Peekaboo!

Think you're getting a picture of some lameass penguins? Think again, biatch!!!

Insanity Fail

Guess it's not for everyone.

Sooo this guy is a beast.

I guess there will always be a market for this guy to play a crazy fuck. Literally the only two times I've seen him he's been grunting and hitting things aimlessly and running around with no real direction and just trying to kill someone until they are super dead. He also gets outwitted every time by a smaller dude and then the jokes on him and he's the one who's toast, so sucks to be him in movies because his role lasts 10-15 minutes before he's all running off a cliff or waddling into impending doom. But not to worry, one day another script will call for a burly, 6'7 man to grunt and hit things with a club/general large object and he will be put to work once again!

Shit's real, people.

If animals could talk

This is one of the funniest things I've seen in awhile. Mostly because listening to animals with british accents is hilarious in itself. Enjoy.

P.S. Make this full screen to see it properly.

Amazing, amazing.

Actor's Acting by The New York Times

If you haven't seen this yet, definitely check it out because it's pretty damn cool. Basically, The Times asked 14 different actors to portray one of the typical character-types in Hollywood. My two favorites are probably Matt Damon's and James Franco's, but honestly, if you really watch the facial expressions and subtle movements, they're all freakin' fantastic.

Sometimes, the world is just really fucking beautiful and I know this is probably color boosted and everything, but damn, I just want to freeze the time/space continuum and curl up inside this wave. Maybe set up one of those hammocks with its own stand included.

P.S. I'm super fucking high.

Oh, Hey Sarah Palin

“As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?”
Sarah Palin

Should I be worried that this woman is pioneering the political sphere? I really think so. I say this because I'm watching "Sarah Palin's Alaska" and I'm a little concerned. I mean, why should i think that because you go looking for bears and catch trout with your bare hands (or something like that...) that you should be running the country? You're scarin' me, Sarah.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ever watched Richie Rich as a 20 year-old or older?

Possibly the best movie I've seen in my life. There's is a laser fight on the top of Mount Richmore at the end. That should draw anyone in.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was fabulous, especially when my Nana got a little drunk and lifted up her shirt to show us all how toned her stomach is.

Check out my uncle on the left, lookin' all crazy and stuff.

I already booked it back to school. On Friday, in fact. I couldn't get back here fast enough. Three hours at home (with 2 of those hours being occupied by dinner and doing laundry) is more than enough for me.

Enjoy your last few Thanksgiving hours!

Kindle Sucks

A year ago, I wrote an article for my column in the school newspaper, "The Green Scene," which ripped the Kindle apart. In my humble and completely un-biased opinion, it was an awesome article and it took into account both sides of a product.

Here's the article if your interested: http://www.dailycampus.com/focus/the-dark-truth-behind-the-kindle-1.1109918

If you check out the comments section of that article, you'll see that people HATED the article. They literally thought that I was Satan disguised as a UConn student parading around and flinging McDonald's wrappers into the air to litter the campus. One person even heard me and a friend talking about the article, and randomly interjected, "Are you talking about the Kindle article? That was the biggest piece of shit I've ever read in my life." I told him I wrote the article and asked him to substantiate his opinion. He sulked away extremely embarrassed.

ANYWAY, i readdressed the topic in my article this week, and I'm excited for it to be published, but it goes into textbooks this time.

Here it is:

The very first article to kick off “The Green Scene” essentially bashed the Kindle. I spoke of the potential hidden ramifications of when it dies and you throw it away and leave it to rot in a landfill.

I still don’t trust this little machine, but it takes on a whole different meaning when it comes to textbooks.

I look at my roommate’s two enormous organic chemistry books and I couldn’t help but think that squeezing that content onto a Kindle would not only save her poor, suffering back, but also save her impending financial crisis from forking out thousands of dollars to the Co-Op.

When I think of the sheer mechanics of lugging a 10-pound book around, I immediately favor Kindles pursuing world domination, starting with UConn because I would willingly oblige. But then I consider all the things I actually wouldn’t be able to do on a kindle, and how much I mark some of my textbooks within an inch of their semester-long lives.

“I think it would be useful to have a light, portable option, but it would be difficult to have the conventional tools of being able to highlight, bookmark, et cetera,” said Kate White, a 5th semester animal science major.

How would I flip between page 27, which has the detailed picture of the Parasympathetic Activation System and page 890, which has its definition? How would I make long and pointless reminders to myself in the margins? Defacing a kindle by highlighting the little plastic screen would probably be ineffective, not to mention a poor choice, economically-speaking.

“I think the status quo is fine right now. There’s no need to further complicate our lives as it is. I think at some point in the future we’ll come up with something better than that stupid thing to read books on,” said Dillon Kearns, a 7th semester political science major.

That trailblazing prophecy may be true, considering using a Kindle may not even save you that much money.

In the summer of 2009, Kindle introduced its bigger-faced version specifically designed for academic purposes, but it cost $489 (a regular Kindle costs $359). Factoring in the cost of e-textbooks, you may end up saving some cash over the course of several semesters, but some people spend significantly less than that on their books, particularly when they get them from Chegg.com or Amazon.com

And what about passing your books off to your friends? There’s no way to sell a book or create a “used” book option, basically ensuring publishing companies a monopoly and the ability to slap a single, astronomically high price on a textbook since you can only obtain it from one place. That’s Communism, kids.

The moral of this story is that, much like the credo of the very first article for this column, there is more to the Kindle than meets me eye. There are a few obvious advantages to simplifying and consolidating all your textbooks, but when you consider how differently you treat a textbook compared to a regular book, it couldn’t work.

Or maybe you’re one of those people who doesn’t even buy the textbook, let alone highlight it. In that case, you’re the most eco-friendly person out of all of us, so keep up the good work, tiger!

So there you have it. The Kindle still fucking sucks. It will never not suck.

I'm back at school and that is nice

I've made my way back to UConn and things are just wonderful. I'm living in a sick apartment with my two best friends, and I am pretty much happy with the way everything is going.

However, today.... we started a little workout video called Insanity.

Now, this is no regular work out video. This is the mecca of workout videos; the mind-altering, body-morphing, cry-your-way-through-squats workout video that will have you gargling your intestines by the end. This shit makes Jillian Michaels' "No More Trouble Zones" look like a day at the kiddie pool.

If you need a visual, here it is

We started today with the highest of enthusiams. We were going to conquer this demon and make something of ourselves. We will look hot for Halloween, flaunting our six-packs and toned arms, parading around like a trio of fitness gurus with only two weeks left on October 31.

So we started the Fit Test. The warm-up was pretty straightforward and I was feeling pretty good. Jumping jacks, Heisman's, nothing too insane. Even some light stretching was involved. Is this all it takes to get in shape? why didn't I know this before?

Oh, how naive I was. We got into the fit test, where you complete each move for a minute before taking a break and moving on. It was only FIFTEEN MINUTES....and I nearly died. There were minute breaks, and I was on the verge of choking. This was the most intense, mind-blowing, heart-pounding workout I have ever done. and it was only fifteen fucking minutes.

I have no idea how I'm going to continue on to day 2, which is plyometrics and is an out of control 45 minutes long with ZERO breaks. In fact, the incredibly athletic-looking people in the video can't even do the damn workout...it's that hard. People are just walkin' off to get water and stopping and falling on the floor throughout the whole thing. And these people devote their lives to fitness.

I stil am excited to keep doing this, but I must say that I'm nervous for tomorrow. This shit better turn my body into Rihanna's.

Things in life that annoy me...therefore they shouldn't exist

1.) Duets

2.) KFC's Double Down Sandwich

3.) Advertisements that tell me eating Cheerio's "may help lower my cholesterol." That's like saying water will help lower my cholesterol.

4.) When Chris Matthews won't let his guests talk so he can repeatedly impress his opinion on whatever poor soul chooses to go on his show.

5.) Rompers

6.) Justin Bieber

7.) BBM..what the fuck is the point?

8.) Dancing With The Stars

9.) grunting men at the gym

10.) The Tea Party

11.) chewing with your mouth open

12.) pre-teens

13.) shows that have punctuation at the end of them, for example: "Bethenny Getting Married?" "So You Think You Can Dance?" and "Dance Your Ass Off!" we're not going speak the show as if we're confused by its name and we're definitely not going to shout it, so let's leave the unnecessary question marks and exclamation points out of it.

14.) People who go to the self-checkout line who CLEARLY can't figure out the scanner

15.) Eminem

16.) the Munchies

that's all i got for now, but that's just what I can think of on the spot which I can't decide whether is good or pretty sad. But seriously, duets are the WORST.

One person in life who's bad news.

In college, you meet many types of people, and most of them are interesting and worth knowing in their own ways. There's the stoner, the friend who always stays in to study, the friend who you always get advice from, the friend who's drunk ass you'll probably end up taking care of at the end of the night, etc. etc. But there's one girl who you should always, ALWAYS be wary of. She seems harmless and lures you in with sweet talk, but she is a manipulative she-devil that will fuck you over at the soonest possible moment.

This is the girl with no other girl friends.

At first, she'll come across as a totally cool person and you're utterly baffled as to why no other girls have befriended her before you. She's usually very attractive by male standards, and she although she clearly knows this, she wears more casual clothes during the week except on the weekends where she reverts to total slut-mode to attract attention.


Regardless of what she's wearing, she'll suddenly confide in you one day. It'll be something along the lines of, "I really just don't have any girl friends. Girls cause such drama and I HATE that, so I really just only hang out with guys...I guess I just get along better with them."

When you hear this, run in the other direction. I'm not kidding. You should decode this seemingly harmless message as, "I am a total fucking bitch and I collect guys that fall in love with me like a 45-year old unmarried cashier at Wal-Mart collects action figures. I have no interest in your well-being and I want to be your friend so I can say I have a girl friend and I can stop getting dressed alone on Friday nights before parties. If you try to hook up with any one of the male specimens I keep on a leash at all times, I will immediately turn every last one of them against you. Not only that, but I'll use you to figure out what parties you're going to and never invite you to anything I'm doing, although I will invite every guy I know. So, lets be friends?"

"Oh, and by the way, I consider myself way hotter than other girls, so I assume nobody wants to be friends with me because they're insanely jealous of how pretty I am."

Seriously, do not feel bad for this girl. She has no girl friends because there have been many poor souls before you who have tried to put up with her, only to reach this exact same conclusion and delete her number out of their cell phone and refer to the period they befriended her as "that phase." Let me save you the time and make sure you never fall into her trap before you can get sucked in.

I say this because I have run into three girls like this in my life, and all three told the same, sorry story. All three times I felt bad and invited them out, did my best to get on their good side, and just generally tried to be a good person and make a new friend. All three time I got fucked over. I'm just sayin'.

Angelina Jolie's new movie sucks

Yes, I said it. I hated "Salt." Generally speaking, I really like salt, but this kind of tainted my opinion of the regular salt, and I kind of resent the fact that now, if I google the word "salt", Angelina Jolie's face pops up. As if she hasn't already saturated every facet of my life.

Anyway, this movie basically puts angelina in her typecast setting of femme fatale who kicks people's asses and even though she kind of looks like a skeleton running around with a head that's too big for her body, she overpowers men twice her size. Likely, Angie. Very likely.

So the basic premise of the movie is that some dude named Orlav gets captured by the C.I.A (..or something) and tells her that she's a Russian spy in front of all her C.I.A friends. what an asshole! So then she's all, "shit now i gotta bounce outta here" and now she's on the run. So the rest of the movie running around with different wigs on while the audience tries to figure out if she's really a russian spy or if she's actually trying to help America...because basically everyone's trying to kill both countries' presidents.

I think part of the problem here is I don't really like action movies to begin with. I also think Jolie's extreme self-confidence in her acting abilities and sense of badass-ness makes her come off like a total bitch. Basically I'm saying she knows how hot she is and that's annoying. The guy I went with didn't think so, though.

Anyway, the other thing that made this movie suck was that she does completely outlandish maneuvers that detract from the credibility of the movie. She jumps from a bridge onto a moving truck and lands on it perfectly, indicating Hollywood has never heard of a little thing called momentum. Basic physics usually says that you're going to keep heading in the direction you're heading if you're falling, so technically, Jolie should've just rolled right off the truck. She also jumps from one truck to another. I don't know if anyone has ever thrown something out of their car window, but it usually immeidately loses it's speed and stays far behind the car...something Jolie doesn't do in the movie.

Secondly, at one point she's in an elevator shaft and decides she's going to spiderman her way down the entire thing, which she does by literally leaping like a flying squirrel from ledge to ledge. I guess you have to see it, but as soon as you do, you automaticall will say, "no fucking way can that happen."

Thirdly, she overpowers absolutely EVERYONE she comes in contact with. At one point, she's being held tightly by two secret service agents, and she almost effortlessly leaps out of their grasp to choke some other unfortunate dude. It's like everyone around here shares the same retardation so that jolie can easily mentally surpass them, so every time she's around these complete buffoons, she completely mind-ninjas them so, when the least expect it, she bolts in another direction.

Anyway, if I had to rate this movie (and I don't, but I will), i'd give it 2 stars for sheer ludicrousness. This is basically Mr. and Mrs. Smith without Brad Pitt, and he was a major selling point. I'm also just really sick of seeing Jolie play the same stupid fucking role.

Yeah, I didn't like the movie.

Sometimes, things are just awkward.

Unless I grew up calling an adult by their first name, I don't think I'm alone in thinking that I prefer to call most adults by their last name, (a.k.a Mrs. Brown). Yes, they may feel like old farts, but you know what? Most of them are. I get that you're trying to be nice being on a first-name basis with me, but I'm nowere close to your age and you're my superior, so just do me a favor and let me call you by a proper title.



Meanwhile, Dusty came home today. He looks better, but he's on all sorts of kitty painkillers so he's mostly wandering around in a daze. Sometimes he eats, sometimes he falls asleep while sitting up, and sometimes he growls at the wall. Yup, he's high as a kite!




Those yellow tubes are keeping his wounds from getting infected, or something along those lines. I get to hold him down while my mom squirts water in them to flush them out. I'm the luckiest girl in the world.



Now that he's home, mom thinks every move his makes deserves commentary and/or celebration. Every five minutes i get to hear things like "Dusty's eating! LOOK BECKY, DUSTY'S EATING!!!!!!!!!!" and, "DUSTY HAD A LITTLE POOPIE!" He also gets unlimited Fancy Feast, so maybe things aren't so bad for him.


Sadly, not much else happened today.

Yesterday I Met The Asshole

Sometimes, people stumble into your life who you think will be interesting and compelling people, and you really WANT to like them, but they just end up being total douchebags. I met this person yesterday. He was, as I may deem, "The Typical Asshole."


The TA (Typical Asshole) came into my life as I stumbled my way out of my friend's apartment in my hungover stupor. Clutching a solo cup of tin-like tap water, I went to find my friend who I assumed would be on the deck smoking a cigarette. He was indeed, and half a set of steps down peering up at him was the TA. My friend gave me a relieved look, as though someone else would be able to keep this person occupied while my friend snuck out of the conversation and back into the house. I was in no mood to indulge this douchebag, so I was happy to oblige by perpetually picking fights.


Here is an amateur sketch of the TA in all his glory.

Basically, this guy thought he was a Jim Morrison reincarnate and made it a point to prove how in-touch with nature and out-of-touch with evil technology he was. At one point, I answered my cell and he goes "Man, I wish I was more in touch with technology." To which I said, "I picked up my fucking cell phone. That's not exactly groundbreaking."

Eventually, the cell phone anomaly turned into this sort of conversation:
Me: So, how do you remember all your phone numbers?
TA: I don't. I only carry my phone, like, once a week. It's my little sister's and has a picture of Johnny Depp as the background.
Me: That's gay. So, do you have a notebook for phone numbers or something?
TA: No. If I need to, I'll write numbers in the margins of Kerouac novels or something.
Me: Wow, how deep and pensive. Just kidding, it's gay.


What is the point of writing numbers in Kerouac novels? It's like this guy was desperate to insert the fact he reads Jack Kerouac somewhere into the conversation and this seemed the most appropriate.


Inevitably, the conversation turned to weed. He used this time to interject how he used to smoke so much weed it eventually gave him a euphoric feeling, and he understands now why Jim Morrison wrote "Riders on the Storm." Not only did my friends and I not know the lyrics to understand what he meant by the ridiculous statement, but we didn't care, and he knew we didn't know or care as well. It was like we all knew we were never going to be on the same page, yet he kept offering up these random tidbits like the two of us were eventually going to get wide-eyed in admiration and express how advanced he is for a youth.


By this point, my friend and I were bleeding from the ears and were about ready to start punching each other in the face to do the other the justice of being rendered unconscious so we wouldn't have to listen to this idiot talk anymore.


I sincerely hope this TA doesn't plague the apartments the entire year, which is where I'm living. I also hope this is a lesson to not try to prove how indie and deep you are at 10 a.m. after a long night of drinking. I'm not up to indulge you in such speak, so stick to things that we know...like when we want to go to Dunkin' Donuts.

My dog is overweight.

My family has a long history of overfeeding its animals. It's not that we're bad pet-owners, in fact, it's the opposite. We're too nice to our pets, so whenever they give us sad kitty or sad puppy eyes, we take this as an opportuinity to valiantly win their affection back. We do this by feeding them until they can only slosh around on the floor like amoebas.

While it's pretty damn cute when we had a cat double it's normal weight (Rest in peace, little Fluffy), an obese dog that thinks she is a cat is not as great. Particuarly during thunderstorms, when she absolutely flips out and climbs onto anyone close to her...and since i'm home and jobless all the time now, that person is usually me.


I love my dog, i do, but she has a serious weight problem. We thought at first maybe she was just husky and it was all fur, but then she got shaved and she is really just a fat dog. She doesn't seem to mind though, so I guess I'll just go feed her now.

Calorie-Free Powder is not suited for strenuous exercise

I'll be the first to admit that I enjoy a completely synthetically engineered glass of a sugary drink. Powdered lemonade, powdered fruit punch, powdered semi-orange-juice-like-but-not-really powder...all delicious. But i mostly use these powders to drink more water, because, really, forcing myself to drink water when I am not thirsty or eating is kind of hard for me.


To save a mere 30 cents or so, I bought the generic version of Crystal Light Fruit Punch Drink Mix, shown here:

mm..it's like my childhood condensed into a teeny packet of sugar-flavored methdust!

I like this stuff. It compels me to drink large quantities of it while unseemingly consuming large quanitites of water. Yes, I'm also consuming large quantities of aspartame and/or Splenda (i've never even looked to see what the artificial sweetener is), but that's irrelevent and beside the point.

Anyway, As i finally took the time to glance at something more on the box besides the name, I stumbled upon these interesting little tidbits the marketic execs at Great Value Headquarters decided to stick on there:

Well, that's nice of them, in case I was thoroughly confused about how I wanted to drink my faux fruit punch. But seriously, let's analyze their suggestions.

1.) A picnic in the park. I can totally swing with this. Good idea, marketing people! This fruity drink is refreshing and totally easy to dump into a pitcher of water for you and someone else who hasn't had real fruit punch since they were eleven. The other party would probably be happy to know of your health-conscious decision, assuming you let them know they're not actually drinking real fruit punch. If you don't, you're a real ass.

2.) Your kid's soccer game. Okay, so picture this: your recreational soccer team, The Bumblebees, just had a hard loss against The Thunderbolts, and you're totally bummed. Actually, you really got your asses kicked...it was like 0-7 and the other team was just passing the ball around at one point, maybe even kicking it to you guys and then falling into fits of convulsions so somebody on your team could dribble down the field and find their way into the goal. Anyway, you guys lost badly. But wait! There's light at the end of this tunnel, and that's the treats the moms bring at the end of the games. Usually it's something like Gatorade and packets of Gushers, so you'll be replacing your deep-seeded depression over defeat with a sugar-high that'll have you hanging from the chandelier when you get home. Wait, what the fuck is this stuff? Mom, why are you dumping that disgusting red powder into that jug of water? Can't we all just have Powerade? Why are you handing this shit out in little dixie cups? Basically, as a mom, if you're that calorie-conscious that you impose your shitty drink that you've accepted as delicious because you're an adult onto not only your child, but his/her entire soccer team, you fail as a parent. Give them what they want, lady. Hawaiian punch. In separate cans. They've got a few years left to drink that crap before it goes straight to their asses.

3.) An energetic hike up the mountains. This one is a serious "WTF?" You spend an eight hour trek huffing and puffing up a significant incline with your significant other, and you decide to take a break for some food. I'm not a nutritionist or anything, but I've heard something along the lines that calories give you energy. So, honey, did you bring us anything nourishing? Well, no. I thought that after all this intense cardio-work we could have a nice pitcher of CALORIE FREE FLAVORED WATER!! Fuck sandwiches, fuck trail mix, we're going to lose 5 pounds today whether it kills us. We're not even going to drink refreshing, regular water. We're going to dump artificial sweeteners into it until sweet powder comes out of our eyes and bleeds from our toes. Now keep hiking, you fairy-boyfriend.

I guess I thought a little too much about this, but the entire concept was so laughable I had to devote an entire post to it. Some things just leave an impression on you.

Dusty's brush with death

My frantic mother came home last night telling me that our cat, Dusty, was MIA.



If any of you have a normal family you might know that this, for cats, is not a big deal. Cats tend to mosey in a direction for 10 minutes before realizing they're lost and tend to just kind of find their way back. I told my mom to relax, and after 12 years of having two previous cats who were famous for wandering, I figured it wasn't a big deal.



But to quell her fears, I trekked around the neighborhood, kitty treats in hand, calling for the cat while shaking the treat bin. It was like a distressed mexican fiesta...for felines.



No luck. This tactic usually worked for my previous cats, so I started to get a little worried. However, one of those cats was obsessed with me, so he lived to respond to my every beck and call. (I'm not kidding. He used to throw himself at my bedroom door for hours until I let him in.) Regardless, I gave him the benefit of the kitty doubt and went inside to make dinner. My mom, meanwhile, was a total wreck.



One think you need to understand about my mom is that she's a nurse, so she's incredibly caring and nurturing, which pretty much makes her the greatest mom in the entire world. However, she has chosen to make her cats honorary children, so she must nurture the shit out of them as well. Which, by the way, they totally love. Dusty waits patiently outside her bedroom door every morning in hopes she'll emerge sometime soon. He doesn't have too many things to fill out his day.



Anyway, my mom's instincts told her that Dusty was somewhere in the house, while my dad was galumphing around declaring the cat "Coyote Food," which wasn't helping things. My mother set out ripping her hair out while simultaneously scouring every nook and cranny for her baby.



Lo and behold, Dusty had curled up under a couch in the basement, and he was NOT a happy camper. He looked something like this:'

Yes, Dusty was found completely disoriented and sitting in his own piss.

Mom dragged him out of his self-declared grave and immediately took him to the emergency vet, where they found bite marks on his stomach and back, indicating some extremely large and extremely hungry creature which much larger teeth attempted to eat Dusty during the night. I imagine this is a traumatizing experience.


Hopefully my cat has not completely lost his mental stability and is able to much a full physical and emotional recovery, and we definitely will be sealing the kitty door up for good. Mittens, our other cat, may disapprove, but I'd rather have him cry and whine in the house (which he CAN and WILL do) for three years while staring longingly at the front door he cannot open with his little kitty paws than find his kitty skeleton in the backyard.


Poor little kitty. At least he's ok!

My short lived burrito-rolling career

It's been about two months and I've called it quits with the burrito rolling business. Yes, my friends, I am out. This chaotically run Chipotle that has disgraced the coveted number one title of being the first in Connecticut needs to be shut down, bulldozed, and reopened as something better. Qdoba, perhaps?

So, I left.


And now with my newfound free time, I had more fun this weekend than I have the past 2 or so months combined. I missed going out, even just drinking, and I'm glad i have my life back.

and now i'm ready to move back into UConn. I'm sitting here watching America's Got Talent with my mom, and this show sucks. It's not only incredibly boring, but nobody on the show actually has...well, talent. That makes for a poor premise and even poorer result.

Thusly, I have poured my passions into writing for the Journal Inquirer...or at least, whatever passion i have left for doing work when I'd rather be outside. And recently, I've been writing an article about peaches and all the fabulous things to do with them. What i've learned: peaches are definitely just peaches, and there's nothing more to do with them than you probably originally thought.

So yes, this is a lame post and I'm sorry, but without a camera in-hand 24/7 (I feel awkward photographing every detail of my life), pictures might be rare. Maybe I'll start drawing..maybe I won't, since I have no talent whatsoever in that area.

Au Revior!

Working and Interning

It has been a BUSY past few days!

Training for my new job at Chipotle began last Saturday, and it's already shaping up to be my favorite job. I LOVE the people there, and while I may not be making as much money as I was at Friendly's, I'm so much happier. Our training basically consisted of us rolling burritos for HOURS, but somehow it was fun, the managers are SO nice (I actually consider myself friends with one of them, something I'd never thought I'd say), and the atmosphere is just basically great. I'm so much happier now, I actually enjoy going to work.

My job is an incredibly diverse group of people, but they're all great. One of my favorite people there is Queen, a late thirty (maybe early forty)-something-year-old woman who calls her bosom her "treasure trove." She doesn't carry a purse, but instead keeps all her money and belongings in her bra with the warning to potential pickpockets that they can "reach on in there if they really wanna."

I appreciate the training Friendly's gave me. Some of the people who have never worked in a restaurant before were amazed at how much cleaning we did, but I more than expected it. A manager actually told me I was doing a great job, and it was so nice just to be reinforced. I never got that kind of positive encouragement at Friendly's and I worked just as hard.

ANYWAY, my internship at the Journal Inquirer also started today. Which was...interesting. My first assignment was to give a preview of the Enfield Memorial Day Parade, and about 20 minutes after my interview with the organizor and the mayor, I deleted all my notes. Awesome. My boss told me that it happens to everyone, but I still couldn't believe I made such a grievous mistake so early. I have to call everyone back tomorrow.

To make up for it I got some great interviews for my next story, which was covering a Bluegrass Concert meant to raise donations for the Safe Net Commission, a non-profit that accepts food donations for the hungry in the Stafford Springs area. Talking to the reverend who organized the whole thing was so inspiring. It made me realize that some people are just altruistic to be good people. He completely did not have to do this, but he took it upon himself to bring the idea to his own area (which, by the way, he was completely new to) and he was so nice about answering all my questions. Then, the lady at Safe Net i spoke to insisted that all the credit be given to him and her name not even be mentioned! It was so heartwarming.

Tomorrow is going to be even busier, because I have my internship and then I go straight to work. Busy, Busy! I like it though, i'm so bored at home.

Have a super night.

Bye Bye, UConn

Well, my last exam is tomorrow and then it's goodbye to UConn. Every time summer rolls around I get a little sad. I LOVE school to death, and summer just isn't the same. I don't have that friends at home that some other people have because I didn't go to public school, so summer to me equals working, interning, and hanging out with parents a lot. I go out, but I just miss school so much when I'm there and it's not the same.

Two weekends ago was the infamous spring weekend here, and this picture pretty much sums it up.

Yup, a little messy. But amazingly fun. Saturday I had to wake up and play Oozeball, which is basically a weird form of volleyball in the mud. Seriously, your feet are submereg about 8 inches in a goopy muddy mess. My friends went balls-out for it, so I barely touched the ball.

On Monday I realized my team was in the paper. This picture also pretty much sums up how it went down. I stood on the side and looked bored, while the guys went nuts. I still had a great time, but hey, it was spring weekend and I was ready to continue with the festivities, not sit around in the mud all day.

This year was such a series of ups and downs. I broke up with my boyfriend, experienced the wonderfulness of being single, got seriously into running, and am learning to accept who I am. Yeah, my grades weren't stellar this semester, but classes were hard and I had so much fun. I definitely would not take back any of this year because I met so many new people and made so many amazing friends. Living in an apartment next year is going to be amazing, but I'll miss this dorm a lot. I'm making myself sad just thinking about leaving.

seeing me

I have this pair of jeans. They are a size 24 Anoname faded and distressed denim. I bought them when I was 98 pounds.

I will be the first to admit that now, several--to put it milldly--pounds heavier, these jeans do not fit anymore. If I suck in with all my might and don't mind that my newer and curvier body doesn't want to be in these teeny, tiny jeans, then I can wear them. I don't mind anymore that they don't fit.

I think what scares me is knowing my new size. I have yet to buy any jeans, although I did buy a pair of hollister shorts that actually fit. That aren't tight and a product of me being unwilling to accept who i am now. They fit, and that's good. But the process of searching for jeans, knowing that size has crept up, overwhelms me. it makes me sad, it makes me angry, it makes me wish I was back at 98 pounds. Everything fit, I didn't scrutinize myself endlessly in the mirror, my now-huge chest was deflated to a manaegeable size that was proportionate to my teeny, tiny body.

Seeing myself in pictures, in the mirror, in windows, I want to cry and I want to laugh and I want to accept that I am a new, healthy, happy me. I run 9 miles without a problem. I still overexercise. I stuff my face at times, and the rest of the times I consciously stop eating when I'm full. I haven't binged the way I used to in months, although I drunk eat and high-eat, and I'm acting like I've always wanted to be, and I'm caught between being happy to be happy and being happy because I'm the smallest person in the room. I drank like a sailor this spring weekend because I wanted to, and I didn't nurse my drink because I was scared of the calories. I acted like a college student, and that is a good thing. I can't have it both ways, I guess.

That is what I have to say. It feels good to externalize it for once.

mmmmm, spring.

Sorry it's been awhile, the last few weeks have been...hell, to put it mildly.

I had three exams last week, falling on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Basically, I had been studying since last Tuesday about (yeah, I get going early when it comes to studying) and my life had ceased to exist.

Enter study aide. As a blog that shares my experiences, I feel compelled to tell about my life in the most undiluted fashion possible, so I'm not going to filter myself. To study last week I tried Adderall. I took half a capsule one day at about 10:30 in the morning, and it DEFINITELY got me going...for a while. I ended up losing all motivation before I even wanted to study, so I decided the next day I'd take a little later. Big, big, HEINOUSLY HUGE mistake.

I stayed up until 7 in the morning. Laying in bed. Staring up at the bed above me. It was horrible. Strangely, however, after only about two hours of sleep I wasn't actually very tired, which worried me.

This brings us to Thursday. The week was already shitty; it was rainy and miserable, and I had been studying straight through it all. Nothing was good about the week. However, on Thursday it was like God put a halt on everything terrible and the clouds parted and it was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. After peeing my pants during class because I wanted to get out so badly, I literally booked it back to my dorm and into my running clothes. Not only was it freaking gorgeous out, but I hadn't run in about two weeks. I had only been going to the gym and using the Squirrelliptical (as Kath from http://www.katheats.com likes to call it). I was doing intervals of 2 minute rest and 1 minute intensity and was really liking it, so I stuck to it. By Thursday however, I was ready to run again.

And man, I ran. I covered ten glorious miles and loved (pretty much) every second of it.

The next day I ran another 4.5.

The next day was the TKE 5K for Autism Speaks. I had no intentions to run this, but I was up so I decided to head over. Everyone knows I run a lot nowadays, and so I was thinking I'd be pretty embarrassed if I ended up doing terrible on the run. However, to my surprise I ran it in 23:48 and took 4th for the girls! I actually thought I got 3rd place, but a sneaky little runner girl was way ahead of the two girls I saw in front of me, so i just missed the prizes. Oh well.

So now I just got back from another 8.25 miles and nobody is on campus because it's Easter Weekend. I didn't go home. Last time I went home I ended up just being super bored and fighting with my Dad a lot, so I decided to not go through the hassle. It's better this way.

Happy Easter Everyone!

SUN!!!!!!!!

I had to sit through 3 hour and fifteen minute classes today before I could get outside. It was not easy. The entire time I was literally itching in my seat and by the end of my last class I was so antsy I think my professor let us go just because she saw me squirming. I guess I'm immature when it comes to nice weather.

I ran back to my dorm after class and got dressed and was out the door runnig 15 minutes later and it was stupendous. I cranked out just under 8 miles with an average of 9:10 splits, which considering how much less i've been running, is amazing for me. The new weather has inspired me to start running more...I couldn't take any more of these dreary runs. PLUS, I don't have to haul my ass out of my warm bed anymore at 8 in the morning (shhh...that's early for me) because we pushed the clocks ahead and now it stays light out past six!

So anyway, over break we bought furniture for the apartment I'm living in next year. I'm really excited because my mother let me get a full sized bed and that's glorious. I also might be scheduling all of my classes on tuesdays and thursdays so I only have to drive to campus twice a week. Oh, the possibilities!

It all is coming down to advising appointments though, which my professors definitely don't go out of their ways to schedule. One told me i need to go through her secretary (seriously?), but that's pretty good compared to my other one who has yet to respond to me at all. I need to come up with a plan of study, and I feel like juggling an idea between two different advisors is going to be a bit of a challenge. Or maybe they don't care at all, which is more likely.

Regardless, this weather has put me in a GREAT mood and tomorrow is st. patrick's day which is even better.

I think I might go roll arond in the grass, bye bye.

break should be shorter

I feel like I missed out this break. A friend of mine grabbed a group of friends to go to NYC for two days and she forgot to call me because it was "last minute." Not the greatest friend in my opinion, but oh well.

Some friends also invited me to FL to build houses and such for the week, but I turned it down because it was $200 and I thought I would have too much work to go. I DID have a lot of work, so it might've been better I didn't go, but the new york thing kind of upset me. I shouldn't have expected anything really different from this person and maybe it wasn't entirely her fault, but another friend was asking me why i didn't go and nobody ever even informed me a trip was in the works. I guess I just kind of felt left out. I'm sure nobody meant anything by it, but still...kind of sucks.

Anyway, I'm ready to get back to school. Home is super boring, nobody else is around except for one friend, and hanging out with my parent's is driving me to my breaking point. Also, when I'm home all I do is brew thoughts in my head about Casey and I don't want to be stuck in the mindset. If i get back to school, it'll take my mind off things.

I'm also just really hungry and waiting for my mom to get home with Chinese food. That's probably making me cranky. I'm just really, really sick of break.

sad, sad news.

One of my best friends from high school, Casey, passed away today.

I can't even begin to describe the amazing person Casey was. She was funny, kind, always knew how to make you laugh, and probably one of the most talented people I ever knew. She was an amazing filmmaker and she was even voted "Most Likely To Be Famous" in our graduating class at Miss Porter's. I always joked with her that she had to let me be her "manager" when she was famous since I probably wouldn't have a job and she'd be filthy rich.


Casey was diagnosed with cancer our junior year, and she was out of school most of our senior year.

Casey with one of our teachers in the hospital while getting Chemotherapy

Honestly, when I heard the news, I almost didn't even think twice about it. I just kind of assumed she would be fine because she was the Casey I always knew and loved. She was fine, too. She would joke about how the steroids would make her want to eat steak for breakfast, and we tried to contact Andrew McMahon a few times using her cancer as the connecting factor in their lives. She also asked for a jet plane from the "Make a Wish Foundation" (she settled on a hot tub). That's the kind of person she was, laughing and joking throughout the whole thing. She never once showed how much she was hurting or suffering. She even ended up making it to prom that year.

Casey and I at prom.

I got the call early today. Apparently some tumors had resurfaced, and she needed a bone marrow transplant. Her doctors were shutting down her immune system so she wouldn't reject the marrow, and she caught an infection. Her body just couldn't fight it off.T

The whole thing has been so shocking and sad. Casey deserved so much better than to be fighting this horrible disease for so many years, and she had such a future. She lived so big, and I can't even imagine all the things she was going to do and the great person she was going to be. She had the rare gift to be able to reach a lot of people and make her voice heard, and for the world to lose her is a tragedy.

I want people to know the great person Casey was. I could review in my head all the ways I could've been a better friend to her these last few months (we hadn't spoken as much when we were both at separate colleges), but I realized I want to remember her for all the fun we had. She kept me sane at all-girls school, and I could never repay her. I know she would not want me to be so upset (she'd probably have a joke about this right about now), but it's hard knowing that somebody so amazing is gone.

Rest in peace, Casey. I will never, ever forget you.

The magazine's up!

The magazine is up and running!

Check it out here:

http://greencandypawsmag.com

Read the blog here:

http://greencandypaws.blogspot.com/

Follow it on Twitter here:

http://twitter.com/GCPmegazine


check out page 20 for an adorable little picture of my cat, Dusty, as well :)

the joys of a major diet change

So literally the second I started this new food switch my body purged itself of...everything. I knew this would happen because every time I go vegan the lack of shit in my body makes my system go nuts. It might be a product of me feeling a little under the weather as well, but either way, it was a serious cleanse.

I still am cheating slightly on the veganism (i put skim milk in my cereal since soymilk has been making my throat itch horribly) and i caved and ate a mini snickers. I blame hormones. Either way, if I keep eating cereal i might have to stick to skim milk with it. I don't want to keep having an allergic reaction every time I eat, and its not worth it when I can just put skim milk in it. I've been experimenting with rice milk, but lately my dining hall has only had chocolate rice milk, which is not really a prime ingredient for cereal. Besides those two things, I've been doing good.

Being far from Whitney (the vegan dining hall) makes this diet infinitely more difficult. Whitney makes meals that are awesome for vegans: bourbon tofu, tempeh and broccoli stir fry, bao balls, they cater so well to those wanting to follow the lifestyle. The other dining halls...not so much. I find myself making hummus sandwiches and eating TONS of boca burgers when i'm stuck at any other dining hall on campus. They usually have some sort of vegan option, but it's usually something like white rice and beans or pasta primavera. Just following vegan guidelines isn't good enough for me. i want to choose whole grains and filling foods, and neither of those fit that category in my opinion.

Despite the hassle, I love being vegan. Once i figured out good protein sources, I could tell my body liked it. It opened my eyes to eating pure and whole foods, and to not automatically reach for cookies because they taste good. When I go vegan, my body adapts itself to a diet with less sugar and salt, and it's like bringing myself back to where I want to be nutritionally. I can let myself get really out of whack sometimes, and I definitely did this semester. I was eating ice cream twice a day, and sometimes just wandering around the dining hall picking at baked goods and fried food thinking that it didn't make a difference. i'm ready to get past all of that.

Back to my old ways

I'm going to go back to veganism for awhile. It was something a dabbled with freshman year when I lived super-close to the vegan dining hall on campus (something I still wish was part of my life), but I gave it up when I was consciously trying to put on weight and I rediscovered my love of ice cream.

That said, I've been eating like total shit lately. Ice cream, cookies, just WAY too much crap food that is not good in any way. I'm not saying that eating this stuff is bad. I just have been overloading on it and the damage has taken its toll. Eating vegan reminds me what whole, nutritious food is like...something i need to be brought back to.

Anyway, I started out today but then caved and bought a yogurt. There was nothing nutritious where I was, so yeah, bad start. BUT the point is to ease myself into it and to recognize when I'm reaching for something that is yucky and devoid of nutrients. I know how to make good choices, I just need to put the concept into practice.

But anyway, veganism generally is not hard for me because I've never liked meat, but I'm slightly allergic to soymilk (my stomach gets very queasy when i drink too much of it and my throat will tighten), so that might be a little tough to get around. I'm going to try to water it down. That said, some things will definitely be hard for me to give up.

To name a few:

1. ICE CREAM. i have a huge love affair with ice cream. Especially on campus, they have so many flavors that I literally lose my mind sometimes.

2. chocolate. I hate dark chocolate, and milk chocolate is just so, so yummy.

3. cookies. The milk and eggs unfortunately make this not vegan, and that totally sucks.

I also want to preface this with I am not overly conscious about this. I don't avoid certain ingredients like that plague because they are a byproduct of a chemical once found in an animal that lived on Pangaea. Basically, i don't read ingredients in-depth. Also, if I'm ever at a super nice restaurant where eating vegan just isn't an option, I will abandon it. I don't ever want to have to be accommodated--although people are generally super nice about that--so I just will suck it up when I need to.


Wish me luck on my endeavors :)

Oh Dear

this little piggy drank a little too much last night. I woke up dizzy, nauseous, and about ready to pass out.

I got up to go to the bathroom and when i got there I got this overwhelming sense that I was going to faint. I was brushing my teeth and literally supporting myself entirely on the counter, wondering how I was going to make it back to my room. I sat down on the potty to regroup and then worked my way back.

My stomach was so upset but I knew I needed to eat something, and strangely I was having cravings for really heavy, salty food. So i ate pizza and baked ziti and felt a hundred times better. Weird, right?

Tonight i'm taking it super-easy. super, duper easy.

Thank God

...It's FRIDAY! After a long week of tests and quizzes, I could not be happier that its the weekend. I ended this awesome week on a great note, which was most likely failing the hardest quiz I've ever taken in my entire life. Some of the question I truly felt like I was reading hieroglyphics.

Yesterday was pretty fun, however. A friend from the fraternity ZBT invited me to play beer pong with him in a boy-girl tournament. We made it through the preliminary round-robin to win our division, but lost in the first round of the tournament :( I still had fun though and I was glad I went. I never do anything like that and I love meeting new people, which I definitely did last night! I also knocked a beer bottle onto two people sitting on the couch which was stellar.

Anyway, on a sadder note, UCONN is raising its tuition over 5 percent.

http://www.dailycampus.com/news/bot-increases-tuition-by-5-7-percent-1.1165779

This is very saddening. People already can't afford school, and the school can't afford to keep running. I feel like everyone is backed into a corner and nobody can pay their way out of this mess. The federal reserve today announced they are going to start raising bank interest rates on loans so money isn't coming out of every direction that doesn't even exist, but I can't stand to read more people losing their jobs anymore. I look around me and see so many kids who parents are out of work struggling to keep their daughter or son in college and you just have no idea who's suffering and who's not. I'm so lucky to have parents who both are still working, and even though we've been affected there's so many worse situations out there, it hurts my heart. I want everything to go back to normal but this bad economy is so global, even entire COUNTRIES are affected. Germany has to bail out Greece. That's one ENTIRE country bailing out another. It's just a horrible, horrible situation.

Before I get to down on myself thinking about how shitty the state of things are, I am going to sign off and remind myself its the WEEKEND and that is a very good thing, and even if you are living weekend to weekend and only get excited for two measly days out of seven, that's better than nuthin'.

Have a super, duper Friday Night!

Dance Dance Revolution

So last weekend I went to a Girltalk concert and oh. my. god. what an amazing experience that was. You haven't discovered dehydration until you're dancing for 2 hours to this man mashing up songs. He played everything from Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" to Ke$sha's "Tik Tok" to every rap song imaginable. It was such a high-intensity concert and Girltalk (who's real name is greg but seriously, i'm calling him Girltalk) was so high energy. He jumped up and down the entire time and didn't rest once. You go, Girltalk. You go.

The best part of the concert was WE WERE ON STAGE! My friend was dressed so ridiculous (a lot of people were...I didn't get the memo) that one of the people running the show asked him if he wanted to dance next to Girltalk when the show started. My friend then asked if he could bring his friends onstage, too. The people were hesitant, but by that time we had all stuck out our arms for wristbands so the woman handing them out really couldn't say no.

I wish we had gotten some photos, but unfortunately my friend only managed to track down this incredibly random one that is not only out-of-focus, but at an (artistic?) Dutch Angle:

I'm on the far right in the blue plaid and black leggings.

By the end of the show I was literally dripping....DRIPPING, DRENCHED, SOAKED in sweat. my shirt was completely saturated with it. I was so thirsty I started picking up water bottles off of the ground and drinking them. Yes, gross, but it was either die of thirst or drink questionable water.

Anyway, good news! My eco-column "The Green Scene" for the university newspaper, The Daily Campus, is off to a good start! You can read the articles I have written here:


http://www.dailycampus.com/focus/the-green-scene-explore-foods-try-new-protein-sources-1.1159621

http://www.dailycampus.com/focus/drink-less-beer-save-more-trees-1.1120843

http://www.dailycampus.com/focus/the-dark-truth-behind-the-kindle-1.1109918


Hope you like!

Rainiest. Birthday. EVER.

I woke up this birthday morning to the pictured beautiful view out of my window:

niiiiiiiice.

Anyhoo, at about 8:45 I woke up naturally so I decided, with class at noon, I'd go get my workout over with. I put on my shorts and decided I'd hustle my ass over there without any sweats on.

Big Mistake.

As soon as I got to the gym, I realized that somewhere on my journey over there I dropped my key and my ID card (which are attached to each other). As I searched frantically through my bag the girl at the front of the gym went off about how I can use a non-refundable deposit to pay for it or something...little did she know getting into the gym was my last concern at the moment. If you lose your dorm key, they have to replace the lock on your door which costs $100. Yeah, it was time to panic.

I immediately retraced my steps like a maniac, scouring the wet and muddy ground for any glimmer of my key. No luck. I roamed my dorm and every place I covered that morning (which was pretty much the bathroom and back), and then sat on the floor and cried. I don't know why I decided crying was the best option in that situation, and looking back I completely overreacting. At the time, however, I was stuck in shorts and a t-shirt, wet, cold, and just overall not ready to deal with such a catastrophe at so early in the morning. I felt so defeated and not even a birthday was going to redeem the day.

I called "The Front Desk" (the vague descriptor of the people who will unlock your door if you happen to be so unfortunate as to lock yourself out) and I waited patiently outside of my room for about 40 minutes until someone finally came to let me in. At around 9:30, I realized that I shouldn't just mope around in my room hoping my key will fall from the sky, so I went back to the gym to relieve some of the adrenaline from my veins and recuperate from the trauma I was suffering.

I also kept my phone diligently by my hand in case I got in e-mail to my blackberry about it..

LO AND BEHOLD, about twenty minutes later I receive an e-mail saying someone picked up my keycard and it was nearby! I raced over there to retrieve it, and I can happily say that i am now blogging in the comfort of my dorm, sitting pretty because it's my birthday and I'm not locked out of my own residence.

I went to the dining hall immediately after I got my keycard back only to have someone hand it to me for a second time. I dropped it in the lunchline.

My keycard is currently attached to my belt loop...and it will be for the rest of the week.

A Themed Weekend

This was a weekend of themed parties, I guess people went a little crazy with the first real weekend back. The first night was a "hoedown throwdown" that I dressed up for an ended up never making it to. I went to pregame with a few friends and by the time we got to the party, there was a line out the door to get it. We decided it wasn't worth it and went to an apartment instead, which ended up being a great time so everything worked out in the end.


The next day I went out for an 8.47 mile run. It was a great run and I went outside my normal route to run near this lake that I found back in the summer. I took a whole video of it that I was going to post, but as I watched it I realized that my camera work was a little too shaky and the entire content was a little too boring, so I opted out of posting it. I basically ran and talked about nothing.

The next night was a "Jersey Shore"-themed party at ZBT (Zeta Beta Tau), a fraternity a friend of mine is close with. We poofed our hair, put on our highest stilettos, and picked up some quick New York Accents. The words "jerk off" snuck into my vocabulary a few times above average.


My friend Kate and I eventually got onto the Pong table, and we housed these two brothers. It was SO much fun because we went two out of three and got them when we both made the last cup in one turn. I love when we beat guys because nobody expects a team of girls to be decent, but Kate and I are a diesel team. Last year's devotion to TKE parties and my ex-boyfriend as my permanent partner last year taught me a few things about how to play. I'm still not daring enough to do death cups and anything too crazy, but I'll throw in the occasional bounce to prove that I don't completely suck.

The drama went down when we left ZBT and went to a friend's house who was having a party.

It was a BIG party and a ton of TKE guys were there. I used to be great friends with all these people when I was still with my ex-boyfriend, and unsurprisingly, he was there too. However, my good friends, including one I've been having a minor fling with, were DJing this party. In my drunken stupor, I was a little overly flirtatious with this boy and it definitely pissed of The Ex. He asked me if that was me and I adamantly denied it, so hopefully he believed me because I truly don't want to ruffle any feathers and was just trying to have a good time. However, it was nice to see all of the guys I used to spend 90% of my time with. Breaking up with the ex was hard because I had become part of his circle of friends in his fraternity, and I knew my friend network was really going to change when he wasn't in my life anymore. And it did. I missed all those guys so much, not to say that I'm not completely happy with the friends I have now. Everything worked out in the end.

I'm pooped this weekend, so I just plan to kind of kick back and watch the Jets game at 4 and call it a day. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone.

Running to Run

After classes and a long internal debate, I decided I would go out for a run again today. I have been limiting running two days in a row because of my knee, but the icing and stretching has been helping a lot so I figured I'd give it a go (it held out just fine because I'm sure you're concerned).

I downloaded an episode of Comedy Death Ray to listen to for the trek, but I realized it was only 47 or so minutes long. Normally, when shows I listen to are short I'll turn on music for the remainder, but as I stepped outside I had a huge epiphany. I had never run once without an iPod.

I thought for a minute about how I never do just one thing at a time. I run while I listen to music, I read the paper while I eat, I fart around endlessly on my phone while I'm in class. When the hell was the last time I just payed attention to what I was supposed to be doing?

I started running and made the executive decision that I would not listen to anything...but I brought my iPod along just in case (come on, you never know). If I love to run so much, then why am I trying to distract myself from it by listening to music to take my mind off it? Running in itself is an escape, so it seemed so circular to try and distract myself from what I consider a daily distraction from the rest of my life. I was doing myself a huge disservice by not running just to run.

So off I went. I heard myself breathe, I felt myself run, I took a good look at the route I've traveled so many times without really looking at where I was going. I smelled the remnants of this amazingly warm day as the sun set, breathing in the scent of woods and trees and smokey air. There's THREE ponds on this route...I've never noticed any of them but one.

I felt like I missed out a little bit on all of those other runs, and I was a little disappointed in myself.

The moral of this story is I'm not going to distract myself from what I should be doing anymore (minus my Sensation and Perception Processes Class...sorry professor). I shouldn't feel the need to be constantly entertained, and I'm missing out on everything by neglecting the world around me. Not just when it comes to exercise, but in so many other facets of my life. It was a nice little lesson I taught myself.

I definitely am not going to give up my iPod on runs for good because I love me some NPR and Comedy Death Ray as I plow through my exercise, but I did come to the conclusion that I really do just love the act of running. I shouldn't be scared of getting bored of it.

RIP Billy

Today was a somber day indeed. This morning I was informed that my friends' snake, Billy Mayes, died during the night. Billy was a beloved pet and it was only right of us to give a proper buriel.



One friend wrote a eulogy during class and presented it as we laid Billy to rest.






We then buried him behind the dorm. It was moving.

AHH classes!

I have some serious selective memory when it comes to UConn. I love school to death and then I remember that there's the whole class thing and that really, really sucks. They started up today and I kicked the semester off with straight class from 11-3:15. People affectionately deem this week "Syllabus Week" because teachers mostly just introduce us to the class, so I was all ready to get out of all my classes within twenty minutes.

So, so wrong.

Each one of my classes went the WHOLE TIME, with the exception of one that got out five minutes early. I learned. I took notes. I have reading. God dammit.

The gym was also bananas, luckily I got the machines I wanted but I can't wait until the weather gets nice (tomorrow 37 degrees and sunny!!) so I can RUN RUN RUN like a little bunny rabbit. It's been a few days now and my little legskis are itching for some serious pavement. Last semester though I was heavily devoted to hauling tail out of bed at 8 a.m. to get a run in. With the 3 hours between my 11 a.m. and my 3 p.m. class, I might just go between that time period now. We'll see how it works out.

Now I have to figure out my night, have a good one!

Good Morning

Hungover morning, actually. The first night of UConn started off with a bang at the bar. We had to get there by 9:45 so we wouldn't get carded, so the drinking started off early. Unfortunately there was no pre-game and I didn't want to bring my camera to the bar, so I only took these couple photos of the roommate and I right after we got dressed.



If they look awkward, that's because they are. Self-timers are so uncomfortable.

Anyway, so nobody was down to pay $8 per drink, so we ended up sneaking in water bottles of alcohol and then stealing cups off tables to pour them into. Gross? Yes. Necessary? Definitely. As good as the real thing!


The dancing was great, I was so happy to just be going wild and me and this gay kid at one point just starting dancing like crazy to "Single Ladies", literally I was struggling to keep up with him because we were going at it so intensely.

At about midnight my 6 shot drink started to really kick in (I'm not much of a tank of you haven't noticed, and my tolerance definitely went down over break), so the wave of exhaustion hit me and I decided to bounce and meet up with two friends who were originally supposed to go to the bar but didn't make it before it became 21+. I got into my jammies and they met me at my room and we shot the shit for a little and then I passed out. It was a fun night to kick the semester off to, and I even have a regular parking pass now! I sense a good semester :)


Have a good day!

Cookie Deliciousness

mmmmmmmmm....



Elise was making cookies for her boyfriend and his roommates and asked me for some help. I love to bake so I gladly obliged.

We made reese's peanut butter cup cookies that were originally supposed to be rolled in corn flakes. However, Elise, for one reason or another, bought Special K (a rice-based cereal), so we tried our luck with graham cracker crumbs instead.

Fry, baby. Fry.

They turned out even better with the graham because it was some added sweetness. Elise waiting for her cookies to cook was like a toddler looking out the window for Santa.

Our dad deemed himself official taste tester as soon as they came out of the oven. Elise didn't even have time to tell him they were hot before he was chomping down on one of those suckers. He approved of their deliciousness. So did we. Now she just has to find a place to hide them so he doesn't eat the rest tonight, something he's infamous for accomplishing while we're all unsuspectingly sleeping.

packing's OVER!

All packed!

The green bag is purely shoes. Sometimes I embarrass myself with how girly I can be

It took way less time than I thought it would...I'm probably forgetting something really important, like the computer I'm typing on.

I have an extra bag out for all the crap I find that I want to throw in there at the last second, but other than out I'm officially out tomorrow. This break was officially the laziest one I've ever had. I didn't work and I sat on my ass pretty much the whole time (minus working out/running). I liked it a lot, haha.

Tomorrow I'll pick up some things at the grocery store and then the debauchery will begin Sunday night. There's no classes Monday which probably means people will go particularly insane.



On another note, some good news today. A week or so ago I had an extremely random and lucky encounter with a woman who happened to be an avid blogger and a well paid Internet freelance writer. She explained to me that she is starting up a magazine that focuses on Eco-friendly living and told me to submit anything I had. Well, I took her up on this offer, cranked out a quick article for my school paper and forwarded it over to her. She asked me to write TWO more articles that I will get paid for. I'm SO excited for this, I wrote one already but I'm working on ideas for another. The issue doesn't come out for three more months so I have some time, but I want to get it done before the work from school starts piling in.

That's about it, have a good night!