Anyone who doesn't know what to get me for Christmas should think warm. Gloves hats socks sweaters. I need them all. It's so flipping cold!!! My roommate tells me it snows in April up here. APRIL. If I do move somewhere else it's going to be somewhere warmer. I shouldn't complain though, New Jersey is supposed to get pounded with snow this weekend, and I think we'll be avoiding much of it.
Anyway, I haven't written here in forever, so I'll just stick to a few major highlights.
I got a job back in October (woohoo!) I work for the Center for Social Development and Leadership here at UMass. It's a work study thing, so I can do homework while I work (just what I've always wanted!)
Speaking of homework, I'M DONE! My first semester is over, and I lived to tell the tale. Now I only have 5 more to go haha. I'll be taking summer classes, which means I might start performing therapy THIS SUMMER. At the very latest, I will have clients in the fall. That's right ladies and gentlemen, they're unleashing ME on society. I learned the basics this semester of how to diagnose someone with a mental disorder. It's fun.
I've only recently started to feel homesick. For most of the last few months, either someone has come to visit me from Jersey, or I've gone back home, so I haven't really had a chance to feel too lonely. It will have been a full month since I was in good old NJ when I go back next week, so it's finally all starting to sink in. I really like it here, but there are definitely times I really miss home. I miss the familiarity. I miss the convenience of seeing people on a regular basis who I've known for years. It's strange having to constantly explain my back story to people up here. I finally feel like I'm getting to know some people, which is nice. All in all, I can't complain though, because I've been having so much fun.
I really was born to be a city girl. I love walking all over the place. I love the culture and meeting all sorts of new people all the time. There is always a lot of variety. There's still a ton of restaurants and stores and other things I have on my list to do. It's great that people keep coming up here to visit, because it gives me an excuse to enjoy all the touristy things I wouldn't normally do. Next week, my office is having a holiday party in the North End, which is basically like a Little Italy sort of area. I love it there -the food is so good. I would like to move there someday, but I'm pretty sure I would end up 300 lbs. in no time.
I'll be home in less than a week! I'm so excited :) I'm home until the 3rd, so if you're free let me know :)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Encountering Crazies
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/13/neighborhoods_of_the_traveling_pantless/
Above is a link to a Boston Globe story about a group of people who ride the subway pantless. As I encountered some interesting characters at the park today, I started thinking about the strange people I've seen in the past few weeks. The thing about living in a city is that there are a lot of people living in very close quarters- for better or worse. That means there are more hilarious people to watch on a daily basis.
Saturday morning, my roommate and I hopped on the subway to go to an open studios event in the South End. While waiting for the train, we saw a girl dressed from head to toe as a zombie. We found out later where she was going. We got off the train to peruse some art studios and decided to get back on again to go to the Hemp Festival in Boston Common to kill time before our movie started. Here we saw Zombie Girl and her Zombie Friends. We walked past two stages where singers and speakers were performing for thousands of people. One speaker actually said that pot should be legalized to support the American Dream. Not the "bogus" American Dream of getting a job, getting married, and having children, but the American Dream to "Live freely." The event was insanely crowded, so we left pretty quickly. We got back on the subway to go up to Cambridge for a few hours. The Hemp Festival must have ended about the time we decided to head home, because when the train got to the stop outside Boston Common, dozens of bleary and red-eyed festival attendees got on accompanied by a very distinctive smell. No, not body odor. At one point, the conductor got on the system and yelled at passengers to stay away from the doors so they could be closed. One of the festival-goers was particularly struck by this and felt strongly enough about it that he needed to tell me. The following conversation occurred:
Festival Attendee: Do you remember those old Snapple commercials?
Me: I don't know which ones?
Festival Attendee: You know, that one with the lady.
Me: No, I don't know that one
Festival Attendee: You know, the one where she's on the island?
Me: Nope
Festival Attendee: And she's on a boat trying to paddle away and the guys on the island are like no don't go!
Me: Never seen it
Festival Attendee (referring to the conductor): That's what that lady sounds like!
The madness continued today when I was at the park trying to study. Once I learn more about how to use the DSM-IV I'm going to play a game where I try to diagnose people at this park. I was about to sit down at a table when a man who seemed to be sleeping on the next table woke up and slurred "Do you know Leeong?" (I'm guessing on the name- that's just what it sounded like). I told him I didn't, and he turned and stumbled down the hill, at the end of which he hopped over the fence, even though an entrance to the park was only a few yards away. While this was happening, there were men at another table playing chess. At first, I was sort of glad they were there in case the drunken man got too rowdy. They seemed like sort of nice fellows at first. I was wrong. Eventually, one of them got up and walked toward some bushes about 30-40 yards away from the playground where a young couple was sitting with their baby in a stroller. He then began to relieve himself. Before he did this, he asked the couple if they minded if he urinated in the bushes and told them not to look. The couple left soon after.
I then thought I was out of the woods in regards to witnessing possible future case-studies while I read. Again, I was wrong. About six 8-10 year-olds showed up and at first were sweetly singing Taylor Swift songs together. Two 14-ish year-old boys arrived to ride their skateboards. One of the younger kids began to taunt the teenagers. These young men could so obviously stuff this kid's head in a toilet and make him sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" from now until he hits puberty that they didn't even bother to retaliate. As they were leaving, the same little boy threw a small stick at the teens and then started yelling "I threw a stick at you! HA HA! An 8 year-old threw a stick at you! F*** you!" I don't know what's more shocking, the fact that he had the gumption to throw something at boys twice his size, or that he had the cojones to curse them off.
This brings me back to a conversation I had with my landlord this afternoon. He told me that he was cleaning up the apartment on the first floor so he could show it to potential renters. I know from experience that he is pretty careful about who he lets rent out the place. He said something about making sure the right kind of people move in, so I replied "That's right, you don't want crazies moving in." To this he responded half-joking "No you don't want crazies moving in." I would, after all, be the one living in the same building with the tenants.
It sounds simple enough. We just have to avoid all the pantless, high, drunk, public urinating, taunting zombies and we'll be fine.
Above is a link to a Boston Globe story about a group of people who ride the subway pantless. As I encountered some interesting characters at the park today, I started thinking about the strange people I've seen in the past few weeks. The thing about living in a city is that there are a lot of people living in very close quarters- for better or worse. That means there are more hilarious people to watch on a daily basis.
Saturday morning, my roommate and I hopped on the subway to go to an open studios event in the South End. While waiting for the train, we saw a girl dressed from head to toe as a zombie. We found out later where she was going. We got off the train to peruse some art studios and decided to get back on again to go to the Hemp Festival in Boston Common to kill time before our movie started. Here we saw Zombie Girl and her Zombie Friends. We walked past two stages where singers and speakers were performing for thousands of people. One speaker actually said that pot should be legalized to support the American Dream. Not the "bogus" American Dream of getting a job, getting married, and having children, but the American Dream to "Live freely." The event was insanely crowded, so we left pretty quickly. We got back on the subway to go up to Cambridge for a few hours. The Hemp Festival must have ended about the time we decided to head home, because when the train got to the stop outside Boston Common, dozens of bleary and red-eyed festival attendees got on accompanied by a very distinctive smell. No, not body odor. At one point, the conductor got on the system and yelled at passengers to stay away from the doors so they could be closed. One of the festival-goers was particularly struck by this and felt strongly enough about it that he needed to tell me. The following conversation occurred:
Festival Attendee: Do you remember those old Snapple commercials?
Me: I don't know which ones?
Festival Attendee: You know, that one with the lady.
Me: No, I don't know that one
Festival Attendee: You know, the one where she's on the island?
Me: Nope
Festival Attendee: And she's on a boat trying to paddle away and the guys on the island are like no don't go!
Me: Never seen it
Festival Attendee (referring to the conductor): That's what that lady sounds like!
The madness continued today when I was at the park trying to study. Once I learn more about how to use the DSM-IV I'm going to play a game where I try to diagnose people at this park. I was about to sit down at a table when a man who seemed to be sleeping on the next table woke up and slurred "Do you know Leeong?" (I'm guessing on the name- that's just what it sounded like). I told him I didn't, and he turned and stumbled down the hill, at the end of which he hopped over the fence, even though an entrance to the park was only a few yards away. While this was happening, there were men at another table playing chess. At first, I was sort of glad they were there in case the drunken man got too rowdy. They seemed like sort of nice fellows at first. I was wrong. Eventually, one of them got up and walked toward some bushes about 30-40 yards away from the playground where a young couple was sitting with their baby in a stroller. He then began to relieve himself. Before he did this, he asked the couple if they minded if he urinated in the bushes and told them not to look. The couple left soon after.
I then thought I was out of the woods in regards to witnessing possible future case-studies while I read. Again, I was wrong. About six 8-10 year-olds showed up and at first were sweetly singing Taylor Swift songs together. Two 14-ish year-old boys arrived to ride their skateboards. One of the younger kids began to taunt the teenagers. These young men could so obviously stuff this kid's head in a toilet and make him sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" from now until he hits puberty that they didn't even bother to retaliate. As they were leaving, the same little boy threw a small stick at the teens and then started yelling "I threw a stick at you! HA HA! An 8 year-old threw a stick at you! F*** you!" I don't know what's more shocking, the fact that he had the gumption to throw something at boys twice his size, or that he had the cojones to curse them off.
This brings me back to a conversation I had with my landlord this afternoon. He told me that he was cleaning up the apartment on the first floor so he could show it to potential renters. I know from experience that he is pretty careful about who he lets rent out the place. He said something about making sure the right kind of people move in, so I replied "That's right, you don't want crazies moving in." To this he responded half-joking "No you don't want crazies moving in." I would, after all, be the one living in the same building with the tenants.
It sounds simple enough. We just have to avoid all the pantless, high, drunk, public urinating, taunting zombies and we'll be fine.
Monday, September 14, 2009
First Day of School
This, for your viewing pleasure, is the classic "first day of school" pic. Classes started last week, and so far I'm having lots of fun. They all seem really fascinating. Today I found out I'm going to learn how to diagnose mental disorders using the DSM-IV this semester. I'm so excited! I'm such a dork. I've had a lot of fun in the city so far. My roommate has been really great about showing me around. I've seen so many great things since I've been here. I'm still getting settled, but I like it here a lot so far. It's very strange living in a place and not knowing anyone, but my roommate has been introducing me to some nice people, I like the other students in my classes, and I'm excited about getting involved in the Catholic campus ministry at UMass. There's hardly a moment to sit still, but I'm really enjoying myself.
I'll be back in Jersey on the 24th to see U2 and Muse at Giants Stadium with Seo (!!!!!!!!) and then I get to celebrate with Becky after she takes her LSATs at the Mat Kearney concert in Philly on the 26th. I don't listen regularly to a lot of Christian rock, but this guy seems really good. NYC, Philly, and back to Boston in one weekend- absolute insanity :)
I should also mention that I am now the proud owner of an inflatable mattress, so if you're thinking of heading up to a fabulous New England city and possibly want to drop in on your favorite UMass grad student, I have a place for you to sleep. I just can't promise that you won't have to share it with the cats. Don't worry, they're friendly :)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Your Ability to Find the Silly in The Serious Will Take You Far
The title of this post is a fortune from a Chinese fortune cookie I ate a few weeks ago that I kept in my wallet. I thought about it today as we all sat around my grandmother's dining room table while she laid down on the couch and told us stories about the trials and tribulations of raising four big, boisterous, and opinionated boys. I thought about it yesterday when my uncle Larry walked into the dining room after spending hours going through his brother Jimmy's very cluttered house with my father and complained "Jimmy had only two feet, but 60 pairs of shoes."
My uncle Jimmy had only two feet. Not has. I'm still having a hard time talking about him in the past tense. The last time I saw him over a week ago in the hospital before his surgery he was drifting off to sleep. As I walked in alone he said "Hey kiddo!" I sat with him for a few hours before returning to Highland Park to work on some packing. Oddly enough, I thought a lot over the next week a lot about how alike we were and how grateful I was to have him around. We were both the oldest in our families, and shared a lot of the qualities that come along with that. High-achieving, responsible, pragmatic, detail-oriented, etc. While he was known to join his brothers in whatever topic they were shouting about (politics, sports, money, but usually politics) many times he was a voice of calm and reason. Family get-togethers are not going to be the same without him.
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be ever at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
My uncle Jimmy had only two feet. Not has. I'm still having a hard time talking about him in the past tense. The last time I saw him over a week ago in the hospital before his surgery he was drifting off to sleep. As I walked in alone he said "Hey kiddo!" I sat with him for a few hours before returning to Highland Park to work on some packing. Oddly enough, I thought a lot over the next week a lot about how alike we were and how grateful I was to have him around. We were both the oldest in our families, and shared a lot of the qualities that come along with that. High-achieving, responsible, pragmatic, detail-oriented, etc. While he was known to join his brothers in whatever topic they were shouting about (politics, sports, money, but usually politics) many times he was a voice of calm and reason. Family get-togethers are not going to be the same without him.
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be ever at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
For Boston, For Boston, We Sing Our Proud Refrain
There are a ton of songs about Boston, so be prepared for me to reference them here as often as possible in a most corny fashion. The title to this blog is from the song "For Boston" by Dropkick Murphys (who else, really). I can't wait until I can see them play in their native city.
Speaking of their native city, I'm moving there in FIVE days! It's absolute insanity. I've never lived farther than an hour or 2 from home, let alone out of the state, so this is going to be a HUGE change. The point of this blog is for me to chronicle some of my adventures, keep you all abreast of what's shaking in my life, and encourage you to let me know what's going on in yours. Needless to say, I'm going to miss so many people so very very much, that I think it's best for me to focus on the positive:
I'M MOVING TO BOSTON!!!!!!!!
Ok, that's over. For now. If I see you over the next few days I can't promise you won't hear that in person.
I had a most amazing last-weekend-in-Jersey, I have to say. I spent Friday evening having dinner with my Steph ('anie!' as her mom would make sure to add). I'm going to miss that girl like crazy! She's one of a select group of people I credit my sanity to. I had to bolt early to try to avoid crazy parkway traffic and get a head start on some packing, which proved futile, because everyone in Ocean County forgot how to drive on Friday. I was in traffic for an hour due to an accident that was already mostly cleaned up. Whoops! Saturday I did some packing/cleaning and had a hugely adventurous night. I spent about four hours at the Fontainbleu Diner with the members of my Henderson family still residing in NJ. It was so great to spend lots of time with all of them. We were cracking up the whole night, and I loved every bit of it. After that, we made a midnight run to Dunkin Donuts, which I found out is where all the high schoolers in Highland Park hang out on the weekend. Fun times. I got home around 12:30 and found out (due to my increasingly worrisome Facebook/Twitter habit) that the lead singer of one of my favorite bands was about to go on at the Court Tavern. They didn't advertise the show, but every once in a while the lead singer of the Gaslight Anthem does solo acoustic shows at this little bar in New Brunswick. I got there at about 1:30am- in time to catch the last 3 songs. The crowd was filled with very drunk very enthusiastic Gaslight Anthem fans, and I was thrilled to be there and hang out with some Manor boys. Today I just procrastinated and then packed some more. All in all, a great weekend.
I'm starting my very last week with Amachi tomorrow, and it's getting late even for me. Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite :)
Speaking of their native city, I'm moving there in FIVE days! It's absolute insanity. I've never lived farther than an hour or 2 from home, let alone out of the state, so this is going to be a HUGE change. The point of this blog is for me to chronicle some of my adventures, keep you all abreast of what's shaking in my life, and encourage you to let me know what's going on in yours. Needless to say, I'm going to miss so many people so very very much, that I think it's best for me to focus on the positive:
I'M MOVING TO BOSTON!!!!!!!!
Ok, that's over. For now. If I see you over the next few days I can't promise you won't hear that in person.
I had a most amazing last-weekend-in-Jersey, I have to say. I spent Friday evening having dinner with my Steph ('anie!' as her mom would make sure to add). I'm going to miss that girl like crazy! She's one of a select group of people I credit my sanity to. I had to bolt early to try to avoid crazy parkway traffic and get a head start on some packing, which proved futile, because everyone in Ocean County forgot how to drive on Friday. I was in traffic for an hour due to an accident that was already mostly cleaned up. Whoops! Saturday I did some packing/cleaning and had a hugely adventurous night. I spent about four hours at the Fontainbleu Diner with the members of my Henderson family still residing in NJ. It was so great to spend lots of time with all of them. We were cracking up the whole night, and I loved every bit of it. After that, we made a midnight run to Dunkin Donuts, which I found out is where all the high schoolers in Highland Park hang out on the weekend. Fun times. I got home around 12:30 and found out (due to my increasingly worrisome Facebook/Twitter habit) that the lead singer of one of my favorite bands was about to go on at the Court Tavern. They didn't advertise the show, but every once in a while the lead singer of the Gaslight Anthem does solo acoustic shows at this little bar in New Brunswick. I got there at about 1:30am- in time to catch the last 3 songs. The crowd was filled with very drunk very enthusiastic Gaslight Anthem fans, and I was thrilled to be there and hang out with some Manor boys. Today I just procrastinated and then packed some more. All in all, a great weekend.
I'm starting my very last week with Amachi tomorrow, and it's getting late even for me. Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite :)
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