New music!

The other day I discovered a band called "Birdmonster." They're amazing. I highly recommend them. In case you hadn't noticed by now, I'm pretty into indie music, and I love discovering bands that my friends haven't necessarily heard of, and then spreading the love. So here's their big song "Born to Be Your Man." They're kind of alternative/folky, which is what I've been really into lately, along with punk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ7vX_lphE0

Seriously though, this "Hanging on E Street" segment that brucespringsteen.net has been doing (a collection of Springsteen covers) is amazing, as it led me not only to Birdmonster, but also the the Avett Brothers (if you like Old Crow Medicine Show, you'd like them), and the Gaslight Anthem, who I've been obsessed with for the last few weeks.

But moving on, I've almost made it through the day. I have class in ten minutes, and I'm done at 4:50. After that, I have to go to Thali with Jamie for Indian food, since I've been saying I'd go with her for a week but have consistently blown her off multiple times, last Thursday because Amnesty International held a human rights symposium that I wanted to go to, and on Saturday because I was um, asleep at dinner time. So really, I want to go to bed at 4:50, but I can't. The good news is that I don't have anything to do tonight, so I'm going to lay in bed and watch movies and read, and go to sleep early. In Research Methods, I just have to watch presentations, and then I have my presentation for Senior Seminar at 6, but I have all day to work on it, and I think I would benefit more from sleeping tonight.

Oh, and the other exciting news is that I got into Who's Who Among American College Students. This is actually pretty cool, since they only choose 35 seniors.

yesssss (yawn).

4:43. Done. Good night. See you in less than three hours.

When Work Ethic Fails.

I meant to write this paper yesterday, I truly did. But then I didn't feel well, and I slept all afternoon. And then at night I had to concentrate on preparing for my Research Methods presentation (went okay, by the way). So here I am at almost two am, pulling my first and last all-nighter of my college career. The facts of the case are as follows: I have a 20 page paper due at 9:55 am, but I have class at 8:15, so this needs to be done by 7:45 so I can head over to the library to print it, then get coffee so I can survive the three+ hours of class before my two hour break. I've known about this paper all term. In fact, it was due last week, but me and a few classmates complained to our professor that last week was too busy, so he extended the deadline until tomorrow. Do I take advantage of this and get ahead? No. Instead, I'm in the same boat as I would have been Wednesday night, had the paper not been extended. This might be the live and learn experience that I have needed for the last four years. I'm a major procrastinator, mainly because I think I have ADHD and have a really hard time focusing on something that isn't due the next day. I write every paper the night before it is due, and I have never not finished or gotten anything less than a B on a paper. And I've never had to pull an all-nighter before tonight, which is impressive, as I am a second semester senior. I think the latest I've had to stay up has been 3:30, which was Term II of my sophomore year, when every single term paper was literally due on the same day. The good news is that I started this at ten (I had club meetings and other work to do) and I'm on page 11. This means it's going fast. I'm currently taking a break, but I have the rest of the paper laid out in my mind, so it should be pretty smooth sailing from here on out, and I may even get a nap in.

So you may all be saying "Heather, you have 6 hours to write 9 pages. Why are you updating your blog?" Honestly, because this night sucks, and I need to do something to make it fun. Obviously, Kayleigh pulls all-nighters all of the time, but not tonight, so I'm lonely (plus, apparently she's decided to take up snoring, which she never does). I'm entertaing myself, so enjoy some silly pictures I've been taking to procrastinate even more.

Yawn.

Dear computer, I know you hate me and like to crap out on me. Thank you for not doing so this week. It would have been tragic. For that, I love you and I owe you.

This is my "Epic All-Nighter" Playlist. I don't know how I would make it through my life without iTunes. Music keeps me focused. I've got a good amount of upbeat songs to keep me going.
I also made sure to stock up on Mountain Dew. I honestly prefer the taste of coffee, but that requires effort, and I'm funneling all of my effort into this paper.

So anyway, here I go...

The Epic Weekend...

...yeah.

Love.

This is my new favorite picture of us. I actually took it on my cell phone, and then I forgot about it when it got buried in the depths of all of my silly camera phone pictures (mainly, Kayleigh and I making faces), until she was going through my phone this weekend and found it. So I sent it to her, and she did some editing, and I think we look amazing in sepia :-) It's funny, because we're so close, but we don't have a ton of NICE pictures of us. In most pictures, we're making faces and acting like the jackasses that we tend to be together, so I'm very thankful for this. I actually think we need to start taking more pictures like this one, because we both have big eyes that are contrasting colors (her's are brownish green), so our eyes pop in pictures.

I'm excited for the pictures from this weekend to go up. Thankfully, the picture taking ceased at a certain point.

After Wednesday, my term is significantly downhill. Thank god. Two more days.

"We Did Have Some Remarkable Times."

One year ago today, I saw Spring Awakening for the first time and RENT for the last (at least in the Nederlander). It was an amazing but cold weekend. So this is me at rush for Spring Awakening. It was cold. I forgot my hat. This is how I kept warm.



And here we are at lotto for RENT.



This is us with Blake Bashoff after SA. He's actually in the tour right now, so I'm looking forward to seeing him again in May. He was my favorite Moritz, and I missed him the three times I saw the show without him.

This is Jon Groff, who is about the nicest person ever.

And this was also the day I realized that I'm probably going to have to marry Blake Daniel someday. Hopefully someday soon.

Both of these shows have had a major impact on my life, and I'm convinced I would be a completely different person if it wasn't for RENT. I miss them every day, especially Spring Awakening, and I have to avoid both of the theaters because I can't really deal with them not being there. Spring Awakening in particular has introduced me to a ton of new friends, and they're actually making me feel better about moving to the city, since a lot of them live there. Honestly, I would have never gotten into the New York scene without RENT. Before seeing it, I really had no desire to even visit. That thought is unfathomable to me right now. Who would I be if I had never seen Manhattan?

And this weekend was pretty epic too, but in a completely different way that I'm not going to get into, but I had a blast.

This night is winding down, but time means nothing.

Here are the pictures from my alumni pinning and 100 Days. I had an excellent time, and I got to hang out with Billy Dieffenbacher, who I haven't hung out with all year, which was really nice. And the food was great! I'm also a big fan of our male candelight speaker, Paul Riley '09, who is hilarious and I love him. We're not overly close, but we have similiar tastes in music, so we talk Bruce sometimes. I voted for him, because I knew his speech would be entertaining and worth listening to, and I'm looking forward to it.

This is me and my friend Brandon. We joke around that I'm Hitler and he's Stalin. I probably wouldn't survive Senior Sem without him.

This is my friend Jenny. She is also a History major. We really weren't friends until this year, which makes me sad.

This is me and some random girl I found. I don't like her very much. I can't wait until we don't live together anymore.

These are most of the senior history majors. We couldn't find Tor, and Mark Olving wouldn't come over because he's stupid. So there's a few of us missing, but you can get a sense of how big our program. That is Dr. Shephard. He's the best history professor ever.

This is Billy! I love him.

This is Keith. I wish he'd shave his beard.

Kayleigh and Keith: A summary of their relationship.

We finally signed the bathroom at the Branch!

Me, Kayleigh, Shallon.

And, the last picture of the night before my camera battery died.

Like I said, it was a good night, and the speech our class president gave at the alumni pinning was amazing. He summarized everything I've ever felt about our class: "our strength has never been in numbers, but instead in our spirit and willingness to contribute to the school." Over 50% of our class transferred out, but I've always felt that the people who stayed, for the most part, are a solid group of people with great spirit, and our class has really pulled together to overcome some things, like WINNING MOUNTAIN SINGING THIS YEAR! I hope we do the same for the robe debacle. I'm not a fan, but I don't want it to ruin our commencement, either.

So don't wait for someone to tell you it's too late

Cuz these are the best days

There's always something tomorrow

So I say let's make the best of tonight

Here comes the rest of our lives.

Seriously?

My alumni pinning is tonight.
I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to be pinned.

R.I.P.

Tonight, we mourn the loss of a good friend of mine.

At about 8:00pm, I was zipping up my black fleece jacket, and the zipper got stuck, so then I tugged at it, and it came right off. In my hand. This jacket has been there for me since the fall of 2006. I thought it would be there for much longer. I loved it. It was warm, soft, and comfy. It could even get me through frigid Elmira winters. This jacket has accompanied me to a number of concerts and Broadway shows, bars, restuarants, walks through the City, movies, classes, exams, naps, car rides, and other various outside and inside activities. It was even touched by some of my favorite Broadway actors. Repeatedly! I will miss it very much. I need a new one, but I'm not sure I'm over this loss yet. It may be too soon.

I will miss you, darling Jacket. You even kept me warm while I was sitting on this dirty midtown Manhattan subway grate during student rush. If it wasn't for you, I would have frozen in that awful April weather (ps I miss my bangs. I'm getting them cut again.).

Honestly, the sleeves were beginning to rip, the elbows were worn, it was all stretched out...I probably needed a new one anyway. But honestly, I've worn that jacket so much. I definitely got my $35 worth, and I'm thankful for that. I did love it. As I said, it was warm, comfy, and soft. I did actually get a little upset when someone said "your zipper is broken." It was awful, actually.

It's Thursday. This means that I have my 100 Days celebration and alumni pinning tomorrow. That is not okay, minus the free champagne.

I love my life.

Last night as a much needed break, Kayleigh and I wasted time by taking ridiculous personality quizzes on facebook. We came across one called "how much do you Know bout Cats???" (that was the exact title, errors and all). We all know my group of friends has had a weird fascination with cats since freshman year, so we were amused and took it.

Look at our results, especially if you enjoy laughing...

Are you sure your not actually a cat? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Needless to say, this made our night.

I think my favorite question was: Which of the following things do cats enjoy eating? The options were fish, yogurt, cheese, and steak. Hahahaha. So amusing. I really enjoy feeding yogurt to cats.

Meow.

A Blog That Might Even Be Better Than Mine.

http://www.failblog.org/

Hilarious. I laughed out loud for about twenty minutes after reading this. It's basically just a bunch of pictures and videos of coincidental, accidental mistakes. I love it. Perfect for warped senses of humor like mine.

So, let's have a look at some failures.

Also, I was just playing the potential GPA calculation game that I play towards the end of every term, which requires me to open my transcript online. Tonight I realized that I got more B's during my freshman year than I got in my three subsequent years. Combined. Why didn't I try harder? I could probably be graduating Summa Cum Laude if it wasn't for freshman year. Fail. The good news is that (and this was true of high school as well) my work has been on an upward scale, and I'm graduating from college with a higher GPA than I graduated from high school with. Hopefully this trend will continue.

What I Love About Small Schools

You take fifty million classes with the same professors, which means we're all one big happy family and everyone is comfortable with each other. This leads to email exchanges like this one.

Dr. Shephard: Just a quick note to let you know that the draft of your research paper for the History of England class is ready for you to pick up if you want to come by. (And I got your Senior Seminar draft fine, btw . . .) I'll leave it for you in that envelope on my office door. See you tomorrow. PS—For the past couple of weeks I've been getting spam about fiber optic cable from somebody named Heather Johnson, interestingly enough . . . (presumably not you . . .).
Me: Thank you so much! And hopefully it's not from me, haha.
Dr. Shephard: Well, if it was for other kinds of products it could have been really embarrassing . . .

Hahahahahaha. I know this might seem weird to people who don't understand Elmira culture, but this is the story of my life. Between hearing all kinds of gossip from Twombly, drunk emails and concert invites from Charlie, and this from Dr. Shephard, my life is amusing.

In other news, I adequately finished my Research Methods second draft, which is good. That's one more thing off of the to-do list. I was looking forward to having a relatively relaxing night of reading Animal Dreams for Individualism and Community, briefing one court case, and cleaning the room (yes, it's messy again. I told you-as soon as I become a mental disaster, my room falls apart). Then I remembered that I have an honor society induction in...45 minutes, actually. Awesome. Oh well. It's a half hour ceremony plus dinner, so I should be back by 8 or so. But the good news is that I'm going to eat shrimp scampi tonight and it's going to be amazing. And some of my people, like Lauren, Pam, Maggie, Hilary, Christina, and Jenny will be there. Oh, and Dr. Twombly is the advisor, so he'll be there too. The problem with that is that I've been complaining to him about how his paper is too long for like a week, and I'm pretty sure he's going to fail me if I say "so, 10, not 20 pages, right?" one more time.

But anyway, I'm a disaster right now, so I should probably make myself look presentable. I've lost of all my energy. I'd rather nap than go to this. And honestly, I'd probably get more out of a nap. Wait. Hold up. I just remember it's at 6, not 5. Such is my week.

Naptime.

This again?

Your mood swings give me whiplash.

We're all busy, but it is our last two months together, so find some time.

Halle. Effing. Lujiah.

It's almost done. My senior thesis for history is almost done. I finished my draft tonight, and with the exception of the Korematsu v. US case and decision, the inclusion of a page on post-WWII activities of the War Relocation Authority, and the conclusion, as well as the edits I will most certainly have to make from my draft, which I think is actually decent, but it is my first paper of this type and magnitude and my first (feeble) attempt at endnotes rather than a Works Cited page, I AM FINISHED. I probably have an hour or two max left on this paper that has consumed my life all term.

So, here I am with my baby. Excuse the tired eyes and the hat that is covering my dirty hair because I didn't have time to shower today, between the sleeping in and subsequent day in the library to get this done.

Here's the heading. I realized that the date was wrong after I printed it, but that's irrevelant.

So there it is. Hours and hours of my life and college career, wrapped up in a mere twenty pages and ten minute presentation.

It's funny how things come full circle. Term I of my freshman year, my biggest concern was my twenty page paper for Freshman Writing, which I believe I wrote on the difference between our current democratic form of government and Aristotlean and Platoean notions of democracy. This paper was on the role of the Executive Branch and fedeal agencies in Japanese internment and relocation during WWII. So here I am in Term II of my senior year, worrying again about a twenty page paper. This one was much harder in theory beause it was all based on original research and primary documents, but my writing skills have grown so much since I got here that it seemed significantly easier and more manageable, though conducting the research was harder.

We had a little incident at a Capella Weekend last night. The seniors in EC's all-girl group sang a song to the underclassmen...

All that I've missed I see in the reflection passing me while I wasn't paying attention, tired of rushing, racing and running, I'm falling apart. Oh won't you take my hand and lead me. Slow me down

...followed by their "forever song..."

Now the world outside is such a cold and bitter place.Here inside I have few things that will console. And when I try to hear your voice above the storms of life.Then I remember all the things that I was told. I know a please a thank you and a smile will take me far,I know that I am you and you are me and we are one,I know that who I am is numbered in each grain of sand,I know that I've been blessed again, and over again.

...both of which seemed way too relevant. So I'm fine, and then Kayleigh looks at me and touches my arm, and I turn into the typical blubbering mess that I can become all too easily. So I pull myself together, and I walk out into the lobby, and I see Jeremy Gray running at me, yelling "you're not allowed to graduate. You have to fail Pilates!" And it gets me going again, because I'm not ready for this. At all. There's a lot of people and two professors that I can't imagine not seeing on a daily basis. And I hate that. Graduating from college is different from graduating from high school, because not only are you closer with the people in college, but after high school graduation, it is inevitable that you will constantly return to your town, see your family, and you will never have to permanently leave all of the familiar places. The problem I'm having now is that I really feel like I live in Elmira, NY, and I'm leaving it behind permanently. I mean, the sketchiness of this city, the restuarants (particularly local ones), the stores around here, the mall, the roads, the playgrounds, the bars, Tompkins, my campus...it all feels like it's become my home, so in 69 days, not only will I have to say goodbye to the friends that have become my family, but I'll have to leave the town that I've lived in for four years, and I will never, ever be back here for more than 2 or 3 days, and even though I actually am not really a fan of Elmira, NY and NYC is exponentially cooler, that is really sad and really hard for me.

I have the week from Hell coming up. Tomorrow during the day I need to finish my draft for Research Methods. Tomorrow night I have to read for Charlie. And I have a lot of reading. Tuesday I have class all day, then I need to start my term paper for Law. Then on Wednesday I have to study for my Research Methods final, which is at 2:30, then do my Senior Seminar HW (I'm not sure why he gives us busy work, it's a 4000 level class), then I have class until 8:30ish, then I have to finish the term paper for Law, which is due at 9:55am on Thursday, then class all day, and then I have to finish my term paper for History of England, which thankfully isn't that bad because it's only a 6-8 pager (NOTHING!), and I already have four done. Just have to edit it and finish it. Then Friday my life will get easier, so I will be celebrating. Then for next week: Sunday I have to prepare a 20 minute presentation. Monday I have to give the presentation. On Wednesday I may or may not have to give a ten minute presentation on my thesis (if not April 1, it will be April 8). Then that will pretty much be it for the week. Then the last week of the term, Charlie's final paper due on Monday, Research Methods and Senior Sem final drafts due on Wednesday, potential presentation Wednesday night, History of England in class final Thursday afternoon, and HOME ON FRIDAY. It's going to be a long three weeks, but I'm getting there. Really, I just need to get through this week. Then everything is down hill, although I'm not exactly sure how I am going to stretch out my Research Methods presentation for 20 minutes.

To reconcile the two points of this entry (being busy with work and not wanting to graduate), here is my resolution that I literally just came up with. I need to make it through this week. It's going to be hard and exhausting, and not fun at all. I can't wait until Friday. I wish it was here right now. But after this week, I am going to soak in every minute of the subsequent 65 days, and enjoy everything about these last few weeks here. I'm going to spend time with my friends, including friends that I need to spend more time with. I'm going to rock my internship and love my last Twombly class ever. I'm going to make ridiculous t-shirts with Jeremy. I'm going to sit by the puddle in the sun. I'm going to swim in the fountain and roll down the hill. I'm going to eat at all of of my favorite restuarants. I'm going wait until the last possible minute to pack up my room (oh wait, I do that every year). I'm going to take lots of pictures, laugh a lot, and cry a lot. I'm going to enjoy the free drinks that we get during Commencement Week. I'm going to ignore the issue of purple regalia until I actually have to wear it. I'm going to go to Rochester with Jamie to see RENT for what may be the absolute last time (until the revival), especially with Adam and Anthony, and I'm going to love it. I'm going to spend a weekend driving home to see my favorite show with my favorite sister. I'm going to go to Eldridge Park weekly and play frisbee with Kayleigh. I'm going to eat all of the crappy campus food and enjoy the fact that I'm only sort of paying for it. I'm going to do as much free laundry as possible. I'm going to encourage my underclassmen friends to enjoy the rest of their time here. I'm going to get into a car (preferably hers) with Emily and Kayleigh and drive up Mt. Zoar and to the Pennsylvania border to reminisce about getting lost freshman year. I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen and get lost in a crowd, and hopefully the next day I'm going to enjoy Hershey Park with my friends. I'm going to go to Harris Hill and play on the swings. I'm going to try to get in one more trip to New York with my girls. I'm going to enjoy May Days more than I ever have before. I'm going to tell my friends how much I love them and how much better they have made my life, and how they've all changed me for the better.

And right now, I'm going to bed. Long week ahead.

Dear you,
I don't like how much you've changed. Come back to me. I know you're in there somewhere.
Love, me.

Um, I have the most awkward dinner of my life tomorrow night. It's basically a big cluster_ of people who used to date each other, which is really kind of weird. But it will be fun. Kayleigh, Keith, Emily, Shallon, Shaz...awkward.

14-21 business days for Brooklyn. Fingers crossed.

Fantastic.

Just so you all know, there is a bird in my fireplace. It has been making noises all day. Wonderful. Maybe tonight I won't be able to sleep.

LOL.

I know I've been MIA for a few days...very, very busy time of year for me, plus I've been trying to enjoy the weather. Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and say that it's not every day the head of the Social Sciences Department invites me to a concert with him. Haha. Bruce, John Mellencamp, Eddie Vedder, Arlo Guthrie, Dave Matthews, Dar Williams, Ani DiFranco, and a bunch of others are doing a concert to celebrate Pete Seeger's 90th, and Pete himself will be there. Dr. Mitchell says he might have an in with tickets, and if so, am I interested? Well, yeah. Not everyone gets to say that they saw Pete Seeger live. He is, after all, a folk legend.

My first got cancelled today. After the epic struggle to wake up, which resulted in me wearing a baseball cap because I didn't have enough time to shower, I was ecstatic to see that email and climb back into bed for an hour.

In honor of my favorite movie ever...

I've decided that today is Rex Manning Day.

But Joe, it's Rex Manning Day!

So Kayleigh and I have celebrated by dancing around to Video Killed the Radio Star and Say No More, Mon Amour.

This is probably the best decision I've ever made.

Oh boy.

I got this email today from Brooklyn-

Dear Heather,

Our records indicate that you have submitted an application for the 362 Political Science, M.A. for Fall 2009. Your application is ready for review and will be sent to the admissions committee of your program.

...Let the waiting and frantic website checking begin.

On the plus side, I feel like rental prices have dropped significantly in like, the last week. I'm actually finding decent things well below the limit I've set for myself (below $800), even in Manhattan neighborhoods that I love. Ideally, I would like to live in Manhattan, but if I go to Brooklyn, I want to live in Brooklyn to cut down on commuting times, and if I go to the Graduate Center in midtown, I want to live in Manhattan, to cut down on commuting times. On the other plus side, since I can access Brooklyn's enrollment website, I can look at class schedules, and all of their classes are after 5:30, so I can work during the day. A lot. I mean, I obviously can't do an 8-5 thing and then go right to school, because I'll have so much work to do. It needs to be part-time, but I should be able to make a decent amount of money. It's not like I'll be in school all day. And the annoying thing-I did my FAFSA, and since I'll be financially independent, my expected contribution is $0, but of course, MA programs don't give aid. But that should help with the TAP and federal grants and loans.

YAY!!!!!! Documenting the Moment.

My room has been a mess for two weeks. Not just a mess-an epic, catastrophic disaster. Many of you may find it extremely hard to believe that in the shuffle of coming back from break, papers being due, CPAC, and sickness upon sickness, I neglected the cleanliness of my room. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that after two weeks of not being able to find a single thing, including my roommate, because of my room looking like this...



It is officially clean. Yeah. It was that bad. And the scary part-this is night 2 of cleaning. I had cleaned for probably 2.5 hours the night before as well. Completely out of control. So anyway, I went on a cleaning rampage. I reorganized my bookshelf, under my bed, and my desk. I actually dusted with Pledge, rather than just wiping the dust off of my furniture. I cleaned picture frames. I washed the sickness and disease out of all of my blankets. I changed my sheets (okay, even when my room gets messy, I don't neglect changing my sheets, so that really wasn't out of the ordinary). I rehung some posters that were starting to fall. The moral of the story is that I believe the state of my room directly reflects my mental state and vice versa. It's actually a vicious cycle. When I'm in a bad place, mentally and physically (stress, my random bouts of depression, disease), my room gets neglected and becomes messy. This in turn makes me feel even worse. But starting on Monday, I am officially taking the reigns, starting with my room being clean. I wanted to document how awesome it looks right now, so here are some crappy cell phone pictures, because my digital camera finally crapped out, I think.

This is taken from the same angle that the above picture was taken from, just to show the drastic difference.

I didn't take pictures of the whole room to respect Kayleigh's slobbiness, as well as the fact that she's actually sleeping in her bed, which is two feet from my bed. I will take pictures of the whole room at some point within the next two months, because I FREAKING LOVE OUR FIREPLACE. But anyway, things were clean last night, but I also did three loads of laundry, and I finally got it all put away and everything back on the bed. I feel so much better, mentally and physically, but I'm not 100% yet, so I think it's time for bed!

Coming tomorrow: more rants and raves regarding graduation regalia and Matt Doyle. There have been developments in both situations.

Rants and Raves About Various Things.

1. WHAT THE HELL? I have just now decided that I hate Elmira College, and will hate Elmira College forever, due to the bomb that got dropped on my fellow classmates and myself at our class meeting tonight. "Congratulations, Class of 2009, you will be the FIRST class to graduate in PURPLE GRADUATION GOWNS." Awesome. That will look amazing. Because there isn't enough purple in my life. It will look great in pictures, that's for sure. Black is so much more classy and professional. But that's not even the real issue I'm having-some of us, like me, are actually going into academia, and will need to wear these robes until we have upper level degrees. Purple is going to look douchey.

2. RENT TOUR RENT TOUR RENT TOUR RENT TOUR IN ONE MORE MONTH! APRIL 21, ROCHESTER. CAN'T FREAKING WAIT. ADAM+ANTHONY+GWEN STEWART+NICOLETTE HART=AMAZINGNESS.

3. SPRING AWAKENING TOUR SPRING AWAKENING TOUR SPRING AWAKENING TOUR IN 6ISH WEEKS! BOSTON! And, the SA community had a bit of a bombshell dropped on us today. Kyle Riabko, the lead, is leaving the tour as of, um, now, to go film a TV Pilot. And it seems like it's a permanent departure, meaning he will need to be replaced. And the relatively concrete rumor is that his replacement will be...

MATT DOYLE.

Okay, if Matt stays on through Toronto and onto Boston, this would be the best thing to ever happen to me. Matt played Hanschen, one of the supporting characters, in the final Broadway cast. However, he started his tenure with the show as an understudy, and when even when he was bumped up to full-time Hanschen, he continued to understudy the role of Melchior, the lead. Here's the thing with Mr. Doyle: Matt is my favorite member of the cast, with the exception of Blake obviously. The opportunity to see him again would be amazing. Furthermore, he is everyone's favorite Melchior understudy. I never had the opportunity to see him, which I always regretted, and would kill to see him that role. Please, let this be true, and if it is true, please let him stay through Boston. It needs to happen. By the way, did I mention we're getting married?

Fellow Theatre Geeks, Listen Up.

Okay, first of all, I am beyond excited for the revival of Hair. It's a pretty good show with an amazing score (The Flesh Failures is probably one of the greatest MT songs ever written). With the recent closing of my two favorite shows, I've needed a show to follow, and I've been following this production since Shakespeare in the Park this summer, and was so bummed that it got rained out once, and it happened to be the day I tried to go. I've heard this production is amazing, tickets are relatively cheap, and there's a lottery. Awesome. Not to mention I adore Gavin Creel, so I can't wait to meet him, even though I was initially bummed to hear that Jon Groff, one my (gay) Broadway boyfriends and Claude from the SITP production, would not be transferring with the show. I really hope that April 4th works out. I've needed to get back to the city pretty much since I left, and that would be perfect-Hair matinee and Bishop Allen in Williamsburg. Perfect.



That being said, fellow theatre people, if I have to hear one more time about how "relevant" Hair is to today's society, I might just have to punch something. Sure, there are a number of themes that do parallel what is happening today. However, Vietnam does not equal Iraq, for one major, major reason. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a draft. Today, there isn't one. This may seem like a minor difference, but it isn't, when you think about it. Those who were drafted did not have the option to join the military. They were forced to fight a war that many of them did not support. Sure, the Iraq War is unpopular and Bush may have used false intelligence in justifying the invasion, but everyone fighting that war voluntarily joined the military, knowing full well that there was the chance that they would get sent over there. Major difference. So, like I said, I love Hair, but if I have to hear that one more time, there's going to be an issue.

Furthermore, what is wrong with me, health-wise? I don't like hearing "if you feel any worse tonight, go to the emergency room." AWESOME. I have time for that. Right now, I'm feeling okay as long as I'm lying down. Anytime I sit or stand up, it becomes an issue. This isn't a problem in terms of doing my homework, because tonight I only have to read. The problem is that my throat is scratchy and I could really use some tea, but I'm scared to walk over to get it.

Oh well, I have an appointment with the NP at noon tomorrow, so hopefully they can figure something out and make me better :/

Gah.

This has been the most unproductive weekend of my life. I pretty much haven't left my bed, let alone my room. But since I thought I would be making a trip to the hospital, it's okay (thank god for doctor brothers). So now I'm forcing gatorade down my throat, even though I absolutely hate gatorade, and I'm feeling a little better. But I really needed to clean, and I need to work on my research projects, which are stressing me out. I have about twenty million congressional reports and letters to read and piece together. I legitimately hate my history major.

And dear annonymous friend, please stop complaining to everyone else about how you never see and how I never hang out with you anymore. I don't have time. It's not like I go out all of the time and just ignore you, specifically. I don't actually do anything except sleep and homework. This term isn't like every other term. I have a TON of stuff to do. I don't even see Kayleigh, and we live together.

One Year Ago Today

Bruce and Clarence in Buffalo.

I risked my life to drive to Buffalo to see Bruce Springsteen in a blizzard. It was so worth it. I had always thought that I would never get to see Bruce Springsteen live, and we all know how much I love him, so that depressed me. But I managed to score tickets for the show in Buffalo, and I was not disappointed, at all. I was so thankful to be there, even though I was literally as far from the stage as you can get. What I'm even more thankful for is that I saw him again over the summer, and I'll be seeing him in May in Hershey (from the section closest to the stage, no less). I've thought about that concert every day since then, especially about how happy I was to hear Thunder Road (and how it made me cry), so I wanted to celebrate my Bruce-aversary! Actually, the next 6 weeks have a couple of anniversaries, so get ready for me to be all sentimental.

No. And Yes.

I absolutely refuse to get sick right now. My nose is running, and my throat feels a little sore. But I'm not getting sick! First of all, I don't have time for that. Second of all, it's the weekend! And the weather is beautiful! And I haven't really hung out with my friends since BEFORE February break! I will enjoy this weekend, dammit.

But on to the good things. During my 50 some-odd hours with Anna Lauren Cramer last weekend, I noticed she had these oil absorbing sheet things. I'm pretty happy with my skin, but I do have one problem with it-my skin gets really dry, but my nose gets really oily. I've never really known how to solve this. So we got to talking about oil absorbing sheets, and she recommended them, so tonight, I had to go get laundry detergent, so I figured while I was at Target, I might as well get some oil absorbing sheets. They were only $3 for fifty of them. Ladies and gentlemen, I am giving them my full endorsement. They work wonders. I obviously immediately tried them in the parking lot, and I saw a sudden difference. Consider me in love.

I love you, Clean and Clear. So much.

But that's not the best part of my experience with these sheets. Apparently, Clean and Clear is doing a promo where you get free earbuds when you buy these. Let's just say these ear buds are amazing. First of all, they're bright purple, which is awesome. Second of all, they work well and they're comfortable. Look at how cool they are!

Look how amazing they are! Seriously though, Clean and Clear made my day today. And yes, I'm getting excited over new headphones. But we all know I listen to my iPod/iTunes so much that they should probably be surgically attached anyway. And they literally cost $3, WITH the oil sheets.

Furthermore, I'm about to go to bed (Kayleigh's already asleep, if you can't tell from the background), so I went into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. Every night, I clip my bangs up so they don't get in the way. Tonight, however, I managed to get the most epic bang poof I have ever accomplished.

Purely accidental, but I'm extremely proud of it. I've been trying to get my hair to do this for months, and I finally pulled it off! Between that and getting my internship figured out, I would say today has been successful! Speaking of my hair, I'm strongly considering letting it go curly, which probably horrifies Keena. It's been trying for years, and I'm almost sick of the battle. My straightener makes it smell weird, dries it out, and takes another twenty minutes every morning. If I could just wash, scrunch, and go, life would be easier, and I could sleep more. I'm considering experimenting tomorrow. We'll see. I mean, it's not really a major life decision, at least until my next hair cut. Ideally, this is what I would like my hair to do...

This is the fabulous Heather Robb of the Spring Standards, one of my favorite bands (check them out!). She's pretty much my style icon. I mean, I don't want to look like her, necessarily. I'm actually okay with how I look, minus my weight (and right now, my hair). She's just very cool and has amazing clothes and hair. My hair's natural wave gives me the ability to do this, I'm just concerned about styling it, which has never been my forte, even when the hairdresser gives me tips. We'll see. I'm going to think about this some more before April.

If my nose doesn't stop running, it is getting cut off. I'm going to take some cold medicine and pass out. Hopefully my nose, throat, and hair are better tomorrow.

Thank god.

Research Term III with Dr. Twombly for my internship. This is extremely good news, as it means a couple of things.

1. I don't have to squeeze 240 hours into a six week period.
2. I don't have to work a 9-5 type job while all of my friends are barely doing anything.
3. I don't have to buy professional clothes.
4. I can make my own hours.
5. I can still take Women and Politics.
6. And most importantly, I get to vastly improve my research skills, which will be more beneficial to me than just mindlessly inputting data at the Board of Elections.

I'm excited.

And by the way...

I'm never going to pretend to be someone I'm not, or apologize for who I am. If you don't like it, that's your problem. I'm actually proud of my beliefs, and I'm proud of myself. No one is going to undermine that.

And is it bad that I got an honor society acceptance letter today, but by now I'm just ambivalent? I mean, it's the fourth and least prestigious out of all of them, plus I knew I would get in.

Also, Jeremy, if you could continue doing voice impersonations of our favorite person, that would be great. It makes my life better.

I cannot wait until tomorrow. One less crabby roommate. I mean, I get stressed too, but I don't make the room super tense. I feel like I can't move. Study in the damn library if you need silence. But by 9am, it'll be better, and at that point, I'll still be asleep.

Life just got better. For two reasons.

It's coming!

Weeds, Season 4 will be released on DVD on June 2nd. This excites me, as Weeds is pretty much my favorite show, ever. Since I don't have Showtime at school, I have missed all of Season 4. Looks like June will be a busy month of apartment hunting, getting ready to move, and catching up on Weeds!

Also, we need to discuss Spring Awakening: Budapest. Time for an epic picture post.

First, let me say that I am thrilled to see my darling show open up in many countries, including, but not limited to: London, Malta, Japan, Sweden, Finland, Argentina, and most importantly, Budapest. So through my involvement in the SA fandom (forum.theguiltyones.org=how I kill all of my spare time and effectively procrastinate, and I'm very thankful for the friends I've met through that site, even though when I actually see them in person, I'm too shy to say anything), I learned of this production. Thankfully, someone posted pictures of the reimagining of the show, which have provided numerous laughs for me. Let's do a critique.
Okay, so this would be the Mama Who Bore Me Reprise. It seems relatively normal, minus the RANDOM ASS SHEETS ON THE SET. I'm sorry, what?

And here we have The Bitch of Living (yes, I got my blog title from this song). Hmm. Apparently the rickety desk chairs from EVERY OTHER PRODUCTION weren't relevant enough to 1890's Germany. Instead, how about we use light up disco cubes! Perfect! Honestly, I've heard that the yellow cube is a bit of a diva. She rarely stage doors, and says nasty things about her fans :-) Just for comparison's sake, let's look at the NORMAL BOL staging...
Yeah, I can see where that would be problematic for 1891. Better update it! Moving on...

This must be Those You've Known. Hmm. Not only do my two dead friends come back to haunt me, we now participate in awkward dance moves. Awesome. And weird.

Okay, I don't even know what this scene is. But it's awkward and it looks like a cult meeting.

HOLY SHIT! Spring Awakening has turned into Little Shop of Horrors. Seriously. Look.

"Suddenly, Seymour is standing beside me...."

I haz a bucket! Seriously though, nowhere in the original production is a bucket used. Or relevant. Why does Ilse have a bucket? I don't understand.

"Here, Martha. Take this butter knife and stab your pillow, pretending it's your abusive father!" Seriously though, it looks like Martha is about to kill Ilse, which is just weird.

And all shall know the wonder. I will sing the song of purple...TOGAS?! What?! So we've gone from 1891 Germany to 1970's America (disco cubes) to ANCIENT GREECE? This makes no sense, whatsoever. But because that isn't laughworthy enough, here is my favorite new addition to the cast of Spring Awakening. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to...

ILSEBABY! Really? Ilse legitimately carries around a doll for all of her scenes. Why? Oh, because we need to represent her lost childhood! Because you know, there aren't SUBTLE, SYMBOLIC ways to do that, such as...I don't know...maybe through her songs? This is, after all, musical theater. But no, let's take the symbolism literally, and have her carry around a plastic baby doll. Clap. Clap. Clap. Go Budapest.

Also, apparently there are numerous casts, and one of the Moritzes has corn rows. Sweet. So the moral of the story is that I need to get to Budapest, stat, so I can see this. Road trip Term III, anyone?