Dock Speech.

Today was my last day of rowing. I had my last race on our home course. My parents drove up to see me. Lots of family and friends came out. This would be the last race for Tor and I because Dad Vails, an uber competitive regatta in Philly conflicted with Senior Formal. And considering we sacrificed a lot of nights out for practices and races, we figured we couldn't end our last semester of college without one last hoo-rah with our fellow seniors. It's tradition for the seniors to say dock speeches down at the dock with the rest of the team once the races are finished. There were tears and laughs during this bittersweet moment.

Due to my severe sunburn and exhaustion (and I'm also getting ready to go out tonight), here is my dock speech that I struggled through (I started to cry after the first two sentences). Enjoy...I LOVE MY IC CREW TEAM :)

Dock Speech.

I never imagined myself standing here having to do this. And I think part of it was because I didn't want to ever imagine myself leaving this team. For me, this is kind of bittersweet because although I'm going to miss rowing with such an amazing and entertaining group of people, I know that I will leave knowing that this group of young athletes will continue to succeed long after I'm gone.

There are so many memories that I can't even begin to reminisce about. Through ups and downs, laughs and tears, blister after blister, my time spent with XXXX XXXXXXX Rowing has been more than just a sport for me. It'sa family. Being part of a team full of unique personalities that surprisingly mesh well is truly amazing and I will continue to remember that long after I graduate.

My past coaches Kelly & Jamie have instilled in me a love for the sport that has shown with my lasting dedication to this team. Lisa and Colleen helped me improve my technique and helped instill more confidence in myself and what I am capable of doing. I've also had the privilege to row with both outstanding athletes during my rowing career and the memories that we've shared I will never forget.

To the team, you are the reason why I've continued to row these past four years. If I hadn't had the opportunity to row with passionate, funny, good-hearted people, year after year, I probably wouldn't have been here today. You have continued to motivate me through rough practices, early mornings, and two-a-days. The camaraderie this team has is what truly makes us an amazing bunch to be around. And despite those practices that leave us frustrated, tired, and cranky, I've enjoyed working with each and every one of you. My fellow seniors both past and present – thank you for pushing me and motivating me when we were slowly being outnumbered by the rabid beasts also known as freshmen. Thank you for your assurance that I'd be okay being the only senior girl still rowing. And to my girls, I thought it would be difficult being the only senior rower on the girl's crew but you've certainly made the boat an enjoyable experience. I'm truly going to miss the inside jokes, hilarious practices, interesting conversations, crazy car rides, and red mango trips with my creatures.

You all have made an impact on not only my rowing career but my final year of college. Many people have questioned why I put my body, my time, and my hands through so much hard work when I could [quote-end-quote] “be doing something else with my life.” But if anything, this team has added so much, if not more, to my college experience than any Wednesday night at Beechmont. I'm truly going to miss rowing with all of you. You've taught me a lot of things and I hope I've left you with something good to remember about your college experiences. You have so much potential to do great things next season and I hope to see you all at future races where I'll be cheering for you from the side lines. This has been an unforgettable season and I'm glad I got to share it with you all. Go Gaels.  

Amazing season. No matter how many ups and downs, it was all worth it.

Trust

To go along with the other upcoming movies I want to see, this one is frighteningly interesting and probably the first one on my list. I saw this movie trailer about two months ago and immediately got goose bumps. Not only does it portray a very serious and oftentimes scary reality of the Internet, but it looks like a greatly made film. Trust is directed by David Schwimmer (yeah, the guy from Friends) and stars Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, and newbie Liana Liberato.



Trust movie trailer

Schwimmer is committed to anti-violence advocacy for women and has done work for Santa Monica's Rape Foundation. The movie already premiered but is yet to make it to a theater near me. But once it does, I'm there. I'm starting to think about deleting my online dating profile.


Whoops...did I just admit to having one of those? Time for another confession-like post.

Sick cover.

Boston duo Karmin did this cool keyboard cover of Chris Brown's Look At Me Now.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khCokQt--l4&feature=player_embedded#at=57

Movies to be seen!

We all have those sites that we geek over. The sites you check on a regular basis but don't really talk about unless you're with a friend or someone around you asks you, "Hey, what are you doing?" Aside from updating my iPod with new tunes from sites like The Music Ninja and Good Music All Day, among others. I also regularly read thought-provoking/awe-inspiring posts from Mary Mary Quite Contrary and The Greatest Shit Ever Written (okay, not the exact name of the site but it might as well be named that).

As for film, I like to look at the movie trailers on the Apple website http://trailers.apple.com/. Of course, they're films that are coming out soon but it's a great mix of family films, indie flicks, comedy, horror, documentaries, etc. When my friends see me doing this, they think I'm the biggest nerd at the info desk. But what else are ya gonna do when you're bored and you already watched the latest Grey's Anatomy episode and you're somewhat completely up-to-date on what's going on with those kids on Degrassi (sorry, American Skins...you just didn't do it for me like these Canadians do).

Here are some trailers of films that are coming out that I definitely need to see. Mind you, African Cats, Arthur, & Water for Elephants are on my list (ones that are currently out) but those I feel you can YouTube on your own. I don't feel like posting all of these trailers but here's a mix to keep things interesting (if videos don't work, click on link)...

Science Fiction - Another Earth


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJoXfTxOEuw

Documentary - L'Amour Fou



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_bHAWRJggw

Dramedy - Daydream Nation


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGGyhDvpzok

One-of-those-movies-narrated-by-Morgan-Freeman - Born to be Wild
Can also fall under the category of Nature/Animals(!!!)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv2Af-H7ZnI

Hilarity (aka Better-than-Comedy) - Bridesmaids


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrRd2QSsGc4

Sums it all up huh?

I saw a movie trailer for a Tribeca Film starring Zach Braff called High Cost of Living. The intro involved Braff saying some inspiring nail-on-the-head kind of quote that describes my life.

"Sometimes I wonder how I got to be this person. You have a version in your head of who you think you are. And then one day you realize maybe you're just the sum total of a bunch of bad decisions and stupid behavior."

(Not-So) Good Friday

I came home to the First State for Easter. After a night of bittersweet celebration in the city (bittersweet because it was my last day interning) with all of my roommates and two alumni guest stars (who I superdy duperdy missed), I wouldn't say I was thrilled for what was supposed to be a two and a half hour (two hours and fifteen minutes when I drive) trip south. But hey, nothing beats paying $30 for what seemed like a $300+ tab. Thank God (and the biffle nug) for those online discount things :)

Apparently, people like to visit family or just go down south for Easter. And of course they all had to get through Delaware to reach their final destinations. Traffic out the ying-yang. I didn't eat since 530am this morning (I found my half-eaten kebab wrapped in foil in my purse - this is the second time I ate leftover street grub after a night of city-slicking...I know I'm gross). And I had to pee. I left New Gross a little after eleven this morning (after not even filling up my tank all the way with really expensive unleaded fuel - $4.17 including tax and I put $45 in my tank...WOOF). I got to Delaware at 320pm. I pulled into the driveway only to realize I left my house keys at my apartment back in New York in a purse I don't use as much these days. I couldn't get into my home. I wanted to throw my cell phone into the bushes. But I abstained, had a tantrum on the phone with mommy, then proceeded to accelerate through my neighborhood to my mom's office, where I picked her up so she could let me inside the house. This worked out perfectly considering she got off of work at 4pm anyways and I arrived that time. Twenty minutes later I was able to pee, eat, and watch Road to Perdition.

I just finished applying to about ten jobs online. Yes, I applied to more jobs and I'm expecting to hear from nil. Oh well, I already told my parents I'm not moving back home. They've accepted that and continue to support me in my job-hunting endeavors.

Essentially, everything that I just typed involves things I don't wanna talk about - expensive gas, traffic, forgotton keys among other items, job hunting. But clearly, I just pseudo-vented about them via blog.

Luckily, this included some lovely highlights - alumni friends who I missed dearly, cheap night out, great last day interning, talking to an old "friend"; things I wish to ellaborate on later this weekend.

Night.

Real boys wear pink

About a week ago, Creative Director and President of J.Crew, Jenna Lyons, was featured on the clothing company's website for an outlet titled Saturday with Jenna. It showed Lyons and her 5-year old son Beckett having some good ol' mommy and son time. The issue that several viewers of the ad saw was that Beckett's toe nails had polish on them...pink nail polish.

To me, this would seem like fun a parent would be having with her child. Love, warmth, laughs, and all that mushy, kid stuff. However, some critics believed that this picture was promoting parental support of transgendered children or an absence of gender identity. In other words, people were freaking out because they thought Lyons wanted her son to be gay and put pink nail polish on him as a stepping stone to a life of hardship and harassment. 

SINCE WHEN WAS FAMILY FUN NIGHT LIMITED TO BOARD GAMES AND PIZZA PARTIES? I'D RATHER TAKE MY CHILD TO A ROLLER DERBY MATCH THEN WATCH HIM FOR HOURS PLAY ON A JUNGLE GYM AND CHIP HIS TOOTH, WHICH I'D HAVE TO PAY FOR BECAUSE INSURANCE DOESN'T COVER ADOLESCENT ACCIDENTS. 

Shit.

People over at Fox News had a cow, in particular psychiatrist Keith Ablow who said in a FoxNews.com article:

"Yeah, well, it may be fun and games now, Jenna, but at least put some money aside for psychotherapy for the kid - and maybe a little for others who'll be affected by your 'innocent' pleasure. This is a dramatic example of the way that our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity - homogenizing males and females when the outcome of such 'psychological sterilization' [my word choice] is not known."

You can read more of his borderline homophobic/absurd article here: Horseshit.

In my opinion, if a person decides to have children, they should automatically assume the role as support system. From the dawn of time, it was primarily a mother's role to take care of her child. Supportive parents motivate their children to be who they are, to not follow the crowd, to be brave, to be THEMSELVES. However, this is wear hypocrisy ensues. If a parent wanted his or her child to be there self, sometimes the child's version of self is something the parent does not agree with. Get it? Well, if not, I'm basically saying don't tell your child you'll support them and then shit on whatever decision they make. I know I'm sounding brash but when it comes down to it, one should love their child no matter who they are.

What is also something to point out is that let's say the nail polish wasn't the issue. But the color. And come to think of it, I think the neon pink is what makes this J.Crew ad controversial according to some folks. If a boy had blue or green nail polish, this ad wouldn't have been an issue. However, the color pink is considered feminine so if a boy wear pink, he's crowned Prince Back Entrance.

False.

Children like to imitate the world around them. If a mother (or a father*) takes his/her child to a nail salon, they may want to imitate what their parents are doing. "I want my nails painted!" they may say. And if they decide to pick out a color that visually stimulates their tastes, they'll ask to have that painted on them...whether it's a "masculine" or "feminine" color. I'd like to consider children and adults experiential creatures. We like to try new things, we're curious about the world around us. So how come children can't do that too?
*Women aren't the only ones worrying about their cuticles. My dad uses a little clipper to fix his.

It's sad to see how the world makes a big deal out of a mother's love for her child instead of worrying about troops overseas, sky rocketing gas prices, and the still jobless economy. Oh, and did I mention Amuurrrica is $14 trillion dollars in debt? Ha. Yeah. And we're worrying about young boys wearing pink nail polish and fearing that it'll affect their future. Umm okay.

Ode to thee Stoner.

I had a lovely conversation with a Black Cat with Green Eyes on Facebook. Don't worry, she's actually a friend of mine. We're both from the First State and we met abroad. SMALL WORLD! She sent me this lovely spin on Twas the Night before Christmas...

‘Twas the night before 4/ 20, when all through society
Not a pothead was stirring, no reason for anxiety;
The kush was all ground, and rolled with such care,
For others may come, and I must be prepared;
The stoners asleep all comfy on the couch,
No cause for alarm, they probably passed out;
And…

It ends there...because apparently that's where the stoner passes out according to BCGE.

FUNNY SIDENOTE

When I was abroad, I was talking to the Irish construction worker I nicknamed Blue Shirt because the first time I met him (at a club called The Clink - to go along with that theme of prisoner colony and the noise chains make along jail cells) he was wearing a blue shirt. He had a strong brogue but one thing that tied him to American culture was that he smoked pot. I'm not Americans are the only ones who smoke but I had this stereotypical notion in my mind that Irishmen stuck to Guinness and other forms of alcohol (along with the staple of corn beef and cabbage). Never did I think they smoked the ganja. Anywho, a few friends of mine were trying to look for some so I flat out asked him if he knew anyone who had any. We were foreign exchange students and the last thing we would establish on our time abroad were solid drug connections. Ha! "I'll see what I can do for ya," he texted back. When I asked him, it was the night before 4/20. I assumed this to mean, "Yeah darling, you're shit outta luck." So I went to bed. I woke up at 8am to a ring from my phone. Who the FUCK is texting me this early? I thought. "Hey, I found ya some weed!" Blue Shirt responded. Hours later, we met up and he gave me this huge foiled ball. Didn't ask for money or anything. "My boss gave it to me," he said. And that was that.

The funny part about this whole thing was that he had no idea what 4/20 was. Neither did I. But I had an inkling it was tied to something so I just bullshitted. "Oh, well, you see, April 20th is Earth Day and Americans just like to smoke pot to celebrate it," I told him.

Happy 4/20 to all who celebrate it (not including myself).


And for more enjoyable rants on today read this funny thought from one of my new favorite sites to geek over, Thought Catalog. How to Get Too Stoned

Sleazy Cannibals...

Hi, hello there...play this iPod while you read this epic concert review sauce...

Music Playlist at MixPod.com
It's been almost a week since the Cashew show and I am still jimping in my pants over it. I wish the show never ended, it was that fun. Ke$ha (yeah, throw in dat dolla sign!) really knows how to put on a show and the fact that many people (at least I'd like to think many people) associate her with grunge and glitter and animalistic dirtyness are probably right for thinking so. And that's probably why I think she is so frickin' cool. Granted, the girl sounds like loon during interviews, she is very entertaining.

If you don't recall from a previous post long, long ago, I blogged about Cashew (this is what I call her) and her garbage-chic style. If you don't remember, read this post: Cashew Intrigue Me

And to be quite honest, a few minutes into her show, I kinda got...a girl crush on Cashew. dun-Dun-DUN! (in slow motion, now) GiiiiiiirrrrrrrrRRRRRRLLLLLLLLllllllll ccrrrrRRRRRUUUUUUUSssssssshhhhh.

Yeah, one of those on Cashew. Oh well, she doesn't give a fuck which makes her glittery trash bandits flock to her. Of course, I didn't get my stolen camera replaced yet and I wasn't about to hog all of Katie's battery to film all of the greatness in Roseland Ballroom that night. So, I used my spiffy Blackberry camera and video recorder. Oh, did I mention these were VIP passes she scored? Yeah, VIP as in a balcony view over looking all the general admissioners  while seeing the entire stage minus the sweaty bodies below. However, we weren't as close as the GA's but hey, I'm not complaining! Take a glimpse at these phone pics and soak in all dat glitter...

Glitter everywhere, rockstar madness, balloons gallore, and...a giant penis and pear walking out on stage. Not only did she have a dude dressed up in a Santa outfit be her little guru guy pumping up the audience but she also had a guy dressed in a pear costume and another person in a penis outfit come out on stage during "Grow a Pear." FAMAZING.

I don't know if you can see but Ke$ha is on the left, the huge penis next to her, the guy they grabbed out of the audience to sit in a chair and be serenaded to and the random Pear man. The penis proceeded to hit Andrew (the uber, dirty boy fan from the audience) in the face with the oversized testicles during the chorus. Awesome.

So much magic! Now for the videos (bare with me, I never uploaded phone vids onto my blog before) And I know, the quality sucks but...whatever! I went and you didn't so there!
Tik Tok


Backstage action during her encore "We R Who We R" (DJ, turn it up!)

Since Katie interned for a concert venue company, we were able to have backstage access. So, we set up camp to hopefully meet Cashew. After her gig, she came down the ramp pouring a bottle of water on herself then proceeded to sign a young girl's photo. The girl had cerebral palsy and Katie had her and her family stand with us just in case we were able to meet Cashew. "I have to go shower and then I'll be right out" is what Cashew said to the little girl. We waited for over an hour. It was already close to midnight and I have practice at 530am. We called it a day as we saw men running in and out of the side entrance transferring equipment into trucks and others taking down the set on the stage. I was sad that I couldn't meet my girl crush but I thought maybe it just wasn't meant to be...for nowwww. RAH!

I wonder is these will land me a job...

Too bad I'm not genius enough to be this creative...

QR CODE - Content-rich Resume from Victor petit on Vimeo.


AR Business Card from James Alliban on Vimeo.

$LeaZy Glitter Animal Trash

My friend Katie and I both had rough mornings. Apart from my rough week (which I still need to blog/vent about), we both need some fun. And we're gonna have some tonight! I don't have much time to blog because I've failed to utilize time management skills so far this week - this only applies to blogging time. But I promise to update the miniscule amount of followers that I have very soon.

I'm seeing Ke$ha tonight because my friend Katie (aka Boobala) is boss.

I don't know if I'm gonna wake up tomorrow morning feeling like P Diddy because I have 530am practice. Funzies. Whatever.

 

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

(Not so) sunny dispositions

My cheeks are sunburnt. I'm wearing a bright orange shirt but it's still pretty clear that my cheeks were victim to heavy sun ray-age. I didn't put on sunscreen so it's my own fault. This is my way of getting some "color."

We had our second weekend of races for the spring season. And I'm still feeling the same way I felt last weekend. And the week before that. And the week before that. And probably after spring break.

What's the point?

Clearly there's no point of me racing when there are some obvious factors looking me straight in the face:
1) The freshmen are faster than me.
2) Our head coach only pays attention to the fastest athletes on the team.
3) A majority of the crew I rowed with for more than a year have quit. I am left with a sole member of the varsity crew team and my best friend coxswain, Tor.
4) Novice rowers, despite their raw talent and brolic abilities still lack that technique and connection a boat must finesse in order to properly get down the course with style and grace.
5) Again, the novice rowers are very strong, stronger than me. But as Tor put it, "those other crews have been rowing together for three years, maybe four. You guys haven't been rowing together for that long."

And she's absolutely right...

SO WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU PUT A VARSITY 8 BOAT IN A RACE WITH OTHER VARSITY 8 BOATS WHEN OUR "VARSITY 8" ONLY HAS TWO VARSITY ROWERS AND A VARSITY COXSWAIN IN THE BOAT WITH THE REST BEING MADE UP OF NOVICE?!

 We got last...again. We got last place last weekend and we got last today. We were a whole minute behind the second slowest crew. I'm frustrated to say the least. My senior year and final year of rowing...this isn't what I envisioned as a successful ending to my rowing career. Although, I love the novice and have grown to establish amazing friendships with a few, I can't help but feel discouraged and upset...especially when the novice can successfully compete in their novice races but can't seem to hold off varsity crews who walk past us with every stroke going down a course.

I feel humiliated to be honest. And I feel bad saying that but I feel like it's a waste of time and energy if all we're gonna do is row down a course just to get last. Not even competing neck and neck with another crew. It would have been different to lose with a boat full of girls I've rowed with for many years...because maybe at this point, we would have fixed all the kinks and learned to row as one boat, which sometimes can take more than a few months of rowing together.

I'm at a loss and with only two races left of my rowing career, I don't even know if it's worth it.

Of course I'll finish out the season but it won't be the way I wanted. And I know I can't say I haven't had fun with the novice because they do entertain me and amaze me with all of their effort. But it's simply not the same. "Just have fun since it's your last year" is what my mom says to me. She knows I get discouraged because I'm the ONLY SENIOR FEMALE ROWER left on the team. I don't think it's wrong of me to feel abandoned by the rest of the fellow varsity rowers but that's their own choice. They knew they couldn't fully commit to crew on top of their busy schedules and I can't blame them. I guess the reason why I stayed because I didn't know how to give up on the team. And I grew to love the sport and thought "If I quit then I'm going to regret it." But I'll never know that.

I cried in the van ride back to school. I even had upbeat music on to try to distract the tears from erupting out of my tear ducts but that didn't even work. Luckily, everyone was sleeping so I was able to sob quietly and wipe my tears before anyone could wake up and notice. What sucked was that I couldn't stop tearing up. They came and went. Then came again. And again. And before we crossed the George Washington Bridge. And then they really started sobbing just a little bit ago. The last straw on the camel's back? Definitely.

But this seems to be another one of those instances where I get the short end of the stick or in this case, the oar. My life is that rinky dink car trying to get over that hill but only goes backwards.

Everyone should go on a date with a girl like this...

Apparently, the guy who got this voicemail didn't even go out this night and had no idea who this chick was. A very, very, VERY enjoyable voicemail to listen to.

Food for thought...and consideration

Soooo....last Friday a professor took my friend and I out for lunch to celebrate my birthday a few days early. We're pretty much his favorite students from our class we took with him last semester. He took us to this really nice Italian restaurant that we frequent here and there. When our lunches came out, I couldn't help but whip out my camera phone and take a picture, something I tend to do with a lot of things I consume. I just can't help it! I want to document great things I enjoy and look at it later on thinking, "Yeah, I fucking enjoyed it and so did my tummy!" Some things I've refrained from posting but I think this is a great post to add some scrumptous pics too...They're not in any particular order.

Wasabi Peas. I don't know where this fascination sparked from but these things are really fun trinkets to snack on. They're crunchy with this whirlwind of KICK! Wasabi is a root made as a condiment with a very strong taste. Sometimes if I snack on too many, my brain feels like it'll explode. It's kind of like a drug-induced experience. Can you imagine snacking on like five of these bad boys before going out and just losing your shit like an out of body experience? Madness. Unfortunately, this hefty container of wasapeas (haha I'm a genius) is gone.

7oz. bottles of Rolling Rock. I don't drink this beer, er, I haven't tried it yet. But I found this little guy in an Allendale grocery store. They came in a pack of 8...so it's almost like drinking six 12oz. bottles. Actually, I don't think so because eight 7oz. bottles make 42 ounces which is less than six 12oz. bottles which equal 72 ounces. Simple Arithmetic 101. Again, I'm a genius.

Ice Cream Parlor Mix Jelly Bellies. I'm a big fan of the brand to begin with. They simply know how to put the essence of each flavor into every little bean. It's as if you're really eating a low cal sundae. It's an explosion of flavor! A big, giant, huge burst of treat awesomeness. I'd say I really enjoy Our Strawberry Blonde & Birthday Cake Remix flavors in this bunch. Oh, and if you haven't looked at the picture, the flavors in this mix are inspired by Cold Stone Creamery! And they're definitely A LOT cheaper than the sundaes.

Red Mango Frozen Yogurt. Now here's a place where I don't miiiind spending four or five dollhairs on some frozen goodness. If you read my blog on the reg, you'll know how close Red Mango, or any fro-yo for that matter, is to heart...it almost surpasses avocados...or maybe is tied with avos. Anyways, there's not much to explain with dis. This picture features pomegranate flavor on top, strawberry fro yo at the bottom, wet nuts (yeah, I like wet nuts), pomegranate seeds, and rainbow jimmies! MMMM

GUAC. Yes. There is no explaining the epic amazingness of this delicious fruit. Yes, it is a fruit.

McSorley's Irish Pale Ale. I opened up one of these babies after I came home from a very productive, busy day interning yesterday! The biffle nug bought some of these at a grocery in the city and brought some home. It was good! It'd probably be a lot better to enjoy at the actual McSorley's in the city. What's sad is that I've walked past it numerous times and never went in. Maybe because at the time I was an underage nugget but since I'm an old bird now (considering I just turned 22 this past Monday...woof), I can go enjoy a nice cold one at the famous watering hole. I was told it's the oldest one in the nation? Meh, who knows. They serve alcohol...that's the important part.

This may not look like anything all too familiar. But it's probably one of the few times I've had salmon cooked to perfection. And this is actually the second time ordering this dish. It's on the lunch menu at a cute, little Italian restaurant near campus called Da Giorgio, the place our teacher took my friend and I. It's a petite piece of salmon with arugula drizzled in the best balsamic I've ever had, topped it with halved cherry tomatoes. Molto bueno! (I don't know if I said or spelled that right).


CAN SIZED ARNOLD PALMER. If the bigger cans or bottles are too much of the former golf pro for ya there's a nice little can to enjoy! These things are so cute. If you don't know what an Arnold Palmer is, go get hit by a car or beaten with a golf club it's half iced tea and half lemonade. So good, so refreshing. And Mr. Palmer isn't too shabby looking either on that spiffy can. Remember to recycle.

Rold Gold Everything Bagel Pretzels. The joy of an everything bagel combined with pretzel bliss. They really tastes like Everything bagels! Get yourself a bag today!

GRE Prep Book

I was asked to review a blog/site and give an opinion on it. This kind of reminds me of my internship. But even though I don't give my reviews on blogs at my internship, I'm usually skimming through reviews on blogs. But nowwwwwwww...it's my turn. I reviewed http://greprepbook.org/. My first issue would be the fact that the site claims that "We provide you with...", "Our students have an average GRE score of..." But who the hell are you? I understand your product is called the GRE Prep Book but who is the company that makes it? Clearly, I went to the "About" page and learned that is was FOUNDED by 3 UC Berkeley grad students. I feel if a product is considered "the best" product, a company that makes it should have a name rather than use the product name as a company names as well. I don't know, that's just me. The site definitely needs more testimonials...and the :25 second testimonial by "Tim" didn't win me over.

It's also obvious that the site was made on WordPress :\

However, the site has great attributes. I have many friends who majored in Speech Pathology, a major that requires soon-to-be graduates to attend graduate school. I've seen numerous friends stress over the GREs but haven't heard of many who go out of their way of taking Prep courses or utilizing Prep guides and books. And the few that did, definitely benefited from the extra studying. The GRE Prep Book is a great way of preparing for the GREs in all aspects of the dreaded standardized test. SATs all over again? Woof. GRE Prep Book covers Math, Vocab, Analytical Writing, Comprehension, and my favorite...Synonyms. Is there a synonym for "synonym"? Ah, yes..."equivalent." But clearly that word isn't as cool as "synonym." :)

Video Premiere: Katy Perry featuring Kanye West "E.T."

Scary & cosmic.

Choices.

I had a recent conversation with someone, er, not so much a conversation but I guess a form of "closure" with them. The gist of said closure basically summed things up with this person. In laymen's terms, I asked someone why a situation happened and this person I shall call Humphrey Bogart explained their side*
*their as in I am not going to say the sex of said person. I want to keep HB confidential. But I will admit that HB does not attend the same academic institution as I do. 

I don't see this person often. In fact, we haven't met personally but know each other. We've talked before but inconsistently. I tend to want to talk more than HB does in responses back and forth. I tend to be the initiator of conversations with HB, which kinda upsets me because what we talk about isn't consistent with HB's lack of conversation initiation skills (God, I'm sounding way too technical). There were 2 instances where HB did initiate conversation: 1) when we were introduced to one another months ago & 2) the last time I would ever hear from them.

I let a few days go by. Sent a text HB's way. No response. So I sent an e-mail the next day. Yeah, I'm pretty consistent, which is great because in Advertising, it's all about follow-up calls :)

My e-mail basically asked, "What happened?" What happened with the whole situation and why so sudden. Out of the blue. That's what baffled me and that's what I hate: things that happen so suddenly.


HB responded less than ten minutes later with the following, brief response:
"I'm just irritated and feel like u want other people and u party and drink and I don't. It's not my style happy bday*"
*I mentioned how my birthday was coming up and rather worrying about this because I was, still kind of am, that I'd rather worry about what I was going to wear that day...gotta look pretty when you turn 22 you know.


After reading it, I felt crushed, disheartened, surprised. I was kind of in awe because this wasn't consistent with HB's excuses for being so on and off before. And what upset me the most was that HB was judging me on a weekend I spent with some study abroad friends who I haven't seen in God knows how long. HB was judging me as some out of control party animal that flirts and doesn't give a shit when in reality 1) I don't party often (usually a homebody or completely and utterly exhausted from a long day of interning/classes/work/practice) and 2) yes I'm a flirt but it's all out of fun. I'm a social butterfly going from end to end making sure I flutter my wings to all those I know and would like to say hello to. What HB didn't realize was that I cared for HB. And I guess at this point it doesn't really matter. That e-mail was my last e-mail. I sent HB a response trying to hold on to some form of communication with this person but I think it was lights out. All was said and done and now I'm stuck with a huge R on my face that stands for 'Rejection.' WOOF.

What's funny is that if someone is interested in me (which is a very, VERY rare occasion) I tend to not give a damn. I kinda shrug it off, flirt a little but not too severely and try to keep things strictly platonic as to not give any wrong ideas. However, when it comes to my interests I get mind fucked. It's an ongoing occurrence in my life that is starting to make me think this is something that I should just get fucking used to. I told my counselor I feel like a train that's on the right track but just can't get over a very steep hill and I just regress into similar patterns of feeling hurt, mind fucked, and well, rejected. Along with the feeling of a lot of time and effort wasted, I don't know what I'd be doing with that time besides blogging or maybe taking up a different hobby like knitting. Hmmm...

All in all, this is not a nice feeling. It's this constant feeling of knowing that this is probably, and most likely, the last time you will ever hear from someone...and you didn't expect things to end that way. I often think to myself, "What did I do wrong?" as if it were my fault (and usually I think it is). But as my counselor put it, HB may suffer from insecurities of their own. They make assumptions about your "lifestyle" based on jealousy or insecurity about their relationship with you and often use defense mechanisms to cope. I don't necessarily know if I made sense but I think that's what my counselor was getting at. It was HB's choice to no long pursue anything. It was my choice to consistently follow-up, trying to hold onto something that probably didn't happen for a reason. Our choices are impactful not just on our lives but on those also involved. So although I'm feeling shitty, maybe HB is feeling shitty too...because they assumed things were gonna be sour but we're never gonna know.

I have a feeling I'm gonna be single for a while. Already made it for 21 years and soon to be 22. I know I'll get over my hill eventually but sometimes you just can't help but feel a little sad. The loss of a potential new thing blooming in one's life actually turning out to smell like doggy doo doo sucks.

The cheesy irony that I just realized about naming this mystery mean pie HB is that HB could also be an acronym for heartbreaker. But I'm not at thaaat much of a loss, people.

Let's just take a moment...

I found this picture somewhere and meant to post it weeks ago. There are no words to explain the lengths (of not just extension chords for that matter) people go to for convenience. What was also funny was when I went to save the picture on my desktop, it was titled morons.jpg

Road Trip Playlist

So thanks to DJ Pauly D who spit some nasty beats for the car ride to and from South Bend, he introduced us to some awesome jams. And thanks to Taylor for all the good CDs! Didn't get to hear Adele's latest 21 or jam out to Mumford & Sons as much as we wanted because I was too busy requesting DMB's Crash album on repeat. But here are some songs we had on repeat quite a few times. Enjoy!



Create a MySpace Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Weekend Recovery.

I can't really say it enough about how GREAT my weekend was. Seeing old friends and enjoying great times with them was MUCH needed. The 12-hour road trip (times that by two considering it took us 12 hours in each direction), the massive amount of binge drinking, that nasty hung over feeling, the getting sick part, the crying part, all worth it :) Seeing these amazing friends reminds of how much studying abroad was such a great life choice for mahself.

Not much can really be said except some recaps of the weekend's events. Not counting out Frump's permanent boner he had stepping onto Fightin' Irish soil. He's probably in depression mode since we've come back to New Gross last night. As am I, considering today I was in a shit mood - not only did I oversleep through 545am practice this morning but I also didn't do my Marketing assignments (I clearly just have given up on school in general), my Media Planning & Buying midterm was a sickening joke of a test aaaand it was open book to say the least, calculators also being used. I understood the homework but when it comes to OPEN BOOK TESTS, I'm lost. I had a fajita for lunch, and Chinese food for dinner. Motivation has gone out the window and I'm still trying to find the invisible pen I dropped on the floor months ago because clearly, I'm losing it and I kinda just don't give a flying fuck what I do with my life hear on in. But I did download some new tunes to keep me in some sort of decent people-tolerating spirit.

We arrived in our cramped Audi (compliments of DJ Pauly D) a little after 10am. Kayla and I were both planning on getting in a decent workout before the debauchery of that weekend would occur. I ran 4 miles in Red's apartment building's "gym" - consisting of two treadmills (one being used upon arrival) and two elipticals, and a free weight area. And we mustn't forget the complimentary drinking water dispenser.

Famished and sweaty, we head to a Greek restaurant for some vegetarian fare - it was a Lenten Friday but unbeknownst to me, I found out meat could've been eaten because it was sort of special Friday. Whatever.

Blood Mary = Great nightcap :)

So fresh and so clean, we drink some 40s at 4...failed attempt at Edward 40 Hands, nonetheless I finished mine like a champion :) Head over to Between the Buns for some drinks with friends, find out they have $2.50 pints of Blue Moon - I should move here. A pint of that blissful Belgian style beer, a shot of Patron, & two Blood Mary's later, it was lights out for Julesy before anyone could say, "Hey, you ready to go to Finney's?" Apparently I was in such a deep passed out sesh, people tried to shake me awake but I didn't flinch. Someone even was afraid that I may have died. But that nap was divine. I woke up at 3am to find my friend sleeping next to me and my other friend Nicky saying everyone just got back.

Grotto

Saturday was tour day. The Port Lodgers (Jimbo & the Black Cat with Green Eyes aka Taylor) and Frump were given an EXTENSIVE 4 hour tour of campusssss. Red, Joel Hole, See_Error_Ugh, & Nicky all accompanied us on this lovely sunny afternoon. Frump was astounded by all things, including the friendly squirrels that would come up to you if you had food in your hand. So coot!

Original Grotto Stone

Cancer/Disease Tree

Look up! Inside Main Building Dome

I even saw/did some things that I didn't see before: prayed at the Grotto, touched that special piece of the authentic Grotto from Lourdes, France that was concreted into the Grotto, went inside the Main Building and looked up, walked down the front steps of the Main Building (apparently it's superstitious for ND students to do so before graduation), went inside the Basilica, tied a ribbon on the cancer tree, & threw up outside of my friend's house in the parking lot. Oh, that's for later...

After the tour/laughing/funny picture-taking/just being surrounded by great friends, it was back with the rest of the biddies for Papa Smurfs and dinner at Between the Buns. I wasn't even finished half of it before I was feeling "tired". Afterwards, we were supposed to head to Steve's house for a lovely shin-dig he was hosting for Port Lodgers and friends. But no! I was surprised with birthday cake, balloons, and sake bombs :)

I feel the need to share this story with you all because it was quite entertaining and surprisingly, successfully pulled off as well considering so many slip ups occurred prior to sake bombs but of course, me being the space cadet that I am, nothing was ruined. The surprised stayed intact and had me laughing so hard I could hardly blow out my birthday candles. The idea sprung into the biffle nug's head when she remembered me mentioning how I've never gone sake bombing. The idea always struck me as interesting - the concept of balancing a shot of sake on chopsticks over a bigger shot of Japanese beer and having it dropped in and chugged after banging on a table saying, "Sake, sake, sake, BOMB!" But the sake part was what held me back...mixing rice wine with beer? Woof. Since there were a lot of us at dinner, we had to take multiple cars to "Steve's". I was kinda tipsy and didn't mind sitting down, zoned out playing Brick Breaker on my cell phone while other people got rides. I was in the last group with Red, Taylor, DJ Pauly D & Nicky. "Soo..we're on our way to Steve's?" I asked. "Yup," someone up front said. A topic of sake bombs was brought up once again. "Ew! Sake bombing never appealed to me" I said disgusted. "C'mon, Jules it's like so much fun!" DJ Pauly responded in the driver's seat. "I would never sake bomb! It sounds gross!" I said back. Moments later, I noticed we were driving into a Japanese restaurant. "I thought we were going to Steve's," I said. "Yeah, he lives like right over there," DJ Pauly said. "Oh," I responded confused. As I was headed in the one direction, ready to walk over the metal barricade to go to "Steve's", everyone else was headed in the direction of the restaurant. "Where the fuck are you going?!" I asked so confused and flustered at this point. No one responded to me but quickly began walking faster than me into the restaurant. And Taylor looked like a hideous snarling chipmunk as she was giggling on the way in. I was the last to walk in and apparently, "Steve's house" ended up being a nice Japanese restaurant where everyone was waiting for a candle-lit birthday cake, "Happy Birthday Grandma" balloons, and lovely company singing to me. I was speechless and laughing and happy and confused and just plain bubbling like the Sapporo I'd be chugging. After a few mishaps and spillages, we got in a few rounds of bombing, loud thumps from our fists surprisingly didn't disturb the TWO dates going on in the relaxed restaurant. And apparently the waiters were used to having kids come in to sake bomb...the waitress even taught me how to line up m chopsticks properly. I love April :)

We then headed to Steve's house where we played Boom (I clearly annihilated Red because we played on a recycled door as a table and it had some hot spots where the ball bounced perfectly in - of course from where I was standing, which was next to Red so I "boomed" her many a time, forcing to drink massive amounts of Keystone...sorry Red :) We then headed to Finney's, which is where I was supposed to go with everyone else the night before but passed the fuck out. It was also crucial for us to arrive before midnight considering a pub crawl was headed there for it's final destination. We made it just in time - no line, got to the bar, split some green beer, rum & coke, and Long Island Iced Tea pitchers with friends. I met some friends of friends, almost got kicked out for attempting to pee in the guys bathroom, watched a girl get kicked out for actually using the guys bathroom, danced, sang, laughed, made out, and just spent an enjoyable night with the people I've missed for so long. Of course, I spent a shit ton of grub and drink and paid for all that drinking by getting sick on the way back to Nicky's house and in her parking lot, cried when I couldn't give See_Error_Ugh & Joel Hole a proper goodbye, and whimpered by the toilet seat as I passed in and out of a delirium of drunken "chowing" as Nicky puts it. We had every intention of waking up at 7am to leave but of course we didn't wake up til 1045am. "Good morning!" Red says as she came over to get her car. I woke up confused, hung the fuck over, and still drunk. Let's just say the car ride home wasn't the most enjoyable but it certainly was worth the trip.

I came to South Bend knowing that although I'd be excited to see everyone, it would have been as if nothing changed. As if we'd been together all along and it just so happened that we were in the same place this entire time and spent an amazing time together on this amazing weekend away. I don't know how future visits will be considering we will all have graduated and moved to different places, working in different states and starting new chapters of our lives. But I know I will see them again eventually. Even though spending four months abroad with them seemed like such a short time, it certainly paved the way for lasting friendships and fond memories that I will most certainly never forget. Port Lodge Spring '10, I love you.

Aftermath: the present I left in Nicky's parking lot. My b.