Thanksgiving Adventure

Okay, as always I DID enjoy my break. At least it doesn't ever go the other way around where I'm super excited and it always turns out shitty. This is definitely the better tradition.

The bus ride home was slightly on the rough side. I decided to go with the red eye on Tuesday and although I got in line at exactly midnight for my 1am bus, the bus didn't arrive until 2am and we didn't leave until nearly 2:30am. But... I wasn't terribly surprised because it was Thanksgiving weekend. Since I have more to talk about in this entry, I won't address my pillow issue or my mysterious unquenchable thirst at length. For the NY to PA bus, something huge hit the windshield. We had to pull over and the police came and we had to get into another bus blah blah blah. The whole shabang took over an hour and a half, but it was ok because I slept the most while the bus was stopped. Then I took the bus home, picked up a slice of pizza for my mom, brother, and me, and talked to my mom for about a minute before I passed out for an hour. I woke up again later, but I ended up going to bed at 7pm. I woke at 5:40am, watched two episodes of Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and went back to sleep until 10:40am.

We all made the Thanksgiving feast. Even though it was just my family, we insisted on making appetizers-- spinach and artichoke dip!!! And while eating said dip, we all played monopoly! (except my mom, because she doesn't really like board games)!!! And I won!! And we played until bankruptcy! EXCELLENT!

Then, before the turkey was done, my mom took me out to drive for the first time since I took my test... marking my 16th day of driving ever. I couldn't remember which peddle was gas and which was the brake, which I took as a terrible sign. But... it turned out fine. I thought my mom was going to have to drive me to a parking lot so I could remember how to turn, but she didn't. I pulled out of our driveway and rode around our neighborhood just fine.

Thanksgiving is hilarious because it took us about 8 hours to make and about 15 minutes to eat before we were ready to die. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, yams, rolls, and cranberry sauce. After dinner, my mom and I went driving again. This time we tackled highways and Philadelphia. Scary, but pretty okay. Then we played monopoly AGAIN, and my brother won this time. Although, when he was taking the last of my sister's money slowly, he tried to give some back to her because he felt so bad about taking everything from her. We told him he had to take the money because we weren't going to let his conscience off the hook, and he started to cry because he felt so bad! Cute.

The next day we registered my car. Then I watched a little bit of The Nanny Diaries, which was exactly like The Devil Wears Prada except, according to the 45 minutes I watched, less good. I guess that's not my official take on it though. Can't judge a movie in 45 minutes.

Then I drove around on my own for the first time EVER! What I learned... nay... what I reiterated to myself, was that I only know about 3 miles of my town in one direction from my house... which is fine when you walk, but scary when you drive. I drove to Claire's house. Then I drove to Sarah's house. Then I drove to other Claire's house. That was the extent of my knowledge. I got lost when I tried to drive past other Claire's house, and had a panic attack until I found familiar roads again... and I'm convinced that that was a miracle.

Later I WALKED to Claire's house and the five of us (Claire, Natalya, Claire, and Sarah) went out to dinner. Then we went to a bar because a friend told us to meet him there. He's a year older than us and told him that his friends were having an impromptu reunion. That was false. It was the 2005 five-year class reunion!! While it was interesting seeing the people from the year ahead of us (lots of weight gain, not that I judge), it was mostly scary and I kept my head down for a lot of it. Since there was a cover charge, we kind of had an obligation to stay for a bit, but we left around 11. Then we went down and essentially crashed a get together of some boys two years younger than us. That was nice... also a little awkward. Mostly, I went home with a supreme blast-from-the-past feeling.

Next day: Picked Elena up in Philadelphia. Stocked up on food. Drove the ENTIRE WAY TO BOSTON!! I wasn't even terribly nervous for most of it. The worst part was probably being in Boston. We were supposed to get off at exit 20 but the exits went from 18 to 22.... wtf. Buuuut I did some amazingly aggressive driving! What I learned was that the driving is so INSANE that it doesn't really matter what you do because people are merging all over the land anyway!

So it took about 9.5 hours and about $35 for gas and more for tolls. Plus I only peed 3 times. Amazing.

Things I need for my solo trip in 23 days:

1. Water bottle with a pop cap so I can open and close it on my own.

2. Tape converter thing to plug my ipod into the car (so I don't have to listen to Christmas music and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack on cassette-- left my my grandpa!)

Things I learned in general:

1. All lady talk radio personalities sound exactly the same.

2. Elena and I can only name like... 21 U.S. Presidents.

3. My brother's new youtube site. Please enjoy this Matt-classic.

When I got home, I watched Splash, which I rented from Netflix. I don't know how BAD the movie is, but Daryl Hannah isn't a great actress and it is just pretty dated. Whatever. But it compelled me to watch Sleepless in Seattle because of the young Tom Hanks and the fact that it has a lady radio personality that sounds the same as every other one.

Anyway, I used to not like Sleepless in Seattle that much, but I think I was resentful because that would never happen. This time I decided... well OBVIOUSLY that could never happen... most romantic comedies couldn't but they just aren't so obviously fanciful. Plus, Jurassic Park could never happen either. And what's the point of movies if not to make our fanciful dreams come true? Anyway, I liked it this time. Plus, it's the second movie that I can think of where the girl gets the man of her dreams when it seems like... EXTREMELY unlikely, mostly because they've never met, the other one being Sixteen Candles.

So... now I have to write a paper. Lame.

Also, I want to see It's Complicated. I just do.

Lots of Caps Today

Today was berNARDed (that's a replacement word for it's less PC, but seemingly necessary to my vocabulary, rhyming counterpart)!!!! Seriously.

So last night I was procrastinating, yadda yadda. So I decided to start the second half of my script after Colbert last night, which is fine because I pretty much always do that. So I turn on my computer and I notice...

IT'S NOT CHARGING!! So I play with the charger for a bit. Then I try turning the computer on and off. I figure it's the charger's fault because it's lit up green, which shouldn't happen unless it's already plugged into the computer and the computer is charged... neither of which are the case.

Finally, I have a HEART ATTACK! It's 12:30am, the library is going to close at 2am. Plus, even if it didn't, I needed to use the program that was on my computer-- you can't download onto a school computer. Plus, the program I was using was a trial version of Final Draft-- I'm not going to go into the reasoning behind this because it's probably boring... but the point is that it's only on my computer AND it sucks because when I print it out, it leaves a watermark behind because I haven't paid for the program (I don't think I'm being too cheap but it's $79!!).

Regardless, I text Amanda because I KNOW she has a mac and PRAY that she's awake because I only have 57 minutes left on my computer. She is and I basically run to her place-- and bless her heart because she was clearly half-asleep when I got there. Anyway, I set up shop in her common room and I see that HER CHARGER ISN'T WORKING ON MY COMPUTER EITHER! Clearly the my charger AND my computer are dead! Buuuuut now it says that I have 2 hours and 40 minutes (which sometimes happens, where the remaining battery time is inaccurate). So I decide to just stay out in Stuvi, where Amanda lives (about a 12 minute walk away), and finish my thing. Miraculously I DO finish before the computer dies-- it is now down to 15 minutes. I walk home at about 4am.

When I wake up later at 9am, I remember what happened and want to cry. I have a paper due at midnight on Friday, which isn't a huge deal, but it does suck when you can't do something at home. More importantly, I have to make this script happen before the final one is due... the one I was working on was only the second half of a rough draft-- still a lot of my grade though. I even briefly act pissy about it to Elena in the morning.

But, then I went to health care sociology and we watched a video in which a billion jillion people were in pain or dying. I was like "I GET it, universe! Okay okay, my own personal computer not charging is HARDLY something to freak out about in the grand scheme of things." Jesus Herbert Christ! The universe almost NEVER lets me wallow in self pity.

Side note: I cried AGAIN in that health care class. STUPID LADY HORMONES!! Honestly, I regularly get pissed when people cry, so I'm being a real hypocrite by pointing out all of my emotional surges... but I really think my tear ducts are a bit hilariously out of control. The other night, at like... 3am, I was watching The Brady Bunch. In this episode, Bobby is obsessed with Jesse James because he doesn't quite see that Jesse James was a vicious killer villain. In the episode, Mike and Carol make Bobby talk to the son of a man who was killed by Jesse James. That night he has a dream that he's on a train-- and this is like... the worst set ever!-- with the rest of his family. Then Jesse James comes on and shoots the family. But it's The Brady Bunch so, I think the gun is just his fingers shaped like a gun, although I forget. But the shot sound is DEFINITELY just Jesse James saying "BANG BANG BANG." No sound effects. And then the whole family bloodlessly, hilariously, and dramatically fall over on each other as Bobby delivers a TERRIBLE performance of fake horror and tears. It SHOULD have been hilarious-- in fact it was. But tears ran down my face! REALLY, LADY HORMONES?! REALLY?! But back to my other tale...

Anyway, after class, I try to go to COM and see if any of the computers have a real version of Final Draft so that I don't have to hand in something with watermarks on it. I search for a while, but most of the labs have classes in them. So I decide to go to the dining hall for lunch and then come back at noon (my class is at 1pm). Well, I try the open labs and none of them have it. Finally I realize I should just ask someone. I do and it turns out none of our computers even have Final Draft-- ANNOYING!! They have photoshop!

But now I know that I'm going to have to pay for Final Draft, even though I still haven't put in my check for this week, so I only have $13 right now. Plus, if my computer has only 15 minutes of life left, where am I going to put this program?! It means, I'll have to get my computer fixed right away, but what if THEY charge me? So I had to pick up and deposit my check, and in the mean time see if my computer can be fixed for free. If it can't, have to fix computer when my check clears two days later. Then I have to spend $80 for Final Draft. Then I have to spend the rest of my money on my ticket home next week... which means that I can't go out to dinner or do anything fun. And I'll probably have to borrow money from my mom for gas for my trip. BAAAH!!

But, since I couldn't do anything about it before class, I decided to read for a half hour in front of my class (YES Bridget Jones!). Miraculously, a kid from my class was passing and reminded me that we don't even HAVE class today-- we have individual meetings!!! I felt AWEFUL because I don't think I'm usually that irresponsible... but we haven't had class in three weeks, so I forgive myself. Anyway, that means that I didn't have to be ready until 3:45pm instead of 1pm (thanks for the "W," Wolbers).

I go back home, thinking I'll just take a shower and then plan my actions. Before I do, I decide to use my last 15 minutes of computer time to look up the number for the Mac store and inquire about my problem-- maybe we could trouble shoot over the phone. It's possible. I open my computer to find...

I have nearly FIVE HOURS on it! What?! I decide that the computer could be misreading it, but I decide to start trying to rewrite the script in Word instead of Final Draft. Miraculously, the computer stays alive, depleting in charge and continually saying it's NOT charging... but at some point I see that there is no way it could not be charging. I worked for hours and hours last night... it would FOR SURE have run out of battery if it wasn't charging. I guess it's just trying to fool me!!! MAJOR CRISIS AVERTED!

Anyway, I continue doing the script in Word and it's working WAAAAAY better than I thought. Although, it would probably only take an hour to type a script in Final Draft, after three hours I was nearly done with it in Word (it's a margin and spacing issue). BUUUUUT, I couldn't finish the last four pages because I was going to have a heart attack about being late. I left about 35 minutes before my appointment to go and print.

So I get to the library, which is VERY close to where my appointment is, and go to print. WEEEELL my Mac Word doesn't exactly fit with the Windows Word-- REALLY annoying, always. So I have to reformat it a bit. About 10 minutes before I have to be at my appointment, I print, without the last four pages. I just tear them off the back of the script I wrote with the watermarks, assuming he'd be fine with it-- it IS a rough draft. Oh God though, even in memory, 10 minutes makes my heart race! So I go to print and... OBVIOUSLY it won't. OOOOBVIOUSLY! This is why I leave 4 hours early for plane rides. I go up to the desk and they say the server is down so I should wait a minute. Fine. I go back to my computer and refresh like crazy.

Now I'm down to 4 minutes before I have to be at my appointment. I'm already going to be a minute late. AAAAAHHH!!

Honestly, I HATE being late! But I REALLY HAAAAAATE being late with people that I respect and admire, like I do with this professor. PLUS, unbeknownst to him, he was a huge contributing factor to my release from my chick flick funk a few days ago! And I just KNOOOOW he's waiting for me because last time he wasn't running late at all-- in fact, I went in several minutes early. Oh God!

FINALLY the computer allows me to release the document to be printed. I run over to the counter, but the guy says it WASN'T released!!! He tells me to wait...

Ten to FIFTEEN MINUTES!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

As I'm leaving, actually whisper "FUCK!" aloud, which... I'm pretty sure I've never done before. Right afterwards, I immediately start berating myself. This is my fault. I know to leave earlier. Community printers are NEVER reliable. I only have 3 minutes left so I decide to go with my watermarked paper. I actually get out of the library, ready to run, when I remember that I actually crossed out a full page of the watermarked paper. Like... there is a big X over a page because I just planned to attach the last four pages to the first part in Word.

Immediately see that a big X is worse than being late. I go back into the library, trying to get another computer. It's already the time of my appointment. I finally get to the computer and see that the computer has charged me and that the document is in my history. I go to the man at the printing station and tell him that I'm pretty sure it went through. I have some documents pending, but I really did release one. He goes over and sees that that is correct and gives me my document.

I RUUUUN to my appointment and I get there in 2 minutes, but I'm already almost 6 minutes late... which I KNOOOOOW I sound insane about this time thing, but our meeting is only 15 minutes long! I feel TEEEEERRRRIBLE!! I get up to the floor and...

HE'S STILL IN A MEETING! This time he's running late!!! And he continues to be in a meeting for another TEN MINUTES!!!!! I am SOOOOOO relieved that I chose to go back and wait for the paper instead of choosing the big X, watermarked version of the assignment.

I end up having the meeting with him, and he didn't care about the watermarks or anything... which, I really knew he wouldn't. I got a B+/A- on the first half of the script, which has watermarks on it. PLUUUUS, as it turns out, I just ASSUMED we were turning in a final draft of that script, but we're not. Although I really think/hope that I finish my script so I can use it as a spec script later. Plus, I kind of like it. But the point is, I DEFINITELY don't have to buy Final Draft. $80 saved. Plus the billions saved because my computer is not really broken, just quirky.

Anyway, as I was walking home, I realized that even though I had this terrible, eventful, super stressful day... nothing even happened at ALL!! If I had done NOTHING, my day would have been just fine. I just had like... 1000 false alarms.

And that's why my day was BERNARDED!!!

Continued Research

To follow up on my interest in Chris Rock's Good Hair documentary, I decided to look up Tyra Banks' opinion on the matter-- I vaguely remember her having a natural hair day where she and others took off their wigs. Anyway, she had an entire show on the subject, semi-inspired by Chris Rock's documentary and it was SUPER enlightening. I didn't realize how intense hair was for black women. It's SUPER sad because the chemicals burn. And little girls have terrible self-esteem-- other kids made fun of them. One five-year-old was obsessed with a Hannah Montana wig, not because she loved Hannah Montana, but because she thought it made her look pretty. One woman went back to her natural hair and her mom won't introduce her to people as her daughter because she just "doesn't look like my daughter anymore." One lady was relaxing her THREE-year-old daughter's hair-- and that shit is super painful and TERRIBLE for your hair! Plus, they spend like, a JILLION dollars on all of the stuff! And the extensions! And it's so time consuming!

On Tyra, they said that historically, women with looser hair were way more likely to be freed and have better jobs and stuff because it was a sign of being the offspring of the slave owner, and the trend stayed.

I just really didn't realize any of this. I kind of feel like a douche because I always feel so sorry for myself and other women because of how much maintenance is required, even for the most low maintenance girls, just so that we don't look like complete monsters-- whereas, someone is going to be attracted to a guy no matter how little he does to himself. I just didn't know that black women had SO MUCH more pressure than we do. I don't do SHIT to my hair. Plus, I learned in health care sociology that black women are WAY more likely to give birth to a baby with low birth weight and black men AND women have a lower life expectancy, regardless of education or wealth (which is usually the determining factor), just because of the constant pressures of racism-- the stress releases chemicals into your body, and because it doesn't stop, it takes a huge toll on their health.

Anyway, if you want to watch the special, here is the link to the first part.

In other news, I have so much to do this week, and I didn't even realize it. I think it'll be okay, because it's mostly not academic-- it's just about finding time.

I watched Donnie Darko for the second time on Halloween. The first time I watched it was with Pat, and we were painting and chatting at the time (which I hardly ever do during a movie I haven't seen) and so I attributed my lack of understanding to that. Turns out, it's straight up confusing. I guess I'm going to have to watch it again, and I shall as I both own it, and think Jake Gyllenhaal is super attractive.

Also, I am currently rediscovering the miracle of The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys. I always consider it to be my least favorite of a trio of movies, the other two being Imaginary Heroes and Igby Goes Down (which, to be clear, is not widely considered to be a trio). But now I see that I really can't rate them in terms of favorites. The movie really is the shit! They all are! Plus, Jena Malone-- she might not be my FAVORITE actress ever, but there is something to be said for the fact that she's in the BEST MOVIES EVER! Seriously. Into the Wild, Saved!, The United States of Leland, The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys... plus Stepmom, which is pretty good, Life as a House, which isn't GREAT but has HUUUGE merits (of which Jena Malone takes huge part), Donnie Darko, which... is still up in the air for me, and I can't forget Pride and Prejudice, the Knightley version, which... in comparison with the 6-hour BBC version is INCREDIBLY all-encompassing of the story without being too rushed... a miracle that I don't fully understand.

But seriously, The Secret Lives of Alter Boys-- I need to remember to not underestimate this movie again.

That is all.

Update: All of the Malone talk made me need to see an interview (except let's be honest-- this is going to turn into a JILLION interviews) and I would TOTALLY want to be her friend! She seems like the fucking SHIT! Which shouldn't surprise me, given her aforementioned movie choices.

L.A. Entry 2.0: Adding a Dash of Optimism

I realized, given my trouble sleeping and my anxiety, that I need to reassess my attitude towards L.A. Therefore I decided to make a series of new rules for myself:

1. I am going to try and stop discussing my anxiety so much. I feel like it's exacerbating the problem--just sending negative energy out.

1b. I'm going to try and focus way more on the fact that this is actually a very exciting thing to do. Change is scary, but in a much more real sense, being on the move is very relieving and fulfilling. Plus, I was frightened to come to Boston too, and that turned out SUPER SUPER SUPER awesome. So great.

2. I'm going to stop thinking of L.A. in terms of the rest of my life, and think of it ONLY in terms of the 3 1/2 months that I'm obligated there. MUCH less pressure. I have to remember that if I don't like it, I can EASILY try to use my new connections to find work in New York. Or I can hang with my family in Colorado for a while. OR I can go up to Portland (my secret dream location) and take the civil service exam and do some government work for a while. I'll start thinking about the future a month into my L.A. experience.

3. I have to have a little more perspective on how this simply isn't the most stressful experience in comparison with what other people do. A HUGE amount of my friends came to Boston from California and they are just fine. Plus my mom had a 2-year-old when she was my age (me). Plus, Natalya can go off to the Amazon or Ecuador or on a three month, cross country bike ride. Plus... there's always that kid who built the windmill in Africa.

4. I also have to remember that even though I'm afraid that L.A. people will judge me, I really like BU people in television... and they are going to make up a lot of the people that I hang out with. Plus, I really love Julia, Devon, and Corina and they are all from L.A. I need to stop thinking of them as exceptions-- maybe I am being excessively prejudiced as my mother suggested.

5. I bought and am going to read a recommended travel book about L.A. I think that will relieve some of my anxiety... make me feel a little more secure.

6. I am going to try and shut all of the thoughts down at night. Life, L.A. or not, seems surprisingly bleak at 4am.

Much better, right? Right.

I finally decided I could talk to my grandpa about L.A. (he called on Monday). Did it, and ... it was OKAY, except there were a lot of car issues that I hadn't really thought about. Buuuuut... I'm going to take it one problem at a time, and I'm not going to freak out anymore. AND I'm going to try to take as much advantage of Boston as I can while I'm still here-- which I think I'm doing well with.

Whew! DECIDING to return to optimism is sometimes the trickiest part.

Also, I think I've decided how I'm going to find my soulmate. I'm going to find a man that blogs as much as I do. We'll procrastinate together, talking indirectly through our own narcissistic mediums. That's the premise. Then we finally get together, but we end up writing too much about our hot sex in our blogs. But we shall overcome, presumably through a series of hilarious misunderstandings and complications. Then we can have a blog together... that will obviously be updated every 20 minutes. Cue romantic music swell.

Done.

Best Buy Miracle

On August 29 I brought my broken TV to the Best Buy to get it fixed.

On September 4th they called me saying that they were ordering parts and that they should receive the parts in 3 to 10 days.

On September 23rd I had still heard nothing about my TV so I decided to call and ask what's up. They said they would email the manufacturers and get back to me on why it's taking so long.

On September 26 they called me to tell me I could pick up a replacement TV.

I went down to pick it up and the TV I bought last year has

1. a lot more shit that comes with it and

2. is $40 cheaper

The miracle; I got refunded that $40 in cash!!

So I got paid $40 to get a new and better TV.

Sweet!!

Reduced Pay

Yesterday I found $.51 on the ground.

My financial assistance from the heavens got substantially reduced, it seems. Nevertheless, I'm grateful. I'm that much closer to doing my laundry....

Emile Hirsch

JESUS H!

Into the Wild....

I'll tell you there is an Emile Hirsch movie for my every temperament. He makes windows to my soul at the exact pace that my brain thinks of them! Whatever I'm thinking about, he's already made the film that understands it, delves deeper into it, and shows me the outcome.

I LOVE EMILE HIRSCH.

And I LOVE Into the Wild!

(And Imaginary Heroes, The Secret Lives of Alter Boys, Milk, Lords of Dogtown, Alpha Dog, probably Taking Woodstock (when I see it)...)

And I LOVE that it speaks to me right when I need to hear it!

Too bad he doesn't share my enthusiasm for late night talk shows because he doesn't seem to have been a guest on any of them.

God Couldn't Think of a Good Gift So He Went with the Old Standby

I got a check for $50 in the mail today and I have no idea where it's from... but it says it's from being a part of some research. However, I'm pretty sure I already got paid for all of my research participations. But whatever, I was SOO thankful! I went to deposit the money and saw that I only had $1 left in my account! And I thought I had $10!! Thus... I consider it a check directly from god.

Job Security and Class

Glorious glorious glorious!

First of all, the Hillel job is pie. Plus, I make sandwiches during the job (but only 2 kinds of sandwiches-- lox and tuna) but MAYBE this will be able to count as some kind of food services job in the future if I need to be a waitress. Mostly it's nice because it isn't terribly busy. I got through a LOT of my Colbert book re-read, which will hopefully be replaced with a book of more academic use in the future (I didn't realize I would be able to read and thus wasn't prepared).

Also, while I'm speaking of work, I DID get my SED job back (it was questionable before because I thought I was too busy for them to take me). Soooo I'm working either 21 or 22 hours a week this year (questionable because I know I'm starting at 10am at Hillel on Saturday but I DON'T know when I'm ending... I didn't think to ask. I imagine 1 or 2pm)!! WHOOO! I haven't had money in so long (my fault, my fault, I know, I know, I know, I know!). Elena informs me that she thinks this is going to be stressful... but I don't think so. Or maybe I'm just greedy about the moneys.

ANYWAY, my classes seem kick ass!

TV writing: My professor has an INTENSE career! If you look up Michael Loman on imbd.com, you'll see what I mean. He's very kind and not scary at all, though. Also, he's my professor for my television comedy (sans writing), which I haven't had yet, but... I assume they'll be similarly awesome. PLUS I get to write a script on my own as a final project and it can be whatever running sitcom I want. YES!!

Health care sociology: When I signed up for the course, I thought I would enjoy it because it's so timely. NOW I see that I'm so fortunate to take the class while we have a strong hope for change. When I left the class, I a LITTLE wanted to kill myself over our current health care situation. I'll probably (hopefully) write out the stuff I think is important. Crazy stuff here.

Art and literature of film: AWESOME!! Basically we watch a movie on Tuesdays. Then right after we discuss it. Then on Thursday we have a lecture about it. Then Friday is an optional re-screening of the movie from Tuesday. Two things are great about that:

1. It's GREAT that they accommodate for wanting to watch a movie twice. On a big screen!

2. That's 2.5 hours on a Friday that I don't have to go to... which makes it easier for me to decide to take a trip... to Penn State, perhaps? Yes!

Also, we're not really starting the novels yet, but they're going to quiz us on the novels, which is nice because it'll make me actually read them. They aren't that long, so I don't think it'll get to be too much.

Some other semi-interesting things:

1. My friend Nora and I were walking home from Julia's (west) at 1am and we saw this guy screaming at a girl in a really scary way for a long time. We thought, maybe it'll be fine, but on the off chance that something happens, it would never escape our conscience's. So I called the police and we watched as two police cars came and took them both away. It couldn't have taken more than a minute from the time I placed the call. I hadn't even hung up before the first police car got there. Awesome. After wards we basically kissed each other's ass, telling each other what good samaritans we are. We were pretty pleased with ourselves.

2. I watched Pumpkin. When I started it I was like "oh god, this is the worst movie ever!" And then as it progressed I was like "wait... this really IS the worst movie... in a good way." I think it was intentional.. in which case, it's pretty funny. I guess it's kind of in the realm of But I'm a Cheerleader... which I do like.

3. New season of The Office starts Sept. 17 at 9pm. PUUUUMPED!! It starts in real time with Pam four months pregnant!

Gods' Shout-Out

Usually I don't have a hard time sleeping, but last night I actually laid in bed in the dark for hours with either no sleep or very restless sleep (you know when you can't really tell... I have to assume I was at least partially asleep). Plus I woke up like... 3 times to pee, which is also not the usual for me. I guess it was first day of class jitters, which I didn't even realize I had. But it was good because it wasn't difficult at all for me to get up at 9am.

Yesterday I decided to get my books, mostly because I have guitar today, the only class I ASSUME I'm going to need the book for on the first day. Unfortunately that was the only book that wasn't there. But at least I tried. BUUUUUT two glorious things occurred:

1. My only book for TV writing was a book that I previously had for another class. The miracle is that I STILL have it!! I get rid of MOST of my books. So... I think that was a shout-out from the gods.

2. Since I dropped my other scary literature class (where I needed to read The Odyssey and Portrait of an Artist BEFORE class even STARTED!! (ah!!)), I didn't check to see what books we would be reading for my new choice, art and literature of film. Weeeell, I'm pleased to announce that the books are Frankenstein, Basic Kafka, selected tales from Edgar Allen Poe, Miss Lonely Hearts/Day of Locust (?), and a textbook called Understanding Movies, which has Spiderman on the cover (which will make me look mighty intellectual). I'm SOOO pleased because I'll still be getting some classic literature, but the odds that I'll read Frankenstein are a MILLION times better than the odds that I would have read The Odyssey!!

In other news, I went through my netflix queue to put movies I really want to see at the top of the list (an act I practice every so often), buuuuut I forgot to put them in order of how I actually want to receive them... so I'm getting Pumpkin today... which I DID want to see, but not in the same way that I wanted to see Into the Wild or Death to Smoochy. Oh well.

Also, Elena and I found a 4-slot toaster in our vestibule-- basically my dream. I fantasize about peanut butter toast breakfasts. However, the toaster is temperamental, not surprising given it's abandoned state when we found it. My fantasies WOULD be ruined, but lovely Corina is giving me a toaster. I'm taking this to mean that the same gods who saved me from buying an extra book must really want me to have toast this year. I accept!

Also, the cast of Seinfeld is doing a semi-reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm. The plot is going to be for 5 episodes, three of which will have the entire cast. They'll be kind of playing themselves but the plot is that they are creating a reunion show, so you'll get to see scenes from the fictional reunion show... so basically in some parts they will be playing their Seinfeld characters. Pretty cool! Although... I don't get HBO.

Also, I watched the most recent episode of Weeds yesterday (it was THRILLING), only to learn that it was the SEASON FINALE! BAAAH!! No Weeds!! No Office!! No Daily Show or Colbert Report!! What am I going to do with myself??!!

I hear Greek is good...

I think Glee is starting again, except I watched the pilot and I didn't see what the fuss was about.

I guess I'll have to go back to movies for a while. Or do my homework...

One Extraordinary Day in Bean Town

I basically had the BEST day ever!!! Here's how it went:

Last night I went to bed around 11pm (which still half upsets me since I really like my nights. I just can't stay conscious anymore). But, I woke up at 9:30am ready to go. I look outside and it's gorgious out. I took a long shower full of singing at full voice -- I thought my roommates were at work, but actually one was home... so it was a little awkward when I emerged from the shower...
but either way, I had a beautiful shower-- full of confidence. Then I put on my new shirt from Urban Outfitters that I got when I saw Claire yesterday, applied some sunscreen, and was off.

The day was VERY sunny (we've been getting a LOT of rain-- perhaps even hail yesterday), with almost no humidity. I went to Government Center and had a gyro in Quincy Market. Then I sat on the steps outside in the shade listening to a man performing on cans (that reminded me of Angel from Rent (even though that isn't really my favorite movie)) whom I had given a dollar to before I got my food. Then the guy finished up and these other street acrobats came and performed. BUUUUT it was AWESOME because a) they are hot, british, and hilarious and b) I recognized them from a previous Government Center time, and I was just smitten with them!!! They did NOT disappoint. I gave them $5.

Then I decided to walk around a little, and while doing this I saw signs pointing towards a blood drive. The Red Cross called me about donating about 2 weeks ago, but I couldn't because I had work. SOOO I popped into the place, gave some blood (which I honestly love to do), and got some crackers, juice, a Red Sox shirt, and a coupon for chocolate covered strawberries from Edible.

Afterwards, I decided to walk to Downtown Crossing where I bought a pair of earrings, after which I went to the Boston Commons and sat in the shade and read my book, Twilight (which almost seems like a guilty pleasure, but I don't care because it's so addicting!!)

I LOOOOOOOOVE the park!!!! I really think that cities might just be how humans are MEANT to live. I don't think we should have so much space. I just love having my small room and my small apartment! And I LOOOOOVE all the people who walk around CONSTANTLY!!! But I REALLY love the park!! In a way that I never encounter in a suburban area, people at the park in the city just LOVE IT!!! The kids are REEEEALLLY about their games. The teenagers sit about in circles talking and having picnics! People sit during their lunch break and eat and listen to performers and catch some sun! Lovers rest under trees! Squirrels and pidgeons aren't afraid! I saw one man in a wheel chair, I think paralyzed from the neck down, and he was flying a kite. You just KNOW that all he wants in the world is to just fly his kite!!! And he's doing it! He's making that happen!!! Does it get any better than that? Than simple, self-created happiness?

Anyway, I saw on my new shirt with a pretzel and a soda and Twilight for 4 hours. I didn't move at all. I finally did get up when this guy started talking to me. But he was really nice. He was telling me about his Stephen King books, confessing that he was a crazy alcohalic ("I'm just being honest with you"), telling me movies that I should watch. I loved it, but decided to make my exit.

So I went home, first stopping at the book store to buy the second book after Twilight. Then I got home, finished up Twilight, started the new book, and then hung out with my work friends playing Munchkin Fu (card game) twice (and I won once), and eating pizza and cookies.

And now I'm home in my nice cool room, ready to read myself to sleep.

How awesome was my day?

Neat Stuff at Work

One of the groups that uses BU for housing over the summer is a group of future principals (I THINK... but don't REALLY care). But either way, I found this art that some children made for their teacher and I thought it looked REALLY COOL!!! It's almost creepy...