NYC First-Timer

L. has pointed out that I have been negligent on the blog as of late, and for that I apologize.

But the brothers are in town and things get pretty wild when that happens, and ALSO today we went snowboarding and I feel like jell-o. We also played a lot of Wii. And if you're like me aka only do elliptical at the gym aka never lift weights ever and have no upper body strength, that makes you SORE.

C. and I are taking an impromptu trip to New York City on Wednesday! I'm driving to Connecticut tomorrow to stay with her and then we're leaving on the train early Wednesday. Now, I have something pretty outrageous to admit. Are you ready for it?

I have never been to New York City.

I know! I just have never had an opportunity. So congratulations, C. Though there have been many who have wanted to be the one to do it, you will be the first and only to rid me of my NYC purity. S'a big deal.

Now, my question to you: What should I do when I'm there??? I'd love your suggestions. All I know is that I definitely want to see Central Park and Times Square (of course). I had originally wanted to go to MacLaren's until L. and C. politely pointed out that it does not, in fact, exist. I also wanted to visit the Friends Apartment and go on the Sex and the City Bus Tour, but C. was not amused at the suggestion.

I AM SO EXCITED EXPECT PICTURES.

And hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! More on mine to come.

PS: Ah! Look at it snowing in New York!!! (Love that widget!)

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Surprisingly, the DMV is Not More Joyous at Christmas-time

That's right.

Being the brilliant genius that I am, I decided to pay a visit to the DMV two days before Christmas.

What's even worse, I forced my sweet mother who only wanted to do her pre-Christmas errands and continue to bring joy and cheer to everyone in our family to come with me. They should put people in jail for that. Dragging family members to the DMV, that is. Not spreading joy and cheer. Definitely carry on with that.

We got there and I rushed like a madperson to fill out my form before everyone else so I could be first in line. Luckily they were a good stratified sample of the populus that inhabits Manchester, NH, and it wasn't hard to finish before them. You can take that to mean whatever you'd like, but what I mean is there isn't much that my college education has done for me so far besides apparently make me irresistible to creepy older dudes, so I was pleased that my speed-reading skills seem to be paying off.

Anyways, I finished my form first and rushed to the front of the line. Ah ha! Felt pretty pleased with myself, too. Got up to the little check-in/eye test place. Was informed they can't mail my license to me at Williams, aka out of state. WHY DO YOU HATE BIRTHDAY CHEER, DMV?

See, here's the issue. NH makes your license expire ON your 21st birthday--so, for me, January 21 2010. They also insist on putting a large egregious red bar across the bottom of your license that screams that you will, indeed, be under 21 until that time. NH also likes when you get your license renewed before your birthday (you know, so you actually have a valid license when you're drivin around), and THEN if you get it renewed even a day before your birthday they like to keep the obnoxious red bar at the bottom. Which means that, in turn, the bars that you try to go to in order to obtain your hard-earned first legal drink like to look at that bar, laugh at you, and tell you to go home.

So, I decided it would still be better to have a license with a dirty, lying red bar across it than an expired license on my 21st birthday, hence my arrival at the DMV. But then Miss DMV informs me that they can't mail the license out of state, which means that rather than have the red bar across the bottom I'll probably have a piece of paper that looks I photocopied it from some person's real license. Which is great.

So my mum agrees to mail me the license when it comes in, and then we go wait for a long time, and then I get called over for Mrs Photo-Taker Lady. Mrs Photo-Taker Lady gets really confused for about 10 minutes, wondering why the screen told her that I had paid my $50 fee. Here's how that went.

Mrs Photo-Taker Lady: Did you already pay your fee over there?
Me: No, I have cash right here to pay.
MPTL: But the computer says you paid.
Me: But...I didn't.
MPTL: Okay, well let me just call them over there. (Proceeds to do so.)
MPTL: So you really didn't pay over there?
Me: No. I am going to pay right now. I have the money right here. I would not give you 50 dollars again had I already given it to Miss DMV.
Her: Okay...(disbelieving)

She counts the money and puts it in the drawer, and then makes some typey type types for another 5 minutes.

Then that Chipmunk song comes on. Note: When people are in the DMV two days before Christmas, the last thing they want to hear is the Chipmunk song.

MPTL: OMGZ HAVE YOU SEEN THE PREVIEW FOR THAT NEW CHIPMUNK MOVIE?! (Actually.)
Me: Um, I think so?
MPTL: There are girl chipmunks!
Me: Huh.

More typey type types.

MPTL: Okay, how are you paying today?
Me: I just gave you cash.
MPTL: You did?
Me: Yes. I just gave you cash. Two twenties and two fives.
MPTL: Really?
Me: YES.
MPTL: Okay...(disbelieving)

More typey types and then prints out my temporary license.

Me: You didn't take a new picture.
MPTL: I didn't?
Me: No. You did not. (Guys, I look about 13 in the old one It's absolutely horrifying.)
MPTL: Ooopsie, why did I even print that! HA-HA!

I have no idea, friends. I have no idea.

But I'm telling you...I can't make this stuff up.

Ten Things That Make Me Happy Award

I got this award from Date Girl's blog, which is on my list of daily must-reads. Her list was oh-so lovely, so I was excited to make mine!

The rules of the award:

Copy the award image in your post.
List 10 things that make you happy, and try to do at least one of them today.
Then, tag 10 bloggers that make you happy! (I've got quite a long list over there on my left sidebar!)
For the 10 bloggers who get the award, link back to me and spread the happiness!

Here we go:

1. Lists! How appropriate. I'll admit it--I'm a list fanatic. There's something SO satisfying about writing all the daunting things you have to do down and taking satisfaction in crossing them off. Or planning parties and writing down what you'll need while struggling through Chem class...or the types of dogs you're going to adopt when you graduate college...etc, etc.

2. My Brothers Coming Home for Christmas! I love, love the years that my brothers (1, 2, or 3 of 3!) get to come home for Christmas. I love the feeling of a full house bustling with people. I even love sharing my bathroom, aka sanctuary of cleanliness and femininity with them--though they take longer to groom than I do.

3. L. He makes me so happy I almost typed his first name in capital letters, and caught myself and replaced it with his initial at the last second. I love that he calls me baby and it doesn't sound generic. It makes me happy when he picks up little gifts for me that remind him of me (LED light shark keychain? Hell yes!) It makes me happy when he texts me throughout the day when we're apart and always, always makes sure he says I love you and goodnight at the end of the day.

4. Abby. I have the cutest pup in the world. She's 5 and still acts like she's 2. She's clingy as hell but hey, I kinda love it. She slobbers all over me but I don't mind. I like scratching her belly and brushing her because it makes her happy, which in turn makes me happy.

5. Romantic Airport Rendezvous. Even though I hate being away from L. for any period of time, nothing makes me happier than greeting him at the airport. I love eagerly watching for him to walk down the terminal, and I love jumping up into his arms and squealing even if we've only been apart for a week. Gag if you want, but it's them things keeps relationships alive. Also, we've hit a LOT of airports with our rendezvous-tendencies in our one year relationship tenure: St. Louis, Albany, Boston, Manchester, LAX. Impressive.

6. My friends! There's only a few people from high school I still talk to, including Big Relationship, who's still my best friend (don't worry, I know you probably think it's odd...everyone else does too), and they make me happy when I come home. But my Williams friends are people I think will make me happy for the rest of my life, and for that I am incredibly thankful.

7. Christmas Shopping. I know! Everyone has all these posts about how miserable shopping during the holiday season is, but you know what? Call me a masochist, but I really kinda dig it. Lines, crowds, traffic, DEALS, mobs, music, DEALS. It's invigorating! It's a deviation from every day life. People feel like they're part of something. Isn't that what people always want?

8. The Fact that Movie Theaters are Open Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. I know a lot of people will hate me for this one (sorry S.!), but going to the movies Thanksgiving night and Christmas night are some of my most treasured traditions. What's better than gorging yourself on tons of food and then sitting comatose in a giant climate-controlled environment with huge screens and comfy seats? NOTHING, THAT'S WHAT.

9. My Wonderful Parents. My dad took me to get my car fixed today, spent way, way more than anyone should ever have to spend on a car for it, hung out with me for 6 hours while we waited for it to be done, took me to lunch at Chili's even though he doesn't really like Mexican/Southwestern food but knows I love it, brought me to the pet store to look at all the animals, and waited in traffic for 45 minutes at the mall to get my mom a toaster that she really wanted only because it's red and matches the rest of the kitchen. Best dad ever! My mum remembered an off-hand comment I made months ago about desperately wanting Uggs and came home with doppelganger fuggs (fake-uggs) for me, and wasn't able to wrap them and wait to give them to me cause she LOVES giving presents even more than getting them.

10. My Blog! And My Blog's Readers! Blogging is so great as a personal outlet since, because of the dawn of technology I am no longer able to write by hand, but it makes it so much better when I check my statcounter or my comments and see that people enjoy it too! Thanks so much!

And on that note, here are 10 Bloggers Who Always (or Have Recently Begun to!) Brighten My Day!

1. Duoly Noted
2. oh hay, it's kk
3. Shine Out Loud
4. Ramblings of a Fab Brunette
5. Medical School Mrs.
6. The Everyday Adventures of Me in the City
7. kissing frogs
8. Oh, Mishka
9. Girl v. The World
10. Stephany Writes

PICTURES FROM MY SHOW!

As an early Christmas present to me, my pictures from the play I directed in November, The Shape of Things, are FINALLY READY!

I spent most of my fall semester working to bring this show to life, and I had wonderful help from my stage manager Lauren and my actors...aaand that's about it. In terms of the big things, anyway, like directing, production, stage managing, lights, costumes, and sound design. It was truly one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.

I'm not exactly sure what the rules are about sharing these with all of you, so I'm gonna credit the photographer and note that if he wants me to take them down, I will do so (with a heavy heart).

So, the pictures were taken for Cap and Bells, Williams' student theater group, and the show was produced with the help of the Williams Theatre Department and the 62 Center for Theatre and Dance. The wonderful and super nice photograper is Leland Brewster.

Here's a synopsis of the show. (Movie version, but it's directed by the playwright. Who is Neil LaBute, by the way!)

So much red tape. Here we go!

(This last one's my personal favorite. You have NO IDEA how hard it was to get that flat and projector working, and how much anxiety it caused me each night. But this moment, which was the final scene, brought tears to my eyes every night...and some of the audience's eyes, or so I heard!)

Shorty?

I just found a really interesting article on Your Tango about women who refuse to date shorter men. Is this a pretty universal thing? I know that personally, I've always preferred my boyfriends to be 6'0 or even taller (I'm 5'4), and though it sounds weird, when I think of my best relationships, they were with people who were 6'3, 6'1, and 6'0 (sorry L., that last one should be is 6'0!)

How does everyone else feel about this? I think a big part of it for me is that shorter men often break my universal rule of dating--I won't date people whose thighs are smaller than mine! Another part of it is that, just like most people have those weird things that really do it for them, I'm hopelessly attracted to giants. Like towering, fi-fi-fo-fum, my-head-rests-in-their-armpit, giants. It seems to make me swoon when they're about a foot taller than me. See?:

Exhibit A:

Jason Segel.
Major crush.
6'4.

Exhibit B:

Michael Phelps.
Take me now.
6'4.

Exhibit C:

John Krasinski
Please let me have your (tall) babies.
6'3

... I could go on and on.

So am I the only one that goes for Gigantors, or do you guys like 'em too?

Unhealthy Obsession With Change

Those of you who have been following my blog anytime in the last couple weeks or months: how are you liking the new layout(s)? I think the day I learned hmtl was a bad day indeed for mine and my blog's relationship. Ever since I've just been on my poor blog's butt, making it change everything about itself in order to please me.

I'm pretty happy with the current layout, and so I'm hoping I can just leave it at that and stop messing around. It's just this weird compulsion for change that I have. I'm always cutting my hair, used to drop guys faster than fbook friends who post really annoying statuses and clog my home page (until I met L.!) (also, to those fb friends: you're on watch), am constantly buying boxes and boxes of tea only to decide I like one kind the best...etc, etc. It's definitely a problem...and part of the reason I started this blog! The only thing worse than being a compulsive planner is being a compulsive changer...

So, how do you feel about the new layout?

It's Finals, I Do What I Want!!!

Finals is code for "do whatever the hell you want." It is absolute anarchy. People have no classes and are stuck here so they're all, HEY, I don't gotta study for this, I'll do what I want all week and study later!

By people, I mean me.

I finished all my papers etc. on Monday. My last final is this upcoming Sunday. That's almost a week to study and prepare.

I am SO not prepared. It is the most horrific feeling in the world. Panic has begun to set in. Don't get me wrong, I have kick ass outlines. I have the best outlines anyone has probably ever had, short of companies that actually produce and sell outlines. But have I studied them at all?

NO.

Another funny thing about finals is the way people eat. All of a sudden there's NO ONE in the dining halls. People are like, "IT'S FINALS, I DO WHAT I WANT. I'ma order dinner in EVERY NIGHT cause it's finals and I can treat myself."

By these people, I mean me. (And actually a ton of people here at Williams).

Last night at approximately 12:30 L. and I decided we were hungry. What did we do? ORDERED BBQ CHICKEN FINGERS. I'm eating them cold now. How good is cold chicken? We also got thai takeout Sunday night, went to Subway tonight, and are going to the Forge, aka the best wings and steaks and all around meat place in the Berkshires, tomorrow night. I'm celebrating the end of my 5-day food poisoning streak (and by food poisoning, I mean e.coli or salmonella, because let's face it, no one gets food poisoning for 5 days).

I really should have been studying today, but instead I blogged and (three-count 'em--three posts), watched How I Met Your Mother. And made lots of playlists.

And that is why my Con Law final on Sunday is going to suck.