Busy Farewell

Lots of things have happened, but I don't have the time or patience to discuss it in depth right now.
Guru is a good movie about Indian capitalism and corruption.
Idlewild is strictly on LSD.
I went out with Alex all Friday night/Saturday afternoon in Boston. Met a lot of HMS kids. Alex's bed is super comfy (and platonic). Tea with HLS kids at Algiers was fun, too. I love David a lot.
I also love my Harvard u-grads, Jeff and Chris. Dinner and drinks was awesome.

I'm leaving for Paris in less than 24 hours. So, farewell to Kim is Domestic!!!!

If you want my detailed life while I'm away for the semester, please go to my International Blog: Kim is Foreign.

Have fun in America while I go party it up at Sciences Po!

A Weekend in NYC (again)

Right after work on Friday I FLEW over to South Station with Mucks to catch a train to NYC for the weekend. The trip down was fairly uneventful...Mucks and I napped and talked and make fun of each other.

Once I stepped foot off of that train, though? All bets were off. I was in complete SPRINTING mode. For the whole weekend.

And, we're off!

I first start off by meeting up with Neil to get dinner at Indian Row. I ate lots, and he ate lots. Good conversations helped me encourage him to perhaps visit me while I'm in Paris. And he has created an adjective/noun out of one of my life experiences! The word: Idoian. I believe those who know me well will be able to understand what that means.

After a 2-hour rendezvous, I haul over to the Chelsea Piers to meet up with Rob for a hockey game. I didn't even know that NYU had a hockey team! I don't care for the sport very much, if at all, but it was an interesting experience nevertheless. At first he started telling people that I was his wife/fiancée, which flustered me about what I was doing there for a bit, but then he ended up confiding in me and asking for love advice. Seeing as I'm almost the equivalent to Dr.Phil (if not better), I tried my best to advice him in his worries.

Craig picked me up from the rink to walk around (in the cold) and get a cup o' tea with me. A brief goodbye, but it's okay because it's Craig and we are like siblings. He has to love me and stay in touch.

I finally took a cab to Andy's apartment to crash on his floor around 1am. James started texting (and calling) me while I tried getting ready for bed because he was at a pub in Buffalo and found it boring. He's not the social type, anyways, so after a failed attempt at scolding him, I talked to him until I was ready to sleep.

I woke up a bit early to calm myself down for the day with some yoga.

And then I ran downtown to see Karan for an hour. We babbled a bit incoherently, and chuckled at our silly selves. I missed him....And then he walked me over to Aaron's dorm so I could meet up with him in time.

Aaron brought me all the way up to Columbia University. Seeing as I had only 2 hours with him, the trip was pushing it a bit. We tried to get into a few of the campus buildings, but we were typically thrown out. The walk was entertaining, though. My London flatmate Erin called me to make unexpected drink plans for the evening, which slightly stressed me out.

I love hanging out with Aaron, and I'm going to be missing all of our adventures when I'm gone.

BUT he made me late for my next date. Well, him and my running into Clarence for about 5 minutes (cue blast from past).

I ran into the restaurant where Chambers was, and I was on the verge of tears (and shaking). There were so many deadlines to make, so many people to see, so many goodbyes to make. It was overwhelming. But they welcomed me warmly and calmed me down in a few minutes, and I spent a magnificent timed slot with them at dinner. I went around the table, and I realized there how much I loved all of them. What a wonderful group to be a part of! We parted ways and some of us walked over to Think so I could meet up with Deejay.

And Deejay came, and it was good. I ran over to him and jumped on him, and I almost took down a few coffee drinkers while doing so. Sorry about that. I LOVE THAT BOY!!! I missed him way too much! And the best part was that when we got back together, it was as if we had been through a mere time warp and we had never left each other, truly.

Some more goodbyes came with Chambers kids, and Deejay and I (the dynamic duo) got lost via subway in Brooklyn to get to the South Street Seaport. Feel free to laugh. We met up with Erin and a few of her friends. Having not eaten much for the day, my one drink got me a little silly, so Deejay and I left early to meet up with Danielle for dinner at RED. Lots of talking, fun, laughter, pictures. I brought up a BAD conversation starter and made it awkward for a few minutes, but we prevailed!

After dinner we walked to Mariam's apartment for her Toga Party. Upon arrival I could tell we wouldn't stay long. I love Mariam. I love music and dancing. I don't love Stern children who won't dance to DANCE music and only talk about classes. Some of the people were nice and cool, but the conversation still lacked in comparison to our 3 personalities. A few dances and a drink later, we cruised out of that port.

Deej and I talked in his room until 4am. I got back late, but Andy and his roommates got home later.

Sunday started rough. I had to cancel a coffee date with Michelle so I could make my job interview at MDPPublicity. The woman was great, her apartment was impressive, and I think after an hour or so of conversation, I've landed myself at least one PT summer job. GO ME!

Darrell and I got together for an hour to chit chat, though we didn't get to talk about everything I wanted to talk about, so we'll be calling him soon.

I had an hour to myself to sit and deflate.

Cassie came over and ran me to the bus station, where I got onto the bus and didn't move for 4 hours straight.

OIE VAY!

Another Fun-filled Weekend

Andy came to visit this weekend. At first, I was worried about it all because not only was Mom's car in the shop from her little "accident", but Buck had recently died in my office's parking lot. No worries! One car left! Only issue was the whole sharing with 3 other people thing....thankfully, we got the other two cars while Andy was over (but that comes up later).

I met Andy at the Pru , where I had parked (after a few frustrating wrong turns). It was my goal for him to have a bowl of Seafood Chowder at Legal SeaFoods . And it was done.
Evan met us at the restaurant, while we stayed around for a drink. Evan and Andy got along swimmingly, which was comforting, and our conversations were full of laughter and learning (thanks, Andy). Evan brought us up to his apartment for a few hours, where Andy and I left tired and ready to sleep.

On Friday after work, I brought Andy to the gym. I'm not used to being with people at the gym at all, so it was peculiar to have someone to noticed and talk to. And I ran into a couple of people I haven't seen in years or have been avoiding. Fun for everyone!
We proceeded the gym fun with a quick carride around my area, and we swiftly drove back down to Cambridge so we could meet up with one of his friends from Hawaii who happen to be at Harvard. At the restaurant where his friend was, we met about 4 other HLS kids. The more the merrier, I say. We ate some sushi (and moshi) with all of them, and had some eyebrow-raising conversations.
We split up for a few hours. Andy and I walked around Cambridge and met up with Jeff & his new girlfriend for a few minutes. At first Jeff put on his serious face, but he quickly came back to life and we danced and sang with each other like we always do. I'm not sure his girlfriend was OK with our fun, though....
The real reason why we went into Harvard (much to my chagrin) was to see the semi-annual Primal Scream . This event occurs during Harvard reading/final days; where the undergraduates get together on Harvard Yard and run around completely naked, screaming all the way. There was a marching band playing. Pictures were taking. Genitalia was flying every which way. I was scarred, as were some of Andy's friends...but Andy loved every minute of it. He was one of the photographers.
Afterwhich we went out, as a group, to Boston Tea Stop to get some bubble tea . I invented my own drink: Strawberry Almond. IT WAS SO GOOD! I got a mug there, too.
I met a lot of great people that night.

When we got home around 3am, I realized that I had to register for classes at Sciences Po right then (the whole time difference thing...). It was 2 hours of complete confusion and chaos had by all of us International Students, who happened to all be talking to each other and freaking out at the same time on MSN. I ended up getting my classes (despite the terrible schedule), but I didn't get to bed until 5am.

Saturday started late. We got around finally around 3/4, where we met up with Shivangi and got some lunch at Panerra's. We then drove for a bit to conclude the night at her house so she could go out with her mom before her morning flight.
Andy and I went into Boston (yet again) to see Alex for the night. We got some dinner at this place called the Squealing Pig (enchantee...), which was actually surprisingly good, and ended up going back to Alex's place and playing cards with a friend of his. The conversation was fun, pleasant, constant, and casual. Then, I was deemed Alex's ragdoll as he proceeded to show all how he does reflex examations with the blunt of some scissors, and other medical examinations I am certain orthodonists don't EVER need to do. After feeling quite violated, confused, and exhausted, Andy and I left around 3am and fell into bed around 4.

I've been quite a dolt since.

Boo, Boston, Bridesmaid

Bad: B- in Business Law, blech. Hard work unrewarded.

Good: I had a great day today with Brandon, a Bass from Chambers. We met at Rockingham, went for a bit of a gander, drove down to my house and looked around my town, went to the Loop to get dinner, and just talked all the time. Good conversation, good friends.
I also had a splendid night with Penny and Jaynie. More to come on that later...

Better: I got my French visa. I DON"T HAVE TO WORRY ANY LONGER!!!

Best: Penny just got engaged!!!! Her wedding is June 2008... And what's better is, I'm one of FOUR BRIDESMAIDS!!!!!! Are you as happy as I am???

Gnomes and Diamonds

Just to recover some sanity left in my brain, let me wrap up my weekly life...

Grandparent story: The MORNING Aimee and I were to drive them to the airport for their flight away, grandma pulled this MASSIVE pout-fest. She had apparently hid a small container of a single piece of baklava in the dining room (3 days before) under a napkin. When the boys came over, I was trying to clean up and made the executive decision that she no longer wanted the dessert, and that I could eat it. And it was eaten. That morning, I woke up to find she'd be upset and throwing a fit all morning about how "it was just nasty" that me and my friends came in and ATE all of the sweets in the house. She made it a point to say that it had been OK if it were all "family members", but this was just unacceptable. "We had to eat salty things for breakfast." HEAVEN FORBID! And things got worse from there....
Anyways, for those of you who know my grandparents, this went on all day until we finally dropped them off. No tearful goodbye this time.
Aimee and I vented it out at Cheesecake Factory in Cambridge while I exchanged an Ann Taylor dress.
And that night, after a fruitful and fun run around the neighborhood, I fell asleep on Muck's lap while watching "Dodgeball".

I grabbed hot cocoa with Garrett. Just to get out of town, we found ourselves in a Dunkin Donuts in Salem, NH. We had a good 2-hour conversation about life and whatnot. He is such a great guy, I'm so glad we still talk.
And Jessica came over to watch Dane Cook, who is a very sexy man. It was a good night.

Yesterday I ran a lot of errands, focusing mainly on France things. And then I went to say goodbye to Craig before he moved back to NYC. Lucky bastard.

I FINALLY got an email back from Darrell. You know, I don't care what's going on with this whole......thing. I just get frustrated when friends don't keep in good contact with me, especially when I care a lot about them and am going to a FOREIGN COUNTRY in about a month. Common courtesy, in my POV. Agh, men.

Went into the North End with Steve F. today to have a lunch date. We talked in french, I told him about college life, tried to help him out with some of his problems. He acts a lot older than he really is, and I'm so impressed by him.
Wisdom teeth surgery victim Scott and I went out to dinner and a movie later tonight. We basked in the gift card glory at TGIFridays, and saw "Blood Diamond". It was a very good film. A lot of violence about the West-African diamond black market and it's relations with the RUF. Makes you frustrated with humanity, that's for sure.

I would like to take this time now to shout out to Deejay. I see you reading my blog. Hey, you. Let's chat soon.

I don't know anyone else who reads it, which is why I'm perplexed why someone in Latvia or Algeria would stumble across it....which they apparently have.

Back at Home

The chocolate thing I had was, in fact, the flu. Just to let you know. The worst jogs of my life...
Moving out of the apartment in Manhattan was a real bitch. I had to pack everything up all by myself into the car in the basement garage. Where Buck was so conveniently placed TIGHTLY (as in no moving room) between a BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, and Escalade. I'm serious. Rough 2 hours of packing my life into a Buick LeSabre.
And did I mention that there was a protest outside of my apartment at the time? Something about police brutality in Africa. There were more cops than protesters, I swear. That means Wall Street was completely blocked off, and the COMPLETELY PACKED garage was not able to get rid of any cars. Rough.
The drive home was uneventful. Dad and I talked some. I pined some. You know how I do.

Back in NA, life is same-old-same-old. Translation: lots of time. It's as if time abruptly slows down like you've hit a patch of molasses when you get to the burbs from the city.

The morning after, after a terrible run (again), Scott and I went shopping with Mom. Mom had gotten in a car accident, so she was pretty bummed out, but we tried to make her happier. Both of us kids got haircuts (though, Scott forbade me from cutting more than 1 inch off...). It was a short shopping trip, actually. We ended up getting dinner at the Loop, and then talking in my room for the rest of the night.
The grandparents came in, and my life got harder automatically. Not the cute ones, the evil ones. The biggotted ones. It's been an interesting few days.
Aimee brought home her cat, Ron. He's adorable, but a bit feisty.

I went to the doctors to discover my actual flu symptoms were legit. And I had a sore on my foot. Good, clean fun for everyone. And Jesse came over to say hi for a few.
We ended up (Jesse & Craig & me, that is) going to Dany's house for a party. Lots of people. One hour limit, thanks to the other 2 who didn't know anyone at the party but me. It was nice to see them all, but I sadly realized how far apart I really was from a lot of them. There's not as big of a connection to everyone as there used to be. Craig and I ended up going back to his place to discuss my boy problems.

Christmas Eve was uneventful. Aimee and I went to the grocers for Mom's birthday, the family went to Wilson's to get food for Xmas, and that's about it. I cooked dinner.
Ido called me, surprisingly. I was so glad to hear from him. I missed him, and it's nice to know that we can still talk. Though, his English isn't as good anymore. Oh well, I'm used to it.
Aimee and I went to Church for Candlelight Mass a bit early, where the youth came together to say "hi". Again, there was a stronger disconnect between me and the other Andover kids, which surprised and disappointed me. Oh well, que sera sera, right?
It was interesting going to church after my personal seperation from Christianity. Lots of interesting things are heard when you're not so hooked on the religion.
Grandma has the most hideous, shrill, out of tune singing voice I've heard in a long time. It made a lot of us giggle during the songs.

Christmas was fine. My family woke me up in a cruel way: continuously calling my mobile until I came downstairs.
Too many presents. I got what I wanted, and then some. I plan on donating some key things to charity, along with a lot of things from my room already.
What did I get? Money...gift cards...a piece of lingerie (thanks, mom)...a gnome (thanks, aimee)...and other joyous things.
Dad and I went for a jog around the neighborhood. It wasn't too bad.
Ido and I talked again for a while. Aparently he's going to call me more often so he can work on his English, and I owe him a song?
Scott saved me from the family, and we went to go see "Dreamgirls". Not a bad movie. MAN, do those women have chops on them!!!! Jennifer Hudson's GOT PIPES!!! That movie's really made me want to get back into the jazz singing scene.

Today, well, was amazing. After lunch with the family, Jeff and I ended up going to Salvation Army, where Jeff found the most ridiculous clothing to buy for a grand total of $15. And we ran into Maxx & Molly, which was great fun for all.
Jeff and I talked in Starbucks for an hour about life, futures, and politics. And I talked to his girlfriend on the phone.
We came back and took a long walk around my neighborhood, and talked some more.
After I made us dinner and we took pictures of Jeff being sultry, Scott joined up with us, where we decided to go to Salisbury Beach after a glass of Pinot Grigio. We sang carols on the beach, and joked about life. And we found the most dismal bar on the beach. Big place. We were the ONLY people in the bloody place. Dismal, I tell you! We had a few chuckles and headed back to my place, where Jesse stopped by for a while.
I love them.

Oh, Wow....

So, last night I didn't feel very well. At all. I was hugging the toilet for perhaps 2 hours, praying that I'd get the job done and feel better once and for all.
The kind where you can't really think straight, and it's a little harder to walk outside. The kind where you forget what happeed exactly the next day.
We, being Mom and me, think that it might be a mix between having some kind of bug, the stress from exams, the current events that have been going on in my life (which I will not discuss on my blog), PMS, and the fact that I OVERDOSED on chocolate. Yes, I ODed on chocolate. It can happen.

The funny thing is, apparently I felt compelled to write to Ido. I haven't talked to him in a few months. I wanted to know how he was, I guess. So, I got onto the computer, and started making an email for him. I got the "To" part right. The subject said "recap". I assume I was going to write out what I had been up to or something.
The body of the text: "hey ido,".
That's it.
Sent.

How do I know?? Because Ido responded to me this morning. His response was something along the lines of, "...call me on Friday...."

I'm still laughing about this.

Thanksgiving

Wednesday, I woke up a bit lately and tried as quickly as I could to get to Laguardia. After getting into Queens, I hailed a cab to share with 2 other people to get to the airport. I was in the itty-bitty shuttle terminal. I got on the early flight home.
I took the T and Commuter Rail to Reading for Jesse to pick me up and drive me home.
Mom drove me back into Boston late at night so I could spend the evening with Alex. We went to a bar, then I helped him pack for his weekend (and do his laundry). Every time someone called me, he made groaning noises to distract me. Why do men find it funny to distract people with unsettling noises? We talked a lot.
He drove me back home late at night, for me to quickly pass out in bed.

Now, I'm sick.
Our kitchen is ripped up (floors are being put in...), so we've postponed the real dinner until Saturday.
On Thanksgiving Day, we went to Angelica's for dinner.
I went for a jog on the treadmill.

Friday: Penny, Mom, Aimee, and I went shopping. I bought 3 pairs of shoes, and a DVD. Penny bought shoes and a watch.
After the shopping, Jesse & Craig joined us at my house to hang out.
Jesse has a promise ring. Everyone giggle.
Then Jeff swung in so we could team up and hit Dany's house party in Andover. We left everyone at my house.
We stayed at Dany's for an hour. It was the most overwhelming hour I've had in a long time. Basically, almost all of my Andover friends from childhood to now were packed into this 3-story mansion. In an hour, I had to talk to all of them, catch up with them, and make plans with people. There wasn't enough time for everyone. I got so stressed/excited, that I started to get flushed.
When Jeff and I got into his car, we both stopped for a minute in complete dumbfounded silence, and said, "....What the hell just happened?"
When we got back to my house, Shivangi and Erin were there.

And I have to do all of my homework tomorrow.
Will this chaos never stop?

I'm going to bed now.

International Emmy Awards: Brief

The Int'l Emmies was very, very busy.
I got to the Hilton around 11am to set up. I was on the operations volunteering group, so I had to put together the gala ballroom, and get 1200 gift bags organized and stacked.
Lunch was fully catered for us workers. It was delicious.
The downside of the Hilton was that all of the cheerleaders from the Macy's Day Parade had just been checked into the hotel, and were clogging the elevators and hallways. Damn cheerleaders with their tacky-colored windbreakers.
I met a lot of new people. During lunch, I befriended 2 girls who were cousins, 1 woman & man from the Ivory Coast, and an assorted amount of other NYU students working the gala.
After lunch, I befriended this guy (I want to say his name was Iten, or Eat-on, or something?) while dressing the dining tables. He was a 25 year-old student from Manhattanville College (finance major), who is from Tel Aviv. He reminded me of someone, yet I couldn't quite pin down who...do you hear the sarcasm seeping out of the sentence?
After we finished up our jobs, we got dressed for the gala. I wore my black cocktail dress, crystal necklace, and open-toed heels. I won't lie...I looked really cute. And I felt it, too.
For the gala, my job (with the rest of my crew) was to greet the guests, give them their tickets, answer questions, and be pretty. We were complimented on how attractive we all were by countless amounts of foreign celebrities. It was utterly wonderful.
We ate in the press room with the rest of the workers.
I was freezing cold for 4 hours straight.
My friend Jean-Claude was working the gala, too...only he was with the group of kids who performed as escorts for the celebrities. They got to hang out on the red carpet, and meet the celebrities, and chill out during the gala with the famous people, and have an all-around better time. I am insanely jealous of all of them. He brought me over to his group of people during the end of the gala (where we feasted on fabulous, succulent desserts) and I met this wonderful person named Navide (?), who was half-Japanese-half-Iranian, working on his 3rd masters, and spoke more than enough languages.
Did I mention that I spoke french a lot of the night?
After getting our gift-bags and checks, we all sally-forthed to the after party at The Grand. Let me tell ya; dancing to club music at a hip club with a bunch of drunken old middle-aged men (and women) from around the world IS REALLY WEIRD. When you notice that there's a 40-something German man dancing to Kanye West's "Golddigger" right next to you...that's when you know something's not quite right.
I stayed at the after party for about an hour. I gave my email to a few of the kids I worked with, and went home by 2am...exhausted, and not ready for class in 6 hours.

That was the brief version.

Idiosyncratic

I saw Producers on Broadway yesterday (tickets provided FREE through Stern...god bless). It was a good show, I was entertained the whole time. Too bad the tickets were in the VERY BACK row of the balcony...hello, vertigo! But it's ok, because I hung out with a girl, Katherin, from a class. This girl's life story is amazing! A few months ago, she had cancer surgery in her throat. And now, her mom has ovarian cancer. Next weekend, she's going to San Francisco to run a 27-mile marathon for cancer research......and she's going to Barcelona when I'm in Paris. Amazing!
We made friends with some guys from Univ. South Carolina. They were hilarious because during the show, whenever there was a homosexual joke made, they looked oh-so-shocked. I giggled oh-so-hard.

I had to fight my midterm grade for Managerical Accounting to be boosted up by about 2 letter-grades because my TA was beastly and didn't give me partial credit for anything...and marked me wrong for a correct answer!

I ate lunch with Bhinish today. I worry about that boy.

As a personal happy note...I can run 6.2 miles an hour! Not a great feat, I know...but it's something!

And I talked to Felix (in Frankfurt, Germany) on the phone for an hour today. I love talking to that boy. And his English is always patchy at first, which makes me giddy. We had a great catch-up conversation. And we plan on hanging out more next semester when I'm in Europe. Viva friendship!

OH! I have a Parisian flat! Be excited! And it's wicked nice!

I went on a date tonight. Ate at Dojo's, and saw "A Guid to Recognizing Your Saints" (not a date movie, just to warn you). The night was enjoyable. I have no idea what the verdict is on the date, though....quite a quiet guy (which is odd for me). Whatever.

It's Been A While

I've been very, very busy.
In a nutshell for the past week or so, I have (not in chronological order):
~Seen Jersey Boys the Musical because Stern provided me with a free dinner and $10 ticket. It was pretty good. I like the Four Seasons.
~Had my first midterm in Managerial Accounting. I either did pretty well on it, or failed.
~Saw NYU Steinhardt's production of Urinetown the Musical, mostly because Craig is the drummer. It was alright. Funny show, the acting was great. The script, though? Meh...
~Met up with my girl Celina one night. We had a few laughs, and some great dumplings. Her friends were nice, too.
~Pulled an all nighter against my will. Which led me to complete exhaustion and me napping on Aaron's bed while he did homework before we went out to watch "Science of Sleep". Seeing as I was half asleep while watching the movie, and I have been struggling lately beause I think part in english & french, it wasn't until about 30 minutes into the movie that I realized they actually were talking BOTH english & french. It was a really peculiar movie, but I'm pretty sure I liked it quite a bit.
~Went to see a Yankees Game, but got there at the 7th inning. Aaron and I have issues finding out the times that things start. We keep getting to things too early or too late. Luckily, we both didn't mind TOO much...it was a funny story, I think. We walked around the Bronx highways a bit, but quickly realized that such areas aren't great places to walk around.
~Had coffee with old suitemate, Jen. We talked about Paris. I apparently will be helping her learn french, too....that is, if I can help myself...
~Watched "An Inconvenient Truth", with a guest speaker from the UN. Needless to say, I am not really worried about the world, Al Gore is my favorite person ever, and I want to lower my carbn dioxide emissions. While at the screening, I ran into about 4 people I haven't seen in a year, which was nice. We all agreed to hang out sometime soon, which makes me really happy.
~Ate dinner with Dad at a nice little place on Cornelia Sreet, Po. We both agreed it was excellent food. And we had a nice talk. He helped encourage my interest in diplomacy...let's see where this goes.
~Went to a Study Abroad alumn reception. Free food and drinks, and gift bags. That's about it. Cassie and I didn't really know anyone...but then JT from London came over, and we talked for a while. He is a ridiculously amazing person. And then Manny from London swung over, and we talked about his former position at the UN and what he's done with foreign policy and such. We plan on getting together sometime to discuss it more, which makes me excited.

On a more personal level, I have had a few thoughts in the past week that I need to put out there:
1) I think I'm getting dumber. I don't know why, but I just feel like I'm not as intelligent and well-knowledged as I was, say, a year ago. I feel like I don't know much of anything right now. I don't really know how to remedy this, but it makes me feel awfully melancholy about my brain's capacity.
2) Why do I feel like, when it comes to men, when it rains it pours? I kind of feel like I'm getting too much attention right now, like I'm being some kind of saucy vixen without even knowing it!
3) I really miss London. I didn't think that I would miss it so much, but there it is. It's surprising, really...
4) I'm a bit emotionally defunked right now. Don't ask me what that means, or what's not 100% right...it just is so. It's like my hormones have just decided to build a theme park inside me and ride on the rollercoaster over and over again. I'm happy, yeah, but just a little more girly when it comes to feelings.

Today I'm meeing up with Aaron to go to the UN, so I should get going...

A Memo

Dear Men,
Please don't think that by ordering females around you will either attract them OR get your way. We are not obedient pups waiting for our next command. Yes, we admire a guy with some good, healthy confidence and initiative. However, when it comes to telling us what to do and then scolding us for not concurring...that is unacceptable. You might as well pour a cup of slightly-hotter-than-scolding staining coffee on yourself. Thanks, but no thanks. We can handle our lives just as well as you think you can.
Two more comments:
1) Know our individual names
2) Don't EVER start the conversation with the words "whore", "hoe", or "bitch".
Love,
Kim, a Female

On that note, Aimee and I just had a great day. Not only did we go to the Bodies Exhibit, but we also ate lunch in Little Italy at the San Gennero Festival. And we ate chocolate at Max Brenner's chocolate shop, and watched the hilarious show Hairspray. An A+ day.

Sushi of Champions

I'm having issues with my thought process...it's in Franglish. Now, I'll want to say something, but it's French that tapers into English. I'm pretty sure no one would be able to understand me.

Yesterday I took a good, relaxing Pilates class. It was delightful.

My girlfriend Elana, that I haven't seen in a grand total of 1 year, invited me to see her at this Latin Ballroom Social. I had to sweet-talk the girls at reception into letting me get in for free. I went for maybe 20 minutes; I said hi to Elana, talked to some Russian named Igor (I kid you not), and jetted as soon as they had an all inclusive salsa.

I met up with old roommate Lauren and her flatmate/my girl Denysha. We went out with their other flatmates, and assorted other friends, to go get sushi at Sushi Park. One of their flatmates is an Italian exchange student, Nina. She brought 2 of her co-Bocconi guy friends, and we battled language barriers all night. They had never eaten Sushi, let alone Sashimi, before. I shared a plate of Sashimi with Nina, and the boys shared a plate. We (being Denysha, her roommate, and me) had to teach them how to use chopsticks, and how to eat sushi. They weren't nearly as successful as they thought they were, but at least the food managed to mostly enter their mouths. And they loved the sashimi. The whole dinner made me ecstatic: Foreigners and Sushi?! Pure bliss.
It was a large group, too. 12 people?! Sushi Park didn't like us very much, but we flipped a big bill, so they got some reward in the end.
We had a great time, though. Lots of laughs. I made an agreement with one of Nina's friends, Fillipo, that I would help his English if he taught me Italian. He's very, very nice, so I'm going to hold him up on that.
We left the restaurant and started walking to some bar. I'm not exactly sure where they were intending on going, but the Italians had a mission, and I wasn't going to be the one to stop them. We ran into the OTHER Italian exchange students on the street. They were very drunk. And they are Italian. Wonderful combination. Very interesting, loud conversations happened for about half an hour on 11th between 2nd & 1st. We melted into an even larger group, and started crawling (the Italians were walking REALLY slowly!)back to campus to go to some Belgium place. The NYU kids were walking in front of the group, the Italians far behind...and ranting in Italian!
One of the Italian exchange students, Rafaele, is particularly good-looking. He started talking to Lauren and me (Lauren said that he was "totally into" me, and wasn't paying any attention to her...at which I retorted with a good & hearty chuckle at the thought), in which it became quite apparent that not only was he sober, but that he understands that he is attractive. He was trying to give me a few Italian pointers, of which one he told me to tell him, "Tu stei bello." You are handsome. I laughed at that phrase, and told him he was silly. I much rather the lessons from Fillipo.
The bar wasn't open anymore, so they hit up another place nearby to grab a few drinks. Lauren (who was more involved in her Odwalla bar) and I left early, at 2am.

I love that whenever I go out with Denysha or Lauren, something ridiculous happens to me. And they're always the type of situations where I know I could write a book about them, if only I was better at storytelling.

I woke up early today to go to an IBEX meeting. Some woman from Sciences Po was here to talk to us going to Paris. I'm not as worried as I was before, but I'm still annerved about it all.
And I'm exhausted.

Off to the gym....

Power Panty

I just want to bring to the world's attention the new feminine fashion of: the Power Panty.
Also known as a newage girdle.
I think this picture best expresses the magic of the power panty.
If you're into the idea, just use it as spandex.
And the top seller of these underpants are called....what else, but....Spanx.
WHO THINKS OF THESE THINGS?!?!?!

Jesse and I concluded last night that we'd both like to be international ambassadors, and somehow we both have the dream goal of working for the UN. Or something of relative important & international influence. Fingers crossed, right?

I talked to Ido for over an hour while parked at the gym yesterday evening (I was in the parking lot because I was going there...). It was nice to talk to him, I just wish I could see him, too. He wanted to watch Will Ferrell with me, too.

NYC: The Good with the Bad

Another weekend of fruitless apartment hunting. My frustration is accelerating every day I get closer to starting classes again. It's almost as if some higher being is prohibiting me to getting it for some reason unknown and uncontrollable to me. And, if that's true, please let me know.

I was supposed to drive into NYC on Friday after work. But, sadly, the rain down there was so intense that it flooded a lot of the highways and bridges, and they shut down the freeways in, trains and airports. I was stranded in North Andover until the morning. I lamented for an hour at Borders, where I splurged on a hardcover of "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenom" and a new paperback, "The Pirates!" It's interesting, because now whenever I hit up a bookstore (which has been quite frequently), it's like a crackwhore attacking a crackhouse; I want them all, and I want them all now. Have I no shame?
I also went over to Jesse's house for a shin dig until around midnight. It was a highly entertaining place to be and watch people, and most of the people I hadn't seen in a year, so it was interesting to see them all now.

Saturday morning's drive in was full of occasional traffic, flash rain in Connecticut, and hydroplaning through the Bronx. I finally got into the city, where my father took the car at Herald Square for his own drive home. Interesting how my family works; it's almost like at least one person has to be in NYC at all times. In and out. I hit up my first apartment meeting with Innovative Apartments. As a prelim meeting, I didn't get to see any apartments, but she made me feel hopeful that I'd get someplace when I need it. Allah kareem.
I checked into the hostel, which was very close to Union Square (big plus points). It was a cute little walk up apartment-turned-hostel. It was small, sure, but it did the job. I wanted a bed, I got a bed.
After I inspected the Trader Joe's recently put under the Palladium dorms, Andy and I met up at Washington Square, where we concluded to walk. It started raining, so we took refuge over in the Virgin Cafe (appropriately? che pas...) and talked for a few hours. He kept squealing about my weight loss endeavors, which made me blush quite a bit. After the rain let up, we ran over to the Barnes & Noble across the park, where we both greedily man-handled a plethora of lusciously covered books and novels. We even took photos of books.
We met up with his roommate Natalia and their friends Dan (straight) & Kevin (gay). Finding out that I was with a group of 24-28 year olds, I felt extremely young, and tried my best to not be that awkward little kid with the big kids. I think I did alright. We went to a really nice restaurant, Havana Central. And we ate. Oh boy, did we eat. Appetizer samplers, huge entrees (and quite pricey), drinks (I took a smoothie due to my medical testing this week), and a desert sampler. And the food was amazing. Really, really, amazing. And there was so much food!!! We all overate, a lot. But the conversation was nice, we had a great time, laughed a lot, told good stories...good times. I always have fun with Andy's friends. They're always good kids, and I enjoy them immensely. Does that mean something?....(Andy, I know you read these, so I'm going to ask you: can I be you?)
After shelling out a hefty sum, we rolled out of the restaurant and agreed to meet up in about an hour to go out. It was already 10pm and I was ready to sleep, yes, but that doesn't mean anything when you're in NYC. The night starts whenever you start. And never ends, ever. Ever.
I hobbled back to the hostel to meet my "roommates". And, being more full of food than God is full of love, I was quite the sociallable talker while getting ready to go out. I first talked to 2 nice LA girls who were in for the night to read, which sounded tempting to join them. Then I noticed there was indeed a guy in our room, sleeping on the bottom bunk next to my top bunk. He was Indian-Canadian (which, as you might think, perked up my ears) , 28 years old, called himself Sunny, lives in San Fransisco, and (get this!) works for Google. Wow. Wow. Google? As in, I have a Google account and Google blog, Google? As in, I've done more case studies about Google in school than any other company in the world? Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen. That Google.
We started to talking. Unfortunately, being sociallable AND naturally flirtacious, I flirted. But, surprisingly, and almost too obviously, he flirted back. I always enjoy a good flirt, so it was fun, and I highly enjoyed the conversation. He was planning on going to Alphabet City with some people he met to a party while I planned to go...somewhere. So, we swapped numbers and agreed to text about our whereabouts for the night. Since I was going out with a bunch of 24/27 year olds, anyways, it wasn't like he'd be that guy joining a bunch of young college kids.
I met up with the group down in the Lower East Side and, after about an hour of looking for a place that had no bouncer (because I was the only under-21er in the group, they were trying to be nice and help me out.......even though I wasn't going to drink anything anyways...ironic...), we hit up a little liquor bar called Schiller's. Adorable, really nice atmosphere, I loved it. And I got a smoothie that rivalled a lot of other smoothies I've ever had. We kicked back, talked, laughed some more. Found out that the 27 year-old friend of Andy's that I was flirting with had a girlfriend and became immensely embarassed, good times. Until about 1.30am, where we were all exhausted and opted for an early night. Crashed at the hostel to sleep.

But you'd think the night would end there, right? Oh, no. No, no. About an hour into my tired slumber, 2 new backpackers crashed into the room, talking in full voice, and started unpacking and being "romantic." In fact, they (girl and boy) decided to go get into the shower together. Hostel, people. Paper-thin walls. The giggles started, and LA girl #1 and yelled at them that we were trying to sleep, so knock it off. The 2 newbies came out and started apologizing (I think), and I mumbled, "whatever, just go to bed." End of story, right? Nope. Never.
As soon as those 2 start getting into bed, Sunny comes back into the room. How do I know this? Because for about 5-10 minutes, while I was slipping into a twilight, I felt like someone's watching me. I open my eyes, to see Sunny looking at me. Oh boy. He comes over and puts his arm on my back, and starts asking me how my night was. "Short. What did you end up doing?" He started telling me, and I realize that he's really, really close to me. Really close. Mind you, I was half asleep, but I could still notice how close he was. Close enough to...with retainers in my mouth and everything (color me dorky, but I like keeping my teeth as straight as possible), I finally giggle and say, "and, goodnight." I know, I know...I blow it everytime. But come on! Taaaact! Oh well, next time?

I wake up after not really sleeping, completely wiped, to go to another apartment meeting. Said bye to Sunny, left him a little note in his bag, and checked out.
I get to the agent's place on the Upper East Side. I wait in their lobby for 30 minutes to get bitched out at for another 30 minutes about not being in town for more than the weekend, that I was wasting their time, and that I had the NERVE to go to them LOOKING FOR APARTMENTS! And I was "so unprepared"! Though I was fully prepared... Apparently, the plan was for me to purhase one of their places that day, no buts. Uh huh, right. Basically the guy was a complete jerk (censored, of course), and I will tell all of my friends to NEVER use Homestead Reality in NYC ever! Because they're there only to waste your time and steal your cash. That was in a nutshell.
Discouraged and raging mad, I go downtown again to get some comfort food; Challah bread. I find out then that my favorite Jewish Deli of all time, 2nd Avenue Deli, has been shut down! Closed, gone. I'm devastated.
The next meeting I had I didn't get an address for, so I had to cancel (since I didn't know where to meet them, anyways) on a dying mobile. Screw it, I decided, I'll just go back home now.
Took a Greyhound back to Boston. Was carsick for 2 hours of the trip. Cold for all 4.5 hours. I got to the South Station entrance to get haggled and harassed by a few creepy guys outside. Great day. Went home and slept off the frustration.

People, all I want is a 4 month apartment near school for less than $1500/mo! Is that too much to ask for?! I guess it is...

Summer Weekend

This weekend I actually was at home! Shocking, I know, I was surprised too. The only reason why I think I stayed around was because of Scott. Scott came home for Thursday night and most of Friday, so I made it my point to see him as much as I could before he drove back to CT. Jesse came over when Scott was at home, and we made Ghiradelli Brownies from scratch (Actually, Jesse did most of the baking....who knew he could cook?). You know, the extra gooey ones with the chocolate chips in the middle that make them ever more crunchy and good? Delicious.
So I realized I'm probably lactose intolerant. That was fun.

Saturday, I decided I really wanted to go somewhere. So, I put on a summer dress, told my mom to get in the car, and we drove up to Portsmouth, NH. Parked at Strawberry Bank, but did not actually go into the museum because it was sweltering outside. Instead, I went to the waterfront and read for a while. I got sunburned, which is both nice and bad. Afterwards, we hit up the downtown area and shopped. Bought too many CDs at Bullmoose Music(Stadium Arcadium, Ganging Up On The Sun, Senor Blue...), bought novel gnome magnets at Marco Polo, and whatnot and what have you. Splurged at lunch at some cantina place. It was a good day.
Shivangi came over later that night and we scurried off to Blockbuster to find a flick to watch. We aren't in there for 5 minutes and some employee comes over and gets ALL UP IN OUR GRILLS! I mean, this guy was just in our faces, trying to help us get a movie to watch. Nice guy, very much, and was all enthusiastic about helping us, but it really kind of freaed us out. I can't explain it well, but he was all over the place! Shivangi giggled the entire time, and we just humored him as he ranted off his favorite movies. I made the mistake of bringing up that I used to work for a New Line company, Lord help me. He finally left us to our devices, where we promptly put away all of the movies he recommended, and picked up "Sideways" in the end. They didn't have "Clockwork Orange". Shivangi is determined that the guy was hitting on me because he was so eager to help out, and basically only talked to me, but I'm pretty sure that it was just because I kept giving him responses while she giggled.
We ended up putting on the movie, but not watching it. We girl talked instead. Ah, the things we girls do.

Sunday was supposed to be Penny and my romantic day at the beach, but she never picked up her phone, which depressed me immensely, but I carry on. I had to mow our hideous lawn, anyways. 2-hours of fun-filled grass covering every inch of my skin (and eyes), sunburning on my sunburn, and trying to push a broken, disgruntled lawn mower up a 50+ degree incline.
After the swearing and kicking inanimate objects, I showered and concluded to escape the cave which can be considered my house. I did not know where to go on a 95F Sunday afternoon, since most things were closing early, and it was too hot to commiserate outside. Thinking fast, I hit up Panera, bought an iced green tea, and read "The Kite Runner" (which, so far, is pretty awesome) for a few hours. When they closed, I transfered over to Starbucks to read for another hour.
My girlfriend Becky called me then. She is leaving for China today, so wanted to see me, and half of Andover, before she left. So I met up with her and some other kids at Bertucci's for a dinner out. Shivangi (a hostess there) sat us, and gave us a free tiramisu. I overate a lot. Rolled out of the restaurant and cooled off at Becky's house for a while, and slept.

And now boss #1 is breathing down my neck, so I'm going to leave thy vain bibble babble, bibble babble...

Goodbyes Are Sad

Ido came up to visit me in Boston this weekend. I hadn't seen him since I had moved out of NYC, so that's about 7 months. He's now moving back to Tel Aviv, Israel for a year or two (or so), so this visit was more of a kind of goodbye-for-now type thing. For me, it was more of a kind of closure on our relationship.

So, when I picked him up at the South Station, I was full of road rage, I was stressed, just not a happy camper. He called me cold, so I tried cooling my jets some. It was hard. We got moderately lost in the North End and wharfs of Boston trying to find Legal Sea Foods, which we finally did end up finding and eating at, after more than one phone calls to Craig for help.
Of course, with him (as always) the waiters asked us what bottle of wine we wanted to drink. Keep in mind, Boston is SUPER strict on the underage drinking rules, and yours truly is in fact underage. But because he looks his age of 24, and apparently I look far too old for mine, they didn't bother asking for any ID or even questioned our ages. They card my sister still! But no, ever since I started dating that boy, almost every waiter I've ever had with Ido not only ignore carding policies, but almost encourages us to buy their "house wine"s. Do I feel really awesome and sophisticated for being so grown up, or do I feel bad for myself? Who knows.
We had a delicious dinner. He gawked at his chowder and lobster, and I enjoyed my tuna steak.
We walked around Quincy Market & the North End after dinner. He pointed out some nice "first kiss" spots there. We talked about what we've done for the past 7 months, and what might be happening in the nearby future. It started raining, which put a slight damper on our touring of the North End.
Got some Mike's Pastries to feast on later. Drove home, and he quickly crashed to bed.

My dad woke us up with the piano. Welcome to my house. He bonded with my family a little bit, until we offed to find some beaches. Let me explain "find some beaches". I could not, COULD NOT, find myself this entire weekend. 2 hours later in the car, and after turning around on interstates about 3 times, I finally found our way to some place by the ocean that I knew, Newburyport. We hit up a Wendy's for a snack, where he was completely appalled at the idea that I was actually encouraging dunking the french fries into the Frosty. I guess we have our differences, after all. I think he was just being reluctant to adventure.
We walked along Newburyport's beaches, the harbors, the ports, the wharfs, and talked a lot. We talked mostly about education, personal morals, our affinities for math (he was going to be an astrophysicist, too! who knew?!), our family lives, Israel was a big topic, our intelligence (he's a genius, just to let you know. And I'm serious. It took him about 1 hour to admit to me that, too....but he claims I'm very intelligent and that he has a lot of respect for me as a woman, a "girlfriend", a person...), etc.
We ate at Not Your Average Joe's, talked more, walked around Salisbury Beach, drove around Andover and North Andover. Got lost a few more times. I swear I made him car-sick. We got home late to eat leftovers. My mom cornered him in my room and talked to him for 2 hours. The conversation was long, but he was very gracious about it. We watched "The Seven Year Itch" for a while, until we went to bed.

Sunday, I woke him up so we could go to Cambridge. Visited Harvard. He was not very impressed with Harvard Square, or Yard. The weather the whole weekend was TERRIBLE, though. He liked MIT better. We drove around Boston a bit....but I was getting lost a lot again in the city, so I was kind of tweaking/stressing out while driving because I could not get where I wanted to go at all. He noticed me tensing up, so he gave me a neck/head massage while I tried finding how to get back to normalcy, which was very nice.
Then we drove home to celebrate Dad's birthday. We ate dinner with the family, and my parents talked with him, and kind of embarassed me by showing my performances on the TV.
Later on, we decided to go see "Nacho Libre", which he enjoyed but I did not enjoy nearly as much as him. It did not beat "Napoleon Dynamite". Then we parked the car and had an in-depth conversation. And he showed me some of his martial arts.
Since I'm working, and he needs to be in Boston while I'm at work, and my mom has the day off, mom's driving him in for me, so these were my last moments with him.
Getting ready for bed, he came over and gave me a goodbye hug. It was kind of emotional. Went to bed. I wrote him a note. Woke him up in the morning to get pulled into his bed for a last hug and I insisted on a morning kiss goodbye.

I think what I got, in reflection, was better than any fling I was expecting. We're going to keep in touch, still friends. And it's nice to know that we actually had something. We had a legitimate relationship. Too bad we didn't have much time, because I think we would have had some amazing......fun. Never say never, right?

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Yesterday, after work, I went into Boston to visit Harvard grad student Alex and get a calendar that I bought off him while in London. I took the T to Longwood only to find out that he wanted me to meet up with him in the North End (which, if you’re familiar with Boston, is opposite sides of the city). An hour later on the T, and I am walking into the North End to some guys’ apartment that Alex knows from school. Alex greets me in the hallway by running to me, shouting, “Pretty dirty wh***!,” and suffocating me in a hug. It was probably one of the most confusing greetings I’ve received in a while; I didn’t know what to do. Then we proceeded into the apartment.
Let me just describe this apartment, because I am in love with it. It was an open apartment with one brick wall. They had a moveable wall so that you could block off the massive bed area with the TV, and a large living room. The cute kitchen had all new steel appliances, and everything was beautiful. I gawked the entire time there.
It was a night of us bickering and making fun of each other (consider it normal), political debates, watching TV and critiquing shows, and cuddling (etc.). Alex, being the lush that he is, did his thing, and I had a glass of wine. It was nice seeing him after over a year, but I did not appreciate him astropuffing my hair.
His 2 friends were adorable! Tyler, his classmate, is from Canada and was very tidy and studiously inclined. His other friend, Cash, was laid back and funny. They are a funny couple.
I stayed until around midnight, when it officially turned into Alex’s birthday. We sang, and I started getting ready to go home. Tyler and his boyfriend told me to keep in touch and come by more often (and that they wanted me to come to Alex’s birthday fiesta tonight, which I have to decline for sleeping purposes). Alex is a great hugger, props to him. He told me that we had to get together Tuesday, before he left for Greece. So, until then….

NYC For A Day

So I drove into the city with Mom and Craig on Saturday. Mom had a wedding to go to for one of Dad’s assistants in Long Island, so she offered the free ride in for us. I went to see the apartment I’m hoping to sublet, and Craig went in because he is unbelievably bored in our little New England town. It took a few hours to get into Long Island, we got lost perhaps twice. On our way down, though, the girls I was supposed to meet up with that day for the apartment let me know that they forgot I was coming down, and that they were at one of the girl’s sister’s weddings. They would try to come back Sunday evening, but no promises. I was livid.
When we ended up at the parents’ hotel, my Dad brought us to eat at some ritzy hotel restaurant. We talked about music, business, France, my sublet….and I ate one of the magnificently tasting and ludicrously filling lunches ever; a shrimp burger. It is what it claims to be…it is a burger made out of packed shrimp. Delicious.
Craig and I waited to hit up the LIRR to get into the city finally, and we got into Penn Station probably around 4pm. We took the subway up to 50th street and walked to Molly’s apartment over in Hell’s Kitchen (I stayed at hers for the night, while Craig went to a friend’s in New Rochelle). Her apartment was absolutely adorable. She had a friend over, Mike, and we talked for a while only for the boys to conclude that they wanted to go to Guitar Center over near Union Square. Alright, we went.
As we’re in Guitar Center, my friend Rob (whom I was supposed to eat dinner with) called me to let me know that he had a few parties to go to, and he was eating dinner with his brother, but that he still planned on meeting up with me sometime. Right, sure. Frustration was quickly lurking. And Danny called to let me know that he wanted to see me as soon as possible, but he didn’t have a lot of time to kill, and that he wanted me to plan out an agenda for us. Having not been in the city for over 6 months, I insisted that we just meet up and walk around because I couldn’t remember for the life of me what there was to do specifically. After a while of bickering and lost phone connections, we concluded to meet at the cube in Astor Place.
All 4 of us met with him, and began walking around St.Mark’s Place. Molly and Mike parted with us, while us other 3 continued our path around the village. It was nice to talk to Dan. I could tell that he was a massive stress ball and a little bit on the fritzy side (hear the sarcasm….a little bit?), but he was calming down towards the end of our time together. Craig and I left him at the subway station, and got some Jamba Juice. Mmm Mmm.
We met up with Molly and Mike at a new little place over by school called Cafetasia. I got Pad Thai (of course), we split a calamari, and it was a wonderful (and cheap) meal. After that, some more loitering in stores, and then I brought Craig to Penn Station for his train to New Rochelle. We get there to find out he actually needed Grand Central, so he ran to a cab.
Andy called me and told me to meet him at Madison Square Garden (how convenient). As I walked to meet up with him, Rob called me and told me to go to a party that he was at so we could see each other. Okay, I thought, a nice little get-together should be neat. Andy and I walked and gossiped all the way to the place.
At this apartment, we could not get a hold of Rob so we did not know which apartment number to buzz. Luckily, a strand of guys our age (by our age, I mean around 20, since Andy’s an old man ;)…) came to the gates and let us in. Assuming this is the crowd we wanted, we followed them right to an apartment where the parents were greeting us at the door. It must be kosher, right?
Walk down the stairs of this NICE apartment, and we realize this shin dig is something as close to a, underage kegger in the city as possible. And it was all males (save a few females with questionable dispositions). But where, oh where, was Rob? Ah, there he is…talking to that person……. completely wasted. Wonderful.
He comes over and starts talking to us, we laugh for a second, and off he goes. Andy and I giggle about his ADD-ness, and continue to watch the awkward party around us unfold. We commented on how young the kids were (I’m so used to hanging out with people older than me that I’ve grown accustomed to thinking that anyone my age is young.), and observed some extremely amusing sights around us. Rob came back to us, slightly more sloshed, and started hitting on us. That’s odd, right? But why is he trying to rip off my shirt? And WHY ON EARTH is he all of a sudden molesting (oh, I mean hardcore full-handedly molested) Andy?! Completely confused, and partially frightened, Andy and I agreed to ditch the party if a DJ starts playing. And a DJ does start playing. We leave, laughing hysterically. *Andy, I’m keeping the conversation to us, because I think it could never be truly redeemed in writing.*
We walk around for a bit, hit up Times Square, and decided (stupidly) to go get some dessert at Maxie’s. The a la mode cheesecakes we ordered (I ordered the Triple Chocolate Brownie, Andy had the Apple something something), though glorious, were GINORMOUS!!!!!! I’ve never thought that a dessert was going to rip me apart like these did! We rolled ourselves out, and crawled back to our designated sleeping zones.
Molly had some friends over, and the room was a little smoky, so I read for a few hours until they went out for a late night walk.

On Sunday, I didn’t get much sleep. Dad woke me up via phone to make me call the apartment girls again, and to let me know they were going to be at the Renaissance in Time Square soon. The girl I would be subletting for told me that she’d be back at 6pm, but I couldn’t meet my potential roommate today. I got up, met up with Craig at Grand Central, walked to the Renaissance, and made Mom go out to get a wonderful 6th street Indian Lunch. I ate soooo much this weekend!
We walked around Prince Street and the West Village to kill time. James called me, which made me ecstatic.
Craig and I went to go see the sublet in Battery Park. It is exquisite! The girl was bubbly and eager to let me see the whole place and plan out our subletting. I put down first month’s rent, and I agreed to come back in the city 2 weeks later to meet the other one and finalize the deal. Craig was/is jealous.
A long drive home was accomplished by me as Craig slept and Mom talked with me.

Settling In Moreso

I finished my scrapbook on my semester abroad!

I have 2 part-time office jobs now.
The morning job is at North Andover Trust Corp, a finance firm. Finance. One of the classes I dreaded the most. And I'm working with it, now. God is funny. But I'm working on a direct marketing campaign, so it's not so bad. My boss, Michael P, is such a sweet old guy. It's just us 2 in the office, and you can tell he's never had anyone else in the office with him. He buys me water, Kleenex for when I'm sick, tries to cater to my every need. So nice.
The afternoon job is at Watts Regulator, a water supply firm. Mom got me a nice little job here at her workplace, only I'm in a completely different department. I'm working as a clerical gopher in the claims department. Yes, I get to touch defected water pipes. It's wonderful. Mind numbing work.

I am trying to continue my gymrat ways, but it's hard to do with work, chores, and people.

I've hermitted myself quite a bit more this summer. But I think a lot of it is due to the fact that, lately, I have been feeling:
1) a lack of interest in big groups of people
2) more interested in reading
3) too busy to bother other people
4) too tired to bother myself
It's ok, I like people, still. I'll hang out. It's just....I'm not making much of an effort.

Scott surprised me this week by coming into town. It made my week. I love that boy so much. He got really tan working at Lake Compounce, CT! And he's always more and more fit. That boy...my little boy's growing up!!! I'm verclempt.
We watched High School The Musical. We laughed the whole way through.

Going into NYC this weekend with Craig to look at a sublet I really want to use for fall semester. It's in Battery Park, in a high rise. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE....
While I'm there, I'll probably be staying at Molly's. I love how when I go in for less than 36 hours, everyone wants to plan something with me. I may have to say "maybe next time". How unlike me!

I have been cleaning the house like mad. I'm trying to get rid of all of the excess junk we don't really need. It's difficult to do with our house and my lack of time. But hey! Baby steps...

I've been talking to this nice Berklee alumn online. He helped save me from a hideous internship experience via Myspace, and we have hit it off afterwards, too. It's a shame he's moving 2.5 hours away.