19 Means I'm Almost Dead...

The weekend ended officially when Kenny and Chris got on the bus to go back to New York. It was a pretty good weekend. We had adventures. On Saturday, we went to the NATIONAL AQUARIUM in BALTIMORE!!! to see the fishes 'cuz they're so delicious. Unfortunately, the Aquarium is run by fascists and wouldn't let ME (specifically) in until 4:30pm. If that pane of glass hadn't been there, I would've socked that old bitch right in her wrinkly stupid whoreface. So we spent 2.5 hours waiting to get into the Aquarium, and I had originally planned to use those 2.5 hours to go to Fells Point after the Inner Harbor. Otakon was happening at the Baltimore Convention Center while we were in the city, so we got to witness one of the biggest geek gatherings on the East Coast (and I say 'geek' in the most affectionate way possibe.) It was pretty rad. We also ate some awesome Asian food at a place called Blu Bambu, wandered around Barnes and Noble, and sweated a lot. Then after all that, Kenny and I were scheduled to see the Aquabats at the Ottobar. The show sold out the night before so we were unable to secure a ticket for Chris, so we dropped him off at the Charles Theater to see a movie and fend for himself.



The A-Bats were freakin' awesome, my #2 concert of all time right after The Hives. The Phenomenauts opened for The Aquabats and were equally awesome. I wish I hadn't been stuck behind that stupid pole.

So after the show we went on a manhunt for Chris because he had wandered away from the theater against my strong suggestion to stay the hell out of Baltimore at night, because it is very sketchy. After many minutes of confused driving due to one-way streets and roadwork, we recovered Chris in front of Otakon where he had been stalking out the nerds. Then we went home and went to sleep.

Then it was my birthday. Before the "gathering" my Dad took us on a magical journey through time!! We went back into Kingsville and found a tribe of people living like "The Village" by M. Night Shyamalan... except they were eating store-bought hamburgers and rolls, which they told us to ignore. So we busted up in there and started touching all their plants and messing with their shit, and it was all very educational. Afterwards at my house, family came over, Mariokart was played, much fun was had. And so ends the magical birthday/Aquabats weekend in Baltimore/Perry Hall.

John Waters, motherfucker

I just finished watching the director's cut DVD of Cry-Baby which I bought last week. Let me just say, it's one of my favorites. Everytime Johnny Depp says "Alison" I just pretend he's talking to me, and oh god, I should stop there. (Hot!) Alright we all know Johnny Depp is freakin' hot, but to be even, I will say that Traci Lords was also extremely hot (even from a heterosexual female perspective. I want to be her. Except for the porn stuff.) I watched the little featurette called "It Came From Baltimore" and it renewed my love for B-More. I decided, next summer, I am going to write Mr. Waters a letter and see if I can get a job being his personal assistant, or lawn-mower, or porn-buyer, or something. I love the man. He and his films makes me proud to be from Baltimore; he makes me feel all special inside. I think very few other cities (excluding L.A. and New York) have wacky and famous filmmakers making their hometowns more awesome than they were to begin with. Can you think of any filmmakers that you directly link to, say, Richmond, VA? Or how about some town in North Dakota? (yeah you can't think of one either! Because it doesn't friggin' matter!) I know a lot of people think his movies are trash or schlock, but call it what you want! I think the man is a genius! And word is, Cry-Baby is in the works to become a Broadway musical like Hairspray. I will be there because I ain't no goddamn square!

Alright, so maybe I'm from the suburbs. But that's not my fault. If I had my way in 1990, I would've wanted to stay in the city, but certain parents of mine decided that suburban living would be better for a family. Technically, I was born there, so I'm calling it home, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, you bitch. And I'm gonna find John Waters too. It'll be like that Finding Bobby Fischer movie. Except, no chess, and John Waters isn't like 11 years old... Ok, so it won't be anything like that damn Bobby Fischer movie. Fuck him anyway.

Now let the pink lawn flamingo shopping spree begin!

The Foot in the Ass of Friendship

Freshmen year at NYU was awesome. So awesome that I would've been happy to stay a freshman forever, despite the occasional (okay, sometimes frequent) roommate woes and other snags along the way. They were minute in the end. It's gonna be hard to top 04-05, but I'm gonna do my best. One of my favorite things about last year was being able to knock on someone's door when I was bored, even if I was in my pajamas and it was 1 am. Ah, good times. It's gonna be sad and maybe a little lonely living farther than "down-the-hall" from my closest friends, but I will make the commute as necessary (but probably not in my pajamas).

This year, I want to take better advantage of the city, even if that means doing touristy stuff (or more importantly, even if that means getting up off of my ass, which is really the biggest obstacle in the way of fun/progress.) And I'm going to mark my words! Right here and now! I must take advantage of New York, and I must take advantage before we are all turned into frozen corpses beneath the harsh snows and tundra-like conditions of winter in the city (see picture). And when the apocolypse does happen this year, there WILL be snowball fights and snow angels, goddammit! While I'm making school-year resolutions, here's some other stuff I've been meaning to do:
1) Stop being really shy and awkward. Okay, I told myself I was gonna do that LAST SUMMER before freshmen year. I've improved, I guess, but I need to do better. I'm so socially anxious I' make myself uncomfortable. This time I mean it though! I am gonna talk to random people, smile, laugh, and just generally lighten up and meet people. Even if I make an ass of myself (it's inevitable) it doesn't really matter, because life is too short. Etc, etc, blah blah... For example, at the time this picture was taken, I had known Patches for probably 2-3 days. It was initially a bizarre moment, then fun, and now we are the best of friends*. In the above picture, I had known Chris for about a week and he already had his foot halfway up my ass. Basically, I want to have enough confidence to put my foot on the ass of someone I barely know.
2) Get some style. I wanna stop looking like I fell out of a trash can and stumbled into class. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I am sorely lacking in the fashion department. Not that that's really important at all, but it would make me feel purdy. (This is the quick superficial road to confidence, but I'll take what I can get.)
3) Have fun. I do this already, but I wanna do more of it and stop letting money get in the way. And that whole, "but I'll look like a dumbass!" complex. I don't care anymore! Looking like a dumbass is the new black.
4) Eat more fiber and calcium. This is totally unrelated to the other stuff, but apparently these are crucial parts of a healthy diet, and I'm aiming for one of those this year, too.

Revision: Numbers 2 and 3 are conflicting, so I will do either as the opportunity arises.

Now that I've totally abused my picture-posting ability, I think I have nothing else to say. Nothing else that might warrant a visual, anyway. But back to the topic of this year... I'm going to make time to keep up with friends and do fun/stupid/crazy stuff. Because if I don't, I will turn into a miserable old hermit lady (well, not old right away) that cries and moans about how it sucks being stuck in an 11-person apartment all the time. So I won't let myself be stuck! Bring on sophomore year! And hopefully more carnival nights at Palladium, free movie premieres, and other chocolate-covered goodness.

*friends who scream at and choke each other, and get into fist fights in the hallway.