Blogging Like Bored People Blog

Okay so we're having dismal snowy/rainy weather on Long Island today. My first-half of the day counterpart didn't come in today and the weather was all snow this morning, so there were a decent amount of cancellations. Basically, I've got not a lot to do & I'm bored so I'm doing what bored people do: blogging. I used to like having time to kill at work but the last 6 months has put me out of practice haha. So let's see what I can entertain myself by yakking about.

1. New Lost tonight. I may or may not have seen it already. Go ahead, hate on me. I wouldn't go back & unwatch it for anything. I've had to stop discussing the show with my fellow geeks since I'm afraid of giving something away because there were (IMO) a lot of puzzle pieces that start to fit together more and I don't want to disprove something someone says by going, "Well, that can't be because..." And if you think that Jay & I talk about Lost because of the podcast, guess again. 85% of the time, we only talk about it if we're surrounded by friends who bring it up.
2. Moving date approaches. I'm nervous but I've got a lot of fun things going on the next 2 weekends. I'm going to see Michael Ian Black do stand-up comedy in NYC with Pookie this Saturday night, January 31. She asked me if I wanted to go see it at 8pm or 10:30pm & my first thought was, "Why on EARTH would we go at 10:30pm? That's so late." Which then prompts me to think, "25? Fuck, I'm old."
3. The following weekend is my "last weekend" in NY. The weekend of my 25th birthday. Annie is throwing together a Birthday/Going-Away Soiree with the BTR crew on Fri, Feb. 6. It's going to be good times. Well, duh. Cause with Annie's cupcakes, how could it not be good times? Also, I'm having a gathering in Herald's Square on Feb. 7. I don't care if the bar is a controversial choice. It's close to Penn Station, where I'm probably coming from & it's still cold in NYC. Therefore, that's where I'm having it. It's for Ian-face's birthday too (naturally). Good times will ensue as well.
4. Fun Fact: My & Ian-face's 25th birthday coincides with the 2nd anniversary of Anna Nicole Smith's death.
5. I'd really like to go to New York Comic Con again this year (Feb. 6-8), but the only day that I could make it is Saturday. This isn't a problem except that the freaking cast of my new favorite show Chuck is going to be there on Sunday! Also, the casts of Fringe & Joss Whedon's new show are going to be there Sunday as well. Yeah, I'm a geek. Stupid birthday.
6. If you haven't already heard already, Scarlett Johansson is doing a cover of my boy Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye." I'm going to defer all discussion on this to Amanda.
7. And finally, I'm thinking about making this blog into an actual website or at least updating the format/template a little bit. But more about that another time, I suppose.

Okay, I think I've successfully killed a little bit of time. I've actually written this blog twice because it didn't save the first time when I went to publish it and then it was gone. I was way wittier the first time, but oh well. At least it's 6pm now. May 7pm come fast & may 9pm come even faster. That's what she said.

Oh this is the start of something good, don't you agree?

Okay, so the gorgeous Allison has requested I make a new blog post so that she doesn't have to see my bloody finger anymore and I kinda think she's right! So lucky for Ali and the rest of you tired of looking at my mangled claw, I've got an announcement:

I'm moving to Raleigh in the middle of February!

My last day of work is February 4 (a Wednesday) and my birthday is Sunday, February 8. I also found out as I got home tonight that Brian & Bobby got tickets to see "The Daily Show" on February 9, so I am going to go with them and then drive down to Raleigh that week and try to find a job, etc. I'll couch hop with Jay and Sara & TJ and who knows maybe Clif'll let me crash for a night. At least the slumber party will distract me from the absolute terror I have about finding a job haha. I told my bosses at work and although I was scared to do it, I was really more just sad in general. It's a nice place to work and they're really good bosses and I like the people I work with so it's kinda like I'd be losing more friends.

But anyway.

I'm really excited and really scared. I'm excited because I think that it'll be a great new chapter of my life but I'm scared about finding a new job. I accepted back in 2007 when I decided that if it came to it, I'd be the one to move that it would mostly mean giving up 90% chances of ever having a job in the fields that I have my degree in (Communications with focuses in Journalism & PR as well as a minor in English & Theatre). I worry too much and I think too much. And nothing is or will EVER be as beautiful as New York City and that's a fact. BUT I like Raleigh and even though it's clear that I will really want to end up back in NY someday, I cannot wait to start a new life there.

I'm just going to miss my friends. I'll miss Cassidy (bitch moved back from North Carolina as I was moving there), Tricia, Julia, Amanda, Amanda, Ali, Ian, Brian, Claudio, Randy, Anthony, Joe & Steph, Eddie, Bobby, and everyone around here that I know I'm not mentioning (forgive me). I'll miss the BTR crew, Annie & Jeff & Max & Maia and all of our mid-day margaritas. I'll miss Yankee games with Angri & Sabella & Storey. I'll miss my dog Strider. But most importantly I'll miss my family: my parents, sisters, grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousin. Just as way excited as I am to move, I'm just as sad that I won't get to see them whenever I want to anymore. I know that this post sounds somewhat shaky but I made this decision with both my heart and my head and I'm certain that it's the right one.

It's gonna be a big adjustment and I'm really gonna need a lot of support from all sorts of places.

Oh, and I'm gonna need a job if anyone's hiring...

November in a Paragraph (or Two)

I know I've gone MI-blogging-A the last month, but I've had nothing really interesting to say. Went to Raleigh for two fabulous weekends in a row. Dog sat for my aunt last week. Workin'. Seeing movies (Loved Zack & Miri Make a Porno and Role Models, really liked Quantum of Solace). Finally finished all 4 books of the Twilight series - I hated Bella right until the very end where she got a lot more tolerable, but over all really enjoyed the second and third parts of Breaking Dawn actually. I think Eclipse and Breaking Dawn kept me interested because the stories branched out to other characters and not just Bella self-loathing and pining about Edward, which made me question how anyone could ever let their young daughters read books with such a terrible role model for a heroine. Now I'm continuing my decline into geek by reading Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli. I think it's quite fascinating though. Hung out with Ian and the newly engaged Joe Matero & Steph (and her rock). Met up with Julia, Amanda & Topher this past weekend and saw the Mepham High School's version of Dracula, which was directed by my Home Fry himself, Eddie. That's about it.

Anyway, the last month really has flown by, which is why I've had nothing interesting to really say haha. Although Jay did get me into Chuck this past month and it's awesome. Definitely check out that show (Season 2 is on hulu.com and I haven't seen Season 1 yet but it's not hard to follow at all). Anyways, I should get to work. I have to work this Friday even though only one doctor will be in, so Jay & I won't get to spend Thanksgiving together, which is a major bummer. Hopefully the next few weeks go by quickly, since we won't see each other again 'til Dec 13 when we go to California for the weekend. I'll probably get all whiney before then though.

To conclude this energized post, here's a funny cartoon from the New York Post. Dedicated to all my Mets fan friends out there:

Tomorrow Ain't Bad As It Seems

The contents of my apartment are now in my parents' living room/on my bedroom floor. Moving is exhausting and emotional. I really did love my apartment in Astoria & it makes me sad to have had to leave it. And I already miss living with Amanda. I watched crappy TV last night (Living Lohan, shut the hell up.) without her and it's just not the same! But the truth is, if I had stayed, I wouldn't have been able to save up money for what I want to ultimately do. And that's something that makes everything that's completely shitty shitty shitty right now completely worth it in the end. I walked around my apartment right before I left, after everyone else had already gone & took some pictures of it (okay, my lazy former landlord was letting the new girls move in a day early w/o coming to inspect our place, so I wanted proof we left it in good condition because damn it, I want my $850 security deposit back!), including my view from the roof. That freaking roof was my salvation last summer; it's so peaceful out there, day OR night. It's what I'm going to miss the most. But enough depressing stuff. Let's get on to the boring stuff. Here's some pictures from move out day:

By the way, I'm going on the cruise for my parents' 25th anniversary on Thursday. That'll be fun :)

We loaded my crap up in 1 minivan, 2 Rav 4's, & a Highlander.

It actually looks smaller with nothing in it...

Empty bedroom

One last look at the infamous, wonderful roof...

Haha, I saw this cat randomly walking on the tin part of the little roof & thought, "HA! A CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF!!" Insert dork comments here.

Peace out, 23-39.

Even Strider won't go in the living room...

Packing Sucks

It's so funny. I HATE packing. Last year, I was packing up to move out on my own (with the lovely Amanda) to Astoria. And I did not mind at all. I stayed up ALL NIGHT (literally) packing and went running on no sleep at like 6am, fully energized. I was so excited to pack and move. That was when Jay and I were still just talking and I know I talked to him til like 2am that night, then kept packing til 6am. It was just really exciting "I'm moving forward" times. This year, I decided packing sucks ass. I hate it. It's a pain in the ass to do and takes away from precious sleeping hours and all the dust makes me sneeze. Meh. It's almost midnight and I'm sitting on my roof right now, procrastinating from packing, and sulking hardcore. Or rather, whining hardcore.

John & I just recorded our last regular episode of MetroBuzz in Astoria (potential Rooftop Session on Friday, but it's a very 50/50 thing right now because we haven't actually asked our guest yet if he wants to do it lol). Naturally, I got nostalgic. Amanda recorded with us as our guest. She recorded our first MetroBuzz ever in Astoria with us and she recorded our last one. I'm such a freaking girl. I wish things had worked out better, but I've got some REALLY amazing things planned for early next year and in order to do that, I HAVE to move home to save for it. So I'm going to do my best and not be a massive emo bitch til then lol. I think I can do it because I literally have something fun to do every weekend from now (well this weekend is moving so that doesn't count) til the last weekend of July. But right now, I have to rip off the bandaid, like Jay said.

I'll stop being a baby after the actual move happens. Right now, I'm just still bitter about all the disruption that this packing is causing. But I'm seeing Billy Joel with my sisters on Thursday night, which is going to rock!!!

Okay, it's getting cold outside and I've really got nothing relevant or important to say other than packing sucks. Today was Brian's birthday, so he and his new girlfriend Dina came by on their way to the Mets game (they live in Connecticut) as my dad and I were moving the first round of my stuff out. We all went to the Beer Gardens afterwards - Dad included (it was his idea to go this morning when I talked to him). That was actually REALLY fun. I love that I inherited my dad's love for drinking beer. He bought us 2 pitchers, which though was only 2 beers for each of us 4, it was still really awesome. My dad rocks. Happy Birthday, Bri :)

So you treat your love like a firefly, like it only gets to shine for a little while

Okay, so let's tell the story about how the dude setting up my new desk last Wednedsay asked me out. Twice. He'd only been there for 16 minutes. Great. Then he asked me what religion I was. I answered, "Catholic," & he asked me if Catholics were allowed to date outside the religion (he was Muslim). It was good, fun, awkward times.

My roommate is SO supportive of my troubles:

[Amanda's sn]: there must be something about your purple star boxers that just turns him on in the worst way.....

I fucking love my purple star boxers. Bitch. Oh yeah & a bird crapped on me the same morning when I went to take the garbage out. Nice.

Yeah, Astoria.

Amanda and I are officially moved into our new apartment in Astoria! Yay, NYC livin' :) I'm too lazy to write about it, so enjoy some videos we made on our first night. OH! I had to go into the office really quickly during move-in day & was SO exhausted from not sleeping one bit the night before that I was waiting in the subway to go back to the apartment, just totally spacing out when some random dude just walked up to me and handed me this note:

SO funny. He didn't try to hit on me or anything like that. He just handed it to me, I thanked him & he shook my hand and thanked me for being so "hot" and then WALKED AWAY! It was SO random but it had been a rough ass like 9 days & it was just an awesome NYC story lol

Okay vidoes! A virtual tour:


I had a little trouble...

The end.

Of "Lost", Haircuts, Apartments & Graduation

For all my Lost fan friends, this may be the funniest thing I heard all week:

JNorton15: So you want to see possibly the best Lost message board quote ever?

JNorton15: "When Rose said to Bernard "If you are going to be hiding in the bushes, lets get you into something dark" .. was she refering to herself ???"

Anyway, I didn't want to leave a sad post like I did yesterday as the last one I did, especially since May 17 is over & I feel much better now AND there's all sorts of awesome things going on right now.

1. I cut my hair, about 7 inches. I don't think I look like me at all, but sometimes you just need a change, so I'm glad I did it :)

2. Amanda Giordano & I are moving into an apartment in Astoria, Queens on June 1. Visitors welcome. Yay, NYC livin'. It's sort of scary to officially be an "adult" now, but we all know that I'm definitely not going to start acting like one any time soon. Hooray for being broke, but it'll be worth it...

3. I helped Paul from Barenaked Hurley (the Lost parody band) write his last 2 songs & it was really fun. I stayed up literally all night on Tues so help him finish it, but it was such a blast to be a part of something that awesome. If you're a Lost fan, go to iTunes & download the Barenaked Hurley podcast feed, because all of his songs are hysterical.

Finally, to all my Marist friends who are graduating - GOOD LUCK! I'm so proud of you guys & I miss you all a lot. I'll (hopefully) see most of you tomorrow, whenever I get up there (I'm going to Rachel & Will's grad party). <3

Divas Take Manhattan

It's been a busy, busy few weeks with work @ AT, the "real job" hunt, the podcast & lots of crazy adventures. It'll be a massively long post if I talked about everything at once, so I'll just go in order over the next few days.

First weekend in Jan., as mentioned in "Don't go across the tracks," Allison, Amanda, Julia & I met up at Ali's apartment in Chelsea for a little diva reunion. (After I finally got there,) we (sadly) skipped the tree in Rockefeller Center in favor of dinner bc we were all starving. Julia took us to this place called Gingerman's on 34th that had beer from around the world. If you ever go, get one of the hot dogs. They're faaaabulous. We went back to change & decided to go to Marquee around 11:30pm. Ali lives just a few blocks from all those "trendy celeb" hangouts so it was lovely to not have to walk far. It was also ridiculously warm for Jan., as we were wearing short sleeves/tank tops without jackets. The club is pretty sick nasty, but you can only sit down if you buy a bottle of wine or Grey Goose or Cristal for $250, minimum. We were not all about that. However, we had a secret weapon: Ali's freaking hot. She's "that blonde girl" that everyone always stops to hit on, no matter where you are. Ali took care of finding boys to let us sit down & share their Grey Goose. But I get ahead of myself.

So, no matter where I go, I'm always all about exploring the joint. I have to know everything about everywhere & what the deal is. It's the reporter in me. After quizzing one of the bouncers near the bar, I decide the place for us to be is upstairs. At some point, Ali asks - and I quote - "Coll, what shot can I get that will get us the most fucked up?"

Never ask me that question.

I'm trying to figure out what level of inebriation that everyone's at (which at 11-f'ing-dollars a drink really wasn't that high at all), combine it with what time of night it was, divide it by number of non-sketchy hot dudes in the place who I'd trust buying one of us a drink (I'm picky & judgemental so that number was also very low) & then multiply that whole equation by just how nice I'm feeling at the moment. I consider going for Rumplemintz...because who doesn't like 150-proof toothpaste? But I can't do that to the girls. So I opt for 151. Yeah, I don't know why either. I think I was bitter that I'd been there for 2 hours, only had like 2.5 drinks & getting another would cost another $11. So I rationalized that I was doing everyone a favor.

No one threw up, but no one could quite breathe for a good minute afterwards. I've done 151 with Frankie & Brian at home and it's never seemed quite as evil as it did at that moment. Luckily, I came to my senses quick enough to ask for a glass of water for everyone to chase with.

So Ali finds some dudes to let us sit at their table. I become bored with them very quickly & turn to my left and make friends with these 2 gay guys, Mark & Lee, who lived in Canada & Michigan and had just spent New Years in Egypt. I'm fascinated by people's travel stories & quickly ignore the girls & the table of dudes and talk to my new BFF's for the next hour & a half. At some point, they start pouring me Grey Goose & tonic. OH - Dennis Rodman was at the club but I'm surprised I even remember the entire night. I didn't realize how much overpriced vodka I drank until after we got home. Ugh. It was not fun.

The next morning, we all woke up & I had the hangover that lasted the entire day. I'm talking I felt like shit until I got off the train at 8pm. I've only been hungover 3 times in my entire life - that being the third. Now I remember why I usually cut myself off & start drinking water about an hour before I leave a bar even if I'm not driving. We walked around, got bagels, went to see the tree (hooray!), went to Central Park & then got dinner. Ali got hit on a bunch more times. I don't know how she deals with it. Frankly, if someone had tried to hit on me in the middle of Jamba Juice at noon while hungover, I'd probably have to have a very intense inner dialogue to keep myself from dumping my drink on their head. It was overall a very pleasant day. I had an awesome time, we're going to all meet up again soon, maybe around my birthday (Feb. 8). Hopefully Meagan can come this time.

Allison, Coll, Julia & Amanda - I mean Lipschitz, Pop, Six & Squish

I love lamp! And 70-degree weather on January 6!

Ali's good at Photoshop. Hooray.

Looks like the Grinch won this round.

Amanda covering her mouth is an unnatural thing.

Over-analytical Depressive Fuckers Make Good Music

Ok, so I just got back from seeing Damien Rice at Beacon Theatre with Amanda Giordano. It was really, really good. Probably about 384,201 times better than this summer at Jones Beach. I think that Damien & co. just don't have the type of music that can really be appreciated at a place like Jones Beach. The emotion & musical intricacies that really make the music so outstanding are just lost in a big outdoor venue like that.

Anyway, the show was awesome (yeah redundancy!). He interacted with the audience a lot, which is always great. He called himself an "over-analytical depressive fucker" at one point and kept saying that it was weird that he got to write songs about being such a fuck up & then get paid to play them for everyone. He told us about the inspiration or moods he was in when he wrote certain songs. He said that his chatty state meant he was in "very strange form," since he usually doesn't even realize an audience is there, but tonight he was "aware of every single little [thing]."

There was a guy who was sitting a few rows behind us who kept calling out "DAMIEN!" really loudly. After the 4th song, Damien answered him back & made a couple jokes. Then he asked, "The person who just said 'DAMIEN!' [imitating his tone], what did you want?" The guy said, "I'm Dan from Long Island [of course the obnoxious guy would be from LI] & a little "Elephant" would be nice." Damien looked at Lisa, who was ready to start singing the next song, then went, "Well, then, your wish is my command" and busted into the song as Lisa went to straight chill at the piano.

The set list:

1. Woman Like a Man (no Lisa, but still AMAZING. Video link of clip here)
2. Insane
3. I Remember (Lisa sounded absolutely, absolutely flawless; just gorgeous)
4. 9 Crimes
5. Elephant [directly into]
6. The Blower's Daughter (I got almost all of it on video, click here)
7. Cannonball - An acoustic, no microphone, Damien-only version. Definitely the most powerful song of the night. I can't even describe it, I wish that I got it on video, but after "BD," I only had 33 seconds left & wanted to save it in case they did "Delicate".
8. La Professor (Lisa sang the 2nd verse, changing all the "I" pronouns to "he")
9. The Animals Were Gone
10. Coconut Skins
11. Amie (Crazy spaceship effects at the end; it was really intense)
12. Eskimo Friends
13. Volcano

Encores

1. Rootless Tree (my favorite song from the new album; the one that I wish had come out 4 years ago so I could've discovered it then & made it my anthem, ha. I only have part of it on video cause "BD" took up so much memory; I wanted to get the first half, but was busy trying to call Brian so he could hear it
2. Me, My Yoke & I
3. Accidental Babies (just Damien &amp; the piano; it was very Fiona-esque a la "Parting Gift")

Amanda & I had great seats. I had been trying to get tickets since she asked if I wanted to go about a month ago and it was sold out. I know that some times tickets will be released a few days before a show because they're held for radio stations, etc. and we both really wanted to go, so I tried again at like 6:30pm Mon night and we got center orchestra seats in row G. Yeah, I hate me too. SO worth the - what $57 after Ticketmaster was done raping us? SO worth it.

Finally, because no NYC story is complete without a random subway experience: Not only were NONE of the ticket machines taking cash nor were they reading anyone's credit/debit cards on the first THREE swipes (think 90% of a sold-out Beacon Theatre crowd trying to get into a subway station & like 90% of them needing to buy a subway pass, ugh), but when we finally get onto the 2, this guy gets on & starts making the following announcement:

"Everybody, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for my appearance. My name is Steven & I am HIV positive. I am homeless & cannot afford medical shots. I can't live in a shelter since I was attacked. Now I am forced to ride the subways at night for a 24-hr McDonald's [I'm NOT making this up]. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask for your help. I am now going to recite some poetry for you..."

And he did. He recited some lovely Jesus/life is a wonder poetry. I just turned to the chick sitting next to me & said, "Of all the cars on all the subways in all the city and he gets onto ours."

[Update: here's Rolling Stone's review of the concert]

SoCal is where my mind states

California in a few hours! I don't think I officially explained this:

Tricia's moving back to Coram while Clayton's finishing his last 6 months stationed in Japan. Sooooo I'm flying out there & then we're driving back across country with her stuff. I think we're leaving Tues afternoon, going to Vegas (yippee!) on Tues night since it's only 2 hours from her soon-to-be-ex-apartment. Then we're driving through the southern states Wednesday til whenever we're finished, making stops for her to visit family in Tennesee/Louisiana & going to Lookout Mountain(?) in Tenn. We're gonna drive up the east coast, (maybe visiting harassing Cassidy at UNC?) then I believe spending the last night at her dad's apartment in Baltimore. Sooooo in case anyone other than my dog Strider is going to really miss me, we're going to aim to do it in about 5 days, so fear not. I may or may not post from the road, since I need to check my email as I still foolishly hold out hope that perhaps I'll hear from some place I've applied & magically have a real job waiting for me when I get back. Oh, sweet daydream.

Went to Potown last night to see my MCCTA bitches do one of my all-time favorite shows, Crazy For You (Colleen trivia: the 1st show I ever saw on B'way, was in it years ago; one of the resaons I love the the-at-re). The house was nearly sold out & they did a fantastic job. Mark gets the rockstar award for producing it completely on his own, without a co- or asst prod. Mole Mole got new, clean menus, which sort of ruined the Mexican atmosphere of the joint. Amanda, Sabella, Julie, Julia, Donoghue & I represented the alumn. Speranza got the hottest new haircut & as usual, Rachel was her kickass self. Phil got skinny, so he probably tastes pretty good right now. Yeah, I think I covered it all.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, I have a picture of one Ian "Ian-face" Topping dressed as a himself in the real world! & one Joseph Matero dressed up as the Crow for Halloween. My mom offering to help him paint his nails black was slightly disturbing, but probably not as disturbing as it was for Joe to walk into my house as I'm straigthening my hair with the Rocky Horror soundtrack BLASTING, obnoxiously singing along, slightly oblivious to the fact that I've got company. Why do I ramble so incessantly all the time? Here's the picture:

Um, just to add: I just turned the TV on & that show where they fix up people's homes - I totally can't remember the name right now but it's on ABC Sundays at 8pm - is on. I put it on right as the chick was asking this little like 7-yr-old boy: "If you could have a special room, what would be it be?"

Ohhh, it's just too easy. Too easy. Is this show always this Michael-Jackson-esque?

Aaaaand noooow, 2 GLORIOUS, Ann Taylor-free days.

Um, I saw this sign in the bathroom of the Starbucks at 50th & Broadway last week. It amused me so much that I actually took a picture of it to share with all of you. Amanda Giordano is the only one who's actually taken as much pleasure in it as I have (I guess we're officially the corniest people I know). But, as Gob would say, "COME ON!"

Isn't it a little bit funny, or rather, absolutely hysterical that the sign gives instructions on how to wash your hands?! Does this mean that somewhere signs exists that tells people how to put their pants on or wipe their own ass?

Cassidy & Tricia - if you girls were there, you totally would've found it as humorous as I do. It's kinda like the license plate that Tricia & I came across back in April when we drove from Cassidy's apt in Elizabethtown to Tricia's dad's apt in Baltimore, after cracking about 483 jokes about all the Jesus freaks in PA. It's hard to read (it rained like woah that morning but I made her take the pic anyway):

(...it says "Love God". Tricia & I are going to hell.)

Ok! I FINALLY finished my 8 straight days of hell at Ann Taylor & now I'm totally psyched about having 2 days off in a row. If anyone wants to do anything, holler at me, I'm down, even if it's just sitting on a street corner somewhere & staring at the gravel. As long as it doesn't include anything remotely near Tanger Outlets, it's golden..

Soooo who's havin' a Halloween party?

I just finished day 6 out of an 8 day work stretch. I know there are a lot worse jobs out there, but I'm just so sick & tired of being there and not having a real job that I'm just, "Aaaaahhhh!!" I'm going up to Marist again this weekend to see And Then There Were None, MCCTA's first show this season. But I'm only going for the night, since I'm gonna have to work again all week & I REALLY want to sit at home, even if it's for half a day.

Here's the part where I get a little tiny bit annoyingly reflective: I realized what's so unnerving about being home. There's a whole other life/world that's still going on at Marist & I'm not a part of it anymore. It seems like the world's at that summertime standstill, when you take a time out from everything & then life resumes again in Sept, right where you left off. Because I don't have a real job yet (trust me, I've been looking), all I'm doing is working like crazy at Ann Taylor, but it doesn't seem like the world is moving. Yet it's going so quickly for seemingly everyone else, especially those at Marist. It's weird to go back or to just know that there's still classes, board meetings, rehearsals, papers, production meetings, etc. all happening & I'M NOT A PART OF IT. It's just...unnerving because I'm used to being involved & a part of everything. It's a step backwards, really; I'm stuck in Ridge & feel trapped, especially cause my friends from home are busy working (Ian) or living in NYC (Golio, Claudio, Frankie, Bobby) or Hartford (Brian). I still talk to them & Golio's out most weekends; I see Amanda, Matero & Julia a lot too, so it's not so terrible, but I miss everyone & the community I built there a lot. I still talk to Randy, Sarah, Phil, Amanda G, Eddie & Anthony a lot & keep in touch with Angrisani (who's so awesome he got us, Eddie Storey & Sabella season tickets to the Yankees next year!), Rachel, Annie, Steph, Crissy, Risa, Sabella, Josh-i mean-G-Force, etc. so I'm lucky. I miss everyone else though that I haven't talked to or seen in a while.

Onto the most important thing. Someone throw a Halloween party! I got invited to some party in Mt. Sinai or Miller Place or somewhere in that vicinity by some people from work, but let's face it - Eddie & I need to try to one-up last year's costume. I realize that NOTHING will EVER be as amazing as our turn as Britney & K-Fed but I love Halloween. I'd have one if I weren't on LI, since no one would actually be able to come, haha. So now I'm basically commanding someone to throw a Halloween party! K, thanks! :)

Last Wed, there was a staged reading of Softly Sara Falls, the play that I produced for ETG junior year. It's an original, unpublished script & MCCTA's production of it was its world-premiere. It's an awesome, amazing play. Heather Liebal (who played Sara & totally deserved to win the Best Actress award at Banquet) found out about it & organized for all of us involved to go. Everyone came but Randy (busy being a Jersey redneck), Jeff (real job in RI), Natalie & Joey (night classes). It was SO cool. Here's a picture of some of us waiting for it to start:

Caught a train to Poughkeepsie & time stood still

So alumni weekend was fabulous. It was great to be back in Potown & see everyone; it was just what I needed.

Went up on Friday afternoon & met up with Pookie (Amanda) & Gar (Sarah) at Culinary for a little Apple Pie Bakery goodness. Then Gar & I walked around campus for a while. We stopped in the Student Center to say hi to MCCTA (well, I said hi while Gar made fun of me for being overly social, as usual ha). I just busted right into the Mainstage rehearsal & tried to say hi to everyone at the Musical rehearsal but Tom had banned all alumni from entering the theatre all weekend, so whatev. OH we saw Bob Lynch, who I basically accousted. Then he said the word 'fuck' when talking to us, which we were both shocked & STOKED about since I've never heard Bob curse before. It was another sign that the night would be great.

We went to meet Pookie & Eddie & co. at Noah's, since they'd gone to Happy Hour. I hate Noah's, but I put on a brave face. Saw some older MCCTA alum, which was awesome. I really do miss Laurie, Karla & all them - especially Laurie & Karla. They were like my idols, man. After about 20 minutes (thank God) Pookie & Gar & I decided to pay Rachel Cronin a visit at work. She feed us, which was lovely, and then took us back to her house, where we hung out with her & Will for a while. They're getting married next Oct, which makes her the 3rd person I graduated with to get engaged, which isn't as weird as I thought it'd be. I guess cause she & Will and Rob & Lizzie Poo have all been together forever it was like both couples are married already. Katie & Justen have only been together a year but they're all about the passion & connection so I wasn't surprised when they got engaged.

I do find it hysterical that both of my senior year roommates got engaged the same weekend. There's definitely a self-deprecating joke/comment in there but I'm not going to make it.

Anyway, then Randy called & forced us to go to Hatter. Alice drove us. Randy told me I looked like a substitute teacher then tried to set me up with his fraternity brother. Geez, I guess I'm too hot for my own good or something.

After Hatter, they wanted to go to Noah's again so we did (UGH) but Risa was having an alumni party so Topher & this kid Matt who's the star of the musical came to pick me up. I wasn't wasted but I wasn't sober at all. I got to Risa's & started screaming "MCCTAAAA!!!" as soon as I walked in the door, which I thought was rather annoying/fitting for me to do. I said all my hellos & then went back with Crissy & Heather to their house & proceeded to drink some Octoberfest & eat Crissy's entire kitchen since I was in hungry drunk mode. I wanted to meet up with Pookie & Gar at Darby's & got Heather, Crissy, Angrisani, Joey, Annie, Megan & Courtney to come with. Yeah, there were 8 of us fitting into a 5 person cab. It was rather hysterical. Actually I think Eddie came too? I can't remember, but there may have been 9 of us.

After Darby's, Gar & I talked to Steph Speranza who said that we could stay in her room at the Mariott, which was FABULOUS. So we did that, chilled for a while with her, watched "Pulp Fiction" at like 4am and went to bed.

Next day was filled with wandering around campus, the Palace, more visits & hellos, etc. I went to dinner with Eddie & the divas-minus-Meagan at Double-O Grille, where Steph works. Five stars. Allison, Julia, Eddie, Amanda Giordano & I had rented a hotel room for Sat night so we went back there, pregamed & went out. I think the night was as follows: Foxhole for a bit then Amanda & I met up with Steph after she got off work while the others walked to Mahoneys; we waited in line there but got bored with it fast (the others were inside). Steph saw Sarah Gordon, who was going back to Noah's, so we hitched a ride with her & hung out at Noah's for a little while. Sarah's cool; she & Steph are hysterical together. Rachel & Will met us there & Steph, Amanda & I walked back to their house and chilled for a bit before going to Darby's. It was a laaaaate night and Julia, Eddie, Amanda & I rode back in the sketchiest cab EVER (Eddie was stepping in vomit, it was LOVELY) and we all tried to crash.

Palace the next morning (ah, how I missed thee). Everyone split after, but I walked around Vanderbilt for a while before coming home, totally spent.

Ok, this post is ridiculously long and probably only interesting to me so I'm going to stop for now. I'm going out to have an adventure with Golio. More later.

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