I want to kill...

my roomates.

Old and Spongy Neighbors

It's been a while since I've said hello. Things have been super hectic here, my family just moved to a new house (same town, different location), and the place is huge. I've had no need to go to the gym the last week because I've been lifting so much crap, bringing it here, there, and every which way. I miss my old house, because I spent 20 years of my life there, but I'm starting to get used to this new place. My grandparents moved in with us, since its becoming difficult for them to live on their own. This means I get homecooked Italian meals whenever I want, hehehe. Plus my uncle bought a new tv for himself, so he gave us his old one, which is 60 something inches, and has HD (this is his OLD tv.........friggin insane). This means I can watch the Pats in HD come football season, which is totally sick.

Work is work, and while I like the work, I hate the commute. Even though I don't work that often, the days are long (4 hours of traveling a day, and 6 actual hours of work). But its fun regardless, and my department is making tremendous ground, which is good I guess. Although, right now we're in the middle of a huge copyright fiasco. There was apparently some author who didn't know that her own book wasn't copyrighted 4 years ago, and her agent was livid with us because they thought it was our responsibility. So we have to check copyrights on 3000 titles to make sure they're registered, and its the most painfully boring process in the friggin cosmos. I really am amazed at how dumb some intellectuals can be. But ultimately the work is good, plus I get to read comic books during lunch, which owns......for me at least.

I went to a Red Sox game a couple of weeks ago which was a lot of fun. My friend's dad got the tickets for free and gave them to him, so a few of us went. The seats were incredible! We were right behind home plate, slightly to the left, and we had box seats apparently. We had access to the clubhouse, our section had personal waiters and stuff, it was really cool. Now we would have had a REALLY awesome time...........if the fucking Sox didn't get their asses handed to them. 15-3 loss to the A's, that's pathetic. It was like watching a beached whale slowly die. I've never seen the Sox play that poorly for that long. We left during the eighth inning, couldn't stand it anymore. On the ride home, we proceeded to have a dicussion about whether or not an invasion of zombies would shake humanity from its apathy, I don't remember how it got started.

So yeah, that'll do for now I guess. I'm gonna try and head down to Conn next weekend to visit people there. I'm ready to go back, cause this year will rock the house, and then the neighbors will get mad, and then we'll have a war with the neighbors, and we'll win, because they're old and spongy.

Miss all you guys, hope all is going well!

Seb

One day Emily had time to update at work...

Hello All!

I've finally got some time in these crazy days to update this bloguita. So, i've got less than a week left at work...i'm pretty much tweeking out about leaving spain and not knowing when i'll be back. um yeah, lets not go there.

on a very positive note, i had an interview with the Director General of immigration in madrid. i was pretty much freaking out before hand, interviewing this big wig in the gov't en espanol y todo. but after an hour and a half, i've ultimately come to the conclusion that it went really well, for a first interview. i found out a lot of good "party line" information for my thesis and will prolly use some of his quotes in it...he was a really good politician, very good at selling his party politics and answering my questions. We'll see how madrid does in the next few years, if anything acually happens.

it was interesting thou, he wouldn't use the word "integration" or "immigration" instead he kept referring to "convivencia" or "intercultural cointeraction/coexistence" in the city, breaking collective barriers and tal (sorry and such -- spanglish). hooray for euphamisms. whatever

also, we started talking about my experience working for the city of madrid, i basically kissed a lot of ass, saying how faaaaaaaabulous my experience has been, and that i've been a publications translator, etc. etc. he's putting me in contact with the dept. of translation and interpretation and said he'd "love to have me working at the ayuntamiento (for the city) of Madrid". so potential job in spain?? maybe?? let's keep our fingers crossed.

on another "very cool summer" highlight, i went on my first rediculous euro roadtrip. Alex and I, in a "long weekend" went thru andorra (the little country b/w spain and france), southern france, monaco (another little country between france and italy) and finally, crossed the border into italy for ha ha's.

It was a crazy weekend al final, but completely worth it, i saw the alpes and pyrenees mountains, went throu cannes, nice, and various small towns in france that i would never have been able to manage without speaking french. overall the trip was exhausting and alex is crazy to have driven all that time, i think it was a rediculous total of like...3000+ kilometers. i don't know how many miles that is...a lot?

tonight's a big party in my dorm because so many people are leaving in the next few days. it's been a really good experience, lots of ppl from different places, right now i live with 1 other american, 1 italian, 2 frenchies, 1 mexican, 1 brazilian and 4 spaniards. Woohoo, sounds like lots of international lovin' and intoxication. (maybe not in that order)

anyway, another week of work; and then i'm off to Malaga, Galicia (northern spain) and Portugal. huzzah for travelling. oh and then my parents show up the 8th, we'll be in Barcelona, Madrid and travelling around northern spain with my host family. Very exciting to have the two family's together, my two worlds/families colliding, could be fabulous or could be disasterous...hmmm

algo mas...anything else, i think that brings things up to date. when is everybody going back? i'm hoping to get back a day early to move all my crap up to KB, my dad was quite unhappy when i told him there was no elevator in KB, then got a lecture on why i should be in the plex. whatever, love my parents

wish you all were here, and see you back very soon at conncoll...
emilia

A Snappy Post Title

So another couple of interesting days to report to anyone bored enough to listen (sorry still no pictures; I can only save my DV still images to one format and blogspot doesn't seem to agree with it)-

Got a weird haircut the other day, weird for 4 reasons

1. Free
2. By a celebrity stylist
3. On live TV
4. The barber: The Pink Power Ranger!

And the haircut still sucked; I think I'm just hopeless.

Then yesterday I shot a sailboat race, and got to ride along on a little zippy motorboat driven by a scraggletoothed maniac who imbibed a heroic ammount of alchohal, nicotine, and THC during the short time we circled around the lake.

Afterwards, it was off to a Plum-paid lunch at "Rasta Pasta", where, thinking I was a tough guy, I ordered a dish with two cartoon chili peppers next to it on the menu. I have since discovered that I most certainly am not a tough guy.

Then the beer was flowing at the Brekenridge Beer festival...

Oh god. Marty is talking to me again.

...You're the best...arouuuund!

Anyway, the beer festival was cool; definelty makes for some good people watching. Even though there's too much country music here, drunk guys in cowboy hats + country cover of "Crazy Train" = hilarity.

So I'm planning on winning Segment of the Week with the piece I did on light pollution, it's been really well recieved, and next week I'm in charge of Bear Safety.

The most exciting thing, however, just developed today. Our general manager, Shani, left the company for two weeks to visit her husband in Spain (crossing paths with Emily?). In place of her, Scott Stein, one of the head honchos from New York, came to check up on us and Aspen. I get a chance to sit down with Scott one on one and have him review one of my segments. After discussing it, he asked me "What year in college are you?" I told him he said "When you're done...come back." Handed me his card, and walked out the door.

Sweet!

So my mom saw Justin's thing on the website, and got jealous or something, because she e-mailed Conn to get them to do a story on Plum. Just warning you that if one does show up, it was all scare tactics by one momma Beebe rather than anything legit.

Happy Birthday to all the lovely ladies, praticularaly my GFF Kim. See you all sooner than you'd think!

Lipsynching better than Britney

So im sitting in the office right now, catching up with our lovely blog site, lipsynching to a mix i have on my ipod. Now normally I would just sing with the music but there are two other people in the same room as me and that would just be cruel and unusual punishment for them (Rach, you know what im talking about). I've been "pretend singing" along to a bunch of stuff (some David Gray, Ryan Adams, Fleetwood Mac, U2, and Tears of Fears just to name a few) and as i was doing that, I turned around and noticed Lauren, another girl i work with, looking at me with this expression of "what the fuck is she doing?" I aim to please, what can i say. Which gets me thinking. I beginning to feel/realize that one of my purposes on this planet is to confuse people beyond all recognition by the things i do and say. Now, I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I think confusing people is actually beneficial in some bizarre love triangle kinda way (name that reference!). I mean, if there wasnt that person to look at and say to yourself "man, they are completely crazy...but funny," life would be so boring. Maybe im doing others a favor by making myself look like a complete idiot most of the time, giving others the opportunity to act like an idiot themselves and just forget or care what others think about them. Its a role i think i have finally come to accept. Last night was when i had this little ephipany. I was out with Sean and Evan, my two best friends here in Jersey, at Denny's after a late night game of bowling (which i totally kicked ass at! i won the second game by 20 points, who would have thunk it? haha). I must have had way too much sugar yesterday or something but i was off the wall, talking in funny voices and laughing at everything and anything. Sean and Evan kept looking at me and laughing. And i started noticing something. As i continued to act like a total goofball, the two of them started to drop their guard and do the same exact thing. It was hilarious. And none of us cared one bit what the other people in Denny's thought of us first because yes, its midnight at Denny's, its not the cream of the crop who go there and secondly, because it was fun. So i guess what im saying is act like an idiot and total goof whenever you get the chance. Life is so much more fun when you stop worrying about others will think and do what makes you happy. Im not sure if any of that made sense but whatevs. I make people confused anyway by the things i do so might as well confuse all of you.

Man im bored.

I went skating for the first time yesterday morning in 4 full months. Lets just say my ass hurts...alot. I hadn't gotten my skates sharpened in over a year (the equiliancy of skating on butter knives) but while i was away my mom got them sharpened. So sharp skates + out of shape = trouble. When I havent done anything and have dull blades, I can usually do all my jumps no problem. But when i havent done anything and have sharp blades, well thats a horse of a different color (probably red, i dunno, ooh! or purple). Now i could skate just fine but doing jumps was hard. My body and muscles remembered how to do everything but man, skating with an edge after that long is hard, very hard. But i loved it, every minute of it. I had missed it so much and i felt like part of my life had been missing. So now im gonna try and skate 2/3 times a week so that i can get back to where i was before (wont take long though). Besides, skating is my passion and i dont think i could ever give it up. The one place i always feel completely at ease.

well thats that. I should probably get back to data entry. I have a THRILLING Eddie Bauer catolog to finish. TTFN all and miss you! only one more month until i can see you all! (Im jealous of all of you New Englanders and being so close to each other..hehe) love ya!

Jess Magnum

Ps. the color of this post has been brought to you by the color number 19, and what a beautiful color number it is!

Heat and Hotties on the Beach

Now that I've grabbed your attention...

When I say heat, I mean the fry-an-egg-on-your-forehead weather on Long Island (in Boston Harbor) on Tuesday, and by hotties on the beach I mean the 50 overheated campers being filmed by a camera crew that included yours truly. There's nothing quite like the feeling of sweat trickling down your back (and your nose, and your knees, and your neck) as you lug around a fancy tripod possibly weighing more than you do in 101 degree humid, suffocating heat.

But it is my first professional shoot and well worth it, even if I don't actually get to touch the camera unless it is to move it from one location to another. My big accomplishment for the day was organizing the kids to stand in formation to look like the aquarium logo (essentially a big fish in a circle. We skipped the lines, if you know what it looks like). It worked pretty darn well if I may say so myself (and I do). Then yesterday, we had the gift of perfect weather in Nahant and I got to play around in tide pools as an added bonus to the filming.

In other news... I was in NY city last weekend to see Spamalot (a very, very belated B-day present from my parents) in which my mother's cousin's daughter's husband is a standby (yeah, read that one again) and we got to go backstage and meet up with him and Lisa (who I think works out to be my 2nd cousin?) afterward. Turns out he's working on a film of his own and is looking for some production assistants for a shoot this August in Michigan, so I sent in my resume (cross your fingers).

That's all for now, I'm completely wiped and need to sleep.

Love you lots,

Amanda

ps- Has anyone else noticed that half of my posts are in parentheses?

things are mainly the same, miss you all, blah blah blah

went down to boston, hung out with kim, rocked out as usual and had a blast

spent all of yesterday hanging out with zach at the independent video rental store/ice cream store that he works at... i really needed some zach time

i've been up for 24 hours, that's getting pretty normal

bed soon, just got excited cause i saw justin on the conn website! wooooooot!


-alli



p.s. drew, i loved your post
p.p.s. rach, i totally splurged the other day on clothes, wish you'd been there

Dolphins 5 - Humans 0

The weather is superb here. I have been frightened however in the last few days while watching the weather channel of temperature 90+ throughout almost the entire continental US. It scares me how bad global warming has affected us. A friend of mine is interning in Binghampton, New York and just a few weeks ago it was completely flooded. He was staying at high ground so he wasnt evacuated but his internship was. I hear that if the average global temp were to go up another 4 degrees where i would be sitting right now would be under water because of glacier melts. Polar bears have now need to do more swimming than walking because theyve lost so much area. I dont mean for any of you to panic, just do your job and continue recycling and getting around in more environmentally friendly ways whether thats carpool, biking, or walking.

Now are a different note he are the scores through the summer as of right now:
Kissing dolphins: Pebbles-2 Dazzle-2 Phebe-1
Kissing humans: Zip
YES!!! THE DOLPHINS ARE IN THE LEAD!!! Will it remain this way in the last month...We will see.

I really wish that the psych department would offer the course in conditioning and learning next year but Prof Vyse is on sabatical... I've already learned so much about it. If you need a hand training your pet (human or animal) I be happy to help.

Now then, Im planning on taking a trip home for a couple days. The doctors really miss me. They started allowing some of the interns, obviously certified divers, to go out and chlorinate our habitats because the algae here is growing very fast this time of year because it is so warm. Our water is pumped in from the ocean and then expelled into the intracoastal. I was also rather upset with maura, one of my housemates got a voicemail from her dad saying that after she graduates she is going with her mom and sister for over a month in australia diving on the Great Barrier Reef, one of many areas I had always wish to dive at. Wish me luck because Im planning on asking my neurologist for maybe the 7th or 8th time now if its at all possible. He says the concern is mainly the risk of another seizure, however, the water i would be diving in gets as deep as 14 feet. One day i will that opportunity because i never really got to have an open water dive. All of mine were done in the CC swimming pools and I know the plans for next spring break will hopefully include some scuba.

Beach volleyball night is here again!!! I will in a little over a month it will all be over and in a way I dont like it but I greatly miss CC and of course, all of you!!!

-Justin

I love me some TV

As my creepy hypnotizing, tom peeping, painting, charter piloting, busdriving, club hopping, did I mention hypnotizing, neigbor Shawn would say, "Life is good".

I'm finishing up my first segment that could possibly be bennificial or, as you bloggers seem to be concerned about, "making a difference." It's about light pollution, basically me repeating in a voice over what Dr. Rober Stencel said in a lecture last thursday, but it's a nice change from covering pie baking contests and pickle vendors (hence the facebook picture)

So Marty, my annoying, singing, little bitch of a roomate is talking to me right now and I couldn't be paying less attention. I've discovered a new technique: anytime he starts talking, "You're the Best", that song in the montage at the end of the karate kid, starts playing in my head and everything is alright. To all those who are thinking I'm being too harsh, trust me, I'm not alone in my sentiments.

So anyway, to continue with life is good, I just had a beer with Jay Nash and his band. Yeah, I never heard of him either, but I went to his concert with our producer and, being a part of Plum, we got scooted backstage into the greenroom within 5 minutes, and hung out with the band between sets. There were even a couple of girls who won a radio contest to get backstage, and they were ushered out! Ah, to be in the biz.

We have free tickets to almost every event in the vally; last night I saw Churo, the "coochie coochie" chick, who is also one of the greatest flamenco guitarists in the world. No backstage action there, but the show was fantastic. The people here are really dynamic. Tim (formerly Intern Tim for those of you who saw the promotional DVD) took the picture of Kim off my desk, and keeps it on his own. He says the next spot its going is into the guys bathroom. John "Big Slick" Almering can trade Simpsons references with the best of them, and holds an ongoing argument against 24P on NTSC (Amanda, you know what I'm talking about). Janelle, my mentor, has taught me so much about editing, shooting, and how to love your job and love life (Kim, she's really the one you should talk to about Sterling).

Marty is still talking by the way.

Everyone else is great, except, of course, the two people I live with. Marty, who you already have a taste of, sings all the time and is a long winded dork who's into creepy anime and musicals. Tiffany, who is really good at crossword puzzles and loves Anna Karina, is paradoxically possibly the dumbest person I've ever met. Let me highlight one charming aspect of her pesonality: humor. She's never said anything remotely funny, doesn't get any jokes, and laughs at the most random, dumb parts of movies. Her laugh is really breathy and forced, causing her to inhale on cue after every third "ha". Have you ever heard a predicable laugh? It's despicable.


Anyway, given the life is good theme here, I'l confine the negative sentiments to the previous paragraph. The 'rents are coming up this sunday, and Julian, Zach, and Sean (my buddies from home) might roadrip out here to pick me up in august!!!

Man, Marty is looking right at me, I can't believe this.

So I can't think of anything else specifically to say. I wish I had pictures, but the fact that I'm using a camera all day, I can't really bring myself to take my busted ass digital camera out of its bag and snap some stuff. Hell I'd feel like a gaper, and theres nothing worse than a gaper in Vail.

Can't wait to see y'all and hear your adventures.

Seth, Nick, and Justin - I had an idea to trick a bunch of hot girls to come to our appartment, we need to discuss.

Kim, I miss you too, as you may or may not know depending on the speed of the snail mail.

Well, I have to admit. I buckled and said something back to Marty. I'm a discrace. Goodbye.

well i have a few minutes so i guess i'll update

let's see, things are pretty much the same here.. working a lot (like, seriously, A LOT) and that's pretty much it. i also have been going to the gym a lot. yeah, i'm having a pretty exciting summer. i got my first paycheck today, 700 dollars, i'm pretty happy but i thought i'd be getting more. i'll be making more on my other two paychecks though, that's for sure. i might work one more week than i was planning because if i did it would pretty much cover my books. yeah i've been thinking about school and how i want to be more motivated with my classes this year. it hasn't been too bad so far, but last semester was definitely my worst.

my parents have been on vacation for two weeks now, they have been up at this camp in harrison, me that we rent every year, but i couldn't go because of work. i went up to visit the other night and had a really fun time hanging out with the fam. my aunt was there and i got to see my cousin emily (the one who dropped out of school, not the one who got married). it was kind of weird, i realized i hadn't seen her in TWO years. it was good to see her. things seem to be looking up a bit for her i think.

the summer feels like it's going incredibly slowly and i can't wait to be back at school, but i am trying to get some things done and get in shape and enjoy the warm weather. i want to go down to visit kim again when she is in boston this weekend, and i was able to get the day off from work so i can, but of course she hasn't called me back yet.

oh yeah i also lost my cell phone so i haven't had one for like 2 or 3 weeks.. i'm getting a new one in like a week but i'm not happy about having to spend money on that. oh well.

not much else going on here, just making money and making plans for the fall. can't wait to see you all, keep rockin out!

-alli

Facing the future

Is anybody else going through a personal crisis right now?

I feel like there’s a chance I’ve been going about my life the wrong way. For so long I’ve been so sure, so SET on how my life was going to play out and what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a director for television. I wanted to entertain people but also love my work. I wanted to finish my major with a bang and feel like I was on a great path.

Suddenly I’m doubting everything. Being at MTV has taught me things about careers in TV, sure – but you know what it’s really taught me? I can’t stand the entertainment industries. I hate the focus on beauty and anything else superficial, I hate the ridiculous special treatment celebrities get, I hate the fact that more people vote for American Idol than for the presidential election, and I hate that we’re watching “Date My Mom” instead of the news. I hate that I’m a part of the problem, and that I not only turn on MTV and watch the same episodes of the Real World that I’ve already seen rather than picking up a book or a newspaper, but also discard the VJ submissions I get here if the people aren't hot enough - despite how good their resumes are.

I know that the fact that I want this to change is a good thing, and I know that television needs people like me… but I wonder if I have the stamina to deal with the superficial people in this business, or even the stamina to fight having to be superficial myself.

There’s so much I know I DON’T want to do. I don’t want to sit at a desk, I don’t want to put another piece of crap on TV that people are watching to avoid the real world, I don’t want to make something that doesn’t make the world a better place, I don't want to allow Hollywood to continue to be so focused on looks. I know abstract things that I want, like making TV better and putting a better focus into the entertainment world, but I’d be lying if I said I knew how to do it.

And then there’s the whole business of getting into this in the first place. Can I make a bigger difference as a producer or a director? Which will make ME happier? Am I supposed to go to film school, where I fill my head with idealistic values and make artsy-fartsy movies about self-discovery only to find myself disillusioned once I enter the business, or do I fight my way into the business doing an entry-level job full of grunt-work for people that I think are making the business dirtier than I already think it is?

I feel frustrated with the images of people and the values that are being spread by Hollywood, but I don’t know what to do about it. I can’t tell if it makes me want to make a career change and run before it’s too late or if it makes me want to get in there and fight it.

Why haven't I taken my turn?

Thursday morning, and something loud pushes me from under the thick blanket of my dreaming to the reality of light drifting past my curtains and shining into my eyes. It isn't my alarm clock; I hadn't set it since a late meeting earned me an opportunity to sleep in. It is the loud gush of air cycling through a vacuum cleaner clattering up the stairs under the guidance of Shayla, the cleaning lady. Worse than being woken up is the knowledge that I will soon need to tiptoe around my own house, wondering guiltily if my room is more messy than usual, feeling awkward that we can afford to have someone clean the house for us, avoiding contact with the women while simultaneously avoiding the contact of my bare feet on a mopped, wet, floor. Because even though these women have been coming to the house to clean for almost as long as I remember, even though they've seen me in my PJs and accidently while changing and when I've been sick in bed or just being plain lazy, I still don't know how to act around them.

But then I'm eating my customary bowl of Cap'n Crunch, comics in hand, feet tucked up and away from the water on the floor, and Shayla walks in to say hello. With Shayla, it's different. She worked at our house when it was just her, before she started her own company and sent other people to come clean up our mess. I like talking with Shayla, even if I get intimidated when she tries to get me to speak in Spanish. She is one of the wisest women I know, and has done more to change the world than I've ever attempted.

Today, Shayla asks me about school, my internship, and then goes off on a ramble about how I am going to make something of myself, am going to change the world, am going to see the problems, find the solutions, and bring about change. "I tell my other customers, Amanda, ever since she was little - she was always reading. That girl, she's going to do something, she's going to be someone" she says, as I blush and try to stammer out an appropriate response. Because she expects so much, because she puts so much faith in me, because by her very words she is pushing me to act now, do now, change NOW.

Shayla talks knowledgeabley about global warming, about the government, about education, about the environment, about taking responsibility for your actions. She talks about how she started a recycling program at her children's school, about giving valuable advice to a sustainable living architect, about bringing her children to a farm to teach them what slavery would have been like. Shayla is one of the brightest, strongest, wisest women I know, and she had nothing resembling the kind of life I am currently living.

I told Shayla I was frustrated that I felt I couldn't do anything NOW, couldn't change things right away, had to follow the proper course before making a difference in the world. She told me that all of this was necessary, that you need to prepare before you can take on the world. But in my heart I feel that I'm not doing enough. I feel a selfishness and self-absorbtion that not even promises to the future can sweep away. And I'm not saying any of this to be reassured. I'm saying it to get it off my chest, but hopefully not so much as to forget it all.

deliriousness and drunkenness (how do you spell that?)

GOOD MOOOOOOORRRRRNIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off: my drunken post was foiled by an unfortunate internet situation. I was up at skidmore Sunday night and I brought my cousin and his friends the beauty of Watermelon Strawberry Twister and vodka. Delicious. anyways, I thought I'd tell you all, but either the internet didn't work or I couldn't spell conncoll (or both?).

as for deliriousness: I'm posting because I could NOT sleep last night and it's 7:12 and I've been up for over an hour already. I think I slept from 4-6 and that's it. humph. and I was just watching the news and for all you massholes: The big dig fell in on someone????? what the fuck?

what else to share? I'm CERTAINLY not starting work yet! I'm reading Angels in America for work and GOD it's sooooo good/DEPRESSING. My friend had her wisdom teeth out on friday and I was the only one who could pick her up and she had a bad reaction to the valium so she was a MESS and little old me had to get her up to harlem and into bed, which she bled all over, because in her valium-induced state (which she doesn't remember any of) she insisted on taking the gauze out. It was NOT a pretty picture! Why is gas so expensive again? They say it's going to keep spiking? whaaaaaa happened? OH! and I might be seeing Aida next week (rose, don't be jealous!) and I'm still reeling in the memory of sweeney todd.

ok friends romans and countrymen, thanks for listening dudes. time to shower and admit that i'm up for good. there is no turning back now. miss you all, but we will be together again shortly. where the fuck did the summer go?????
p.s. I've been saying "fuck" way too much in daily life.
p.p.s. in Angels in America someone used "slash" HA!

lots o love,
manders

So I'm back in the US again. Actually, I've been back for a week now but it still feels like i just got back. I was planning on writing one last time from Perugia BUT a a memorization and recitation of a long poem, presentation, and a final prevented that from happening. All i can say is that I'm happy to be finally done with school work. By the end of the six weeks, i lacked ANY energy to go to class which entails a fun 20 minute walk down to the campus and then the midday hike back up the hill. Luckily, my Italian buddy and new girlfriend Areti (yes i have a boyfriend, a husband, and now a girlfriend, oh, and a wife,Alex, Rach will know her) kept me laughing so that class wasnt too too painful. All in all, it was a great experience. Not fluent but i feel more confident with the language and would actually try and speak it in class.

So i got home on Friday June 30. After basically 24 hours of traveling i arrive in the airport at JFK and see my mom jumping up and down, just so happy to see me. I run as fast as i can with all my luggage and give her and my dad a hug. Then out of the corner of my eye i see this figure walking towards me and hes holding flowers. And the person looks familar, and then it hits me! Oh my god, its Chris. He surprised me at the airport, having plotted with my mom since the day i left to come visit me earlier than he said he was. It was one of the best surprises ever. I literally was speechless and could only look at him and start laughing with happiness. And since then, life back here has been great. Chris was here for a week and it was so nice to see him again. In a way, it was preparation for next year and his going to Ohio State. As much as it worries me, i know i have no reason. If we had no problems being an ocean apart, then being a pennsylvania apart wont be that bad at all.

Im happy to be home yet kinda wish i could still be in Italy, especially this past week with the World Cup Finals. Man, what i would have given to have been back there when Italy won. I was there to see the craziness of the win against Australia and i thought that was maddness so i can only imagine what it was like this past sunday. And my phone just rang and i need to get it. Ill post the second half of this later...What to expect? Birthday, Work, and a funny story..love yas

Spain by Train

Weekend Update:

Very exciting weekend here in Madrid, different from the norm, which was quite needed.
The average weekend consists of me waking up rediculously late on saturday, sunday or most likely both, bumming around my piso(flat/apartment) and completing various domestic tasks that i have neglected (on purpose) during the week...but this weekend, NO!

This change in the weekend was spurred by a change in my general work week. Here's the deal, there's a park here in madrid called Prodolongo, where there have been numerous complaints of immigrants drinking and being obnoxious in the park from neighbours who live close by. In order to "resolve" or attempt to resolve this conflict, the city of Madrid has sent up a task force to observe what's going on in the area and deal, if necessary or to what extent...with the conflict.

Enter yours truly --
My office is part of this said "team" of municipal employees, so for this past week as well as next, we're taking turns going to the park in small groups and seeing "what's up" basically. I went thurs. from 8-11 pm and then friday from 12am-2am. NADA, nothing, zip out of the ordinary was happening, but we're gonna continue our observations, etc.

Regardless, it's a cool project because it's different from anything else i've been doing thus far and even thou it's me and my colleagues walking around...it's still field work and my hours are compensated. WOOT.

So enter friday, i go to the park 12-2 come home and go out with my roommates to a club up the street...we get in free, stay for an hour, whatever. Saturday morning, late morning, me and my roommate Mila, who's the stereotypical brazilian girl, gorgeous, athletic, blah blah blah, but so nice...decide to go to toledo, a small old town about 2hr. outside madrid. Very fun, but very very hot, the whole town is on a "hill" and anyhill in 40 celcius, aka 104 farenheight...seriously i wish i were kidding.

ps, it's 11:17 pm and it's 91 degrees... i'm melting.

anyway fun day, and then sunday, today i went to this banging open air market where i basically spent too much money on linen shirts, morrocan leather sandals, purse and change purses, and some brown slipper/shoe things. Oh and a pashmina for 3euro. ole. then due to the heat i went and hit up my host family's pool with Mila (brazilian) and Lydia (from france). 4 hours later, i'm still not sunburned so i consider my afternoon a success. Oh, and i love my host kiddies, adorable...i need to take pictures of them, really.

anyway, that's the weekend wrap, it was out of the ordinary so i felt like sharing.
and congrat's to all the italians, Seb, Jess and anybody else who i don't recognize right off the bat as an italian, Zidane's an idiot...

besos to all,
emily

I am in Heaven

Only the kids here would dress up ridiculously awesome for our dance here, AND do a synchronized interpretive dance to The Who's "Baba O'reilly" (Teenage Wasteland.) I am so in love with every one of these little fuckers! Gonna miss them so much when they leave next week. Also, I've been playing ridiculous amounts of ping pong - it's been awesome. Also, been seeing ridiculous amounts of Shakespeare - equally awesome. Me = very happy.

4 8 15 16 23 42

Ok, I can admit it....I am addicted to Lost. No denial there. What do they say about alcoholics?-- That you are an alcoholic when it starts affecting your daily life. Well if that is true, then I am sure that me going over to Zoe's at 10:30 and staying up until 2:50 am last night to watch 4 episodes of Lost, when I get up at 6 am for work, qualifies my new obsession to be affecting my daily life. But you all know me and my crazy sleeping habits, and to be honest the intensity of the 2 extra episodes I watched were so great that it was definitely worth it and I had just as much energy in the afternoon as any other day. Unfortunately, today I have not had my Lost fix, but we only have 4 episodes left in season 1 anyway, so I guess we should drag it out, since season 2 is not on dvd yet.

Moving on from Lost, but let me just say if any of you are at the movie store and nothing appeals to you just pick up the first disc of Lost, you will get hooked! I know it seems like a really stupid concept, I mean lost on an Island--can you say Gillian's Island? But I assure you there is no Skipper or anything of the sort. Ok, really moving on....

I don't think I have really explained what I am doing here in New Haven. So for the past month or so I have been becoming more knowledgeable about reading disabilities, specifically dyslexia. All the stuff I have been learning is really interesting and I am happy that I have explored the neurology path. In addition to becoming more knowledgeable, I have been trained and am able to administer this computer task to our participants that come in. It is a really really boring computer game that tests attentional networks--I have to observe the subject's body language and record any errors or grunts of boringness. In addition to that I have other projects going on as well which keep me busy. I am loving the 8-4 lifestyle, meaning getting up early and getting semi dressed up for work, walking with the morning crowd, work itself and taking lunch breaks with my amazing co-workers. They all pick up on my sense of sarcastic humor and are rather witty themselves, even if it is a dull day they make it great. Ok, that is enough bragging.

So that is my life as it stands now--work at Yale Learning Research, Lost, Jersey Boys, and Zoe. I have been going home every weekend for various family bdays, events, shmoozing and visiting camp/friends. Can't believe it is already July, oh I missed Rabbit Rabbit yet again, but August will be here soon enough, and even if I don't say it next month, we all are reuniting in the end anyway, so it has to be great!

Much love,
Machel

wooooooohoooooo

So, today, at work, we had 12 religious leaders from india and bangladesh come visit the office, they were soooooo adorable!
that was this morning.
then i survived a staff meeting.
then a woman got back to me who i need to interview
then my profile went up on the website!!!!!
yay
http://www.pluralism.org/research/profiles/display.php?profile=74351

just for fun, a photo.

can you spot me?

copa mundial, modorra total & spanish drag queens

spain in july is hot...

really really hot, like city, no-circulation hotness, hot. i´m here sweating a lot, and have (finally) learned to drink water -- i still don´t like it, parse, however, it is simply too expensive to buy soda/juice/whatever as a substitute.

also, i´m addicted to the world cup (i´m currently hoping france wins, my logic -- france beat spain, so if france wins, at least we lost to the winners, make sense, yeah, whatever) also, instead of fighting the constant heckling/reminding of French Futbol superiority by Alex, i´m biting the bullet and routing (rooting??) for "his" frenchy team.

work is good, going at a more constant pace, although i used to be the sole intern of the "dept. of investigation" i´m now a part of the other 2 dept´s that are here in the office...ole. monday i met the mayor of madrid and the "city councilor" (who turns out to be ex-president Aznar´s wife -- apparently this is kinda a big deal, but whatever spain). it pretty much was just me getting the little "kiss kiss" on the cheek from both of them and then having my boss say "this is emily barry, our becaria from the US"

how cool am i??? um... right

another note, i don´t like international keyboards, i´ve been trying to get used to it for quite some time now, its simply not working for me. I can´t remember where the "slash" is, nor the quotations and absolutely hate that the @ symbol is not a convenient key to type.

i just got back from lunch, it´s around 4, and i´m so tired. alas, there is no siesta built into an office schedule, just a lunch break.

apparently this tiredness post eating is called MODORRA, fun word to know and use... so yeah, i want to be asleep right now. this could also be due to the fact that NOBODY, seriously NOBODY in the country of spain gets enough sleep, eating dinner at 10, running errands after work until 9, waking up at 7:30...i haven´t really gone out the last two weekends just because i get so tired at 2. i need to do a marathon night out thou sometime soon, otherwise my "social" experience will just be a fracaso total. (total failure)

i appologize, in advance, for slipping into spanish when we get back in the fall. i´m looking for translator jobs here, probably for the gov´t, at least for a couple years before i apply to law school, or maybe apply and defer or something...regardless, that´s the plan, because i really really do like it here, even thou spain can be REDICIOUSLY frustrating at times.

this past weekend was the gay pride parade, we had "front row, 8th story" seats to it as thousands of LBGTQ human rights, equal op, etc groups marched down Gran Via (my street). During the night i went to Chueca, the gay neighbourhood of Madrid, and enjoyed the craziness of gay pride weekend for a few hours. there were 3 different stages aroudn the neighbourhood, every street was packed, me and cat (catherine senatore, also from conncoll) watched & danced at the drag queen "kareoke esque" show, and then went and disco-d it up in the Plaza de Chueca to euro techno/house/etc. overall a short (only til 1ish) but really awesome night.

so the post is a little "all over the place" but it´s an attempt to keep everybody updated.

take care, y vos hecho muuuuuucho de menos,
mil besos,
emilia

a couple quick things

Alright first off...a couple days ago i was doing what we call ("we" meaning trainers/interns at Marineland) a gating session. Basically that means we move one or more dolphins from one habitat to another. we have gates made of 4 inch PVC about 6x6 with a rubber net-like attachment. The gates can be removed or pulled up and lowered into the opening between two p0ols. Some dolphins are very curious of the gates or want to get out of the pool they are in so we have stakes that wedge into the gate so they cant pull them up (and trust me almost everyday they do). OK well here goes. I was helping with a gating session to get chubby into the med pool while the other two boys stayed in the other pool (pool in the picture shown above). i stood on the bridge seen above and lowered the gate in after he entered and everything was going great so i then decided to step down and attach the wedge when i placed my right foot down on water. Its hard to stand on water. Chubby and I got a little closer than. No physical damage occured. Just a little emotional given there were many people watching the session so I'm sure the act was caught in the background of at least 1 or 2 pictures they took. It was a fun day!

Next on the list...today I participated as a guest in a session with Dazzle. I did get a little more action with her. She needed some practice. We try and get our dolphins used to things such as holding their rostrum in their hands and getting a kiss. Directly following the session we got to see the Discovery Shuttle fly through the air. You could see all the fire come out the end a lot more than the actual shuttle. That was awesome!!!

Hope all y'all are enjoying your summer. If anybody is interested i will be home (Long Island that is) on July 20-24. Stop down. Maybe we could meet in the city. Enjoy your 4th of July and I will see you soon. I feel like this summer is going by extremely fast. Time does fly when youre getting the chance to do something you love....

J-Ball

Still alive, but slowly dying of mosquito bites!

OH MY GOSH!!!

I am so excited to post! I'm up in New Hampshire at Wediko and the kids are coming tomorrow!!!! My group is the youngest group of GIRLS, ages 8-11. Woooohooo!! So excited for when they get here tomorrow. This place is so different from the outside world, i cant even explain right now -- im in the woods!!!

Love to all! More to come!

Love,seth

Can't get enough of those Strongbad emails...

Hey all, I'm just sitting in the library with nothing really to do, so I thought I'd give a quick update. It's been a crazy week - crazy AWESOME, that is. I really feel like I've developed good relationships with my co-counselors - Emma, Natasha, Brandon, and Wes. I find that I hardly spend any time alone any more, so it's been pretty good. Tuesday night we partied it up, with some good ole kings. I'll have you know that I take full responsibility for bringing "The Viking" to the south - and they LOVE it! So yeah, lots of silliness ensued. It was a long week, but lots of fun. Cool master classes, including acrobatics, and such. Saturday night we all drove out to a former camper's house, and had a big bonfire. There was lots of frisbee, guitar sing-a-longs, improv games, etc. Saturday night an old friend of mine came to visit, and we all partied again. Sunday was a much-needed day off. And today, despite my overwhelming exhaustion is really looking up. I just finished my first session of one-on-one text work with a camper and it was awesome. I'd never really done anything like that before; I've only taken direction, not given it. And I have to say, it was so cool to have someone trust in my knowledge enough to put to use the suggestions I made, and hear the text-work improve as a result of it. This really makes me consider doing something on the more teaching end of Shakespeare. The girl I worked with was also SO appreciative, and that made me feel great - like I actually have something to offer as a result of the million Shakespeare classes I have taken over the last 5 years or so. Anyways, that's pretty much it for now, just really psyched about that, so I thought I'd share. Hope you all are well! Much love...

Hey guys, I'm not sure what name this is under, but this is Sebastian for those who didn't know or weren't sure. It's great to hear that all of you guys are doing so well and having a grand ol' time this summer. I'm sorry I've failed to keep in touch with many of you this past semester; to put it lightly, it was a bizarre semester for me. But I'm glad everyone is having fun.

As for myself, I'm doin pretty well. It was around the first week of June that I got an email for an internship in Boston. A few days later, landed myself a job. I'm interning for a publishing company in Cambridge, the Perseus Books Group. I work in the Permissions Department, meaning that I help them grant other companies/universities/people in general the licenses to reprint or republish anything to which Perseus owns the rights. Its an interesting business, and since I'd like to publish some of my own work one day, its a great way to find out what the hell actually goes on. Perseus publishes mostly nonfiction stuff, but its good stuff. For example, they gave me a free copy of this book on Bob Dylan that's a collection of photos taken early on in his career (the photographer literally just followed him around and took pictures of his everyday life, its pretty cool). They also own the rights to the book Friday Night Lights, and they acquired those rights just before the movie came out, so they made ridiculous cash from it. The job is really cool, it's very laid back, my supervisors are awesome people. The upsides are that its a great job, its in a great location (Cambridge Center), and I only have to work three days a week! The downside? I have to commute to Boston for each of those days from RI. Essentially, this means 4 hours of traveling a day, (40 minute drive to the T at South Attleboro, hour train ride, 10-15 mintue subway, 5 mintue walk, then the same process backwards to get home), plus my actual work hours. Grueling, but manageable, and the job is fun.

What else? Oh yeah, my family is moving (though its within the same town), so we've been keeping the house obsessively clean, because the realtor can literally call at any time and tell us that they're taking people to see the house in like 10 minutes. It's friggin irritating.

My oldest brother Matt just got married yesterday. He had a small ceremony in Providence, on the Brown Campus with our family and his wife's family. It was really nice, and it was a great day for the wedding too. We all went out to dinner afterwards, and then to WaterFire (i'll explain later for those who don't know what that is). Matt's wife, Courtney, is a really great girl, and I'm glad he's happy (it's weird to think that I have a sister-in-law). The wedding party is on a separate day, since they're gonna tour Europe and go to another wedding in Spain for a friend of theirs. The party, my friends, is going to be an epic Moscardi event that may very well disrupt the spacetime continuum.

But yeah, thats life on my end. I hope everyone's summer continues to go well! And I promise I'll try to be funnier next time. Peace

Sebastian

You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet might be running loose in your pants...
- Calvin and Hobbes

Killing people's fun if you sing when you do it

And what's even FUNNER is watching Sweeney Todd kill people after walking six miles (from Canal street to midtown) in 90 degree weather with like 100millionpercent humidity in new york city, and also using starbucks for pooping and airconditioning, and buying $3 crazy earrings and going to flea markets like it's your job, and using a DISPOSABLE camera for the first time in years and getting kickass pictures from it, check these tourists out in TIMES SQUARE!


We love you all,
rose and amanda