Big Update

July was an exhausting but amazing month. I was never home for more than 48 hours at a time, except for when I was hosting people here. I started the month in Texas babysitting my 5 cousins with my mom - Matthew, Age 9, Juliana, age 6, twins Amelia and Gracie, age 4, and William, age 2 and a half. William is also my godson, and I'm mildly obsessed with him. My mom and I were in charge of these kids for 5 days straight, 24 hours a day, and I feel like a I got a big dose of "this is what it's like to be a parent, and it's REALLY, REALLY HARD." The kids were a ton of work, but so, so cute. Whenever we went out, people seemed to think that the three youngest were my kids - understandably, too, because they all look remarkably like me.

Amelia and Gracie:

William:

After Texas, I had the party at my house for a weekend, which was lots of fun! As always, I love seeing you guys.

A couple of days after that, I left to visit a family friend in the hospital, then to Conn to pick up some camera equipment, and then up to my summer camp in NH for a few days to film my first assignment for Chapman. A week later, I spent a night at Conn so I could edit the whole thing together in less than two days. I'm exaggerating my accomplishment, though, as it's only a two- minute piece. I am, however, really proud of how it came out, and I also had an amazing time returning to camp for a little while. It really made me realize how badly I want to go back and how much I've missed it, so I'm hoping I can go back and be a counselor in two years, once I finish grad school. Good to see I'm making big goals for myself, right?

Anyway, from NH I went to a Hanson concert in Providence. I then went home for a day and then spent the next day in the city, first seeing a friend fron Conn who graduated last year (Michelle Ghali), and then getting dinner with Justin. Then, on Tuesday, I went down to NJ for a John Mayer/ Ben Folds concert, which was amazing but nothing compared to the Hanson concerts that sandwiched it - the next day, I went to another Hanson concert, this time in NYC. I've never been to more than one Hanson concert in the same tour before, which made this a really fun and unique experience.

I wish I could explain to you guys just what they mean to me, but all anyone ever seems to get from my love for them is that they're my favorite band. But it was cool - at the concert, Taylor made a comment about how the fans at the concerts have gone from the many at the time of "MMMBop" to the few now, with the music they've progressed to, and it hit me - they've been in my life (and a big part of it, at that) for over ten years. Throughout moving when I was in middle school, finding myself in high school, starting and finishing college, figuring out just what I want to do with my life, and deciding to head to graduate school out in California, they've been the most consistent part of my life other than my family. Their concerts - more specifically, the band itself - bring me to a level of happiness that I find in very few other places. Directing plays, reading Harry Potter, and sharing great times with my best friends and family are the only things that compare.

A few pictures of the band, since I'd like to think you're all curious about these three boys I love so much (who are, incidentally, all married and 2 with children, so yes, they're older now and obviously they're still a band/ still around, so please spare me from the stupid questions):

Taylor:

Isaac:

Zac:

Anyway, this past weekend, I got to see another group of friends of mine from Conn for a few hours - I went to Scarsdale to see Dan Fifer, Aaron Davis, Dan Cohen, Melissa Skolnick, and Robbie Abrams. After that, I went back into NYC to spend the night going to a few bars with Jenny Madden. One of them was a Broadway Piano bar, which made for an amazing night of belting out broadway tunes with what felt like half of the gay male population of Chelsea. I exaggerate, but it was a blast nonetheless.

Finally, I've returned home for a couple of weeks before I head out to California on the 14th. All I've done since I've been home (though it's really only been a little over 24 hours now) is read the final Harry Potter book, as I've spent the past month and a half carrying each of the 7 books around in my bag (one at a time and consecutively, of course) and catching up by reading them during every free second I've had. The book was amazing. That's all I'll say. If anybody wants to discuss, call me. Seriously.

And now, just about all I have ahead of me is the looming, huge amoung of homework I've avoided with the excuse that I had places and people to visit and Harry Potter to read. I've also got a lot of packing to do before I fly out to California.

Miss you all, as always.

hello all,

hope everyone's summers are going well. i know i haven't really posted anything about my summer (except for the threesome!), so i figured it was high time i fill everyone in on what's going on with me. you'll soon realize, however, that the reason i haven't posted much is because not that much exciting is going on. don't get me wrong, i'm having a great time and really enjoying myself, it's just that it's not really that story/post-worthy.

anyway i'm working in a town about half an hour away at this ice cream place called harbor scoops. the money isn't that great but it's the easiest job i've ever had and the people are fun. i also just picked up a second job working for this catering company, based in the same town, called the borrowed butler. today was my first day. i made 100 dollars in tips! woohoo! it was a pretty easy function and it went well. i was supposed to be "training" but one of the people who was supposed to come work the job ended up doing something else because it was a really hectic day, so they just kind of threw me into it. i worked with this woman named cameron, who was nice but a little weird, and this REALLY hot guy named steve. i thought he was like 24, 25 when i first saw him but he's my age, a senior at the university of dallas. he's a really nice guy, we had a fun chat about religion. another guy who works there, named matt, is pretty cute too and my age-ish but i didn't really get a chance to talk to him. after i got back from the catering job, i had to sit on the floor in the back of the van to hold onto a huge 5-layer wedding cake... and it got even better when a huge cooler filled with lobster was stuffed in behind me... oh yeah, it was on wheels! so it kept hitting me...

so the job sitch is pretty good. last night was a really fun night, celebrating kim's, janelle's, and paul's birthdays collectively in boston. my friend scottie from high school came and we had a really fun time catching up. he lives in boston so i think we'll hang out more often now, which is really exciting. my parents and my aunt are coming down to visit on monday, should be fun. life is pretty much working, going to the gym, and drinking. all in all, not a bad deal. kim's leaving in a few weeks so now's the time to really make the most of what's left of the summer..

and oh yeah, i turn 21 in 10 days! (not counting today, of course). can't wait.

i'm starting to get excited about going back to school. i really miss zach and can't wait to get moved into the apartment. i have to overpoint both semesters, i've actually already got my schedule figured out for both, in order to complete both of my majors. i'm looking forward to really challenging myself in classes, though, especially since, with most of you guys gone, i wont have much else to do haha. but i'm sure my underclassmen friends will pull through for me and i don't doubt that i'll have a kickass senior year.

well that about sums up my life at the moment. also, it's way too hot.



love,
allison




p.s. for those of you who are thinking about coming to graduation, it's may 18th.

I just couldnt keep swimming

Alright, I know its been a while since I've made a post and of course I should be beating all of you in terms of quantity because I still dont have a job nor much to do around here but...to update all of you I did take a trip quite recently to the New England Aquarium for an interview to work with the seals and sea lions being housed there. Of course on my way there i took a short stop at Mystic Aquarium to say hello to flippered buddies and a few of the trainers mainly so i can get a couple tips. As it turns out we moved a couple of our female northern fur seals there about a year ago which i did work with occasionally during their and my time at mystic. Those girls i think are a big in for me. I made sure to show up to their feeds not just because i wanted to but because it would look good if they saw me there. that also means I wont be leaving boston to head over to pembroke until about 430pm, also known as "the worst time of the day to be on the road." I never had heard of states turning the shoulder into a lane at selected times everyday until now and it definitely decrease my trip to pembroke. Before I start a new story a few tips that I've gotten for any of you. Even if its 88 degrees still where the long sleeve shirt and tie...even though its a real bitch. I unfortunately didnt bring one but made sure to stop at brooks brothers and grab one (and by grab i mean purchase) before the interview. Also, "what makes you qualified for this position?" can be responded with "...I am extremely passionate and dedicated to my discipline..." at any place within the answer. Expected response date to see if i got the job is August 1st so wish me luck!!! Now on to pembroke...

I was unable to make it to the big party saturday night, which aint really much of a party without me and i am very sorry but I had a party with my "home crew" i would be attending instead (i will speak more of that one later in this blog). I personally had fun hanging out with kim helping create the playlist for the party (i hope you all enjoyed it) and I hope kim felt the same. We got free beer and clam chowder at the restaurant kim works at and only had to be pay for dinner and that was awesome (especially if you dont have a job). We also stopped by the little ice cream shop to say hello to allison. Later that night we just chilled in the apt with a few of kims friends and allison got out of work a little earlier than scheduled. The morning hours consisted of a little set up for the party before I hit the road.

The home party: A few of my marist friends had their friends from around the Island attend and the party seemed a little like west side story. The marist kids chilled by the pool while we were on the patio. I attempted to rally up the troops to get some vball going and was somewhat successful. People came to whack a ball back and forth over a net and that just made me a little less enthusiastic about playing it. Even the vball was played east first, the west although i played both and both were not very vball-like. Ehh, cant always get what you want. Beer pong (aka beirut) later ensued and I played very well going 4-0. Overall, a good party.

Sunday included a quick swim and then hopped the train into the city to visit the wonderful and amazing Kaaayydubs for dinner. I think this girl is just playing me because for someone who says she's never thrown a dart before she never missed the board. I've seen some first timers before but that was by far the best so please beware everybody...Do not challenge her!

Finally, I've been swimming for about 4-5 days a week for close to 3 weeks in preparation for a swim test at the Miami Seaquarium. The test includes 80 yard freestyle, surface dive 12 feet to pick up to blocks about 20 feet apart, 15 push ups, and, the worst part, 40~ yards underwater swim. Ive tried for several weeks to make it the 40 yards but was always coming up short. Not only do I have to swim but I can't use goggles and...it gets better....its SALT WATER! Its that just awesome! Anyway, I flew down tuesday, rented a car, stayed in a hotel, and took the test yesterday but again could not make it. of the 20~ people there only about 4 were able to make it the entire 40 yards and i wasnt surprised. We were allowed to hang around following the test and I could tons of pics which will be on facebook soon. Kind of sucks that I paid for all that but couldnt even make it to the interview section but the seaquarium was nice. As you know, I took over 100 pictures (no their not all going on facebook).

There were a couple big splashes and at the distance i was from the tank I had to be very quick to snap the shot and then quickly turn away so as to protect the camera but a heres a quick peek:

On a brighter note I did finish Kite Runner finally on the plane and it is now up for grabs for the next one in our group of friends so feel free to comment on my post if you want it, first come first serve. Now I will continue on my quest for a job as i wait hear from New England on Monday about the position. I'm out for now but will post again soon! Gnite!

Being silly.

I'll do a real post later, but I just couldn't let Amanda's post be the blog-stopper again.

The Trials and Tribulations of Teaching

Real World Teaching continues and luckily for me I still love my amazing group of classmates and co-workers. We are each other's teachers and biggest supporters and we even send around mushy group e-mails talking about how much we all love each other. Not so much like the Real World I guess...

I taught two ninety minute class periods last week (we're reading Romeo and Juliet) and it went really well and I'm dorkily THRILLED I get to do the Balcony Scene with them tomorrow.

Here's something that would only happen in NYC: I'm on the subway platform heading to my grad school classes and one of my students passes by me and says hi. She then asks if she can read me what she has so far of her essay. It was a great start, too!

I have had about... 20350124750240.02 interviews and have landed myself a job teaching high school. I will be teaching three periods of English and two of Social Studies for the first year and then after that a full English course load with the option to design my own English elective. I am excited to be settled. Now I can get back to dreaming up all of my big plans for my classroom.

What else? I got a call from my program advisor last week. She's young and ultra peppy and i won't be unkind on the blog, but the six hours we have with her a week feel like a lifetime. That said, she called to say she was worried about some of my written responses in what I thought was an anonymous survey and she was concerned about my behavior in class. That brings me back to camp in fourth grade when me and this other devil child teamed up to take control of Group Seminoles (every group was a native american tribe, of course). Ah well... old habits die hard... or something like that? if the shoe fits... Mollie! Fill in the expression!

And I swear I do things other than teaching or taking classes about teaching or talking about my classes or teaching experiences... I'm not really illustrating that point very well, but when I'm not passed out after lesson-planning and doing my homework then I actually have found time to see friends and family and it has been great! Kaitlin's was awesome last weekend, though we missed all of you who couldn't make it. So thanks to Kaitlin for being our phenomenal hostess!

Ok, time for me to go to bed. But I move into my apartment in August and know that any and all of you are welcome to visit any time!

Love and posting,
a

And the streak has ended...

Sorry that i haven't posted yet this summer. One would think with all the time i have on my hands I would have actual posted something by now. Better late then never (though i do read/check the blog at least three times a week).

So last weekend was the first weekend that i didn't travel and sleep somewhere other than lawrencevile new jersey since graduation. Yes, that's right, my streak was been broken but it was a great run i had going. 7 weekends in a row i traveled. Let's recap!

Weekend 1 - NYC with random assortment of conn people which included Ally G, Brian Bower, Matt J, Taylor Kopelan, Laz, Su Hong, Topher Bother, Garrett Harper, Ben Sheldon, and Jess Zhao - we drank something called a "trash can" which was a 2 gallon jar of jungle juice. We got 2... Let's just say we all got realllly drunk. Really good time, especially since at that point I was starting to freak out at home, feeling alone crying missing conn, so seeing conn people helped me get out of that funk quicker than i expected and made me realize that life after conn is going to be just fine.

Weekend 2 - George's in Ct where a bunch of us drank a keg of coors lite, played beirut (either in a tent or on two round uneven tables), sat around a campfire, got eaten alive by bugs, and ate jello shots out of a baking pan. It was great seeing people from our group so soon after graduation because the day after graduation i felt like it would be forever until i see our friends again...i was wrong. i also had a lovely time carpooling with drew and Justin, even though on the way home drew was past out and hungover in the back seat, haha. Me and Justin were front seat buddies both ways plus Tom Tom, our Australian guide.

Weekend 3 - NYC with the a random assortment of conn people, such as, once again, Ally G., Brian, Matt J., Taylor, Su, Jess, and also Daniel Leyfield. We ended up barhopping all over the city - Downtown, Uptown on both the West and East Side - until like 4 in the morning. Me, Taylor, Su, and Dan went back to Taylor's apt and sat around, talked, and watched the cinematic classic Highlander until 6:30 in the morning. The next day me Taylor and Dan tried to go to a bbq down in Madison Sq Park but the lines were too long so we went out for Korean food which i had never had. Tasty. My couch was the perfect end to the weekend, on which i collapsed...hard.

Weekend 4 - My best friend Evan's house in nj with his gf Sydney and my my other best friend Sean. Evan, who lives in Baltimore with Syd, came up for the weekend to see me and Sean, who had just finished up his year at Carlton (damn trimesters meant he ended mid June). We drank many many coronas, played Mario Party for Wii, and lounged about in the hot tub and randomly did snow monkey (get out of the hot tub and jump into the cold pool and then jump back into the hot tub). Btw, did you know that they make little bottles of corona called coronitas? They are so very cute but you can finish them in like five gulps. I love my two home friends. They are my boys and always will be. They are hilarious and I hope you all can meet them some day though some of you met Sean junior year at festivus (he is crazy). It was a good reunion for the three of us, the three musketeers. Weekend 5 - NYC with Kaitlin, Amanda, Mollie, Rose, Justin, and Nick. Kaitlin already posted a little bit about this night but I must say I really loved the bar we went to. It reminded me of the campus bar - plus hard liquor, more space, and minus Gail, the she bitch from hell. Our waiter would never respond to me or Kaitlin in our attempts to get him to our table yet he always noticed when Justin motioned him over. What gives? haha...i guess Justin just has a way about him.

Weekend 6 - Baltimore to Evan's apt with Sean and hung out with Evan's john hopkin's friends. We played this AMAZING movie drinking game that basically just gets you as messed up as possible. It's called Battle Royale http://imdb.com/title/tt0266308/ this crazy Japanese movie where they put 42 9th graders on an island and force them to kill each other over a span of three days until one person is the remaining survivor ie the winner. The movie is nuts but great even if your not drinking. You can play the game a number of ways depending on how drunk you want to get. We split up into teams, girl students team and boy students team. http://www.lazydork.com/movies/battleroyale.htm These are all the rules, we just did number three which is plenty enough, trust me (though we did it with full shots, just taking sips for all the rules would work too). By the end of the movie we all were pretty fucked up and having a great time. We ended up having a "no pants" party. The pictures from that night are RIDICULOUS and they will never see the light of day on facebook, haha. The next day we were all extremely hungover but we managed to get up and go to the inner harbour, walk around, and go to the aquarium. Oh yes, we went to the aquarium which is amazing. If you haven't been, go. That night we watched Talladega Nights and played video games. Lazy bums, that's us. I had so much fun with Evan and Sean and Evan's friends are just awesome people. He has a friend Nabiha who was basically his Baltimore version of me so me and her clicked instantly. Overall, good road trip.

Weekend 7 - Mollie and Amanda's graduation party. Okay, so some of you have heard the story because you were there but I had the WORST DRIVE EVER. What should have taken an hour 45 minutes - 2 hours took me 5 and a half hours!!! I was driving up with Amanda's friend from home Jessie who goes to Princeton and we literally sat in traffic for four and a half hours. It was awful awful awful. I have never sat in traffic that long in my entire life. I hate the GW Bridge. We were making great time, no traffic, until all of a sudden right when the turnpike splits between local and express everything hit a complete standstill. Its was a mind numbingly slow crawl all the way up to the bridge, over the bridge, and through the cross bronx exp. Then miraculously, we went around a curve and then the road just cleared up. From that point it only took less than 10 minutes to get to Mollie's...that was the most painful part, bc i knew that that EXACT SPOT on 95 would be where the traffic would just melt away and it was so close to where we had to go. Once we got to Mollie's, everyone greeted us and felt soooo bad for us but luckily they had nice cold beers awaiting us. Me and Jessie had a victory beer, which was much needed. From now on, I check the radio for traffic reports. I've learned my lesson. That, and don't try to go over the GWB when the Yankees have a game later that night.

This brings us to last weekend, the first weekend i spent entirely at home. I had wanted to go into NYC to celebrate my birthday but the timing was off for too many people and i had no where to stay in the city. Soooo, on Friday I went into Princeton with Sean, his sister and her friend, and went to a bar, where were definitely out of place. Drinks were not very strong and too small for the price they were and me and Sean realized we are "drink in Sean's room" type of people. We're just too awkward, haha. We ended up back in Sean's house watching tv and doing nothing, something we have mastered. Saturday and Sunday I spent entirely outside at my neighbor's pool soaking up the sun and reading. It was fabulous and much needed. I did get to meet up with one of my friends from high school Priya and do dinner and a movie. Overall, good weekend, and i for once didn't have to spend any money on gas or train tickets, haha.

I've started up my steak again this weekend with a night at Evan's house with him, Syd, Sean, and three of Evan's JH friends (one of which was really hot) drinking in a hot tub and playing with nerf guns and then a trip to Kaitlin's house. Hopefully I can keep this one going for a long time too. Sorry this was so very very long but i was proud of all my travels along the east coast and wanted to share with you the amazing-ness that was my 7 weekend streak.

Love you all,
Jess

PS - if you want to see what i do during the week, head over to facebook and look at my new album entitled "a day in the life of Jess." Its basically my life during the week summed up in 26 pictures minus my visits to the rink to skate and hanging out with Sean. Its a pretty hilarious photo documentary if i do say so myself

Vineyards, Dancing, and Tom Shadyac

You know you've become a local in Telluride when...

1) The people running the gondola strike up conversations with you
2) You can tell who is new in town (they're the ones breathing hard)
3) You participate in the 4th of July parade
4) You bring large, bulky items from the free box up the gondola (like.... a lamp)
5) Driving an hour or so to actually get somewhere is a short ride
6) You know the names of all the really cute puppies in town
7) You consistently sneak into hotel pools
8) You can sing the words to the "pick it up now" dog poo song

Yes, there is such a song. My favorite line being (after the chorus of "pick it up now pick it up now...) "Try it; feels kind of good in your hand". Yeah.

I did dance in the 4th of July parade. There may be a picture of me on the PlumTV website, and I am most definitely in the 4th of July package. We won first place for walking group, too. :)



During our days off last week, the production crew (plus a few extras) went to a vineyard to film/taste lots of wines/have a good time. Let's just say it was the single most crazy evening I have ever spent in my entire life. The people were like characters out of some kind of bad soap opera. Incredibly entertaining, but also incredibly weird. Having two people going through a divorce (one of whom is still in love with the other) in the same room with one of their lovers, 13 people and about 30 bottles of wine.... insane. To make a long story short, I was offered a ticket to Chile if I went off with the lover. Seriously.



In the meanwhile... Tom Shadyac, the director of such films as "Liar Liar", "Ace Ventura Pet Detective", "Bruce Almighty", and "Evan Almighty" came on the show today. He might be my new hero. During the fight to save the valley floor in Telluride from development, he came up with the final 2 million buckaroos to buy the land. And since this weekend was the Nothing Festival (born from the creative minds of locals tired of there being huge festivals every weekend all summer), we got to see Evan Almighty in theaters for... you guessed it, nothing! Pretty sweet. We also then got to see many men and some women biking down the street wearing.... nothing. I won't comment on that. Except that there were three guys on one motorcycle.

Well, I'm sure I could think of lots more to say, but this post is long enough. So I will leave you with a picture of a horse, because I think it's pretty.

my Nteenth attempt to post photos. damn internet.

This is my RA group. We are the Pink Panthers and are fighting for first place out of 10 teams participating in the MOST EXTREME CHALLENGE. So far, we're nowhere near 1st. but i have hope for them yet.

this is halloween/ghost tours night. it was a bobbing for apples race. i lost horribly against jesse, another RA

Six Flags was a crazy day of rollercoasters and Looneytune characters.

and that's my summer so far. hope you all are well and rebonded over and over again. so sorry to miss those fun nights.

I need to break the non-posting slump

I don't really know what I want to say - had a fabulous weekend with a bunch of you lot. For those of you who actually have real lives and aren't working a tediously boring job from 9-5 every day, post goddamnit so we can live vicariously through you!

'Nuff said.

18 days to go...

Ok so this website is being weird and my computer dies at random, sooooo.... this post is going to be short and sweet...

First: yay for all the great posts. Drew: I love the mushy sentiments and agree completely. I've also loved seeing everyone the past few weeks.

I've been trying to think of fun anecdotes to share from my first three weeks in my program. My classmates are wonderful (when I say classmates I mean 32 very different people, all different ages, some right out of college, some parents, lots of late 20s early 30s, mostly born in the U.S., but other countries are represented, all new to teaching and all dorkily excited about it). We have spent a LOT of time together recently (actually we already finished an entire class towards our masters) and it has been incredibly intense. Luckily God made Happy Hour, but we joke that our frequent visits to the bar will turn into visits to AA meetings by the time the program is over.

I started teaching summer school on thursday and that was an experience! Scheduled classes didn't have teachers to teach them, the vast majority of students didn't show up (one period only 10 our of SIXTY showed, but can you even imagine 60 kids in one small classroom, definitely a fire hazard!), there were mice in the hallways, no attendance sheets, no books, just generally lots of confusion. Luckily by the third period I got my guts up to ask my teacher I am supposed to be observing if I could do an activity with the kids (she just had them sitting doing nothing while she cleaned the room). Anyways, it went well! The girls were hesitant at first, but they got really into it and didn't want to stop the writing part of the activity, which was really exciting.

I still don't have a job, BUT I did sign a lease on an apartment. I'll be living with someone else in my program. She is awesome, the location is great, and I can't wait to move in in August.

What else? Brooklyn Brown Ale is DELICIOUS. my new fave. Oh and the best part of the program is the wealth of fun group-building games I have acrued. Be prepared to play!

On that note, my battery is claiming to be only half gone, but that really means that at any second my computer will shut off, so lots of love, keep posting, and know you're all in my thoughts!

love,
a

I have worked out my schedule for this coming fall semester, and I am very excited in all my Shakespeare dorkdom, check it out:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
	NO CLASSES	REN 551 Classroom Staging 1:00-2:30 PM	REN 501 Graduate Writing Seminar 1:00-1:50 PM	NO CLASSES
REN 500 Shakespeare 6:30 – 8:00 PM		REN 530 Verse, Text & Performance 3:00 – 5:45 PM	REN 500 Shakespeare 6:30 – 8:00 PM

No classes on tuesday or friday woot! that means plenty of time for me to have a job (and by that i mean to work the streets...)

Not to mention that three of the above classes (everything but the writing class) is taught by the creator of the American Shakespeare Center, this grad program, the Blackfriar's theatre, and pretty much everything that is amazing. This is all very exciting. I leave one month from tomorrow...

you know you had a good night when you wake up naked on the living room floor

i had a threesome!

Five Strings of Fury

Things accomplished this summer thusfar:

Saw my favorite band live... twice...

check!

Got my mom to take a jello shot...

check!

Enjoyed some late night slip and slide fun...

check!

Learned how to do 360s on a kneeboard...

check!

Stood outside in the rain on the fourth of July singing the National Anthem as my neighbor set off fireworks...

check!

That pretty much sums up life on Furnace Pond. I'm putting in a good ammount of hours waitressing and building up a creepy old man/Brazilian fan club at The Wharf. I play banjo so much my fingertips are as good as thimbles. And I spend as much time as a can on the water, whether by boat, tube, jetski, or kneeboard. On the side I have a raging avokado addiction and I'm completely incapable of turning down a good margarita.

The REAL reason I'm writing this post tho is that my plans for the fall have changed. Yes, I'll still be on a boat, but not as a deckhand. OCF has hired me as their Science Educator for the 3 month high school Fall Semester!!! I get a curriculum through Proctor Academy in NH and I'll be spending a good chunck of time this summer writing lesson plans on everything from Estuaries to Ocean Geomorphology. This also means at least a double in pay, although I haven't seen the figures yet. And yes, I'll be going by Ms. McCabe... eww. So it's the same boat I was on last summer but I will have a LOT more responsability as a teacher and we will be sailing from Gloschester MA down through the Bahamas and around the Carribbean. SCORE!

Miss you all,

Guacamole Breath

p.s. If anyone wants a postcard/letter at some point please send your address to writetokimberly@gmail.com

Moving on...

It's interesting to see that even as I don't want to let go of Conn, various factors force me to move on... and quickly.

I'm now definitely going to Chapman University's M.F.A. Film and Television Producing Program next year, which many of you know. It seems like it's going to be a ton of work, and I'm both excited and scared as hell. I'm going to be taking a lot of classes dealing with the business side of the business, so I'll be learning a lot of stuff that I haven't yet been exposed to. It's in Orange, California, which is an hour outside of L.A., so I'll be exposed to a lot of the business in that way, as well.

I spent a good part of my summer searching for an apartment out there, and today I finally just signed the lease for one! It's a 2-bedroom, 2-story townhouse in what seems to be a really nice complex. I'll be sharing the apartment with a girl I found on a list for people new to the film school who were looking for roommates. Her name is Ashley and she's from Kansas. She will be in the producing program with me, and she so far seems really nice and fun (we've been talking a lot on the phone and through email). I just hope it continues to work out so well!

The exterior of the apartment:

The floorplan:

The kitchen half of the downstairs:

The living room half of the downstairs:

Nice, right? On the less glamourous side of things, I have also gotten tons of homework. I have to watch over thirty assigned movies and read seven textbooks and one script by the time I get there, so I definitely have my work cut our for me. It is, however, the type of work I generally like to do - which is why I'm going to school for it! So it's not all bad.

And then, of course, other factors force me to move on, as well. We are, of course, all no longer at Conn. Some friends drift apart due simply to the no-longer-close proximity to each other (though I have to say, we on this blog have done an incredible job of staying in touch and making plans to see each other!), and others step away. Some happen naturally and others hurt, but all cause you to change as a person and view life differently. No matter what, I can feel myself becoming different and more grown up as the map of my friendships changes.

It will be interesting to continue to see how my life takes shape as I head for new things.