Mr. Frear's Ears

First of all, as a representative member of the blogging community, can I just get a round of applause for Allison's post? I don't know what it was, and if someone can explain it, they're welcome to (maybe it's just those english majors), but it seemed really heartfelt and full of genuine bloggy goodness.

I write now with "Happy Mother's Day" stamped on my right hand. My guess is that they didn't have any legit stamps to use, but maybe they just had a good sense of irony. Tiffany and I (one of my fellow interns) just got back from seeing the guitarist of Megadeth play at a local bar. Boy was it...unmemorable? After a couple drinks, it became jarringly apparent that YOU, that's right, I'm talking about you, are really one of the only things that keeps me from becoming a zombie; in the most figurative sense, that is, no need for Kim to plot out an escape strategy.

The final straw is when someone tells a really long, pointless story, to which I sarcastically remark "good story", and they respond with "yeah, it was pretty cool."

I'm done. There seems to be a strong distinction of people in this world: People who are dumber than me, and people who are wittier than me (I?). I feel light years ahead of one, but like a total moron in fornt of the other. Does anyone else feel like this sometimes?

Well, I sure hope so, because that's where y'all fit in. You make me feel at home, where I don't have to make snide comments to keep myself ammused, yet you don't make me feel like an idiot either. I know its a passive thing and all, but I really appreciate every single one of your friendships.

This post may or may not have made any sense: a postclaimer. (double entendre?)

PS. If any of you hear any good puns, let me know!

i work the night shift

only a few things to report.. last saturday i went down to boston again on the spur of the moment to visit kim again, and had a great time. all the sailors and people on the boats constitute a really chill and interesting community, and there are so many cool people to meet. one guy i met for instance, on kim's boat, was really cool and we kinda hooked up both times i went to visit kim, but on the second time i realized i kind of actually wanted to stay in touch with him and whatnot. the thing is i probably won't really have a chance to see him again except maybe once this summer if i'm lucky. oh yeah and he's 26.

other than my random trips to boston there hasn't been much exciting stuff going on in my summer. i've been hanging out with zach a lot, which is cool, because we definitely needed some bonding time. i haven't had my phone for almost a week because i left it in boston, but it is being mailed to me.

speaking of mail, i started my post office job on monday. monday and tuesday were just really long days of orientation, but last night i started getting trained for what i'm actually going to be doing. it's incredibly easy work, just loading and unloading machines which sort the mail. also, i think i'm going to be keying in zipcodes for the pieces of mail that the machine can't read. not bad for $13 an hour, huh? and i work the midnight to morning shift, which means i start at 12 and can end anywhere from 6 to 8 am. pretty much that means my normal schedule is going to be: get home from work, sleep til between 2-4 in the afternoon, depending on how late into the morning i worked, get up, eat dinner, go to the gym, catch like an hour or two more of sleep, then work at midnight. it's kind of disorienting, but i'm sure i'll get used to it, and it kind of fits naturally into my night-owl tendencies. zach is also working there but he is being a custodian. basically that means he gets an extra dollar an hour, and an extra day off. but i like my job, which is called a clerk. so far the people have been really nice and it seems like it's really going to pay off and i'm not going to hate it. i plan on staying 6 weeks and making about 3000 dollars, 1000 of which i'll immediately put aside for spring break. also i think it will make my summer go by faster.

i'm sorry that i haven't been very good at calling or keeping in touch with most people. it's just me.. i pretty much won't call people unless they call me first, and i almost never have access to the internet for more than 20 minutes or so at a time, so i don't bother hopping on AIM. however, don't think that because i'm not very good at keeping in touch it doesn't mean that i don't miss you guys, because i miss you all SO MUCH and i seriously think everyday about how i can't wait to be back at school. i am trying to just focus on myself over the summer and not only make money, but also find ways to really grow and become a better person because i never have as much time during the school year to focus on hobbies and things that just make me happy. but don't be mistaken, i can't wait to see you all again. if anyone wants to come to maine, just let me know! i only get one day off a week so.. that could be tough haha!

well sorry that this has been so long-winded, i should probably go and think about dinner.. also my cat just came over and is currently sitting on one of my arms, making typing slightly difficult. i hope that everyone is getting everything they could possibly want out of their summers, and having a great time.

rach, i really appreciated your call and i promise to call you back as soon as i get my phone. if i can find the time, we should def. meet up for a day or two.

love and miss you all,
alli

City Life

Things have certainly gotten better since my last entry. I’m starting to enjoy work a lot, mostly because my boss and I have started to get along really well. I’ve found that as long as people are open to my silly side, I can get along with almost anyone – so I’m happy that my boss has started to allow that side of me to come out.

I’ve gotten to do a lot of cool things – helping out at VJ auditions has been my favorite, so far. We’ve chosen a new VJ, and I really like her. It was so cool being a part of the process, seeing how it all pieces together. She’ll be a celebrity within a year, and it feels pretty good to know that I’m one of the people that helped get her there – and seriously. I gave her advice when I was helping her get ready, and I spent hours making sure her tape showcased the best of her audition. I really had a lot of fun with that.

There’s still the endless tape-making and stupid errands (I had to go to Food Emporium twice the other day – once to make sure the ice cream I had already called about was actually there, and once to actually buy it. Yea.), but it’s all part of being an intern, and I don’t mind it.

Anyway, I’ve also been in the city for the past week, cat and apartment sitting. The cat hisses at me a lot, so I walk pretty far away from it, but it’s otherwise been a pretty pleasant experience. I’ve also been hanging out a lot with Jenny Madden, which has been really fun! I’ve had lots of Conn in my life lately – Amanda and I have started a weekly lunch date tradition, which actually makes me look forward to Mondays, and two weekends ago was spent at the lovely Elizabeth Charpie’s house.

And I have a new crush, which always makes life exciting. I don’t know what will happen when I finally grow up enough that I won’t be like a 6th grader when it comes to crushes, but I hope that doesn’t happen too soon.

Bonjour Busybees

Life goes on in Sleepy Hollow. Work is good and busy. I spent time in the city with my oldest and closest friend this past weekend. We hung out and talked and cooked and watched BUTTLOADS of Scrubs and went to the Pride Parade on sunday. Unfortunately, the weather here has been sucking balls. We haven't seen the sun in... a week I guess, and the next promising day is definitely saturday (maybe friday) and then it's going to rain again through the 4th. I guess the rain makes it easier to stay focused on work during the day. Ooooh, and I've seen so many movies recently. Here's a brief review:

Manders' Movies:
Brokeback -- a big disappointment (though both men are extremely hot)
Capote -- I had no idea that it was just about one part/one book of his life, but P.S.H. was AMAZING as always
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants -- can we still be friends?
Keeping up with the Steins -- have you even heard of this piece of shit? We were looking for fun Jewish humor and ended up at a movie for pre-teens. very sad.
The Break Up -- I LIKED it. I don't think anyone else did. Opinions?
Walk the Line -- SO GOOD. nuff said
Transamerica -- Best movie I've seen in ages. Felicity Huffman was outstanding, the story was GREAT, the son was good and sooooo hot.

Come on, Drew. Aren't you going to argue with me??

About the rain making it easier to stay focused, this entry is NOT proving that point. Ok, so I don't know what else to share except that I'm excited for this weekend because rose is coming and we're seeing SWEENEY TODD (hoooooray!). So, I hope you enjoyed all of my exciting news.

For now back to reading and writing and the worst pies in london,
a

A quick note

Hey yall,

It's pretty late, so its gotta be a short post, but I promised Rach (I want to anways). Well, tonight is my last night before my real summer begins. Tomorrow morning, I'm driving up to New Hampshire to work at Wediko Children's Services as a counselor for 2 months. I am so excited to meet everybody that I can meet up there and be exposed to life in the professional psychology sector of the world. Way exciting to finally begin the summer - plus, I'll actually have stuff to post about, which will make things more interesting for my fan following ;-)

Tonight, I enjoyed the company of Jamanda and Elizabeth for ice cream in Waltham, MA. It was a delicious time! Great to see you, girls.

Miss all of you!

Love,
Seth

a little update

Things have been going just fine down south! I have successfully made it to level 2 and begun work training the dolphins. I've done behaviors such as dorsal and ventral layouts, fluke presents, vocal, point follows, A-to-B's and open mouth. Most of these behaviors are to give us the opportunity to inspect all of our dolphins from head to tail. We make sure they do not have any new infections or scrapes and scratches. Of course, whenever I do any of these behaviors I am always being closely watched by trainers. Now each trainer is very different from the other. My mentor is somewhat lenient in letting me do almost any of these behaviors. Others kind of just make me sit there and watch while they talk to me about it.
They also changed up the schedule on us. Now instead of an early shift at 730 its at 7. Its not too bad but i have become so accustomed to getting up at like 645. It starts early but ends early too which isnt necessarily a bad thing. Its weird how we try to get the latest classes possible (i.e. afternoon classes) and how we hate those 9 oclock classes yet I have become very accustomed to waking up before my alarm at about 630. This even happens on my days off and its starting to get a little bit annoying.
On another note, volleyball is going swell. I've been playing every wednesday night and getting pretty damn good. (watch out solway!) I just wish you guys could come down here to cheer me on.

And finally, be sure to take a look at either the school website or under featured stories on Camelweb about my "daily dolphin dose." Eric Cardenas, director of media relations at Conn, came in with his wife and daughter last Saturday and interviewed me. He had told me his family has a place just a mile north of the Dolphin Conservation Center that they come down to every summer so after looking at the CELS list he saw thatd im a short walk away. I apologize to all those that become jealous of this amazing summer but I miss you all and wish you could come!!! I'll be in touch.
-Justin

My Real Post...

Hey guys - well finally I have something to update about now that my internship has finally started! I must say it's been a tiring 72 hours. Thursday at noon I departed for DC, made what I thought would be a quick stop in on my friend Jodi from abroad, which turned into 2 hours. It was great to see her though. However, the second I got back onto the NJ Turnpike, I was bombarded with heavy rain and over an hour of 5 mph traffic. I finally made it to Alice's house in DC at 8 PM. We cooked dinner together, and then just stayed up and talked for hours and it was wonderful. I left her house at 1030 AM on Saturday and arrived here in Staunton, VA (which is ACTUALLY pronounced StAN-tin so as the townies could tell who the foreigners were...go figure. Crazy southerners) at around 1:30 PM, just in time for our 2 PM staff meeting. Saturday afternoon was incredibly intimidating and frustrating as all the other staff members had previously worked at YCTC (Young Company Theatre Camp) or had been campers themselves, so it was a bit cliquey. Also, they're ALL southerners. Suffice it to say, I felt quite out of the loop. Especially because they all seem to have a hate-on for northerners, especially New Yorkers. I said "But yeah, at least we don't marry our cousins." But looking at the schedule for the next 3 weeks (the first session of 2 I'll be working with) got me pretty excited about all the neat shit I'm going to get to help with: lots of Shakespeare classes, stage combat, masks, etc. Later that night we had dinner at the director's house, and I was able to actually converse with some of my fellow staff members, so that was cool. Most of them are sophomores/juniors (with exception of 3 adults on the staff), so I'm one of the older ones. Also, one of the ones who is older than me did BADA(my study abroad program) the year before me, so that was pretty neat. And, another one spent a few weeks in Europe last semester, as I found out from the Ampelman (sp, rose?) pin on her bag. So that was cool to talk about. Today the little rascals arrived. They are quite a mixed bunch, both in personality and in age, ranging from a few 13 year olds to 16(next session will be 16-18). The group of 4 that I was assigned to includes a 16 year old girl who dropped out of high school after one year, and is now working on her associate's degree at community college. And I must say, she is rather stuck up about it. But that's a whole other thing. So now it's 9:45 (I don't have internet in here, so I'll have to post this tomorrow if I make it to the coffee shop), and I don't really quite know what to do with myself. It's a bit lonely, but I'm enjoying the air-conditioned-ness of my room (only the dorm rooms and the library have AC). So yeah, that's it kiddos - I miss you all muchly, and hope you are having fan-TAB-ulous summers. See you back at Conn before you know it!

Confessions of Shakespeare Camp Counselor

So since I'm at a boarding school where the only internet access is here in the library, many "inappropriate" websites, such as blogger.com are blocked most of the time. But tonight I got in! Anyways, I wrote this whole long entry on my laptop to post up here when I get the chance to actually go to a wireless coffee shop, but the long and short of it is that I am having a really fabulous time. It took some time to warm up to the people (who mostly all knew each other), and the southernness, but now things are going pretty smoothly. More to come. Miss you all like whoa...

Turning heads at the bus stop

Oh yeah. All the time.

Too bad they're all scrawny highschool kids and creepy old men.

Last week I worked only part time, partly because I was feeling a bit under the weather and partly because my boss was in the Artic. Yeah, you read that one right. She went to film Ivory Gulls, an endangered species that live... in the Arctic. So I spent my time at the editing station, capturing stills of all the birds from the Guatemala footage, so that I can spend this week identifying them all, while she got to tromp around a far corner of the world filming wild things.

No, I honestly can't complain, she's letting me work on my own things, too, which for me mainly means making something out of the hours of alpaca footage I took while in Peru. I'm going to be able to use the soundbooth and everything, so hopefully I'll have a bonafide documentary on my hands by the time I see you all in August. I just wish that I could dream up something to film now so I can borrow the equipment Kate said I could and do something more than just log and capture.

In other news... avacado and hummus sandwiches have got to be the best food in the world. Seriously. I suggest you drop everything immediately and make one. Now.

And I clearly have nothing else worth putting onto paper.

Love and miss you all,

Amanda

Never thought I'd work 15 hours on a Saturday

But here we are. Not only that but I'm on call for the morning show tommorrow at 6 (thats AM). I've witnessed all three airings of our Morning Noon and Night show, first actually recording it and now finishing up a segment for tomorrows show. To those (few) interested, this has been my day.

6 AM Load van with all sorts of film equiptment (after being picked up by "Big Slick" who pulled up to my appartment smoking a bowl at 5:50), Set up for live feed at 7:50 (off of my camera, swish!) Work Jib until show close at 10:30 (you know sometimes when a TV show goes to commercial and the camera sort of swoops over the audience or the set? Thats a jib. The more you know.) Break down, go to film "What's up and down Vail Valley" on location at Beaver Creek. Work *2* cameras at the same time (fuck one of them up and feel shitty about it later). Make (which entails planning, filming and hosting, that's right, making my big TV debut in Vail) segment on Culinary Festival. Come back to the office at 5, log, capture, and edit segment until 9 for tomorrows show. Growl at self for attempts to be funny on air that, upon watching footage, are definetly not.

Now speculating on the future: Get ride from kindly preditor (production/editor) back to intern house, watch episode of 24, set alarm for 5:30 and pass out.

Goodness gracious, who does this kid think he is? What does he expect some sort of sympathy or admiration from us? I'll bet he's just bitching about a long day. Man, *I'd* never write a post this boring, I can tell when people are going to lose interest.

-Drew

Wait, I'm not done yet.

What now?

I almost got a chance to make 3 ads for Plum, but New York, the head office, canned the idea. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun and a chance to do some narrative as a change from all this documentary.

Right, that was worth a PS. Who writes PSs anymore anyway? This is word processing, you can just make room in the letter; this is so retarted, I'm going to bed.

Kind of a Big Deal

So after a week of a lot of stress and not a lot of sleep, my efforts are actually being realized.

and i´m being published in the City of Madrid´s 2005 Annual Report on Intercultural Coexistance; WOOT. My name´s in the little "acknowledgements" section and i´m getting a hard copy of the 400-some page report (like...20 pages are me, but whatever), so booyah, i am an internationally published author. now i´ve been assigned more projects/reports, one of which is due at the beginning of july, and is spanish and english, so i´m doubling as spanish co-author and english translator. and i´m currently pursuing publications translation jobs and such with the help of my boss...

my summer plans are developing nicely and because of my over-time, i now have an extra 4 days of vacation, so i´ll be hitting up france in july and galicia/portugal in aug with the novio and then barcelona/madrid/northern spain with my real and host families. OLE

so things are looking up, finally

things have been busy but work is pretty individualistic, trying to mesh in with office dynamics, but i´m not sure how i´m doing... i get "along" with everybody, but only a few people i would consider friendly...oh well, it´s work and it´s a banging opportunity for my CV/resumé.

besos to all, e

ps if i end up in spain you all are welcome to crash at my pad


pps spain is kicking ass in the mundial 2-0, and we play saudi arabia on friday @ 4 , i am trying not to become a futbol superfan, but i´m not sure how that ones gonna go

Super awesome weekend of funness

I haven't posted in a while, but I think that my weekend in Boston in certainly post-worthy. Here is a quick rundown of what the crazy (ex-)Larrabee kids did this weekend:

Thurs - arrived in Boston , walked around Harvard Square with Rose and Allison, and got bubble tea. Hung out in Rose/Nick's apt. Amanda came over. The four of us cooked an AMAZING dinner, that was really a wonderful group effort, and so much fun. Post dinner dance party.Fri - Lazed around the apt while Rose is at work. Cooked Nick breakfast. Amanda came over, and Rose returned from work and the four of us trekked out to the Concord River for some messin around in boats. Then to Rose's house where a quick stop to pick up a vacuum turned into an hour or so visit with her parents and lots of yummy food. Back to the apt where we made tasty frozen drinks and got all dressed up purdy. Off to Club Cafe - a fancy, gay, restaurant/bar/club. Tasty food and drinks, and Rose got to sing with the piano player. Off to Machine, a fun gay club with very hot go-go boys, and fun gay guys to dance with. After hours of dancing, we called it a night.
Sat - Slept in, and had a lazy morning. Rose made amazing chocolate chip pancakes. Then off to the River festival - one mile along the Charles of crafts, and tasty food and such. Spent most of the afternoon there.

Then much-needed nap time, and text-twist fix. Then Amanda and Nick made another tasty creation for dinner. As we are about to clean up, it starts to rain, so we run around barefoot in the rain, puddle-jumping for a while. Return, eat some pudding on the porch, and then run around some more. Find a playground and fuck around on there for a while. Then Nick pushed Amanda all the way home in a shopping cart we found while Rose and I wrote a musical about it. Get back and shower and dry off, and watch a silly yet funny movie. Tooth paste will never be the same for me again...Then to bed.SO GREAT!! =)

Well I guess I should probably get around to posting. The truth is that not much has been going on here in Maine. I've been picking up shifts at the burrito place whenever I can so I can have some cash. Also I've been hanging out with Zach all the time and that's been really fun. I start at the post office on Monday, working the night shift 10:30-6:30. Should make lotsssssssssss of money so that's good news. Only two months of summer left and I am really excited to get back to school.

Kind of stressed because I got a letter for my Mass speeding ticket which is like.. 150 dollars, I have the hearing on June 30th but there is almost no chance I'll be able to make it. The problem is that I don't have that much money and I won't get a paycheck from the post office soon enough. Also, I didn't tell my parents about it, I just told them it was a parking ticket. So I don't know what I'm going to do.. I mean, I have up to 20 days after the hearing date to get the money to them, but that's a little stressful.

Other than that things have been good haha. There is this cute new guy at Granny's who I have been working with. His name is Tristan and he lives in Portland and he's 20. He's a pretty chill guy but I don't really see things going anywhere. It's all good, he's pretty cute, I just like working with him and checking out his ass when he isn't looking haha.

I also went down to Boston on last Wednesday and spent the night with Nick and Rose. I got into Boston really late and was SO lost but they saved my life by eventually getting me to their apartment. The next day I watched world cup games all day and then met up with Kim later that night. It was GREAT to see her and I had such a fun time. I stayed on the boat with her, hung out with lots of cool sailory-types, got COMPLETELY sloshed, and ended up making out with one of her co-workers. I think he was 26. Haha, anyway, that was fun. The next day I hung out in this great park in Boston and read and had a delicious iced chai, my new favorite thing. I came back to Rose and Nick's apartment, got ot see Mollie and Amanda, and then I headed home. It was really good to see everyone for probably the last chance I'll get for the summer. Once I start at the post office, though, the summer should fly by.

In about an hour I have to go into the vet's office with my mom because we have to put one of my cats down. She came in yesterday looking pretty bad, we thought she just got into a fight or something. My mom took her in this morning and it turns out she is bleeding internally and I guess has been sick for a while, but didn't show any symptoms until now. She's 16 years old and I guess it doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it's still pretty sad. It hasn't really hit me yet but I'm sure it will pretty soon. It's not the cat that I've had since I moved to Maine, not the one that like sleeps in my room every night and all that jazz, but I'm still gonna miss her. It also just reminds me that my other cat is really old too, older in fact, and so that kinda freaks me out. At least my dog isn't that old yet.

Other than that things are going well, summer has been good. I am just so excited to get back to school and see all of you again. I miss you all so much, even though I am having a great, relaxing summer. I just can't believe that this is our last year all together at Conn.

Anyway I gotta go. It's great hearing from all of you and keeping up to date on what is going on with everyone's summer. Keep having fun everyone :)


-turbo

Mt. Holly

At my birthday dinner with my mom, she told me that on July 13th she will turn 61 and in those years she has done numerous things, including being married 3 times, traveling to far away lands, writting a book, interacting with fasincating people, and trying to change the world, but by far the best thing she has ever done in her life was having and raising 3 children. She said that she doesn't understand those who go through life without having kids, and not experiencing what it is like to have 3 kids with chickenpox one after another, and thus dealing with 2 weeks of oatmel baths and all the scratching and complaining, but the whole time not giving her need to respond and deal with us a second thought. She believes that one only lives a quarter of their life if they don't have children, and when she was younger she never even wanted children, saying that she must of have been completely ignorant.

It was amazing to hear my mother say this all, and it puts a lot of things into perspective. For my mother is wonderful, but by no means is she the homebaking, puts notes in your school lunchbox type of mother. There were many times in my life I wished she was this type of mom, but I know that is not really what I desire, but it was just easier to wish that than try to understand the reasoning she has for some of the actions she takes. My relationship with my mom has been one of the hardest things I have ever dealt with in my life, mostly because we approach problems from such different starting places. Yet I am always shocked, but love, when I catch myself saying something, a phrase, that she often says or acting like her. I am sure that I will get into a tiff with her within the next few months, but I know that the unconditional love that one has with family is outstanding and out weighs any of our arugments.

On another family matter, the other day my dad, brothers and I were on our way to Best Buy, and as it typically happens Zach was sitting shot gun, thus leaving Ben and I to have to the back. My dad asked Zack to explain a case in which was going on at the office (Zack is working for my dad's law office this summer). As he was telling the story, my dad would jump in to either correct or add something, giving off the impression that he would like to tell the story. Zack obviously commented on dad's actions, and they got into a joking argument how this always happens. During this all, Ben had layed his head down on my lap, something he has been doing for the past 18 years, and it was during those few minutes that I realized that this was a moment I get every now and then, where an ear to ear smile comes across my face and I realize that no one else will ever be able to experience our amazing interactions, and how lucky I am to have to have a family like this.

I thought this all was more important to share with you all then anything currently going on in my life, but know that I am loving the job, New Haven and the people I am working with. And I recently purchased the first season of Growing Pains on dvd, which brings me back to my amazing re-run disney days and thus very happy, oh and my new obsession is the Jersey Boys soundtrack. All the best!

Love,
Rachel

I am still alive

So yes, Jess is still alive in Perugia, Italy. Sorry that i have not posted in a while but things have been hectic as all hell. Ive been traveling, going to class, and taking a midterm (yes, i had a midterm on June 15th and it was easy, but still not fun). In the past few weeks ive visited Rome twice, revisited Florence, gone to Assisi for a day trip, and spent a weekend in Cinque Terre, a beautiful coastal area in North west italy. Next weekend im going to Venice for three days with my roommates and some other friends who also go to Conn. I have been culturally fulfilled and i am EXTREMELY happy.

and class is, well, class. I have five hours of class most days while on Wednesday i have 8 hours! its crazy, i dont think ive ever sat in class for that long in my entire life and i do it every single wednesday. Im learning alot but im still not getting as much of a chance to practice speaking the language as i wish i could. I try as much as possible but its hard living with all americans and beening surrounded by sketchy italian man that i really would NEVER want to talk to. And theres also the problem of there being no italian women in this town at all. I see none when i go out at night.

And that brings me to bottle night, a tradition we need to start at conn. We all bought a bottle of wine each and drank while eating cheese and bread. It was so much fun. We also watched the US vs. Italy game which was great since we tied, though italy did score for the US but i'll take it. The upside to the tie game was really that we could go out and not have to worry about being harrassed for being americans. If the US had won, we would have been screwed and would have had to be hermits. There was a huge dance party going on in the town square which was fun. Me, Megan, Alex, Carrie and Areti (all conn girls) went out and danced with each other as well as watching out for sketchy men. Three ended up circling us so we had to dance with them. I got the guy with the pink polo shirt, why god why? hahaha...other than that we had fun.

So thats a brief little update on thngs in Perugia. Im doing really well and happy here. Miss home and everyone but i cant complain. Its the chance of a lifetime. Ciao Ciao!!

I got some!!!

Finally got some action today at Marineland! Start my first kiss of the summer with a dolphin!!! HELLS YEAH! (probably my only kiss too, but still, it was great. lol)

21 years, but I'm finally getting the hang of it.

I'm becoming a city girl.

I get up early to go to the gym.

I take the bus to work (and try to look like I know where I'm going).

I take the bus to evening dance class downtown.

I take the T home late at night, in time for a late dinner (sweaty and gross and deliciously ache-y).

Did I mention I'm broke?

Life in Florida

I'm sorry to tell you all this but a week ago today our baby passed away. He was only 13 days old but there are no reasons known yet and the fact is, we may never know what went wrong. This is something I will work with as long as I am a trainer and it sucks. He is one that wont ever leave my heart. He started his life at Marineland at about the same time as me. Mother nature can be a real bitch sometimes...

On a different note, i survived "Alberto." He wasnt much of anything really. We had a couple points where it poured yesterday but I did not fly away so thats good. It appears that every tuesday night the countryclub I'm living in has a poker night. I went over and played against a couple guys, left about even (yes, they appear old enough to be grandparents by now). It was fun though and nice to see some people of the same sex after spending day after day living with girls.

Hopefully I will be able to take the level 1 quiz and move up to level 2 next week. That means I'll have the opportunity to do a little more hands on work with the dolphins which I am really excited about. Also means I dont have to scrub buckets all day long. instead, it will be like three quarters of a day. I will let you guys know the results. Hope all is well up north!!!

-Justin

espain is especial

So I recall in my last post bragging about the lack of work...clearly this was the WRONG thing to do because now til sunday my ass is toast.

I have recently become the resident english translator for my organization, which is cool, but has been a ton of work over the past few days. There is a UN conference on Racism and Xenofobia thursday (i.e. tomorrow) and friday here in madrid, and it's been a lot of answering phone calls and emails, and translating all things to be published and passed out.

In addition, it's been really rewarding because i'm translating documents that will be signed by they mayor and other various political figures of madrid, so it makes me feel like i'm semi involved.

But today it's just bad...Monday this Annual Report for my office is due. it's 17 pages single spaced, in spanish, and i need to have it done by sat. so all the anal-retentive editors can have time to rip my translation apart and i can put it back together monday before 3pm. it'll be fine...i'm on page 5. I wouldn't be so worried but i've gotta go (or get to go rather) to the conference thurs and friday.

regardless, it's a good opportunity to prove my abilities to the ppl in the office, but Spain really needs to get its act together and not give me things due sat. on wed. afternoon. WORD.

so today was just one of those days where nothing is BAD necessarily, but nothing is GOOD either. i got moved again in the office (i'm jokingly the office "migrant" jaja, get it ... i'm the MIGRANT for the dept. of migration...wow i feel special) so i'm back in this kinda "spare" computer in a room with only 1 other woman -- before i was in a room with all the other ppl from my division, and was making friends, blah blah blah, so...this is kinda a "step back" in the "assimilating into the office dynamic".

To end on a positive note,
we had another "extended lunch" today to watch the Spain/Ukraine game...SPAIN DOMINATED 4-0 so, woooo gooo spain. oh, and Fernando Torres would be hot if his hairdoo wasn't so fucked up. i'm starting to develop a semi obsession with him, minus his bad fo-hawk highlighted mullet hair, that and i think he's like 15. (now i will attempt to add a photo so you can see the hot man with the bad hair, who, in my opinion, kinda resembles jack kelly from newsies...)


(i think it worked...anway...www.fernando9torres.com in case it doesn't show and you're bored)


wish you all were here,
emi

Coffee is my crack

I guess I'm now on week four of this crazy job that I'm telling CELS is an "internship", but the pace has picked up (have I mentioned my professor loves musicals and Faulkner;) I definitely feel guilty that I'm not working on one of my projects right now, but this morning has been rough so I DESERVE a little time.

Why has it been so tough?? Because it's 9:15 and I've been up since before 8 and I'm JUST getting my COFFEEEEEE! It seems I blew a fuse who knows how so one of the plugs didn't work and I couldn't grind the beans or use my little One cup machine and it was tragic and the dog was barking and this mean man called to tell me I have to wait around between 10 and 3 for furniture to be delivered, oh I know, it must sound really horrible to you all and it was horrible. So finally my aunt (who I bothered at work) tells me it will ALL BE OK if I just try a different plug and.... THANK GOD the coffee started to brew!

So here I am: nursing the last few sips of the one cup I allow myself. The dog is snoring next to me, the dog hair I said I'd swiffer is collecting as we speak, and my projects...

when my coffee head ache goes away.

love and caffeine FOREVER,
a

Ambiguious Post

The question has never been "what is right and what is wrong." That's too easy. The question that really cooks our noodles is the difference between good and bad and good and evil. I didn't think of that, it's Nietzsche, but he's not known as "the man" for nothing. We've got to ask ourselves whether or not there is a difference between idealism and pragmatism, and ultimately which one is worth following. How many of our actions are dictated by guilt born of social conventions, and how many are really done in the name of an abstract, grander virtue? Every day we get older, was what we did really worth it?

I'll bet this was a lot more satisfying to write than it was to read :)

coco died

Warning: Negativity Ahead

So, I guess this won’t be the most positive entry, but I’m feeling sort of frustrated.

My job really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. They don’t have a lot for me to do, so I end up spending tons of time sitting around doing nothing, surfing facebook and waiting for friends to sign on AIM. There’s nothing worse than sitting around doing nothing, especially when I could be doing that nothing at home. Instead, I wake up early and get home after dark, and it generally feels like it was for nothing. Furthermore, my boss doesn’t seem to like me all that much, and I feel like even when I do get jobs lately, there’s circumstances genuinely out of control that make it difficult to impossible to get jobs done.

For an example of many of the reasons I’m frustrated all wrapped into one: I was asked to make a copy of a show from Spring Break, so I did – figuring out the process of getting the tape on my own, because my boss often asks me to just do something without seeming to remember that I’m new. So anyway, there was only one tape available to make a copy of, and it said it was 30 minutes long, so I took it out and had the copy made. Today my boss told me I’d only done the one-minute promo, and I needed to redo it. So I went back to the database and looked for it, and that which I was asked to make a copy of was unavailable. I told my boss this, and she told me to keep looking, and to always exhaust every option before coming to her. So I called the database people, and explained the situation, and they said I’d done all I could and it wasn’t available. I told my boss this, too, and she told me she’d follow up with the producers in a disbelieving voice, and that was that.

Anyway, that’s actually a lot of action for me. Today’s clearly been busy, because I’ve been here for 5 hours and I’ve already done two whole small jobs. So now I’m chilling at my desk, doing nothing except talking to Rose online and updating this blog, while my boss and the other head of the department talk in the office with the door closed. Cool. I’ll just wait here until they need me to run to Sharper Image to buy a new clock for them.

I think, though, that the reason I'm mostly frustrated is that I'm lonely. I'm the only intern in my department, so all this down time means pretty much twiddling my thumbs. Since my boss seems as though she really doesn't want to be bothered, I don't really talk to her... and that's everyone I get to be around. It's not much better being home, though, because nobody's talking to me there, either.

I’m really looking forward to September.

Geothermal Energy and Square-dancing Sparrows

It's been a week already of work, and what a week. I've gone to a meeting at the Aquarium, met some of the people Kate collaborates with on projects, watched and logged hours of footage on Guatemalan birds, and I've become a pseudo-expert on geothermal energy (which I researched for a National Geographic project on alternative energy). Seriously, ask me anything.

A typical work day for me starts at 7 when I roll out of bed and into gym clothes and drag my father to the gym so I can get a ride. I have to be changed and showered and at the bus stop by 9 or I get to stand around and wait another half-hour for the bus (more on that later). I get to work at 10, leave around 5, come home and sit on my ass for a while until dinner and bedtime. Last week someone decided that it was going to rain every day, all day, which was especially fun Wednesday when on the way home I got to my second bus in time to see it pull away from the curb ahead of me. I ended up walking for half and hour in the rain rather than wait around and scream. I ended up catching another bus later on in the route and turned the floor into a veritable swimming pool. I don't think the people I sat next to were very happy with me.

Work is... work. Kate works pretty much by herself, which means she has total control over her projects, but not so much company. I can't tell if she even eats lunch, so so far I've gotten to sit by my lonesome nibbling and reading or looking out the window. It isn't so bad, I just like to be a bit more social.

To end this rather uninteresting post, I'm going to tell you a joke that was on my yogurt the other day. It's about that new animated film, Cars, and I guess one of the characters is named Mater.

If Mater had feet, what would he be called?

Come on, you've got to at least try to guess first.

Seriously. Try.



A toe truck!


Yeah, that totally made my day.

Love you all,

Me

She shall be called Swirly

Yoo hoo!

Well this no doubt be a shitty post, but FINALLY I have something to say.

And that something is... I made 70 bucks tonight (babysitting), which brings the wallet total up to $115. Woohoo!! Actually, you might not think this is an exciting thing, but living in Glencoe, IL during the summer before your senior isnt exactly the tip tops of excitement. I've been seeing Joel about every day and rocking squash every few, but otherwise, its family family family... Nice most of the time, boring ALL of the time :)

I read our blog every day, and I've just been waiting for something pseudo-interesting to converse about. I'll be coming back out to the east coast on June 27th, then heading up to Wediko in NH for my internship. Can't Wait!!!! So, obviously many many more interesting stories of psycho-children and living in the woods when I get out there.

Love to all!

PS. I miss Conn so much... 2nd floor at 746 Grove St. is NOT 3rd floor Smith. Bummer.

Love,

The Dude

PPS. For those of you who remember the Dude, I would like to bring him back to school next year. Opinions?

Ok Kids, heres your summer assigment.

Drunk posts.

Pretty simple, right?

Rachels was pretty sick, I loved it, and if only Kim had been in a blogging mood at the end of her handle I think we could have gotten quite a post from her.

Right now I can't acutally concentrate cause my appartment-mate is singing on account of our own personal drunkenness. In fact, I;m iroically going to give you a shitty drunken post in an effort to encourage good ones. I gotta go, but seriously, Rachel is shaming us all in the posting department, lets kick it up.

Shitzer, I gotta go, theres a crazy dorky guitar game being played but other than that things are going swimmingly. I've got a 40 toi get back to

Drew

oh, and if you are going to drunk post, I suggest not editing the typos, they're prety funny and telling in their own light.

pluralism schmuralism

So, to add on to everyone's first days, weeks, hours, whatever, I too have started my cels internship. woooohoooo. It's alright so far i guess, not really what i was expecting at all. It's in this house they converted into offices, and there are 7 other interns, all grad students or older (ah! I'm so young! ah! I don't know anything! ah!). We've just been having slow days, on the computers, becoming oriented and all that nonsense. People are nice, but very academic/intellectual/snooty at times. The director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard is one of the most renowed/famous/unbelievable professors of religion ever and she came to our staff meeting on Monday and I stuttered when I introduced myself to her. how embarrassing!!!

But I'm pretty excited with the research I'll be doing this summer. I'm looking at women's interfaith networks and councils in America, especially those that have been formed post- 9/11. So it's something that is new and fresh and not too many people have researched before. Hopefully, i can make an actual contribution to this project, and to the interfaith communities in the States. Oh, and if you are really bored, I have a little bio on their website, www.pluralism.org, go to the people section. that's it for now. Nick is playing a video game and i'm diggin' the music. wooot.

Minor celebrities, stupid errands and highschool flashbacks

It’s amazing what a few days in someone’s life can do – suddenly there’s tons going on in mine.

I’ve started my job, for one. It’s been two days in, and I’m already a bit overwhelmed, but it’s cool. I’ve definitely done my fair share of running around NYC doing silly errands, but I’ve also gotten to do some pretty cool jobs. I’m happy that they already trust me to do real, important things – like today I edited together a piece being used to pitch a new show. It had to be sent out tonight, overnighted to LA, so it felt nice to be trusted with that. I had to edit it together just dubbing from DV to VHS, though, rewinding and stuff – I was surprised, so I figured those of you in film might be. I asked if I could use Final Cut Pro instead, since I’m capable of doing a more accurate job that way, and so they’re seeing what they can do to get me into the edit lab. They were pretty excited at that idea, too – they want me to teach some of them how to use it!

Anyway, this morning they also asked if I wanted to be an audience member for a show called “The Big 10.” Apparently, whenever they don’t have enough audience members for a show, they ask the interns – pretty cool, huh? Anyway, once I showed up I actually wasn’t needed, but it was fun seeing the studio/ backstage nonetheless.

I also had my first celebrity sighting today! I saw Melinda (from the Real World), which was exciting to me. I kind of acted like a tool, though. I went in the bathroom, and she was talking to someone in there. I had to blow my nose, and I did, and then I left quickly. Three minutes later, I sneezed again and went back to the bathroom to blow my nose again. Unfortunately, she was still there but alone that time, so I kind of felt like she must have thought I was a stalker. I learned my lesson that time and brought paper towels with me. I also learned today that an actor I happen to love is in the works for interviewing with my department this summer, so I’m hoping I’ll get to be a part of his interview. I can’t tell you who, though! I feel like a snot saying that, but it’s actually true.

Also, the intern I’ll be working the closest with happens to be a verrrry cute boy. I can’t say I’m disappointed.

On a completely different note, I’m very excited about the friends I have at home this summer. For the first time since high school, my best friends and I will all be home for the summer, and I am thrilled – it wasn’t even supposed to happen, but it just worked out!

On Thursday night, one of my sort-of friends from high school had a party. She’s definitely the kind of girl who just tries way too hard to make the “cool kids” to like her, and I just don’t understand why. I mean, especially after a few years in college, you’d think people would be past the whole high school popularity thing. Anyway, so she invited a bunch of them, and I definitely just lost any interest in being there. It made me realize that the girl I was in high school was very much determined by those around me – I felt a side of me come out at that party that hadn’t come out since high school, and I didn’t like it! My friend Whitney and I peaced after about an hour, and ended up hanging out with her tipsy mom instead. The funny thing is, it was a thousand times more fun than the party was! The whole experience made me reflect a lot on college and who I’ve become friends with – I think it’s really cool that college gives everyone a chance to figure themselves out and seek out the people that they believe will bring out the best in them. I think everyone on this blog has certainly done that, and I’m glad that I’ve been able to.

I hope you're all well - I miss you all terribly!

KDubs

Love-40

Kaitlin told me that she had an idea for a sitcom, in fact, she said she'd had the idea since she was just a young sprout (PS you gotta be seriously funny to reference your own jokes). There would be a girl who had a remote control that she could use to control the world around her, and it was to be cleverly named "Remotely in Control."

Sound familiar? It seems Kaitlin didn't act fast enough and the big studios in colaberation with funnyman Adam Sandler jumped on the permis with the feel good "Click"

This is all just backstory as to why I (and now I hope all of you) can't help but crack up whenever an ad for Click comes on; common, imagining Kaitlin's frustration everytime she watches the same ad is pretty funny.

On the subject of entertainment, I've begun season three of 24, probably to the shagrin of the other faithfulls, but ever since starting it my life has gotten quite, quite more exciting. honestly though, it's really nothing without the rest of you (awwwww).

So the other interns are moving in at the end of the week, and man, if they arn't heavy drinkers already, they're will be; my party withdrawl is substantial. The girl Tiffany sounds nice, she's into tanning and Anna Karina, which is a weird combination. The guy, Marty, sounds like kind of a tweaker, but hell be a nice change from the frat boy intern Satchele (there are 5 of us, in fact, we're just about 1:1 with the full time employees, or PrEditors (production/editors), cool name, huh?)) .

To those of you who say the promotional DVD of Plum Vail, we thought the Morning Noon and Night Show host looked like a weiner. Well, I've got to tell you that couldn't be further from the truth. He's a huge pimp who just controls it very well on camera. He busted in here with oakleys and a big dog (I'm no good with breeds) the other day and he was unmistakably a player; we can smell our own.

A quick update as to work: I made the intro for the MNN Show, shot the Teva Mountain Games Mountain Biking, Boulding, and Trick kayak finals, and concert footage for the band ALO, I put together a mountain tips episode of a show Off the Beaten Path, and hosted and edited my own segment on a festival called Blues Brews and Barbeques (sorry, but much cooler than New London's boats books and brushes). Go work! To social life, though...

And a story to finish off. The other day I was looking for the movie theater, and I ran into a normal looking constuction worker walking the opposite way. I asked him if he knew where the theater was and immediately regretted doing so. His answer was in the thickest, garbled Mexican-who-really-can't-pull-off-speaking-Enlgish accent I've ever heard. Oddly enough, he was positive that he knew the answer to my question and insisted by way of gestures that I wanted to go the direction he was heading. Thinking that maybe he knew what he was talking about and I was just being silly, I began to walk in the direction he pointed in. While normaly I could have just turned around when out of his sight, the direction he pointed me in was, as I mentioned, the same direction he was heading, so we began walking side by side, inches apart physically, miles linguistically.

A friendly, chap, he decided to break the akward silence by asking me a question. I stared at him dumbly because to me it came out as goobldygook. After three "Excuse me?"s, I gave him the only answer I could: "yeah." His response was to laugh heartily; like a dog rewarded for doing a trick it doesn't understand, I felt accomplished for performing admirably, but my elation dropped when I realized we were blatently walking into a construction site, with no semblance whatsoever to the cinematic delight of M:i:III my heart so yearned for.

Well, enough with the prose, my bus is leaving in a half an hour and it takes that long to get to the station. Eventually I just very akwardly said "I'm pretty sure I want to be going the other way" and spun around before he could give me any garbled answer.

My summer job(s)

After working insane 40+ hour weeks last summer, this summer (so far at least) has proven to be very different. It's not that I haven't been working. I rarely sleep past 8 and my days have been mostly packed, but my summer jobs so far have been a nice change from changing diapers all day (though that is to come!) (and no, i'm not pregnant).
So far I've spent time working at my grandpa's hospital doing the gardening and I have been back at Conn working reunion with my lovely ladies. Also, I'm staying at my pregnant aunt's house this summer and living for free in return for help while she's pregnant and when the baby comes. So, I've been doing all sorts of chores like the groccery shopping and walking the dog and letting the workmen in and doing the dishes and making dinner (aka PASTA) etc... So what about CELS???????
Actually, my internship has been slow, but so far pretty awesome. I'm reading 200 + pages a week (nothing to complain about for an english major), writing responses on all the various things, and meeting with him weekly to discuss it all. Then, hopefully next week the more intense research starts. I will be spending more of my time in the NYU library (because it's AMAZING) and probably meeting with him more frequently. On top of that, much of his research connects to my proposed thesis and so that, too, has been taking up my time.
However, the most exciting thing for me today is that my two closest friends from Prague are BOTH in the area and for the first time EVER the three of us are going out to dinner at an English speaking restaurant! We did all of our adventuring together abroad, but the three of us haven't all been together since. So, that my friends, is my thrill of the day. And now the garage door fixer man is here so off to play Home Owner.

lots of love and silliness,
a

about that "working" thing

It´s been a week +/- at the office, so far we´ve had 2 parties, 2 days leaving at 3, leaving to get breakfast everyday at 1030 and basically, me reading and researching thru more PDF articles than i ever thought i would. Allow me to explain:

My schedule is the following, get to work by 9, go out to breakfast (or break in the office) from 10:30-11:30, lunch (either out or in the office) from 2-3:30, leave work at 6/6:30. not so bad ehh?

Essentially, I spend my days researching youth integration and inter-cultural co-existance, with the ultimate goal of assessing recent immigrant/spanish youth assimilation programs, i.e. evaluate their effectiveness, successes, flaws, etc. But right now, we´re just starting the project, so my day is staring at the screen, google-academic-ing, and reading PDF´s from a monitor (not overlly exciting).

But i can´t hate because the project is interesting, and we are just starting, afterall...and, shit, i´m in Spain...

Like i said earlier, last week, we had 2 office parties, the one held on friday (the day the office closes early) was to celebrate 4 birthdays and 1 going-away. Anyway, there was an entire buffet of foods, from every ethnicity EVER (portugese, argentinian, morraccan, etc.). I brought in some American cookies that were supposed to be an office gift. Anyway, after everybody´s been eating for an hour, we sing happy birthday in 4 languages in the room where were supposed to hold meetings. Then Ángeles, this crazy little Andalusian, grabs Pancho and starts a psuedo dance party in the cooridoor to "Esa hombre" (a recent spanish pop song). So, i´m basically, dying from laughter and disbelief, and explain that these kind of things never happen in US offices, it was a fun, but overall, i´m working in a very "different" office environment.

(Of course i should have realized this my first day, because i show up in a skirt and button up shirt, the guy following me -- Luis, who works here -- comes in with jeans, flip flops and a black wife beater...)

Anyway, this weekend I´m off to Sevilla to hang out with Alex, and meet his parents (dun dun duuuun), we´ll see how that one goes...

Hope everybody´s doing well, wish you guys were here,

Besos always,
e

So when did I stop wanting to become a marine biologist?

The answer is never.

Started work today, fixing scripts about cave diving and underwater sea vents that didn't match up to the language on film. Kate told me I could borrow equipment if I want... moviemaking, anyone? I explored Allston for lunch and to make copies of keys for work, and the guy who made the copies was kind of cute.

I had a slight headache all day.

Why is it that I never know where to look when I'm waiting at the bus stop?

Amanda

Proposal with a credit card

ok, let me start off this post by saying that I am way drunk (though not drunk enough to be over the toliet and know when I am misspelling most workds)...well, I thought this would be a great time for a post, instead of calling my buddy Drew for our normal drunken call. So it is 2:58 and as I said I am drunk, d-r-u-n-k, and that is thanks to my brother zack. The night started off with my friend Brooke's graduation party. Where there was tons of shmoozing and awarkward moments. Just to give you a taste of the eastside life, this grad party took place in a tent, which was set up in the drive way of the house, where there was a jukebox and a fake wooden floor, fancy french fries, a tons of adults (a fair amount with plastic surgery), an open bar and later a chocolate fountain (in which of course I dropped my newly chocolate strawberry on caroyln's arm and on part of my dress). Carolyn and I left as our friend Brooke, the graduate, was over the toliet puking (don;t worry, we were polite enought to say goodbye between pukes). So with the surreal life of that party I was ready to head home, though a few of my random high school friends were headed, and wanted me to attend, to a party in which one of zaxh's best friend's was having. But I went home, and then when i pulled into the parking lot, zach called me and sort of begged me to come, so of course being the good sister i am (and sort of wanting to get drunk), went. And uh, yea, so now i am drunk. And oh my lordy, it is so crazy being this his friends or rather drink with him. His friends were shocked that I came, and obviously knew me as Zach's sister. It was just crazy odd to be drinking with his friend Mike, who was hosting the party and I guess I have had a semi crush on forever, or i guess not to be with you all. But, ahhhhh I am tingley and this kid Mike ( a different mike) reminded me sooo much of one of my campers, he is such a player it was hilarous. So we all left when they decided to party hop to a someone's cousin's house, and i definitely drove drunk, which i know is sooo bad, but i guess you do what you need to do, i mean there was no way I was going to stay at Mike's house. Ah my arms feel like they are asleep, but a good asleep, i hope one of you know what i am taking about. yay vodka! oy, ok well i am way to tired/drunk/something or other and so i am peacing, but I love you all, and i hope you all get to get drunk this summer at least once and post! oy oy oy. ok submitting and going...going...gone! ahhhh! not really, no really. byeeeee!

ps-it is now 4:20 and i am still drunk, and i did some editing. oh lordy, my other brother just got home and my mom just woke up, love the family craziness!

Check these out!

This is LILLY!!! she is about 47 years old, one of the oldest in captivity. She is also a blond dolphin which as you may see is somewhat lighter in color than the typical dolphin like the boy seen on the right. I am learning so much here and cant wait for my chance to play with the dolphins on my own!!! Hopefully, one day I'll have a dolphin of my own. Hope everything is going well with your summers and I will ttyl. GNITE!