recent happenings

It's summer! Also, I am unemployed. Basically, this means that I watch a lot of The Office re-runs and clean the house almost every day. I have also been quite crafty in the kitchen, having baked two loaves of banana bread from scratch, made homemade chicken pot pie and brownies, and other assorted delicious things. Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday, actually, so I won't have to cook, haha. My lovely boyfriend has promised to me a delicious dinner at ETS (Elmwood Taco and Subs) and then, he is taking me to see UP! It should be absolutely great. I'm pretty excited...probably because there is nothing special about a 22nd birthday. After this, I have only a few birthdays to look forward to, i.e. 25, when I can legally rent a car without paying ridiculous fees, 35, when I can legally run for president, and whenever it is that I can join AARP. 55 or something. As we speak, I am currently watching an episode from Season 2 of The Office, and honestly, nothing upsets me more than the episodes before Jim and Pam realize that they are obviously meant to be together and get rid of Roy/Karen/other insignificant others and begin to date, officially. I'm not kidding, it really upsets me sometimes.

So tonight Zach and I are going to the library to catch up on our leisure reading. We are worried that the summer and corresponding summer activities and fun are turning our brains to mush, so we are delving into the list of suggested leisure reading given to us as a prep for law school by the UB Law Admissions website. Included on this list are The Appeal by John Grisham, The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr. I read To Kill a Mockingbird in ninth grade, and I remember the basic plot, but it surely wouldn't hurt to read it again.

We officially got an apartment in Baltimore! We will be living at the Henderson House apartments, which is just a block and a half away from campus. This is great, because we will just have to walk to class and not have to worry about finding parking or anything ridiculous like that. It's a beautiful building that is over 100 years old, and our apartment has renovated hardwood floors, brand new appliances in the kitchen and a washer and dryer in unit! This is unbelievably exciting to me, probably because laundromat prices are ridiculous and we wouldn't be able to just go over to Zach's parents' house to do laundry.

I can't believe we're moving to Baltimore in just a little over a month. It's going to be a huge change, but I feel as if we are ready and in time, we'll love it.

seriously bored. doing one of these nonsensical surveys

TEN WHATS:

1. What was the first thing you thought about when you woke up?: gosh it is hot in here...must open a window

2. What did you do last night?: uhmm...got home from the waterloo outlets at around 8, cleaned up the WHOLE APT with zach, watched a few episodes of six feet under and went to sleeep :)

3. What is the most important part of your life right now?: my family, zach, moving to baltimore...that's a weird question by the way

4. What would you rather be doing right now? actually i'm having a lovely time in the apartment getting things done with all the windows open :)

5. What did you last cry over?: i don't really know

6. What always makes you feel better when you're upset?: zach :) grosssss haha

7. What are your plans tomorrow?: class from 1-215 and then 230-515...then gosh i don't know

9. What are you worried about?: moving to baltimore

10. What are you looking forward to most in this week?: quad party :)


NINE HAVE-YOU-EVERS:

1. Have you ever liked someone with a girlfriend/boyfriend?: yes but not anymore

2. Have you ever had your heart broken?: yes

3. Have you ever played on a sports team?: synchronized skating

4. Have you ever been out of the country?: canada, australia, ireland, england, france, germany, italy...in a word, yes.

6. Have you ever been back stabbed by a friend?: of course

7. Have you ever had the cops called on you?: nope

8. Have you ever dated someone younger then you?: ugh yes what a mistake

9. Have you ever read an entire book in one day?: haha it's what i do best actually

EIGHT WHOS:

1. Who was the last person you saw?: zach before he left for work

2. Who was the last person you hugged?: see above

3. Who was the last person you called?: god my life is nothing but zach apparently

4. Who was the last person to call you?: my mom

5. Who was your first crush?: can't remember

6. Who was the last person to text message you?: zach

7.Who is the last person you texted?: zach

8. Who did you last yell at?: MY LIFE IS NOTHING BUT ZACH APPARENTLY THANKS SURVEY



SEVEN WHENS:

1. When was your last shower? just about an hour ago

2. When did you last see your mom?: yesterday actually

3. When was your last hug?: today

4. When did you last dress up?: hrmm...going out a few weeks ago. but senior ball is soon!

5. When was the last time you cried?: probably in the last week...i am hyper sensitive

6. When did you last go to the movie theatre?: oh god i have no idea...probably to see frost/nixon with zach a few months ago?

7. When were you born?: june 23 1987 at about 11 in the morning



SIX WHERES:

1. Where do(es) your best friend(s) live?: amber lives in rochester currently, although she is moving to buffalo. zach lives with me. so does winston. emilie lives on hughes in buffalo and amanda lives on delevan.

2. Where did you last go?: waterloo outlets yesterday

3. Where did you last hang out?: right here in my apartment

4. Where do you go to school?: canisius

5. Where is your favorite place to be?: uhm...galway haha i miss it

6. Where did you sleep last night?: in my bed dur


FIVE DO/DOES:

1. Do you like someone right now?: of course

2. Do they like you too?: well i would hope so we've been together almost 2 years

3. Do you ever wish you were someone else?: not realy

4. Do you know the muffin man?: ugh

5. Does the future scare you?: nope

FOUR WHYS:

1. Why are you best friends with your best friends?: because they're some of the few that didn't completely turn on me in the past year

2. Why did you get a Facebook?: haha because it was new when i got one

3. Why did your parents give you the name you have?: i don't know

4. Why are you doing this survey?: i am bored

THREE IFS:

1. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?: flying would be sweet

2. If you could go back in time and change one thing, would you?: no

3. If you were stranded on a desert island and could bring one thing what would it be?: a boat...duh.

TWO WOULD-YOU-EVERS:

1. Would you ever be friends with someone again, who you promised yourself you never would be because they were mean to you? no probably not, i hold grudges forever haha it's not good

2. Would you ever shave your head to save the person you love?: um because that question makes any sense at all? but yes if it somehow were helpful


ONE

1. Name a dream you wish to fulfill: never do a lameass survey like this again

once again, i forgot that this thing existed

I should be doing homework right now, but I figure that it's 2:30 p.m., I finished all my chores and work apart from this paper, so I have plenty of time! Right? Right. Anyway, once again I forgot that this blog existed. Actually, I always knew it was there, taunting me, suggesting that I could never keep a steady blog, but alas. Here I am again. I was thinking today about how much my life is about to change. Zach and I decided on University of Baltimore School of Law, sent in our deposits and acquired our student loans. We're really going. We're probably going to move down in mid to late July, spend a few weeks getting settled and setting up a new apartment, and then it's LAW SCHOOL eek! It's actually going to be quite a production, as my oldest sister has decided to get married on the Saturday before law school officially begins on Monday, August 17.

I suppose it's not her fault, as she set the date well before we had even applied to any law school, and we just found out the first day of classes a few weeks ago. Baltimore is approximately a six hour drive from Utica, so we will have to drive to Utica on the Thursday or Friday before the wedding, get there, probably sleep, have wedding nonsense going on all day Saturday, and then drive home early early on Sunday to maximize rest before launching into class on Monday. It's going to be quite stressful. We obviously can't drink at the wedding, because hungover driving for six hours would most likely result in the death of at least one, if not both of us. The thing is though, Zach and I don't really drink. Yes, in my past few years in college I was known as quite the party gal. I went out and drank quite a bit, suffered horrendous hangovers every weekend, but lately I simply can't handle alcohol. I went out a few weekends ago with some friends, and I probably had a grand total of five drinks over the course of the evening, and barely felt drunk; yet, when I awoke on Sunday morning, I had the worst hangover and (sorry for the TMI) couldn't keep anything down all day. I was throwing up WATER at one point.

So, it appears that my drinking days are over. I don't really mind; alcohol is expensive and not all that tasty. I enjoy the occasional wine with dinner and of course, Caucasians (white russians for the non-lebowski obsessed) with my love are always divine.

Anyway, my life is changing rapidly but I'm still enjoying it. Living with Zach has had its ups and downs, but we get along swimmingly and with the stress of applying to law school and getting into said law schools removed from our lives, we've chilled out a lot and are just trying to enjoy our last few months in Buffalo before we make a massively drastic change. I have just two more weeks of classes until I am done forever with Canisius College, and although I am excited about the future, it is a bit sad. I remember being a freshman and thinking that the seniors were so old, that it would take so long to graduate, and that college would last forever. It didn't. After freshman year, the entire process seemed to go on fast-forward. I remember things as if they occurred yesterday, but then it strikes me that it happened three years ago. Where did the time fly to? Oh well, on to the next stage in life.

uhm..What else? I thought I had a lot more to talk about today. Honestly, my life is not that exciting. The worst thing that happened in the past few months was the gas bill. See, apparently National Fuel is an idiotic company that leads people on to believe that their gas bill will be low, and then says "Oh hey, um, we billed you incorrectly for the past few months, you actually owe us A ZILLION DOLLARS" (not really, but considering my financial situation it may have well been). That was a bit of a crisis but thankfully for me, I am in possession of a sugar daddy (or a boyfriend who has a job that makes money) and a mother who didn't wish to see her daughter have to take cold showers. Because that would be tragic.

Winston-cat is adorable as ever. Lately, he has taken to sprinting through the house at top speed, and this results in him often knocking over his water dish, much to Zach's dismay. Zach is not a man who has ever had a pet (really!) in his life, so it's hard to explain to him that Winston does not mean it, Winston is not a person, Winston does not understand English, WINSTON IS A CAT. I don't love the fact that the kitchen is often covered in water, but he is barely a year old. Perhaps the fact that I have had cats all my life and have seen the much worse antics they can display, that causes my compassion.

What else? Zach and I did travel to Baltimore semi-recently for a Law Preview Day, where basically the Dean and many panels of current students told us why we should go there. They did a good job, because after the day was over, Zach and I were sold. Unfortunately the weather was drizzly and chilly, but we walked around the city for a few hours and tried to get as acclimated as possible. We ate at the FABULOUS Annabel Lee Tavern, so named for the Edgar Allen Poe poem. Did you know that Baltimore and its citizens are obsessed with Poe? He died there, and there is a Poe statue on campus, and the Baltimore RAVENS (I honestly don't know how I never made this connection) are named for Poe's most famous work. Anyway, Annabel Lee was simply delicious. Zach got a gyro wrap and sweet potato fries, and I went with what the internet (gotta love the Urban Spoon) recommended to me; a Kobe beef slider topped with pulled pork on brioche bread and a side of duck fat fries (which are fries cooked in duck fat. dur). Delicious. We also got a local microbrew, Resurrection, which is only sold at the tavern. Upon telling my mother what I ate, she observed that I am pretty much the exact opposite of my sister Mo. Mo is a vegetarian, and literally everything I ate was an animal product of some kind. I suppose I am carnivorous.

The trip went fairly well, although we got lost an innumerable amount of times and ended up paying $3 for the GPS on my phone to work. It basically saved our lives. Baltimore, here we come! Although not without purchasing an actual GPS first. Baltimore, you are incredibly difficult to navigate.

h-Okay. I haven't written in this thing in a while, mostly because I've been obscenely busy with (a)the first week of classes and (b) getting my apartment in order. (B) has not been completed yet, but a lot of it was accomplished over the course of the past week, especially Saturday. Zach and I spent a lot of money at both Target and Tops, and bought a bookshelf, random household accoutrements, and a shit-ton of groceries. Our cupboards are stocked, almost to bursting. Anyway, that's not interesting. Zach had to go to his parent's house for the day to help his dad install a new computer and I have been puttering around the house for a few hours. I don't have any homework yet besides a small amount of reading, so I didn't have much to do.

Oh, I should mention that before Zach left he got one of our recently copied keys jammed in the lock and after much swearing and pounding on the door...he still couldn't get it off. Naturally, I ordered him to go to his parent's house so I could figure it out. Which I did. Don't ask how, but I took the entire lock off the door and pulled it apart, jiggled the key around, pulled on it with all my might (and a pair of needlenose pliers) and somehow I finally got it out. The question is, did I put the lock back on? Yes, and completely successfully. Apparently I am pretty handy when Zach isn't around to make me nervous.

Yes, today was a day of broken locks, Jon and Kate plus 8 (my other secret shame, besides Hot Tamales re: my previous post) re-runs and a supremely relaxing shower. Ahh...too bad it's 10 goddamn degrees outside. You've got to love Buffalo in the winter. 

a touch cheerier today

The mood has passed. Like a kidney stone, although I imagine less painful, having never experienced one myself. I did think I had a stone this summer, but it turned out to be just a happy little kidney infection kicking its way into my right kidney. Um, WOW, huge digression there. Anyway, I couldn't sleep, read a book, read another book, finally fell asleep at approximately four in the morning, and woke up this morning to Winston the cat snuggling up to my legs and purring (if this is not the most pleasant way to wake up, I don't know what is) (wait, nevermind...) and a phone call from Zach (at work!) who spent twenty minutes cheering me up with various voices and inside jokes. If anyone heard this phone conversation, they may think it took place between two severely mentally ill people. They may not be wrong.

Anyway, I feel better. I am sitting on the loveseat in my living room and watching the snow fall, with Winston curled up next to me. He is, truly, the laziest cat in the world. But I love him. I don't think anybody actually reads this blog, so I don't know why I am reassuring no one that my mood is better and that I feel fine. Maybe it's just for my own benefit; I'm not entirely sure. The fact of the matter is that law school applications are not due until March 1 for all the schools to which I am applying, so I do have time. 

I spent most of today reading various Little House on the ________ books. You know, Laura Ingalls Wilder and all that jazz. I've read these books since I could read when I was about five, and they are just comfort reading to me. Some people have comfort food, I have comfort books. 

re: my last post.

Yes, I know that compared to a lot of people, my problems are minimal. Yes, I know that I have a fairly easy life. But I feel like shit today, so I'm going to wallow in it. 

sigh.

This post is going to be a little less lighthearted than the previous one, simply for the fact that I'm in a mood. Attribute this to my Time of Monthly Official Womanhood if you will, but I really want to talk to someone about it and the boyfriend is not awake, nor do I feel like disturbing him with my complaining about nothing, so here you are, lovely inviting clean blank computer screen. I know you well.

Anyway, today was just one of those days. I am waiting for one last professor to submit his letter of recommendation so I can finally get my applications in the mail for law school, and I've emailed him several times over the past few weeks and gotten no response. I wouldn't normally worry so much about something so seemingly trivial, but no law school will accept less than two letters of recommendation (at least the ones that I want to go to) and I currently have one. I also asked him in early October if he would write it, and he agreed. So I am freaking out, natch. In a moment of sheer desperation I e-mailed his wife (also, a professor of mine and coincidentally, my adviser) to ask her if she could remind him. She said she would, but I am still fretting like a fretting thing. Law school is my only option, because honestly, what in god's name am I going to do with a history degree? Be a historian? Ha ha and ha. In another moment of sheer desperation, I e-mailed another history professor to ask if it were any way possible for him to write me a letter of recommendation and be done with it by the end of January. I feel terrible springing this on him, he is a kindly old man-sort of professor but I am honestly at the end of my rope.

I use the word "honestly" an awful lot. I should try to remedy this. (end digression here).

So today has been shitty. I feel like a shaky bundle of nerves ready to burst into tears at the latest ASPCA commercial featuring Sarah McLachlan (I cry at this commercial regardless of my mood; I could be the world's happiest sonofabitch and then see this slideshow of sad, emaciated animals and immediately tear up). I am listening to sad-voiced Joshua Radin and generally being a teenage girl about this whole situation. It is important to note that I am not a teenage girl, I am a woman in her twenties (okay, I'm twenty-one) who should be capable of handling stuff. I'm not. 

Also, my hands look like hamburger meat. I should explain. My kitten Winston hates to be held, but he is oh-so-cuddly and soft and I just want to snuggle him all day. He does not appreciate this and pushes away from me with his sharp kitten claws. Ergo, my hands are covered in scabs. When I'm stressed, I pick. I'm fairly sure there's a disorder by this name. I pick until my hands are raw and it's absolutely disgusting. Why am I sharing this? Because no one I know knows that I have this blog. Ach, there's that word again. I thought I banished that in the first post. 

Anyway, I guess that's enough emotion-filled rambling for one post. I plan on popping a few tylenol pm and taking to my bed. Remember when people used to take to their bed? Why that is no longer acceptable, I'm really not sure. Sometimes you really just need to shut out the world.

My secret shame.

It's time to come clean about a problem that I have. What is this problem, you ask? Hot Tamales. Yes, the cinnamon chewy candies that have absolutely no nutritional value of any type that are often sold at movie theatres or, enticingly, in the checkout lines of your neighborhood grocery store. The grocery store was where they got me today. I just moved into a new apartment, as I said, and my mom said that she would buy me some basic groceries to help me out. Flour, sugar, the essentials. Now, it is important to note that both my mother and I have a major sweet tooth (sweet teeth?), so when we are in the checkout line, despite the fact that we are both fairly slim and try to eat right, we invariably end up each grabbing something from those racks of candy. My candy of choice today was the delicious Hot Tamale. The movie sized box was only one dollar, what a bargain!

Wrong.

I arrived home, my mouth watering at the prospect of some delicious Tamales. I popped a few. Yum. Some more. Delicious. More and more until....fire literally starts pouring from my ears, nose and mouth. Not literally, of course, but the problem with these tasty candies is that while they are delicious, they are very hot, especially when consumed in the mass quantities that I enjoy. You would think I would have learned my lesson, after complaining about my mouth being consumed with a massive burning sensation, but yet I continue to eat handfuls at a time. Zach refuses to allow me to buy them in his presence anymore, because it results in him being forced to listen to me whine and complain all night about my mouth. So, Zach-free for a few days, I thought ha! I will buy these delightful candies and enjoy an appropriate amount, and then save them for a later date.

The box is almost half-gone, my mouth is on fire, and I am still eating them. Lesson not learned.

First First

I've failed at every blog attempt I've ever made. I religiously read several blogs of people I don't actually know in real life (smartypants.diaryland.com, fourfour.typepad.com, etc.) but I was never able to keep a consistent blog for more than a month or so. Um, so here we go. I guess this is like my 232rd attempt at keeping a blog.

Ugh, I really don't like the word blog, by the way. I just used it ... four times in one paragraph and I'm sick of it. Blech. Onward.

Here's some info about me, for all you nosey parkers. 

I am 21 years old. Oh, and I'm a girl. 

I am currently a senior at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y.

I plan to go to law school after I graduate, and am currently in the process of applying to several different schools around the Northeast. 

I have an amazing boyfriend named Zach that I recently moved in with after circumstances with my old roommates moved towards...not so good. We have a tiny little apartment in the Allentown area of Buffalo.

Zach and I plan on going to law school together. He is a year older than me and took a year off to work full-time. He is also a graduate of Canisius; we met at a Dropkick Murphy's show at Thursday in the Square about a year and a half ago.

I spent January to May of this year studying abroad in Galway, Ireland. It was incredible. While I was there, I was lucky enough to travel to London, England, Edinburgh, Scotland, Paris, France, Dublin and Cork (in Ireland, natch), Belfast, Northern Ireland, Rome, Florence, and Venice (Italy). It.was.awesome. To say the very least. 

I have a seven month old kitten named Winston. He's...really weird. 

I drive a ten-year-old station wagon, and I personally love it.

Well, that's about it for right now. Um, more to come when something exciting happens to me. Like...the cable guy coming to the apartment on the 12th! What a thrilling day that shall be. More then.