geeky. girly. SPAAARKLYYY.

 I got the best award ever from Angela a couple of days ago.

The Geek Girls Unite Award! 
[For girls who are proud to be geeks.]
[Isn't it awesome? And SPARKLY?]

And here are the rules:
List ten geeky facts about yourself and...
Pass this award onto your favorite female geeks!
That's all you need to do!

My geekiness is my favorite thing in the world to talk about, so let's do this!

Top Ten Geekiest Facts About Me:

1, I used the phrase “Joss is Boss” at a dinner party. Everyone stared at me.

2. I read Terry Pratchett.

3. I get all teary-eyed when I hear the Shire theme.

4. I depend on Digg as my primary news source.

5. I own an album called This Machine Pwns n00bs.

6. I read so. Many. Webcomics. For instance,
Basic Instructions
cyanide and happiness
Girls With Slingshots
Questionable Content
Sam and Fuzzy
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cartoons (click the red button!)
Subnormality
Super Effective
Today, Nothing Happened
xkcd

7. I know what Howl’s Moving Castle is.

8. I know what the fifth element is. In chemistry AND in the Bruce Willis/Milla Jovovich movie.

9. And I know what sectumsempra would do to you.

10. My nerd boyfriend and want to get a Corgi puppy and name him or her Einstein, after the genius dog in Cowboy Bebop.

Whee! That was fun. I'm passing the torch to [drum roll, please...] Caity of caity.nu! She's one of my favorite girl geek bloggers. On her front page alone you've got a birthday picture of her in a Nintendo t-shirt, a sweet picture of her Kindle, and a blatant plug for Flight of the Conchords. That's so much awesome I can barely stand it.

Feel free to nab this and pass it on to your friends, as well. This is a really cool award and I want to see it all over the blogosphere.

Have a great weekend everyone, and DFTBA.

looking for a song to sing

Thing One: If you were a senior in high school and you had to sing a song dedicated your peers and teachers, what song would you pick? Rules that we invented:

1. No songs from musicals or rock operas or anything with a storyline. Songs out of context = the devil!
2. Something that can be accompanied by a live piano or guitar -- no tacky karaoke tracks (not appropriate for the venue).
3. Nothing that conveys overt hostility towards yours peers/teachers. "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day is OK, "Fuck You" by Lily Allen is not.
4. It's a relatively mellow event, so nothing too lively. "Dancing Queen" or "Tik Tok" are probably out of the question.

This survey is to benefit my younger sister, who has been hard-pressed to pick a song for Senior Solo Night, which is in a week. She had a relatively great high school experience, and so I think she really wants to pick a song that shows her appreciation for and warmth towards her friends and mentors. I gave her some good suggestions, most of which she nixed (I can't imagine WHY she wouldn't want to sing "I Shot The Sheriff") some of which she initially liked but then she couldn't find good enough sheet music. So I turn to you. Help me, internets. You're my only hope!

Thing Two: Unlike a lot of people, I basically loved high school. I found my niche early on (band geeks FTW) and stuck to it, and the social structure of my massive public school was too chaotic for a stifling clique-y heirarchy. Everyone basically left each other alone. I had my four best friends who accepted me for who I was (and still do!). I had teachers whom I respected and looked up to (and some I didn't of course). And there were a surprising amount of good looking guys when I was there, so had tons of eye candy to feast upon every. Single. Day. (Something you should know about me is that I was completely boy crazy for all four years of high school. If I wasn't lusting after a classmate, it was some celebrity or a guy I saw at a random Starbucks on my way to a flute lesson.)

Obviously I do look back and roll my eyes at a lot of things, cringe at my attitudes and actions, and sigh with relief that I don't have to wake up every morning at 6 and go be somewhere for seven hours, five days a week. I'm not trying to romanticize it. I think.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I'm glad high school is over, it wasn't exactly torture for me. And this whole thing with my sister's Senior Solo Night got me thinking about what I would have chosen to dedicate to my friends and mentors. I can't say for sure, but I like to think it would have been this:

I'm awake, you're still sleeping
The sun will rise like yesterday
Everything that we are now
Is everything we can't let go
Or its gone forever, far away
I hope tomorrow is like today
Don't you go away tomorrow
I don't think I could handle that
You're probably dreaming that you're flying on
Then you start to fall
But then you rise
and shine forever
Don't go away
I hope tomorrow is like today

Tell me what your experience was like! What song would you have chosen as your big fat farewell to high school? And you don't have to follow the rules I set above -- you can be as passive-aggressive (or just plain aggressive) as you please!

five things: a very short dramatic play

Scene: A phone conversation

Our players: 
MELISSA, half-asleep and isn't so much holding the phone to her ear as much as she has the phone balanced on the side of her head. 
MATT, similarly delirious. 

MATT: I seem to remember a certain person saying they would write a five things post on their blog today.
MELISSA: Ummmm but I am le tired. Plus no one even reads my blog I don't think.
MATT: (mildly offended) *I* read your blog!
MELISSA: But you already know five things about me. You already know ALL of the things about me.
MATT: That's not true. I could stand to know five more things.
MELISSA: (pregnant pause)
MATT: C'mon....
MELISSA: Ugh ok I will tell you five things FINE:

1. I like cats,
2. dogs
3. rabbits,
4. ....ka... kangaroos, and
5. um, babies.

MATT: Whoa, I didn't know you liked kangaroos.

MELISSA: Yeah I like them! They're cute. They hop all around and stuff and keep their babies in pockets?

MATT: Kangaroos are douchebags! They kick people in the face.

MELISSA: Oh...then I don't like them anymore. I changed my mind; I like ... fish. 

MATT: What kind of fish?

MELISSA: .....blue fish.

MATT: .... it's time to go to bed, isn't it?

MELISSA: zzzzzzzzz.

look! more flowers!

OK, let's pass this award to five bloggers, before the weekend is over. (I know it's 2 AM, so technically the weekend is over, but goddammit, today isn't over until I go to sleep!)

So here it is in all of its glory: THE SUNSHINE AWARD. BEHOLD.

The Sunshine Blog Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blog world. The rules for accepting the award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post

2. Pass the award to 5 bloggers

3. Link the nominees within your post

4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award

6. Share 5 things about yourself

So! First things first: my five. I tried to adhere pretty hard and fast to the concept of recognizing people for their positive attitude and their creativity, so I hope this award is meaningful for those of you who I've linked. And the award goes to:

1. Heather of Boyfriend Challenged. Because she's hilarious and because this post made me want to stand up and cheer. It's basically the "We Are The Champions" of single ladies.
2. Ally of Fourth-Grade Nothing. Because I always look forward to her posts. There's a real satisfaction that comes from learning way more than you needed to know about Strawberry Shortcake.
3. Ethony of Wicca, Tarot, Photography, Books and My Life. Because I've just been to her online photo gallery and it makes me want to try harder to create beautiful things.
4. Amber of Nostomanic. Because her blog is sheer, blinding brilliance. If you don't believe me, just go read her current post about the untapped potential of The Goblin King's bulge. Then we can talk.
5. Ashley of You're The Charlie Browniest. Because you know that one friend you have who can turn the most mundane thing into a hilarious anecdote and/or rant? She's the internet version of that.

Later today I'll be posting five things about myself. For now, I'll just say that if you haven't checked out any of these fine foxy ladies yet, then go right now or I don't know if we can be blog friends anymore. I'm serious. OK, I'm only a little bit serious. 

Thursday Five: Smooth Sailing

It's been one of those pleasant, busy weeks where Some Things Go Wrong but, by and large, Things Are Pretty Good. Nothing groundbreaking (no graduate school acceptances, no Publishers Clearing House knocking at my door with a giant check) but nothing too devastating either (no funeral services to attend, no dogs bringing baby bunnies into the house as a gift). Just smooth sailing, small pleasures, and personal victories. It's a good week to participate in MannLand5's Thursday 5 for the first time.

The graphic:

Did I ever mention that I love daisies? They're my favorite wild flower.

The rules:

Today's the day where we (those of us that want to) post 5 things that have made us

Joyful

Giddy

Excited

Thankful

Jubilant

or

Just plain ol' happy this week!

And then you link back to Keely, of course. (whose blog I just discovered via this meme).

And here's my five.

1. So I feel kind of like a fraud for being excited about this, but THE FLYERS ARE MAYBE GONNA GO TO THE STANLEY CUP WHAT. Being Matt's girlfriend basically necessitates becoming a Flyers fan, so I've started to really warm up to the sport over the years. The playoffs have been really fun to watch, and it feels weird to suddenly be a sports fan, but the more I think about it, the more it's just another branch of geekdom. At least that's how I'm going to look at it.
2. Ever since I started listening to Book One of Harry Potter on audiobook in the car, I actually look forward to driving around. I haven't re-read any of them in years, and I've forgotten so many of the details and how straight-up good it is. It's honestly like I'm reading the series for the first time.
3. My Very Geeky Friend from the library just turned me on to Fables. I really love fairy-tale retellings and anything having to do with inserting characters from mythology and classical literature into modern-day settings, and from what I can tell so far, that's what Fables is all about. So I'm really excited. Also, same Very Geeky Friend invited me to her weekly True Blood/Buffy Night -- it starts in June when season 3 of True Blood starts ... so I have until then to get completely caught up on the series, I guess...
4. I have one sentence (...fragment): Neil Patrick Harris guest starring on a Joss Whedon-directed episode of Glee. Ultimate win.
5. I found out that I got an award from the awesome Nikki of City Soliloquy! Thanks Nikki, if I could give it back to you, I would. I'll be passing it on to 5 more bloggers tomorrow. Hooray for spreading the love!

Wordless Wednesday

insane in the membrane: the story of my weekend

This weekend Matt and I descended upon Lambertville, NJ, a small, historic town near our alma mater that is known for its art community, antique shops, and all-around quaintness. It's the kind of place that I guess people go to retire. Honestly, after spending the weekend, now I kind of want to live there when I retire. It was awesome, is what I'm saying.

Some of the highlights of the trip:

• The FOOD, OMG. We just picked restaurants at random but we happened to end up at the best places in town. And the breakfast our B&B served was insane in the membrane. Warm scones with blueberry preserves, fresh fruit from the farmer's market, and blueberry-cornmeal pancakes from scratch. I nearly died.
• Touring River Horse Brewery and facepalming (in amusement) when Matt insisted on asking the geekiest questions like "What sanitizer do you use on  the bottles?" and "What kind of machine you use to flash-chill the beer?"
• Stumbling upon a secret room in an otherwise typical curio/antique shop that was literally jam-packed with pop culture memorabilia, records, action figures, old magazines (from Tiger Beat to Rolling Stone), pulp fiction books, and kitschy toys. Matt, who is a collector of classic rock LPs, found original presses of Are You Experienced by The Jimi Hendrix Experience AND Aqualung by Jethro Tull and he bought them both for FOURTEEN DOLLARS. 
• The fact that the B&B had A Mighty Wind in their DVD collection. It was slightly less exciting when the DVD crapped out just before all the good stuff happens, but still. It's the concept. 
• Discovering that I fucking love B&Bs and I don't care who knows it. All I can say is that instead of being worried that it would be lame and annoying and I'd have to make chit-chat with pretentious Princeton retirees [note: I actually did have to do that, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be], I should have been more concerned with the monster that a B&B would unleash in me. As soon as we got to the house and dropped off our bags I dragged Matt downstairs into the common area for way longer than necessary in the hopes that we would run into the owner again or come across another couple. So, yeah -- the B&B experiment went, like, outlandishly well.  

And now. Pictures.

Here's the pop culture room I mentioned before. I seriously had to catch my breath when I first walked into this room. It's like Geek Heaven.

This is Peddler's Village, where Matt and I had dinner and window shopped. I took this picture while he was buying us some ice cream. 

Our room. It was way bigger than it looks and so cozy. That bed was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. I have to admit, though, when I saw the flowered wallpaper I had a bit of a moment from the episode of Gilmore Girls I talked about last time. You GG fans know what I'm talking about. And no, there wasn't actually any foil in the paper.

I just needed you to know that our toilet paper looked like this when we got to our room. This is the level of service we received, people.

I can't believe I'm even posting this, but I just wanted to show you how Matt has this uncanny ability to ruin pictures of us. 

See?

And of course, the obligatory food picture. This is Matt's order of Chocolate-Banana Coconut French Toast. I bet you can guess what happened approximately 1 minute later.

Gone.

don't you want to ring the bell?

Matt and I are taking a trip this weekend for our third anniversary. There's going to be brewery-touring and sculpture garden-traversing and delicious food-eating and bubble bath-taking and THIS:

That is the Martin Coryell House, a B&B in Lambertville, NJ where we'll be spending the night in what appears to be absurd amounts of comfort and luxury. I admit that I'm somewhat worried that this will be like that episode of Gilmore Girls where they get lost on their US road trip and end up at this B&B that Lorelai's friend used to own but got taken over by a crazy cat lady named Ladawn. 

Also, my friends K and K from college went to a B&B in the Catskills for their anniversary, and they told me it was extremely harrowing and scary because it was like a creepy little cabin in Deliverance-type woods that was seriously COVERED in pictures of little Rip van Winkle men. 

So! Based on those impressions, I'm just a little wary. But mostly I'm just excited that Matt and I get to stay in such a nice place for our anniversary. 

Anyone with similar (or, perhaps, more positive) B&B experiences is definitely welcome to share them. People, I need to know whether we're doing the right thing or if we should go ahead and skip it, maybe book a night at the Marriott instead.

In any case, I'll be back soon with plenty of pictures and hopefully nice things to say. Have a great weekend, everyone, and DFTBA.

true life: i watch way too much true life

Today Lindsay (my BFF) and I were texting back and forth while simultaneously watching MTV's daily one-hour block of True Life (a tradition spanning several years) and the following exchanges occurred:

Oh P.S.  - The first episode was "True Life: I'm a Fanboy" and the second was "True Life: I'm Ex-Amish."

BFF: omg wtf THIS kid has a gf!? ["this kid" being the wannabe low-budget horror filmmaker]
Me: lollll i am just as surprised as you

BFF: awww awk nerdlove [sent when the two Power Rangers geeks went shopping together and shared a cute-but-cringeworthy moment]
Me: HEY! nerdlove is beautiful

BFF: this is SO WEIRD [sent when the wannabe low-budget horror filmmaker debuted his short film about a person who wakes up in the middle of the night only to find that Freddy Kreuger has possessed his penis]
Me: i'm afraid. mama? are you there, mama?

BFF: [just before the ex-Amish True Life starts] yesss i don't think ive seen this one. i was confusing it with that other documentary we saw i think.
Me: ohhh yeahhh. man, you know you're weird when you don't know which amish-based thing you're about to watch cause you've seen too many.
BFF: hahahaha oh mannn, and i made fun of the fanboys??

Me: [upon discovering that the Amish speak a different language sometimes] whattt is this language! this is new to me!
BFF: oh it's like german. i forget actually if it's regular german or an amish version. but yeah.
Me: oh man that didn't sound german at all! but i guess he wasn't using very german pronunciation
BFF: right yeah i'm sure it's been modified over the years. i know bc i read those religious romances written about amish people
Me: WHAT OMG I NEVER KNEW THAT ABOUT YOU dude i'm gonna call VH-1 right now and you can be their amish enthusiast for "i love the pennsylvania dutch"
BFF: shut uppp lollll

Best friends. You can learn everything there is to know about their ways in a month, and after a hundred years, they can still surprise you.

Okay, that may or may not be a quote from LOTR that Gandalf says about Hobbits. But I still think it applies. I never ever ever knew that my best friend had an Amish romance fetish. And now I do. I think I need to go sit down.

perseverance and patience

I'm feeling much better about life now that I've dropped the piss-poor attitude that resulted in my last post. I feel like everyone has a right to occasionally lose all perspective and indulge in straight-up wallowing, but I'm reading it back over and feeling kind of silly for writing all that stuff about how I am not a unique snowflake and how I'm lazy and bad at video games. That's not really a fair representation of my life right now.

I need to snap out of feeling like I failed. So I lost direction in college and failed a couple classes. Shit happens. So I'm just now figuring out what I want to do with my life. Well, at least I'm taking steps to have the life I want. So I live at home and haven't started earning a salary yet. So what? Who says you have to be financially independent by 23? By 25? I'm the only one who's been putting pressure on myself to move along faster than I have the means to move.

 My parents are insane for letting me live with them for as long as I need to, but they've insisted on it so I'm not going to argue with that. In the meantime, I'm doing everything I can to create an adult life. I've set my sights on my career path and I'm speeding off in that direction. I have a job I love and a cool boyfriend and my best friends are awesome and I get to live with my hilarious sister. And that's a lot.

These are the things I have to remember when I'm feeling inadequate. This needs to be my manifesto for the times I feel like I haven't done anything worthwhile in these past 23 years. Because while my life might not be remarkable, it's not forgettable. Instead of feeling like shit for having a boring life right now, I should remind myself that this is just the part where I lay the foundation for the outrageously awesome life I'm going to have soon.

And the rest is just perseverance and patience.

tyler durden, you're just a big fat bully

You know how some days you just feel completely mediocre? Maybe you see some YouTube video of a child genius who can do calculus and stack cups and paint replica Van Goghs all at the same time and it just makes you feel like you've failed at life? That's kind of been my past two days. Examples:

• I went to a concert for high school jazz prodigies, which was pretty cool, but mainly just served as a reminder that I used to have some real musical talent but I squandered it away because I just didn't have the dedication or the skillz and I could never be bothered to practice.
• One of the high school jazz prodigies happens to be my sister, who isn't even really a jazz vocalist but worked extremely hard to move past her vocal comfort level for several weeks just so she could do an amazing job at this one performance. On the other hand, I am sometimes too lazy to get myself a glass of water.
• My best friend is so good at the flute that she's in the Navy band and in a couple of months she is going to move to an international naval base in Italy and live there for five years being a professional musician. In contrast, I have been living with my parents for almost a year. 
• My cousin is about to study abroad in New Zealand for three weeks and then after that she is moving to Manhattan for an internship with the School of American Ballet. Why is everyone in my life so much cooler than me?!
• Meanwhile, I recently learned that I can't even make it to the second castle in Super Mario Brothers Wii on my own without dying a billion times and using like 6 "continues". I CAN'T EVEN FUCKING BEAT A VIDEO GAME. COME ON.

I think last week I was so manic and proud of myself for getting into graduate school that a come-down was inevitable. It's like someone shined the harsh light of reality right into my face: you're not that special just because you got moved up the wait list and into a graduate school program. Thousands of other people got in to grad school this year too. It's like my own Tyler Durden has surfaced and he's like "YOU ARE NOT A BEAUTIFUL OR UNIQUE SNOWFLAKE. YOU ARE THE SAME DECAYING MATTER AS EVERYTHING ELSE," except that this isn't Fight Club, so I don't feel like I've transcended the mundane through nihilism, I just feel like crap in a bag.

Guh. This sucks. 

P.S. OK, I feel way better now -- I found out that Angela (who I'm officially naming my blogging fairy godmother) nominated me for 20SB's Featured Blogger for the month of June! And I was like, say WHAT? I don't quite feel like I've paid my dues enough to win the title, but the nomination really made my day. And, I guess, if you like what you've been reading here over the past couple of weeks, you should definitely feel free to go second her vote. 

memes and mommies

I just discovered Sunday Stealing, which is a meme made up of only "stolen" memes that they collect from all over the blogosphere. It's very meta. I think. Sometimes I'm not quite sure I know exactly what "meta" means. But anyway. Let's DO this.

1. What's your favorite Dr. Seuss book? 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

2. If you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be?

When I was younger, it was definitely Clarissa's room in Clarissa Explains it All. Now I just want to live in Lorelai and Rory Gilmore's house. And I want a town troubadour and the Bracebridge dinner and Luke's diner too. Is that so much to ask?

3. What's the longest you've gone without sleep?

Hm. I'm thinking of a specific occasion (but that's another blog post) and I think it was like, 25 hours or something. And all I remember is feeling like walking death.

4. What's your favorite Barry Manilow song?

OH MANDY WELL YOU CAME AND YOU GAVE WITHOUT TAAAKING

5. Who's your favorite Muppet?

Beaker!

6. What's the habit you're proudest of breaking?
Up until a fairly advanced age, I used to eat my own boogers. Yeah. Really, really glad I stopped doing that.

7. What's your favorite website?

According to my browser's history, it's Cracked.com. I would agree.

8. What's your favorite school supply?

Highlighters!

9. Who's your favorite TV attorney?

Marshall!

10. What was your most recent trip of more than 50 miles?
I drove up to my friend's apartment in Astoria, NY to perform some Broken Heart First Aid. It was a hard weekend -- but worth it. Incidentally, that also marks the first time I extensively worked on a Mac and realized they weren't Enigmatic Mystery Machines.

11. What's the best bargain you've ever found at a garage sale or junk shop?
Wow, I don't know if I've ever been to a garage sale or a junk shop. I guess the closest thing is that once, I found an amazing chartreuse lounge chair at a Goodwill for like $50, but... I didn't have the money or any reason whatsoever to buy it. Sigh.

12. Where were you on September 11, 2001?
I was in 9th grade at the time, so I was at school. I hate to say that it wasn't that hard of a day for me -- I was only 14 and although I could tell that it was very bad (my teachers were crying and many people went home) I didn't quite understand what was going on until I came home to an empty house and  saw all of the footage on the news. Then my sister, 9 years old at the time, got back and I couldn't believe how happy I was to see her alive and I told her what happened and we just hugged and cried until my mom came home. God. Not a great time.

13. What's your favorite tree?

Weeping Cherry. We used to have one of these in my backyard and I spent a lot of summer days leaned up against it reading. Then my dad chopped it down. Oooh, I'm still sore about that. 

14. What's the most interesting biography you've read?
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (or at least, that's the one that stands out the most right now).

15. What do you order when you eat Chinese food?
Chinese isn't usually my first choice, but sometimes I get wicked cravings for sesame chicken.

16. What's the best costume you've ever worn?

Asian Juno!

17. What's your least favorite word?
"Clumpy." Augh. Ew. Gross. Blech. Gag.

18. If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be?
Alaska. Because of the John Green book, not because of any particular allegiances or affiliations. Cough.

19. What's your favorite bear?
Ummm. Gummi.

20. Describe something that's happened to you for which you have no explanation.
Ok, let's see if I can explain this. Once my friends and I were walking the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk and another group of girls were walking towards us. As we crossed paths, one of the girls ran into my friend Karen, hysterically screamed at her like she had just seen a ghost, and then ran away. We have NO IDEA why. We don't think it was a prank or a dare, since it's not even like she and her friends subsequently pointed and laughed in that "I-can't-believe-you-just-DID-that" way. It was totally bizarre.

21. If you could travel anywhere in Africa, where would it be?

Marrakesh, please!

22. What did you have for lunch yesterday?
A large #1 meal at Chick-Fil-A. That's the chicken sandwich, for those of you who aren't tragically addicted to Crack-Fil-A like me.

23. Where do you go for advice?
My cousin Abbey, my parents, my friends, my sister, and occasionally the Internet.

24. Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus?

Thesaurus!

25. Have you ever been snorkeling? Scuba diving?
Snorkeling, yes -- on a tropical island in the Philippines, no less! It was THE BOMB. I've never been scuba diving, but I am dying to learn.

Okay -- last thing is a quick weekend update: 

• I came a little bit closer to making a decision vis-a-vis the Mac vs. PC thing. Thank you for your comments/input!
• I went and saw Iron Man 2 and thoroughly enjoyed it, and now I'm all fangirl squee-ing over the potential Avengers movie that Joss Whedon is allegedly maybe possibly rumored to be directing GAH.
• I celebrated Mother's Day with... my mom. And my sister. We went shopping and helped her pick out an awesome purple dress for my cousin's July wedding. Hooray for my mommy. And your mommy. Mommies in general, really. 

What about you? Did you (and/or your mom) have a kick-ass weekend?

what i'm wishing for

Ever since I got into grad school I've been unnecessarily celebrating whenever possible. Yesterday my sister and I went to the Cheesecake Factory and I dropped like 70 bucks on lunch just because I felt like eating a special "CONGRATULATIONS" meal. I went to the mall with Matt on Tuesday and bought myself 5 new pairs of underwear from Victoria's Secret, because underwear is obviously essential to the graduate school experience.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm in an "I'm worth it" kind of mood lately. And when I get into that kind of mood, I get really, really materialistic. I start remembering all of the things I wanted to buy that I couldn't afford or didn't really need that are somehow suddenly worth getting now because hey, I'm awesome!

And because you care, this is my "Suddenly Worth Getting" Wishlist.

An Erin Condren Life Planner. When I was in undergrad my planner was my lifeline. But since I graduated, things have been pretty low-key and thus I haven't really needed one lately. But things are COMPLETELY different now. I'm going to have assignments! Meetings! Registration deadlines! Not to mention a pretty hefty work schedule! I need a planner to sort all of that stuff out. And clearly I need a planner that can be customized with my name and the photo of my choice and comes with nifty stickers and bookplates and 2 matching notepads that costs three times as much as a planner from Target or Staples. Clearly. [Edit 5/8 @ 11:32 AM - I went ahead and bought one because they happen to be on SUPER UBER SALE right now. Hooray for semi-impulse purchases!]

A new iPod and a new iTrip. Hey, I'm going to be a commuter student, and it's a one-and-a-half hour drive all the way up to campus. I'm going to need something to play my audiobooks and my music so I don't go crazy on the way there and the way back. Because let's be honest, the radio just isn't cutting it these days. I've listened to "Eenie Meenie" by Justin Bieber feat. Sean Kingston way more times than I care to divulge here.

A Flip Mino HD video camera. I ... uh. When I walk to class, I'll need to, uh. Film myself. So I can remember how to... get there. Okay, I can't really think of a reason why I'd need this for grad school, but I've wanted one for years.

An Apple MacBook. This is the big one, the one I'm very seriously considering. My little old Dell has been a such a trooper, but I really do think I'm going to need a new laptop for grad school. And I've been thinking about making the switch to Apple for a couple of months now. The dealbreaker was yesterday, when a bunch of my co-workers overheard me saying that I wanted a new computer for school and they all recommended Mac. They said that on the youth services track, they'd had to do a lot of multimedia projects that a Mac would have been perfect for. I'm hoping to be able to scrounge up the money to buy one by July or August. And I'm also hoping to panhandle at my parents to help me out a little -- but my dad thinks Macs are disgustingly overpriced, so I'm not sure if that's going to go over well.

I'm curious -- what's on your wishlist these days?

Alternately: Do those of you who use Macs have a good solid list of pros and cons when it comes to working on Apple computers?

And even more alternately-er: Did anyone go to a midnight showing of Iron Man 2? What is the verdict? I'm thinking of suggesting that as our Friday night date and I wanted to see if people liked it. [Edit 5/8 @ 8:39 AM - We went to go see it  and we loved Robert Downey, Jr. and the sidelong Avengers references, and we didn't love some other things, but it's a superhero action movie directed by the guy from Swingers so I'm not being nitpicky.]

Have a kick-ass weekend everybody, and DFTBA.

make my dreams come true

[First things first: Happy Cinco de Mayo! I am celebrating by cleaning my room, watching BBC's Life, and eating cookies. Later: Work! Olé!]

So here's what happened yesterday:

I got into graduate school.

I realize that I have never mentioned in this blog that I had any ambitions whatsoever to go to graduate school. So let me explain.

No, there is too much.

Let me sum up.

I want to be a librarian. More specifically, I want to be a youth services librarian. And I've been taking a lot of steps to achieve that goal. Many of those steps entailed getting as much hands-on experience as I can working in public libraries and school libraries. But the biggest step I took was applying to graduate school for my Master of Library and Information Science (or MLIS). Experience is important -- really important -- when it comes to getting hired as a librarian, but the MLIS is the golden ticket. It's basically the prerequisite for every library job beyond support staff.

I applied in December to just one school. In retrospect, that could have been a huge mistake, putting all of my eggs in one basket like that. And at first, it really seemed like I had fucked myself over majorly. Because the deadline for admissions decisions came and went, and I hadn't heard a thing back from my One and Only School. No acceptance. No rejection. Just dead silence.

I was convinced I'd overestimated myself. I started having tons of negative thoughts: How could I have been so stupid to just apply to one school and assume it was in the bag? This university is ranked #6 in the nation for overall library science -- #3 for youth services. They wouldn't want me, a fresh-from-undergrad wannabe whose GPA barely met the admissions standard, whose GRE scores sucked balls. 

Fed up, I turned to the Internet, and I found some forum where people who had applied to library school were discussing their school decisions. I found out that the people who'd applied to my program had already received their acceptances via email. It hit me like a train. I'd been snubbed. I hadn't even gotten a rejection letter.

I was so embarrassed. All of my fears about my shortcomings were true, apparently. I got really upset. Then I got mad. Then I started trying to figure out a Plan B.

This was all about a month and a half ago. Since then, I'd been struggling with where to go next. I half-heartedly filled out another application to another popular MLIS program whose deadline hadn't passed. I looked in vain for more support staff positions in public libraries. And I became more and more panicked about how my career was going to fall into place.

Then yesterday happened.

I was eating breakfast and watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch, waiting for my computer to start up and wondering how it is I never realized what a horrible show Sabrina the Teenage Witch was. I absentmindedly checked my personal e-mail, the address that I can't give out to employers because it's from when I was 15 and thought "liketotally" belonged in an e-mail address.

Then I logged out of that account and signed into my "offical" e-mail, the one I put on my resume and give to stores because I'm too embarrassed to give them the other one. I chomped down on a strawberry and bit my tongue and cried out in pain. Then, dabbing at the inside of my mouth, I glanced at my email and I saw it.

[Fancypants] University MLIS wait list - space available for you this fall

My jaw dropped. I blinked. I read the line over and over and over. I clicked on the subject line.

You are the next person on the wait list for the [Fancypants] University online MLIS program so we'd like to offer you the opportunity to begin your online studies this fall if you'd like.

My heart started pounding. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I'd been on the wait list the whole time? Why hadn't I gotten a letter or an email letting me know? Was this real? Or was it spam? Or maybe a cruel joke from the admissions department? I read on.

The new student orientation will be in late August at the [North Fancypants] campus ... Please let me know ASAP if you'd like to join the fall 2010 cohort so we can help you get registered and send you detailed information about orientation. Classes begin Wednesday, September 1st.

Oh my god. This was real. This was real and I was accepted. I am accepted.

I am going to graduate school, to attend one of the most high-ranking and well-known MLIS programs in the country. I am going to be a youth services librarian.

Of course, I ran around my house screaming and I called my mom and my dad and I frantically texted my sister and my best friends and Matt. Then I went to work and told my co-workers and they were so excited for me. I'm so excited for me. I mean, soon the boring stuff sets in: applying for a loan, registering for classes, learning to deal with bullshit university bureaucracy.

But today I'm not thinking about any of that. Today I'm just basking in the warm glow of Getting What You Wanted. Today, this is me:

ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAAAIIIR

Today I received my first award, from the sweet and sassy Angela of High on Life. Check out my Sweet Blog Award:

I AM CANDYBEAR. BOW DOWN TO MY CUTENESS

ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAAAAIIIIR

So here's what happens now:

*give this award to 10 sweet and friendly bloggers,

*make a post about the award including the picture and mention the person who gave it to you,

*put the award on your blog, and

*let your nominated 10 know you've awarded them by leaving a comment!

Even though I've only been at this for two weeks, I've already met so many sweet and/or friendly bloggers... but I still don't think I can think of 10. It's going to have to be 5. And the lucky 5 are:

1. Kara!
2. Michelle!
3. Nikki!
4. Ronnica!
5. Kim!

Thanks for being awesome, seriously.

And P.S. - Happy Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you. Hee.

the final verdict

So, how did my weekend turn out? I know you've all been waiting for the answer with bated breath. Let's take a gander:

CONS

The cons list can be distilled into one huge con: It was 90 degrees this weekend, which is an affront to all that is natural and right. It shouldn't be 90 degrees in New Jersey during the first weekend of May. It just shouldn't.

Some of the ways this detail affected my weekend negatively:

1, We couldn't turn the A/C on because it's not supposed to be this hot like ever again, so I had to try to sleep in the sweltering heat, which resulted in me waking up completely naked on top of my covers. Sometimes I take my clothes off in my sleep. It's something you should know about me.

2. I could not fully enjoy my walk-about-college-campus with my friends because it felt less like a carefree frolick through the fields of memory and more like the last leg of Sam and Frodo's journey into Mount Doom. It was hot and exhausting and my belongings seemed to get heavier and heavier the further we walked. And nobody was like, "I can't carry [your camera]...but I can carry you!" 

3. Cuddling with Matt on the leather couch in my living room is more hot-and-sticky than cozy. And not hot-and-sticky in a good way, don't you get any ideas. 

4. All hot food is completely unpalatable in this weather. For dinner my mom had made fried tilapia and though I like fish, I could think of nothing more disgusting than fried food. I was like, how about watermelon? How about blueberries with cinnamon ice cream? No? Oh right, because it's THE FIRST FUCKING WEEKEND OF MAY.

PROS

Likewise, the pros can be boiled down to one Amazing Super Pro: 

Matt and I finally found people to play D&D with!!

On Sunday night Matt and I hung out with our friends who happen to be engaged, let's call them Scotty and Jewel. And it was a huge success because not only did we play LOTR Trivial Pursuit (in which we came up with kick-ass theme song for the Nazgûl which basically amounts to "IT'S CHAAASING YOUUU" and "RUN AWAAAAY") and get to cuddle with their adorable kittens, but we also discovered that we all want to try Dungeons and Dragons -- like, old-school, tabletop, Monster Manual, Funyuns-and-Mountain-Dew D&D. I'm ridiculously excited, despite the fact that I'm not really sure how this is gonna work.  

We have the tools: Jewel's dad has an original game set from the 70's, complete with a 12-sided die and a Dungeonmaster's Guide. 

We have a DM: Scotty, chosen by the very official process of me suddenly blurting out, "I VOTE SCOTTY FOR DUNGEONMASTER." 

We have the experience: most of us have done some form of roleplaying or strategy gaming. 

And I have a cloak! I do have a cloak. So that should come in handy.

But none of us has actually played D&D before. We're all firmly footed in other aspects of geekery -- Scotty plays war games with tiny metal figurines, Jewel is completely obsessed with writing Stargate fanfiction, Matt would probably rather play video games than anything else in the world, and I'm... well, I'm kind of a well-rounded, anything-goes geek -- but never have we delved so deep into True Geek Culture. It's sort of intimidating. But also really exciting.

So! I'll let you know how that goes.

And as for the final verdict on the weekend: Awesome. Hot, but awesome. How was yours?

Pros and Cons: Saturday, May 1

Pros

• I went to a party and I met a girl from Canada. I accidentally told Matt she was from Ottawa even though she told me she was from Toronto.
• Actually, what she had said was that she was "from Tronno." Which was a huge pro.
• At the same party, I saw some of my cousins and we had a lot of laughs. 
• And a lot of cake.
• I drank wine, which is almost always fun (barring the Arbor Mist Debacle of March 2009)
• My sister and I had an epic Boyz II Men sing-along in the car on the way home. 
• I learned the corniest and best joke ever, but you have to know a little French to get it: The One-Two-Three Cat and the Une-Deux-Trois Cat had a race in the swimming pool. The One-Two-Three Cat won. Do you know why? 
• Because the Une-Deux-Trois Cat sank. (Say it out loud, French speakers. Say it out loud. Then groan. Then feel free to backhand slap me through your computer screens.)

Cons

• Said Canadian girl told me she hates the Flyers. 
• Boo on not being able to bond over a sport because of team rivalries.
• I got eaten alive by mosquitoes because we were sitting outside the whole time.
• I hardly got any good reading time in, which sucks because I'm like 40 pages away from finishing V For Vendetta.
• I feel like I just need to finish it so I can start reading it again
• Because holy shit I have almost no idea what is going on in that book.
• I kinda lost my voice a little bit from all of the epic sing-alonging. 
• Nobody laughed at my corny joke. Sad face.

Well, so far this weekend the pros and cons are neck-and-neck. Tomorrow I'm hanging out at my old college campus with one set of friends during the day, and then, in the evening, I'm going over to my engaged friends' house with Matt to eat pizza and play the incredibly geeky game Setters of Catan. So we'll see what the tally looks like on Sunday. Keep on having a good weekend everyone, and DFTBA.