Monday, November 30, 2009

The Worst Vacation Length


Here's what vacations are intended to do, if you are a college student or otherwise a normal human being who tends to get stressed, worn down, and slightly grumpy:

They revitalize you. They freshen you up. They leave you well-fed, happy, rested, and ready to take on the world...or those five papers before the semester ends in three weeks.

But here's the thing: 4 DAYS of vacation does none of those things. No, four days of vacation is the anti-vacation. It doesn't leave you rested and fulfilled. It leaves you lazy, unproductive and wanting more vacation! L. and I spent four days at my parents' house in New Hampshire and it was lovely. We went to the movies, went on a day trip to North Conway (my favorite place in the world), ate EVERYTHING, and watched tv. I haven't watched tv in months.

But now I am still in that mode. How am I supposed to think about reading 500 pages of Daniel Deronda or writing Con Law papers when all I want to do is watch more tv, eat tons of food, and sleep late?

Already counting the days until winter break...21 to go!

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Monday, November 23, 2009

Reuniting...


...and it feels so good.

Best part of tomorrow? Going home to see my pup!!!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The Home Stretch....

TUESDAY CANNOT COME FAST ENOUGH.

That's because Tuesday is the day that L. and I pack up our things, jump in his car (isn't he such a gentleman for driving?), and drive three hours to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving at my parents' house!


Thanksgiving is such a wonderful day at my house. We have so many traditions, and I can't wait for L. to be a part of them. We wake up in the morning and come downstairs, where my mum puts out coffee, tea, blueberry muffins and fruit, and watch the parade. Then we all shower and get ready, and start setting out the hor' d'oeurves (cheese and crackers, shrimp cocktail, nuts) and munching on them while my dad finishes up the turkey. It's my job to cook the flaky biscuits at this point, since everyone else always forgets, and that's also about the time that the NATIONAL DOG SHOW comes on, which is one of my favorite parts of the day.


We eat dinner really early...really early, like 1pm, and it's delicious. Then after that, we get out the pumpkin and apple pies and put on the Thanksgiving Day football game. This year, it just so happens to be...THE GREEN BAY PACKERS v. the DETROIT LIONS!

I have NEVER been able to experience the joy of watching the Packers on Thanksgiving Day. It is going to be absolutely indescribably wonderful. Also, we're playing the LIONS. Aka guaranteed win. Aka Merry Early Christmas, Michelle!

After the immense and overbrimming happiness with which that win will fill me, we will partake in our next Thanksgiving Day tradition-- going to the movies. I always feel rather bad for the people who have to work at the movie theatre when I go there Thanksgiving night, but then again, I've had to hostess on Christmas Eve. This Thanksgiving I want to extend the football gloriousness for two more hours and get L. and my dad to go see The Blind Side with me. My mum hates staying up late so she might not want to come, and my dad hates Sandra Bullock, but I know L. will be easily persuaded. (Mostly because he will be at my house, and faced with the decision of staying home with my parents or doing whatever I want to do, he will choose the latter...)

I absolutely can't wait to get out of here on Tuesday! For now, the only thing standing between me and homey holiday happiness is my Con Law paper on separation of powers jurisprudence in the Burger and Rehnquist courts. Boooooooo.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Lovely Blog Award


Thanks so much to Date Girl for bestowing upon me this blog award! Make sure to check out her blog--she's super entertaining, witty, and after a long search seems like she's found her perfect "Match." =)

In following the rules of the award, I now bestow it upon 15 of my favorite bloggers! I'm not sure if I have 15, but I'll do my best. And following Date Girl's format, I'm doing it alphabetically...

A CUP OF JO

Clever Girl Goes Blog

Duoly Noted

Girl v. The World

oh hay, it's kk

Oh, Mishka

pardon my french

Ramblings of a Fab Brunette

So about what I said...

The Everyday Adventures of Me in the City


yes and yes

11. Not bad. I'm all about quality, not quantity...plus, too many blogs to read would distract me wayy too much from the 800 pages of Daniel Deronda I have to get done...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Wishlist

Tis the season...to be thinking about giving, not the things that I am selfishly obsessing about every day. And that's okay...I'm kind of a master gift-maker and picker-outer, as current and past boyfriends, my parents, friends, the mailman, etc. can attest. But just 'cause a girl's gotta give doesn't mean she still can't secretly fantasize about what's been occupying her thoughts lately (and then share it with all of you), right?

Thus, here is my Holiday 2009 Wishlist of Things I Will Most Likely Never Have Anytime Soon...But It's Fun to Dream About

1. My Goldendoodle Puppy Named George Eliot

It's no secret that with surprisingly rapidity lately, my biological desires to make babies have been being phased out by my mental desire to maintain a childless existence for many, many more years. However, this urge has not simply vanished or dissipated...it has manifested itself into puppies. I am obsessed with puppies the way most people are obsessed with babies. There's no way I can wait another year and a half until graduation to obtain one. I think I may have to get one on the fly and somehow keep it at my parents' house while I then focus my career and/or grad school search around finding a place to live which will allow George Eliot to remain in my life as my faithful companion.

2. iTrip So That I Can Stop Listening to the S
ame 5 CDs in My Car On Repeat


Anyone who drives with me knows the low-down when it comes to music in my car...I mean, besides the fact that I am DJ, all the time, and it's tough shit for everyone else. But other than that, the CD playing-system in my car, with my 6-disc changer, works like this: 5 very special-to-my-heart, tried-and-true CDs that will always have something for me on my three hour drives home from college...or half hour drives to anything resembling civilization outside Williamstown...will always reside in the first 5 slots of my CD changer. These CDs are referred to as the "Tenured Slots," and they cannot be moved around or taken out except to risk of great harm to whoever tries to move them around. However, I do allow some leeway on CD Slot Number 6, which is known as the Visiting Professor Slot. This slot can incorporate anything from C.'s or Real Life Dan Humphrey's penchant for Taylor Swift, to L.'s hip-hop that seems to be growing on me, to CDs I've made myself to try out but have a sneaking suspicion won't make it to tenure. It's a RARE, RARE case when a tenured slot gets retired to make room for a Visiting Professor slot that just really impressed me.

Anyways, this is the way music works in my car. But lately, I've simply been growing bored of my tenured CDs. And the FM adaptor I've had for four years only works if you plug it in, hold it at approximately a 40 degree angle, wind the cord around it once, hop up and down on one foot, knock three times, etc. etc.

Also, I .actually may or may not have bought this yesterday, no longer rendering it a Wishlist item, but more of a Recent Purchase. Oops.

3. Tall Uggs

I know that, if I were to obtain these beautiful, beautiful displays of perfect footwear, they'd be ruined in one week of harsh Williamstown winters replete with feet of snow, stubbornly persistent slush, and more salt than the ocean. But I DON'T CARE. They are lovely and since this is the first year I've ever owned a pair of skinny jeans, they're almost essential.

4. J. Crew Wool Duffle Coat in Camel


Okay, so while making a case that ANY of these items are "justified" would probably be tough, this one possibly could almost be considered to be so. I currently do my Castalina Bandolino cognac riding boots a disservice every time I pair them with my black North Face fleece, but at least it's considered New England College Chic. However, when the skirts and tights and flats come out, the North Face isn't going to cut it. Plus, this coat would bring out my brown eyes...and it's lined with Thinsulate! And it's pretty...and I love it...

5. A(nother) Haircut

Must...resist....

6. A New Bathing Suit for L.'s and My Spring Break Trip to Hawaii

Except I'd want this Victoria's Secret Push Up Halter Top and Double-String Bottom suit in Jade, which is the most beautiful green I've ever seen and perfect for brunettes. Victoria's Secret has a flash player on their website so they wouldn't let me copy and paste the Jade suit. Boo. Check it out!

Maybe I'll send L. the link to this post before Christmas...he he he.

What is everyone else salivating over this holiday season?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

re: Homecoming.

Well.

We did not beat Amherst.

This was a year of firsts in Williams Homecomings for me, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. First year we LOST TO AMHERST since I've been here (and since 1985 overall I think??)

2. First RAINY Homecoming! Boo!

3. First year I had less than three hot dogs. ONE hot dog is unacceptable.

4. First year where Dunkin Donuts breakfast replete with Bailey's and Cocoa at 8am did not occur...though C. and I did make up for this during half-time =).

Despite all these misfortunes, Homecoming still was and will always be in my top three favorite days of each year at Williams. And since I wore my adorable J. Crew yellow wellies (and my purple sweater to match!), I stomped in all the mud I liked and didn't mind getting wet. Although C. and I were quite upset that after applying the magic of our CHIs to our hair, it completely frizzed in the drizzly New England weather.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Homecoming, etc.

Great things to look forward to about this weekend:

1. L.'s parents are in town, which is always fun. We actually love each other dearly. Plus, they always stay for a good five or so days, and every day feels like the weekend! I get presents and dinners and it's glorious =).

2. L.'s show is this weekend! He's in Sondheim's Company. We went to opening night tonight--it was great!

3. HOMECOMING. SATURDAY. I will get up at 8 and may or may not enjoy traditional beverages before dressing in all purple and gold with the new adorable purple and gold beaded earrings my mum bought me. I used to be all cas (abbrev. for casual but it's not phonetic) on Homecoming, i.e., jeans, long-sleeved tee under short-sleeved tee, ponytail, Williams hat, etc. This year I'm very classy--Uggs, skinny jeans, my new purple Gap boyfriend sweater (!), and my beau-ti-ful earrings. We will BEAT AMHERST and I will eat lots of hot dogs and hang out with the guys in L.'s a cappella group. Did I mention hot dogs???

4. Friday is C.'s 21st BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday, C.! We're doing girls' yoga in the late afternoon followed by dinner with her parents. Fun fun fun.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Monday, November 9, 2009

OMFGZ

So, one of my favorite bloggers KK does a hilarious and IMPRESSIVELY detailed feature called "I Watch the Hills So You Don't Have To," in which she details and recaps all the current goings-on of the Hills. And she's right-- I don't watch the Hills, but nor do I have to since her posts on my Blogroll fill me in on all I need to know!

Since I'm so impressed with this talent of hers, I think I'm going to be a shameless thief and begin my own feature in which I keep everyone up to date on the this-just-in happenings of my favorite guilty pleasure...Gossip Girl. I KNOW. Don't you think I'm shamed enough to be attending the #1 ranked liberal arts college in the country and yet put aside papers on the chronos and kairos of Woolf's To the Lighthouse and the constitutional implications of US v. Carolena Products and its infamous footnote to watch this hour of television magic every Monday night?

Actually, even that's not entirely true, since I usually have so much work to do that I (and by "I" I mean L.) have to buy it on iTunes and watch it Tuesday or Wednesday. But after that my weekly tradition is to call up Real Life Dan Humphrey, or text him intermittently throughout, and have lots of convos that basically go like "OMG did you see that?" Or "WTF is Hillary Duff doing on the show?" etc etc.

SO I thought it would be fun to extend that little pleasure to here. Don't judge me.

Okay, you can judge me just a little...

(Also, if you are a online blog or magazine looking me up to hire me for a job someday, I know a lot of stuff and I'm very dedicated etc etc. )

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Opening Night

...went AMAZINGLY! I was the biggest wreck all day. I woke up feeling like we were in pretty good shape. Then, everything started falling apart. I found out that one of my stagehands had swine flu and had been quarantined, i.e. was not allowed to do the show because he was transported to the College's off-location swine flu quarantine destination, Mt. Hope. There were some other logistical nightmares which L. helped me sort out, but I spent a lot of the morning crying/panicking/shutting down.

Then, I lay with a cool facecloth over my face for a good hour, L. took me out to a nice dinner, and it was time to get the show on the road, quite literally. I was SO nervous during my introductory speech, but as I watched the scenes I had directed unfold, I noticed my show begin to take on a life of its own--a life I never would have dreamed in a million years. It was simply phenomenal. People cried at the end! Yes! (Strange to take delight in others' sadness but hey, that's what I was aiming for...)

Big Relationship is coming to see it tomorrow night. He's a god when it comes to set design/directing/life and he did this show in college so there's a lot riding on that.

PS: The picture is one of the promo photos we took to use on our posters. Does it make you wanna come see the show? =)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Catching Up: Just Friends? Part 2

The first couple weeks of my sophomore year at Williams, in Fall 2008, were not so great. There was the notorious sophomore slump, for one. And the next couple got even worse. The first weekend back involved going to a party thrown by L.'s a cappella group, watching him with other girls, and leaving in tears. Summer Romance, as it turned out, was not very good at keeping up his end of the long-distance deal. He barely made time to talk on the phone, and our conversations were strained, at best. Meanwhile my friends back at work continued to tell me stories of Summer Romance and Other Woman's alleged relationship, and being three hours away I did the only thing I could think to do: come home unexpectedly and see if he had any time to see me, or if he was suspiciously booked for the whole weekend.

The first weekend I came home wasn't decisive, as he had some afternoon time and took me out to dinner (read: we split it and then I left the tip because he didn't have enough money), but after that he "had to meet up with his cousin to watch the Sox game." I didn't even know he had a cousin.

The visit wasn't great but it wasn't enough to make me end things, and L. had seemed strangely affected by the idea that after he had broken my heart over the summer I had returned to Williams with a new boyfriend, so I wanted to ride that road out and see why that was the case. After another few weeks went by, a friend from work called to tell me some interesting news: Summer Romance had a bonfire at his house for our work friends, Other Woman was in attendance, and suspiciously stayed the night when everyone else left to go home. Of all the questionable things Summer Romance had done, which included, but are not limited to,

Having me leave his apartment before brunch and me going home to read that Other Woman appeared to be going with him and his parents, who I didn't even know where in town

The magically-appearing mascara smudges on his pillows when I made sure to wash my face before going to bed

Come into work one night when he didn't know I was working at chatted with Other Woman while she worked the bar, and then awkwardly tried to alleviate both of our questioning stares

Told me he would come to my parents' beach hosue on Memorial Day weekend (aka the day before I left for college), but cancelled last-minute

Refused to let me end the relationship

...of all those terrible things, FINALLY somehow that was the last straw. I called him up and ended things, despite his angry allegations that she was too drunk to drive home and needed a place to stay. A few weeks later I went home for the weekend since he wanted to talk things out in person, and stayed with him since my parents had gone north for the weekend and empty houses creep me out. But I had gotten hints that Summer Romance had made more of a commitment to Other Woman after he and I broke up, so I refused to kiss him or sleep in his bed. It was a confusing and awful weekend, especially since I was the only one with any fortitude in keeping the physicality to a minimum.

I only saw him once more after that and a month or so later, L., who had been there for me the whole time, and I began dating. I saw him on Christmas Eve, when he came into work (Yes, I had to work Christmas Eve. Damn the restaruant industry!). It was strained and awkward and, as much as I hated it, emotional, and when he asked to get coffee so we could talk over what had happened I almost said yes. But of course, then I decided last-minute to jet off to Santa Barbara for New Year's Even with L.'s family. And when I texted Summer Romance that as the reason why we couldn't get coffee, he responded with

"All the way to California for him? Wow, looks like I missed out on a good thing. Though I never really had much confidence in you having a long-distance relationship..."


I deleted that text almost immediately and it's still burned in my memory. Only if by "confidence in me having a long-distance relationship" he means "turning a blind eye when I feel the need to sleep with other women when we're apart." Ugh!

Cut to last summer, Summer 2009. I wasn't home for most of it as I had my art musuem internship near school, but right at the end I had a couple weeks and Summer Romance wanted to get together and have that long-time-coming talk about "what had gone wrong between us." Um? YOU WERE SLEEPING WITH SOMEONE ELSE.

Luckily, this talk coincided with me recently having lost 20 pounds on the South Beach Diet, so I got into a pair of jeans that were TWO sizes smaller than the ones he had last seen me in, a v-neck tee, and cute heels. We had decided that I would drop by the highschool since he was trying to get his classroom together for the first day of school. He had complained that he didn't have enough decorations for the room so on the way I stopped at Staples and grabbed some of those cheesy window clings you see in Kindergarten classrooms--you know, the ones that have one ant holding up the number 1, two caterpillars carrying the number 2, and so on.

I got to his classroom and, though my hands were a little shaky, sauntered in the door and made a Geometry joke right off the bat (he's a Geometry teacher, if you didn't catch that.) We hugged, I told him I had the perfect thing for him to put up in his room, and presented him with the window clings. He laughed, my hands stopped shaking, and that is where the power shifted and stayed. His next words were that I looked "soo skinny...you're a skinny minnie!"...really dating himself on that one. Anyways, I made him laugh, got him a kick ass joke gift, and he noticed I was hot. Things were going pretty well.

They only got better from there. He showed me some of our cute texts from the previous summer that he had SAVED FOR A YEAR. I promptly told him that I had gotten a new phone and didn't have any of mine. He asked if he could see me again over Thanksgiving. I told him L. was coming home with me. He not-so-subtly had one of his teacher friends come in to "chat," but sheepishly admitted they had planned the whole thing an hour before so he could show off his hot ex-girlfriend. And when I told him I had to leave, he got serious, took my hand, told me that he'd always be there for me (yeah, just like he was when we were together?) and if anything ever happened (read: if L. and I ever broke up), to call him. He then attempted a sneaky kiss (I turned the cheek,) hugged me tightly, lingered, and I strutted out and made sure that I worked me heels all the way out to my car, since I knew he was watching from the window.

I want to make it clear that vindictive was the LAST thing I was during the visit. It was really too pleasant on my side, for all that he put me through. But I'm happy with L. know and god knows what kind of girls he's messing around with now. I didn't ask...I didn't want to know. It was just great, after feeling so powerless at the end of our relationship, to have our (most likely last ever) meeting to be one where I held the cards, and left him questioning a lot of things.

We haven't really talked since then and I don't imagine that we will. Though I generally remain friends with my exes, he and I had nothing in common in the first place and probably will never speak again. So in that case, no, we could never be friends.

But that still leaves the problem of Big Relationship. How did we manage to remain best friends after a four-year relationship ended in a very, very non-mutual breakup? Well, I guess that's a story for another time...

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Catching Up: Just Friends? Part 1

To start off my new Catching Up Feature, in which I write about times in my life that were slightly more eventful than the present, I thought I'd take on a doozy: Can men and women ever just be friends, as exhibited by my friendship with Big Relationship, my ex and current best friend after 4 years of dating, and the saga of one of the most frustrating and deceptive men I've ever known, Summer Romance.

I'm not sure if I agree with Harry on this one, that men and women cannot just be friends, but it's pretty damn hard. I have two very good examples to back this up. Case point #1 involves the situation of two people who dated at first, and then tried to become friends afterward. Or, aka, Big Relationship and myself. Now, I will tell people that Big Relationship and I are best friends, and we are, in the sense that we've known each other longer than most of our other friends have known us and for five years of our lives we were as close as any two people can ever be. If you've had that, how can you do anything but remain great friends?

So we have, or at least that's what I like to tell myself. But truth be told, our relationship lacks a lot of the makings of a strong male-female friendship, if such a thing even exists. There's an unspoken rule for no flirtation, which everyone knows is a cornerstone to opposite sex interactions. [Or maybe that's just how I manage mine...hmm...] To a degree, I mean. And we just aren't as tender or emotive as we once were, from this sort of invisible wall that I guess we've, well in my opinion he's, put up since the breakup. It's really just a strange dynamic; two people who know and understand each other better than most people ever will, who have an invisible barrier between them.

I bring this all up because I'm seeing Big Relationship this Friday when he comes to see the show I've directed, and also because this summer I saw Summer Romance for the first time in eight months. It wasn't be the first time we've seen each other since we broke up in Summer 2008, but it was the first time we've really gotten to talk about everything that happened between us since. The Summer Romance Saga is a long and complicated one, but I will try to do my best to recap it in a clear, unbiased and most importantly uncomplicated manner, if that's possible:

Summer Romance and I worked together Summer 2008, and always engaged in minor flirtation, but I had heard that he was involved with someone else we both worked with, who we'll call Other Woman, and knew that it would be unwise to get in the middle. Plus, when I met Summer Romance, what is now my infamous Declare My Feelings For L. and Get Shot Down Weekend was coming up, and my mind was totally preoccupied by that. So Summer Romance and I continued our flirtation. I asked him about Other Woman, and he told me they had been hooking up in the spring but that he was single.

So anyways, as we all know I confessed my love for L., he broke my heart, blah blah. (Which, in case you're wondering, I never let him live down.) So when I returned home I was feeling a bit down, clearly. So when Summer Romance asked for my number I thought, well, why not, maybe I'll have a...yup...summer romance, at the least. We had a great connection instantly, even though he was 24, which at first I thought would be a problem. He had also just recently gotten a job as a math teacher at Big Relationship's former high school, which I also thought could be quite awkward, but no, none of these apparent dealbreakers ended up being a problem. The only problem turned out to be Other Woman.

See, Summer Romance may have thought he was single, but Other Woman certainly did not think so. And I, naive hostess who was not privy to the convoluted world of work relationships, did not know any of this. So Summer Romance and I had a few dates and they were going great, and I was (kind of) starting to feel less brokenhearted about L., although truth be told he was never far from my mind. And then the problems started. And continued. I'd overhear Other Woman talking at work about Summer Romance in a very possessive, girlfriend-y sort of way, yet whenever I'd try to bring it up nonchalantly to Summer Romance he'd completely deny all my allegations and make me feel overly jealous, etc, for wondering. So we'd go back to having another great week or so, and then I'd overhear some more Other Woman convos. Or, even worse things. I'd wake up at Summer Romance's apartment after having spent the night, have breakfast, kiss him goodbye, and happily prance (okay, drive) home only to see that Other Woman's fb status would read "Going to lunch with [Summer Romance] and his parents!"

Um, wtf?

I'd then get frustrated and try to end things with Summer Romance, he would fight with me until I didn't, I'd somehow believe him that there wasn't anything going on between them. I'd even explain away the inexplicable things, like the fact that there was mascara smudge on his pillows in the morning even when I'd washed my face the night before. Truth be told, I'm infuriated that I let it go on as long as it did. I'm a little notorious for being picky about the guys I date and ending things not so far in.

So when the hazy days of summer began to draw to a close and my returning to college three hours away from home began to loom menacingly, I begrudginly had "the talk" with Summer Romance about "where this was going." (Ugh.) I put it out there as "we had a fun run, summer fling, keep in touch, go our own ways, etc" and so imagine my shock when he said he wanted to "do the real thing," and have a legit, monogamous (or so I presumed) long-distance relationship. I hesitantly agreed, only to un-agree a few days later after my Other Woman instincts got the best of me. This didn't work, as Summer Romance has a great way of making me doubt my instincts and trust him completely, which is something that NEVER happens with me, and so after a teary, tender and, what I thought to be honest, conversation we decided to really go for it.

Stay tuned for Part Two!

[Image from KnightleyEmma]

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween Costumes, or, Further Proof of my Jim and Pam Obsession

I'm realizing that (too) many of my posts on this blog are about Jim and Pam, but maybe when writers can come up with a better TV couple I'll be slightly less unhealthy about it.

Anyways, L. and I dressed up as Jim and Pam for Halloween, as alluded to in many previous posts. It was quite the endeavor. We had to straighten (and cut) L.'s hair, which I did happily, and I had to curl my hair.

He got the face down perfectly, huh? I was very proud of him. He was Three Hole Punch Version Jim from Season 2, unlike some unoriginal bandwagon-Office lovers who went as Facebook or BookFace or whatever Jim from the most recent episode. We were classic, and classy, thank you very much.

All I wanted all night was for someone we didn't know to see us and yell, "Jim and Pam!" without me having to tug L.'s arm and tell him to "make the face!," or otherwise hint and prod. A lot of people realized L. was Jim right off the bat but then just smiled politely at me. They must have assumed I just came from some nice dinner or something.

I think I pulled a Pam together very well...don't you? Well, even if only I think so, I was very pleased with the way it all turned out. Halloween itself was kind of a bust, and I spent most of it editing the audio and video for my play that's opening on Thursday (!), but dressing up was fun at least.