deranged

I know everyone has a moment, or even a whole day, where they just do completely asinine things. You know, nothing huge or earth shattering, but a "where is my head" moment. I seem to have a day like that at least 5 times a week.

I pulled out the tupperware to put my leftover dinner in it. After filling the tupperware container with said leftovers I promptly put it away. Back in the tupperware drawer.

unprepared

Last night I went out to see my friend Chris' band play a Halloween show. (Miles From Land 4eva!) It was a Sunday night, kinda late, and even though I hadn't taken a shower all day I convinced myself to brush my hair, put on a clean shirt and some nice shoes (not sneakers). We get to the place and, after showing our IDs and getting purple ghost stamps on our hands, we make our way into the bar. The first 6 faces I see are familiar ones. But eerily familiar. Familiar in the way that at first glance you think it's bad.

I went to college in another Massachusetts city and I had a boyfriend for, what some would consider, a very long time. He grew up in a small town about 20 minutes outside of our college city and has 4 best friends from - well, from forever. They all ended up going to college in the same city, or one very nearby, so needless to say, we ALL saw a lot of them. It's been a long enough time that we've not been together where I'm not upset about it at all. But, it's still one of those things you try and not think about too often.

So I walk in and see 1, 2, 3, 4 of them. And like I said, at first it made me cringe. But I went over and said "Hi!" and we all chatted for a while. And one of them told me that their friend was in the band who was playing right before my friend Chris' band. I looked up, and yes - in fact, it WAS their friend. A 5th person I knew. And his parents were there to see....and I knew that because I've met them and been in their house. It was only then that I realized I did know the name of the band that was playing, because we used to go to all their shows. How quickly you forget (or block out) these things!! From where I was standing at that point I could see only half the bass drum, a tom, a crash cymbal and one drum stick. And I'll admit to peering around the corner to check out the drummer to see if it was my ex-boyfriend. It wasn't.

The shows went on, and they were great. But the weirdest part, that I was most unprepared for, was that it wasn't weird to see these guys. I was actually very glad to see them. And maybe even realized I kind of missed them. Turns out they are all living up here, so maybe the other weird thing is that I haven't run into them yet. But, it was nice to see them and catch up for a bit.

and I was totally glad I put on nice shoes and brushed my hair!

things i didn't know i'd need to know...

I'm applying to grad school for admissions in Fall 2007, and I'm right in the middle of trying to get everything ready. Each application asks for a different set of crazy things. The worst so far, one hoity-toity school requires me to list, in order of relevance, grouped by subject, all the classes and their text books, that I've EVER TAKEN.

seriously. they are asking me to fill out this form. it clearly says a transcript can NOT replace this. But they ask for the transcript too.

seriously - TEXT BOOKS. (and I'm thinking - "the yellow one with a strand of DNA on it" will not do. I'm also thinking that neither will "I DON'T FREAKIN' KNOW!")

where i get sentimental

I never cease to be amazed at the flood of emotions that I feel when I am standing in the driveway at my parents house looking up at the night sky. There are so many stars, stars just keep peeking out from behind other stars the longer you look up at it. It can be summer, fall, winter, spring; it can be hot, cold, raining or snowing. And there seem to always be hundreds of millions of stars out. When I lived there I had no idea how amazing the stars were. I didn't even miss them when I first moved out of the house and went to college in Worcester. I probably didn't even notice that I missed them until I came home for a visit. I got out of the car, and I looked up. And it was paralyzing. I remember suddenly being filled with a billion memories, standing in the same driveway and looking up. My dad and I trying to locate the big dipper, or my mom and I following the belt in Orion to find Taurus. I remember being out there coming home from a vacation, or walking the dog, or coming in from playing with friends, or getting back from a school dance. I never really noticed that every time I come home I get out of the car and look up. But I do. And I don't think about it ever. There are no stars to speak of in Boston, and I certainly don't stand outside staring at an empty sky. It doesn't ever cross my mind, until I turn into that driveway and get out of my car and look up at the star-filled sky. And remember every one of the million times I've done that before. And that's when I am back home.

odorific

I spent this past weekend in NYC. I decided to risk the Fung-Wah, which goes from Chinatown in Boston (south station) to Chinatown in NYC. Yes, this is the same bus that has flipped over, caught fire, and other unheard of accidents, but it's only $15. Awesome. Now, I was heading down there on Friday the 13th, really, a gamble with my life. The night before I laid out my bubble wrap suit, my helmet, mouth guard, and other protective attire. But - I suppressed the urge to actually put it on in the morning.

I had purchased my ticket and was on the bus within 5 minutes of arriving at South Station, and off to NYC I went. The right down was great. I slept, I read, I listened to music. We stopped at a rest stop where I ate my packed lunch on a picnic table. The whole ride took about 4.5 hours. Super!

On Sunday, I made my way from the Upper West Side down to Chinatown, and had to first walk past the Lucky Star stop. This is also a Chinatown-Chinatown bus, and $15. They were boarding as I passed, so I bought my ticket and got on. This time we stopped at a Chinese Buffet for a rest stop. Which sounds great, because you could buy lunch. But - a bus load of people eating Chinese take-out - that? that is a HORRIBLE idea.

boxers or briefs?

I would have always said that I would prefer a guy to wear boxers instead of briefs. Every fall/winter when I go play field hockey I always throw a pair of sweat pants over my shorts so I'm not cold on the way to the game. And every time I do this I am all bunched up and uncomfortable...and I'm wearing SWEAT PANTS. For forty minutes. How does anyone think it's comfortable to wear boxers under their pants everyday?? So now, I think I say I prefer a guy who doesn't wear boxers...Because the ones that can stand that everyday are obviously whacked.

it never changes

I just got this email from a friend of mine at work:

you just have to be quieter i guess. which for you is probably a good idea anyway!

My parents, and any teachers from lower school who might be reading this are laughing already. You see, when I was younger I was something of a talker. I mean, I like to talk, what's wrong with that? Apparently what's wrong with that is that when you talk when someone is trying to teach a class you are being "disruptive". I think that the teaching was disruptive to my conversation, but I suppose we are splitting hairs with that, I do see that both can't happen at the same time comfortably. So, after all the years of getting in trouble for talking - comments at parent/teacher meetings, being exiled from my friends during class(this never worked, sit me next to a stranger, my worst enemy, i was a-talkin'), etc. - I tried to stop. Overcompensation ensued and middle school began with comments like "Jenni needs to participate more in class". I remember being so confused as to what they wanted me to do, until I figured out the difference between talking to my friend and answering the teachers questions. That was the key!

Apparently I am back to my old ways. For a while one of my friends at work was in the same general area as I was. People referred to us as the giggle twins, and some even went so far as to make comments that they couldn't get anything done while we were together. They were kidding, of course, but I'm sure there was a little truth in there. Well - she up and moved into an office, leaving me all alone. I've, of course, found a new giggle twin - but it's gotten MUCH better. With my new bose headphones and a subscription at emusic.com I'm all plugged in and quiet, most of the time. But apparently thats not enough...the one who sent me this email works on the floor below me.

what can I say...I'm kind of a talker.

camouflaged

I've been to Museum of Science twice in as many weeks with two of my friends. Since the summer Gunther von Hagen's Body Worlds 2 exhibit has been there and I've been dying to see it. "Dying" - in a half extremely curious, half extremely disgusted sort of way. Two weeks ago the museum had it's annual "College Student Night" where any local college student is allowed entrance into the museum, all of its exhibits, and the IMAX movies for free. And well...I have three college IDs, none of which have an expiration date, so...that makes me a college student, yes?! YES!

We arrived there with the masses, I've never seen so many college students in a museum before. I had, in fact, just come over from MIT where I am auditing a class this semester - so I AM a college student! I was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt of some sort, nothing fancy, and I fit right in. We waited in this chaotic line for a few minutes, then realized we had to push passed the line to get these stickers (which indicated we were students) and then get BACK in line to wait for our free tickets. Such a process. But, I got a sticker and had passed the test as a true college student.

Before we went we had tried to pick an IMAX movie we wanted to see - it was narrowed down to 2 choices, "The Human Body" and "Stormchasers". In reality, I've never seen a bad IMAX movie, so I didn't care. But when we got to the front of the line, "The Human Body" was sold out - so we got tickets for "Stormchasers". A little twinge of remorse hit me, perhaps now I knew that I really did have a preference, and "Stormchasers" wasn't it.

We saw the Body Worlds 2 exhibit, which was amazing. I mean, really. It was gross - some of them had skin and hair and faces and if you stopped to think about what it really was....ewww. But if you stopped to look at the innate beauty of what you were seeing. It was truly awesome (in the actual, awe-invoking meaning of the word and not the 'like, totally, eh-he!' meaning). I mean, you saw everything - muscles, nerves, fat, bones, organs, all healthy and unhealthy. Really, truly, awesome.

Now, the IMAX we saw. Well, I've now seen a bad IMAX. It was called "Stormchasers" so you think, wild crazy footage of these horrible big storms - pretty cool. Nah, it was wild crazy footage of meteorologists watching computer radars and predicting storms. Then the obligatory bolt of lightening and a plane or two...but, I was unimpressed. (and I fell asleep). But Body Worlds 2 made up for it.

Last week the Museum of Science had its "Educators Night" where teachers can go for free. One of my friends who I went with before is actually an educator - he teaches chemistry and pre-algebra at a high school. He had registered for this. When he registered his girlfriend and I also registered, because, well, they weren't doing anything obvious to verify that we were educators. And when you come right down to it, I teach math to high school kids, just not in a school - and Allison, she teaches lots of things, to lots of people. The day after College Student Night we got email confirmations to say that we were registered for Educators Night. Allison and I had the same exact thought - "we can see The Human Body IMAX!" So, we went back.

Apparently the Museum of Science trusts educators more. There was no chaotic line, no need for a sticker proving I was an educator, nothing. I just walked in. This time I was wearing a nice pair of dress pants and a top, and again I fit in nicely. But there was no test to pass - I had nothing to prove. The difference between the two nights was shocking. College Night had a DJ and dancy-club music pumping throughout. Educator night had veggies and dip and grilled sandwiches. We also snuck into a demonstration on the Sky Lab, a mobile planetarium that can go to schools for special programs. I guess this was the one test, when the guy said to the crowd "what ages do you all teach?" I felt myself freeze...oh god oh god, WHAT AGE DO I TEACH??! Until I remembered I could just say ANYTHING! First grade, that works. I look like a First Grade teacher.

The Human Body IMAX was worth it.

food pyramid

I was standing in front of the vending machine, getting ready to leave work for my field hockey game, and I tried to decide what in there most resembled dinner. Almond joy? no! doritos? no! I decided that the Peanut Butter crackers and a granola bar I have in my desk was my closest option.

off to the game!