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...

Sane is a relative term.

Okay, so made my return to Marist April 21 for Festival, the student written/acted/directed one act plays. Damn, I freaking miss MCCTA, which is somewhat disgusting. I have my soul back, this should NOT be happening. Haha, Phil has a tendency to reuse his favorite line from his play the year before in whatever play he's written for Festival current year. For Speed Demons (the show I was in Sr. year), it was my infamous Marisa-Tomei-influenced-Jewish-LI-accented-"32 hours!" monologue from Gods, In General (his show from Jr. year). <3 I love that Phil writes parts just for me & Steph, hehe. So spoiled. Anyway, this year, he gave Steph the same line from Speed Demons, which I love: "Sane is a relative term. We're all completely nuts. Some of us are just more forward about it."

Last year, hell/tech week for Festival just kicked off the greatest month ever. After rehearsal, we'd all go to Eddie's house & chill out, drink, etc. til the wee hours. And let's not even begin with the crazy ass, never-ending game of Catch Phrase...(Natalie's the default winner, haha). Then everything continued to be awesome for the next month, til graduation. I remember constantly quoting one of my favorite movies of all time, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in my away message - the "This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon" part. ("I know." "What do we do?" "Enjoy it.") And we all know how rough last summer was for me, trying to grasp that it really was all gone. Admittedly, I was not in a very good place for months after graduation. But I've talked that to death in previous posts, I'm so over talking about it right now.

My point is that going back & walking around campus, it was almost like I never left, which was weird. I keep in touch with all my friends who are seniors - and I remember talking to everyone who graduated a year ahead of me at this time last year. Everyone goes through the same thing. They're all excited, but panicking about graduation & the real world. It's freaking scary. You start to really reminisce about the last 4 years. How intimidating it was to be a freshman & how graduation seemed to be so far away. Then, bam! Suddenly, YOU'RE the senior. You're the one that the freshman look up to, are scared to talk to (as Joey put it: underclassmen had this concept that he was 'all that' & were amazed if he said hello to them at a party or something & he didn't get why, until he remembered that he was the exact same way; we all were). Plus, you grow up a lot in those 4 years. Being away from home does wonders because you start to come into your own as a person. I certainly did. Definitely did. It's strange to watch them all experience the same emotions that I saw the seniors have when I was a junior & felt myself. Now seeing it from all 3 sides, I have a clearer perception that everything is okay in the end. Just as Phil points out about sanity, it really is all relative.

Anyway, it was also Phil's 22nd birthday, soooo at least I got to see everyone. I was up there for most of the day, met John for a little while, hung with Joey for a couple hours (drove him on a beer run, for old times sake), got to go to the Palace with Phil & Beth for dinner - hooray for sweet potato pancakes! :) Chilled with Crissy, Steph & Steph. "Slept" on Steph (Speranza's) couch. Here's pictures for anyone who actually cares. Note how exhausted I look in all of them, because I haven't slept in ages it seems. Yay, insomnia.

Phil & his muses; Speranza & I stay sane inside insanity :)

The lovely Miss Garrison
Memory of the Day: Matt dressing up as a mental patient & wandering into people's houses until someone called security on him. Typical.

The beautiful Amy Kate, who took over for me in my MCCTA board position :)

"Yes, I'll take the H&M bra for $100."

So let's just talk about how some random dude at the train station today asked to "buy my bra" for $100, then actually whipped out $100 bill to prove it. Please note that I was wearing a t-shirt with a SWEATER over it at the time. So, yeah. THAT was awesome.

I'm house/dog-sitting for my aunt in Mt. Sinai again. It's also 11:34pm right now on a FRIDAY & I'm so ready to go to sleep. Is this what happens when you turn 23? Can I go back to being 21?

Children's Theatre was this week at Marist. I can't even begin to describe how much I miss it. It was always that week that the weather was magically GORGEOUS for the first time and the kids are just hysterical while watching the show. Plus, free meals in the cafeteria (haha), which was always the BEST bonding time. It really was my FAVORITE part of the MCCTA season - more so than probably "The Vagina Monologues" and Festival (& everyone knows that I've had amazing, amazing Festival experiences...). Sigh. I <3 MCCTA.

Since I don't have the video of the "99 Problems But My Cow Ain't One" rap from the glory days of "Jack & the Magic Beans" on this computer right now (external hard drive), I'm going to have to be all reminiscent by putting up a video I DO already have uploaded from Children's Theatre '05:

OKAY! Enough with all the emo. I'm obsessed with the Amy Winehouse CD even though she's absolutely nuts. Though, being that I love Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple & Tori Amos, this should not be a surprise. I'm in a great mood right now, particuarly because of the AMAZING MetroBuzz related evening I had. Holler.

"Heroes" rocks my socks.

A couple quick things:

1. Last night, Angrisani convinced me to join his fantasy baseball league. We named my team after Helen Keller, which is somewhat approp, especially considering I have absolutely no idea how a fantasy sports league works & Helen Keller probably would run a team better than me.

2. So this morning, I managed to lose my train pass, find it after I bought a million dollar round trip ticket in a panic, lose my credit card, find my credit card in my pocket all along, get hit on by the 50-year-old guy with a 9-year-old daughter & "a serious rejection complex" sitting next to me on the train who wants to take me to a movie & then walk around Borders Books, managed to step in a ginormous puddle AND got an IM from Eastern Europe! And all before 11am. Yeah, Monday.

3. Tonight's Heroes = amazing. I may or may not have cried with Jack Bristow Mr. Bennett's decision at the end. Uncle Lou looked at me like I was nuts, but he's been playing this weird Swedish music all week, so he really can't talk.

That's all for now.

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.

The Angri-Storey Party Story

Alright! So last Thurs. (Jan. 18), I made my way up to Potown for the big Angrisani-Storey 21st birthday gala. I got up there around 6:30ish & made a beeline for the Palace. I miss that glorious diner goodness. Being that I cannot cook for shit, I used to get takeout from there a couple times a week, especially since I lived right down the road last year. Mmmm sweet potato pancakes & turkey egg-white omlets with sweet potato fries. Sigh.

Moving on. I killed some time by going to the Galleria. Did that weird thing I do when I want to kill time (try on prom/formal dresses). Heard some 14-yr-old girl in the dressing room talking about how she was going to meet up with some 24-yr-old guy she met on MySpace. I wanted to go up to her & shake her til she understood just how much that was a really stupid idea. I set off to Rachel's to chill with her & Will (their wedding is only 9 months away - craaaaazy). We watched quality NBC Thurs. night comedy. Speranza joined us with tales of her new wild & crazy life as a single gal. She's too hot for her own good, haha. xoxo. I left for campus around 11:15.

I had fun, but as I walked in, I saw Joey, who said something along the lines of, "What? Are you still trying to relive your college days?" It was innocent, but it still made me feel a little weirded out. I'm really not trying to do that; I'm just still good friends with both Matt & Eddie and they drove all the way to my house for my grad party last June, so why shouldn't I celebrate their bdays? I wish Eddie (G) had come with me, like he would have if he hadn't had final dress rehearsal. I ended up talking to Phil, Mark Heftler, Lorenzo-I-mean-Zeus-to-my-Hera, & some of Matt's friends from home outside for a long time. I may be sworn to secrecy, but Phil's writing another play (this time a full length) & there's totally a part in it for me (I've decided, of course). Yesssss Gods, In General/Speed Demons take 3, ahem.

I stayed at Crissy's that night (as I do every time I go up to visit; I really need to do something to show my appreciation since half the time, I don't even see her til I show up between 1:30-3:30am begging for a couch). I barely drank at the party (I really was just there for the guys & not to get trashed at a college house party), so I had no problems getting up early the next morning to go for a little run on my old route & then sneak into the gym & use the pool to do some laps. I haven't done a swimming workout since I was trying to get into shape for all the skimpy Rocky Horror Show costumes & I kinda miss it. So yay Marist, yay Matt & Eddie, yay Phil, Lorenzo & Mark, yay Crissy, yay Rach, Will & Steph, & any other really gay things I can 'yay' (yay Palace!).

Oohhh they wanna dance with somebody

Julia & I went up to Marist this weekend to see And Then There Were None (as did Courtney & Julie). It was strange to sit in the Nelly Goletti & NOT have to worry about anything. At all. I haven't done that since freshman year. Congrats to everyone, they did fabulous - extra special pats on the back for Cassie & Megan (producers), Erica my ROCKSTAR (PSM) & Christina (anyone who can make Amy Kate actually truly look like a 70-year-old woman gets massive snaps).

I hung out with Rachel, Will, Steph, Nate H., Jeremy & Ryan Defoe for a while afterwards, then made an appearance at the cast party. Rachel, send me those pictures that you took at su casa when you get a chance. Also, damn you Speranza for getting me back into a massive Tori-kick again.

I was still exhuasted from my 8 straight days at my crappy job, so I knew by last Tues that there was no way I was going to be drinking or anything like that this weekend. Anyway, Phil managed to convince me to drive him, Beth, Angrisani, Topher & Stephanie Garrison to Darbys at around 1-1:30am. How did he do this when all I wanted to do was go home to Crissy & Heather's couch & sleep? Irish Nachos. Damn it, I'm a sucker for those gloriously greasy, fattening, unhealthy waffle fries with bacon & melted cheese everytime. Damn you, O'Hagan. DAMN YOU & you "I can eat Irish Nachos at 3am & still look as hot as the movie star I will be some day" ways!

Moving on so this isn't another novel:

We took Angrisani's Irish Nacho virginity & it made him so happy that he & Topher just wanted to dance with everybody! OMG! There's even video of them celebrating! Could you possibly ask for anything more?! *Note that poor Steph totally realizes what she's gotten into by agreeing to come with us, hahaha. Beth is not there bc we made her the Irish Nachos Bitch & made her wait at the bar for an extended period of time with instructions to not come back with the goods.

After getting home at 3:30am (I had to take a trip to the Wall after I dropped everyone off. I didn't go during alumni weekend & that place has always given me perspective). I fell asleep on Crissy & Heather's couch in Fulton around 4am, got up at 8am, went for a short run (I missed my old course, esp. since I couldn't run the last like 2 weeks of school cause I was gimping around haha). Then I drove straight to my grandparents' house in Syosset to shower & get all dolled up for work, dropped all my shit off in Ridge in about 4 minutes and flew out the door to good old Ann Taylor Factory Outlet.