minute late to night class. Damn, I did work!

At this point we didn't know what to do, whether we should tell the person on the porch or just book it. "Fuck it, I'm leaving," DJ Pauly D said. Luckily, nothing was done to his car except a little scratch and as for that other person's car (which shouldn't have been blocking our driveway in the first place) was totally fine.

We drove through the night, with Ant taking the first shift from 10:30-2:15ish in the morning. I took us through the rest of Pennsylvania, got flipped off by a trucker in Ohio for having my high beams on (oops!), and shook my head numerous times for my last hour of driving around 6am. Kayla drove the rest of the way and saw the sunrise through Ohio/Indiana. How precious.

We got to our friend Nicky's house around 9:30am. Awesome finish with the road trip on the way there. Our friends said pretty blogger from before and another friend (who oddly resembles Zac Efron abd wears Donnie Osmond-esque jeans) came over and the 6 of us went to the Original Pancake House, which I saw featured on the Food Network for their epic pancake dishes like "The Dutch Baby" (something I did NOT order). I opted for an omelette - that was fucking large and in charge. Woof. I still ate it allll :)

Said Dutch Baby. 

Yeah, we toured that shit. 

Our other friend Ranga Fitz came to visit us at the Pancake House (hung over of course) for a bit. Afterwards, we hung out at Nicky's, played some beer pong, and then were off for our tour of the beautiful ND campus hosted by K-Rob & PBerry. We saw some highlights like the Grotto, dormitories, spiffy Science & Law buildings, the Reflection Pond, the book/merch store, the stadium, and Touchdown Jesus (originally known as The Word of Life but the mosaic is facing the football stadium and looks as if Jesus is saying "Touchdown" with his arms...thanks Wikipedia).

The campus was booful. Stunning. Immaculate. Well, at least compared to our campus that consists of not much: some dorms, a cool building where I have all my MCO classes, and the rest of campus across the street including our "everything" field that many of our sports teams use, our gym, the student union, the Business school, and a parking garage. Yeah, I'd like to say I'm jealous of ND.

After the tour, and learning a lot about the campus and student life - which seems so much more fun than our student life, we went back to our Donnie-Osmond-jean-wearing friend's apartment for a good ol' fashion community dinner. It was great to see everyone again as if it were a Monday or a Wednesday in Port Lodge. But we didn't scarf down appetizers. Just sat around and caught up with everyone. Hell, even the Notre Damers didn't even see much of each other. So it was like we brought them together this past weekend.


After dinner we did that thing where you drink a lot and get funky. Funky in a sense that we were belligerent and laughing heaps. Donnie-Oz-jeans got a bunch of shot glasses. Okay, that's fine. But then he whipped out a bottle Patron. Ahahahahahaha. What? We cheered to the reunion before the debauchery commenced.

Us, not from Notre Dame, learned a new drinking game called Boom, a combination of Beer Pong and Speed Quarters. I hated it at first because I was sucking and Kayla nug kept making me drink more. But after the weekend, I was liking the game. I just have to practice my boom smack because I tend to flick the cups delicately (you have to play the game to understand what I be saying).

Another party at Ranga Fitz's house, kegerator included, spotting Australian footy coach in America AT THE PARTY, and a slice of Papa John's later (thanks, red blogger), Kayla & I hit the hay @ Red blogger's apartment. We woke up around 8ish to begin more debaucherous activities.

Papa Smurfs. 

Showered, sobered up, got these cool blue drinks called Papa Smurf's at a nearby watering hole, and went back to Nicky's for Kegs n' Eggs (& Eggos). These drinks were intriguing. So blue, yet so potent. No one knows what's in them except the little marashino cherry that eventually sinks to the bottom, forcing the drinkers of said drink to have a slight freak out sesh before realizing no one stole the fucking thing and that it is sitting at the bottom of the drink. Another excuse to finish the 16 oz. power house of a drink.



It took me a while to finish. Props to the biffle nugget who finished hers way before I did mine and THEN on top of that played more Boom, got owned by ND "domers" (usage correct?) while playing, and successfully completed a beer bong. Good on ya, nugget. And she didn't even get sick. Double props.

Tailgate soon after with K-Rob and her Papa in the library parking lot. The fact that ND can tailgate in their library's parking lot is sauce. Fun sauce. I abstained from shotgunning beer but socialized with fellow study abroaders, got my face licked by Ranga Fitz who earlier dragged his sticky lollipop across my face and proceeded to clean the stickiness with his tongue. He sure is Clifford the Big Red Dog. Saw a drunk alumni who actually was in Freo while we were there as well. He did the study abroad program years prior in Oz and often showed up community dinners. He offered me a Coors and then I forget what he said to me but we were both having fun to say the least.

ND owning Western Michigan. Final Score 44-17?

Football time. We get into the student section and go off in different sub-group bubbles occasionally seeing each other in the crowds. I got push-upped (Red blogger and our friends Sierra & Erin are who I sat with and they said I had to experience being pushed up). Every time ND scores a touchdown, whatever number the score is, is how many pushups they do...to a person. Picture yourself crowd-surfing but you're body is being pushed up in the air numerous times. I was confuzzled at first because they didn't tell me what they were doing to me until I was up in the air being pushed up twenty times. IT WAS SO MUCH FUCKING FUN!


Blogger, Sierra, & I thought we saw Kayla down below. Sierra had skittles so we proceeded to toss them at who we thought was Kayla ("Yeah, it's her. I can see her roots," I said). Blogger had great aim, hitting her head 3 times. On the third time the girl who we thought was Kayla turned around confused. "It's not her!" Blogger and I scream. I duck, Blogger laughs herself to a sit down on the bench and Sierra stands there trying not to laugh and look like she was a culprit. Still it was a fun game to play.

Blogger & I sobered up and left shortly after half time ended. We met up with our Portland friend & Kayla. Went to get grub (Kayla & I got bangin' ass Bloody Mary's that were frickin' cheap. Yum). Chinese food (that shoulda been to-go considering we were being rushed out by the proprieters) with the crew after the gamed ended, a power nap at Blogger's house, then some more game's at Nicky's.

The crew was slowly dying after the long, intensive day of drinking and tailgating and game-watching. Some goodbyes to peeps we weren't going to see the next day when we left was uber sad. Saying goodbye to Blogger & Sierra was really sad considering I feel that out of the biddies we saw, they truly understand my humor and can tolerate me...for now. Saying goodbye in the first place was something I was not looking forward to.

Campfire & cornhole at Stevie Wonderful's casa then beddie bed time at Nicky's. We finally got a taste of Studebagel's the next morning before trekking back to the east coast. I talked music with DJ Pauly D while our child Kayla sat in the back and napped/read from her e-Reader (trendy nerd). I truly enjoyed this past weekend and have even gone as far to admit that it was by far the best weekend of this semester. For me at least. It'll be hard to beat. Seeing this amazing group of people was so great. Like I don't even know how else to describe how frickin' awesome it was to see them. DJ Pauly D said on the ride back that we've kinda turned into this sort of family even though we only knew each other for an unforgettable four and a half months. He's absolutely right. I plan on seeing these amazing people in the future. And I'm sure I'll blog about them as well.

I LOVE YOU ND.
I LOVE YOU STUDY ABROADERS!

I gotsa get a taste of this place called The Feve next time I go. But I have to find my moral compass first. I left that somewhere in the NYC. But who needs one of those in South Bend?

Huhhh?

Irresponsible. Humiliated. Defeated. And disgustingly embarrassed. That's how I'm feeling right now. If there was a word that compiled all of these feelings into a ball of suck I would've used it. At the same time, that would include having to research it. Something I should've done for my Marketing project I just got back. I swear sometimes the Internet just doesn't work in one's favor, and that's not including the nasty viruses and scams that are out there.

I could be blogging about the epic weekend I recently had at Notre Dame. But I feel that I have to wait for my spirits to brighten up a bit before I get into that. Right now, the day is starting off rocky, not including this fiasco. Long story short, I thought I had a solid branding position and analysis and what not. I researched the Internet for other premium malt beverages, making sure I wasn't marketing a product that already existed. I am still doing this even after the fact. Our professor, who I've had last year and who is an amazing professor because she's actually worked in the industry and knows her shit told our class as well as another class my friend is in that she stumbled upon plagiarism in some people's projects.

Of course we all freaked out because we don't want to be included in that group. But the plagiarism she was talking about was brand management plagiarism, not so much the word-for-word/I'm stealing your idea/Facebook movie shit that everyone automatically assumes when they hear the word. I even asked her after class that day but she was thoroughly bombarded by other concerned students and since I'm a bit timid in the classroom I didn't really get an answer I was looking for.

But I got my project back and was going through it. I nailed the parts in the beginning. My analysis was swell, my target and positioning strategy was working until I got to the last part: brand name. A nice red zero situated itself next to the short paragraph she asked us to write about our brand name and reason behind it. Her read ink read something like, "there is already an energy drink with that name." A long pause of confusion. And class didn't even start. I was mad. A WTF moment. Like really? really. After I searched all over hell and creation on the fucking Internet. And she says she found one with the same name. I had her before as stated before and she told me, "I don't look at my students' names when I grade papers. But when I saw yours, I thought, 'No, she wouldn't do that.'" I was on the verge of tears. Voice trembling because I felt so dumb. As well as all the words I stated earlier. Like, how could I have been so dumb? The reason why I'm so upset about it is because I still can't find where I fucked up. I'm still looking up my brand name or apparently someone else's and I can't find it anywhere. I marketing a premium malt beverage with energy in it and apparently there's an energy drink that exists?

Double woof. Luckily she was really kind to me as well as to the other students who had the same problem I did. She told all of us that we can go forward with the project using the same brand name and that it wouldn't count against us. But what she told me was this: "What's so sad is that your grade is still significantly high even with this mishap. A lot of other students had trouble with these sections (pointing to the other portions of my paper) but you nailed it." So that made me feel a little better. But I still took this seriously because this has never happened to me and I also treated this project like a real life situation. "See ya later, job" is what I would be saying if I was working in Advertising/Marketing.

I wanna be in South Bend. Not here. Not right now. Hopefully this song will make me chill out about my day thus far: "Monster" - Kanye West feat. Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj & BON IVER

Yah, Bon Iver. According to my friend Anthony/Jesse Eisenberg who roadtripped with Kayla and I, Bon Iver & Kanyizzle are collaborating on a lot of songs soon. Soon to be biffles! How caahuuute. I'm starting to feel ok. Maybe.