Hey everyone,
A fair amount has happened in the last month so I thought I'd give you guys an update. I think I'll start with Halloween.
Halloween was a lot of fun. I dressed up as Indiana Jones again, but since no one knew that I was Indiana previously (except for Leah), I managed to escape shame and ridicule. Unfortunately, I ended up washing both mine and Leah's cell phones while drunk. Although my phone worked after a day, hers did not. I'm still trying to fix it with my knowledge of chemistry and the use of nonpolar solvents, but it doesn't look like its coming back to life. Fortunately, I had a spare cell phone to give her which works just fine.
The week after halloween was Billy's wedding. It was fantastic. Probably my favorite weekend since Skidmore. The only tough part was remembering the names of obscure relatives. I think that I did an admirable job as best man even though I forgot to bring the rings to the chapel. I made up for that lapse with a kickass speech. Some of you guys should have a wedding and invite me and Leah. It'll be a lot of fun.
Research is going fine. The coolest part is that I'm working on curing alzheimer's. Also, I haven't made a mistake yet which is promising. The only problem is that some of our experiments are so complex that I can barely understand them. I also work next to a giant magnet thats kept at -269 degrees celsius (thats 4 degrees above absolute zero). I still can't figure out whether the cold dread I experience when I approach the NMR is because of the temperature or because I know that if I drop something, I'll be ruining a machine worth thousands of dollars. Nevertheless, I like what I'm doing and I've made some progress with the research.
Everything else is going fine. I have three housemates now and all of them are international. Yesterday, they brought home a cook a turkey and I amazed them by my ability to cook it (made it seem more complex then just putting the damn thing in the oven). I like all of them though and don't mind living with them for another 9 months. Also, I played Edwards 40hands last night with my biochemistry friends. Its a game where you duct tape two 40 oz bottles of malt liquor to your hands and can't remove them until you finish. I managed to do it without pissing my pants and even drank another beer afterwords. However, I had a major hangover this morning.
Today I'm waiting for Leah to arrive. We're celebrating our 3rd year anniversary. We can't think of anything fun to do though so we'll probably just eat at a fancy restaurant and resolve to go skiing another weekend. I'm getting her a GPS so she can find me wherever she is (also, GPSs are awesome).
I suppose that was more long winded than I intended. Before I go, I should mention that I'm going to be in new york city from tuesday until friday. I'd love to see you NYC guys if you're gonna be in the city. Let me know what your doing and maybe we can meet up...Wednesday perhaps.
~Tony
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Lizzie-adventures in boston
So, last night I went out with my friend Kate, who studied with me in Argentina and is living in Boston too. Her roommate went to Curry College and organized a huge reunion-type thing for them and their friends. They rented a party bus, basically like a shuttle bus with leather couches inside, a bathroom, stereo system, a pole of course haha. There were 35 of us, I only knew Kate and her two roommates at the beginning of the night. We went to one girl's house, like 20minutes outside Boston to hang out/drink and then we got on the party bus. There were tons of jello shots involved and dancing on the bus while it was moving, which was quite challenging. The bus took us to a club in Boston, which had a mechanical bull. I was wearing a dress so I didn't want to risk giving everyone a show, although many of the girls in the group were wearing dresses and still went on the bull. Then, we don't actually know what happened, but apparently a few people in our group got kicked out so they told us all to leave so we were wandering around in the rain waiting for the bus to come. Then the partying continued back at the house where everyone was sprawled out on couches, air mattresses, bathtubs, floors, crowded beds, and some people even slept in cars. It was a crazy night, and even though pretty much everyone had hangovers this morning and nobody slept because people were snoring/being loud, it was still super fun
So, the whole point of me telling that story is, the majority of everyone there went to school together and they were all singing along to one of their songs that defined their college experience. And after "don't stop believin" came on and it made me miss you guys.
So, mark your calendars for the end of May (probably Memorial Day weekend). There will be some sort of goodbye shindig before I go to Kenya for 2 years. I'm thinking about perhaps in Boston, so it's easier for people to get to. I dunno, Katie told me she's already started brainstorming...
So, the whole point of me telling that story is, the majority of everyone there went to school together and they were all singing along to one of their songs that defined their college experience. And after "don't stop believin" came on and it made me miss you guys.
So, mark your calendars for the end of May (probably Memorial Day weekend). There will be some sort of goodbye shindig before I go to Kenya for 2 years. I'm thinking about perhaps in Boston, so it's easier for people to get to. I dunno, Katie told me she's already started brainstorming...
Friday, November 7, 2008
Claire - finally.... i know....
So loves!
I'm finally getting around to posting - sorry for the delay! Life has been so hectic around here, so it's been difficult to get to posting. The kids keep me so busy! There is always an outing to plan, a field trip to help Richard organise, a party to quiet down, or one of my ducklings to council with whatever the woe of the week is. That said, they really are quite darling, and I adore them to bits. Of course, they do give me quite the headache sometimes. I had to write them up for the first time just before Halloween because they simply wouldn't listen to me that Wednesday night, having downed two litre bottles of White Lightening (cheap tramp cider) in a 30 minute period. One of them actually got so pissed out of his mind that he pissed on his roommate's clothing and papers at 5 in the morning. Great! So that's been a whole thing. But they're dealing with it, and they've worked passed it, and they're going to be fine for now. I'm just going to guess that they won't apply to room together when they get back to Skidmore... ;)
Lets see, what else. Oooh! I went to Edinburgh, did I tell you that? I can't remember who I've told what, but I'm guessing I didn't update on this front. I went while the kids had their half-term break, and it was a lot of fun. Dave and I went up on the train (in 1st class even!) and spent the weekend. Before we left I looked up to see if there were any knitting stores so I could get some fun Scottish yarn to bring back with me, and what do you know, but there was a cool knitting event going on in the Scotish Royal History Museum - so I convinced Dave to let me go for a while! It was great, and I got to knit a little stuffed gingerbread man that they had people do and then they'll sell them off to raise money for charity - how great is that?! So that was fun, and I got some more yarn to make some little mittens, and some new needles, since all my knitting supplies are at home in the states. The rest of the time we spent wandering, and eating, a bit of shopping, and then having many cups of tea. It was a lot of fun, and a much needed break from the kiddies.
And lets see, what else? Well, I've been missing you all like crazy. I know you may think otherwise by my lack of updating and my inability to keep in touch like I usually do, but you should all know that I miss you all so very much, and I think about you all the time. I have several pictures of the group all around my room, and sometimes it's all I can do to keep from getting misty when I think of you. Yes, I've become a big sap, and it's all your faults. :-) I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing after this position is over, and re-going through all the post-college scariness of finding a job and a life and such, and I wish I could have you all here, or be there with you while I'm sorting it out. I know I'll get there in the end - it's just a bit frightning on the way there, and I'm just not quite as good at it all without having you guys there.
In any case, I have mail for you all, but I am in need of addresses since I left my address book at home, and many of you have moved anyway. Feel free to email or facebook message me, as to prevent creepy stalker men from finding you.
Andddd, what else? Basically I'm busy as all hell organising things for the kids and taking them on all their trips. However, I had an appraisal a couple weeks ago, and they said they absolutely love me! I met standards on a couple points, and exceeded expectations in all the rest! It's great to know that I'm doing well, and that they appreciate all the hard work I'm doing. I know I'm doing far more than people have in the past, but of course that's my slightly obsessive nature coming through, so that I feel I'm just doing barely what needs to be done to do my job, where they see me doing far more - which I'd say is a good way to err in the situation. So, we'll see where this goes from here. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but one of the head honchos from Chicago is around for a few more days, so I'll see what I can do.
And on that note, I'm just rambling with nothing in particular to say, and I'm super tired, so I'm going to go to bed. But now I've updated, and although it's nothing too exciting, you all have letters coming to you soon, so there will be more exciting stories to come.
Love you all, so very very much,
xxxx
I'm finally getting around to posting - sorry for the delay! Life has been so hectic around here, so it's been difficult to get to posting. The kids keep me so busy! There is always an outing to plan, a field trip to help Richard organise, a party to quiet down, or one of my ducklings to council with whatever the woe of the week is. That said, they really are quite darling, and I adore them to bits. Of course, they do give me quite the headache sometimes. I had to write them up for the first time just before Halloween because they simply wouldn't listen to me that Wednesday night, having downed two litre bottles of White Lightening (cheap tramp cider) in a 30 minute period. One of them actually got so pissed out of his mind that he pissed on his roommate's clothing and papers at 5 in the morning. Great! So that's been a whole thing. But they're dealing with it, and they've worked passed it, and they're going to be fine for now. I'm just going to guess that they won't apply to room together when they get back to Skidmore... ;)
Lets see, what else. Oooh! I went to Edinburgh, did I tell you that? I can't remember who I've told what, but I'm guessing I didn't update on this front. I went while the kids had their half-term break, and it was a lot of fun. Dave and I went up on the train (in 1st class even!) and spent the weekend. Before we left I looked up to see if there were any knitting stores so I could get some fun Scottish yarn to bring back with me, and what do you know, but there was a cool knitting event going on in the Scotish Royal History Museum - so I convinced Dave to let me go for a while! It was great, and I got to knit a little stuffed gingerbread man that they had people do and then they'll sell them off to raise money for charity - how great is that?! So that was fun, and I got some more yarn to make some little mittens, and some new needles, since all my knitting supplies are at home in the states. The rest of the time we spent wandering, and eating, a bit of shopping, and then having many cups of tea. It was a lot of fun, and a much needed break from the kiddies.
And lets see, what else? Well, I've been missing you all like crazy. I know you may think otherwise by my lack of updating and my inability to keep in touch like I usually do, but you should all know that I miss you all so very much, and I think about you all the time. I have several pictures of the group all around my room, and sometimes it's all I can do to keep from getting misty when I think of you. Yes, I've become a big sap, and it's all your faults. :-) I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing after this position is over, and re-going through all the post-college scariness of finding a job and a life and such, and I wish I could have you all here, or be there with you while I'm sorting it out. I know I'll get there in the end - it's just a bit frightning on the way there, and I'm just not quite as good at it all without having you guys there.
In any case, I have mail for you all, but I am in need of addresses since I left my address book at home, and many of you have moved anyway. Feel free to email or facebook message me, as to prevent creepy stalker men from finding you.
Andddd, what else? Basically I'm busy as all hell organising things for the kids and taking them on all their trips. However, I had an appraisal a couple weeks ago, and they said they absolutely love me! I met standards on a couple points, and exceeded expectations in all the rest! It's great to know that I'm doing well, and that they appreciate all the hard work I'm doing. I know I'm doing far more than people have in the past, but of course that's my slightly obsessive nature coming through, so that I feel I'm just doing barely what needs to be done to do my job, where they see me doing far more - which I'd say is a good way to err in the situation. So, we'll see where this goes from here. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but one of the head honchos from Chicago is around for a few more days, so I'll see what I can do.
And on that note, I'm just rambling with nothing in particular to say, and I'm super tired, so I'm going to go to bed. But now I've updated, and although it's nothing too exciting, you all have letters coming to you soon, so there will be more exciting stories to come.
Love you all, so very very much,
xxxx
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
YES WE DID!!!!!
Oh my goodness, we actually did it. It worked this time! It actually worked!! We voted Barack Obama into the White House!
I did a programme with the Res Hall tonight for the elections, and we've all been up ALL NIGHT watching election coverage all together in the common room lounge, and talking, watching old Colbert Report and Daily Show clips, guessing how the states would fall, and keeping track of the electoral votes as they came in. It was the most amazing experience, to be with all these students who were voting in their first presidential election, and to see them get so excited about what was going on. It reminded me so much of our first election, with the vital difference of having an exclamation of joy at the end of it all. Most of my kids will be up all night, some of them went to take naps after the West Coast was called, but all of them came by to watch and experience the election. I'll be starting coffee for them at 7am, and we have some breakfast snacks to keep them going through the morning on their way to classes. Since we didn't know how long it would take for us to know what the score was, we didn't know how late we'd have to be up. All thigns considered, it wasn't bad. We had it called by 5am - which is certainly on the early side of what I had predicted.
Oh my goodness, I still can't quite believe it. After all the polling, and all the preliminary voting, it boggles my mind that this time we actually voted him into office. He just won the presidency! President Barack Obama. It just feels good.
Yes we can. Yes we can. Yes, we did. And yes, we can.
Oh my goodness, we actually did it. It worked this time! It actually worked!! We voted Barack Obama into the White House!
I did a programme with the Res Hall tonight for the elections, and we've all been up ALL NIGHT watching election coverage all together in the common room lounge, and talking, watching old Colbert Report and Daily Show clips, guessing how the states would fall, and keeping track of the electoral votes as they came in. It was the most amazing experience, to be with all these students who were voting in their first presidential election, and to see them get so excited about what was going on. It reminded me so much of our first election, with the vital difference of having an exclamation of joy at the end of it all. Most of my kids will be up all night, some of them went to take naps after the West Coast was called, but all of them came by to watch and experience the election. I'll be starting coffee for them at 7am, and we have some breakfast snacks to keep them going through the morning on their way to classes. Since we didn't know how long it would take for us to know what the score was, we didn't know how late we'd have to be up. All thigns considered, it wasn't bad. We had it called by 5am - which is certainly on the early side of what I had predicted.
Oh my goodness, I still can't quite believe it. After all the polling, and all the preliminary voting, it boggles my mind that this time we actually voted him into office. He just won the presidency! President Barack Obama. It just feels good.
Yes we can. Yes we can. Yes, we did. And yes, we can.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
emily (and hobbes!)
Many of you have already heard (or seen on facebook) that there is a new man in my life. His name is Hobbes and he is the love of my life. In fact, he is currently playing with a piece of plastic he managed to get out of the trash can and I must go stop him because mummy doesn't want Hobbesy to choke.
Ok, now he is safe on my lap where he belongs and he will be assisting me with my blog entry- which is looong overdue.
Considering I haven't updated this blog since before I moved to NYC I will not be posting about eeeverything that's happened in the past three months because I frankly can't remember it all/I could go on for days! I will provide some recent life-highlights for you though! First of all, Cait and I went to the opera last weekend! It was very fun and we felt cultured. I also went to see a performance at Juilliard because my friend from Maine works there and can get me free tickets to student shows. It was a very sophisticated weekend until Sunday when I did nothing but eat brunch with Cait and watch Sex and the City while lesson planning.
Speaking of the kiddos. I took my first sick day this week because I have laryngitis! I started losing my voice Sunday and now a week later it still isn't back to normal. Wednesday was the day I had to miss because I literally couldn't speak and my class is not capable of being managed without verbal warnings! I was very nervous about leaving them with a sub for the day because I knew that it was going to be a mess- and it turns out I was very right! The next day when I came to school my vice principal came into my room and said, "Ooooh your kids were baaaad yesterday!" he didn't give me any specific details besides saying the the sub left and vowed never to return at the end of the day. Then my janitor, Dino, stopped by to inform me that the kids had completely trashed the room but that he tried to fix it up for me. And finally, when I opened up my desk drawer I found a note written to me by the three kids I designated as "helpers" to the sub. The note was a play by play of what was going on in the room, and I couldn't help but laugh because they made it sound like a war zone. Here is a funny exerpt: "Destiney is locking kids in the closet and the sub just used the B.S word and threatened to strangle someone. Things are bad in here." Anyway, it's nice to know that they are more under control when I'm in the room!
Even though I had a rough start with the class, we are starting to feel more like a "community" now. The kids are getting more comfortable with me and know my boundaries and I am getting more comfortable with them and with my role in the room. It took many many phone calls home, several parent meetings, and at least a hundred dollars worth of bribes in the form of pizza, M&Ms, dollar store prizes etc but I finally feel like I have some of those tricky kids reigned in! I will probably regret writing this on Monday when it turns out I've jinxed myself and all hell breaks loose but for now I'm feeling ok about things!
This is getting long but I have to mention that I went to see Phantom of the Opera today and during Masquerade the only voice I heard singing was Claire's! I miss you all! Come visit soon!
Hobbesy says goodbye! (meow)
Ok, now he is safe on my lap where he belongs and he will be assisting me with my blog entry- which is looong overdue.
Considering I haven't updated this blog since before I moved to NYC I will not be posting about eeeverything that's happened in the past three months because I frankly can't remember it all/I could go on for days! I will provide some recent life-highlights for you though! First of all, Cait and I went to the opera last weekend! It was very fun and we felt cultured. I also went to see a performance at Juilliard because my friend from Maine works there and can get me free tickets to student shows. It was a very sophisticated weekend until Sunday when I did nothing but eat brunch with Cait and watch Sex and the City while lesson planning.
Speaking of the kiddos. I took my first sick day this week because I have laryngitis! I started losing my voice Sunday and now a week later it still isn't back to normal. Wednesday was the day I had to miss because I literally couldn't speak and my class is not capable of being managed without verbal warnings! I was very nervous about leaving them with a sub for the day because I knew that it was going to be a mess- and it turns out I was very right! The next day when I came to school my vice principal came into my room and said, "Ooooh your kids were baaaad yesterday!" he didn't give me any specific details besides saying the the sub left and vowed never to return at the end of the day. Then my janitor, Dino, stopped by to inform me that the kids had completely trashed the room but that he tried to fix it up for me. And finally, when I opened up my desk drawer I found a note written to me by the three kids I designated as "helpers" to the sub. The note was a play by play of what was going on in the room, and I couldn't help but laugh because they made it sound like a war zone. Here is a funny exerpt: "Destiney is locking kids in the closet and the sub just used the B.S word and threatened to strangle someone. Things are bad in here." Anyway, it's nice to know that they are more under control when I'm in the room!
Even though I had a rough start with the class, we are starting to feel more like a "community" now. The kids are getting more comfortable with me and know my boundaries and I am getting more comfortable with them and with my role in the room. It took many many phone calls home, several parent meetings, and at least a hundred dollars worth of bribes in the form of pizza, M&Ms, dollar store prizes etc but I finally feel like I have some of those tricky kids reigned in! I will probably regret writing this on Monday when it turns out I've jinxed myself and all hell breaks loose but for now I'm feeling ok about things!
This is getting long but I have to mention that I went to see Phantom of the Opera today and during Masquerade the only voice I heard singing was Claire's! I miss you all! Come visit soon!
Hobbesy says goodbye! (meow)
Happy Halloween!
Just thought you might enjoy the annual Halloween picture...
I am super busy with midterm papers, but I promise I will give you all an update on my life soon!
Missing you all,
Lauren
Gretchen-My life since last post
First of all, Happy Belated Halloween!That's the pumpkin Ben and I carved after dragging it home from our new favorite grocery store a mile a way. Seriously, The Giant is SOOOO much better than Safeway. We are very happy lol.
Anyways, I shall back up. Three weekends ago (if you include this one), my parents came to visit. We did tourist-y things without being too tourist-y. For example, we walked around Georgetown and M Street, which is an area filled with ultra pricey fancy shops (Dior, Armani, etc) and then walked along the waterfront. We also went on a canal boat ride, spur of the moment, and drank some bubble tea.
We saw the Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams exhibit and had a lot of delicious food throughout the weekend. (Overall, my parents ate at the Tastee Diner like 4 times!)The following week I got to stay in a fancy hotel again (I think this was after that weekend although it might have been right before) for free! When Ben's office puts on conferences we get to stay in the hotels for free, all amenities included. Super nice! Free room service and hot tubs and pools! Yay.
Then, last weekend I went camping. In the rain. In the fog. In the cold. I went with a couple friends from work and one of their friends from college. It was really fun though. Since we live in or around DC it was quite a trek to get there - about 2-2.5 hours away in the Shenandoah National Park (anyone heard of SkyLine Drive?). However, since it was so foggy we couldn't see 2 feet in front of us, and therefore, there was no beautiful scenery to be seen. Anwyays, we set up the tent in the rain and wind, and then tried to build a fire. We succeeded long enough to roast 4 marshmallows (one for each of us) and then we all went to bed in the center of the tent, as not to get dripped on by the pouring rain. However, we all woke up at 7 am and decided we had to go home because we were all freezing and soaked. haha. So we spent a total of like 8 hours at the site. We all went to the mall afterwards looking like complete bums and then Katie (one of the girls from work) made us breakfast at her house. Then I watched Iron Man, which was actualy a pretty good movie.
This past week was Ben and my 3 year anniversary, but we haven't done anything to celebrate it yet. We plan on going out to dinner tonight at a neat fancy-ish place called Zaytinya, which has things like fancy falafels.
We didn't do anything for Halloween really, besides carve the pumpkin. We had candy for trick-or-treaters, but no one came so we ate it all ourselves!! :) It was a good night though.
Now, once Ben wakes up we are off to trek to the amazing Giant, grab some breakfast (perhaps at the Tastee Diner) and then Ben is going off to campaign for Barack Obama with Will Cusey (from Skidmore).
Oh, also good news! I got a two dollar an hour raise! Because apparently, I am a real "Wizbang" lol.
In a recap, recently I've been:
listening to: Ingrid Michaelson
watching: Big Love and Jeopardy every night!
reading: The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
wearing: scrubs every single day! (and warm clothes because it even gets to the low 30s around here!)
missing: EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!!!!
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