PARC: The A stands for A-List

Summer 2005!

2005-06-10T22:36:00.000-05:00

Holy shit! Can anyone believe that another year has already passed by?!? Now we're (at least most of us) half-way done with college. Well, I think we should could keep the PARC blog alive even though none of us will be living in PARC next year (~tear~). Let's invite new people to join and make sure that we use this forum to keep updated on each other's lives. Many of us will be abroad for all or part of next year, and this is the perfect way to help keep in touch. So as the inaugural posting of PARC Blog Summer 2005, I wish everyone the best possible summer, whereever your travels may take you. Stay cool and stay safe!

Much love,
Matt

2005!!!

2005-01-01T13:38:00.000-06:00

I hope that everyone had a fantastic New Year's Eve!! I'm really looking forward to spending another year with you fine people. My evening was quite a blast, including roman candle fights and hookahing. I got to see some folks I haven't seen for a while and it was wonderful. I'd like someday to spend the New Year's Eve with you guys, maybe in the future? :)

I get in at 1:30 tomorrow, I can't wait to see you all.

Ordinary People

2005-01-01T01:25:00.000-06:00

So I've lived to see yet another year (Hallelujah!) New Years Eve 2004 had to be the BEST I've ever had that's all I can say right now (Ask me about it when we return). Just wanted to let you all know that I Love you dearly, and I hope 2004 was amazing, but more important 2005 is everything you hope/expect it to be (Im sure it will be). Im looking forward to another year filled with fun and friendship, as well as many more to come. I wish you all the best (Peace, Love, & Prosperity) Take care of your selves and each other.

Love,
B.Sug,

WARNING LEVEL: RED

2004-12-31T01:56:00.000-06:00

OMFG.

So '09ers are ALREADY on facebook. In fact, they have a fucking GROUP!

And one of them has 46 friends. And he joined on DECEMBER 11TH!!!

It's like:

* come home from HIGH SCHOOL
* open acceptance letter
* join facebook.com
* tell parents you got in to college

WTF?! I officially hate any member of the Class of 2009 who joins facebook any earlier than June. I also hate any member of 2009 who enters Northwestern with more than 11 friends.

So HA! to them.

xoxo Christine

2004-12-28T14:59:00.000-06:00

Well, this is a little awkward, but I guess this is the best way to update you all on my life...As of last night, after 4+ years, Brett and Lindsay are officially no longer an item. It's a little strange, but it's good. We were both totally on the same page. We got the breaking-up stuff over within the space of ten minutes, and proceeded to spend a few hours having one of the loveliest conversations I've had in a long time. It was nice. We're now able to have a comfortable friendship. His life is coming together: he's playing a show in Januray (a two hour set!); he went rock-climbing in the mountains of West Virginia; he's going to take a full fifth year and get a minor in film. He's happy. I'm happy. What a relief.

In other news, we were snowed in from last Tuesday through Sunday with about eighteen inches of snow. The roads are still a mess, and I'm stir-crazy! I'm so excited to come back to campus and start fresh...a new quarter and a renewed vigor! I think we've all agreed to go out more and get out of our respective ruts, yes?

Things I'm looking forward to doing: having a belated birthday party of some sort for Midori, ice skating at Millenium Park, going to Las Palmas and drinking half a pitcher of margaritas (Caitlin, I'm looking at you), going for south Indian food on Devon, playing Kings (come on, guys, I've never gotten to play), finding some place I can actually get in to go dancing, playing snow Frisbee...oh, there's loads of stuff but mostly I just want to see you all! Enjoy your last few days of free food and sleeping till 3 PM and showering without shoes on, loves, and I will see you Sunday!

"miiiiiisery"

2004-12-28T13:11:00.000-06:00

A must see, almost as amusing as the banana-phone:

www.strindbergandhelium.com

An anti- must see is the movie A Day Without a Mexican - easily the worst film ever made.

I can't wait to see you all back in E-ville on Sunday!

LOVE y besitos!

I'm Coming Back like, now.

2004-12-27T17:47:00.001-06:00

Warning... I'll be back in E-town by Wednesday Night at 7 pm. That means five good days of partying before school starts. If you are, will be, or can be in Evanston for New Years, Come pre-Party at the Blue Whale, starting at 8pm. Plans are totally still up in the air for what to do that night. Whether permitting a trip into Chicago to rock, drink, and watch fireworks is a distinct possiblity. I am so F*cking Excited! I have missed below zero temperatures for far too long. And I can't wait to see you all. Travel Back to Evanston Safely.

It's Over?

2004-12-27T02:54:00.000-06:00

Xmas 2k4 over, what? Oh well it was fun while it lasted and you better believe I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it, and I hope you all did as well. So as some of you may have heard the southern U.S. had an unexpected white Xmas this year which would have been great minus ice !! That's right inches upon inches of ice and temps in the low teens making any travel virtually impossible or extremely difficult (Yes even for us SUV driving suburbanites!!!) I spent Wed - Sun "snowed in" as a result of weather conditions only venturing out once on Fri to complete my holiday shopping. Believe it or not the roads were so bad several churches cancelled their xmas eve/ day and sun services. (What the SOUTH cancelling CHURCH b/c of some God created snow and ice ?!!!!!!! BLASPHEMOUS!!!!!!) The Xmas holiday was rather uneventful and lasted a relatively short time (the guests were gone by 7pm) a first in Williams family history. It's back to work for me this week (Hallelujah) and of course more shopping. Fri as you all know is New Years Eve (MAKE GOOD CHOICES.....NUFF SAID) And I'll see you all in the E in about 6 days !!

Kisses, & Happy New Year !!

Not to sound like an elitist bitch, but . . .

2004-12-26T23:42:00.000-06:00

my co-workers make me realize why I'm so glad I don't go to a state school. At the risk of vast-stereotyping, they are everything I sometimes fear my life turning into. Like they all go out to weird suburban bars, drink cheap beer, hook up with ugly guys with beer guts, wear platform shoes and too-tight tube tops, chain smoke Marlboro LIGHTS, are on some form of a low-carb/South Beach diet, go tanning all the time, and listen to bad rap. (Except Margaret - ask if you want to see my stalker-picture of her - and Ken, who's half-gay.) Anyway, they're so icky.

In other work-related news (as that's all I did last week), every day about 300 women come in wearing these INSANE fur coats, and at the risk of pissing off certain people, it makes me want one SOOOO badly. Like even more than I did before. I VOW that as soon as I become a thirty-something suburban mother, I'm buying one.

Anyway, at this point, I must say that I hope, for those of you celebrating it, Christmas was WONDERFUL. I also hope that a certain former roommate of mine had a FABULOUS 20th birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIDORI!!

And to those of you not celebrating Christmas, I hope your December 25th was also wonderful and filled with joy. And, on top of that, I hope all of you had an INCREDIBLE Boxing Day! And to those of you who don't celebrate Boxing Day.. SHAME SHAME!! It's a big fave in my household, let me just tell you that.

Now it's time for some me-talk, so feel free to ignore this part if you aren't 100% obsessed with me and my life (even though I know you all are!).

Christmas this year, for me, was WONDERFUL, as, for the first time EVER, I didn't really get any "filler" gifts. I only got about 8 presents this year, and every single one of them is 100% functional in my everyday life. I got NO clothes, which makes me incredibly happy, and nothing that would qualify as "random crap." I was also very pleased with the presents I gave everyone in my family, as they all seemed to like them a lot. Oooh and I got The Stepford Wives, so prepare yourselves for a viewing-party when we get back, as it's a simply phenomenal movie.

After we did the whole presents/napping thing (my almost-15-year old sister Jenifer insists that we get up INSANELY early every Christmas... this year we compromised on 7.30!), some of my cousins came over, and we went ice skating! Every winter, they freeze the park across the street from us for ice skating, and I had SO much fun!! I 100% suck at ice skating, but it was still a lot lot lot of fun.

So my Christmas this year was actually pretty nice. MUCH better than last year. However, since nothing can be too wonderful, I got very sick this morning... ick. But even that was kind nice, as we had relatives here all day and that gave me an excuse to lock myself up in my room and be somewhat of a bitch. Yay! And I'm actually really feeling a lot better now, which is good because...

Tomorrow, I have to go shopping! Well, I don't really have to, as ALL I did last week (other than work) is shop. However, I'm going to, as there are a few things I have to pick up. I'm excited, too. And I'm not working at all this week!! That's a little upsetting, as I fear I'll get very very bored, but on the other hand, it will prob be nice to have some relaxing time. Y'know, since I don't do any of that at school or anything...

Speaking of school-related things (I know, I know, we're on vacation.. but we do go back in a week!! Or less than, for me at least. And I for one am kinda excited about that), I finally learned what people in PR actually do. I grilled my father about it at dinner the other night. And from him, I found out some interesting things:

1. PR is actually something that sounds relatively interesting to me;
2. He said when he's interviewing / hiring kids right out of college, he only looks a little at their extra-currics AND the major isn't really that important (my dad is an advertiser, on the marketing/business side);
3. His college roommate does PR for this rehab place in Minneapolis, and he majored in English in college! (As did my dad, which I knew.) (I'm majoring in English.)

Anyway, these things made me feel slightly better about my future. Because: I now actually know what it is that I'm telling people I'm considering for a career, the fact that I have "useless" majors (comm studies & English) isn't all that important, and I don't really need a ton of activities (which is good, as I've yet to find something at Northwestern that makes me really excited.. but I'm very open to suggestions!!!).

Also, I've been talking to lots of relatives lately, and they all applaud me for not really knowing what I want to do yet. I think they actually are just saying this to be nice to me, but oh well. It works I guess.

So that's about that. I would really encourage you all, yet again, to update. And *snaps* to all those who are!! Yay! But my break is getting loooong, fast, so if you don't update, you'll be forced to read through more of these things. And as entertaining as I'm sure I am, it's probably not as entertaining as you are.

lots of love and holiday cheer!
Christine

The Heat Is On

2004-12-24T13:34:00.000-06:00

Quick list update:
1. We have heat and an oven, but no hot water for showers. (I've been showering at a friends house)
2. Watched Lost in Translation with my friend Lloyd, who hadn't see it, and he translated some of the Japanese for me, which actually made some parts funnier
3. Ate at my favorite Italian Place - Caffe Riace; the owner barely speaks English and he gave us a bottle of olive oil from his home town, I can not even begin to describe how good it is
4. Have now received 2 copies of Napolean Dyanmite for gifts, umm...sorry Dave, but does anyone want one (I had also already bought myself a copy)
5. Have not spent any money at J.Crew - yeah for me
6. Chatted with Talia - she leaves January 5th, so call her and wish her a safe flight
7. Babysat and got a 50% tip on 6 hours of babysitting
8. Have been drinking way too many egg nog lattes (Matt, you should try one, they're at Starbucks)
That's about it. Hope everyone else is having fun and staying warm!
Peace.

Excuse me, but I think you have a gas leak

2004-12-21T13:03:00.000-06:00

To say the least, because it really is just to frustrating to think about; we have a gas leak - the kind that could blow up your house if an electric spark is set off. Yesterday, after arriving home from a pleasant day in San Francisco, we find out that they have turned off our gas and that we need to acquire a permit for a plumber to come dig up our back yard and fix the gas pipe, as well as a plumber. We now have no gas and will have to pay thousands of dollars to have it fixed, which could take days to weeks, even though this is a very dangerous situation. By the way, this permit is apparently difficult to obtain, like most other permits. Furthermore, we cannot 1) use our oven/stove 2)take hot showers or 3)turn on our heater. Hence I am currently hungry, dirty and cold. The joys of owning a home.

What happens in Omaha, stays in Omaha...

2004-12-20T20:38:00.000-06:00

So I got home last night from lovely (?) Omaha, Nebraska by way of Evanston. For anyone who wasn't clear on what I was doing, I was on an ASB trip to work with a refugee resettlement group there. ASB rocks my world, I highly recommend it to you all, and I invite you to join me on the spring break trip I will be taking somewhere as a compromise for having to spend this summer at home in Dayton.

ASB is hard to explain, but do let me say that I met some awesome people plus I got to spend time with Suj. I came home feeling both inspired by and frustrated with international politics and community organizations. We didn't do a whole lot that could be measured as concrete volunteer work, because we were only there one week and the organization we were working with was on probation (much to our suprise), but it was still an incredible experience. I know for sure now that I have to spend my life working for some sort of non-profit organization. Things I did do include: delivering Toys for Tots gifts to refugee families, working with Sudanese children in an afterschool program (see the picture below), organizing a warehouse of donated items for refugees, meeting with a variety of Sudanese, Somali, and Zimbabwean families and individuals, going out with a sixteen-year-old Sudanese girl to find clothing for her baby, sitting in on a variety of meetings and learning about community organizations, public health services, and grant writing, and eating lots of delicious Somali and Sudanese food.

We also had our share of non-volunteer related adventures such as sitting on the side of the road in Western Illinois for three hours Saturday evening because we ran out of gas, going roller skating with a crazy socially awkward bisexual "kind of a pyro" guy who worked at the church we were staying at, driving a long-ass time to arrive at an "aquarium" featuring some tanks of fish scooped out of the local ponds and rivers, visiting the world's largest truck stop in Iowa, exploring the booming nightlife of downtown Omaha, and having a post-ASB party Saturday night centered around margaritas, wine that tasted like grape juice, and everyone watching each other Facebook each other and creating a group (People in Omaha are Fucking Nuts, or something, if you're curious). I, therefore, continue to hate Facebook.

Today has been spent sleeping, researching summer internships (ahhh), convincing my mom to let me go to Morocco, finding ethnic vegetarian recipes, and watching Barbershop. The evening will probably be rounded out with some reading and more sleeping. Hooray for break. Love you all.

Let the love of Jesus fill your heart

2004-12-20T19:41:00.000-06:00

I went to the most bitterly cold place on the face of the planet this past weekend (Minnesota) for my cousin's wedding. Despite the fact that I got to see my gay aunt and her partner (plus their two adorable springer spaniels), my recently cheated on then divorced, but now a totally liberated and thinner woman aunt, and my mom's identical twin sister, yet another aunt, the weekend was somewhat of a bust. I must say that I love my family so much. I've never laughed so hard as I have when I'm with them. In addition, I also found out that my Goldman Sacks employed, Dartmouth grad cousin was a Kappa. Apparently, for Chapter meetings at Dartmouth, the Kappas must wear black and pearls. I think it sounded very interesting.

My cousin Troy, the groom, and his bride, Mary, both work for Young Life. If you're fortunate enough to not know what this is, it is basically a club of christian ministry, charity, and overall bigotry/hatred of non-white, non-christian, non-heterosexual, non-American people which takes teenagers on fun trips to make the brainwashing seem more legitimate.

I love my cousin Troy and his uber conservative baptist family, but it was a little much. First of all, the blasting of Christian Rock before, during and after the wedding ceremony was a little distasteful. Secondly, and most importantly, no booze!! :( How can you throw a decent wedding without drunkeness and dancing??!! I was most dismayed.

However, the bride's family was the kicker for the weekend. My family, aunts/uncles included, were told that our help was needed for decorating the reception hall (low budget wedding). We spent 3 hours that morning to put together a lovely room complete with fake fikas plants and miniature plastic slippers filled with mints (my Aunt Cindy, mother of the groom's idea). During all of our hard work of table setting, etc, no members of the bride's family showed up!! The mother of the bride showed her face for about 5 minutes to speak with Aunt Cindy, then promplty left.

This wouldn't be such a tragedy, except that negleted to help clean up after the affair. My mom and her 3 sisters were busy slaving away downstairs with my cousins and I taking orders. If you really want to see something scary, it's 2 sets of identical twins (my mom and her twin, and my aunt meg and marsha are twins), on a war path! The bride's family came to take away the gifts, and it apparently took 10 of them to decide what to do with the flowers. After being as indignant and pissy as possible during the clean up (passive aggressiveness is a trait in my clan), we all went back to the hotel for a drink. It was also my parents 33rd wedding anniversary that day, but I'm assurred that their wedding was better.

So, after a weekend of interesting things, I've made some highlights:
1. Finding sales at Banana Republic, Nordstrom, and Tall Girl at the Mall of America
2. Learning that the untimely death of my cousin's toy poodle, Nibbs 8 years ago, was actually due to my Aunt Kathie backing over it in their mini-van, instead of the story of a mountain lion attack that my cousin's had heard, and then told me.
3. Being late for the wedding and having my aging grandfather ask 4 times when the wedding was supposed to begin.
4. My aunt's dog, Cody, jumping up on my Uncle Charlie, spilling red wine on him and the floor, then drinking/slurping the liquid clean off the floor. Who knew dogs could be budding alcoholics?
5. Waking up this morning to find a 1/4 inch of ice on our entire rental car, then taking 2.5 hours to go 10 miles, running through the MSP airport, and almost missing our flight back to Missoula.

I hope every one else is doing well. Miss you!

Midwest is Best! (but actually, not.)

2004-12-20T14:44:00.000-06:00

Hello! I'm back, for the first time really, in Illinois.

And since I was awaken at 8.30 this morning to my sister screaming like someone had LITERALLY ripped out a body part off (she fell down the stairs), I decided I may as well write an overly-long blog to inspire other people to write.

First of all, I have a few closing comments on Princeton. Their student center is way better than ours, featuring a consistant selection of Special K AND Red Bull in their convenience-esque store (as well as a legit choice of non-candy products, such as CONDOMS! - that aren't locked up behind a glass case). And speaking of Red Bull? The party-esque get-together that Derek and I went to on Thursday night had Red Bull! So that was very exciting for me.

Anyway, as Edna says (If you don't know Edna, run - don't walk - to your nearest cinema and see The Incredibles ... it is, in a word, incredible): I never look back. It takes away from the NOW.
So true. But I'm going to look back for a minute.. sorry.

Okay, so last Monday (a week ago!), Derek and I went into New York on a mission of pseudo-stalking Mary-Kate and Ashley. We ate at Pastis, one of their favorites. It was very incredible, from the very hot, very gay maître d to the incredible socialite girl sitting next to us who gave her also very gay best friend this bizarre Gucci keychain for Christmas. It was by far one of the most exciting things I've ever done. And Derek even made this nice thing to prove that we went there:

I know this is probably exciting to none of you, but it really made my life complete.

After that, we met up with my friend Parvin (who goes to NYU) and we went on a Lane-inspired trip to 53 Christopher Street.

For those of you that don't recognize the address, it's the Stonewall Bar. I gotta say, it was pretty uneventful. We actually walked by it once before we even noticed it was there. A slightly more exciting gay-themed moment? Passing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, as seen on Will & Grace! (Specifically, for those of you who care, on the episode when Jack tries to join the Gay Men's Choir.)

Anyway, THEN we walked practically forever to the West Village to see this:

That building behind us? Morton Square. Recognize it? It's where Mary-Kate and Ashley live!!! So that was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life; they only reason my friends were able to pull me away is because it was about 11 degrees out.

The only other thing I have to say about our trip to the city (other than the fact that I bought upwards of $30 worth of complete CRAP - aka sunglasses and earrings - in Chinatown) is that NYU officially has THE best dorms in the country. I don't care what you say - not only are theirs big and very nice, but they're in New York!! Incredible. Except my friend lives across the street from a homeless shelter on one side and a prison on the other. Oh well. They also have insane security, so I suppose it's okay.

The rest of the time I spent in New Canaan was, I must admit, slightly less eventful. It involved lots of exciting meals (my favorite pizza place twice, my favorite Indian food, the New Canaan Country Club...). It was highlighted by a trip to my alma mater, St. Luke's School.

It's very sad because we just (two years ago) got a new Headmaster, and he came from Exeter. SO he has this huge "vision" for the school of being this uber-elite high-end prep school... as opposed to what it really is, which is a kinda lame prep school where kinda stupid yet successful parents send their children who have anger-management/getting kicked out of boarding school issues. But oh well. As a result of this vision, he's implementing all kinds of weird changes. For example, he changed our phenomenal school song last year (the old one was written by Bill Murray's ex-wife, who writes weird off-Broadway plays in her spare time - and all of her time is spare time). Anyway, I'd be happy to sing the old one to you. It was absolutely phenomenal. There are also now rumors circulating that he's trying to change the name of the school, or at least the mascot, because of the religious sound. (The Saint Luke's Crusaders.)

The only change of his I really support is the addition of squash courts. They totally rock.
But all the teachers are kinda angsty (rightfully so) at the administration, so that's sad. I also learned that my favorite Conservative history teacher (if I haven't told you about him, remind me to - he's CRAZY) has left our school to go teach in East Hampton. That entertained me a lot.

So that's all I'll say about New Canaan. I got back Friday night, and Saturday morning my family and I were off to the Wisconsin Dells for our family Christmas-reunion party. The good thing is that my aunt had brought a huge stack of magazines, so I basically read Condé Nast Traveler all afternoon. I got a $20 J.Crew giftcard, which is going to off-set my holiday self-shopping, so that's good. And after I went to bed, my relatives all played drinking games!! And Flip Cup! And I mean, from my cousins my age and younger to my 40-50 year old aunts and uncles!! Weird, huh? All I have to say is that I'm glad I was asleep.

Anyway, if any you are really interested in my life, I would encourage you to check out my pictures.
And now, I'm going SHOPPING! Yay! I hope all is well with everyone, and if it is BLOG! And even if it's not, what better place to air all your dirty laundry??

One more thing:

CHRISTINE'S HOLIDAY ENTERTAINMENT SUGGESTIONS
book: Wicked by Gergory Maguire. For those of you who don't know, it's a biography of the Wicked Witch of the West. It's one of my favorite books ever, and re-reading it has only made me love it more. As an added incentive, it's also a Broadway show that they're bringing to Chicago in April! (Anyone - who is a member of this blog, at least - is welcome to come with me.)
tv show: Love is in the Heir on E! It's on Sunday nights 11/10c. It's about this Persian princess, Princess Ann Claire, who was raised in London but wants to be a country singer. So she moved to LA under the conditions from her parents that she find a husband and become successful. She has an AWFUL voice, cannot write songs for her life, and is dating her kinda-gross trainer. She's also mildly brain damaged. It's entertaining to the nth.
music: The Cheeky Girls. I think that Matt and maybe even Christopher can back me up on this one. The Cheeky Girls (I briefly discussed them in an earlier post) are twins - Gabriela and Monica - from Romania, and they epitomize trashy. Their album (Party Time) is incredibe, and way too fun. I really feel as if you should all devote your breaks to learning their dance movies so that we can dance/party with them when we get back. If you want me to file-send you their hit single, Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum), just let me know. It will change your life. And WATCH THE VIDEO!!!
DVD extras: The Stepford Wives - that movie is so insanely good. And the extras are even better. So entertaining.
TV show on DVD: Popular! Did any of you watch this huge guilty-pleasure in early high school on the WB every Friday night? Well, even if you didn't, you can now purchase it on DVD! Melissa Etheridge's wife has an almost-starring role, if that's any added incentive (other than my glowing recommendation, obviously).
movie: Well, to anyone who hasn't yet seen Finding Neverland, I highly recommend that. It's beautiful, and really a theatre-movie. As far as other movies go, I'm just now entering into the movie-viewing part of my vacation, so I'll be sure to keep you updated.

And that's it for now. If anyone else has recommendations, by all means, post them!! And now I'm really going. But if this blog doesn't get hopping, expect some harrassment!! (Especially if you live in the SAME ROOM AS ME!)

lots of love and holiday-themed cheer!
Christine

2004-12-20T01:14:00.000-06:00

Ok so no blogging...What's the problem? :( Anyway since no one else is writting I'll say SOMETHING !! I really think this is going to be one of the best Christmas holidays ever (for me at least) 1.) I have an income, 2.) I finally got a REAL drivers license ! 3.) I'm betrothed (practically) 4.) Stress-free 5.) My friends at home really DO ROCK . Sat started on a positive note with a holiday brunch at a friends house which rocked for so many reasons (see picture)
Dancing ethnic Santa and chocolate chesecake (you KNOW I was pleased) Yesterday I also did my xmas shopping it was amazing !! I haven't done that kind of "power-shopping" since junior year of HS it was so liberating, I went at night and managed to get a parking space immediately, and the crowds weren't insane. The only draw back of the experience was the suspension of my father's credit card at the gas station at the end of my 3 hour adventure. (Needless to say this year everyone gets VERY nice gifts) ;) My best friend met me at the mall so we could spend some quality time together. We were going to see Spanglish, but ended up at IHOP instead, where we were SURROUNDED by attendees of a ghetto fabulous prom!! (It was entertaining) After a fabulous affordable meal we ended up back at my house to do some facebook stalking !! When the time came for me to take C back home (her car is in the shop) low and behold the lights went out !!!!!! As a result of the power failure I ended up with a car "full" of freinds and family as no one was willing to stay in the dark (understandable). When I returned I was forced to use Dial-up (eww...nuff said) to check my email and IM the sig-o all via candlelight (sexy? ummm maybe/not u decide) All in all Sat was a very interesting/fun day for me. Today I slept until 2 (ahh memories of Sundays at NU). Today we took our xmas card photo so we ended up dressed alike in cordinating red sweaters and black pants (holiday chic). I have mixed emotions about the finished product (Im kinda over matching outfits....hmmm). Well I guess thats all for now, I must go rest up for work and the annual "bougie black people xmas party tommorow night (scoff). Take care, post SOMETHING, and have a fab XMAS and Kwanza (huh, what? oh never mind!!) Good night,

Eww

2004-12-16T22:30:00.000-06:00

Amber Frey, if you don't know, then good for you. If you do know, then you should also know that she is planning on writing a memoir about her experience as a 'witness'. Eww.

Second eww...the bedroom scene in Sideways. No fat naked hicks, please.

Updates from up north

2004-12-14T20:01:00.000-06:00

So, I was at the post office today, the most glorious way to spend an afternoon during the holiday season. While waiting in line to have my passport renewed (a somewhat exciting task, indicating my overseas travel soon!), I was quite bored, naturally. Since I have the attention span of a 18 year old frat boy, I began looking through the "FBI wanted posters" and found a delicious surpise by the name of Jeremey Derome Kennedy.

After sifting through bank robbers, murderers, and white collar criminals, I came upon Mr. Kennedy. Nothing in his bio was too particularly interesting, the usual stuff; wanted for murder, 5'8", 160 lbs, black, no distinguising tattoos or scars. However, when coming to the "remarks" section of the sheet, I read the following: Wears a cholostomy bag due to a previous gunshot wound. Known to dress as a woman.

AHHH!! I can just imagine my own murder by a poorly dressed drag queen with matching cholostomy bag! That would indeed be an interesting way to go.

Here comes SEXY MOMMA!

2004-12-14T17:49:00.000-06:00

Finally, I am up on this blog, thank you for having me! I am currently at my town library because my dad decided to only buy 10 hours of SLOW ASS internet a month that periodically doesn't work. And to imitate Dave's entry about the wierd graduate student that just sat next to him randomly at the library, there is also this wierd man who is sitting next to me when there are 5000000000 other computer cartels open- I guess I can't help that my natural exotic beauty attracts strangers to sit next to me wherever i go. I think I was at my most prettiest during VODKA SOUR NIGHT! Every picture, I have an expression of malaise and disinterest and the obligatory near-passing-out-come-hither stare! Oh I look wonderful especially lying on the ground somewhere- of where i have no idea...all I remember was that the ground felt SO comfortable. And for all of you thinking that I am with Nirav, shame on you- we are just friends and after that night we went to my room and watched part of Gattaca until I kept sleeping and the room spinned around me in magical ways. Wow, that was a crazy night- I look forward to more thriller dancing when we get back to school. I really want to learn how to do that dance because every time that song comes on I want to do the official dance but end up just moving my arms in sporadic ways trying to look like MJ- the king...that will be the goal of next quarter.

SO I got back to NJ on Saturday where I saw my grandparents down the shore where they periodically fed me 100000000000000 pounds of food and kept asking if I wanted more to eat! Sometimes I feel like Hansel and Gretel when I go there because they are always offering me some tasty food...i will let you know if i get thrown into an oven in the near future for their next dinner! It was fun, I read a billion people magazines and caught up on celebrity gossip but then...I GOT TO PARTY WITH SOME OLD FARTS! Yes, my parents were whisked away to their annual Christmas Party and my grandparents invited Tony and Evie two 60 some people who came over first for cocktail hour and then took me and my grandparents out to this seafood restaurant where I got some yummy coconut shrimp (GET IN MY BELLY...probably harvested from the toxic waste that is the Jersey Atlantic Ocean) . I was the driver or chaffeur for the night for these crazzzzzyyy two couples that were double, triple my age who by that time had had quite a bit to drink :) . Other than that being the best night of my life, I have been shopping at strip malls on RT. 22 with friends and watching old Aliases from last year while making my scrapbook...beginning with pictures from the beginning of freshman year ( i have quite a ways to go). Miss you all very much and am looking forward to going back to school in a bit.

At it again

2004-12-14T01:45:00.000-06:00

I'm back home. Yay! It's actually not that bad. I've been relaxing the past couple of days and have spent time with family. I went to see ocean's twelve on sunday and don't really recommend it. it was enjoyable but over all its a big sham. Ocean's Eleven was good (and way over-hyped) but way better than the sequel. I am planning on seeing a lot of movies again. My parents got a blockbuster gift card from someone as a gift which is awesome b/c they don't rent American movies. So it's like I got a blockbuster gift card! And it's not even christmas yet. The movies i'm planning on seeing for sure are Life Aquatic, Finding Neverland, the incredibles, and maybe the Aviator, Kinsey, Ray, Machinist, and a few more.
My friends have started to come in or will within the next day or two. I'm hoping to spend some time in Austin so I actually enjoy myself over break. I hope everyone is well and enjoying themselves.

In other news:
U2's new album is kinda disappointing. but i don't think any of you like them so i guess you don't care.
I saw the trailer to Charlie and the Chocolate factory (tim burton director; johnny depp as willy wonka). Anyhow I didn't really know what to say. It's just very different than the orignal - kinda crazy.
Midori remember that trailer we saw when we went to see Closer. The movie with Will Smith in which he plays a date doctor or whatever. Well i went to ocean's 12 and there was this guy behind me who decided that was the funniest trailer he'd ever seen. So he began to guffaw (really loudly) all through it. And I think he probably liked every trailer he saw and wanted to see everyone of those movies. ugggh. I can't stand most people that live in texas. no wait. they're fine till they start talking....Jeez i'm sounding like Christine.

Matt, I have to say, I was disappointed while reading your post, as i figured out you weren't really transferring. HAHA. just kidding i promise. It sounds like you had a blast though.

BAD NEWS! I'm transferring!

2004-12-13T01:15:00.000-06:00

Ok... so I haven't had time to read anyone else's blogs yet. I'm sorry. But not really. I am having an amazing time at MAC! (Macalester College in MN for those of you unaware of its cool nickname). My new roommates are Anne and Shannon. Anne is school bff with my home bff, Eric (aka Guy). He's the reason I'm up here visiting. The campus is beautiful. But it's fucking cold. Don't worry... I've been doing plenty of things to keep me warm!!! hahahaha Ok, if you want details on the BEST story of winter break... you have to call me to get them. But to give you a quick rundown of this weekend: Player's Ball, Alcohol, African Dance Ensemble, Naked guy jumping out of a birthday cake, Alcohol, *censored,* personal performance for me of a new MAC play, Thai food, ringing of the "virginity bell," meeting other people from Evanston, late-night donut run to MAC's equivalent of White Hen (but no crazy guy working there, Christine), Saturday marathon of "America's Next Top Model" - the BEST show on TV! better than "Date my Mom", etc. In describing the weekend, Anne says: "you got more action here this weekend than most people who actually go here." In one word, Eric describes the weekend as: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" I'm still trying to get him to come visit Chicago (Lindsay and Christian are eagerly awaiting his visit).

I just reserved my "Super Shuttle" cab for tomorrow morning. I get back to DC around 5 tomorrow. And then back to "normal" life. The Trouble with Normal. Ok. I really miss you all already. And I can't wait to see you all next year! (seeing those pictures from the last night made me SO angry that I had a final on Friday. But the studying definitely paid of). However, I'm sure we will drink plenty of vodka tonics and whiskey sours to keep us warm come winter quarter.

We're also playing spin the bottle winter quarter. (Oh, don't pretend like you don't want to). Ok, I'm off to do Anne's Russian and Eric's Chinese homework.

Dosvedanya for now,
Matt (aka the "MAC" daddy)

P.S. - I just saw an ad for "Life Aquatic" (new Bill Murray movie). I CAN'T WAIT to see it!!!

P.P.S. - Now that I'm done, I love watching everyone else freak out about finals here (the last day of MAC classes is this Wednesday).

P.P.P.S. - ALL the dorms are connected here! You don't have to go outside! WTF?!? Get a fucking clue Northwestern.

A final message to all of you from the students at MAC with whom I'm staying: "Our school is SO much gayer than yours!" ttfn

Mormon's On the Rock Scene

2004-12-12T16:23:00.000-06:00

The lead singer, Brandon, of The Killers, is Mormon. I found this very surpising (along with the info that he's engaged) and it made me wonder about what other celebrities (besides the Osmonds) are Mormon. Anyone?

Anyway, I wanted to write about the concert I went to Friday, in order the line up included: Taking Back Sunday, Muse, Interpol, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand and Modest Mouse.
Highlights:
1. Brandon's "bling-bling" synthesizer and that he moved across the entire stage
2. the bassist Robert Hardy of Franz Ferdinand - he just rocks
3. Modest Mouse playing The View
4. Dan the Automator dj-ing between sets
Lowlights:
1. could not see Muse's awesome stage set up because the Bill Grahm Civic Center Audtorium has the worst set-up EVER (it reminded me of an oversized gym)
2. Tacking Back Sunday, period - i'm not a fan
3. F.F. didn't play auf acshe
4. Annoying drunk people
Conclusion: So glad I got to see The Killers live, they have a stage presence to rival Franz Ferdinand, but from now on I'm going to stick to seeing the bands I love at their own shows, because 35 minutes is just not enough

Yay for everyone on now!!

2004-12-12T10:04:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone!

Loving the updates, photo and otherwise. I look forward to a fuller account of all the fun exam-week going-ons at a later date.

I hope everyone had good exams, travel, etc.

I'm in CT now, after a quite-awful drive through the beauty that is New Jersey. The normally 2hr drive took us 4.5+ hours in the rain.. ick.

Princeton was very fun; check out me partying with some of New Jersey's finest...

Sorry if that picture, like Page's, is heinously big.

There's not much to say here.. we rented A Home at the End of the World last night, which I HIGHLY recommend. It was very beautiful. Something I don't recommend? Speak, the new Lindsay Lohan CD. It's pretty hideous. We're going into the city (NY, that is) on Monday to stalk MK&A at NYU. Actually, we're going to Pastis (that really is mk&a stalking), Stonewall (gay history, anyone?), Chinatown (for cheap imitation-desginer stuff), and finally out to dinner with my two best friends from middle school who go to school down there.

Anyway, we're off now, so that's it for the time being.

xoxoxo,
Christine

Ahh, sleep...

2004-12-12T01:58:00.000-06:00

I greatly enjoyed the pictures, it was a great evening had by all. I hope that the poor person in Core who I drunk scribbled on their notes did well on their final despite my disrespect for their work.

Missoula is fantastic. Every time that I come home I appreciate it more and more. I slept until 11:30 today, and also took a long nap this afternoon. I can't tell if I have some kind of problem, or if I'm just lazy as shit. Oh well, regardless, I still enjoy staying in bed as long as possible.

I saw the movie "Christmas with the Kranks" tonight, very forgetable. I'm typically a huge Jamie Lee Curtis fan, but this movie was somewhat blah. Oceans 12 is next on the list, with Sideways, and the Motorcylce Diaries following suit. The holiday just isn't complete without purchasing overpriced movie tickets and sitting next to old people who try to explain the plot to each other. Sigh.

We're going to get a Christmas tree tomorrow, which should be somewhat exciting. I do hate sap a lot though, so this tree better not get its vile goo on me. We've had a record low precipitation in November, so no snow yet. Boo, oh well, hopefully we'll get a huge snowstorm and I get begin re-waxing my snowboard.

Keep up the good blogs, very entertaining.

Let's celebrate "Festivus" when we get back to school.

2004-12-12T01:29:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm home, away from all my fun Northwestern distractions, I have no excuse not to contribute to the marring of this public domain with my private thoughts and musings. So....

Christine, for you (and anyone else who missed the vodka sours and library visit) here's a tiny recap:

Sadly, I had to miss Cass's fabulous party to attend my uncle's :( but I did meet a few interesting grad students. This guy is doing graduate work at Northwestern's School of Communication:

guy: So I hear you're a student at NU. What do you study?

me: Anthropology.

guy: How do you like the department?

me: I just recently switched majors so I'm not very familiar with the department yet.

guy: What did you switch from?

me: Well, first physics and then economics.

guy: Oh I see. They just keep getting easier, don't they? What's next, basket-weaving?

me: That or Comm Studies.

guy: No, basket-weaving definitely comes before Comm.

Yeah, so he was awesome. I think he may have been joking, Christine, so you can go ahead and keep thinking that Comm. is your "useful" major. :)

Today I met our newest exchange student - a 16 year old gothish-punk girl from Denmark who has "mood swings". She seemed calm to me, but, according to my brother, that was because I'd caught her just after she'd expressed her most recent frustration in a fit of tears and slamming doors. I can't wait to see what's next on her emotional agenda. I think having a perfect stranger come live with my family is endlessly entertaining... it's like having an extra sibling, but one that is completely unpredictable and entirely unaware of (or at least ignoring) several social norms.

Okay, now I've bored even myself to sleep. Bye!

p.s. Sorry the pictures are so big, I have no idea what happened... look quickly, because if I can't fix them I'm going to just take them out - I know they're annoying.

red alert! red alert!

2004-12-11T15:07:00.000-06:00

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT BLOG ENTRY. DO NOT OVERLOOK!

The bizuzz around Washington is that President Bush is considering a handful of candidates to replace Tom Ridge, and towards the top if his list may be the modern incarnation of the devil himself, ASA HUTCHINSON. Consider the following points if he ever comes before confirmation hearings:

1) He graduated from Bob Jones University.
2) He was born in Bentonville, Arkansas--home of the evil Wal-Mart corporation.
3) He recently was in charge of the wildly successful "War On Drugs." (Which, but the way, has a hilarious website. Check it out.)
4) He was a "House Manager" (aka crusader for a higher moral calling!) during President Bill Clinton's impeachment proceedings. Interesting note: he allegedly demanded a face-to-face, private meeting with Monica Lewinsky, but was upset to only receive Kenneth Starr.
5) His name is Asa.

Somebody will surely dig up a story from the past about him employing an undocumented worker in his home. That always does it.