Extremely hetero survey stolen from Eddie when I SHOULD be sleeping.

1. WHAT DOES YOUR MYSPACE NAME MEAN? Uh, what do you WANT my MySpace name to mean?

2. WHERE WAS YOUR DEFAULT PICTURE TAKEN? Party in Eddie's kitchen April of senior year. Ah, to live 12 feet away & only show up to drink & pose for pictures.

3. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Irony of ironies: Helen. Angrisani thinks it's great, though. (Angri: Helen Keller filling out this survey...)

4. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT RELATIONSHIP STATUS? Ha, ha, ha. I've been divorced 3 times & my 4th husband died of a drug overdose.

5. HONESTLY, IF SOMEONE WERE TO TELL YOU HOW THEY FELT, WOULD YOU LISTEN? Yes, but as Golio says, I'd probably "malfunction," as I tend to do whenever someone says something nice to me.

6. WHATS YOUR CURRENT MOOD? Sad. I just watched Eddie's stupid MySpace montage from all 4 years at Marist & now I wish more than anything in the entire world that I was back in P5 or the Nelly again.

7. WHO DO YOU LOVE MOST? "I loved you the most." (Dedicated to Phil).

8. WHO MAKES YOU HAPPY? Not who - what. And that would be mint chocolate chip ice cream with peanut butter syrup, whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles & a cherry. Either that or a time machine to take me back to Marist. I'm a simple creature, really.

9. ARE YOU MUSICALLY INCLINED? I most certainly think that I am.

10. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME & CHANGE SOMETHING WOULD YOU? I don't think it'd make a difference anyway, so I plead the 5th.

11. IF YOU MUST BE AN ANIMAL FOR ONE DAY - WHAT WOULD YOU BE? My dog because all the fucker does is play outside, sleep & get attention. I like playing outside. And sleeping. And attention.

12. EVER HAD A NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE? I got caught giving my mom the finger in 5th grade, before I even really knew what that meant. That's basically about as near-death as one can come.

13. WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES? Procrastinating on the Internet at 3am when I should be sleeping because I'm getting up at 8:30am.

14. WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE SONG THAT'S STUCK IN YOUR HEAD? "Someone to Watch Over Me" bc I was listening to the Crazy for You soundtrack in the car before. Yay.

15. WHO DID YOU COPY & PASTE THIS FROM? Eddie, my Home Fry.

16. NAME SOMEONE WITH THE SAME B-DAY AS YOU? That would be Ian-face, bday buddy & prom date extraordinaire :) Same day, same hospital.

17. HAVE YOU EVER SANG IN FRONT OF A LARGE AUDIENCE? I'm going to copy Eddie's answer: "I'm a musical theatre whore."

18. WHAT'S THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? Los ojos.

19. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY ORDER FROM STARBUCKS? Peppermint Mocha, but I'm really more of an Iced Caramel Latte from DD kinda gal.

20. HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DRUNKEN NIGHT? Me? Nooooooo, never. I'm against alcohol, premarital sex AND violence against women. Duh.

21. DO YOU STILL WATCH KIDDY MOVIES OR TV SHOWS? Only if they're really young & really naked. A couple of bruises make a nice accessory too.

22. DO YOU HAVE BRACES? Yes, from 3rd grade til 6th grade.

23. NAME SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED TO YOU TODAY? I got a peanut butter cup cookie from Dunkin Donuts and it was glorious.

24. DO YOU SPEAK ANY OTHER LANGUAGE? I can rap "Ice Ice Baby" AND sing "Come On Over" in Spanish.

25. IS THERE SOMEONE ON YOUR MIND NOW? Does Justin Timberlake count?

26. WHAT HURTS YOU THE MOST? I'd rather not say. You've gotta buy me dinner first.

27. WHAT DO YOU WISH FOR? See #8.

Raise to the future, drink to the past

Ah, New Year's Eve. My favorite holiday after Halloween. After the traditional NYE dinner with my entire family in Syosset, I picked up Golio from the Hicksville train station (after waking him up at like 8pm & ordering him to get on the next train without choice). We dropped my car off at home. Christie drove us Danny Rittereiser's (Ritz) new abode on Bradley Dr. As much as I wanted to go into the city with Julia & Allison or party with Claudio, Frankie & Jenna Collins in Brooklyn, it was really nice to actually have something around the block for once.

Cassidy Jill & Ian-face were already there. It was a lot of Longwood kids that we never actually hung out with while in hs, so it was slightly awkward. Brian & Jen got there about an hour later. With our group complete (minus Claudio & Frankie), we had a good time. I got home around 4:30am & was up around 7:30am, completely awake. Golio, Katelyn & her friend were downstairs on the couches so I just ended up watching 24 on DVD, reading & taking a shower. I dropped Golio back off in Hicksville & then went to a diner in Syosset for our other annual tradition, which was brunch/resolutions. Later, Uncle Lou, Kate & I went to see Night at the Museum. I enjoyed it.

On a more introspective note, 2006 was a really strange, confusing, emotional year of change. I started it feeling very alone in general (fighting with Julia & Brian, bitter about feeling underappreciated in MCCTA, etc.), then had the whole 3 month acid reflux issues (medically, bc of a hernia, but I still think it was from the extremely, extremely stressful 1st semester I had last year, capped off by Uncle Emilio's sudden death & the toll that took on my entire family), then feeling frustrated over capping & fighting, then being brought out of it all bc of Children's Theatre (what I'll miss the most), Festival (which wouldn't have been nearly as much fun if it wasn't for all the nights of "bonding" at Eddie's, Catchphrase, vodka in the green room, all the ridiculousness our cast did onstage as far as improv, causing ourselves & each other to break character, the cast parties & that awesome fucking Sheila dress) & of course, Banquet. Such an emotional time. Then the indescribable feeling of graduation, the confusing, insecure summer which lead to me not acting like myself til Sept when my feelings were hurt further through a very passive aggressive message (though I admit I brought a lot of it on from my own immature behavior, which resulted from the confusion & insecurity I allowed myself to give into; it's a cycle, really). Anger caused me to snap out of it, but I was mad at the universe bc I was once again feeling alone, sad, self-destructive & insecure when months earlier I was feeling like it was all coming together. I hate hate hate who I am when I'm like that, because I'm not like that. The last 3 months of 2006 were spent being miserable over still living on LI, not having a real job & slaving away at Ann-fucking-Taylor with the virginal Jesus freaks who talk shit about everyone but smile to their faces. But that was 2006. 2007 is going to be so much better. It has to be. I'm right. The end.

When Tricia & I went to visit CJ for her 21st & then to Baltimore to visit her dad, it was right after the Children's Theatre's Liquid Lunch, which was absolutely the defining moment for me in terms of "it's going to be gone soon." Brian Sabella & I at one point, after successfully planning it 2 years in a row, looked at each other & said, "This is the last time we're doing this. It's not supposed to be the last time. How did this happen?" That's when I started crying in the middle of Toucan's, bc I just knew that everything I built for myself was going to be gone, just like that. So in Baltimore, I was in a melancholy place. I remember laying awake & thinking, "Is life going to get better?" And then came Festival, Banquet, Riverfest, our awesome magazine for capping, Yuck & Senior Week and...it did. And I'm so glad that it did, bc if I ended my time at Marist feeling that for once, I had nothing to complain about, I could hold onto everything that makes a person content with life & take great memories with me, even if none of it would be there afterwards. At least I left with a smile. And though I can be a depressive bitch, I'm generally a positive person bc I know that for every friend you fight with, every bad grade you get, every person that fucks you over, every melodrama, every stressful all-nighter trying to balance everything, every argument over buying toilet paper, there's going to be a moment where it all comes together, that makes you forget about everything that bothers you. And those are the moments that make it all worth it.

That said, here's pictures from NYE at Ritz's house, Casa de Bradley:

At the start of the night. Thursday's haircut was not a moment too soon.
Silly, Ian, you can't stop it so just don't try to fight it...
...Nope, he may be 1 hr & 52 minutes-ish older than me, but I still showed him, ha.
Some of the gang: CJ, Golio, Ian-face, Jen, Brian.

Thankful for what each of them taught me this past year.
In the words of Ms. Roxie Hart: "These are my boys." Ah, Golio. Oh, look. It's the Chris Golio fashion shoot. Awesome.
I love Ian-face, birthday buddy & prom date extraordinaire.
Poor Jen & Brian just wanted to play beer pong, after waiting through the world's longest game to get on the table (even Brian Sabella would have wanted to kill himself waiting for this game to end)...

...but CJ only really wanted to play with the dog. Typical. Doesn't she have like, 12 dogs at home that she doesn't pay attention to? jk

Goodbye, 2006. Hello, 2007.

I'm a wild & untamed thing

"I'd rather stick my dick in a blender." -Funniest text message Chris Golio has ever sent me.

California on Monday morning! Then Tricia & I are going to drive back across country, leaving sometime Tuesday? Colleen = Excited. I know we're probably stopping in Vegas, we're stopping in Tennessee so she can see her grandmother & in Baltimore to visit her dad (yessssss, our last adventure in Baltimore back in April was SO much fun; I got to see some of the places that Tricia caused trouble when she was growing up & then during her Towson days). I think getting away from everything on Long Island that's completely stressed me out since I got home in May will be just what I need, since the only other thing that would be 'just what I need' is a real job & that one's obviously workin' like gangbusters.

Aaaaanyway, I don't really have any fun work stories at the moment - except that when you're in the wordrobing room, you can hear people in the break room, since there's a little window that connects the two. There's a vending machine right against the shared wall that breaks every other day & often times, whoever's in the dressing room can hear whoever's frustrated with the vending machine banging/shaking it in order to get their candy out (usually the Swedish Fish get stuck, FYI in case anyone ever finds themselves in the break room of Ann Taylor anytime soon).

So this afternoon, I hear someone beating the shit out of this machine for being such a withholding little bitch. I open the window & call out, "Stop beating up the vending machine!" (I was going to make a tasteless misogynistic joke too but alas, did not.) Usually, someone will say something back, but this time - nothing. So I thought nothing of it til about an hour later when one of the stock guys, Ryan, comes up to me.

Ryan: "Did you yell at Dillion (new guy) for shaking the vending machine?"
Me: "Yeah, I heard him giving it a beatdown through the wall."
Ryan: "He thought that it was an automated message. He came back white as a ghost, claiming that the vending machine was TALKING to him, telling him to stop shaking it!!"

Exactly. And in case you're wondering, hell yeah I made fun of the new guy for the rest of the day. I don't care if he's Lisa's brother. Dude thought the vending machine was talking to him...

Ok, that's enough for one night. I'm off for the next 2 weeks. Yaaaay for not having to work, boooo for how broke I'm going to be soon!!

Oh - holler at me if you want me to send you a postcard or something, since everyone knows I'm big on that shit since I'm so cheesy. Roadtripping advice also encouraged.

P.S. STARKED NYC's been down since Wednesday, which SUCKS cause I spent like 2 hours on Wed night doing all the Daily News Links with a Rocky Horror Show theme for Halloween, wasting time that I could have spent in NYC with Amanda, Courtney, Julie, Hittenmark, Matero, etc & of course as soon as I publish it, the site's down so no one could fucking see it. However, I'm sharing this with all of you because I found it hysterical & nearly peed my pants when I saw it (don't you just love redundency?) & have no other way of sharing it with people til the site's back up. Have fun: Have Yourself a Merry Lohan Christmas!