Night Class Y U No Cancelled?

Easter break has come and gone and so has most of the belongings in my apartment. My parents came to visit me, probably the last time I see them before May, and helped me pack up some of the less used items in the apartment and some of the easily packable belongings. I still have a lot of things to go until I'm completely moved out, but a large dent was definitely put in my apartment. This morning my parents carted out three bookshelves, all of my non-school books, my DVDs, the wii, small furniture, and cooking implements and appliances that I won't need in my last month here in Philadelphia. It was nice to be able to get rid of a lot of things even though there is still so much more than needs to be done. I'm hoping to fill up my car up with a few more things and take them home during the week between my last final and graduation to before the larger items get loaded up in the U-Haul and towed back up to Stowe.

In the meantime though I'm still stuck in night class where I've been for the past two and half hours looking things up on Stumbleupon while others scroll through their iPhones, look at photos on facebook or just stare blankly past the professor until the clock strikes 9pm. It's been a long a boring semester of a class that is really only filling a spot in my schedule, but still has a ridiculous amount of outside work that needs to be done before the final. I really can't wait to sit down a knock out the 20 pages of journal entries next weekend so that I can get them done ahead of the due date and give myself time to knock out the two papers I have due for my Southern Literature and Henry VIII classes. Why can't everything be as simple as painting?

And while I am here sitting class next to an open window that has made my hands very cold to the point where it's starting to get very hard to type I have decided that the humor category on Stumbleupon is my new favorite thing. It's starting to become a challenge not to laugh out loud in front of everyone, but like a champ I've been pushing through the pain and am keeping my mouth shut. I'm just not doing a good enough job for the girl who chose to sit in the desk directly in front of me even though there are about 20 free chairs around us. Sorry but your purse does not need a desk of its own.

After all these years it's still funny...

Texts from Hilary

If 2011 was the year of internet memes then 2012 has yet to get the memo. Being a child of the internet I have seen my fair share of memes, some good, but mostly bad (read Scumbag Steve) and several very relatable ones (read Lazy College Senior). The latest to cross my path is the Texts from Hilary Clinton tumblr. The tumblr page is full of memes featuring politicians, celebrities, and other world leaders all texting and a photo of Hilary Clinton sitting in a C-17 military plane chair scrolling through her blackberry phone and hilarious and often sarcastic exchange of possible texts between the two photos.

The tumblr blog was the creation of communication specialists Stacy Lamb and Adam Smith of Washington D.C. and has been one of the best political highlights of the year, so far. Whether you're a fan of her politics and position as Secretary of State, or not, this meme is ridiculously delightful and fantastically amusing to see the most powerful woman in the world cut down the likes of Mitt Romney, Howard Dean, Lady Gaga and her husband Bill.

My personal favorite:

You can find the rest of these amusing memes here: Texts from Hilary Clinton

Sidney Versus

I'm a little embarrassed and slightly ashamed to admit this, but when my Hebrew friend showed me this trailer for Lola Versus and said that the lead girl reminded him of me I grudgingly had to agree. I don't follow horoscopes, I don't match myself up with anyone of the women in Sex and the City the way my friends do, and I don't have a celebrity doppelganger. I honestly don't see the point of relating myself to fiction like that because isn't like their at all...but then I saw the trailer. It was like someone had taken snapshot of my future and make a full length feature out of it.

So maybe the movie is not a close accurate depiction, but there are some strong resemblances between Greta Gerwig's character and my own life. For instance like Lola I tend to get easily stressed and "power eat" in a desperate attempt to feel better only to feel eve worse afterwards, I've been brutally dumped by guys who decide to they weren't looking for relationships after all only to be in committed ones a week later which in turn leads to a bout of pseudo promiscuity, I trip over my feet easily despite years of dance and skating, I have a good friend who could easily stand in for Hamish Linklater, and don't get me started on Cinderella. It's definitely not an accurate representation of me, but it comes close which I'm really starting to hate because if that's how people see me then I really suck. Or maybe that's just the Bella Syndrome talking.

I want to hear more about Hebrew friend's thoughts because like me he doesn't think that anyone can ever really see themselves in movies because it's not real life, so for him to say something like that is interesting? It's also the Jewish Seder meal tonight so I'm hoping to score some yummy post-Passover food after work too. I have a freakish love of matzoh bread wafers and bitter herbs. Catholic fail. 

Winter is Coming

With Easter break one painting class away I have an abundance of free time I haven't seen since before the school year began. Something about spring makes the professors less concerned about piling on the work before a break the way fall semester professors do. In my newfound free time I've taken to watching season one of Game of Thrones. I spent all summer listening to Neil talk about how great the HBO series is and then kept hearing all about the series again from my more nerdy inclined friends at school. I listened to them all go on and on about how great the show is and that the books are worth reading as well. I took their words in and then pushed them aside in my mind for later. It wasn't until I was watching a Simpsons episode and their opening sequence was modeled after the Game of Thrones opening and I was so intrigued by the mechanical map and captivating theme music that I moved watching Game of Thrones higher up on my to-do list.

I saw my first episode at my Hebrew friend's house. It was either after  coming home from the bar or eating a filling breakfast, but either way my head was clouded and I wasn't really interested in watching a television show when I could have been taking a nice coma. As soon as the opening credits began to roll I was hooked. There is something extra appealing to a fantasy series that has elements of Lord of the Rings mixed with Arthurian legends as well as Sean Bean. We watched the season one finale and even though I had no idea who any of the characters were or what the role in the series was I was determined to follow the plot and when season two premiered this past Sunday I wanted to watch it as well. However, about two seconds into the episode I decided that it would be better to start from the very beginning and looked up the first episode and started from there. Right now I am a little more than half way through the first season and am completely compelled to do nothing other than sit at home and watch the rest of the episodes. If I didn't have other pressing obligations I probably would.

They want to get my gold on the ceiling.

So I've decided that my New Year's resolution is going to be to have a lot of biblical relations while listening to The Black Keys after going for runs. Athletic and musical: some of my favorite things. In the meantime while I wait for that to happen I've been going to movies or sitting around watching movies that I have already seen, but still love.

Last week I went see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I went into it with an open mind after hearing so many good reviews because I didn't want to get too influenced and have a predetermined opinion of the movie before seeing it. I will say this: it was an excellent cinematic experience if you don't have very much background about the story. If you've read the book then you will be disappointed. The film stays true to the larger points essential to the plot however, it is wanting in too many areas. Besides completely redesigning the ending of the story it missed several not so small details making me feel like I had missed large chunks of the movie even though my eyes never left the screen. Not impressed with this one, but I'll probably see the others if they ever get made.

Last night I went to see Mission: Impossible 4. I went after class and after eating a full meal and I intended to fall asleep somewhere in the middle of the movie. I never closed my eyes once. Despite Tom Cruise this movie delivers. It was the perfect mix of action and Russian accents and there wasn't the forced romance between lead characters that is now too common in action films. It also had Simon Pegg in a more substantial role than the last MI film which made up for the fact that I had to sit through two hours of Tom Cruise. Paula Patton was also pretty badass as well.

Another movie that I saw recently was The Art of Getting By starring Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore. It was a coming of age film done from the perspective of a New York teenage boy navigating a rocky home situation, a budding romance with the attractive and wild Emma Roberts, and coasting through school to the point where he is faced with possible expulsion. This movie was filmed in the indie aspect that I am fond of and the supporting characters played by Alicia Silverstone and Blair Underwood made the movie worth watching. If only I didn't hate girls like Miss Roberts' character I would have loved it that little bit more.

Explain angsty to me.

I had to buy a new toothbrush today. Not the most exciting part of my day, but when you accidentally drop one out of your mouth and into the toilet it's time to get a new one. This isn't first time something like this has happened to me either; a month or so ago I knocked my contact container into the flushing toilet by accident. There's something about my bathroom that I tend to knock everything off of the counter top if I move to fast and it all falls into the toilet. Anyways the point of this rambling and slightly disgusting story is that when I went to buy a toothbrush I found out that one of my best friends had gone to Maryland and never mentioned it to me. Like seriously, who goes on a trip without telling anyone?

While out running errands I ventured into Barnes and Noble's. I find something appealing and relaxing about walking through the aisles of books and finding something new to read. I particularly like to crack open a new book and smell the page. It's weird, I realize, but the scent of new ink waiting to be read is pleasing and Romantic. It's possibly the only time I will let myself be compared to young Werther and his obsession with art and learning. I really wanted to buy several books, but with rent coming up and several bills looming over my head I have to put the titles on the back burner for a time when I have more money. I spent awhile glossing over Annie Dillard's An American Childhood, which I have put on my list to read after I get through the new Jeffrey Eugenides book I got for Christmas.

I need more beer. I've run out and the beer has been fueling this post and until I get some more I'm going to have to end it here. More on the trip to Vermont and why I should become an auto mechanic in the upcoming days.

I have no idea what you just wrote.

So this evening when I got into the elevator I was greeted by a cute Asian chick and on the floor below a girl in a puffy jacket with a ski resort brochure got in with us. It was a motley mix of us: Asian hipster, Miss Nordica, and me, a burnt out writer with a bottle of Tanqueray 10. Premium, I only drink the best. It was about as close to Hank as I will ever get. A bottle in hand, writer's block from a Shakespeare final in which I incorporated Rambo, on my way out to find some sort of perverse version of sex that only Hank would enjoy (the last part is a bit of an exaggeration, just the mostly regular sex for me).

I found what I was looking for though...


Last night I went to see The Joy Formidable with my friend Other John (not my Hebrew Friend). Ever since I found out that Lance has been consistently reading this I've had to clarify more about things. Of course he always takes everything on here with multiple grains of salt so I don't worry too much about it. The show was an intimate one at the Northstar Bar in the city. We drove around the block multiple times looking for parking and after many stares from various people we found a spot. The wait in line to get in wasn't too bad, we spent most of it reminiscing about Borders life. Inside was a small space with the concert venue on one side of the building and the bar on the other. I still have the "copy" stamp I got on my wrist from getting into the bar. I ordered a Mad Elf beer for $9. It came in a wine glass, excuse me a chalice as Porch Beers corrected me before we had an Anchorman moment. It was still the same wine glass that we use at Buca, so it was a wine glass to me.

The show was amazing. Only The Joy Formidable played and it was a single set, no longer than an hour. They of course play Abacus and ended with my personal favorite The Whirring. The whole show was a benefit for Toys for Tots so the stage was decorated with $1,000 worth of toys the band had gone out and bought for the charity.

I had an amazing time last night, but not as good as it's going to get tonight.