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I’m hooooome…unfortunately.  I really would give anything (well, maybe not an arm or leg, but perhaps an eyebrow?) to be back up in Boston for the rest of the summer.  Ashley and I drove up Friday afternoon and actually didn’t hit too much traffic.  As soon as we got off the good ole Mass Pike at Newton, I started to get incredibly giddy to be back in pretty much my favorite place in the world.  As in, my head was bobbing, my arms were flailing, and I was bouncing around my seat (Ash may or may not have feared for her life, as I was still behind the wheel…), and let it be known that the feeling lasted the entire weekend until I got back on the Mass Pike to come home (boooo).  Anyways, so we picked up Steve and Shwin, and headed directly toward Cafénation (wooooo).  For those of you who know me, I have a difficult time picking what to eat, but I eventually decided on the BBQ Chicken Crepe, and it was delightful (although Ash deemed it too sweet for her spice-craving taste-buds).  We went back to Steve’s after to hang for a bit, and ended up getting dinner at Wagamama with Pete and Nadia.  Aliya and Sofia got to Steve’s pretty late, but we had such a fun time.  I was pretty much dead to the world on Saturday, but we managed to go to the Museum of Science (SO MUCH FUN).  I wanna go back there when the kiddies are in school; they were hogging all the fun toys and gadgets (bastards).  We had an excellent dinner at Giacomo’s Saturday evening, where I chose the usual linguine with shrimp and scallops, doused in fracomo sauce.  We also took Aliya and Sofia to Mike’s so they could have the ultimate pastry experience.  And Sunday was nice, too; I met up with Alicia, Ash and Swhin at Panera and saw Alicia’s place afterward.  It’s such a cute apartment, and it’s exactly the kind of place I’d love to reside next summer.  We ended up going to UBurger (oh man, Big Papi with extra chipotle sauce = my favorite thing ever) and Angora (okay, vanilla frozen yogurt with fudge brownie, caramel, and Oreo crumbled on top is equally my favorite thing ever).  And then I got a coffee that was entirely too big for my own good, picked up Ashley, and started driving home.

SLASH, re-reading the above paragraph made me realize I get entirely too excited when I talk about food.  Mmm, food.

I had my first day of work yesterday, and I’m thinking I should consider it a success; only one guest wanted to murder me.  In case you haven’t been keeping up with my blog (shame on you), I’m working the front desk at a nearby hotel.  I’m very good at making key cards, scheduling wake up calls, and baking cookies (which, believe it or not, is part of my job description).  Hotel software?  Not so much.  At least, not yet.  The guy who probably wanted to kill me was supposed to have a reservation, but he wasn’t listed in my arrivals, and I couldn’t find his reservation.  And of course my boss had stepped out to lunch, so it was literally me, alone in the hotel.  Sad.  So anyways, I fumbled around for a good 10 minutes trying to find his reservation, and then once I found it (it had been mischeduled) I fumbled around with the payment process.  Disastrous.  But like I said, the rest of the day went smoothly, and I kinda had fun.  I’m somewhat looking forward to working again tomorrow and Friday (even though I have a shitty shift, from 5pm-11pm).

Can you believe all the stuff that has been going on in the world the past week or so?  I was watching the news at the gym this morning and realized just how much has been happening.  I don’t really know what to make of the ousted president of Honduras.  I had never even heard of him prior to the recent coup (if it can even be called a coup), but he’s kinda been launched to international fame as a result.  Critics claimed he was trying to change the constitution to end the one-term limit for presidents, and was thus abusing his power.  But I mean, FDR was elected to office for four terms, and we didn’t exactly give him the boot.  Then there’s Iraq, and the American troop withdrawal.  I never thought I’d see the day.  I’m glad that our troops are finally starting to get out of that mess, but I dont know if Iraq’s strong enough to stand on its own two feet to quell the uprisings.  There have already been bombings amidst the Iraqi celebrations.  I guess we’ll see.  Oh, and the recent Iranian election.  I know it’s somewhat old news, but hey, it’s still a mess over there, and from what I understand the U.S. still hasn’t recognized Ahmadinejad as the country’s President.  It’s just really fishy considering in some districts there were more votes than there were people (really, Iran?), and that the recount claimed that Ahmadinejad received more votes than originally thought.  What a mess.  And I watched a really disturbing video of an Iranian singer who was shot and killed during the protests.

Gee, I woke up this morning and was astonished to see that it was raining.  I mean, it hasn’t rained 13/14 days the past two weeks.  It’s probably a good thing, because I wouldn’t know what to do if I saw that big, yellow thing…I think it’s called the sun?

Still jobless, but I went for an interview at Comfort Suites over on 17.  My dad met the general manager at a networking thing and was talking about me, and he casually mentioned that I was looking for a job.  Fabulous, eh?  So keep an eye or an ear out, I might be dirty Jersey’s number one hotel receptionist (haha title thanks to Victoria).  The pay is kinda shitty, but at least it’s something.  I’d still rather babysit, or tutor, or do anything that isn’t taxed (so if you know anyone…LEMME KNOW).

Anyways, I was stumbling around the web and came across the barrel monster.  I have to say, I was pretty damn impressed; I’ve never seen such a beautiful piece of vandalism/artwork, and I’m not joking when I say I kind of want one of my own.  I would put it right next to Ashley’s Zac Efron, I think they’d be the best of buddies.

Courtesy of Netflix, I have also started watching some EXCELLENT television shows: 30 Rock and Weeds.  Tina Fey is great, and I find myself grinning throughout the entire show.  Which means I just grinned for 3.85 hours straight, since I just watched more than half of season 2.  And is it weird that I kind of have a crush on Jack Donaghy?  He’s not really attractive, and his voice is kind of bizarre, but I love his personality because he’s just so ridiculous.  Yeah, I know, I’m crazy.  And I watched the first season of Weeds yesterday, and I loved that too.  I love Jeffrey Morgan, the guy who played Judah in the first few episodes.  Crazy coincidence that he played the dead boyfriend/husband in PS I Love You, too…what is it about that guy that makes him such an excellent lost loved one?  Anyways, I’m gonna watch some more 30 Rock.  My face is going to hurt tomorrow.

This article is absolutely fabulous: Hello Means ’How About a Hug?’ LONG LIVE THE HUG :)

Uhmm, so in case you haven’t noticed (which you quite literally have to be blind NOT to have noticed), SpazzleNET has a completely new look!  I started using WordPress instead of Greymatter, and I absolutely LOVE it!  Unfortunately, I can’t personally take credit for this beautiful theme; it’s one of the pre-made ones that I’m using until I get a chance to make my own and install it.  You’ll probably notice that a lot of links are broken, many of my pictures are not up, and that things are sort of just a mess.  Don’t fret; I’m working on fixing all of this, and I’m trying to integrate my old pages into WordPress now.  Hopefully I’ll have my old high school pictures up and running, plus some college pics and my photography.  I’ll keep you posted on the latest updates as they come!  Oh, and PS, the comments are now located to the left of these entries, and please feel free to continue using an alias or fake e-mail address if you wish.

There has been a lot of baby talk here in the office because our loan processor, Olga, just had a baby girl. My dad has been telling stories about my brother Mike and I when we were babies, and listening to them, I can’t help but notice how not much has changed. Mike used to go to sleep at 8 or 9 pm and sleep until late morning every single night, without fail; he still sleeps for an incredibly long time. I used to be THE biggest grump whenever I was hungry, and I would scream and cry until I was fed. I guess not much has changed for me, either; when I’m hungry, I want food, and I want it immediately.

Interesting article…High Court in Germany Pops Names That Balloon. I wonder if the US would ever pass such a law? At first I thought it was ridiculous, but as I mulled it over a bit, I started to see the use in it. Imagine actually having the name ‘Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg?’ Absurd. I don’t think that ever really happens here in the US, but I don’t know…does anyone know any ridiculous names? Anyways, at least its only a 3-name limit for last names…it’s nice to know that if I ever had a kid in Germany, I could still name him John Jacob Jingle-Heimer Schmidt. Excellent.

Wade deserves some credit for being the most talented singer-songwriter I know. Here it is, his soon-to-be hit, an ode to Craisins:

C, the lovely “cran” you used to be
R, now so rich and really quite tangy
A, absurd amounts of wond’rous delight
I, you’ll be mine all night
S, sinful and holy all wrapped up in one
I, incredible flavor, the best, bar none
N, no other treat can even compare
S, so give me some Craisins or get out of my hair.

It brought tears to my eyes, it was just so beautiful.

Just a thought: why do we derive so much pleasure out of scaring people? I mean, I know I personally LOVE waiting behind a door and giving a simple, yet forceful “BOO” to make someone (usually Ash) jump and possible crap in his or her pants. Immature? Yes. Still awesome? Definitely. Back in middle school and high school, Sam used to scare the hell out of me by coming up behind me and poking me in the sides. I screamed every single time, without fail. Anyways…yeah.

Shittiest April Fool’s prank: University of California, San Diego sent out almost 30,000 acceptance letters. To the wrong students. UNreal. Imagine being told “hey, you’re in!” and then “…just kidding…?” My business law professor said that if the students accepted UCSD’s offer before they received the revocation of the offer, that UCSD would have let them in. I LOVE when stuff from class is applicable to current events. God, I’m such a nerd.

Anyways, another thought. I’m convinced that one of the most awful allergies to have is a gluten allergy. Kat, one of the girls in my Appalachia group, has Celiac Disease (gluten intolerance). She has to be so careful with what she eats and the products she buys. Gluten is in almost EVERYTHING…bread, cookies, pasta, even shampoo! And she’s allergic to the extent that she can’t eat a salad if a crouton brushes up against her lettuce. I’m also convinced that Nadia has a mild form of gluten intolerance. She’s always feeling crummy, and whenever she’s complaining about it most, there’s something bread-like (READ: bread, oatmeal, more bread) in her hand. Apparently 1 in 133 people have the disease (statistic courtesy of about.com), so it’s more common than one would think. I’m so glad I only had to deal with lactose intolerance for a few years…it seems I have even outgrown that. It’s a relief not having to take the little LactAid pills every time I ingest something that might contain milk.

Okay, last thought: I took part in the most nauseating lunch conversation a couple days ago about pureed food. So as I’m sure you’re all well aware, one unfortunate side effect of growing old is losing your teeth, thus eliminating your ability to chew solid foods. Nursing homes seem to have found a way to combat this problem: PUREE! Not only do they puree your typical veggies, but apparently they puree anything and everything. Some of the disgusting pureed goods discussed: tomatoes, burgers, and (WORST OF ALL) spaghetti and meatballs. I literally almost yakked (barfed/threw up/take your pick of one of the synonyms I posted on 3/30) when the last one was mentioned…it’s just NOT OKAY to puree spaghetti and meatballs. Nasty.

I’ll write more later. WOOOEEEYYY :)

Alicia just gave me such a thoughtful birthday present! Have you guys ever heard of MochaClub.org? The company asks you to give up two mochas each month to donate $7 to a variety of causes in Africa. You’re in control of how your money is spent; you can pick to support causes such as education, care for orphaned children, and care for child mothers. Alicia picked Sudan regrowth for me, so the money she spent on my present helps provide relief flights for refugees, care for orphans, and care for former sex slaves. The shirt itself says “I need Africa more than Africa needs me.” There’s a long message on the inside of the shirt, and one of the lines really stuck out to me:

“Possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart.”

I think our society today is so absorbed in consumerism that it’s hard to keep in mind what’s truly important. We all want more “things,” as if such “things” will fill the pain and sadness we sometimes feel. Even when I was down in Hurley, VA on my Appalachia trip, I was having similar thoughts. I can’t even explain in words how nice, refreshing, and eye-opening it was to spend an entire week with 18 other BC students, some smelly Holy Cross students, and the people of Hurley. There were no cell phones, no computers, no televisions. We had only a dingy couch, a long dinner table, and our mouths to keep ourselves occupied. We truly got to know each other because we spoke and we listened in return. There were no distractions, and we were able to live in the moment. This is something I’d personally like to work on more. I want to focus more on what I’m doing and how I’m feeling right now, rather than worry about what’s up next. I think it’s something we should all work for, actually.

On another note, I’m ill. Again. I woke up and felt like I got hit by a bus, so I made an appointment at the infirmary. I have to say, it was the quickest doctor’s appointment I’ve ever had…from the time I walked into the office to the time that I walked out, I was there for 9 minutes. The doc decided to put me on antibiotics for 10 days (yay?), so I guess I’ll be taking it easy for the next couple of weeks. I’m convinced that I keep getting sick because I’m not getting enough sleep this semester. My body was used to getting 8 hours of sleep every night last semester, and because I’ve had to cut it down to 6 or 7 most nights, I think I’m really feeling it.

Next semester is going to be a lot better though, and I should have less work. I’m planning on continuing with both French and Spanish. There other classes I’m looking into are Causes of War, Service, Social Justice & Solidarity in Latin America, and Challenge of Justice. They’re all supposed to be great classes, so I’m pretty pumped. I’d have really busy Tuesdays and Thursdays (I’d be going basically from 9-6), but my Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays would be fabulous (only one class at 12).

Uhmmm, so I was just meandering around the internet and I stumbled upon Ashley’s xanga from middle school…? Hahaha seriously, CHECK IT OUT.

Alright, I’m gonna end on that note. Toodles!