It's Raining . . . Again

I'm going to go out there and say that rain is the most depressing weather in Mother Earth's creation. Yesterday we had a day (a cold day) of sun and after only one day of rest it is raining again. 

I'm in the mist (no pun intended, but still funny) of the last week of classes. One paper, a newspaper redesign, a dance recital, a presentation, and two finals stand between me and winter glory. And it will be winter glory. I made a list of fun things I can do at home with my mom and sister, some of which include New Jersey highlights and some of which include me dragging them into NYC to do fun touristy things I haven't done in a while. This does not include the tree in Rockefeller Center. I've seen it. It's big. It usually comes from Connecticut. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, though, that I have never done before. I do plan on watching the tree lighting from my warm (almost dry, despite a leaky ceiling) apartment tonight. Color me excited for the break. I am going to vow not to be bored the entire two weeks I'm at home. 

I have been so on top of my Christmas presents it's astonishing. I have had the majority of the gifts bought and wrapped since before Thanksgiving, but now I'm just anxious to get them out of my closet and into the hands of those they're addressed to. I have done a good job accomplishing  #99. Finish all shopping for the year by Halloween (Birthdays, Christmas, Etc.)  but I think next year I'll be even better at it. I'll have to post an updated list of my 101 things to do in 1001 days because I am making some good progress! I straddled my first photographed state line over Thanksgiving break so I'll have to post that photo soon also. And the girls and I have decided to run a 5K so let the training begin!

I'm done procrastinating and I'm going to get back to my date with my History of Rock and Roll paper.

Wishing everyone a dry Wednesday!

Windows

My office has no windows, which stinks, so I moved my office hours to the library for the day. While you would assume that staring out at a rainy day watching flip-flop wearers scramble to a secure, dry area wouldn't be more amusing than no window at all, but you'd be wrong. I know what time of day it is, what the weather is outside, and my productivity is way up! I call that a win all around. T-minus 25 hours until Thanksgiving bliss. Then just one week until the end of the semester. Where did it go? I ALWAYS say this, but next semester will be better. Here's hoping.

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

Work has been absolutely ridiculous lately. It has become a massive wad of politics, so bad that people forget to care about each other and be nice. I received four assignments yesterday due by the end of the week. This is more than a month after a policy was put in place that people had to come to me two weeks in advance with projects. Needless to say I cannot wait for Thanksgiving when everyone leaves and no one can send me assignments.

Today I have a date with a paper due tomorrow, but after that I have an assignment to redesign the WWPNews (my choosing) which I'm actually excited about doing. Color me geeky but it's a lot of fun and I've only done 2 out of 8 pages needed so far. Here's a link to their current pages. I'll upload some of my redesigned ones when I'm completed.

I also have a paper to write for my History of Rock and Roll class. The topic I chose was the role of lyrics in the folk revival. I thought the folk revival was one of the most interesting musical waves that we looked through. The end of the semester is difficult though. While you would assume that these two papers are the final, they are in fact in addition to a final exam and another final essay. That's just mean.

I also have a video project to work on but I got all of my video at the event I covered the Open Mic Night on Friday night. Now I just have to figure out how to edit in Final Cut Pro! That's one thing I'll never catch on to, broadcast journalism.

There's good news, I guess. I'll graduate eventually and won't have to deal with the SG anymore. This weekend is the Sugarloaf Craft fair which I'm excited about as well. Hopefully I will have found a form of stress relief by then.

Wishing everyone a peaceful mid-week!

Learn Something Everyday

This is a cool site I just stumbled upon. It's call Learn Something Everyday:
http://www.learnsomethingeveryday.co.uk/

Enjoy!

A Piece of My Heart

What a weekend! On Friday I went out to dinner with Gabi and Mandi at Murasaki, a local sushi place. Then I went to Union Jacks with Terence and his roommate for a night of dancing. That was so much fun!

Saturday I had to do a review for The Eagle of a play called "A Piece of My Heart" I'll post a link on Thursday when the article runs in the paper but for now, here's a YouTube video talking about the play.


It was a great performance and I can't wait for my review to be published. I didn't learn that much about Vietnam in school and "A Piece of My Heart" is base off of 26 of 1,500 interviews conducted of women who served in Vietnam as nurses, civilian humanitarians, and intelligence officers. I'm happy I went. I'm also writing a review of a comedy CD, Greg Giraldo. I didn't think he was funny, he was actually really offensive, but it's hard to write that in 600 words. Seeing as I just did it in a sentence. "Don't listen to him. He's offensive not funny." There, I finished my review. 

Today I woke up late and wrote my reviews and then, since it was a BEAUTIFUL day, Terence and I went to Mattie Stepanek's peace park. I heard about Mattie when I saw his mother, Jeni, on the news the other night. Her son suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy, dysautonomic mitochrondrial myopathy from which he died before his 14th birthday. His mother has just written a memoir about Mattie which is why she was on the news, but her son was astounding. Mattie published poems of peace and advocated on Capitol Hill for peace. Mattie had two other siblings who died from the same disease, and at the age of three, he learned to cope with the death of his brother through poetry. He published five books of poems, some of which were New York Times best sellers!

Mattie and his family live in Rockville, MD. After his death they created a park in his name where a statue of him is in addition to football fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, a massive playground, a dog park, and more. On benches scattered around the park quotes from his poems are posted. It was a fantastic experience not only to see his mother talk about Mattie on the news last week, but to go to the park and see how much the community he lives in still loves him.

I ordered his books through the consortium from school so I'll be sure to share some poems when I read them hopefully next week.

After that Terence and I went to Mi Ranchero (which I'll review on Yelp later) a Mexican restaurant we have wanted to go to since he lived there. It was fantastic. Now I'm winding down the night, posting photos, writing articles, getting ready for the week and getting ready to watch the Eagles game.

Wishing everyone a great week!

It's a Michael Buble and Rachael Ray kind of a day

Wednesdays are my day off but I have this awful habit of making plans on that day, since I have nothing else going on. I played hooky on Monday and skipped work so now I'm making up my hours . . .  on Wednesday. BUT I just came from having my senior portraits taken ((AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)). They weren't that bad. The photographer was this lovely woman who laughed at my jokes when usually it's an awkward man who is incapable of smiling. So overall, a good experience. We'll see what kind of ugly mug I'm making in these photos when the proofs go to the house.

I started off my morning amazingly. I realized, while ironing my clothes for maybe the first time, that it was 10:17am and Rachael Ray was on. That show is my secret television indulgence. Today she had Michael Buble on, whose new CD Crazy Love came out on October 9th. Today, as I tuned in, a pregnant woman was professing her families love for his music with her husband. She was saying "the kids run around our house singing your songs and we listen to you all the time. We just love you." Her husband was oddly quiet but what else is he supposed to do when his wife is professing their love to someone else. She told Michael Buble that they were expecting their third child and they sing his songs to the baby all the time and Michael said, "Well, can I sing to the baby?" and the woman absolutely exploded. And of course, I did too. He got down on one knee as her husband pulled out a video camera and Michael Buble sang "I just haven't met you yet" to the baby. It was the cutest thing in the history of television. I love him.

The video below isn't of Michael Buble on Rachael Ray today, but it's his appearance on her show a year ago. As soon as today's show is posted online I'll share because it's just too cute to miss!




Another CD I'm really excited for is John Mayer's Battle Studies coming out on November 17th. I love the new single "Who Says"  and from some of the previews of his CD leaked on YouTube it sounds like it's going to be a great album. 

I also spoke with my grandma today when I called my mom to tell her my great senior portrait success story. That just made me super excited for Thanksgiving madness!

Happy Wednesday!!

There is Good News

I can be a part-time student next semester!!! I can get a jump star on my job search instead of spending this semester or even the summer after I graduate doing it. I did a little victory dance after I found out.

This week is crazier than I expected. I have a final project for the audio section of my Multimedia Production Skills course (we all know how I feel about that one) on Friday and a ton of stuff on my social schedule. But Friday at 2pm I'll be packing to head home for the weekend! Terence and I are going to NJ to celebrate Halloween this year. We're planning on going to Six Flags for Freight Fest! Hopefully the weather is good.

I'm in love with John Mayer's new song "Who Says." It's so therapeutic so I'm sharing some therapy with you.

Photoblog/Designblog Advice?

I just spend a good portion of my day looking through alternate blogger templates for my photoblog or a possible place to put some of my designs online. Epic fail. Does anyone have any advice?

Here it is . . . the rant

I think I have done a fair job of not completely ranting on this blog. Most of it is mindless updates that probably a very small percentage of the internet community cares about, but for me it's therapeutic. So here is a rare but much needed therapeutic rant.

I have come to find what kind of professors I like and respect and which ones I don't. This semester I am confronted with one I love and some that I could do without. At the University, I have had a fair amount of adjuncts, which is totally fine, respectable even. They are working in the field simultaneously and I think might even have some better insights on the field (in this case Journalism) and how it effects us students today. Some of them are young. This isn't true of all of them, but some. I had a web professor who was amazing. She was young, working for a web design firm and DEFINITELY knew her stuff. I learned a lot from her and am actually looking into some web design classes for next semester. Amazing. Now I have a professor who on day one spent the majority of the class on the don'ts. Don't be late to my class. Don't hand assignments in late. I'm older than I look. My class is harder than you think. 30 seconds matters, seriously, don't be late to my class. Okay, I get it. Having obtained almost a complete college degree, I would hope that I'm not dumb enough to be late, turn in an assignment late and disrespect a professor in the first week, but apparently some professors feel that it still needs to be said.

I thought back to some professors that I love and realized that on day one, they handed out the syllabus, asked for questions and dived right into the course work. Let me fall in love with your class and want to hand in the assignments on time, arrive on time, and respect you before you tell me not to. I'm over 21 and not an idiot. Having been late to my share of classes, I get that it doesn't roll well with the professors, which is enough for me to attempt not to do it.

Here's the kicker. On the second class the professor was a half an hour late. The allotted time for professors to be late is 15 minutes for adjuncts and 20 minutes for full time faculty. Being a sincere person, I usually give all professors 20 minutes because we live in a city. If you miss a metro or a shuttle bus even you're going to be at least 20 minutes late. 30 minutes though? We didn't even get anything productive done with the remaining 40 minutes. We rushed through a program that by the end no one understood but everyone was frustrated.

This, as frustrating as it is, makes me respect the other professors more. One of my friends told me that life happens and some professors just refuse to acknowledge that sometimes it happens badly and to them, to everyone. Don't preach to me about being late and then waste 30 minutes of my time waiting for you. 30 seconds matters. Life happens. Own up to it. In the next class after the tardiness, she had the nerve to stop her sentence and scowl at every person (all 2 of them) who walked in after 8:30am. After that she would forget what she was talking about and hesitate getting back to what she was talking about. That is more of a disruption to my learning experience than them actually being late. Why? Because it's 8:30 in the morning and life happens. People WILL be late. Even the professors tardiness I can excuse, but not the continual lecture even after she herself was late.

Let's all move on and learn what we're here to learn. Which for the record is not how to effectively make someone cry by scowling at them.

After thoughts

I haven't written in a while. A lot has been happening I just haven't known how to put it in words.

I find myself in front of T's television watching Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Not a game I particularly care about but I get my personal computer time.

I am well on my way to finishing my Christmas shopping by Halloween. I'm on a massive hunt for dark green wrapping paper. I am done with the major gifts though which is satisfying. Now it's time to hit the books.

I move to the audio section of my Multimedia Production Skills class this week which I'm nervous about. It's like starting a new class again. I hear the professor is intense, but not if you do the work in a timely manner. I am "finished" my web site for the web section. It's due Tuesday morning but I just have a few things to tweak before then (http://eagle1.american.edu/~nk2168a/index.html).

I'm also getting to see Hilary and Mike from my Europe trip this week! A much needed reunion. We just have to find a good place to meet downtown. Suggestions?

Terence and I might also try and catch a Nationals game this week, I think it's their last week. Trying to get in all the fun outdoor activities before it gets a little colder.

I haven't been doing well about uploading my photos to my photo blog in a timely manner, but rest assured, I did take a lot of good ones this weekend. Today, in an effort to up my mood, Terence and I went to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens (http://www.nvrpa.org/parks/meadowlark/) which are only four miles from him. It was beautiful.

I think we're going to try and find a drive in movie theater. That would be a cool experience. I found this web site (http://www.thedctraveler.com/drive-in-movies/) with a list of some "local" theaters, most are at least an hour away though. Maybe there are some in New Jersey?

I am going to make a conscious effort to keep up with this and stay up to date. We'll see how that goes.

Have a good week.

NK

Another Link for Thought

http://www.marcandangel.com/2009/07/13/50-questions-that-will-free-your-mind/

50 Questions that Will Free Your Mind:

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
13. Would you break the law to save a loved one?
14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
20. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
22. Why are you, you?
23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
25. What are you most grateful for?
26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
30. What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
32. If not now, then when?
33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

Linked from http://www.marcandangel.com/

First Day of Classes

I always get nervous on the first day of the semester. This year I am digging my heels in more than ever. Senior year brings a lot of questions unanswered. I always know what I'll be doing the following year in some form. This time around I have no idea. Staying in DC? Maybe. Working? Hopefully.

Or maybe I'll just escape here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/realestate/09deal1.html?_r=3

Anyone have $25 million to spare? We'll call that plan B.

I saw this on the TODAY show this morning, Time's 50 Best Websites of 2009. Worth looking at:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1918031_1918016,00.html

More after my first dance class in college tonight after work.

Happy Monday.

Tuesday Schmooze-day

After I leave work my week will become infinitely more exciting. Terence's friends from Florida are flying into town tomorrow and we have tonight to prepare. I'm also going to make a really nice dinner. I went out to eat last night and just made pasta on Sunday so I'm excited to make an exciting meal. My lunches have become more and more blahh. I'll have to work on that before classes start, IN UNDER 2 WEEKS! (AHHh!) Where did the summer go? I feel like I didn't tackle even half of the things that were once on my to-do list (like update my portfolio).

I am excited for classes to start, although I'm trying not to be. The last couple of semesters I got excited I was sorely disappointed.

I have been listening to my iPod a lot. I realized that listening to my entire collection of music straight through on shuffle is, well, IMPOSSIBLE. I always get in the mood for a different song or accidentally reset it so I'm just enjoying whatever portion of the shuffle I can at work. Right now it's Eric Clapton. There's nothing like rocking out at work. You realize a lot of things about your music collection . . . like how much Dave Matthews and country music you have in your music library.

Speaking of work, we're finally done the magazine. I use the term done hesitantly but we are supposed to get a proof of the magazine any day now. I've moved on to work on posters and t-shirts for events for the fall already so still busy.

More later!

Here's hoping the end of the week is as fun as I think it will be!

Twas the Night Before Surgery . . .

I'm at home for the time being. Tomorrow morning I get to go through the glorious task of getting my wisdom teeth removed. I was exceptionally nervous about being put on an anesthetic but at this point my teeth hurt and I'm sick of thinking about it so take them out.

The weather was beautiful tonight in NJ but it is exceptionally buggier than in DC. Nothing like chomping down on a piece of Jersey corn while mosquitoes chomp down on your shins.

I'm excited for the post surgery plans. This weekend is the Hot Air Balloon festival which my family plans on attending and on Sunday night my brother promised a visit. I may have cheeks the size of chipmunk's cheeks but it's family, they have you love you no matter what you look like :). And of course, nothing tops off a good weekend at home like Harry Potter in IMAX. CAN'T WAIT.

Next week should be crazy madness with the SG staring the magazine deadline square in the face, but I am excited about how it is turning out design wise so here's hoping it's a great success.

I also start on my new project at my internship at Washington Life. A two page spread the designer normally does so that should offer up some more freedom. Here's hoping that's not an epic fail as well.

I just recently created a photoblog (http://photopsychotherapy.blogspot.com/) which I'm enjoying more than I thought I would. Surprisingly, my keeping up with it isn't ending horribly so hopefully since I'll be on blogger I can update here as well.

I'll be in a foggy haze tomorrow but updates will come soon after.

Celebrating Independence with a Million People

This weekend was amazing. Saturday, Terence and I went out to the National Mall for Capitol Fourth and saw the best Fireworks show I have ever seen. We arrived around 1 and walked around a fairly odd Folklife Festival, but after going through security, we spent a beautiful afternoon on the Lincoln side of the Washington Monument. We brought a deck of cards and had a card battle of epic proportions and the afternoon went much faster than expected. The fireworks were amazing. They were set off from either side of the Reflecting Pool and the fireworks were HUGE! It was amazing.

There were so many people but the energy was just contageous. Needless to say I was exhausted on Sunday.

I'm back at work now getting ready for a hopefully eventful week. I'm taking off work next week to spend some time with my parents exploring the city even more.

Count it. Love Summer.

Staying Put?

I have been back to NJ for the past two weekends and I feel like I've been running around like crazy. Last week was a bad week for DCers with the metro crash, the shooting at the Holocaust Museum, and the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. One thing that was cool was that when I went to the annual Relay for Life in Penndale, PA with my family, someone had sponsored an honorary bag for Farrah Fawcett. It was quite an emotional night but it was evened out by some visits from the extended family on my dads side. It was quite the family weekend as well.

So now I am on an epic search for some bad ass Fourth of July plans. I love fireworks so I'm trying to find a place to see them, but also somewhere where I won't be trampled by a million people. The search continues . . .

It's a busy day at work so I'm taking a break to have lunch with Gill. I'm running around DC but for the moment I'm staying put in DC. That's all I can ask for, I guess. More later.

I Only Packed One Bag . . . You Should Be Proud

Last night ended poorly. The worst part was the dream that followed that haunted me.

My chest actually hurts after that insanely visual dream.

It was one of those dreams that was so close to reality it was terrifying.

The moral of the story? I think I've forgotten how to start by making myself happy and began with other people, in turn losing myself.

After getting to NJ from DC yesterday I left my phone in my bag, partially unintentionally, to which my bags went upstairs and my phone that once had one bar of battery left soon had none.

I was intrigued after the other night of Gabi telling me her goal was to go completely cell phone less for an entire year and soon give the internet the boot as well. Could I even do it for one night where everyone I cared about knew where I was?

There's something slightly unaltering about a dead phone. Is it okay?! Will it come back?! After my computer battery crapped out in the winter it's always an option for my electronics.

Nothing good comes immediately after turning your phone on after being dead. Especially no good conversations.

I'm trying not to think about it and my dream but it's 7:15 and I'm awake. I finally got my ceiling fan to stop making that horrible noise that played a role in my dream as well.

Last night my family sat on our deck talking until we were almost completely eaten alive by mosquitoes. We moved inside and watched a psuedo video of my brother's wedding. Almost 2 years ago now, wow.

Some cool internet findings I found out about last night thanks to my tech savvy brother:

Texts from Last Night: Kind of like FML.

http://www.textsfromlastnight.com/

A video from College Humor called "Twitter in Real Life."

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1909386

Epic Attempts

I love the summertime. Amazing weather (when the apocolypse isn't crawling over DC) and tons of things to do.

I have recently been in the buying mood despite my low funds. On my list of 1001 things to do in 101 days #99. Finish all shopping for the year by Halloween (Birthdays, Christmas, Etc.) so I am trying to fuel my buying energy in that direction as an excuse.

Speaking of which I am moving along pretty well on my list:

1. Learn Conversational French
2. Learn Sign Language
3. Swim with a dolphin
4. Host a board game night
5. Visit all 50 states
6. Put my feet in the Pacific Ocean (I put my feet in the Gulf of Mexico!)
7. Don’t text message for an entire month
8. Build something
9. Visit the Ben and Jerry’s Factory (In Waterbury, VT)
10. Go to Ireland
11. Watch Star Wars for the first time (just the first movie) Watched Episodes 4, 5, & 6 on 02/14/09
12. Take daily vitamin every day straight for a month (Finished May 2009!)
13. Set and FOLLOW a month long workout routine.
14. Learn how to drive a manual.
15. Make a photography portfolio
16. Buy a bicycle
17. Go two weeks without cursing
18. Keep a piggy bank and put ALL excess change in said bank
19. Read the entire Harry Potter Series… again
20. Read at least 4 books off of a greatest books ever written list
21. See Dave Matthews in Concert... no matter how old he is and no matter how old I am.
22. Decorate an entire room of my own by myself.
23. Go to the New Jersey Botanical Gardens
24. Straddle 5 state lines… Photographed.
25. Finally organize all of the postcards I have collected.
26. Create and mail in a Post Secret postcard.
27. Don’t watch any television for a week.
28. Don’t use any plastic bags for a month.
29. Don’t buy bottled water for a month.
30. Paint a room a crazy color
31. Run in a mini marathon ((5k in October!))
32. Dress up for Halloween (seriously, even though you hate Halloween)
33. Watch the end of the West Wing series
34. Watch the end of the O.C. series
35. Learn how to surf
36. Learn how to play guitar

37. Go to a wine tasting
38. Go to a drive in movie
39. Go to a planetarium
40. Listen to all of the music on my iPod (5535 items, 49.7 days worth of music)
41. Skip dessert for a month
42. Stop biting my nails for an entire month
43. Make something from blown glass
44. Learn how to make pottery
45. Color an entire coloring book
46. Send 101 cards (41/101)
47. Read Gone With the Wind
48. Don’t use Facebook for two weeks
49. Pay Dad back for the accident ($500)
50. See 50 of IMDB’s top 250 movies (http://www.imdb.com/chart/top)
51. Do Photo Project 365 (http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/)
52. Go to a Salsa Club
53. Buy nothing for a week.
54. See the sunrise (01/20/09, Inauguration morning, the day I started 1001!)
55. See the sunset.
56. Do the 26 Things project (http://sh1ft.org/26things/)
57. Reread Childhood books
58. Attend a film festival
59. Go to Atlantic City (Post 05/05/09) and gamble with only $40. Whatever happens, happens, no continuing with winnings.
60. Keep a journal everyday.
61. Go to church every Sunday for three months straight.
62. Organize iTunes
63. Organize all of my crap/memorabilia
64. Don’t eat out for an entire month
65. Ride in a hot air balloon
66. Graduate (Early?)
67. Make my own website (buy the web space... don’t cop out)
68. Keep a dream glass
69. Get over it.
70. Sing in front of people
71. Read five banned books
72. Dress up for an entire week for no reason.
73. Go crabbing
74. Donate to Locks of Love (more than once)
75. Buy fruit from local farmers for an entire month
76. See Penguins in their natural habitat (Saw penguins LIVE at the Florida Aquarium 03/14/09).
77. Travel to a Spanish speaking country and use as much Spanish as possible
78. Seriously consider backpacking across Europe in 07/2010. Do everything humanly possible to go.
79. Read more books per year than the previous year (32 in 06, 33 in 07…)
80. Donate to a charity every year (0/3)
81. Go to the beach without getting Sun burned
82. Finish and frame a puzzle with over 5,000 pieces in it.
83. Attempt (legitimately) a NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org/)
84. Write a message in a bottle and let it go at my favorite spot by the beach.
85. Go through an entire semester without missing class.
86. Go sky diving.
87. Conquer my fear of horses and ride one.
88. Send someone I love flowers anonymously.
89. Keep five plants/flowers/trees, and keep them alive.
90. Fill someone’s expired meter.
91. Go to high school reunion.

92. Give up all caffeine (including chocolate) for two months.
93. Go to the top ten best rated restaurants in DC.
94. Shadow a journalist, designer, or Mr. Zink for a day.
95. Write your life story in a day.

96. Edit it later, make a memoir?

97. Identify 100 things that make you happy.

98. Start a blog and keep up with it.

99. Finish all shopping for the year by Halloween (Birthdays, Christmas, Etc.)

100. Donate $10 to charity for every item I do not achieve by XX/XX/XXXX

101. Create another list.

So many dreams and so little time.

I'm also making every attempt to become a coupon lady. Things are expensive and I hear gas prices are rising too! It's rough.

I have stopped eating out as much as possible. I'm not going to lie, I have broken a couple of times but it's only been 2 or 3 in two weeks, which after eating out almost every meal isn't bad! Attempt number 2 to save money.

Going home in two weeks for my Mom's Birthday and Father's Day and I'm pretty excited. My sister is popping in to visit tomorrow night on her way to VA which will also be a good time. I am having the hardest time finding a birthday card for my mom though. We try to make each other cry due to laugher but I don't want to make my mother cry because of saddness from an old joke which is what EVERY card is now. How frustrating. I might have to make her one and think of something witty. If you know of any good card stores in DC or ideas for messages for inside cards send them my way!

More later, and more often, promise.

Photo for this post: Flowers on campus.

Mother's Day in NJ

So Happy Mother's Day to all of the mother's out there. It would be inconsiderate of me not to start there. 

I find myself sitting in a very comfortable chair in my living room in New Jersey awaiting the arrival of my grandparents and listening to the soundtrack to Juno which I got out from the library. It's relaxing, I'd recommend it. 

Our holidays until very recently have been shockingly monotonous. Arrival, exchange of gifts/hellos/conversation, meal, goodbyes. Weird, right? Last year we abandoned the tradition completely but this year we bring it back with a couple slight changes. The addition of the Phillies Game and Yahtzee. I'm interested to see how this goes. 

I read the New York Times Magazine this morning and found this Mother's Day appropriate article that was touching:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/magazine/10lives-t.html?ref=magazine

And then an interview with Arlen Specter which was solely entertaining, apparently the new found democrat has jokes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/magazine/10wwln-q4-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

P.S. Did you know graphic designers design the header graphics for the New York Times Magazine? A woman came to speak to the design department last fall and she showed us some portfolio picks that I recognized above William Saffire's column On Language. Maybe there's hope!

I'll be in New Jersey this week hopefully enjoying the beautiful weather but this windy Mother's Day I'll be with the family. We do make our own fun though. 

Here's to a relaxing week at home... cheers. 

((Pictured above... a friend who came from off the deck yesterday to hang out in the family room... a tree frog.))

My Bad

WOW, I am bad at this. 

Let's make this a short update. Seeing as it has been almost a month since I updated last (making me horrible at this blog thing) it might surprise you that not a lot has happened. I have had my head unwillingly shoved into numerous textbooks in a sad attempt to keep up with my studies. But thank God, the semester is coming to a close. One final exam and one paper stand between me, 21, and freedom from this heinous semester. 

Tomorrow I have told myself I will conquer and hand in this paper about Title IX and take my Journalism Ethics exam. Almost immediately afterwards I'm going to have my first legal drink with my parents and my sister in Georgetown. Paint me excited. 

After that the summer of glory begins. Don't hold your breath kids, let the party begin. 

Friends or Not?

I've been thinking about friendships and relationships a lot lately. All of my thinking has boiled down to this. All we really want is someone to care about us. 

My family comes tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. Mostly because I know that no matter what happens, they'll care about me. How do I know this? Leave it to my brother to terrify a nurse in a hospital in New Jersey on a massive search for me in a bed somewhere in that hospital. I wish I I could say the same about my friends here. DC, with all of its perks, I have come to find is a very egotistical city. If you start paying attention, people only talk about themselves. You'll begin with a story, "So I was walking downtown today..." "REALLY? I walk downtown..." and you've lost a listener. 

My best friend from home Gabi brought this to my attention some time ago, and ever since then I can't forget it. 

This past weekend I had a party to celebrate our friends and the Cherry Blossom festivities. Out of a room of 20. I could only pick out 3 people who I considered friends. One actually asked if this party was going to get any better. If a friend invites you to a party and it blows, I say embrace it. Maybe it's just me, but am I living in everyone else's world? It's not our world, it's theirs. I wasn't once asked about how I was, but I was asked about a summer job or internship and where I was living next year. Is this what makes me a worthy friend? Gainful employment and a place to live? 

At times I felt like I was being judged at face value. Judged period!

Host, female, sarcastic, slightly bitchy, under 21, employed, internship, rent this much. 

Net worth? Not worth their time. 

Wow, she's drinking an awful lot. Can you believe she wore that? Did you hear what she just said?

I can right now, think of Gabi, who would carry me home if I was puking all over myself, compliment me on an interesting outfit choice, and laugh about it WITH me, not at me, and tell me I'm an idiot for saying stupid things... to my face. 

When the first friend I ever met at AU (fellow Jerz-ian) showed up to the party, I cried when I met him in the parking lot. I cried realizing that outside of my boyfriend, he was the only person who cared about me in there. I haven't seen him since we celebrated his birthday in December, but that didn't matter. We don't have to see each other every waking moment to maintain a friendship. When I'm upset, he knows, and asks me about it. Not about if I offered him anything, any benefits from our friendship. 

I recognized this on a microscopic level some time ago, and decided to kill them with kindness, all of them. No one can be mean to a girl who's nice all the time. Well guess what? NO ONE is nice all the time. You slip once and it's back to judgy town. 

I decided then and there to stop wasting MY time. Life is short, man. Why waste my time trying to be kind to people that don't share the same kindness back to me. 

I am thankful for my friends, genuine friends. I don't need millions, the four I have right now will suffice :). You know who you are.

Bottom line? We all just want someone to care about us. Poor, unemployed us. 

My Mission: Make DC More Appealing

I apologize for the gap in time since my last post. I was in glorious Florida relaxing before returning to the heightened pace of DC. I, like a nerdy tourist, love to completely engulf myself in an area I haven't experienced before (Tampa, FL and Naples, FL, being two places I have not experienced). Little did I know, this was not the engulfing crowd. Like the rest of my family, we're up and moving by 9 a.m. Not this crowd. Despite the slightly slower pace, I loved the warm weather, the amazing friends, and glorious beaches. To my boyfriend's (Terence) surprise (and a little of my own) I was defending DC, a place I found individualistic, selfish and uninviting two weeks prior, in a sea of Florida-ites. Tough crowd, I know, but I found numerous people who *GASP* missed the seasons, which makes me even more hesistant to leave them. I plan on posting photos soon (whenever I muster up the strength) but I had a lot of fun. A well needed, enjoyable break.

Fastfoward through my first week back. At the very beginning of the week I made a list of assignments I have to have completed by March 30th (including 3 papers and quite a bit of reading) so that I can afford (AKA not flunk out of college) while driving to the Catskill Mountains the weekend of the 28th. Terence and I are going to surprise his mom and brother (for his brothers birthday!) and hopefully pop in on my parents on the way home as well. Should my car be able to make the 6 hour venture, it will be a lot of fun. Now I just have to make sure I don't miss any massive assignments.

I am on a mission to make Terence like DC. It's not that he doesn't like it.... persay. He just misses Florida... and talks about it... a lot. SO I decided while we were in Florida to do everything that I can to ensure that while DC may fall second best to Florida, that I make it the closest race humanly possible. Tonight I took him on a surprise date. I blindfolded him and took him to the Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, MD. Thankfully, the cold weather didn't scare away the crowds and there was enough to do before "going out" time. Tomorrow the mission to make DC super cool continues and hopefully the cold weather won't stop us from going to Glen Echo Park. Another new spot, which I hear has good photo opportunities! If you have any good ideas of things to do in DC that are off the beaten path and won't constantly remind me that I only have 40 days until I'm 21, those would be much appreciative. Tonight when Eddie said, "Hey Natalie, are you coming along" when the guys left for a much needed guys night, I said, "No. Wouldn't that be depressing?" He didn't get it so I had to tell him I wasn't 21 yet, to which he was floored. SO CLOSE!

Now I conclude watching both Leno and Fallon and wait for the boys (plural, I'm hosting numerous tonight) to come back from the bar. Me? I have a date with some homework to ensure that Catskill pans out. 

Goodnight all. Let Spring begin. 

 

"This is What Life's About, Seriously, This is What Life's About."

Thanks to Professor Wapner for the title of this post. I interviewed him yesterday. Really, really interesting guy. I feel like you learn something from every person you interview and I learned a lot from Professor Wapner. He's the Associate Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics program at AU and I interviewed him for my Advanced Reporting profile (FINALLY, someone would talk to me). 

I came across an interesting predicament in my search for an interviewee though. I arrived at his office obnoxiously early (1:50 for a 2:00 interview) because I'm compulsive like that, but good thing. A different man answered the door and informed me that Prof. Wapner would be taking his office in the library. Awesome, less pressure, good atmosphere, one problem... I don't know what Prof. Wapner looks like. So here's a question for you: How do you approach someone you've never met and only are able to recognize from a photo you saw on the SIS web site without being pinned as an interview stalker? Second problem, he's with a student, and theres a line of students behind this one. GAH. I freaked because not only do I ALWAYS get nervous for interviews, even if it's nothing, but this interview has been the hardest to get by far. I NEED this interview. So, I walked into the bathroom and gave myself a pep talk, walked back into the MudBox and introduced myself. I got in line with the rest of the students :), BUT I GOT THE INTERVIEW, which makes me a happy camper as my mother would say, even though I hate camping, and I'm never happy while doing it. 

So update time. Only two days until I'm on a train New Jersey bound and I cannot wait. I took my last midterm last night which wasn't as bad as it should have been seeing that I didn't study half as much as I would have had I had the time... (that's a lot of haves, sorry). I texted my parents, my brother, and my sister last night to tell them how excited I am that I'll be seeing them soon and it was great to hear from them. I'm currently in the Rockville Library jamming out to Jack Johnson and searching for a lead for this profile... no luck yet. My only assignment for the next 2 days is to make a new package for the post cards I designed two weeks ago. Which means another trip to the art supply store for Natalie, which means... it'll be windy because I'm buying matt board.  But then American Idol and Lie to Me are on which are the perfect television shows to top off a day off. Prof. Wapner said he doesn't watch TV yesterday and I instantly felt like a moron. I like TV... and you're right, TV is stupid. 

I got a letter from myself yesterday. That sounds weird, but last year I took a creative writing ckass with Professor Noble. She's great. If you have any interest in writing you should take a class with her. On the day of our final she gave us each a sheet of paper and told us to write a letter to us, 6 months from now. Mine was more like a list of to-do's more than a letter. It was a "here's where you should be, so kick your butt in gear" note. Quite profound if I do say so myself. 

Well this post is quite lengthy so I'll end it here, but leave you with something Professor Wapner said. One of the many interesting points he made. He said, "There are so many people who need to be helped out of poverty, it's somewhat our responsibility to do that, but at the same time, we are ushering these people into consumptive lifestyles that they can't handle. So I think we have to reduce our consumptive habits in this country and in the north in general, and recognize that this has to be a part of the larger sustainability trajectory."

<3.

Thank God for Wednesday

I just realized the actual religious sentiment for this Wednesday being Ash Wednesday, but I was initially talking about how I don't have classes on Wednesday and how that's amazing. It's like a one day weekend in the middle of the week. 

I'm sitting in my apartment waiting to do an interview for my Advanced Reporting class (thumbs down) but it has been really hard to get a hold of someone and actually get it done. It's due on Thursday so if I finish the interview today tomorrow will be that much more enjoyable. I

 just hope it works out because if not, I'm screwed. I stayed home from work so I could call and do the interview and I don't want to be loud/get interrupted. 

The second half of my weeks are always easier

 than the first half. Thursday I just have Adv. Reporting, which may feel like it lasts for 7 hours, is only 2 and a half hours long. After that the only thing stopping me from the weekend is Intermediate Typography which I absolutely love this semester and whatever work hours I have to make up. Fun stuff going on at work too. Farmers Market, Women's History Month, Saint Patrick's Day events, upcoming SG elections. Now that Founders' is over there's a lull (shh don't tell anyone!) I am quite proud of all of those designs though. See the picture of the mug I designed to the right :). 

This weekend is also exciting. It's the last weekend before SPRING BREAK and there are some Mardi Gras celebrations occurring. I only have one actual "midterm" next week but I do have a quiz in another course which is only one of four things that are being graded for the entire semester, so I should study for that as well. I'm going home to get HENRY (my car) before shipping off to Florida for spring break and I cannot be more excited. Once I hit Wednesday of next week, my motivation to do any work is going to be totally shot. I'll be in my apartment packing and don't bother knocking. 

In short, let's hope this interview works out, and is it spring break yet?