i.heart.david.

Today was the day i've been looking forward to for weeks. Three weeks to be precise. I got my hair cut. Though i liked the length, the ends were getting scrappy and kept tickling my neck. At one point i was very close to cutting the two inches off myself. Luckily, i have the best hair stylist in the world, and he didn't let me down. We decided that i've been going to him since 2002 and quite frankly, i don't know what i did before that. So now i have a new cute cut for the fall- i can still pin it back into my favorite updo, but it's much neater and more flattering.
Since i was downtown, eva met me for lunch at my favorite copley area place, the parish cafe, and i got the only thing i ever eat there- the zuni roll. Heavenly.

busy.busy.busy.

Thanks to both facebook and school, this poor blog has been neglected. I'm sorry blog. I do love you. So, i weighed in this morning for the first time in a while, and was down 2.2lbs since last check!!! This puts me 0.6 ahead of evil, though he also hasn't updated in a while so i can only hope i stay ahead. I attribute these 2.2lbs to my lack of free time (including time to eat) and my recent bouts of stress which leave me feeling nauseous and not so interested in eating. Though i did pig out at pirate night on friday. Maybe i'd be down even more if i'd skipped that, but then i wouldn't have found buried treasure.

School's great, though all this reading's killing me. I tend to fall asleep anytime i read anything regardless of the time of day or my actual need for sleep, so put me in front of massive quantities of articles, chapters and books and i start to nod off just looking at them. Aside from that, i love my classes and the people in the program. I made an instant best friend at orientation when i spied an orla kiely bag attached to a girl. The girl's name turned out to be eva. I figured she maybe had one bag, but upon complimenting her on it found out she's just as obsessed as i am, and has even more than me. Wow! After spending an hour at staples copying a binder full of articles for 13 classmates, we went out on saturday night for her birthday. Upon arriving at the bar, eva realized she didn't have her i.d. with her as she'd changed purses earlier in the day. Annoyed at the idea of spending an hour going home and back, she decided to talk her way past the bouncer. Pretty impressive for boston. Needless to say, we stayed at the same bar all night, but had a fantastic time. Here's a picture...

i.need.a.person.

Grad school's great. I love having something i'm working towards, and love making new friends. The big thing that i'm not thrilled with is how abstract most of my classes are. I'm a concrete sequential big time, so the "read a ton of articles and share your point of view" format will take some getting use to. Two of the three courses that i've started (a fourth intensive class won't begin until late october) have several papers/projects/etc to make up the final grade. The third course, cross cultural perspectives on grief (yes, the same one i sat in on last fall), has one big paper that we work on the entire semester. The general idea is to find someone of a different cultural/religious background than ourselves and discuss how they experience grief through this different background (ie- religious ceremonies, cultural norms, etc). We come up with some sort of research question that we then answer by interviewing the subject and doing other background research. I have no clue what i'm doing here. To begin with, i'm not coming up with anyone whose background is different enough from my own that i could write a whole paper on new things i've learned. Second, most people i know of different backgrounds aren't particularly religious and might not follow any strikingly different cultural/religious ceremonies in the instance of death. Though this could be another instance where i feel like a bad person for not having a hugely diverse group of friends only to realize that i'm just so accepting of difference that i don't even recognize it. But still, i need help. If anyone can send me someone who has some interesting cultural norms who isn't a white catholic, i'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

earl.

After a month of ignoring me, my former best friend finally showed up on my doorstep. Literally.


I guess he's been feeling guilty for a week or so because i found him snuggled up in that empty flower pot. I was wondering why there was always dirt on the porch.

to.do.

In case i didn't have enough on my plate, especially with all my new school work, i've been systematically fixing/painting/cleaning/organizing the whole house. This is the first (and hopefully only) time that there's so much i want to do that i can't even keep a list of everything- things keep occurring to me. So instead of keeping a to-do list, i'm making a "done" list. Hopefully when i see how much i've taken care of, it will make the rest of my mental list seem less daunting. I'm adding a new sidebar with everything done so far, and will add to it as i progress. Wish me luck!

road.trip.

Here's a quick (or not so quick) recap from my trip last week.

Day one- the drive:

1. I woke up at 6:30am (after going to sleep at 12:30am) so decided to get an early start. I packed the car and left at 7:15am.
2. I drove for a long time and listened to david sedaris on my ipod.
3. I had a momentary panic attack while driving near buffalo. All of a sudden, there were large signs directing us through customs. I didn't want to go to canada! Luckily, i was just really close, not actually there.
4. Here's a picture of me at the half way point. 5. Here's a picture of the gps at the half way point.
6. I made it to my aunt's house in chicago by 9:30pm their time (10:30pm my time). Total road time? 15hrs, 15 mins including the three gas/bathroom/lunch breaks.

Day two-in chicago:

After a nice leisurely breakfast on the porch (with perfect weather), we took the train downtown and did some tourist stuff. We started with millennium park. Here's a picture of us and the bean (not its actual name, but what my cousins call it). You can see our reflection close to the top of the bean. Then there's one i took of myself on a concave section. I also liked this water fountain thing. They took regular chicago people, videoed them smiling, etc. and played them on the front of this huge fountain. When they purse their lips, water shoots out and all the kids run through. When that stops, water pours out from all over the place- like when you squeeze a sponge. From there we went to the chicago cultural center. They have this amazing tiffany's ceiling that was just rehabbed. The whole building itself was beautiful, and they were going to demo it many years ago. What a waste that would have been! We left there, went to the art institute, and caught the train back home for dinner.

Day three- wisconsin:

Leaving chicago at 9am, i arrived in milwaukee by 10:45, just in time to head out for the lake. We met up with about 21 other people who're long time friends on a.'s family and own a house on a lake 45 mins from milwaukee. Again, the weather was perfect, and we took advantage of it. I went tubing for the second (and third) time in my life, and loved it. I can't wait to go again! They also water ski, but the water was too rough for it that day. Then was a "booze cruise" on the pontoon boat at 5, and a bonfire with s'mores when it got dark. I want to go back.

Day four- wisconsin:

This was the day i've been waiting for...the turtle sundae from kopps. It was so good. So, so, good. Here's a picture of a good 2lbs worth of frozen custard, caramel, fudge, salted pecans, and a cherry. It's a good thing i don't live there or i'd be even more behind evil than i am now! From kopps, we went swimming at their club. I maybe swam off one of those nuts. After a great dinner at a.'s parents' house we watched a movie, etre et avoir. Good for people who like kids or french subtitles. Then off to bed for a very early flight back.

orientation.

Today i, like thousands of small children, headed off for my first day of school. Orientation was a four hour long event that moved along quite well. They even fed us! We started off as a large group, and broke down into smaller ones to focus on the specifics. I met the other thirteen students in my program at this point. They seem like a great bunch (despite not really having a ton of time to talk), though they make me feel old since most are between 22 and 26. My first class is on thursday and the other two are monday. I can't wait! I love school.