Home.

I'm home. Yay.

First of all, I want to give a big old birthday shout-out to my favorite sister. Happy birthday. I love you.

I had a really good school year! I got so much closer with Kayleigh, which I really didn't think was possible because we were already so close. I made a TON of new friends while still managing to keep the old (minus one, but I almost think things are better this way). I also had a blast. Between four trips to NYC, seeing Bruce live finally, and just all the random fun times on campus and Shaz's lake house, this was definitely a year to remember. I loved my room and my floor, I loved most of my classes, and I've come out of this year with a clearer sense of direction for my life, and I think I'm more confident and I know who I am now, and that's good. I just wish I could be that person all the time. I think I've definitely found my niche on campus, and I'm starting to stand out (in a good way) more.

I also realized that I've accomplished every goal I came to college with. Let's take a look.
1. Graduate with a 3.6. Guess what? I finished the year with a 3.601, and as long as I don't get a GPA below a 3.67 next year (which I haven't done since 2006), I should be able to maintain that and bring it up even more.
2. Get into an honor society. I got into to Phi Alpha Theta, for History, which was awesome. Then I got elected V.P. Then I helped with getting Pi Sigma Alpha going again, got accepted, and I'm also an officer in that one.
3. Hold an officer position in College Republicans. Well, I was secretary this year, which was good, but I've wanted to be president since freshman year. I never thought that would happen, because I always assumed it would naturally go to Joe Galli, but then he decided he didn't want to run because he would be too busy with Student Association Exec, so he was instrumental in getting me nominated and even approached me about becoming president in February or so. I never thought I would actually get elected with him in that club. I love the kid, this is in no way a complaint about Joe, he's just always seemed like the likely person in my class year to become CR President.
4. Form good relationships with my professors. Hell, Twombly and I are like BFF's now. And by BFF's, I mean practically married. I've taken 11 classes with the man, and he absolutely loves me, and that will be good when I need recommendations. He even told me that he would have asked me to be his teaching fellow again, but I'm only allowed to do it once. Lauren will do well though (but she has big shoes to fill :-)) I also think I'll be on pretty good terms with Mitchell by the end of Term I of next year. He already loves me because I get all his Springsteen references when no one else does.
5. Obviously, form close relationships with my peers. Done. I have a solid core group of friends, then I have friends in my majors, friends in my clubs, my posse of freshmen (sophomores now I guess), and the random people I just happen to know through other friends or random things like that.

I've done well, and I'm very proud of myself. I hope that doesn't sound too cocky or anything, but everything has been such a struggle for me since I was little, and I really think I've overcome that and turned things around. I began high school with like a 3.1, and graduated with high honors, and college is turning out to be on an upward scale for me as well, and I think that's something to be proud of, as most people tend to decline over time.

I can't believe I'm a senior in college. Holy crap. That frankly terrifies me, but I think it also calls for song lyrics...

Look at that old photograph
Is it really you?
Smiling like a baby full of dreams
Smiling ain't so easy now
Some are coming true
Nothing's simple as it seems
But I guess you count your blessings with the problems
That you're dealing with today
Like the changing of the seasons
Ain't you come a long way down
This old road
-Kris Kristofferson

Lazy Sunday

My girls!
Don't ask about the sign, really it's just our big inside joke. But it comes everywhere with us, and we take pictures of it. That's how we roll.


Chilling.

So anyway, I finished my trees, so that's good. Now I just have to do my rocks, pack (sad), and study for my exam. And add Imai's class. Probably talk to J.Twom about grad school stuff as well. And burn a CD or two or three. I really don't think packing will be that bad, except maybe my desk, which always seems to accumulate a great deal of shit throughout the year. But really, I mostly only have clothes. I brought a ton of stuff home in April, so I think that helped.

Oh, apparently Talk Sex with Sue got cancelled. I don't know what Kayleigh and I are going to do at midnight on Sundays now. Devastating.

So the plan for the day is to finish my geology stuff, start packing, and then enjoy the night with my sistah-girls (haha). Kayleigh's leaving tomorrow, I don't like that.

This morning I was awakened by bagpipes outside my window. Lovely.

Anyway, time to be productive.

Ugh, I have been writing about plants in the library for two hours now. This sucks balls. It has gotten to the point where I care so little that I am literally making shit up, which is exactly what I did last time, and ironically, I got a 98, so hopefully this will work. Not that it really matters, since I am taking this class pass-fail anyways. But what I really want to be doing right now is hanging out with Kayleigh and packing, not this.

Last night was funny.

I like to act like I'm 5.
This is a wall!
And then we found a bone.
Don't ask.
Don't smile. We're listening to the Cure.

Uh Oh...

There's a Top Model marathon on today. That means I'll accomplish nothing today, even though I've seen every season about 12 times.

And just because this had me in tears last night....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq3pTmNXA5g

It's not quite as funny now, probably because there's no alcohol or Kayleigh involved, and it's not 3am.

So I finally got to watching the Grey's finale. It was actually decent. This season has disappointed me, but the finale was okay. I love the cliff-hanger "ohhh Derek's going somewhere....maybe something will happen to him". Yeah right. Like they'd kill off Patrick Dempsey. There goes their fanbase.

Went to "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" with Kayleigh last night. It was hilarious. I think we related a little too much, but hey, what can you do?

After that, we went to a party at Sandy and Lori's cottage. The morning-after theme always makes for a good laugh. And there were a lot of random cameos, particularly by the RLC of my dorm (he graduated last year), but I think he left when he saw that Kayleigh and I were there. I'll get a picture or two up when someone posts some, since the battery was dead in my camera.

Then we watched Demetri Martin videos on youtube at 3am. I about peed my pants. He's hilarious. Probably my all-time favorite comedian. Then we went to bed, and for some reason, I'm awake right now. I'll probably climb back into my bed when I'm done with this. My room is about 150 degrees right now, I think that woke me up.

Also, I found this video online. I love the Spring Awakening cast. I guess the show will be hard to do now that they're all zombies :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5GfUphnum4

Ugh, can I just say how much I am not looking forward to packing up my room? I should probably get going on that, but I want to take a few pictures first, so we should probably clean a little.

So anyway, it's Saturday, which means I'll probably sleep until about 3, then take a shower, then I think we're going to Asia to celebrate the last weekend of school, or maybe just to celebrate the fact that we've all been craving cheap chinese food. Either way, it's a celebration. Then I'm sure the night will end with us in some weird combination of clothes and either Empire Records or random youtube videos. And probably a bunch of mountain dew cans all over our floor. And probably a great deal of pictures with the your mom sign. It's my last weekend before senior year...crazy. I think the thing I'm looking forward to most next year is having Amanda back, because I miss her. That, and my room, because it kicks ass. I'm sure we'll end up in New York City at least three times, because that's just how we roll, so I'm looking forward to that as well. And I hope New York works out this summer, because I'm really looking forward to it. I need BB12, next to Blake :-) That should be pretty easy to get, since that seat and the seat next to it are reserved for fanclub members, and that's me (only to have access to the early onstage seats sale), so maybe it will work out.

Also, because I'm crazy, I think I'm going to add Dr. Imai's US Foreign Policy class, because I'm worried I don't have enough of a solid international relations background, and I think that will help me. I really like Imai's lectures, but his debates terrify me. As long as you-know-who isn't in that class, which hopefully he isn't, I should be fine with the debates, but if he's in that class, since teams are organized alphabetically, chances are he will be on my team and fuck up our debate, just like Comparative and International Relations. I hate my life. He told me that he's done taking political science classes, so I should be fine. But yeah, since I've got my GPA above a 3.6, I can take more classes than I've been taking, so I might as well take advantage of the money I pay to go here. 19 credits isn't that bad, right? I mean, one of them is yoga. It'll be a lot of work, but if I'm tutoring, I'll have the time to do it. So yeah, I'll take care of the add form on Monday.

First of all, I just found out that Alexandra Socha, Lea Michele's replacement in Spring Awakening, is from NH, so that's pretty cool.

Also, the final performance of RENT is being broadcast in movie theaters nationwide, so that's also pretty cool.

Furthermore, I only have 4 days left of classes.

Not to mention, Christine is getting married next weekend. How am I old enough to have married friends?

This amuses me.

Because I love Jamie and we love our "boyfriends".

Blake Bashoff.
Blake Daniel.
My door.

My CD got here today. I'm so freaking stoked. Jesse Malin, thank you so much.

In other news, I probably won't be taking a GRE prep class, since it's 1200 freaking dollars. Damn. I'll figure something out. They do tutorials online. I just think I would have really benefitted from it, since I need to do well and I'm worried about the math portion.

I have a headache. I slept until 3:30 to try to get rid of it, but it didn't work.

I'll be home in a week. And I'll be a senior. Scary. Isn't it like, October?

Back

So I'm back from NC. I had a great time and am exponentially proud of my brother. It was nice to see everyone as well, and Matthew is somewhat cute still. My feet are still black from my shoes. That's what I get from wearing heels. I suppose I should stick to flip flops and Chuck Taylors. That's a little more my speed.

(why am I so short? We're not even standing downhill, and I'm wearing heels)

Seeing the undergraduates at graduation really put things into perspective for me. I only have a year left. A year ago, I was in London, and that feels like it was maybe 2 months ago, if that. I'm sure this summer will probably drag, as breaks always tend to do when I'm not completely saddled down with papers and readings to work on and friends to entertain me, but I'm sure that next year is going to fly even faster than the last three have. It's terrifying (as is the prospect of 2 consecutive Myra Glenn classes in the fall...what am I getting myself into?). At the same time, though, I'm ready. I usually love it here, and I absolutely adore my friends and I will miss them insanely after graduation, but I'm almost ready to leave. I'm so excited to pursue a field that just completely interests and excites me more than anything I've ever studied. I'm excited to have my own apartment in a city that I love, and to be living in somewhere that I actually WANT to live, as opposed to Elmira, which is a completely sucky town, but I couldn't really control where the school was, could I? And really, coming here was the right decision, and I have no doubts about that. I wasn't ready for a big school or a big city. I am now. These last three years have been a great transition period that I really needed, and I'm a completely different (improved?) person now, and I never could have foreseen that happening. Anyway, 12 more months. Sara asked how I felt about that, and I think I said something along the lines of "mixed feelings...excited and terrified". It's bittersweet right now, but I'm sure in another 12 months (after the haze of all the alcohol Elmira gives us during Senior Week dies down), I'll definitely be ready for New York. Now I just need to get in...Speaking of that, I need to look at prep classes for the GRE's so I can nail them, because I'm pretty sure the same score I got on my SATs won't suffice this time.

Anyway, I've been up since 4, and that only works for me when I have shows I need to see, so I think it might be naptime.

Internships and such

Some state rep in NH who is running for an Exec Council position called me today and asked if I was interested in interning for him over the summer. Naturally, my phone was off so when I called him back I got no response, but I left a message. If it paid, that would be awesome, since I need money.

It would be really freaking sweet if this worked out.

Why not?

My siblings are doing it, and I've always wanted to be just like them, so you know...

Seriously though, I miss the livejournal that I had in high school and freshman year. I really like writing and have been thinking about doing this again, but it's time for a fresh start. The blog from high school is extremely toolish, haha.

Off to North Carolina in about 8 hours or so. I'm very excited and I'm very proud of Ryan and Jenn.

In other news, I'm drinking tea. All I could think about during class this morning was how much I wanted tea, so this is very exciting for me.

Last night the College Republicans went to a cocktail reception for Assemblyman Tom O'Mara. We had a lot of fun. The restuarant was pretty nice and the food was decent. It was kind of annoying though because it was open bar and they weren't carding, and I had volunteered to drive. Oh well, my first DD experience. I had half a gin and tonic. Everyone else had about 7.




So there we are with O'Mara and Nan Moss, our favorite City Council candidate who has run about 4 times and never won.

I just heard my cell phone die. I should probably charge it.



Jon Groff and Lea Michele are leaving Spring Awakening this weekend. That makes me really sad, since I can't really imagine other leads. But at the same time, it will be cool to see other people's take on the roles. I was sad when Anthony Rapp left RENT, but I absolutely loved Adam Kantor as Mark, so it will be fine.
So, in honor of Groff's last day...


Alright, I think my bed is calling my name.