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

"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.

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.

Give my regards to Mich Ave

2004-12-11T01:08:00.000-06:00

Ok so after roughly six hours of travel I made it home around 11ish. Whatever airlines suck (boo...) Christine, my soulmate? Keep me updated. I realized today (again) that I own entirely to much ish, I packed three large bags and still didnt have enough room, so I ended up scraping one of the bags and sending home a >50lb box of Sweaters, Shoes, and Coats (I know right?). Winter Break seems to be off to a good start: as of Thursday afternoon I have a job (yay! I start Mon). Im not feeling as anxious about grades and such (fingers crossed), I think I did a decent job on my philosophy final. Oooh today I wore my fab new black H&M fedora to O'hare!!!!! (I couldn't resist). Well thats all for now I MUST go have my bedtime glass of room temp Perrier, and envelop myself in the warmth of my bed !!!

Good Night,

My travel story kicks your travel story's ass

2004-12-09T13:39:00.000-06:00

To begin with, don't ever say that you've never lost your luggage and discuss how terrible it must be within a day of traveling across the country.

So, yesterday - Dave and I arrive at the airport at the same time our flight starts boarding. The self check in had even closed for our flight, so the attendant helped us and we checked our bags in a hot three minutes.

Getting on the plane and the flight was fine. Sadly, they did not have personal viewing screens for the in-flight film, which was Elf, which I watched about twenty minutes of, which was awful. But we were on a 777 (sorry Christine), the flight left on time, the ride was smooth and we were only 10 minutes late landing.

Then I was in San Francisco waiting for my baggage. The carrel starts moving and Dave and mine bags are first, so I thought. Dave leaves and I have one of my bags. Thirty minutes later, I still only have one bag. All the bags have "arrived" and I STILL only have one bag. Earlier, I thought I saw my bag, an identical suitcase, but when I picked it up I noticed that it had someone else's luggage tag. When I realized my bag wasn't coming, i noticed that the identical suitcase was still there, so I checked the tag for a phone number, realizing that they had probably taken my bag by mistake.

Sally Combs is the vain of my existence. I don't care how nice she could possibly be, this lady is an f-in idiot. Who doesn't check to make sure the bag is actually theirs? Who doesn't pick up the bag and think, "hey this doesn't have my crappy brown luggage tag, this has a blue luggage tag, maybe it isn't my bag?" So, I called her, reported it to the airline and hoped for the best.

This morning, Sally Combs returned my call. "I apologize, blah, blah, blah, I'll drop if off at the airport. Sorry." So, eventually I will have my bag back. Until then - damn you Sally Combs, the insurance agent from Nevado.

Crazies!

2004-12-09T10:17:00.000-06:00

I just got finished writing a HUGE post, and it got deleted!!! Grr.

Well I'm writing for mainly three reasons:

1. To rant about Conservatives and their craziness;
2. Derek has class all morning and I'm kinda bored;
3. I'm thinking if I keep writing these lame, kinda-long posts (not that ANYTHING is wrong with long ones!!), eventually people will get sick of it and start leaving their own.

After receiving an email from a professor of mine for next quarter (Kevin Bell), I was reminded that I must google search him, and I came across this article:

I <3 Conservatives.

Wow, no?

Anyway, speaking on insane Conservatives, last night we watched a phenomenal show, Scarborough Country, on MSNBC, with guest host Pat Buchanan. The topic?

Hollywood vs. the heartland. In the wake of the election, we have a new red-blue battle shaping up. This time, it‘s for the Oscars. In the red corner, Mel Gibson and “The Passion of the Christ.” In the blue corner, Michael Moore and his “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Gibson and Icon Productions have vowed not to spend a dime on advertising hyping “The Passion” for an Oscar.

But Moore has gone full throttle with advertisements and speaking engagements all over Tinseltown. Will the academy pass over “The Passion” to embrace “Fahrenheit 9/11”? What message will Hollywood send America at the Academy Awards?

Two of my personal favorite panalists were radio talk show host and author of Face Your Fear, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and president of the Catholic League, Bill Donahue. Let me give you a sample of some of their words:

Boteach: Well, firstly, let me just say that I hope that Michael Moore actually wins so we can finally confirm what Hollywood is. Hollywood has become an America-hating bastion that always portrays people in uniform in some sinister role. It‘s always the CIA killing President Kennedy. And so when I see Michael Moore‘s “Fahrenheit 9/11” and he portrays our soldiers as a bunch of cutthroats who play Metallica while killing Iraqi civilians, let‘s confirm what Hollywood is by giving him this Oscar.

Donahue: Who really cares what Hollywood thinks? All these hacks come out there. Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It‘s not a secret, OK? And I‘m not afraid to say it. That‘s why they hate this movie. It‘s about Jesus Christ, and it‘s about truth. It‘s about the messiah. Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions. I believe in traditional values and restraint. They believe in libertinism. We have nothing in common. But you know what? The culture war has been ongoing for a long time. Their side has lost.

(The bold part is my favorite. "Hollywood likes anal sex. I like families. I like children. They like abortions." OMFG. The College Republicans need to get on this guy. He could take down Ralph Reed any day!!)

Then the Rabbi and Donahue proceeded to get into a fight about Donahue being anti-Semetic, because of his "Hollywood is run by secular Jews" comment:

Donahue: Who‘s making the movies? Who‘s making the movies?

Boteach: That is a bunch of crap. Stop the anti-Semitic garbage, OK?

Donahue: Who‘s making the movies? The Irishmen?

Boteach: Michael Moore is certainly not a Jew. Let me speak here.

Okay, I have a question. If people can be anti-Semetic, can they also be pro-Semetic? (Not the same person, obviously.) I want politicians to come out and be like: "We're pro-choice AND pro-Semetic!" Wow.

Anyway, back to the show: then another one of my favorites, Jennifer Giroux from Women Influence Influencing the Nation, began spewing her own hate about the downfall of Hollywood:

Giroux: I constantly hear that there is a very, very strong homosexual push on Hollywood. I think it‘s the result of the sexual revolution. The decency laws, they keep pushing the envelope on that.

Then Pat Buchanan asked Rabbi Boteach if the predictions about The Passion causing hate crimes against Jewish people were true. The response banter?

Boteach: Pat, every day Al Jazeera portrays American troops as S.S. gestapo. That doesn‘t lead to attacks on Americans on U.S. soil. But that doesn‘t justify...

Buchanan: Are you comparing this movie to Al Jazeera?

Boteach: You have to let me answer you.

Buchanan: You are comparing it to Al Jazeera.

And more on Jews in Hollywood:

Boteach: Scorsese, Coppola, Lucas, are those Jewish names? Scorsese, the Jew, Coppola, the Jew, Lucas, the Jew? Which Jews? Who are you talking about? Get it out of your head. Leave the Jews alone. You are fixated.

Donahue: I like Harvey Weinstein. How‘s that? Harvey Weinstein is my friend.

And now good old Jennifer Giroux gets back into the equation:

Giroux: All I can say, Rabbi, is, you‘ve got to concede the fact we cannot go back and make it that the Hawaiians killed Christ. Mel Gibson and all Christians...

Boteach: What are you talking about?

Giroux: I‘m saying you can‘t rewrite history.

Boteach: Jennifer, you are so ignorant, it‘s embarrassing. What bothers me, Jennifer, is that you‘re an ignorant peasant who doesn‘t even know Christian text, for God‘s sake. What the New Testament said is that the high priest, who was a Sadducee, who was an agent of Rome, who worked directly for Pontius Pilate, had a problem with Jesus and reported him to Pilate and had him killed.

Giroux: And the New Testament also says...

Boteach: The pharisees, excuse me, saved his life. Luke Chapter 13, Verse 31, open it right now and read it. You are an ignorant peasant.

Then Pat Buchanan (Bless his soul.. ah) tries to somewhat redeem the conversation:

Buchanan: Rabbi, cut the personal insults, please. Rabbi, cut the insults, personal insults, please.

Boteach: Oh, come on, Pat. The Jews are ruining the world and you‘re telling me to cut the insults? Come on, Pat. Get real here, OK? Cut the anti-Semitism, please.

So that was without a doubt the highlight of last evening. I love Conservatives; they're SO entertaining. Now if only there weren't running our country...

Anyway, that's almost it for me. One more thing? My life is being 100% made right now by this guy:

His name was Jonathan when I knew him, but he now goes by Duke. He was my kindergarten boyfriend, and we're currently messaging back and forth on facebook. TOO entertaining. He was like, "Are you really married?" I love it.

Anyway, I'm going to go now, but I would encourage you all to UPDATE!! And good luck with exams, travel, family, etc.

Lots of love!
Christine

ps. Christopher: I have met your soulmate. You have no idea.

The Trip From Pseudo-Hell.

2004-12-08T10:54:00.000-06:00

Hello!

Just as I promised, I'm blogging from The Garden State. More on that later, though.

I'm basically here to rant about my awful traveling experience yesterday, courtesy of United Airlines and New Jersey Transit.

So I arrive at my gate yesterday morning at 8am, 30min before boarding time. After spending about 40min essentially wasting time, I got in line to board. I'm not even going to talk about how United f-ed up their boarding order to be convenient to EconomyPlus members. But anyway, I was anxious to get on the plane as the flight was totally booked and I had my carry-on suitcase to put in the overhead bin. So when I get up to the guy who scans your ticket, this really loud beeping noise goes off (so EVERYONE'S looking at me) and it says my seat is unavailable. After trying to re-scan it a few times, he sent me over to the ticketing lady.

She informed me that our airplane had been changed (a 737 - so boring) and so my seat, too, was changed. She made it out to be not a big deal, except that my new seat was 17E - a MIDDLE seat. Ick.

I then had to go get back in line, and since it had taken so long, I was now one of the very last people. The woman behind me, who was carrying this really heinous fake designer bag and not wearing shoes ("I figure if I'm going to have to be uncomfortable in them all afternoon, I might as well give my feet a rest now."), was a lawyer and talking in an INSANELY loud voice about the INCREDIBLY boring details of this case she's working on. And this was an extra-big deal because, since the flight was full and I was at the very end of the boarding line, we had to wait in a 15ish minute line to actually get on.

So after all this, I was already significantly stressed. By the time I actually got on the flight, all the overhead bins were full. The flight attendant was asking people to remove, say, their coats so that there would be more room, but as people are totally incompetant, that didn't work so well. Finally, she told me that they'd have to check my bag and I could get it at baggage claim. This was NOT what I wanted to hear at all.

Derek has a friend who has class with Joel Stein or something like that, and he said if I were there (@ the campus) by 1.30, we could go meet him. My flight landed at noon, so <1.30 should've been a totally legit arrival time. However, that included me not having to deal with the insane hassel that check luggage is. So it was a little streesful!

THEN, I had to spend the entire flight (it's not really long, but still!!) sitting in between these two iffy business men, one was doing crossword puzzles and the other was reading trashy romance novels. Weird.

I was slightly mollified when I saw in my Vogue horoscope that:

"With Mercury out of phase in your sign through December 20, you'll have to maneuver your way around possible travel breakdowns."

I should've expected. Oh well. Something that made me slightly happier, other than the fact that I was excited in general to see Derek, was that the first thing I saw when we landed? A Hooters Air plane. LOVE Jersey.

However, then after landing 17min late, picking up my baggage, and realizing there was no way I was getting there before 2, I went to get my train ticket. I put in a $20 for a $13.10 ticket and I got my change in SACAJAWEA MONEY!!

I felt like I was at a casino, and now I have a ton of kinda-heavy coins that I'll never spend. If you want to reserve one, let me know and I'll save it for you.

All that having been said, though, none of it was THAT big of a deal, and I'm here now! So whatever. I just thought I'd use this semi-public forum to complain.

I hope that exams and travel are going well for everyone. You can use that as your excuse now, but I expect some serious blogging soon. FYG.

That's it for now, but something to look forward to in 2005: I now have a new musical obsession, mainly the Romanian duo The Cheeky Girls, with their smash hit single Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum):

They're incredible to the nth.

lots of love!
Christine

library grad students are CRAZY!

2004-12-07T13:16:00.000-06:00

first the donuts, now this.

i'm up in 5 east--a very OBSCURE part of the library, mind you. the part where you have to walk right when you get out of the elevators. nobody ever goes right!

i'm in a carrel relatively deep around the circle. i had to pass about 5 empty window carrels to get to the one i ultimately chose. well, no longer than 10 minutes after i settled here, some crazy ass grad student decided to join me! he must have had to pass the same five EMPTY carrels before he picked MINE, probably the only occupied one around here! ugh. i don't get it. there should be rules to prevent these kind of things from happening.

Back and Better than Ever!

2004-12-07T01:17:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone!

I win; I'm first to post!

(JK)

This isn't going to be very exciting, as I have to wake up in LESS THAN FIVE HOURS. Ick to travel. But I just wanted to make sure that I got to Blog before ANYONE ELSE.

Now that we all have the wisdom of a third of our sophmore (or junior for the extra-enlightened of us!) year, I expect some very high-quality, well thought-out Blogging from all of you.

A small anecdote about my mother, re: blogging?

my mom (while reading Newsweek): So what exactly is a blog?
:: my sister and I attempt to explain::
my mom: I mean, should I have one?

It kinda rocked. It was very tempting to try to set her up with a LiveJournal, or at least let her read mine from last year (for those of you who don't remember), but alas, I did neither.

And with that, I'm going to go. I promise, soon there will be pictures, jokes... the whole nine yards. And I expect the same from you.

Lots of festive love!

<3 Christine

ps. Someone had better do a good photo-documentary job of all these upcoming Holiday Parties!! I want picutres!! And good stories!! Not only am I missing out on the joyus events of your season, but I'm doing so while being in the armpit of America. And that's not a joke, for those of you lucky enough not to be familar with Jersey. I was once in a regatta there, and it was delayed for about three hours while they cleaned trash out of the river!! Ew!

I miss all you blokes

2004-09-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

I had a great time in Europe; my last night was a little hectic, lots of drinking in Frankfurt with an Aussie with some kind of inhuman tolerance. The flight home was nice, chatted with a cute girl trapped next to me in the window seat for the whole flight... Then went camping with my family for two days and then fishing with my dad and friends for two more, caught a few fish and tanned as best I could. I'm forced to pack for San Antonio all day tomorrow, and my dad and I will leave at about 10 pm for the first leg of our journey.
I'm somewhat excited, but mostly afraid of being terribly terribly alone. I miss you guys, and, while I'm confident I'll meet cool people, I haven't really seen anyone I felt I could pour myself out to in quite a while. I'm beginning to talk in my sleep, its getting so bad. Fortunately, I'll have my own place, so no one will here me, but still, a little disconcerting.
Anyway, wish me luck, and call me.

The soreness from band camp

2004-09-11T20:27:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

I'm sitting in Sargent right now trying to let the blood run down from my extremely swollen feet. Marching band camp has been a huge amount of work, but also an amazing experience. We lost to ASU today, but NUMB, as always, looked great. I hope you all come to football games this season, because they're free, and it gives you an excuse to start drinking early in the morning!

I'll be moving in as early as possible Monday morning, with rehearsal in the evening. On tuesday I'll be rehearsing basically all day, but I will be able to help the freshman move in for a few hours.

I can't wait to see you all!!

LOVE YOU!
Caitlin

bobb awaits =/

2004-09-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

okay, so we're all pretty excited to be going back to school, but is anybody else as nervous as I am? example; i'll be at whole foods and freak out because i i'll think about how my main dining hall will be sargent. other things i'm freaked out about:
organic chemistry
my workshop students
the other girls in bobb
seeing people i don't want to
missing people in PARC (and allison and willard)
the nearest j.crew is a half hour away
and a lot more
i honestly think i'm more nervous about this year than i was about freshman year. it's like high school - you can fuck up your first year, but there's no excuse (outside of a terminal illness) for the next three years.

on a better note, i really am very excited to hang out with all of you as soon as i get back (and bummed about missing page's get together).

In conclusion: have safe trips back to Evanston and party up. i'll see you in 9 days!

I'm at school and you're not!

2004-09-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

Hi kids!!

I'm at school now, well not at school right now, I'm at a friend's house. Anyways, band camp starts tomorrow, yipie!! I'm going to be quite pooped for NSW, but you all will wake me up and energize me, right? Ahh, I'm nervous and excited all at the same time, I feel like a wee freshman!! Ok, anyways, peace out boy scouts.

Love,
Caitlin

The Sophomore year is about to begin!

2004-09-05T23:04:00.000-05:00

I leave tomorrow morning for band camp, and I am exceedingly excited about it!! I think I have way too much luggage, but whatever, clothing is necessary, although sometimes I wish it weren't ;) Whoo nudity!!

Unfortunately my last day of summer was somewhat poor. I got kind of sick and spent a little time hugging my toilet. Oh well, I guess better today than on the plane tomorrow. I will be arriving at 2:15 pm tomorrow afternoon, and then band camp starts tuesday.

I CAN'T WAIT to see you all soon. Big party when we all get back!!

Love,
Caitlin

Hungaro-Austro-German Adventure

2004-09-03T13:21:00.000-05:00

Hallo from Germany. The tirp trip has been amazing so far, but I cant get used to these european keyboards. My cousin, who picked me up in al ittltle town on the Bodensee today, has two little girls 6 and 7, who have taken to calling me handsome man. They are darling, and fluent in both german and english. but the younger one uses them interchangeably in the same sentence some times. >Salzburg was my favorite city, because its soo walkable, yet so young and cool, and the bars are great, and the hostel is nice, the chick at the desk was hot and came out with my new german friend and I and showed us her favorite nightspots, and we talked about music and american politics, and love and philiosophy. It was a great time. The night before I had gone out with the german guy (who was cycling around central europe) and a Danish girl who was on a weekend trip from her internship in Vienna. We ended up drinking at the bar in a joint called Roses that got taken over by 19 year olds dancing.
My cousins husband just offered me weed. gotta go. peace.

2 weeks...

2004-09-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

Hey! Once again, another date-worth-knowing is about to pass: 2 weeks until I move in! Yay. I can hardly wait.

This very-end part of my summer is proving to be very busy - much more-so than the rest of my summer. For one, I'm working. The really great thing about my job is that the hours are very convenient to my current lifestyle. For example, the earliest I've started has been 11 (and that was only once). The earliest I usually start is 12, and I often don't start until anywhere from 2.30 to 4. (However, I generally work pretty late - sometimes until 1 or 2am - so I'm not quite as lazy as I may seem.)

I've also met this girl who's like my life obsession right now. Maybe you'll all be lucky enough to hear about her when we get back to school (you probably will, as she's totally the highlight of my summer. Well one of a few).

The rest of work is kinda boring. But oh well. It's insanely exciting to have money coming my way every 2 weeks.

Anyway, I've also taken up hanging out at Borders. I think this is kinda a lame habit, but I enjoy it way too much to even consider giving it up. I've fallen in love with their smoothies (minus a really quite wretched one I had tonight), and there are few things more entertaining than some of the conversations I've heard there. Plus Borders is like the capitol for European versions of all the magazines and tabloids. And how can you beat that?! (You can't, is the answer.)

So a kinda entertaining work story? This lady was buying khakis for her son and telling me how it's so hard to pick them out because he has a dress code. So I was doing what I was instructed to do, which was engage with the customer:

me Oh yea, I know all about dress codes.
lady Oh do you go to private school?
me Yea, I did for high school.
her daughter Where did you go?
me Oh I went to school in Connecticut.
lady Oh okay, you sound like you have an accent.

**okay do you guys think I have an accent?! (The "a" thing aside, which actually I think has kinda gone away a bit!!) Because she's like the 5th person to tell me that I have an "East Coast accent," if that even exists, which I don't think it does. Anyway...

lady So where do you go to school now?
me Northwestern.
lady Oh you're so smart. I think Northwestern is probably the best school in this part of the country.

**one thing that everyone here says when I tell them where I go to school? "Oh, your campus is so beautiful." Just an interesting sidenote.

me Oh.. um yea. Well I like it.
her daugher No mom! UChicago is the best.

** this girl was, like, 10.

lady Haha, I went to Chicago for med school.
me Oh yea, that's a great school.
lady No wait, I mean... I didn't go to med school. I got my MBA there.

Hahaha. I thought that kinda rocked. But I totally understand her slip up. I told someone my name was "Christine Kids" earlier. Oy vay.

Anyway, love to everyone. And I cannot wait to see you.
Christine

wilcoworld

2004-09-01T10:16:00.000-05:00

Wilco concert Oct 29th and 30th! Pre-sale tix are available starting today, so if we get tix soon that should mean good seats around other Wilco fans (pretentious music people also likely to be in attendance). So, does anybody else want to go?
The tix are $23 to $33, all assigned seating and it is at the Auditorium Theater at Roosevelt University - gorgeous, great acoustics. Finally - it's WILCO in CHICAGO (their home town).

scapegoats and cola

2004-08-31T23:58:00.000-05:00

Day 6 of Daniel's visit. Going well. Laundry disaster - don't ask. San Francisco trips today, tomorrow and thursday (party in Castro?). Santa Cruz Friday. Daniel and I are picking up some pretty great vintage finds. Lindz, you need to come out here next summer with Christine.
Not much else is going on. We don't really stay in the city at night, mostly because I still have to wake up and take my brother to school at 7:30. I went to my favorite bookstore tonight, and found this book called The State War: Northern California vs. Southern California; it was full of quotes about S.F. and L.A. and a random section about New Yorkers view of both cities. It wasn't good enough to buy, but entertaining nonetheless.
Tomorrow, North Beach and Hayes. Local hotspots. None of that touristy shit like Fisherman's Wharf.

NU PARTAY!

2004-08-29T17:27:00.000-05:00

Just got back from the Bay Area NU Alumni Club's new student reception in Palo Alto. They gave out free refreshments, some snacks, and two lucky (new) students won $500! Was a surprisingly fun experience. Those new freshmen are all so anxious and friendly. Didn't meet any new PARCers, but Sara Ittelson showed up!

Encountered lots of 4th floor Allison freshmen. Four of them! They seemed like a tolerable bunch. Many adults tried to make jokes about the weather. Not funny, at all. Learned a new fact: outside of Illinois, California now sends the greatest number of students to NU. Take that, Ohio!

Hope all is well with everybody.

PS: I also met somebody who went to Mountain View High School and who knows Cass!

2004-08-27T22:30:00.000-05:00

The irony of the moment: i'm writing a post from dave's house. Anywho that's what's up, i'm in sf (it's tres fun except that midori is making fun of me being retarded, yeah, retarded) anywho, we're going to downtown palo alto to joyride. anywho, ta for now hope all is well with well, most of you. jk, i keed, or do i?

Singing in the rain, glacier style...

2004-08-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

Hello!

Matt, Lindsay, remember when we sang in the rain so many months ago? Wasn't that fun? Yesterday, I had another great singing in the rain experience. In order to thwart off bear attacks many people clap or yell every 100 yards or so while hiking on Glacier's beautiful trails. I however, sing. Yesterday, I sang everything from NU Alma Mater to CCR to yes, a little Britney Spears. Luckily, I was not attacked! However, I am reading a book right now all about bear attacks which is exceedingly exciting and gorey, whoo!

I hiked up to Iceberg Lake yesterday in the pouring rain, singing the whole way. Luckily my rain gear and boots are really nice, so I stayed toasty and dry. The most exciting thing though was seeing the following animals all in one day: black bear, bull elk, 3 mountain goats, stellar's jay (rare bird), a red fox, and 2, count 'em 2 Grizzly Bears!! WHOOO!! In addition to that I got to play in the rain, and take pictures of ice in August, yeehaw!!

Can I reiterate what Christine said, 3 weeks!!! I leave in about 10 days to start band camp, and then, the PARC madness begins. I'm almost done with my first PARCRAP, which I'm thrilled about putting up!

Hugs and kisses to people I misses,
Caitlin

3 Weeks!

2004-08-25T08:27:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

So we've (I've) reached a notable event: 3 weeks until I move back in! Or I'm pretty sure anyway. I'm planning to go back the 15th, which is 3 weeks from today, which is the day that my two younger sisters start school. One is going to be a senior in HS; the other will be a freshman. So bizarre!!

Dave's post inspired me to post some pictures of my own, notably these two:

1

OMG Teresa. Isn't she the most? (Haha, that was me channeling my inner Marcia Brady);

2

As my sister is starting high school (Jenifer, the younger one), her friends came over on Monday night and TPed our house! That was a moment where I kinda woke up and was like, "Wow, I really am living in the midwest." Haha. Do they TP where anyone else is?! The only other times I've seen it have been at two of my cousins' house: one in Minnesota and one in Iowa.

Anyway, I suppose that's it. I've hardly watched any of the Olympics (and by "hardly any," I mean "none"), but I have been saving all of the Google-Olympic logos (featured on a pseudo-daily rotating basis at www.google.com), which have been the current excitement of my life. The other excitement is that I've decided to listen to all of my songs on iTunes, alphabetically, starting with Anastacia's Why'd You Lie To Me. I don't know why I picked that song; thinking back on it, I should've just started at the beginning ('Da Dip, if anyone remembers that song). But oh well. So far I've listened to 767 songs; I have 5079 (13 days and then a bit more in hrs. and stuff) in total. Right now I'm on Radiohead's Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was. It's taking forever, and I think I'll finish like right before I go back to school.

That's it for now, but just remember: today's Wednesday, and on Wednesday's, we wear pink!

love
Christine

An olympic tribute

2004-08-24T01:08:00.000-05:00

To my favorite female beach volleyball champion, and Long Beach hometown hero, Misty May.

Because of her, I am addicted to women's beach volleyball. The gold medal match is on at 8pm Tuesday night!

And to Svetty "I want to win as badly as I want to mother my own child" Khorkina, whose short hair of the 2000 games is missed.

"recommended reading"

2004-08-20T16:20:00.000-05:00

This is an email I received from my dad this morning, subject: recommended reading. I thought you'd all enjoy it too.

Page,

http://www.mulletsgalore.com

Make sure you browse the various styles under the "Classification" section.

Love,
Dad

also read this month's Harpers

Beat the 100 mile mark!!

2004-08-19T18:40:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

Although the second night of my backpacking trip was cancelled due to the previous evening's severe rainstorm, I did surpass the 100 mile mark of personal time hiking!! WHOO HOO!! Dave and I hiked to Upper Two Medicine Lake, survived a horrible rain/lightning/thunder storm, and then decided to bag the second night at a different spot because everything we had was basically soaked. I wasn't looking forward to hiking across two passes carrying extra heavy wet stuff.

In addition to passing the 100 mile mark during 2 days of hiking, I saw an awesome frog, and some ducks that rocked my world! Apparently they were common merganser, but they paddled their little feet like hover crafts across the water. Then, they would dive all at the same time into the water after fish. Dave and I watched them lakeside for an hour.

Although it poured basically all Tuesday night, soaking our tent, sleeping bags, and clothing, we had a great time!! 7 miles in on first day, passing by my favorite waterfall (Rockwell falls), and then 6 back on the way, it was fun! Totally reiterating my desire to go camping this fall.

Ok, enough babbling from me, now I'm at 105 miles for my free time, probably about 130 if add in my work time hiking. I love you all!

Caitlin

Beat the 100 mile mark!!

2004-08-19T18:40:00.000-05:00

Does Chevy's exist outside CA?

2004-08-18T22:08:00.000-05:00

For those of you who do not know, Chevy's is a popular pseudo Mexican chain restaurant in California. I know "pseudo Mexican" sounds bad, but it's not - it's fresh food with a Mexican flair and things like the Napa Valley quesadilla with brie cheese and mango salsa sans or with chicken. Then they have more traditional items like enchiladas, which are also good.

Anyway, I went with my family to dinner there tonight and like most nights it was packed. I like to avoid this place at night because I'm likely to run into people I know and wish I didn't. Tonight was a prime example of why I go there strictly for lunch.
First run in - major (as in hottest and heaviest) ex boyfriend, who also happened to be with his family. This was not as awkward as one would expect, but I every time I see him I have to really restrain myself.
Second run in - guy that I graduated High School with (for Dave - it was Kyle Hammer) and we smiled, waved and didn't say a thing, thankfully.
Third run in - teacher. Even after graduating, it is weird to see teacher's outside of school and weirder when they are on a date.
Besides the run in, as I was waiting for a table, a little boy (about three years old) was being very talkative with me, and I swear to you flirting. His older brother, as in teenage brother, then also began to flirt, by telling me his brother was such a flirt; "I don't know where he gets it from." I was very entertained.

Now for tomorrow - haircut. Drastic. Maybe. I'll try and post pictures, but that's only if I like it.

The Northwestern Party Scene and other things.

2004-08-17T17:27:00.000-05:00

Hellooo!!

It's been a long time since I last posted, I know. And since I last posted, so much has happened in my life.

First of all, job training, which really isn't worth commenting on, other than the fact that I am now $42.11 richer, after taxes, and all for sitting in a room learning how to "create outfits" and "find the perfect fit." Yayy!

Next, one of my very best friends (we've been friends since SEVENTH GRADE!!), Parvin, came to visit me. Her visit included a trip up to Evanston (where we saw Daniel!) and Lake Forest (where she lived during HS ... she moved back to CT a year before I moved out here - bad irony!). We also saw The Manchurian Candidate (there are few things in the world that are better than Meryl Streep playing a power-lesbian), went to the zoo (it was her first time ever!), and, of course, shopped a lot. It was so great to see her for an extended period of time, because thanks to her highly nepotic (is that a word?!) job, every time I'm in CT, she's working 9-5 (which turns into like 7-6.30 with the New Canaan to NYC commute), so I don't get to see her that much.

Anyway, roughly 19 hours after Parvin left Chicago, I flew to New York! This was a *very* spur-of-the-moment trip. As in I bought my ticket roughly 24hrs. before. I was there Monday to Saturday, which was nice ... good to see (most of) my friends again and stuff. I'd been hoping to go out later (beginning of Sept), but it worked out better with work if I went now. I also got to see Linday, Matt, & Christian!!! They were SO awesome and drove up to New Canaan!!! So we did breakfast and drove around a bit.. it was soooo great to see them, and when you guys read this: you rock! Also, I saw The Village, which I encourage everyone to check out, as it's absolutely hysterical.

And today, I began: work. How lame is it that I'm just starting my job?! Hahahaha. Anyway, I was really not looking forward to it, but it turned out to be not a big deal. Lots of folding clothes, which is so not something I have a problem with. (Dangling prep, I know.) Anyway, so I was working with these two kids, both of whom are also going to be sophmores in college. They told me that they go to "ISU." I have no idea what that is, but I'm thinking it's like Illinois State?? Anyway, then they look at me and are like, "So where do you go?" I told them Northwestern, and the girl gives me this kinda pitying look and said, "Oh, I've heard there isn't much of a party scene there."

So that rocked.

Anyway, enough of my boring life. I'm SO ready for school to start, it's insane. I'll see you all (well, most of you) sooon!!!

love
Christine

David Sedaris

2004-08-16T12:20:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone. I know that some of you like David Sedaris a lot and thought you might be interested in this. He's coming to Chicago on October 31st. I guess he's on some sort of tour or something....i am not really sure. Ticket info should be on ticket master.
My weekend has been pretty good. These random relatives that i have never met in my life have been staying at my house for the past few days and we've been showing them the little there is to see in Houston. I think the lady is my mom's second cousin or something and her son is like 25 and he came to TX for work. Its not bad and the guy is cool, but his mom is realllllllly annoying and constantly aggravates me. I would completely ignore her but that would be a prick thing to do.
Anyways today we (my brother, two cousins and i) went to the Astros-Cubs game. This was really bad as the Astros bombed and sucked amazingly. It was still a fun game i guess (both of the starting pitchers got ejected). Anyways after the game we went bowling and then we played pool for an hour. After that we didn't know what to do so we played cricket (yes with the flat bat and the wickets....and not croquet.) So it was a really good day. i am going to wake up at 2 in the morning to watch a cricket game actually. India vs. Australia. See my dad's like a huge cricket fan and so when ever he gets the chance he gets the games on satellite. And the game goes on for like 6-7 hours so it'll be a long night.....
Also tomorrow a very good friend of mine is leaving for Prague for a semester of study-abroad. I'm going to visit him for a bit and then i have to do some shopping.
Thats about all thats going on here.
Oh, and I still haven't seen Garden State and am very upset about that.

Curiosa

2004-08-16T12:20:00.001-05:00

So i had a pretty awesome weekend. Two things i had been looking forward to the whole summer happened: the Curiosa festival was yesterday and Garden State opened here on teh 13th. Sadly, i still haven't seen Garden State - i had no one to go with on friday. All of my friends are gone now. UT starts up soon so everyone's gone back to austin. A couple of them will be back for a few days and will then depart for good. Anyways i didn't find anyone to go with me to the movie. :( But i am going to drag my brother with me today and am really excited.The concert yesterday was amazing. The show started at 5 and ended at 11, but we were there since 3 to get in line. Overall the show was a lot of fun. The first band, Cooper Temple Clause, was pretty bad, The Rapture were really rockin, Mogwai was ok, Interpol was awesome and The Cure was amazing. They played a two hour set and played mostly non-hits. I was really happy b/c they played a lot of stuff from my fav album Disintegration. Robert Smith is the biggest dork ever. He had this really stupid smile on his face the whole time. Too bad he looks and walks like a zombie. I guess that adds to the hilarity.One thing that was really funny was that the Cure are supposed to be one of the pioneers of the whole goth thing and so there were a lot of people there in the customary black. But it was fucking hot....And we were all laughing about how Robert Smith with his make up was playing in hot as hell houston. Anyways the show was a lot of fun. The group i went with was fun eventhough i only knew two people really well. One of two people was a really good friend of mine in high school, but we had a falling apart starting senior year and so i thought it might be really weird talking to her after so long. But things went fine, which was a big relief. Alright that was my weekend. Hope everyone's holding up alright.

curiosa

2004-08-16T12:20:00.000-05:00

So i had a pretty awesome weekend. Two things i had been looking forward to the whole summer happened: the Curiosa festival was yesterday and Garden State opened here on teh 13th. Sadly, i still haven't seen Garden State - i had no one to go with on friday. All of my friends are gone now. UT starts up soon so everyone's gone back to austin. A couple of them will be back for a few days and will then depart for good. Anyways i didn't find anyone to go with me to the movie. :( But i am going to drag my brother with me today and am really excited.
The concert yesterday was amazing. The show started at 5 and ended at 11, but we were there since 3 to get in line. Overall the show was a lot of fun. The first band, Cooper Temple Clause, was pretty bad, The Rapture were really rockin, Mogwai was ok, Interpol was awesome and The Cure was amazing. They played a two hour set and played mostly non-hits. I was really happy b/c they played a lot of stuff from my fav album Disintegration. Robert Smith is the biggest dork ever. He had this really stupid smile on his face the whole time. Too bad he looks and walks like a zombie. I guess that adds to the hilarity.
One thing that was really funny was that the Cure are supposed to be one of the pioneers of the whole goth thing and so there were a lot of people there in the customary black. But it was fucking hot....And we were all laughing about how Robert Smith with his make up was playing in hot as hell houston. Anyways the show was a lot of fun. The group i went with was fun eventhough i only knew two people really well. One of two people was a really good friend of mine in high school, but we had a falling apart starting senior year and so i thought it might be really weird talking to her after so long. But things went fine, which was a big relief. Alright that was my weekend. Hope everyone's holding up alright.

Backpacking, whoo hoo!!

2004-08-16T11:51:00.000-05:00

Hi dudes and dudettes,

I'm going backpacking tomorrow, yah!! I'll be doing about 21 miles in 3 days, which will be pretty easy, but its going to be through some awesome territory!! I'm so excited!!! Dave and I will be tenting up in the wilderness, yeehaw!! We'll be in an area called Two Medicine, which the Blackfeet Indians called the Backbone of the World. They went up in the mountains there to do vision quests and such. Cool!!!!!

On another exciting note, I shredded paper all morning!! LA LA LA LA LA !! Nothing like spending your summer internship being completely unintellectually stimulated. Oh well, doing evening programs is fun, but I'm about to smash the face in of some visitors who ask "Where can I see the bears?". Check up your fucking ass, you moron!

Whew, needed to let that one out. I MISS YOU ALL

skan skank

2004-08-14T04:20:00.000-05:00

Yo. Go to bed drunk? NO! Write a PARC blog? HELL YEAH!
Have you ever thought about a perfect song? A song that's enjoyable from start to finish... according to some, perfect songs usually don't have bridges - I find that irrelevant however - otherwise no rules. I think "God Only Knows" is a perfect song.
Why do people drunk call but not high call? The weed just doesn't make you do it? Like, hey! I'm on acid! How's it hangin'? Yeah I had shrooms tonight. Yo man, it was fuckin' tight.
Will someone please teach me french so I can sing along to my favorite french techno/rap?
Aight, I'm out. Send me some pity love... all my friends have "gone phishing" in coventry, vt. and I'm stuck in skanky skan-town drinking cheap wine with kids whose last names I forgot after high school.
Peace,
PAGE

ps. don't really pity me.
pps. i hate pity.
ppps. love ya miss ya mean it later.

Update from the Northern Country

2004-08-13T12:05:00.000-05:00

I only have 2 weeks of work left! However, this is also quite sad, no more hiking, no more wild animal sampling, no more bear hazing. But... something even more spectacular is going to occur soon....

CAITLIN'S RETURN TO EVANSTON!!! On Sept. 6, I will be making my arrival for Band camp starting the next day! Yipity do da!!! OH MY GOODNESS, I CAN'T WAIT!!!

A special thanks to Midori and Dave for the mail! It was my first mail in a while, so it was uber awesome. I'll be sending out postcards asap to you guys. THANK YOU! Dave, those pictures were great! I especially like the one of you, Christian, and Midori, so hot!!!

Updates on hiking, I've gone 93 miles so far this summer, and I'm doing an 18 mile backpacking trip for 3 days next week with my Dave. The following week I'll be doing a 12 mile, 2 day affair. So, that definately puts me past 100 miles!!

Things to booh about: I haven't seen a grizzly bear yet, however my family saw one the first day they were up here. I've decided the world is cruel. In addition, I saw my first badger, unfortunately, it was a roadkill badger, so it kind of half counts, and it made me sad.

Ok, enough screwing around while I'm supposed to be working. Ta!

An Update

2004-08-12T14:07:00.000-05:00

Hi all, hope all is well. Today marks the end of my month long Psychology class (Hurray) ! Today also marks the begining of the "fun" part of my summer. What do I mean by fun you ask? Well that's a good question because I myself have no idea (imagine that) of what to do for "fun", since I have been consumed with work and school. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Did anyone else watch Trading spaces?, I found it to be pretty entertaining, unfortunately PARC was not prominately featured in the episode, but at least we can take comfort in knowing it was only a few steps away. Back to my purpose of writting this, not much else interesting has hapened this summer, I have taken a series of uneventful mini-trips as I'm sure I mentioned before, but all in all summer in the "dirrty" has been refreshingly quiet. Well thats enough chit-chat for me I do have a final to go study for, so until whenever take care of yourselves.

midori ditto!

2004-08-12T00:51:00.000-05:00

i have been trying to post a comment forever. i typed up the same comment like a gazzilion times and it didn't work. So now i am seeing if it will atleast let me post. Here's the comment i tried to post last:

"Alright what the hell. I have tried posting a comment like five times now but it never shows up . Anyways here's the exact same thing, sorta, i said in my past few attempts: Midori you're awesome! Yea same thing happened to me...they are going to come to houston while i am in evanston. I am not sure how you want to deal with tickets. I was just thinking about buying mine now online from ticketmaster. I don't want to wait and have the show sell out. What about you? Are you going to buy yours now?"

blogspot is on my shitlist

2004-08-10T21:58:00.000-05:00

first i couldn't sign on, second "it" deleted my whole entry. Since i just spent 10 minutes writing a long detailed report of my vacation here's all you really need to know, in a nice compact list:

1. Based on my many dining experiences, I feel that it must be an unstated requirement that bus boys be incredibly gorgeous, as each guy I saw clearing the table happened to be (or at least in Santa Cruz).

2. I am very excited for Daniel to come visit, and am planning a lot, so if anybody wants to join (ahem, Dave - stop working and hang out with us)!

3. After lying out on the beach, i did not burn (or tan) the whole time, but upon playing tennis today, i managed to burn a small part of my lower back, weird, and annoying.

4. Pick up the book Candyfreak by Steve Almond.

5. The Devil Wears Prada, while addicting to read through, left little to think about afterward.

Muusak

2004-08-10T11:54:00.000-05:00

Has anyone heard of Franz Ferdinand? They are my fav band right now and i have been listening to them non stop (with a little shins and strokes here and there). Anyways they are coming to chicago on september 30th, and I really want to go and am looking for people to come with me. Please! I'll even buy you dinner if you like.
The 30th is a thursday. I figure classes will have just begun so we won't have that much work. The show is at the riviera and costs about 22 bucks. And they are really cool so it should be an awesome show. Let me know if you wanna go so i can get a ticket before it sells out. If you haven't heard them yet i highly recommend them...they are very fun.

Here's a lyric to help me sell them:

It's always better on holiday
so much better on holiday
that's why we only work when...
we need the money!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!!!

2004-08-09T12:55:00.000-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!!

I hope that you're having a fabulous birthday. I wish that I could be there to celebrate with you!!! I can't wait to see you in the fall!!!

Love and hugs,
Caitlin

insomnia, nay, opportunity

2004-08-09T03:41:00.000-05:00

It's 3:40 am in this little wedge of the U.S. and I am still wide awake. I've recently come to the conclusion that I'd really like to be an overly educated house partner/stay at home daddy in a fiscally comfortable family. Discussing this with Page, she points to the unfortunate fact that it isn't possible for me to ensnare such a scenario by means of unwanted pregnancy. Damn. Alas, I am resourceful and have instead opted for assuring myself a future by other, more sinsiter processes.

In a totally separate line of discussion, I have met a darling boy--chris. We have been introduced by a mutual friend (www.thefacebook.com) and are quite excited for the opportunity to get to know one another. I shall be visiting him beginning 20 August. Shortly after, I'll be seeing our beloved Midori and perhaps, if completely unavoidable, David in San Francisco. Then it's back to chicago, where I'll be staying again with chris in Hyde Park (I'm browsing bullet proof vests as I write this.) and his roommates Brian and Ben. I'll be back on campus bright and early 13 september and home, no, expect , to hear from you people. So hope all is well in this final stretch of summer.

Daniel

Hhhmm, Mountain Lion

2004-08-05T12:22:00.000-05:00

Ok,

Don't think of me as sick, but at Wild Game last night I ate Mountain Lion (also known as Puma, Panther, Catamount). IT WAS DELICIOUS!! I loved it. I've decided to suggest it as an entree at Allison and see what they respond. I'm going to tell them that the only thing I can eat has been something that has been killed in the past 2 days. Ha, Doris will shit a brick!

Again, super jealous about all of you folks (ie, 3 of my favorite parcers) hanging out together in New York. Poop on you in the best way possible, take lots of pictures!! We'll have to go camping Lindsay, I can't wait. I'll be in Seattle this weekend for my cousin's wedding. Those of you who haven't returned my calls yet, get on it!

Love and hugs,
Caitlin

The Big Apple with The Big Appel

2004-08-04T19:27:00.000-05:00

Hallo! Hallo! I have an announcement to make! In approximately a weeks time New York City will be invaded by Lindzilla Shapray and King Kong Yalowitz! Please keep your children inside at all times, especially your 18 to 24 year old strapping young lads, who may be prime targets for their voracious libidos! If any other Parc monsters, ghouls, or goblins are interested in contributing to the chaos, please feel free to join them on their rampage through the Big Apple as the climb the Empire State building, demolish the Statue of Liberty and crush the hearts of hipsters and homos alike! They and you will be guided and provided with meals and lodging by the mysterious Abominable Snow Dude (otherwise known as Christian). If you are in the neighborhood or are interested in attending the utter destruction of New York City by the three (party) monsters (I'm so witty!) call this number 914 632 2408 on your nearest phone and plans shall be made for you to join in on the carnage! Woo hoo! Looking forward to wreaking some havoc!
- Mr. C

This is more for Cailtin than anyone else, but still..

2004-08-04T12:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, so while commenting on this, Laura Bush said, "I was hiking in Glacier National Park with no news, no telephones. So when I got off my hike, I called her, and she sort of went on about it like she was sure I knew about it, which I didn't."

So I thought that was cool, especially because I rememembered Caitlin posting about it earlier!!

Also, for those of you who don't know, you can DL (for free!!!) the major DNC speeches (read: TERESA HEINZ KERRY! And Obama, Clinton, Kerry, etc.) on iTunes!! So I would highly encourage that. I listen to Teresa's looped.

Love,
Christine

ps. is anyone else having problems posting pictures on here??? or is it just me?

NEW PARCERS!!

2004-08-02T13:13:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

Following C-rank's advice, I checked out the new frosh on the Facebook. It looks as though we'll have a good crop of freshman to torture, err, become friends with. I sent messages to a few, and i'm going to continue as they go on facebook.

I highly reccommend that you all do this. I think its great to reach out to the freshman as much as possible and help calm their fears.

Anyways, not much more to say, rainy and dreary here. I'm going to Seattle this weekend for my cousin's wedding. He's really hot, so I'm hoping he has hot friends as well. Grrr, groomsmen! Then my brothers are coming up to visit and see my programs.

I can't wait to see you all!

Love,
Caitlin

And the countdown begins...

2004-08-02T10:37:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

I wasn't going to post so soon after my last one, but no one else is, so I decided, "What the heck." This is one of my like 8 forms of entertainment this summer.

Anyway, I feel as if, it being Aug. 2, now is a legit time to begin actually counting down for the re-start of school (not that I haven't been already). It's actually *kinda* soon! If any of you have noticed, new PARCers are already on the Facebook! Ahh.

At the same time, Aug 2. is a bit of a date of pseudo-mourning for me, as this is the day that, one year ago, we moved into the house I'm in right now in IL. So my sisters and I are all kinda not happy today.

Okay. So concerts have seemed, throughout the summer, to be a popular choice of topic for posts, and I went to a concert!! So I'm going to tell you about it.

I saw Hanson (!!!) at Navy Pier, which was so awesome. I won my ticket on eBay (for only $20!!), so I went alone. I had very good seats (row L, and on Taylor's side!!), and their opening acts were actually quite good as well. First was Ben Jelen. After he performed, he came out and signed CDs, so I got to meet him! I think he was very impressed that my name was Christine. Next was Michael Tolcher, who was good enough. He sang Nothing Compares To You, which was entertaining. I was kinda bummed because later on in their tour, Tyler Hilton is opening, and I would DIE to see him. But oh well ... it's still Hanson, so I can't complain too much.

Let me now just comment on the people sitting next to me. On one side was this kinda crazy old woman who kept dispatching her 9-year old son (with a hideous bowl cut!) to ask these teenage girls where they'd purchased various items of clothing that they were wearing. On the other side of me were the friends of the girl from whom I'd purchased my ticket. They were nice and talked to me a bit. One of the girls said to me, "Have you seen them before?" I told her that I had, but that the last time had been 5 years ago. She said, "Oh okay. You look familiar, but I guess not." I then asked her if she had seen them before, and she responded, "Yea, this is my 10th time this tour." This tour!!! She's from Albany, NY, and she's basically been following them around all year. This concert was my 6th time seeing them, and I'd been at least mildly impressed with that.

Anyway, back to Hanson. They performed 17 songs: 4 from Middle of Nowhere, 1 from their live CD, 2 from This Time Around, 5 from their newest album Underneath, 1 from their acoustic album, AND 4 unreleased songs, including Taylor's covering of a Kinks song. It rocked so much, I can't even put it into words. It totally justified my 7 and a half year obsession with them (wow it's insane how time flies). And, to top off a perfect concert, when we were leaving, there were fireworks going off! Right over Navy Pier! It was so amazing!

That's it for now ... I have job training!! (On Aug. 2nd!) We're learning how to "create the perfect fold." And getting paid for it! Woo-hoo.

love Christine

My first Glacier!

2004-07-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

Hi All,

I'm here at Headquarters, bored off my bum, and I thought I'd write to say hello. So far this morning, I've answered 30 phone calls, dealt with 8 visitors and sent out dozens of informational pamphlets, whoo exciting!! Oh well, it can't all be bears and squirrels.

On a happier note, I hiked to my first Glacier last Wednesday. It was 13 miles round trip, and absolutely awesome!! Unfortunately, some guy had died on it the day before. Thats what happens when you disobey the signs that say "Warning: Travel on the Glacier Not Recommended". He fell through some loose snow into a crevasse and broke up his body. Eeek, that makes the death toll this summer at 3.

Anyways, I didn't risk death, I merely got close to the glacier, not on it. However, I decided that it would be much cooler if there were penguins serving drinks and polar bears frolicking about on the ice as entertainment. Sigh, too bad we have neither in Montana. I've decided that penguins are the coolest bird ever.

I got really hot on the hike and travelled part of it in a sports bra. I know what you're thinking, super sexy, right? Well, yes, I was, but I also neglected to put bug spray on my stomach, meaning that I have 2 extra nipples from mosquitos bites, yikes!! Oh well, I'l just look like a freak scratching my tummy sparatically.

Anyhoo, if you haven't sent me your address yet, California folks, I'm looking your way, then please do. Mine is:

Ranger Overland
PO Box 388
West Glacier, MT
59936

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL SOON!! PARTY UP EVERY NIGHT!!!!

Love and hugs,
Caitlin

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes

2004-07-30T00:28:00.000-05:00

That quote is from the wonderful Henry David Thoreau, specifically his Walden and can be found at the begging of The Devil Wears Prada - Harry Potter for the fashionista.
Side note - this is blog #112 and 1+1=2.
So, I cannot say that The Devil Wears Prada is particularly well written, but it is quite addicting. You just wait and wait until "And-re-ah" tells off her bitch of a boss, but I'm not convinced it will quite happen. I'm hoping for an expose that Andrea writes for The New Yorker, her dream job.

As for my job - it is really boring. Any person who wants to do computer programming for real is CRAZY. And I'm saying that as a chemical engineer. Tomorrow is tentatively my last day, depending on how much gets done the week I'm on vacation. Ahh, vacation. I'm scared of the days where that really means something, where we won't even get 3 weeks off in December and will be lucky to have 2 weeks off during the summer months. I plan on savoring the moments when I lay out on the beach.

And to those of you working from 8 to 8 (ahem Dave) take a freakin' break (maybe play some tennis or call that girl Christine you're dating). And to Lindsay, although I know you probably want to make more money, I think it would be phenomenal if you just quit Bed, Bath and Beyond, like a few days to a week early, just to be dramatic.

July has replaced February as my least favorite (and the longest-seeming) month.

2004-07-28T23:08:00.000-05:00

Or, alternative title, stolen from Mo Rocca: "It's an Obama-rama! O-Plus! Obama-tastic! Once The Land of Lincoln - now The Land of Obama."

Finally a reason to pseudo enjoy temporarily living in Illinois! As much as I'm mildly obsessed with Christopher Shays, he has very little on Obama. *snaps* to Matt.

Anyway, I've been in Toronto the past couple of days with my mother. One of my sisters is in Washington and the other is at camp, so we decided to take a spur-of-the-moment mini-trip. It was very fun! Go Canada. If you want to check out all the really exciting parts of the trip (well, exciting to me, which actually says very little I suppose), you can check out my newest form of summer entertainment. (It's much less about me than it is about people and things with whom/which I am obsessed.)

Well, let me just say though that we (my mother and I) have been watching the DNC like nobody's business. Highlights for me so far were pretty much the obvious: Clinton (and I am totally open to admitting that I have, and have had for pretty much most of my life, a HUGE crush on him), Obama ... let's see. OMG TERESA. I'm so obsessed with her, because she's absolutely mental. And Edwards and the fam were great. I also hope that at least some of you tuned in for Larry King's special 2nd show on Monday, featuring both Mo Rocca in the yellow jacket and Ben Affleck, being an absolute idiot (oh, SHOCKING!). So downgrade Larry King for that. However, as much as I love Mo Rocca, and as entertaining as I find him on Larry King, I can't decide whether it's legit comedic relief or just bizarre for him to be on CNN.

I am also VERY jealous of people in Boston, or at least at the convention. And with that having been said, I'll let you all go with one burning question/complaint: WHY DOES NORTHWESTERN START SO LATE?! Ugh.

lots of love!
Christine

BARACK! BARACK! BARACK!

2004-07-28T01:19:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama rocks my socks! He was incredible tonight at the DNC. I think we've found our new Clinton. He'll be president in twelve years. Or one can only hope. He'll be incredible. I haven't had that much fun watching a speach since last night and Clinton's address. Clinton is still the best orator alive. Incredible stuff this convention. I can't see how Kerry loses this one. But its early still, and the Republicans have yet to fully unleash "the Fixer" Karl Rove. He's a scheming bastard. The push polling begins now. The negative ads began a few months ago. Kerry has got to stay positive. This is beginning to remind me of the campaign in The American President, one of my favorite movies ever.
Thats my political spiel.

Politics, b-days, baseball and more

2004-07-27T22:23:00.000-05:00

So has anyone else been watching the dnc? I have to admit that since I don't have anything else to do I have pretty much seen most of it. Clinton's speech was genius...he effortlessly framed the whole election and highlighted the heart of what the two parties stand for and made it seem like voting dem was the only way to go. I think it was def the craftiest speech i have ever heard. He's still the best politician around.
Also, I really like the positive light in which the party is presenting itself. If you didn't know Obama gave the keynote speech at the convention today, and it was amazing. I am in love with that guy. I had been talking him up to my parents and a lot of other people here the past few weeks, and everyone was impressed by his speech. My uncle actually called me up saying that he was impressed. Its kinda cheesy...but you know how a lot of people in politics who were teens in the early 60's talk about how JFK really inspired them and what not...Obama reminds of that a lot. I haven't gotten this excited about a politician ever (and Lindsay you know i don't get enthusiastic easily). Anyways I am really jealous of Matt! I just talked to him and Cass on the phone. They were at the Fleet center watching everything first hand. And guess who else was there. Natalie Portman, aka the love of my life! (i guess now i am talking like christine) And John Cusack smiled at Cass, and Bono was there. Argh! I wish i was in boston right now.
As far as things going on in my life the past week or so....no where as exciting as Matt and the rest of the parcmates i am sure, but i have been finding ways to keep busy. Yes Page, it was my birthday on the 21st. Thankyou for remembering or finding out on the facebook (it is quite a valuable database isn't it). Matt thanks for calling and Christine thanks for the awesome greeting and Caitlin and Christopher. I spent the day with my family mostly...had lunch with my uncle, aunt and cousin....and then dinner with my parents and brother. The only two friends of mine who are in town for the summer happened to go out of town this past week, so i didn't do anything with friends, but the day was fine overall. July is always a crazy week for our family b/c other than me, my two cousins have birthdays in this month, so does my uncle, and my parent's anniversary is in july and a few other things. its a crazy month.
I am still jobless even though i applied to a few more places. Still watching movies and listening to lots of music. One band I recommend to anyone that likes alternative rock is the Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club. They are from LA so maybe mydori or dave you might have heard of them. Lindsay i am pretty sure i gave you a copy of their cd. Anyways they are really rocking. One new development is that I started playing baseball for this Southasian league this past weekend. Its actually a league my cousin is a part of, and his team was missing a lot of players for one of the games so i filled in. And i think they are going to keep me on the team for a few more games atleast. Its weird playing actual games b/c i have never played organized baseball before. Plus all the other players are in their mid-twenties. Buts its a lot of fun. I did pretty well my first game! I need more practice on defense though. They have me playing outfield. I have also been watching international cricket (yes that sport with the flat bat, and the wickets that is kinda like baseball). The matches are going on in Asia so they come on here really early in teh morning. So i have been up since 3 in the morning today because India was playing Srilanka. India won if you are interested, which you are probabaly not.
night.

PARC...in the background, maybe?

2004-07-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

Mark your calendars! August 10th, 4:00pm.

Evanston: Northwestern University

It's dining hall decorating academia, as two sororities at Northwestern University tackle each other's houses. With the largest rooms ever and the same deadline, it's a race to the finish as these teams of eight attractive sorority members each, dive in.

http://tlc.discovery.com/schedule/episode.jsp?episode=56&cpi=54624&gid=5954&channel=TLC

Caitlin, I miss you too

2004-07-25T03:07:00.000-05:00

Don't miss us all too bad. We're excited about the bear book, if I may speak for the group.
I suppose I should use some of this space to convey what I've been up to, as a blog's main purpose is to satisfy one's own desire for mental masturbation. I guess these posts are like little (or, in Christine's case, very large) mental ejaculations.
Lets just say that after Peru, America is boring.
I saw Anchorman today, and it wasn't Will Ferrel's worst work, but it wasn't his best either. The guest appearances were great, I didn't realize that Ben Stiller could play latino so well. See it for kicks, but don't pay full price, is my advice.
I've been doing play by play for my friend's internet radio company www.baysportsradio.com of his brother's Senior Little League team's tournament run. They're two wins away from a Sectional title, which means they're about eight more wins in a row away from the Little League World Series. That would take place while I'm in Hungary though. They won't make it. They're good, but not that good. For all of you laughing at me doing Little League games, these kids are going to be Juniors and Seniors in High School. They play good ball. And its really just for practice. I'm certainly not getting paid.
About getting paid, I start work for Celtic moving, which is really just a front for the Irish gang in SF and a way to funnel money legally to disbadged cops. I'm along because my brother knows the owner through his girlfriend, who is in with the Irish Mafia pretty heavily. Anyway, I'm gonna keep my mouth shut and do what they tell me, and take my cash and go home. I very much doubt I'm getting a "paycheck." Cash is nicer. No tax. Anway, that starts Monday, jobs are from 7:30 to whenever we finish, which means work fast.
That's about it in the life here. Maybe more detail or more updates later. Let me know if you need more Louis in your life, and I'll send you a personalized e-mail...

If the bear begins to consume you, fight back!

2004-07-23T12:20:00.000-05:00

Hello all!!

Can I first off say that I miss you all terribly? I just met a woman who works for a local news station, and she was an NU Grad!! And she lived in Theta!! She was most definately a Theta, broadcast journalism, etc. She was very friendly, and it was great to talk to a former "South Campus" lady. Ahh, what a small world, eh?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY! Belated of course, but we must celebrate when we return back to school!!

I'm reading this book right now called "night of the grizzlies". In 1967, two 19 year old girls were eaten alive by bears in the same night! Wicked cool, eh? Actually, I just visited the spot where one of the incidents happened, then I looked online for pictures of the bears, and I found them. Long claws, sinisters grins. I was definately rooting for the bear the whole time! Ha ha! Death isn't funny, but hand feeding bears, then getting eaten by them is!!

I MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! I wish we could have a super big party right now, but we will definately shake our groove thangs the first night we're all back!!

Caitlin

sorry, it's me again.

2004-07-22T14:14:00.000-05:00

Okay. Sorry to be like bombarding this blog with myself, but OMG.

My favorite celebrity couple BROKE UP!!! And I don't know what to do with myself. I've just lost all hope I ever had in love and people and relationships and.. omg it's just totally distressing me.

Kirsten Dunst and Jake Gyllenhaal, for those of you who were wondering. And isn't it sad how attached I am to the celebrities I love? But honestly! This is just the Summer from Hell, what with them and Mary-Kate and Britney's engagement! It's so sad. Cry tears for Kirsten and Jake, and if you're not, know that I'm crying enough for both of us!!!

Money!!

2004-07-22T13:23:00.000-05:00

Alright, well I'm actually going to be doing something related to my job (Gap Kids) tomorrow! I'm going in to fill out paper work and watch "a couple videos," and we're supposedly going to sort out when I'm going in for training. AND I get paid to fill out paper work and watch these videos!! So that's kinda exciting and finally proof that I actually do have a job, which I (as well as my lovely parents) was beginning to doubt.

Also, I'm babysitting on Saturday, from 3-10. It totally breaks with my policy of not babysitting anyone under the age of 5 (in Connecticut, I babysat mostly 3rd-6th graders!! because they're the ones who rock) - there's a newborn, a 2-year old, and a 4-year old! So that's a little scary, as I really dislike babies, dipers, and ALL of that. But they say that beggers can't be choosers, and that's sadly the case in this situation. So I'm just hoping that they pay well, as I'll be spending 7 hours of my life with these kids, one of whom was described by her mother as "very rambunctious." I don't even know if I spelled that word right. Anyway, it was a hand-me-down job from my sister Jenifer, who will be leaving for camp the following morning at some hour that's probably before I normally go to sleep.

Finally, Jenifer is having this camp at our house. She does this every summer, and usually a few times during the year too, where she'll have a "camp" for a week or so for like 3-6 year olds. She and one of her friends plan all this stuff and they come over for like 2-3hrs each day. And they make SO much money. My sister's making like $700 profit this week. It's absolutely mental. ANYWAY, they've hired me for a bit to accompany them to the park. So that's pseudo-exciting, as I get money and these kids seem really fascinated by me, so they're good and they just ask me questions and stuff. So whatevs.

Anyway, today's Thursday, the day of my class, so I'm spending the majority of the day finishing my paper, etc. Also: BUY THE ASHLEE SIMPSON CD!!! It's soooooooooooooooo good. I'm wickedly obsessed with it, like to a point that goes beyond words. And I cannot WAIT for this summer to be over, as I fear it's sucking all the life out of me. But oh well.. soon, soon.

And a belated-Happy Birthday to Andy on the blog!! (I would like to give myself credit for wishing him "Happy Birthday" on time; however, it just wasn't on the blog.)

love, Christine

I Am Northwestern.

2004-07-22T01:04:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

Check that out. Doesn't it rock? I'm totally obsessed with it. How do you get to be on these things?! Because even though I do like nothing, I soooo want to be in one!

I Am Northwestern.
Christine

I can see it now.

lots of love!
Christine

"B is for bi... whatever she touches she has sex with."

2004-07-21T21:13:00.000-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!! (it is your birthday, right? Dave has taught me not to trust the facebook :)

Outdated but good-- this is made out of JellyBeans!

Oh and that vh1 show, I love the 90s, is the best thing that's ever happened to television. I'm obsessed with it (still, because I still haven't seen them all) and I hope everyone watches all of them! My favorite is Teletubbies, "it's going to be like an acid trip-- but for children!" and Something About Mary, "what I liked most about that movie is that they really made fun of handicapped people.."

Yes, the 90s were great. Ok, take care ya'll... it's my bedtime again!

Love you (miss you mean it)!

Kisses,
PAGE

ps, Caitlin: I wrote my address as a comment to your blog! I'm so sorry for being so busy!!

Post #100!!!

2004-07-19T22:03:00.000-05:00

I just got a haircut yesterday, and I completely agree with Dave's comment about the benefits of short hair. (But sadly, no before and after pictures for everyone). Anyway, I'm heading up to Boston for the DNC convention on Thursday! I spoke with someone from the DNC today, and I was assigned to be a network tv liaison for the DNC press office. I'm supposed to wear a suit every day in case I'm on camera in the background. So stay glued to your televisions! And I'll have a press pass, too. (Hopefully that will get me into some good parties!) I'm really excited... and I'll try to post updates from Boston. It sounds like everyone is having a nice summer… but I can't wait to see you all in a couple months!

Why California Rocks

2004-07-19T20:53:00.000-05:00

Okay, so Ah-nold is our governor, but not even half the state voted for him.
Politically we're still left-loving people (at least here in Nor Cal) and we have Barbara Boxer to kick ass in Senate. Read this:

STATEMENT BY U.S. SENATOR BARBARA BOXER>>
To even consider postponing our elections, the most ardent symbol of American democracy, because of threats made by terrorists would be nothing short of allowing fear to rule our country. America is too great and too strong and too brave for that.
If this Administration is so concerned about the possibility of terrorist attacks disrupting U.S. elections, the priority should be how to best defend against those attacks, not how to close polling places.
We need to pass the Rail Security and Port Security bills, both of which passed unanimously out of the Senate Commerce Committee in April. We need to pass my Homeland Defense Act, legislation authorizing grants for our local first responders so they can purchase interoperable communications systems that will allow them to talk to one another in the event of a terrorist attack. And we need to put more federal dollars toward funding these Homeland Security initiatives, including our local first responders.
We are focusing far too many of our resources abroad trying to bring democracy to others while this Administration seems completely at a loss on how to protect us here at home. All we hear about is fear from them and no plan. It is time to stop the fear-mongering and start protecting our people, our homeland, and our democracy here at home.>>

On a totally different note, why do you think we have so few women senators? Considering how incredible the ones we do have are.

RA!

2004-07-19T13:44:00.000-05:00

This is primarily for those of you who have decided to stay in PARC next year, and even more for those of you on the 1st and 2nd floors... (no comment on that.)

Our RA for next year! HIS NAME IS SHUBHANG!! And his last name is Dave!! Go facebook him.

Anyway, very exciting!

~Christine

this is not a rave

2004-07-18T12:45:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to the Modest Mouse Concert avec ma famille. Going to concerts with your family is always an interesting experience. The opening band was something Magician and second on stage were The Walkmen, who are also very good, so that was exciting. That's not to say that the Magician band was good, but they certainly were not the worst opening group I've ever seen. They were better than Pedro the Lion in my opinion.
MM played for an hour and then a 20 minute encore. They played most of my favorite songs from lots of albums, including Wild Packs of Family Dogs and Never Ending Math Equation and from Good News - Ocean Breathes Salty. So based on the collection of songs they played, the good lighting and that they did not center themselves on stage, makes this the 3rd best concert I've ever seen.
The crowd was pretty good too, at least the people I was sitting around. Possibly the nerdiest guy in the whole place was sitting to my right, and he kept drumming on his knees, off beat for the most part, but very enthusiastically. This one girl sitting in front of me looked a lot like Jessica Simpson and I talked with her a little bit, super nice and a REALLY huge fan. She totally rocked out to Wild Packs of Family Dogs. And then there was the "under the influence" guy. Not drunk, I think acid trip, based solely on his flowy dance moves. Then there was this "classic asshole" as the girl behind me described him, who would NOT sit down after my section yelled at him. I wouldn't have cared so much, except that I did have balcony seats for a reason and he was literally JUST standing - not dancing, barely bobbing his head - JUST STANDING. It was really annoying.
The concert was phenomenal in my opinion and I think Warfield is my favorite music venue in the greater Bay Area.

the story of my haircut.

2004-07-18T00:22:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

Well, yesterday I made a somewhat bold, spur-of-the-moment decision, which is currently reminding me of why I don't normally do that. So today at noon, I cut my hair. I only cut 10 inches this time (last time I did it, I cut 12), but since my hair was a bit shorter this time than the last time I cut it, it ended up being just as short. Boo. It's easier to say in illustration, so I apologize if anyone is on dial-up.

me with a weird face and my hair. I miss it!!

Again, pre-cutting.

I suppose caption-ing these is rather pointless as you can all see what's going on.

That's my hair!!!

okay and now for my short hair:

That's the back (yea, sorry).

(haha I cut off my nose! and like half of my head.)

This is me sending Derek a kiss because he was sad. However, I think I only scared him.

And there's another weird picture of me.. again with my SHORT hair.

I'm hoping it will grow (ha ha.. bad pun) on me, but the good thing about cutting it now is that I have two months (UGH why is the summer soooo very long) until I go back to school for it to grow and for me to get used to it.

So now that I've turned this into like the most boring thing ever (a documentary of me cutting my hair!!), I apologize. My sister did a good job with taking all the pics though! The only reason this was such a pseudo-big deal is: (well, 2 reasons) 1 there's NOTHING else happening here; and 2 this is the first time I've cut my hair for real (aka not a trim) since March 01, 2002. Anyway, I donated it to Locks of Love, which I would highly encourage any of you to do as well, even though I am going through serious short-hair panic attacks right now. I'm sure it be okay. It's just hair.

Not much else is new with me. I went shopping today, which was both good and bad. (new clothes = good; ANOTHER winter coat = bad; coat on sale = good .. so I don't know.) I'm wickedly obsessed with Vanilla Ice right now.. sad, right? And Ashlee Simpson. Her CD comes out this Tuesday, and honestly it's about the only thing getting me through the summer right now.

love
Christine

You call that a gym....

2004-07-17T21:11:00.000-05:00

Ok this post is more for Christine than anyone, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it. Let me start by saying work has been absolutely fabulous! Where else do you get paid to take long lunches, meet fab people, and act important ! About three weeks ago I went to lunch with the "interns" and I just knew it would be a disaster. Well I was wrong, yes again I was wrong (If anyone can tell me what song those lines are from you will be my new honorary best friend) Anyway, I met and I'm not kidding the Hilton Sisters (Southern Style) The only thing they are lacking is tinkerbelle!!! Names: Ada and Cissy and I must say that these girls rock. Needless to say they were adopted by moi as permanent honorary best friends. So this past week another fab intern (RJ) had a B'day. So Ada plans a surprise party/dinner, and the next day has a B'day luncheon for 17, I couldn't have done it better my self. On the way back from lunch RJ points out her health club and says that she really needs to get back into her routine. Upon seeing the health club (A renovated store front) Cissy replies "you call that a gym, our back yard is bigger than that!" It was undoubtedly the highlight of my week. I don't know what's more amusing the fact that she said it, or the sincerity with which she said it. You just had to be there to apreciate it. I still haven't gone shopping , and I must say I have been exercising amazing self control (and by self control I mean I was broke!) Luckily that all changed this week yay for the 15th of the month!! So shopping is in the forecast. Also last week I started taking a Psychology class four nights a week(as if I didn't have enough to do), so far it has been really interesting. In case you were wondering my trip to Wisconsin (normally a 10 hour trip) turned into a 13 hour ordeal, There is a reason man invented the airplane (case closed). Other than the travel, the trip was fine. I still have no clue who most of those people are, and vice versa "so who's child are you, again?" I must say its kind of wierd walking around a hotel not knowing who is just a random person, and who you're related to, Creepy! If given the choice would you wear a tux or a dinner jacket to a summer wedding? If you have any suggestions I would apreciate it :) Well thats all for now.

My last days in Peru

2004-07-17T21:02:00.000-05:00

I post this from San Francisco. Its so nice to be home. And now that I've figured out how to post pictures, here's proof that I was actually there.

Inka Trail (pt. 1 of 2)
July 14, 2004
10:11 am CT

The Inka Trail. Where to start? How about at the beginning. I met Rory in Cusco at about five past seven at night on July 9. His taxi pulled up in front of the Catedral on the Plaza de Armas. He looked the same as the last time I saw him, about six months ago. He had his huge backpack with him. It flopped around half full; it was far too big for the trail. He had packed just two sets of clothes, as did I, and a jacket, and his sleeping bag and water sack. And toilet paper. What a lifesaver. We made the walk back to Hostal Keros in about ten minutes, catching up on our various projects in Peru. We got to the hostal, and I showed him the room, which had three beds in it. My stuff was sprawled all over the middle bed. He threw his pack down there too. I packed my backpack for the trail, and strapped my sleeping bag to the bottom of the bag, because I hoped we wouldn’t be in any state to do it later.
Peru’s national futbol team had a Copa America game that night, and so we headed back to the Plaza to find a restaurant that had the game on. We wound up at Rosie O’Grady’s Irish Pub. Every city has at least one Irish pub, but Cusco has about five or six in a three block radius. The food was good. I ate alpaca stroganoff. Happy hour started about midway through our meal, so we ordered two for one Cuba Libres. They make their drinks strong down here. Then it was two for one Pisco Sours at halftime of the game, with Peru up 1-0. The barkeep at Rosie’s made a mean Pisco Sour. We finished our meal, and wanted to find a slightly more festive atmosphere to watch the second half, but everywhere we went that was festive had no place to sit, and we didn’t want to stand, so we ended up at Norton’s Rats Bar and Restaurant, whose entrance is through a small square off an alley that abuts the plaza. We had the place to ourselves, essentially, and happy hour had just begun there, so we had two for one Cuba Libres again, and then two for one Piscos and Sprite, and then two for one Vodka and Fanta. We were pretty sauced for Peru’s two more goals in the second half in their 3-1 trouncing of Venezuela.
It was about 11 when we left Norton’s and stumbled back through the Plaza Santo Domingo and the Plaza San Francisco and then down Coquechuaya street to Keros. Rory drunk dialed his parents, and as each member of his family got on the phone they would remark how drunk he was. It was difficult to explain to the guy at the desk that we wanted to make international phone calls at midnight, as sauced as we were. I sobered up a bit before calling my folks, and told them the name of the company we had booked our Inka Trail trip with, and about our night and about Arequipa and the Copa game. They could tell I was drunk. They didn’t say anything.
The next morning we woke at 7:15, our latest wake up call in the next five days. We dressed, splashed some cold water on our faces and headed down to partake of the included continental breakfast. We were rushed by the arrival of the bus that would take us to the trailhead. Then the bus took about 45 minutes just to leave the city. The drive was gorgeous after we got through the throbbing adobe mess that is the outskirts of Cusco.
We stopped in this small town for lunch, and then hiked from there to the trailhead, about 30 minutes. The trailhead is a building run by the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. We had to show our passports and trail tickets. I was already finished with one of the packages of chanchita (semi-popped maize) I had bought for the trail. They were only thirty cents, I should have bought five or six. I like to eat while I hike.
The first day was gorgeous, hiking along the Urubamba river. We camped on these people’s property. It must have been some of their farmland that they lease to the INC for campsites, because they were walking around like they owned the place. And their pigs were grazing in the bushes behind my tent. Pigs are large animals, and make a lot of noise. It took me a little while to get to sleep.
We were awakened at 6 in the morning by one of the porters, with a cup of tea. We had 45 minutes to drink our tea, pack our stuff, and get dressed for the hike, before breakfast. Breakfast was incredible. In fact, every meal was mind boggling. On day three they made us a lunch that would have cost at least 15 dollars in the states. In the middle of the fucking wilderness! The porters are totally awesome.
Back to day two. It’s called the “Inka Challenge” on the maps they give to the tourists. You climb 1200 meters, or about 4000 feet, up to Dead Woman’s Pass. That’s more than I’ve climbed in a single day ever. It was incredible. Hiking up from about 3000 meters to an elevation of 4250 m, or 13,500 feet, took my breath away, literally and figuratively. There was snow on the trail for the last 500 m or so. At 13,500 feet, that’s the highest I’ve ever stood on the earth. It really did feel like the roof of the world. It was only slightly disappointing because it was so cloudy that the view was obscured. The wind also whipped up the pass and made it bitter cold, so that I put on my new llama wool hat. Soon my hands were nearly frozen but my head was sweating. The hike down was harder than the going up, at least on my knees. We went down about 900 meters in about 3 km, Almost entirely stone steps, built for Inkas with tiny feet. Precarious.
The next day was just as incredible. We mounted two passes, the first one at 3900 meters and the second at 3600, while descending to about 3000 meters before each ascent. There were ruins all over the place, including a few major sites, like Paca’ymayo, along the way. Our guide, called Henry, explained, in very good English for it being his third language, about each site. He is Quechua, but his dad like American names. He has eight brothers and four sisters with names like Victoria, John, David, Chris, and Elvis. Yes, Elvis. We all had a good laugh over that one. Even the two Israeli guys who were in our group, who never really opened up, because they spoke in Hebrew to each other the whole time. Still, Asaf and Edan were cool.
Totally perpetuate the stereotype though. They bragged about never paying more than 12 soles for a hotel room. That’s like $3.50. They probably hadn’t taken a warm shower since they got to South America. And they “won’t pay more than five soles for a meal.” Direct quote. 5 soles, divided by 3.45 soles per dollar, that’s what, a buck fifty for dinner. That means they were buying shish kabob from the woman selling it in the streets. Even most Peruvians are skeptical of the street food.
Day Three is the longest day. After the third pass you can see Macchu Picchu mountain for the first time. You can’t see the city yet, but the mountain festooned with Cusco’s rainbow flag (the official city flag, slightly different from the international Gay Pride flag, but it takes some looking) blowing in the breeze is beautiful.

Hail to the chief!

2004-07-16T14:12:00.000-05:00

Hi guys,

Quick post here at HQ reception for Glacier. Some secret service guys just came in, meaning Laura Bush is coming in today!!! AHHH! Hopefully I'll get to see her tomorrow!!! Luckily, no W. though!

Caitlin

You Can't Stop Stepford!

2004-07-16T02:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, so not really Stepford, but close enough I figure.

I'm back from my extended weekend in New Canaan (my hometown), and I would like to provide for you one story to illustrate to you where I grew up:

Derek (my friend, with whom I was staying) and I walked into town ("town" is what we call the 3 blocks of New Canaan that is the downtown) one day and passed this group of three guys and a girl. They were dressed in all black, combat boots, fishnets, Clash t-shirts, weird hair (a mohawk), etc. Like full-out punk-goth. The girl even had like these weird tattoos on her arms! They were pretty hardcore. Anyway, so the girl? She was carrying a Coach bag. And not just any Coach bag, but the Hampton bag. (I'd provide you with a picture, but my wireless has decided to not work and thus I'm on too-slow-for-words dial-up.)

That's why I'm so obsessed with New Canaan. It just kinda rocks like that. There's nothing I love more than punk-goths carrying Coach bags. Especially the Hampton bag.

Anyway, I had a really good time there, and I must admit it's kinda depressing to be back in Chicagoland. However, it did make me realize how incredibly unproductive my summer would be, had I spent it there. After a pretty uneventul flight (other than the girl behind me in the security line who was wearing a jean jacket with SEVENS.. which is NOT a look, let me assure you; the only thing worse than a jean jacket with jeans is a jean jacket with designer jeans), I arrived at Derek's door at a little after 11. We went to my FAVORITE pizza place (featuring this INCREDIBLE cheeseless pizza that's actually a menu-ed item) for dinner with my friend Sam, and after that, we saw The Notebook with our friend Charlotte. First of all, it stars Rachel McAdams (of Mean Girls fame - she was Regina) and Ryan Gosling (with whom I've been in love with since 1997 and my obsession with the show Breaker High), so that rocked. Secondly, I honestly don't think I've cried harder in a movie... like ever basically. It was absolutely heart-wrenching. Fortunately, I had Derek there, and I think he cried almost as much as I did.

On Sunday night, Derek and I had a dinner party at his house. Since his father doesn't really have any kitchen/dining room table yet, we ate on the floor, which kinda rocked. We had very good like seasoned chicken, and I made wild rice!! And it was actually pretty good, if I do say so myself. Derek and I went shopping in town before, to buy food and stuff, and we had a very good time being obnoxious New Canaan kids: he wore a green polo with a pink pony and I wore a pink one with a green pony (and we didn't even plan it.. that's just what we each put on when we got dressed, not even looking at the other one!). It was too fun. And I must say, we host a damn good party. We had shirly temples!!! We ended up playing Never-Have-I-Ever, which turned out to be pretty boring, as all of us know the sexual (and otherwise) histories of each other WAY too well. Much more fun with you guys. But oh well.

Monday, Derek & I shopped in town for a while, but it was raining, so we ended up sitting in the library reading magazines. Then we went to my favorite Indian restaurant ever - the food is a notch above that place in Belmont, and, as much as I'm totally obsessed with that place, even with its 2 toilets, it has nothing on this restaurant. It's called Thali, and my family single-handedly got it through its first few years. My friends were kinda convinced that it would go out of business once we moved, as I swear, we ate there at least once a month (and since they had take-out, usually a few times more than that). It was recently named the #1 Indian restaurant in Connecticut by Zagats!! So that excited me a lot, as I'm wickedly obsessed with it. It has a waterfall that goes across the ceiling! It's so fetch. One of my friends, whom I haven't seen since December, by chance returned from Nantucket that day (which was my last day) to CT for the first time this summer, so I really lucked out seeing her. She went to school in S. California (Scripps), and so we (my other Liberal friend, Olivia, and I) were hoping that it would make her at least less Republican, but it hasn't. So then I impressed her by telling her that I was friends with the president of Northwestern College Republicans. (Go pseudo-name dropping!) She's a HUGE Republican.

That night (or, I suppose, Tuesday morning) at like 1.30am, I got a huge craving for a shirly temple, but all the Sprite was gone. So, even though it was POURING rain, Derek and I put on sweatshirts and got an umbrella and walked into town (a 5ish minute walk, one way) to the Mobile station. We were absolutely soaked. Then later on that night, we were riding the elevator downstairs, to put laundry in, and before we opened the door on the first floor, I said to him, "Something that kinda scares me is that we're going to open the door and there will be a man - Dwight Yokam in Panic Room, for example - and he'll shoot us." Derek responded with, "Yea me too so let's not talk about it." Not exactly comforting. Fortunately, we're both still alive, so that didn't happen. =)

So it was fun to be back. I didn't get to see Olivia, who's one of my best friends there (she's in some South American country now and no one can really figure out what she's doing there, but she's spending most of her summer campaigning for Kerry in New Hampshire), so that was kinda sad, but I went to visit her at school in March, so it's okay I suppose. I got to spend a lot of time with my friend Char, which was really fun because she's celebrity crazy... like more-so than I am. She puts me to complete shame. So between me, her, & Derek, we can go on for hours.

So although this trip was shorter than last time, I think I enjoyed it more. First of all, I wasn't missing out on all the exciting stuff with you guys. Secondly, I'd just seen most everyone so there was less of that, "Tell me everything about the past five months of your live" and more of the just hanging out and stuff. Thirdly, it was way fun being at Derek's father's house - it was nice having it to ourselves because we could play Jessica / Ashlee Simpson really loudly all the time and stuff like that. Fourthly, I feel like I got to see a lot of the four of my friends who I still really like and enjoy hanging out with. The ones that I'm not totally crazy about we didn't see that much. So that kinda worked out well.

Okay well hopefully for one thing I haven't bored you all to DEATH. And I was going to post pictures, but my scanner isn't worked, so that might be a good thing.. Anyway, the part of my life that takes place in Hindsale, IL (which, unfortunately, is the vast majority of it right now) is pretty boring. I saw Anchorman, which I personally found HYSTERICAL. I won't bother you with the rest of the details of my life, because, if you found my entry about "The NC" to be boring, I assure you, anything else I could say would be more boring.

But oh! My sister, Laura, is thinking about starting college in Janurary, which means that in 6 months from now, she could be a college student, which is absolutely freaking me out. And I Love The 90s anyone?! My favorite has been 1997, because, DUH! - it features BOTH The Spice Girls AND Hanson!! And thinking back on it, personally as well as pop-culture-wise, 1997 was TOTALLY my favorite year of the 90s. SO yay!

Anyway... enough from me. BUt MORE FROM ALL OF YOU!! I was glad to see that someone had FINALLY posted something, after three whole days (*snaps* to Andy). So everyone else should post more; that's my imput. Haha.

Love to everyone!!

xoxo Christine

Garden State

2004-07-16T00:25:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. Some of you might already have heard me talk about this movie but if not go to the link below. Its a link to the trailer and teaser trailer of an indy movie called Garden State, a movie written, directed and acted in by Zach Braff. He is the lead actor from the really awesome TV-show Scrubs). More importantly Natalie Portman is in it. I saw the teaser trailer maybe three months ago and have been obsessed with the movie ever since. And its not just b/c Natalie is in it. The teaser trailer is amazing. The whole thing is a collage of two second clips from the movie and the images are really awesome. The music is perfect too. The actual trailer is also great (it has songs by Travis and the Postal Service)! The soundtrack also includes coldplay, the shins and much more. Anyways the movie is what i am looking forward to most in the next few months. It looks really funny, it is shot gorgeously, it has natalie portman in it, and it has gotten really great reviews. I might even get to see an advance screening...we'll see.
here's the link: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/garden_state/internet_exclusive/high.html

In other news: I'm still jobless, I went to the beach two days ago and it was great but its supper hot down here.
I saw a few more movies. The Dreamers is pretty intense/weird, but i liked it a lot. If you love movies you will like this one, because it is obsessed with cinema (its about three cinephiles). And the actress in it, Eva Green, is gorgeous. I also saw City of God which was amazing. Definitely one of the best movies from last year. The fact that it's based on true events is pretty shocking. Must see for all.
I might be going to Austin for a bit in the next few weeks...I really need to get out of my house. My mom is constantly bugging me about getting a job. And because I am not doing a very good job at that, she gets really angry at my brother and I for not keeping the house tidy and not helping her enough around the house.

Alright time to get to sleep.

A bear in my backyard

2004-07-12T17:56:00.000-05:00

A brownish black bear hung out in our backyard for about an hour last night. We called the ranger and he shot it with rubber bullets, but the little bugger wouldn't leave. He just would climb up a tree, hiss at us, come back down and continue eating huckleberries. Awesome!!! I was rooting for the bear!

Note: Shooting at the bear was to scare it away from human environment, not to hurt it!

We've been blocked!

2004-07-10T00:21:00.000-05:00

Evidently the City of Foster City does not want me blogging from work.

not yet counting the days

2004-07-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

I am obsessed with J.Crew. Seriously, if you removed that store and all its clothes from the planet at this particular moment, I would go through some weird withdrawal symptoms.

Luckily enough, I now have a job, and so I will no longer be able to go to the store everyday. Wait, they're open until 7pm. Damn it!

Besides my shopping, I'm still reading a lot. I finished a set of "short" stories by Tanizaki. By short I mean 100 pages. I'm currently re-reading Franny and Zooey, which I highly recommend to everyone.

As for what I'm actually doing here's a list of upcoming events, since my past week was extremely un-interesting:
Saturday - babysit (the two boys are super adorable)
Sunday - Spiderman 2 avec ma famille
Monday - lunch date with the guy I could conceivably marry
evening plans with Luhua (maybe Tuesday)
Tuesday - start work
the 17th - independent book show in SF
Modest Mouse Concert at the Warfield (in SF)

All in all, this summer is nothing like I expected. Perhaps better than if I had actually planned to do something.

Evanston and more.

2004-07-08T12:44:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

Firstly, I suppose I should give an Evanston update. I went yesterday, along with both of my sisters. Jenifer saw her friend, but she was in this "Center for Talanted Development" program, meaning that their lives are VERY structured and ordered and stuff (for example, Jenifer could only see her friend for the hour-long time she had in Norris.. why they give those kids an hour to "hang out" in Norris is beyond me, but oh well). So because of this, we couldn't go into PARC =(. That kinda made me sad. But we went and looked in the door - it's like a sports camp thing! Weird, eh? And Jenifer and I stood below my window (which I must admit, now always reminds me of doing it with Mark that night - remember that Midori??) and looked up. We were very sad to not see Mary-Kate and Ashley smiling back down on us. The curtains were closed, so we couldn't really see anything.

Anyway, another note to Midori (and anyone else who remembers this guy): the hot guy was working at Norris! (The one who was there for like a day at the end of the year?)

Okay. I saw Daniel and we hung out in Evanston for a bit, which was fun! Then we got my sisters and went up north to this place called... Noyes Street Cafe, I think? for dinner. It was really good!! Highly recommend it for next year. And it wasn't even that expensive.

I also got to meet some of Daniel's kids, including one whom I'd met before!! Does anyone know why I get sooo hyper/crazy around these people?? Like, the prospies as an example. I don't know, but sometimes I even freak myself out.

Last night was TV night (Wednesday's so the new Thursday), with The Simple Life 2 (pseudo-starring Boo Boo!!) and The Simpson Hour. After watching all that, I decided that next year I want to dress only like a B-list celebrity. Like, I don't know exactly how that will work out, but isn't it a good goal? Haha.

I stayed up entirely too late, mainly because I put off my work for so long (I have another paper to write and 80 pages of reading). As I was about to go to bed, I had a short AIM-conversation with Page, who was waking up.

I also had nightmares all night about not having my work done for class.. haha eugh! But now I only have to like finish up my essay and read 40 pages, so I'm in an okay position - not worth freaking out over!

I hope your lives are going fabulously, and people who aren't updating!! Update!! (Especially if you don't have a good reason not to be!!)

xoxo
Christine

ps. I talked to the lady at Gap Kids and she was like, "Oh no just go on your trip and call me when you get back!" So even though I'm basically starting my job NEVER, I get to go to Connecticut (or "The NC," as we call my hometown) this weekend!

pps. I got the new Rufus Wainwright EP, which I highly recommend to any Rufus (or non-Rufus, as he ROCKS!) fans!!

By far the craziest night yet...

2004-07-07T22:53:00.000-05:00

Ok, before I begin the tale from last evening, I must ask again for you fuckers that haven't given me your address yet, GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESS!!! CHRISTINE!!!!! PAGE!!! ANDY!!! DANIEL!!!!! CHRISTIAN!!!! CASS!!!!! I have all of this fucking postcards to send, and no fucking addresses. Oh, and by the way, CHRISTINE!!! PAGE!! What's with the no returning of phone calls?? AHHHH!!! AM I GOING CRAZY???!!!

Ok, well, so you want to hear about my night last night?

At about 9 pm, I returned from dinner, after a 12 mile hike with my father and co-workers. Absolutely beautiful hike up to Cracker Lake, seeing lots of bear scat (thats shit for the laymen), and bear diggings along the way, plus prints in the mud. Its a good thing I survived.

Anyways, I get home, and my housemates are like "lets go to karaoke!" I was super excited because I love to sing! We went to this uber sketchy bar named Stoners which has karaoke tuesday nights. As we entered, the first thing we see are this two rather portly 30 something women in tight wal-mart leopard print dresses with tattoos all over their body. In addition to their manner of dress, they were also sucking down Budweieser longnecks through grins with very few teeth! One woman actually had no front teeth at all!! Furthermore they smoked through the holes, bad ass, eh?

Ok, so we got in the bar, I had a Mountain Dew, because, fuck I'm 19. Anyways, my roommate Sabrina proceeds to begin getting smashed with our friend Josh and they both start to sing some karaoke. After a few drinks and some pool playing, a Blackfeet Indian man, whom I later found out to be named Walter, asked if I basketball, and if I had a boyfriend. I replied yes to both, and he said, "well, thats too bad, because if you were single, i'd give you an Indian name" I then asked what it would be, he replied "Pusabi: woman who will see many winters". I was touched, and when he asked for a hug, I cordially agreed.

As this is going on, my two other friends, Kassie and Megan are doing "blow-jobs" (Bailey's and Ameretto). Kassie leans over to man and asks "whats in this?" he just turns to her and stares and says "You're real purdy". Then, the older man behind Megan says, "what these girls need is a good spanking!" They promptly came back to play pool and giggle.

We sit to play pool, and a man with a scraggly beard, and leather hat and clothes comes in. Nothing weird, right? But no, HE HAD A HOOK FOR A HAND!!!! AHHHHH!!!

Moments after they left the bar, two men began getting in a fight, and the fatter man layed out a slow-mo punch that sent the drunker man to the floor. The bartender threw the drunk man out, because he was "startin' shit".

As this is going on, Walter is continuing to stare at me. I decide to sing a karaoke duet with Kassie, (the dixie chicks, "earl", if you are curious), and Walter shows off by playing some pool. Upon finishing my song, he asks me to dance. I, being a good person, said yes, and we had a rather close, hugging style dance as another drunk, toothless cowboy serenaded us. I gave him another hug, and we were about to leave. Walter wasn't quite my type, I prefer my men showered and with more teeth.

As we were leaving, the same man who had been thrown out was starting a fight in the parking lot. We then proceeded to watch a little skinny cowboy in a NASCAR hat beat him to the ground. It was quite the fight. After watching the conclusion, we drove back to our local bar before turning in.

CRAZY!!!!

"my first wife married my first cousin"

2004-07-07T19:45:00.000-05:00

my quote of the day. let me set the scene: i work for a contracting company and this week i'm working on a construction site, using my "artistic" skills to stain beams to match the kitchen cabinets. i'm not a fan of the brain-cell-killing smells, but i love the guys that i'm working with. today the electric guy ate lunch with us. he leaned against the wall and in a calm but serious tone told us, "yeah... i live in a trailer cuz my wife kicked me out... she says she still likes me, she just likes me better out of the house-- 'course, that's better 'n my first wife... my first wife married my first cousin."
as i choked on my food he continued, "yeah... she asked me once if i was gonna go after him or somethin'... i told her, nah, i just wanna shake his hand and say thanks fer gettin' yer fat ass off my hands. she got mad after that, i don't know why."

and what could be further from lunch break with construction workers? oh, how about a weekend in the hamptons! actually it was practically by accident that i ended up lying on an east hampton beach yesterday. my friend asked me to come with him to ny to bring our other friend to the airport. we went a day early and i found myself on long island for the first time in my life. each of my friends had a friend from school that they wanted to see, so we all met at one girl's house in west hampton. within the first five minutes of meeting the two girls (who also didn't know each other) they both threw a temper-tantrum and got in a fight with each other. then one asked me whether i liked long island. i was still in shock from their ridiculously rude behavior - i think i said i wasn't sure. the rest of the evening was pretty tense, as the girls refused to speak to one another, so my friends and i solved the problem by getting outrageously drunk and arguing loudly about social hierarchy. my overall impression of the area was that the scenery is nice but not worth the stress of dealing with all the people and rules about beach use-- no alcohol, no pets, no children, no one allowed after dark, no fires, no climbing on the sand dunes-- regulation is not my idea of fun. i did like the beach houses... everyone knows it's only a matter of time before the next hurricane destroys everything, so why not dump buckets of money into a monstrous complex of goofy architecture to out-do the neighbors?

random movie quote:
"you must'a thought it was white-boy day. it ain't white-boy day, is it?"
"nah man, it ain't white-boy day"
-true romance

love ya'll,
moi

Leaving Moquegua, last post for a while.

2004-07-07T15:22:00.000-05:00

By awhile, I mean probably until I get back Stateside! Like, eight days. Wow. That went by fast.
Here's the excerpts from my journals (and sorry about the last few, just re-read them, and they're really gross. Mea culpa.)

July 6, 2004
9:13 pm CT

I’m writing at halftime of the Peru-Bolivia opening round match of the CopaAmerica. Peru trails 1-0. They had plenty of chances, and couldn’t convert, and Bolivia had just one, and made it count. Hopefully Los Peruanos can turn it around in the second half. It’ll take Pizarro getting on track. He had about five good opportunities and missed with all of them. Anyway, about today. I got a bus ticket to Arequipa for 10:45 in the morning on Thursday for 20 soles, ten tonight, and ten tomorrow. The woman totally trusted me to give her the other ten tomorrow. Unbelievable. Or she just knows a lot of people at the museo and figured she could track me down if I didn’t pay up. Whatever. Either way, she didn’t have change for my fifty. I’ve got to go catch the second half, but the point of that story was that I feel very capable of being independent and getting by on my Spanish here in Moquegua and I hope it carries over to Arequipa and Cusco. And I hope I get tickets to the games Thursday.

July 6, 2004
10:25 pm CT

Peru got behind 2-0 with 30 minutes to go, but then Pizarro pulled one back on a penalty kick, and Los Peruanos earned a draw with their impoverished neighbor to the south when (Fill in Name later) scored on a beautiful move where he flicked it from his right foot to his left over a defender’s outstretched leg and then volleyed it in with the left off the bar and past the keeper. ¡Que Bueno! Its time to sleep now. Long last day digging ahead of me. I’m sure it will fly by, and then I need to get cash from traveler’s checks and the bank closes at four. I don’t think I’ll make it. I can always do it Thursday morning too. Goodnight, and Arriba Peru!

Sex isn't about conquest (see below).

2004-07-06T11:43:00.000-05:00

Hey!!

I'm just going to put my reply to Andy in here, as most of it is stuff I was planning to say anyway. First of all, the Blockbuster Movie Pass is my LIFE. I made Jenifer watch View From The Top with me the other day (for those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it). The entire movie, she was like, "Okay well this rocks, but I cannot believe it was released in theatres. It seems like an ABC Family Original Movie." It's so true. Haha.

On the employment front, I finally got a job!!! At Gap Kids, so that's very exciting. However, the first job training is this Sunday. Which is when I'm supposed to be in Connecticut. The lady's calling tonight to talk about it (she knows I have plans/plane tickets to be out of town), so hopefully she'll be really nice and understand that if I don't see Derek this weekend, I'm going to go mental. But anyway, even though it seems that I'm never going to actually WORK, I do have a job, which for now is good enough.

Seeing as I'm only pseudo-employed, my days are still filled with lots of nothingness. But I'm actually a bit enjoying being kinda on my own, with no friends or anything. Obviously it's not my preferred situation, but whatevs. I'm more productive this way. My sisters (Jenifer specifically) are entertaining enough. I've been very good about both going to the gym and keeping up on my celebrity gossip. Probably in the opposite order (that is, I've been better about keeping up on celebrity gossip than going to the gym, but oh well). My mother and I saw Farenheit 9/11 last night, which was very ... interesting. Scary. The highlight of the movie? Britney Spears. Hahahaha. The ending, also, was absolutely perfect. I have to write on that for my class this week, so hopefully I'll do that tonight.

Jenifer and I are probably going up to Evanston tomorrow! I'm going to visit Daniel (!!), and she has a friend who's doing a camp at Northwestern. Her friend has friends staying in PARC!! So we're going to try to go in and see who's living in my room!! I'm pretty excited for that, although I imagine it will also be VERY weird and make me miss all you guys lots more!!

Let's see. This whole deal with Mary-Kate is really stressing me out (isn't that saddish? But I guess it's a tribute to the sanity of my life that I have worrying-room left for my favorite celeb), especially as she's on the cover of EVERYTHING. My sister and I went to the grocery store last Friday (like when all the weekly mags come out) and we just kinda stood there and were like, "Which ones do we even BUY?!" (We have a policy of buying like EVERYTHING with them on it.)

My sisters and I might go see White Chicks tonight. It depends if I'm in a movie-seeing mood or not. We'll see. Anyway, I guess that's about it for me. OOoh the highlight of my day?! New Summerland tonight, in which Jesse McCartney (new teen heart-throb!) considers losing his virginity. Lori Loughlin tells him (one of my new favorite TV lines), "Sex isn't about CONQUEST!"

So I'm REEEAAALLLLLLLLYYY excited for that.

love
Christine

such a small world

2004-07-05T23:51:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading my posts you might remember Maureen who went to work at a camp in Maine and happened to be on the same flight as my family and i when we were going on our trip. Well she emailed me today and turns out she's working at the same camp as Jaya! Isn't that crazzzy.
Also, I filled out apps for Target and Mervyn's this weekend. They both had the exact same app, but i still had to fill out one for each store. Hopefully i can get a job soon b/c my days are very dull. Christine I am spending just as much time with my brother as you seem to spend with your sisters. The past three nights I have seen Indian movies with my family, which is ok i guess. I am watching sooo many movies. I got a movie pass last week from blockbuster and its been movie after movie since then. Today I rented Bad Santa and City of God. I always have to get a movie I want and a movie my brother will enjoy. This time its Bad Santa, a few days ago it was 50 first dates. Also Blockbuster sells three pre-viewed dvd's for $25. So i got Punch Drunk Love, Master & Commander and my brother got School of Rock. And I saw Spiderman 2 on Friday which I have decided is my fav superhero movie. Midori I am def planning on seeing Napolean Dynamite.
I guess i should end with the small world theme. Yesterday I imed a friend of mine who i hadn't talked to in a year. It went pretty well and we promised to hang out. And today at Blockbuster I ran into her. I guess thats not that crazy but i had to come up with something.
Ciao
I miss Northwestern :(

And Another Thing!

2004-07-05T18:05:00.000-05:00

This one is long, bear with me.
July 3, 2004
6:39 pm CT

I’ve been spending much more time reading in the past few days than writing, but it hasn’t been so bad. I finished Michael Moore’s “liberal screed” Dude, Where’s My Country in two nights, and then moved on to the much more substantial Fast Food Nation. Moore’s book is mostly a call to arms to oust Bush this year, and I knew intuitively most of what he wrote, and had read many of the articles he cited, so it wasn’t much new. Eric Schlosser’s account of America’s fast food culture was shocking, disturbing, and discouraging. It also connects tangentially to a fascinating experience I had in Peru today.
It was my turn (and my last opportunity) to accompany Domatila to the market for her weekly shopping excursion. This week Donna tried to streamline things because we needed extra stuff for our Fourth of July party tomorrow. She had Domatila prepare a menu, divided up the list, and sent us to a tienda de abarrotes (a bulk store) to buy all of the packaged goods and processed items. Donna took Amy to the Ferria Mercado to buy the produce and meat. Nonetheless, the indomitable Domatila was super reluctant to relinquish her purchasing power so easily.
We began our trip to the tienda de abarrotes by going through the Ferria Mercado, where Domatila tried hard to convince me to let her buy a beef heart (getting to the connection to Fast Food Nation soon) though it was on Donna’s list and not ours. I was steadfast. Yet, Domatila would not be discouraged. After a trip home to begin soaking the queso fresco, we headed back through the Ferria and ran into Donna and Amy amidst the host of meat sellers/butchers. Donna and Amy had been struggling to find Lomo Fino, the nice cuts of meat we wanted for our Independence Day bbq, at the counters, and Domatila set off to secure some.
As we walked among the aisles of meat vendors, the stench of freshly butchered beef was everywhere. It overpowered the smells of nearby fruit and cheese sellers. Thick cow blood trickled out in tiny rivulets from under the white carts, whose facades must have been meticulously cleaned to avoid adopting the pink tinge of their countertops. Whole beef tongues hung next to or behind the carts, pierced through the front by enormous meat hooks that would frighten even the most veteran body piercer. Many of the meat sellers were short, middle-aged women, some clearly Aymara-wearing the traditional dress and flowered hat of the Aymara lady. They took outsized hacksaws to giant sides of beef, whole sheep carcasses, and legs of lamb, slicing off cuts of meat for other middle-aged women, out doing their weekly shopping just like Domatila and I.
Sanitation, of course, appeared minimal. Everyone cut the meat with their bare hands, Domatila repeatedly pointed out cuts of meat she wondered the price of by slapping them with her crooked, arthritic right hand. Each cart had its personal flotilla of flies. Yet there was distinct confidence between the many men and women carving up vacas y toros side by side and their customers that no punches were being pulled. That’s more than can be said for America’s meat producers and their customers, nowadays, thanks to fabulous journalism like Schlosser’s book.

Lots since I last posted.

2004-07-05T18:01:00.000-05:00

So, I just re-read this, and it sounds ridiculous, but that's how I was feeling, I guess:
June 30, 2004
6:05 pm CT

It’s the last day of June, which means I have exactly two weeks left until I fly out of Peru on the first leg of my 11 hour journey home. I’m finally relaxed and enjoying myself here in Moquegua. I’ve settled in. I’m beginning to feel a little more comfortable. And the food is fantastic. Domatilla is a miracle worker. Everything in Peru is so full of flavor. Tonight it’s spaghetti, with a spicy tomato sauce. Tomatoes, after all, are native to South America. Garlic and onions are also native; I’m watering at the mouth from the smell.
I need to go to the market and buy some lotion or my skin is going to revolt and leave me. I’m so dry that you can rub the skin of my fingertips off like chalk dust. It’s really unbelievable. The dirt is so dry up on Baul and the air so dry everywhere that my exoderm is crying for moisture. I sound like a woman, but I wouldn’t bring it up if it wasn’t really bad. I just hope that Peruvian lotion doesn’t make me break out in hives or something.
On a less dermatologic note, I’m really earning the trust of my fellow archaeologists on this project now I think. Ana is letting me do the drawings of the Rasgos (features) on the floor of Recinto (Room) B. They looked pretty good. That’s what I came down to learn. I’ll be like über-archaeologist (for an undergraduate) when I go to Hungary. I’m really gonna impress Professor Earle.
Final Thought: Otis Redding was one swingin’ cat, man. Could that guy belt it or what!?

names not to name your children

2004-07-05T17:41:00.000-05:00

We all know about Apple Martin and Coco Cox by now, but have we seen Napolean Dynamite. This is a really entertaining movie and fun for the whole family =).

Inspired but such an awful name, I've listed a few more not to name you children.

Banana (unless you live in Japan)
Adolf
Courtney (as in Love)
Shakespeare
Esther (don't change your name to it either)
Mufasa

In case you missed the point of this blog --> go see the movie Napolean Dynamite and think of more names not to name you children.

Happy Independence Day

2004-07-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

Ok something is terribly wrong here, do you realize that it has been almost a month and I have not been shopping. In fact the only time I have set foot in a mall was for a small container of makeup (Remember that scar, Problem solved). Well hopefully I will solve that problem today. Yesterday we had a semi-fab low key 7/4 celebration, it was fun, and the food was amazing. Still working on an insanely large project at work this will make week 3 (Thank God for long lunches). "Wisconsin?" That's what I said in response to mother when she told me we were going on "vacation" this weekend. I would hardly call a family reunion (better yet 1st time meeting) in Racine, a vacation. I guess I'll have to take lots of benedryl and stoli for the weekend :)(I kid, I kid)!! Who knows maybe I'll buy some sort of specialty cheese or something. Hope everyone is having a fun, semi-scandalous(not published in any national tabloid) summer!!