Rawr! Today I am a tired dinosaur. Actually this morning I was a tired dinosaur and stayed in bed until 9:30am and still got to school in time to buy a HUGE cup of coffee and a protein bar before Patti's 10am class. We had a quiz that I was completely unprepared for, but actually may done well on. Thank God we talk about the course material in class most of the time. There was only one question that I struggled with: what was the original meaning of 'romance'? I answered 'something Middle Englishy'. What I really should have said was 'something Middle Frenchy'. Oh well, live and learn. Oh hey look at that, I finally used a Mary Ann Purnellism (usually they only come from Lance).
After talking my way through a made up answer, I had my second and last class of the day. My second and last class of the day is also with Patti in the room next door to my first class (I realize that I have have such a strenuous Friday). Half the class was absent and so we took our time getting started. One of my classmates is reading James Joyce's Ulysses. Apparently in the book Joyce discusses 'tightened scotums' gross indeedy and dear sweet Father F. decided to talk about that phrase is his class. My classmate had no idea what he was talking about so he decided to bring it up in Patti's class. Let's just say Patti was not going there with a ten foot pole. Instead we discussed Community and the awesome paintball episodes. He was going to talk about last night's episode, but I shut that down real quick since I hadn't seen it yet (I watched it as soon as I got home). We spent the first twenty minutes talking about non-class related things and we still got out early. I love Friday's with Patti. Amy you missed an awesome class, Randy found out he could go to grad school for free in the midwest.
This is what we discussed in Middle English today. Not quite Marie de France, but still pretty awesome.
I'm dying!!! Ahahaha just kidding. Actually it's quite a possibility because I'm pretty sure that my air conditioner is spraying mold into my room as I sleep. I think this because every time I turn it on I get the instant scent of mildew wafting through my bedroom. I also think this because my allergies have started acting up like they never have before. I woke up this morning unable to breathe and my nose running (complete overshare). Thanks to my handy dandy netti pot and a cup of the herbal cold tea my mother like to buy me I was able to get out of my door and to class. I spent most of the day trying to keep hydrated and Adviled and by the time it was fine for field hockey practice I was up and running the way I should have been this morning. Very uncomfortable and I might jut sleep on my couch tonight.
They're coming for me!
I started ice hockey this weekend. IT WAS AMAZING! I haven't skated all summer and I forgot how amazing it feels. I also forgot about how bad the ice can be when it's too humid inside of the rink. While stretching I watched the rain drops fall onto the ceiling and only ten minutes into practice the ice was so chewed up and chalky that the faster I tried to skate the slower I ended up going. I have dryland in the morning and I'm even excited about that even though it's in the hottest sweatiest room on campus. I'm also excited that we've joined a league. That's right we're actually going to have games this year too against real school teams. Our first game is on Oct. 22 against Columbia in NY (actually NJ). So unbelievably excited for this game. We also have more than one this year too, which means Dr. A will actually come see us play. Baller.
Jenna COME HOME!!!
I had an amazing birthday week last week. More to come on that later.
And so it's begun. Birthday Week. I like my birthday, I really do. I don't mind getting older, in fact I'm finally glad that I won't have to say that I'm 21 anymore. There's something about being 21 that rubs off the second after you've turned that age that makes it uncool to actually admit that you're 21. So now that I am going to be 22 I'm glad that I will be able to admit my age again. This week I have a lot of stuff planned for myself and with friends. The week began with the arrival of my birthday gift from my mom. She bought me a beautiful pair of snow boots from L.L. Bean. I had wanted the boots for Christmas last year, but they were sold out so she got me them for my birthday this year instead.
Totally awesome, right?
I spent last night with Anna catching up and eating Ikea mashed potatoes. Who knew frozen Swedish potatoes could be so good? I didn't. I brought knitting over and unfortunately I didn't get around to it, but I was wearing my Ray-Ban look-a-like eyeglasses and have decided that in ten years when I finally get around to having kids, I am going to be a hot dorky mom. We watched the new How I Met Your Mother and the premier episode of Ashton Kutcher on Two and a Half Men. I still don't know who Barney is marrying and I don't think I'm going to continue watching Ashton Kutcher's television antics. I did learn that for $12 I can get basic cable and by basic I mean basically no channels, but still five or six is better than nothing and while I won't get FX or sports I will be able to watch Sunday football (and hopefully win something) and all of the shows I am addicted to on The CW.
I have class tonight, but tomorrow my friends in AU are throwing me a party... with cake! It's also board game night so I will be able to break open my new Boggle game that I picked up this weekend. God, I really am a dork. After that I have field hockey practice, maybe, and then ice hockey in the morning. Thursday I am going to dinner with my best girls. We're going to Zahav down in the city. Marg and I have been dying to go for the past two years and now we finally have the chance and we're jumping on it. It's their Restaurant Week menu, but I read they have Goldstar and ever since Hebrew Friend came back from the Holy Land raving about, I've wanted to try some.
Friday night I have to work, but then after we're all going to a bar in Ardmore to celebrate me! Everyone's invited to come, the more the merrier. I love my friends, I love beer, and I love Cricket Circuit so I'm excited for that, plus last Friday I made money so hopefully I get a repeat night. I've taken Saturday off, who wants to work on their birthday if they don't have to? Not me. It's going to be a low key day culminating in what I'm hoping will be a wonderful dinner with some people who are very dear to me.
Yes it is a jam packed week, but I love my birthday or at least the thought of it. It's rare that I ever fully get to enjoy my birthday. Either friends let me down or I eat too much sugar and have a meltdown (think grade school). Right now I feel fine and worry free, but give me a few days and the birthday anxiousness will kick in and I will be crying in my cake about how it's only eight years until I'm thirty or that this might be my last Philadelphia birthday with my Philadelphia friends for awhile. Oh the joys of turning older.
It's Friday and the week is ending somewhere in the 65 degrees range. It was somewhere in the 90s on Monday. I'm pretty sure that yesterday the weather froze over in the short time I was in class because when I went in I was comfortable in a skirt and tank top and when I came out I was trying to fit my entire body into my book bag to keep warm. I ended up getting fro yo later, but that's a whole other topic on choices I make with my life. Anyways this cold weather shift means the advent of fall and fall means a whole lot of goodies. Usually I consider my birthday to be the end of summer and the beginning of fall, but hey I can start today if I want to.
With the new season comes a few things that I am looking forward to.
1. Fall sports! Everyone knows that Stowe Loves Sports, just look at the green and white umbrellas lined up along the fields. I fortunately took that love with me to Philadelphia where I am currently playing field hockey and ice hockey as much as possible. So much fun. Unfortunately (or fortunately if I were an insomniac) I found out that I have field hockey practice from 10pm to midnight and 5am ice hockey practice on Thursdays. There is a strong possibility of me not making it to December.
2. Candy Corn Pumpkins! I love candy corn and more specifically the pumpkins that come in the fall mix or if you hunt hard enough in their own individual bags. I love the pumpkins to the point where whenever I go to Target I pick up a bag and leave it around places I frequent so that there is also a tasty treat when I'm least expecting it (my car). I also need to pick up Boggle the next time I'm target too.
3. Knitting! Yes I am a knitting dork and no I can't make you a sweater, yet. I love knitting but have found that I only really like doing it when the weather turns colder. Sitting under a pile of yarn in the heat is just no fun. I recently found out that one of my good friends is a closet knitter and she also happens to be one of my neighbors. I'm a little sad though that Cynthia! and I will no longer be able to knit/crochet in the Borders break room anymore :(
Apparently Gene Simmons knits too.
4. Sweaters! I love sweaters and summer/fall/winter/spring I make it work whenever I can. I have definitely been the girl in the 90 degree heat wearing a sweater because I thought it was cool. I recently discovered that my mother has been hoarding a few cool selection underneath her really really ugly Christmas ones and the next time I am there I will be claiming them. My Hebrew Friend has also discovered the joys of J. Crew and their beautiful sweaters for men. The next time I go to the outlets I am taking him along.
5. Apples! Apple picking, apple cider, apple pie are all awesome reasons to look forwards to fall. I can't wait to get a minute to go apple picking and make up new apple creations. I just need to find the recipe for the apple cranberry crisp that is served every Thanksgiving and I will be in business.
As you may well know by now I spend a lot of time reading the various articles on Hello Giggles whenever I get the chance. Hello Giggles was started as a women's lifestyle and entertainment website for women of almost all ages as an alternate to a mostly male dominated internet. It was founded by Zooey Deschenal and her friends Sophia Rossi and Molly McAleer and produces written pieces about all sorts of topics by women (and a few men) for women (and a few men). There are several regular columnists, but readers are also encouraged to send in stories, essays, videos, and fun "items of the day." Currently I am psyching myself up to send in one of my essays to be published on Hello Giggles.
Recently I read an article on Hello Giggles about how nice girls finish last. We all hear about the nice guys who finish last because they are pining away for the hot girl that won't give them the time of day and always end up with their equally hot and bitchy counterparts. We never hear about the nice girls who want a nice guy, but end up getting ignored in favor of the hot girl. Well we're out there and we have feelings too. Unfortunately it's a social cycle that may never get broken, but it's up to the nice girls to make a change in themselves without giving up their own personal integrity and their personal essence. Of course nice girls are just as bad as nice boys and we do make them finish last in love every now and again, we've just been overshadowed for so long that sometime people for get about us (insert Glenn Close line about being ignored.)
This season on FOX, Zooey Deschenal is staring as Jess, a nice girl who finished last in her relationship and has to move in with three male roommates. Zooey brings a lot of Zooeyness to her character with her unique look and vibrant personality, but it's Jess dorkiness with the Lord of the Rings references, her hipster eyeglasses, and the that really pull you in and make you able to relate to her. Nothing is cuter than Jess coming out of her bedroom all glamorous for her date and then doing her crazy "woo woo" dance in front of her friend and her roommates and it's something I do all of the time. The pilot was released a few days ago on Hulu and for free download on iTunes. If you have the chance check it out because the show is simply brilliant and all about nice girls NOT finishing last.
So apparently I did read The Odyssey in high school. Today in my backgrounds class we watched a clip from Oh, Brother Where Art Thou, the one with George Clooney. It's a movie that is based around Homer's story, but set in the South during the 1930s. At the beginning of class I completely blurted out that I had scene the movie in high school because it was a modern telling of The Odyssey, which meant that I had been reading the book even though I am convinced that this is the first time I'm reading it. I guess that I completely blocked that experience out of my head from freshman year. Of course as Taylor will agree I didn't do much in freshman English and have mostly blocked the experience from my mind. Besides Taylor, I'm probably the only person in the history of Stowe to hate their freshman English class if they had it with a certain young teacher. No really, people are in love with this teacher. I didn't develop a love for English classes until senior year with a certain older gentleman who performed epic poetry on desks and took us to see bad movies. He encouraged my dark sarcastic wit that has unfortunately crawled back under the turtle shell. Though I do sometimes bring it out with my Hebrew Friend.
The sirens scene that we watched in class today.
Today is the first day of Monday classes and I have decided that I don't like having more than two classes a day and therefore I am not cut out for Mondays. I have four classes that go from 10am until 5:30pm and I have to work for a few hours in between. Two of the classes are also seventy-five minutes which means my attention span will wane as it normally does after twenty minutes and I will have to sit there in a silent stupor while I check my watch every three minutes. I do this even if I love the class, it's just the way I am. It doesn't help that I'm feeling lethargic and unmotivated to move. I slept through my alarm and got too much sleep so all I want to do is get back in bed, or do my laundry. Either one will suffice as long as I'm not sitting in class doodling or picking at my nails, I do that too sometimes.
Last night I got an unfortunate email from the club field hockey team saying that there are going to be tryouts and cuts on the team. I do not go games and do not care about getting serious playing time. I just want to go running and go to practices so that I can exercise with people and have a good time playing a sport that I like. I don't need to deal with the competitive edge, especially when I am already busy with so many other activities and work. I am going to go to tryouts tonight and see if I can work something out. I think that it's a little hasty of our captain to call for tryout since there has only been one game and by the end of the fall season and the spring, the team is usually screaming for players. It's the captain's choice though and I respect that. I just want to play.
"Isn't that a yogurt?"
"No stupid, it's what you put on your face."
My family is full of Purnellisms, things we say on a regular basis and most of them happen to come from my dad. One of his more favorites is "be proactive, not reactive." He usually likes to say this to me when I'm procrastinating on a project or when he would drop me off at jazz band and make me find a way into the locked school instead of waiting around for the teacher to arrive and open the doors. When I had to teach a religious class at camp I told the campers this phrase and was met with mixed results including yogurt and face wash. A friend of mine really likes to be proactive too and gets really into people and things that are more reactive. I think that it bothers him that we live in such a lackadaisical society. Right now I want to be proactive about getting my work done, but after working all weekend I could use a nap.
It's been an interesting weekend to say the least. It started with the CO2 tank being stolen from the restaurant. Apparently there's a place on the Black Market for carbonation. It was also the day that I was training to be a bartender and until we figured out what was wrong, every beer that I poured came out horrible and it really got me down. Of course it wasn't until I was out on the floor that we discovered the missing tank. It was terrible, the police came and poor Take Out Boy had to walk down to the grocery store and buy forty bottles of soda. He could barely push the cart back up the slope to the restaurant and into the kitchen. Yesterday I had a profitable day for only having to work during the morning and afternoon and I thought that things were going smoothly until the first dinner rush when one of our cooks said "fuck it," and walked off of the line. Goodbye wildberry Skittles. Today was better. I had my first shift behind the bar and we've started the football pool. It's a $5 buy in that will probably get pushed to $10 once people get involved and we get more organized. I maybe picked two winning teams today. I had the Eagles and the Pittsburgh games on while I was behind the bar and the scores kept flashing at the bottom of the screen and all of my choices were losing. I need to get up on football and start keeping track of teams and stats so that I stop losing more money at work than I make.
I actually like football considering that I barely understand some of the rules. We used to play in gym class and even though I'm terrible at the throwing the ball, I do like to pass it with people every now and then. I used to date a football player in high school and one of my favorite shows is The League, though that really doesn't have much to do with actual football. Either way I have decided to dedicate this season to learning the game and maybe winning some money while I'm at in.
Tonight was one of those nights (yesterday for all of you reading this on Sunday). One of those nights where you just have a really good time with the people around you and feel incredibly blessed to have such amazing friends and acquaintances and the chance to be with those people. I also can't believe that I just used the word blessed, it's so Samantha of me. There's something about hanging out with girls though that is so different and fun than what I'm used to though. Maybe it's because I work with guys and my best friend is a guy, but there is still something fun about women and the reckless abandonment that you can have with them when there's no guys around (I'm not talking lesbian fun Take Out Boy, I know that's where your mind is right now). Whether it was skipping to MGMT in the alley or singing Radiohead's "High and Dry" in the middle of the bar, it didn't matter that people stared, that I can't sing in tune, or that we had goofy grins on the whole time. We were having fun and we were ourselves. Tonight I got yo play with girls who weren't concerned with silly things or about acting grown up. It was like finally being allowed into the tree house or indoctrinated into their club and after this working weekend I needed to feel like that.
On the way home I also heard my new favorite song of the night, "What you know" by Two Door Cinema Club. The lyrics themselves are a little irrelevant to me, but the melody is really catchy and it's easy to sing along to. One of my friends told me that I sing decently, though that comment was probably filled with ulterior meaning at the time, but now I sing out lout in my car all of the time and that's just watch I did tonight. I've posted the video below, the leader singer looks like a male Adele and the video is a little weird but the song is really great and really fun. At first I though it was Death Cab, but nope it's a new band.
I don't know about you, but I am seriously tired of this weather. I love the rain, I really and truly do, but no when it is interrupting my life to the point where I can no longer walk around without getting my jeans completely soaked through and there are trees lying in the middle of the road and forcing me to take City Ave to get anywhere. I can't even get a decent school delay even though no one get there. If this were snow it would be a totally different story. Snow doesn't flood people's homes and ruin their lives. It just merely inconveniences them and makes for excellent snow adventures with your roommate. The worst part of these storms for me has been when the hit in the middle of the night when I'm not expecting them. This last one was particularly not fun. I had maybe been asleep for two hours with the sky opened up and dumped a river's worth of water onto all of the air conditioning units outside of my window. It sounded like someone had fallen off the building and landed on my air conditioner. Still sleepy I looked out my window and through the slats in my shades the lightening looked like the early morning light. I had to check my watch because I couldn't believe that it was already 6am. In actuality it was only 2:30am. This weather has really been hampering my good sleep habits.
I've been getting really good sleep this past week and it's left me feeling really good. I've been asleep by 12:30am at the very latest and up at 7am without fail. Some days I even have to push myself to fall back asleep for a few more hours. Thursdays (excluding this past one) are my sleep in days. Somehow I've managed to start class at 1pm and have avoided scheduling anything before then so I can sleep in or use the time to catch up on homework that I may have left to the last minute. I'm finding that I am enjoying being awake early and still having enough time at night to get stuff done. Of course I've been a lot more coffee than usual before class. I need to find out where I can get the awesome Israeli coffee my Hebrew Friend serves. It's amazing. I also need to get my parent's Keurig machine the next time I'm in Stowe. It's such a convenient little machine, if only it could make pumpkin spice lattes for me. And speaking of which, the Starbucks on Old Lanc has finally put their sign out advertising the arrival of their pumpkin spice latte so that means that for the next couple of weeks I will be standing in line with Marg loading ourselves with spicy caffeine product. I love pumpkin products, they signal the advent of fall and fall means leaves, apple picking, and warm clothing.
Yes Tony you can do anything for thirty seconds, or at least that's what I keep telling myself when I do the P90X Plyometric workout. I had a great workout the other day getting through a lot of the harder jumps and twists that I usually struggle with. There are some that I have to make modifications to so that I can get through them, but for the most part I have it done. I felt so good about getting through the plyometric workout afterwards and I'm finally breaking down some of my fitness walls. Yesterday was another great workout too. I did the yoga one and I am definitely starting to feel my body open up and gain the flexibility that it once had. I bought a yoga block this weekend, but I found that I only needed it for one or two poses this time. I also had another amazing breakthrough yesterday with yoga. I HELD CRANE/CROW FOR SEVEN SECONDS!!! I don't what you call the pose, I did it and it was so cool. It took a minute for me to find my balance, but I was able to get up on my hands and arms and once I got up there I got so excited I fell out of it. And while I'm still not up to the time limits of my Hebrew Friend it's still an impressive accomplishment considering that I couldn't do it at all the last time I tried it. I think having a successful arms and shoulders workout the day before helped build my confidence in my arms.
Moving on...my parents are in town. They spent the weekend moving my sister into her dorm and then they have been making the rounds around Pennsylvania. Yesterday we had lunch together in Manayunk. Lance had never really been over there and so we walked around a bit and I showed him the canal and part of the bike path that I take to Norristown. The river is still really high and you could see where water got into places. Some restaurants and stores are still airing out their stock. We settled on a small place called Le Bus. Le Bus is affiliated with the Le Bus bakery out in King of Prussia which is product that is becoming popular in the restaurants in Stowe. Lance got excited so we went there and it was actually quite good. Chem Anna had told me about it so I was eager to give it a try. It did not disappoint. I have a cup of gazpacho with avocado and an heirloom tomato and mozzarella salad. My mom had a salmon burger that came with the most delicious mustard sauce (I ate half of it) and Lance had a pear salad. It was a good lunch. My parents and I got a chance to catch up and while I told my stories my mother got red and tipsy off of two bottles of Corona and spent the ride home saying everything she saw out loud and with strong enunciations. Well done mom.
The other day I dug out all of my Guster music that I had and laid around listening to it and remembering all of those wonderful times in high school that I had with my friends. A long time ago I used to associate music with the events in my life, but I've had to stop because there were too many negative things attached with some of my favorite bands and I love music more than the negative things. Now I have gotten over the bad memories and have started listening to older music again, while remembering the good associations I have with it. Guster always brings me back to hockey and suicide sprints on the ice. When I was a sophomore Guster played a show at Higher Ground and a bunch of girls on the team decided to go. The concert was amazing. I remember my boyfriend at the time and I decided to wipe off the black X's that you get for being underage and then getting caught by the venue staff and being forced to go back and get new ones or get kicked out. I remember being in the front row and fall in love for the first time with a musician, Adam Gardner you'll always be my first. I remember when the band started playing Amsterdam that I almost peed my pants and I remember that all of the hockey girls that went to the concert had to spend half of the practice doing suicide sprints while everyone else took shots on goal.
Listen to Guster also made me remember the year I knew all of the words to all of the Coldplay songs that were out at the time. My friend Johnny Mac was obsessed with the band and spent every waking moment listening to them and when we would hang out at his house all we would do is listen to them. One time Johnny, Austin and I made a video of us playing cowboys and Indians (we were probably sixteen at the time) and we used Coldplay in the background. It was two minutes of us shooting Nerf guns at each other and then bouncing off the bed and out of the shot. It was supposed to be us falling off of a cliff, but each one of us looked like we were dancing at the end you could hear the oofs as we all landed on top of each other. I remember Lizzy and I would sing along to Yellow and Clocks and Green Eyes while we pined for our crushes and Katie had to choose between Johnny and Austin. Coldplay reminds me of old friendships and driving fast on dirt roads in purple jeeps.
Once I got through my Coldplay collection I found old Death Cab songs and Rooney. I miss Rooney, I wish they would put out some more music. Back when myspace was a thing I would put little Death Cab quotes all over my page and when everyone thought that Soul Meets Body was such an amazing and prolific song I was bopping around to The Sound of Settling. One day when I was at a friend's house her brother, who was home from prep school, asked if any of us had ever heard of the band Rooney. Being an avid follower of Robert Schwartzman and most of the other Coppolas I was the only one who had hear of Rooney and we started singing I'm Shakin'. It was really cool to know about something that other people hadn't even heard of because back then (and still today) I was always the last to know about anything.
I've been watching old episodes of The O.C. lately and almost all of the bands that I listened to in high school are featured in the series in some way or another. Hearing such amazing music has been making me nostalgic just the tiniest bit for when I younger and things seemed a lot simpler. Sure I still have some of the same issues and insecurities that I had back then, but I've learned a lot about not sweating the small stuff and that there are more important things in life than not getting invited to so and so's party. Of course I'm still in the infancy stages of my life and I have a long ways to go, but I have cultivated a strong group of friends and acquaintances who keep me on track and help me when I fall off of my high heels.
September 6th marks National Read a Book Day and I for one am certainly doing so. I fell asleep reading a book last night and somehow the underwear gnomes must have turned my light off for me, thank you gnomes. I am bring a book to work because it can be slow and tonight after my Shakespeare class and some wonderful Yoga X and cleaning my apartment before my parents come I will be back to reading for school and for fun. I love books. Books and reading have done more for me than some people have. It is because of books and reading that I am where I am at right now. So in honor of National Read a Book Day find a book, any book, and take some time to read. It can be anywhere, just let yourself go in the story.
Last semester I used to watch movie trailers on Hulu when I ran out of television shows, movies and was avoiding doing class work. I like going through the lists of recently added trailers and just watching anything and everything. Hulu posts movie trailers from all kinds of genres and countries, but mostly American and French. I loved spending hours watching clips and previews of movies that I never would have seen or heard about. It also amped me up for all of the awesome movies I saw this summer with my friends. Now that school has started and I am working, most of my time is occupied, but there are still a couple of movies out there that I am excited to see and plan on making time to go see them with some friends.
Tanner Hall
Tanner Hall is a film about girls in a New England boarding school and their struggles with growing up in an isolated environment. It stars Rooney Mara and Brie Larson, who are excellent actresses in the last few movies I saw them in. Probably something I will see with Marg.
The Debt
This film looks awesome! It's all about a group of Mossad agents who were on a secret mission in 1965 to track down Nazis and how what happened in the past is impacting them now. I'm a huge fan of Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastin, so watching them kick ass as Mossad agents will be awesome. Definitely a guy friend movie thingy.
The Rum Diary
If you're familiar with Hunter S. Thompson and you haven't read The Rum Diaries, then you must. This film stars Johnny Depp and appears to follow to the books closely. I am excited to see how far off course it is and whether or not the trailer was the only part that was true to the book. Either way Johnny Depp looks like he delivers in what looks to be a wild and wonderful movie.
Like Crazy
I haven't seen Anton Yelchin on screen in awhile and I'm pretty I've never seen him in a romantic film. This one I might wait until it is on Netflix or dvd, but I'm intersted in the story of an American and a foreigner and how immigration laws can come between two people.
Cracked
This movie is already out on dvd, but I only just saw the trailer. Cracked stars Eva Green in an English boarding school during the 30s. It looks like an interesting thriller set among teenage girls and their beautiful teacher. As soon as I can I want to watch this film.
Columbiana
This looks like the mother of all ass kicking girl movies. Zoe Saladana stars as a woman out for revenge after seeing her parents murdered at a young age. Zoe is so fierce and amazing looking that I am pretty sure I will be dragging everyone and anyone to see this movie and if no one will come, I am going to see the movie anyways. God I wish I was as cool as Zoe.
Today just sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks. I unknowingly singed the hair off of one of my fingers when I turned my stove on and kept smelling burnt hair every time I took a sip of my tea. I was so convinced that I had left the stove on or that something invisible was burning in my kitchenette. Silly Sidney, what an idiot.
Work was work as usual. I spent the day walking around like a zombie and as soon as I could I got out of there. I went to Marshalls afterwards and picked up a few things for P90X. I figure if I'm really going to do this I need to push myself and really commit to the program. I'm not going to get fit and skinny just sitting around. I'm also going to add in running this weekend too. I need to improve my endurance for field hockey and ice hockey and pep band. It would be terrible if I passed out in the middle of a basketball just because I didn't have the lung capacity to play my saxophone. Plus no one wants to settle for the chubby girl.
I want to get out of the city. I know school's just begun, but I feel so cramped and overwhelmed little I'm hyperventilating in a space I'm sharing with six million other people. I want to get away and go to the sea. Recently I considered staying here after school and getting an apartment with a friend and continuing on here, but I don't know if I could or why I even entertained silly thoughts like that. I need to get out of here and stretch my wings for a little while. I was going to go away on Monday, but my dad told me to stay here. Maybe I'll just go out to Valley Forge and hike around for the day.
I heard this song on the radio this morning. I love Guster, why did I stop listening to them?
I just finished watching Ceremony, a small indie film on Netlflix. It stars Uma Thurman (Zoe) as a woman preparing to marry her documentary making finance and Michael Angarano (Sam) as a Holden Caulfield-esque younger man who goes to try and thwart Zoe's wedding. Sam disguises his plans by bringing along his friend Marshall, played by Reece Thompson, in an attempt to rekindle their friendship. The weekend turns into a lesson on love and friendship for Sam as things fall apart and he realizes that while his love for Zoe was pure and true, he was only a phase in Zoe's life that she eventually tired of. This film was beautifully done with great lines and wonderful acting. I read an article about how Jesse Eisenberg was originally cast as Sam with Michael Angarano as Marshall. As much as I adore Jesse Eisenberg I don't think he could have done the part justice. Angarao played the part with complete recklessness, delusion, and a beautiful purity of someone who just wants to love and do anything to be loved like that in return and is yet completely selfish and unaware to those closest to him. Think Catcher in the Rye if Holden was in his mid twenties. Sam's relationship with Marshall was also endearing and amusing as two best friends who have lost touch with each other and are beginning to reconnect despite their own problems and the wedding weekend. The supporting cast was also brilliant and well played. Taking place on the ocean in fall, with an amazing and subtle soundtrack, Ceremony was well worth the time.
"I am not going to be a pathetic supporting character in your unoriginal story. You are not Holden Crawford!"
Today I also completed my fist week of classes. I am so excited about the courses that I can barely contain myself. We haven't begun much work yet, but the professors, the course material, the books, and my classmates are wonderful. I have all new professors from last semester, a testament to how much larger the English department is at Saint Joe's than the Physics department. Of course I do have one twice and the classes happen to be back to back. He's great though, very enthusiastic about the material and eager to educate and share his knowledge. He is even having us write a blog in one of my classes instead of just writing a weekly journal. I prefer this because even though I love contributing to my log book, I am more comfortable writing longer pieces on a keyboard and being able to incorporate pictures, links, and movie clips will be the cherry on top of it all. Right now we are reading Beowulf, my second time, and even though my professor is not jumping around the desks reciting the poem, he is educating us on the language and the history of the poem. Today I learned what a kenning was. Example: "whale-road" is the ocean. Awesome literary technique, way to go Anglo-Saxons, way to go.
My senior English class in high school had a private screening of this. We spent the entire movie yelling out the inaccuracies at the screen and making comments about how riduculous Angelina Jolie's character was as Grendel's mother. It was a jolly time, if a bit uneducational.
On a more serious note, I have to take the time this weekend to clean out my closet and pack up all of my gentle worn and no longer needed clothing to send home with my mother back to Vermont. My parent's how was almost untouched and because our town is high enough in the mountains it escaped what could have been a lot of devastating damage. Unfortunately a lot of people were not as lucky including the town of Waterbury, which is right before Stowe. You have to drive through the small town when you get off the interstate to get to Stowe. Waterbury is situated in a small valley where several rivers come together and join the Winooski. Because of the low laying land many homes and business where damaged beyond repair. People are now gathering what they can to donate to the people in need until the can get back on their feet. Fortunately it is still warm in Vermont, if this had happened a month or two later, it could have been much more serious.
Waterbury. There is a road under all that water.
Stowe.
Downtown Waterbury.
Homes underneath the water.
The river has crested the bank and washed away the roads and almost the bridge in the background.
Downtown Waterbury. The restaurant in the right corner was called the Alchemist. It was completely devastated and will mostly likely remain closed.
More information about the damage in Vermont and how it will affect the fall:
