Next time you're in Upper Darby you better let me know. I'm about to get laid off and I live with my mom.

The heartland of Uzbekistan is the Fergana Valley. Located across most of the country, this valley is extremely fertile and protected by mountains at the north and at the south. Two rivers run through the valley supplying life to area. Once part of the Northern Silk Road, it sustains the country's silk industry. It is a beautiful part of a often overlooked country in western Asia. I want to go to Uzbekistan and see the Fergana Valley. I want to stay in a yurt and hike through the mountains and travel along the rivers.

Fergana Valley

I just got back recently from a trip to Ocean City, NJ with my Hebrew Friend to see some friends who are staying at the shore for the week. It was the perfect day for the shore. Completely flawless skies and just the right amount of waves to go swimming and body surfing. We left the city early and were able to have a full rich day in Jersey. The shore was not too crowded, kind of like going to the Park on a weekend when the state park is too full to get into. We were all able to swim (those of us that actually like water), read, rest, and play Frisbee. Hebrew Friend taught me to play football though I still need some help with my catching and aim. He and I are going to have to go throw a ball around when I get back from Vermont (I'm not terribly excited about driving home alone tomorrow evening). Mini golf and pizza concluded our day and I did get a chance to see Chem Anna in action at the coffee shop. On the way home I nearly fell asleep, but then had a extremely enlightening experience with a friend. 

Yes I was with this person and yes he wore socks and shoes on the beach.

This time last year Chem Anna began her senior freak out. She would unexpectedly cry and fret about the idea of leaving school and getting into grad school. She had a hard time letting go of her safety net and preparing for the scariness of the real world. I though she and my other senior friends were crazy for crying about leaving school. They were only nine months away from no more homework. I thought that they should be celebrating and not mourning. Now that it's my turn, I feel even less prepared and successful than Chem Anna and some of my other friends who recently graduated. I just cry and cry at unexpected moments about school and the paths I've taken and how my life is going to turn out at the end of the next nine months. I'm scared about graduating especially since I will only have been working at my chosen major for three semesters. I don't have enough material for a portfolio to send to graduate schools and I haven't started studying for the GREs. I'm also terrified about leaving because I don't know where I'm going and I know I can't go home. I also don't want to leave my best friend. For the first time I have someone that I am unconditionally close to and I'm not quite prepared to put any distance between us. When I was in Vermont last time Lance said some very sage words to me: "Most choices aren't wrong, they're just not right." The decisions that I've made may not have been the best or the wisest for me but they've led me to finding a passion or two and to Yonni and to new skills. I'm just waiting for when I can start making the right choices the first time around. 

In conversations we want him to read our mind and in bed we want him to read our vagina’s mind.

Yesterday I went to the beach. It wasn't anything special because the waves were nearly dead and I was by myself, but the water was warm and I was able to finish a book and start another. It was great though because it was extremely hot out, but on the beach there was a nice breeze that kept things even and helped keep me in the sun longer. Don't worry Mom I wore my sunscreen. I also wore my polka dot one piece. I bought the bathing suit last summer when I was at the peak of my weight gain and couldn't face myself in a two piece but didn't want to look like I was eleven or my mom in my lap suit. I like the suit because it has a cutout in the back and it can be worn strapless or with a halter-type strap. It's already a bit loose, but I can still get away with it for the rest of the summer. It's my last one in it though because I don't intend to ever get that fat again unless there is a baby in my belly. I just don't think that this suit will still be in style in ten years.

No waves. Sad panda.

I've finished the Hunger Games. That's ALL I'm going to say since I already almost screamed at my friend about how I felt about the series conclusion and I can't relive that here. 

I actually put effort into making something for dinner or at least put the effort into assembling things on the same plate to make a meal since it's summer and it's too hot to actually cook anything in my apartment. It was brilliant and now I feel very full and content and will soon fall asleep from food happiness. I went to the store with the intention of picking very specific things up because I thought I was in the mood for something very specific, but once I got there I discovered that I was really in the mood for something else and brought home goat cheese, tomatoes, and pita chips. I also purchased a personal favorite from my childhood for dessert. 

Dinner for me was a full head of romaine. Actually I picked off the the tops because I don't like the soft dark green parts of the lettuce. I usually just do oil, vinegar, and cinnamon, but I wanted something different so I mixed olive oil, lemon juice, spices, and tarragon and tossed that with the lettuce. I added a tomato and some goat cheese for extra awesomeness. The tomato was slightly under-ripe, but what can you expect from anything outside of Lancaster County. The goat cheese was what really made the salad. The tangy cheese combined with the salty lemony dressing made fireworks in my mouth. 

I love goat cheese so much that I ate almost most of it with pita chips on the side of the salad. I've become more and more a fan of pita chip over potato or corn chips. They are just more filling without actually eating more of them. The Sandy's kind that I get also come in a bunch of yummy flavors. My favorite is the Naked kind with just a little salt, but I also love the cinnamon sugar kind. They are just the right amount of sweetness. 

Dessert is something most people wouldn't touch if they've ever had the real thing, but I didn't want to bake in the heat so I bought the stale cake cups that are sold next to the fruit for strawberry shortcake. I love strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. If I had been serious about the dessert I would have soaked the packaged cakes in raspberry liqueur to soften them and give the dessert added flavor. Instead I just piled the cakes with layers of strawberries and whipped cream until the little mounds could no longer stand. The heat from my apartment melted the whipped cream a little and the cream helped soften the cakes which was an unexpected bonus. I almost never eat these, in fact the last time I did was two years ago when I was living in the house, but I miss this even if the real thing is so much better. 

*The title comes from article I read over at Hello Giggles. 

Swallowing makes my tummy hurt.

Hebrew Friend beat me to it, but yesterday I went to the beach with some friends. I wasn't even thinking beach trip when he called me Tuesday and asked what time we should leave by. And when he said that he wanted to drive and that there were a few extra people coming I wasn't even thinking about where we would be going. I was just excited that there would be more than just myself this time. While I am all for alone time on the beach it is nice to have others around to talk to and go swimming with. I was also thinking that we would be going somewhere other than the state park since Yonni's a big fan of the southern beaches as well as the state park. I guess he's found his spot though because he asked for the park pass and knew exactly where to go down at the far end. It was a really nice selection of people who were with me too. There was my Hebrew Friend of course, but also Erin a girl I used to work with and Dev a lady that went to school with Yonni. I hadn't seen Erin at all since I left my job at the bookstore so it was nice catching up with her and I had only spoke a few words past hello with Dev when I first met her so it was excellent to get to know her as well.

Leaving Philadelphia it was extremely hot so we had the air conditioning on in the car for the ride down, but when we got out onto the beach we found it to be rather chilly and windy. The water was excellent with big waves and much warmer than it had been, but a few hours in I was huddled under two towels trying to keep as warm as possible. I swear it was going to storm, but then the sun came out and warmed us all up. Some even got a bit sunburned. It was nice to have so many people in the group because it gave us more things to do with each other. Yon brought a Frisbee as always though the wind made it hard to throw well at some points and Dev brought an excellent card game called Five Crowns. It was a bit like gin rummy and poker all mixed together but with a double deck of cards. The cards were really beautifully illustrated and reminded me of characters from an ancient Babylonian royal family or something you would have seen on one of the crusades. I even got a chance to read a little from Lolita and write in my log book. I showed the book to Yonni, but it's not finished and there isn't a whole lot about him in it. I need to start writing his stories down too so that he has a place in the archives. I want to finish the log book by the beginning of next summer so I need to be more diligant about writing in it.

After about six hours of beach time, my uncle invited us over for dinner and a chance to use a real toilet. Everyone agreed to some food before the trip home and I warned them that he likes to talk a lot. It seemed like a good time was had by all, Dev was really wonderful with my uncle, I think he liked her the best. It was a quick visit because we were all tired and wanted to get home. By the time we were back at Yonni's house I could barely keep my eyes open. I helped him clean up our beach mess as best as I could before I had to get back to my apartment and crash. It was wonderful to be tired from the sun and swimming because I soon fell soundly asleep and didn't even get a chance to read my Hebrew Friend's beach review until I woke up this morning. It has really been a wonderful summer so far. Vermont in a couple of weeks.

An Alexander kind of day.

Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And I do mean a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. It's such a shame too because up until Saturday my weekend was going so well. It started off on the wrong foot when I decided to sleep off a hangover and not get up until 2pm. I have absolutely no nutritious food in my apartment because I haven't given myself enough time to go to the store. I had intended to get up and go and clean out my apartment and do all of my laundry, but because I slept in I didn't have enough time to do all of what I wanted to do and I didn't even bother to put a dent in my list. Then I went to work. Work was work, but worse. For the first half of my shift I was only given old people with coupons and old people with coupons do not leave good tips. Then I found out that I had to close even though I had closed the night before. I was fine with that. It had been a relatively slow day and I figured that it would be a slow night like it had been on Friday, but I still made sure to post the side work anyways. Then 9pm hit. People came through the door out of nowhere and that was when the staff decided that even though they weren't cut could pass off tables to the closers and that side work was suddenly optional. Ant, the other closer, and I were slammed with everyone else's tables and the other servers kept yammering for me to check their tables and clear them for cash out even though I was in a jungle of weeds way over my head. I don't know what triggered it but out of nowhere I started crying and my manager had to yell at everyone to let me alone and give me a minute to take care of my own tables before I could get to them. I was so embarrassed to be crying at the terminal, punching in orders, but for a minute I really needed Lance or on of Yonni's pep talks to keep myself from walking out the door or punch my coworkers in the face. NOT a good night. And then to top it all off I didn't get home until 1am because people decided that they couldn't wait for me to check their tables so they just left without doing their side work AND one of my tables walked out with their book after they paid so I never had a hard copy of the transaction and I didn't get a tip on their $98 check. I can finally understand why Lance does some of the things that he does and I am not too far behind.

On the bright side today I didn't have to open or close and I made $250 off of one party. So even though it was a long day I have a lot to show for it. I also don't mind the work when I am taking off next Sunday and Monday and will be on the beach for two days in Jersey.


Something from Iron Man 2:

1: "We need you."
2: "More than you know."
1: "Not that much."

Really looking forward to seeing Captain America, Harry Potter, and Transformers 3. I love movies a little too much sometimes. 

Well if you're uncomfortable you should take off your pants.

Last night while I was driving home I came across a deer standing in the middle of the road. I've seen a lot of deer in the park an they are a more than common occurrence  in Vermont, but this one was standing in the middle of the road in the commercial park across from where my apartment. I saw it in time to stop and it stood still looking at me for a minute and then became confused, circled about and ran off across a parking lot. Luckily for the deer another car wasn't coming along because the deer easily could have slammed into another car while it turned about getting oriented. A few minutes earlier a fox ran past my car while I was sitting at a red light. It was a total zoo on the streets of Philadelphia last night.

This morning I had my first Wimba meeting for my nonfiction class. I can finally say that I have complete empathy for the graduate students that bitch about it in the office. Wimba is a pain and everything we did easily could have been accomplished over Skype or a conference call. It was kind of fun getting up at 6:30am and having a workshop about a concise literary essay that I had recently written. I have to rework parts of it and then let my writing partner look it over and work on it with me. My professor was very encouraging about having a writing partner since I can't get into see her because of summer hours. Good thing Yonni knows what he's doing. The piece is for my final portfolio, but it's something that I want to polish and consider submitting to a literary magazine such as Brevity once it's finished. I also have to send a copy to my dad since it's about him. I just need Thursday to be over so I can finally commit myself to my writing. I've also opened up my log book again. I had a four year plan to fill it up and I probably would have finished it last year if I had actually written in it on a regular basis. The book was a graduation gift from a close friend and the format is designed after the log books that Ms. Knapp has us keep while in Greece. If she hadn't passed away I think I would have sent it to her after it was filled.

I also found out this morning that Samantha experienced death up close recently. She and I are no stranger to death, she especially during her middle years of high school, but nothing quite like this. I would have thought that of the two of us to see it happen, she would not have been the first. I still have a wholesome milk and cookies Amish attitude of my  sister because of the more sheltered life she led and her extremely boring life choices that she's made up until these past few months. It's funny the places that life takes you and it's curious that only a few days ago I wrote about death and drowning in my journal for class after reading CLE in Brevity.

I'm going to Jersey tomorrow, weather be damned. I also have my history final Thursday night so this may very well be the last post before my Hebrew Friend returns from the Holy Land (unless something super exciting comes up). 

I'm completely behind teen abstinence, but as a former teen it's not going to happen.

It's been almost two weeks since I last blogged. I've been a bad bad blogger and I have the angry reader tweets, comments, and phone calls to prove it. It's also been a week since Yonni's computer broke and I guess I figured that since he's not reading it and my mom could use a break from her scandalous daughter's not so scandalous life that no one else would care either. I was so wrong. So anyways I am back and I have a recap of the last two weeks to break down and share.

I guess the easiest place to start would be at Memorial Day Weekend because that's when you last heard from. I think the last post I mentioned said that I was going to Jersey to see my aunt and uncle and meet up with my parents. Which I did and it was nice. But prior to meeting up with my parents I got to spend some time with my cousin Ryan. Ryan is thirteen years older than me, the most guido looking person in the family with a Purnell surname, and possibly the only person who is more sarcastic and willing to take easy shots at their mother (Poor Aunt Pat). He is also the most easiest going and fun person after Lance. I've also looked up to Ryan as an older brother. Of all four of my older male cousins he is the only one I ever saw on a somewhat regular basis growing up. Unlike his brother and the other two that live in Florida, Ryan always took the time to stop by his parent's house and visit with us and talk to me. And since there's the same age gap between me and him as there is between he and Lance, Ryan likes to teach me the same bad shit Lance exposed to him. Though to be fair Ryan has distanced him beyond the shenanigans of Lance by miles and miles at this point. Anyways the night before my parents came Ryan took me out with some of his friends and finally let me join in on his "fun and games" and I had a really nice time. Like a good big brother Ryan also took care of me when I got too tired and made sure I was home in time to get some sleep before my parents showed up the next morning.

The next morning I hit the beach with my parents and it was actually a nice time. My mother kept her comments to herself and even took the time to notice by slightly improved physique (though I've fallen off the wagon these past few days). It also helped that Samantha wasn't there to be a pain in everyone's ass and act like a seven year old. There comes a point in everyone's life when they need to accept the fact that their childhood is over and that holding onto it is only stunting your personality and making you look like an idiot. Samantha has yet to realize any of this to the point where she will sometimes talk like a small child in a very whiny voice if she thinks it will help her get her way with things. It was a good time all around for everyone. I haven't seen my mother since I left Vermont in January and the last time my dad visited he spent more time with his friends in Hershey and his older sister than he did with me.


I got back early Monday night so I could go see a movie with my Hebrew Friend. We saw Fast Five, which was kind of funny because about an hour before I left Jersey we were all sitting on my Uncle's back porch discussing which was the best movie from the Fast and the Furious franchise. It was agreed that the first was the best, except for Lance who was the only who had seen Fast Five at the time, and that Tokyo Drift was the worst. After seeing Fast Five I agree with Lance. Even though the plot was a little borrowed from The Italian Job, the movie had the best lineup of characters and the best cars by far. Even without the amazing Michelle Rodriguez I was still happy and will definitely go see Vin Diesel and his Dungeons and Dragons loving self in the sixth movie.

I think there was one morning/night where I spent a chunk of time with Yonni. We've started having semi regular brunches on Thursday mornings with our friend Cynthia and if Kyle can come then Kyle  will come and eat with us. Texas Toast Kyle. The last time we ate together Yonni made a lovely Israeli salad with is possibly one of my new favorite breakfast foods after Greek marmalade and Challah French toast. We need to do Challah toast sometime soon. Yonni likes to try new breakfast foods whenever we get together, it's just funny because it's all stuff I've been doing since birth. Anyways one Thursday we spent a chunk of time together first in the morning and then later after he got off work we smoked hookah on his back porch for a while and I discovered my love for dark Israeli coffee. I usually reserve coffee for Aunt Val's and Christmas where I drink six cups in a row while eating the hundreds of pizzelles Lance has conned me into making for him. But I was really surprised how much I took to the coffee, even the muddy grounds at the bottom of the cup were nice. I've been really surprised at how quickly and easily I have become so close to Yonni. Especially after what we put ourselves through, it's nice that we were able to take a step back and become even closer. It's almost shocking to me how much I love him as a friend because usually it takes people years for me to love them and right now it's only a special few that I would drop everything for (Marg you need to come back to the city I finally picked up my pool pass). But that's the kind of personality that Yonni has, someone how is easy to get along with and really genuine. I dropped him at the airport the other day and I jokingly said "I'll miss you" even though he's only gone for a few days, but now I kind of miss his down the road presence. I'm going to be such a mess when I leave after graduation.


I've been watching a lot of Aaron Sorkin television shows lately. The old ones that never really got past a season or two that are now on Netflix. First it was Sports Night with Felicity Huffman and Josh Charles. The show's premise was the inner workings of a sport's news show in New York City. The dialogue and plot lines were excellent, but with the impending success of The West Wing, Sorkin decided to abandon the show and eventually it was canceled. Too bad because it's really good. The other Sorkin show that I got into was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The show was about the west coast version of SNL with guest stars from Sorkin's other series. The show only lasted one season, but it was easily Matthew Perry's best performance, even better than Friends. Perry played an addict writer who was getting a second chance as the show's execute producer after being ousted for writing politically sensitive sketches post-9/11. If you can get your hands on it, watch this show and then write NBC and tell them you want it back.

I started my second class this week. I'm two weeks away from finishing Western Civ I and I've already had to write an autobiographical haiku and do several readings and journal entries for my nonfiction shorts class. My autobiographical haiku is 100 words long and reads like a phone conversation to my dad. I've been really excited for this class, but the whole online aspect has me a little nervous because the school recently upgraded Black Board and it's now more confusing than ever and I've never taken an online class before and so I'm little confused about what we have to do anyways. The instructor is super nice and interesting and is definitely invested in helping us get through this course successfully. I've had teachers in the past who could care less about their students so having Dr. Spinner is really exciting and nice.

I took my Hebrew Friend to the beach with me on Wednesday. We went to the state park and I finally purchased my season pass. The guy at the gate thought that I was a total idiot because I kept asking about how to buy a pass, but the old lady who kept asking the poor girl about the shark was even worse and Yonni making fun of her made me feel better about being a total idiot. The water when we got there was amazing. I just wish it had been low tide when we went because the sandbar is much better when it's shallow. The water was frigid, but after playing frisbee in the sun for a while I warmed up and went in. I need to get a better bathing suit top because the one I have is not meant for any sort of physical activity. Thank God it was just Yonni, who doesn't care about my boobs and that we were almost the only ones on the beach. I almost went topless when I was lying in the sun, but I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. Later I took him over to the Sawmill for some pizza. He had never experienced their pizza, which is the size of three normal sized slices and then walked the boardwalk for a little bit. Lance and I thought that it was funny that he had never been to Seaside considering what a huge fan of The Jersey Shore that he is. I told him I'd take him back when they start shooting the next season later this summer. It was a good past two weeks.

Shout out to my best reader ever @Chris_akaTiny!

Food and Moses.

I get paid this week. I'm so excited because it's been a while since I've had any sort of extra money in my pocket and with my bills paid, that's what I'm going to have. I don't really have a burning need for anything right now but I am going to get a few things for Marg's birthday and maybe keep some cash to go out with some friends this weekend. Maybe even do some extravagant grocery shopping and cook something different. I still have a lot of chicken in my freezer that I need to use up so I'll have to look up some creative recipes. I may even have some friends over to cook with. Cooking with/for people is way better than cooking alone and for one.

I made lunch at home today. Burt my stomach. Weird, but painful. I was making pasta because I needed something quick and when I was draining the pot I moved it in the wrong direction and the water splashed on me and now it looks like I have a strip of sunburn on my stomach.

Other than my lunch burn, today has been rather unexciting. I have other work in a little while and then my Israelite Religion class. It's taught by  doctorate student from Princeton. He's a seven foot ginger viking how dresses impeccably. I took a stealthy picture of him once with my phone and sent it to Marg and if he didn't live in New Jersey I'm sure I would have gotten a late night call to go stalk his house. Marg as a problem that I have not problem fueling usually because it leads me to a Wawa sandwich. After class I'll hit the gym and then head back home to finish homework and make dinner. I have hockey in the morning down at Penn and I told Lauren I'd pick her up.

A bunch of the blogs that I follow are written by girls that are months away from being married and every week there is something new that they post about their wedding plans. It made me think about how I want cake and how much cake I could eat cake during a cake tasting and so I think that I am going to ask my friend Prada to come along as my fiance and help me eat cake.