Caroline's Trip to Asia: Part I

My sister is in Asia right now on a "school trip". I put that in quotations because any "school trip" to Asia is far more than any "school trip" I ever went on. We'll instead refer to this as "study abroad".

The general rule of study abroad is that you have to have a blog. That's how I got into blogging, and that's how every other blogger I know started blogging. They practically include Blogger as a part of your orientation when you go abroad...you have to keep a blog. The problem lies in the fact that Caroline seems to think I'm funnier than she is. This is true...in a way. Caroline is actually hilarious, although unlike me, she doesn't realize that she's hilarious. As such, she asked that I keep a blog for her while she's in Asia.

The problem in this is obvious. I am in New Jersey. I have never been to Asia. I have absolutely no idea what she is up to. Truthfully I have no idea what time it is over there. But nonetheless I promised her that I would keep an excellent blog of her trip to Asia, despite being at least 12 hours in the past.

Luckily, for the first entry Caroline spared me the trouble of coming up with a fake blog entry, as upon her arrival to Tokyo she sent the most hilarious email I've ever been sent. I'm not even going to try and make up an entry for her first day, I'm just going to copy and paste the e-mail, word for word, and use that to introduce you to the crazy that is Caroline.

i made it!

no clue how to use this keyboard so this will be quick but i knew you guys would be worried. ive spent the entire morning trying to find an internet cafe or a phone card. My phone doesnt work here but i made it from the airport with no problems and met up with paul at his office. he had to go back to work so he taught me how to use his apartment...sounds strange, but it was a necessary lesson. everything has a remote, even the toilet...with a button for flushing sound. im a little bit like scarlett johannsen in lost in translation.

flight was fine. we were delayed because the incoming flight tapped the next jetway over with its wingtip when arriving so they wanted to make sure everything was okay.IT IS A LONG FLIGHT SORRY, THIS WENT INTO CAPS AND I CANT CHANGE IT.ANYWAYS, I NOW UNDERSTAND WHY JACKIE PAYS FOR PREMIUM ECONOMY...EVERYONE IS JAMMED IN REGULAR ECONOMY BUT PREMIUM WAS EMPTY. I ASKED IF IT WAS OKAY FOR ME TO MOVE UP AND WAS MET WITH A LOOK OF HORROR. I MIGHT ASK HOW MUCH PREMIUM IS ON THE WAY BACK. YOU KNOW THOSE EYE SHADES AND EARPLUGS BRITISH AIRWAYS GIVES OUT? ANA DIDN:T AND I:VE NEVER WANTED A PACKET MORE IN MY LIFE. I DIDN:T SLEEP AT ALL.BUT I MADE IT!

SORRY, THIS IS THE WEIRDEST E-MAIL I:VE EVER WRITTEN. JUST KNOW THAT I:M FINE AND SAFE AND HAVING A GOOD TIME. I SLEPT A TON LAST NIGHT AND WAS UP AT 7, SO I THINK JET LAG IS OVER! I WENT TO A TEMPLE THIS MORNING AND NOW AM GETTING LUNCH TO SIT IN THE PARK BEFORE SEEING A FEW MORE TEMPLES, THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.

LOVE, CAROLINE

Look forward to me following Caroline as I try to figure out what she is up to in Tokyo, Vietnam, Thailand and various other Asian locations. This is going to be fun.

Snurricane '10!

If the Snowpocalypse wasn't enough for you, welcome to the Snurricane

Courtesty of http://www.philebrity.com/2010/02/24/new-weather-forecast-meme-could-use-a-little-more-profanity-please/

Oh Canada: An Interview With an America Expat in Vacouver

My friend PaigeS (there are two Paiges that will be referred to often in this blog, PaigeS and Pwalker, just a heads up) moved to Vancouver shortly after graduation to begin a career doing...something psychology related. One of my biggest regrets of the past year is that I didn't get plane tickets to go and visit her during the Winter Olympics...I figured I would have a "real job" by now and there wouldn't be time. Whoops.

PaigeS began the Olympics with an e-mail to us announcing that she would be supporting Canada, rather than the US, during the Olympics. I was outraged. As such, I rooted harder than I ever have rooted for anything hockey related when the US played Canada the other night. I wanted her to feel pain. Which she did.

Last night she came online after spending the evening at the bar watching the Canadians beat Germany. She was in....well she was in the exact state of mind you would expect a Canadian to be after watching a solid victory at a bar. I decided this was the perfect time to get an interview with her about her throughts on Canada and the Winter Olympics.

Me: Thank you for agreeing to do this for the blog

PaigeS: I love watching Jeopardy drunk

Me: This is for the blog

PaigeS: yea, yea, yea, ask away

Me: What would have happened tonght if Canada had lost and been eliminated

PaigeS: Holy shit....riots....stabbings

Me: Why do I feel like you would get caught up in the action and start stabbing people

PaigeS: It would be hard to prosecute

Me: What are the 5 best things about Canada/Vancouver?

PaigeS: Ummmmm...the views, teh city, the public transit...the fact that i get paid to live here and the underdog mentality

Me: 5 best things about the Olympics?

PaigeS: The excitement, the freestuff, the drunken crazies, ice skating, ridiculing tourists

Me: 5 worst things about the Olympics?

PaigeS: crowds, drunken riots, it's expensive, I don't care about most of the sports, the traffic

Me: What would you say to convince Paul Rudd to come to Canada

PaigeS: I'm here and so is the Twilight cast

Me: Have you seen any famous people?

PaigeS: I saw jessica biel

Me: Have you slept with any athletes?

PaigeS: I may or may not have participated in a threesome with the figure skating siblings

Me: Which ones, there were four pairs

PaigeS: That were siblings? Wow. All of them...all four...all.

Me: Who's hotter, Canadians or Americans?

PaigeS: Canadians, but americans dress better

Me: America and Canada play each other in the ice hockey gold medal game and the outcome of the game leads to an actual war...who wins?

PaigeS: America let's be real, even I can't pretend America doesn't kick ass at everything.

Me: Are B4-4 still national heroes?

PaigeS: Of course, they are like our Beatles.

Me: Why is the queen on your money

PaigeS: because we never stood up for ourselves against England. We just took it for years until even they didn't want us anymore.

Me: Pop Canadian History Quiz, no Google allowed. What is the origin of the name Canada

Paige: it means great land of the sea (nope, it means village or settlement)

Me: What rodent is described by the Canadian Encyclopedia as having "had a greater impact on the history and exploration of Canada than any other animal or plant species"?

PaigeS: The mallard, with it's manly and adventurous nature (The beaver)

Me: Who was the only Canadian to ever serve as Prime Minister of Great Britain?

PaigeS: Queen Elizabeth II (Bonar Law)

Me: What was the name of the system of safe passages and safehouses that allowed American slaves to escape to freedom in Canada?

PaigeS: The Underground Railroad, Part deux: The Great White North (Thats...correct...in a way)

Me: What is so special about the Thousand Island Railway

PaigeS: They also market a tasty salad dressing (It is the shortest railway in the world)

Me: How many times has the US invaded Canada

PaigeS: Everyday I have been in the country, so 108 days....108 times (Twice)

Me: Do you keep track of how long you have been in the country with hash marks next to your bed like a prisoner?

PaigeS: Sorry, 217. I just counted

Me: You were way off

PaigeS: Well that answers your other question

Me: Which way does the toilet flush in Canada?

PaigeS: Toilets?

Me: Nevermind

PaigeS: Sounds expensive

Me: What season of Friends are you on in Canada?

PaigeS: We call it Acquaintances and Rachel just got a great haircut. I wonder if her and Ross will get together

Me: I have to go to bed, what is the one thing you want my readers to know about Canada?

PaigeS: Think about engaging in more of a cultural exchange with canada, because we have a lot to offer but are also missing important things....like music after 1990

Thank You PaigeS. Enjoy The Olympics!

Top 5 Winter Olympic Movies

This list was made completely off the top of my head and only because I'm watching Miracle right now. If confronted I will easily fold to your arguments. Please, feel free to leave suggestions in the comment box for better Winter Olympic movies.

1. Cool Runnings.

Synopsis: Jamaican Maurice Bannick, the worlds greatest runner, falls during the Olympic qualifying match and fails to make the Olympic Track and Field team. As he takes shit from no one, he creates a bobsled team and together they learn the sport of bobsledding and compete for an Olympic medal all within 3 months. As a child I saw nothing wrong with this. As a 23 year old...I still see nothing wrong with this.

-This might just be the first movie I remember seeing as a child that I could fully comprehend. I have vague recollections of going to other movies, but I'm pretty sure this is the first that I was able to follow along with. I remember being 6ish and sitting at the Mercer Mall theater (now a DSW Shoe Warehouse) cracking up hysterically. It was clear to me that this was not just a movie, but a work of art. My sister and I quoted it to each other constantly (I believe the only quote I could remember was "kiss my lucky egg!"). I was outraged that it didn't win any Oscars.

I actually recieved extra credit in 5th grade after convincing my teacher that I had a "documentary on the Jamaican bobsled team that I wanted the class to watch." I brought in Cool Runnings. This might be the exact moment that I began to slide from "awesome student" to "total failure".

Since watching this movie I haven't been able to watch the Swiss or any other German speaking team bobsled during the Olympics without shouting "EINS! ZWEI! DREI! AHHHHHHHHHHH" a habit that I think might be starting to get on the nerves of anyone who watches bobsledding with me.

Also who hasn't done this in front of a mirror.

True Story: Yul Brenner and Ice the Bounty Hunter on Arrested Development are the same person. AWESOME!

It also has the greatest slow clap scene in cinematic history

Note: I watched this movie for the first time in about 2 years today. In the aftermath of the death of the Olympic luger (possibly due to inexperience) I found the (spoiler alert!) crash scene a little hard to stomach. Damn you, reality.

2. Miracle

Synopsis: The greatest moment in US sports history, hands down, was the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team's victory over the Soviets. This movie gives the 100% true story to that glory. Alright, fine, it takes some dramatic liberties, but no other movie makes you more proud to be an American.

-Originally I had put this over Cool Runnings. I thought it had everything you need, a heart warming storyline, hot guys and hilarious accents. But that's not enough to put it over Cool Runnings as exactly the same can be said about that movie. It was really sentimental value put it above the rest.

My mom and I saw this the first weekend it came out. She had told me the story of how she was on a flight back from god knows where when the "Miracle on Ice" happened and how the pilot had relayed the news to the cabin. It sounded like quite the moment. We saw the movie, loved it, and went back the next day to watch it again. It was that good. Also, full disclosure, when I was in Ireland while studying abroad I got incredibly sick one weekend. I popped in this movie and watched it while dying in bed. I may have burst into tears when they beat the Soviets and everyone started shouting U-S-A! U-S-A! I just love my country that much. The fever also probably played a role.

The youtube video of the little kid reciting the Herb Brooks speech definitely gave it some added bonus points as well.

It's probably the closest we can get to putting D2: The Mighty Ducks on this list (aka the greatest movie ever), so that gives it some extra bonus points as well.

(Holy crap they're the same movie! WHO KNEW?!??!?!)

Then I watched Cool Runnings again and realized just how incredible it was.

3. The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner

Synopsis: Walter Steiner ski jumps...he also enjoys woodcarving. Famed director Werner Herzog is crazy. Together, they create art.

-One thing that you should know about my group of friends, we love Werner Herzog documentaries. We have shirts with his face stenciled on them. His movies are the perfect mixture of interesting, ridiculous and hilarious. The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner follows a Swiss ski jumper Walter Steiner, who also enjoys woodcarving. It's best if you follow my liveblog of the movie here. Walter Steiner, from what I can tell in this German language film, is the greatest ski jumper of all time. At one point he agrees to jump from a lower starting point just to give his competitors a better chance at beating him. That's like Babe Ruth volunteering to bat one handed. While it sounds like he's evening the playing field, he's actually just showing off. My favorite part is when Steiner talks about how he had a pet bird as a child then shot it when it wouldn't go back into the wild because it was "the humane thing to do".

Here is the opening scene...you're transfixed within 10 seconds.

Simply knowing this movie exists gets me 35 hipster points. Pretty soon I'll have enough to buy a pair of suspenders out of the hipster catalogue.

4. Blades of Glory

Synopsis: Ron Burgandy and Napoleon Dynamite are banned from mens competitive figure skating for life. They find a loop hole and are still able to compete as long as they compete as a pair. Will Arnett and Amy Pohler play an orphaned brother and sister pair set on bringing the two down. Hilarity ensues.

-I didn't want to put it this high. I saw it once, then spent the next year telling everyone how overrated it was. Then I saw it again and laughed, a lot. Then I watched actual pairs figure skating and realized how realistic it was. Now I am desperately trying to find an OnDemand channel that is showing it so I can watch it again.

5. Funny story, there are only 4 Winter Olympic movies that I've seen enough times to make blog entries about them. I've been yelled at for not including The Cutting Edge on this list. The truth is while I've seen The Cutting Edge I can't for the life of me remember it. I could go and rent it, but movie stores have completely gone out of business. I could cue it up on Netflix but my next movie is a documentary about the Amish practice of Rumspringa and I've been waiting too long to watch that to delay it even further. We'll just go ahead and give the number 5 spot to D2: The Mighty Ducks for being the greatest movie ever.

Synopsis: Did you watch Miracle? It's the same movie, but with teenagers. You think I'm joking. It's the exact same movie. Replace "Soviets" with "Iceland" and "Olympics" with "Junior Goodwill Games". Same. Effing. Movie.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I ended many a drunken night in college shouting QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! with my friend Pwalker. I could watch this movie 1000x over.

This movie brings up so many questions.

Is Charlie Conway a terrorist for refusing to wear the Red White and Blue instead wearing the Duck uniform?

Did I create a Facebook group to promote this idea?

Since when has Iceland been a hockey powerhouse?

Why do the Icelandics have the same accent as the Cool Runnings Swiss?

Is Gunner Stahl really that guy from City Guys?

If nothing else it left me with my favorite movie quote ever.

You lost it for yourself...let's go shake their hands

And isn't that the true Olympic spirit?

Orientation to Life (most cliche title ever!)

It's a given, whenever you start a new chapter in life you go through orientation. Be it school or work, you will spend at least one day looking lost, playing ice breakers, reading up on rules and guidelines and watching a video on sexual harassment (ideally made in 1985, but only if you're lucky). You will also be introduced to anyone who walks within 5 feet of you and almost certainly will become friends with at least one of those people...or friendly at least. Everyone always complains about orientations, how hokey they are, how unnecessary they are, but you always leave them with at least one compadre...even if that compadre is the person you spent the day with in the back of the room complaining about how everyone else sucks.

But what happens when your new chapter isn't new at all, but rather a return to an old chapter. There's no orientation for that. I'm now faced with the challenge of either making new friends on my own, or rekindling old friendships with people I haven't talked to in years, neither of which will be easy.

While I returned home every summer during college, I didn't live at my house most of the time. My summers were spent working. I didn't have any summer vacations during college, save for 3 days around the Fourth of July aka "My grandmothers 90th birthday party" (Nana, 92, was actually born on Christmas Eve). My summer weekends were spent working. My days and nights, were often spent working. If I wasn't working I was in the dorms at work socializing with only my work friends. I guess in a way it was an alcohol fueled company town. We worked, ate, socialized and slept in the same place, leaving little time for the outside world.

Lies, there was plenty of time for the outside world but I used it as an excuse to further ignore my friends from home. Or what was left of them, at least. I had left the public school system in our town after 8th grade. I firmly believed I was better than everyone else and destined for bigger and better things than my classmates. Quite frankly, I was a douche. What few friends I had left in town after 8th grade I cut off as soon as I went to private school.

While I made great friends in high school, I again wasn't too great with keeping in touch with them after graduation. The fact that we were spread across the country to college was made even more difficult that when we came home for breaks, we all went home to different towns, states and even countries. Boarding school does that. Even as a day student I found myself letting friendships with people towns over lag.

As a result I find myself back home with no real friend base to tap into. I have some friends from work, a friend from college, a friend from high school, two friends from elementary school (who honestly also went to high school with me) and my parents (always enjoyable, no lie). Since I have a strict "no mixing of friend groups" rule, they all stay separate. I miss the giant groups of friends that I grew used to in college.

It's impossible to avoid the inevitable now that I'm home, however. I'm running into people from my past and now that we've all matured, it seems like we could have been great friends. It started this summer when I ran into a friend from middle school at work. He was working at the day camp on campus and I was doing my usual indentured servitude. We walked next to each other in silence for awhile before acknowledging each other, then somehow went from strained conversation to the challenge of a dance off. I walked away from the conversation laughing and spent the rest of the summer trying to cross paths with him and other former classmates of mine who also worked at the camp again. There was something about the conversation that was new and fresh yet comfortable.

Various run ins at bars and shops have occurred between then and now, but last week I was again reminded of the fact that I am home and that I have a life here that I had left behind. OMP and I were, as we typically do, spending Saturday night at a Princeton Basketball game. Typically we sit in the last row of the seats, far away from the action and from everyone else. This allows us to stretch out, make sarcastic comments, and crack up hysterically without being judged when the Chick Fil A cow dances. We've sat there my whole life, sometimes with people around us, most often with just our family. It's my little happy place.

At this recent Saturday night game, however, Princeton was playing then ranked Cornell, leading to an almost packed house. As we cramped ourselves into our seats I looked down the row to see that seated next to OMP's friends were 5 or 6 of guys I knew (and had crushes on) in middle school. While we didn't make eye contact on the first glance, I couldn't resist a second glance. I was caught, I made eye contact with one of them. We exchanged an "oh hey....I remember you" stare before snapping our heads forward to watch the game. I snuck a few more glances over throughout the night, sometimes getting away with it, sometimes getting caught. Suddenly it was 8th grade me sitting in that seat, hoping that one of them would have the nerve to say hi to me because 10 years later I certainly didn't.

Part of me was nervous because when I had last left them they were the cool kids in school. No matter how much you try and say you don't conform to social stereotypes, you know who the cool kids were, and you know that you weren't a part of them. Ten years later, looking at them, I still saw the cool kids. Mostly I didn't want to say hi because what did I have to say. 10 years later I had left the school, alienated everyone because I was destined for greatness (which don't get me wrong, I still totally am). I know I've done great things, but how does that measure up to them. Have I done better things than them? I know nothing about them now. In all likelyhood, they have jobs. It doesn't matter if they went to college or what type of job they have. They most likely have one, I do not. Still I kept glancing, hoping that one would instigate that fresh yet comfortable conversation that I still look for.

Unfortunately with 3 minutes left in the game I had to leave to catch a train to Hoboken for a friend's party. OMP, my ride to the train station, stood up and announced to his friends (and unknowingly to my 8th grade crushes) "Well! I have to get Marianna to a party now!" 8th grade me died a little inside. SOOOOOOO UNCOOL, DAD! Any chance that they didn't recognize me ended right there when their heads snapped to attention. Yep, Marianna is just as uncool as she was in middle school, spread the word. 23 and her dad is taking her to parties.

It shouldn't be this scary to get back in touch with old friends. The fact of the matter is...they do exactly the same things I like to do. They work at the same place I work, they go to the same bars I go to....they even go to Princeton Basketball games. I have tried for years to get high school and college friends to go to basketball games with me, often to no avail.

I've spent numerous evenings with my college roommate getting to know her grad school friends. They're all great, I enjoy them, but they're her friends, they're each others friends. My mom is convinced that I should take a plate of cookies to the guys across the street and that will be the magic key to friendship. They're nice guys, but they're each others friends...and they each have their own friends. I don't need new friends, I'll get those later in life. I need my old friends.

I Knew a "Cities" Degree Would Be Useful Someday

I'm rather embarrassed by my college degree. Officially it's known as Growth and Structure of Cities. Since that name is long and cumbersome, everyone I know refers to it simply as "Cities". It can be found no where else in the world. It's kinda sorta urban studies? I guess? That's the easiest way to describe it. A little bit of history, a little bit of sociology, some anthropology thrown in for fun and some architecture to round us out. It's a grab bag, but it's really great stuff.

During college I loved my major. The courses were interesting and diverse, the people were fun and always had good conversation and I am extremely happy with what I got out of my studies. Unfortunately now that I am faced with explaining exactly what my major was almost everyday, I've grown to hate it. I've become painfully aware of how ridiculous I sound telling people I majored in "cities" (little quotation mark hand signals always included). I can practically watch my credibility fall as people try and comprehend exactly what I've spent the past four years doing. My inability to give a straight answer about what I studied doesn't help at all.

One thing that a Cities degree did give me was a friendship with my classmate Katherine. Katherine and I were in the same thesis group senior year and we would spend long silent meetings with our advisor staring at each other willing the other to say something. I admired Katherine's ability to evade our advisors questioning regarding her thesis, an area that I was definitely not as adept at, and made a note to be better friends with her. A comment one day about how she was a fan of my senior year blog solidified her as a great person in my eyes.

After graduation she remained one of my most loyal blog fans, despite the fact that I less than ceremoniously ended both blogs that I had going. Nonetheless she kept on encouraging me to get back to writing.

A few weeks ago she informed me that she had gotten a position at The Huffington Post posting blogs to the site and if I had something good she could put it up. Apparently something in my last entry struck her and I got a facebook message the other day asking if she could post it. The Old Boys (er, girls I guess) Network in action if I've ever seen it. I eagerly said of course and 24 hours later it was there.

I have no idea what this means in the big picture. There are plenty of blogs on The Huffington Post and no one has commented on my entry so I don't seem to have changed any lives. I know that a month ago I was freaking out because when my name was Googled all of my terrible Bi-College News articles (often written during a panicked Friday night rush to meet the Saturday morning deadline) were the first thing that popped up. Now when Googled various news feeds featuring the entry flood the screen. Cool and creepy at the same time.

Now I have to up the anty. I didn't really think the Valentine's Day post was my best work. This blog has had a bit of a slow start and hasn't had the great entry that will define it yet. That happens when it's only a week old. I've got some great ideas now that I know people are reading. In the long run, if that one entry bumped down all of my Bi-Co News articles then I'm happy!

If anyone is checking in for the first time, make sure you check out my old blogs as well.

mariannasadventures.blogspot.com -Follow my travels in Ireland

mariannasfailures.blogspot.com -Follow my quest to graduate college (spoiler alert: I succeed)

travelswithauggie.blogspot.com -Follow my trip around the country (but be prepared to stop in Arizona...still under construction)

Valentine's Day, A Reflection

I'm a fan of Valentine's Day, despite having experienced my 23rd straight February 14th without a valentine. In school they always make it enjoyable, what with all the sugar and mail (nothings more exciting to a child than mail. This is a fact). Even in high school, where I was a moody teenager with raging hormones, Valentine's Day was light hearted and fun. Disclosure: Even at my moodiest I was happier than most teens. I'm really, really easy to please. Overall I never understood the angsty anti-Valentine's Day/wear black/be a jerk movement. It's a day to eat candy and send mail. Find me two things more enjoyable than candy and mail! Have I mentioned I'm easy to please?

Going to a women's college made Valentine's Day obsolete for the seemingly small but actually very large portion of us who were both straight and unattached. I would try to wear pink as I am that person that feels that all holidays should be properly represented by their assigned color, but generally didn't pay much attention to it. I did laugh along with everyone else when a snowstorm closed the post office one Valentine's Day and everyone who had been sent flowers were stuck getting dead bouquets when it opened up again a few days later. That wasn't out of spite, however, that was just hilarious.

Now that I'm no longer in school, Valentine's Day seemed to sneak up on me. Earlier this week my mother, an elementary school volunteer, came home with a white paper bag and set me to work decorating it. She wanted it to be prettier than her students. I welcomed the chance to use the fancy pair of scissors I got for Christmas and created a masterpiece of heart shaped papercuttings (I have mad paper cutting skills). I figured this would be my only Valentine's Day activity.

On Saturday night I went to a birthday party for a friend in Hoboken. I had vague hopes of turning some poor bloke into Ryan roughly 25 seconds into this video

Alas....it was not meant to be.

I returned home from Hoboken, scarred from numerous train changes and 45 minute layovers at unheated stations to find two valentines on the table in my living room. The first one, from OMP, was addressed to a daughter who's one of a kind

Unfortunately his card was not one of a kind as the next one was from my mother.

Mom and OMP had a good laugh about how unoriginal they were while I had an even bigger laugh....this is the third year in a row one of them has gotten me this card. I know this because I cleaned my room the other day and remembered finding this card

Unfortunately for this story I finally threw out all of the greeting cards that have been kicking around my room forever. I always saved them "in case I would need them". This is probably the ONLY instance I would ever need them again....and I threw them out.

The laughter continued, we popped some champagne, downed some wine, then OMP made ham wrapped in pie crust (soooooo good. sooooooo deadly). Eclairs and The Olympics rounded out the day.

Maybe next year I'll get a card from the man of my dreams....or maybe I'll get the "For a Daughter Who's One of a Kind" card for the 4th year in a row. Either way works for me, they'll both make me smile.

Adjusting to Having Your Child Back Home

Mom: What should we have for Valentines Day dinner?
OMP: I'll cook something special.
Mom: Great. Will you be joining us, Marianna?
Me: Damn right I will!
OMP:.....great.

Black Sheep of My Blog Family

In my opening entry for this blog I recapped what I claimed were my past three blogs. No one called me out on it, but I have had far more than three blogs since I started down this path. While three of my blogs seemed to be popular (the highlight of my popularity occurring when I went out for drinks with friends a few weeks ago and one friend tried to woo another peer to come by saying "yea...Marianna's here...right, the one with the blog" Best moment of my life), there were three that died shortly after their arrival. It's sad, because those three each had what the other blogs so severely lacked...a point. Clearly my readers prefer my incoherent ramblings. I can't complain, maintaining a blog of ramblings is far easier than maintaining one with a point. Let's take a look back and see if we can pinpoint where these blogs went wrong....

Lies I Told Today

Eh, it's pretty easy to see where this one went wrong, actually. People don't like it when you lie, and they REALLY don't like finding out that you lied to them when they read your blog later in the day. This was supposed to be my summer blog and after only a few entries it got to the point where people were trying to pick out my lies. Sadly, this went against the whole point of the blog which was to document accidental lies. Slip-ups. Word vomit. Such as the time I told the woman on the train that I understood how hard it was to travel with a baby. Lie. Total lie. But it just sort of came out. I wouldn't even think of documenting intentional lies, I keep those to myself! I'm pretty ok with letting this one go down the tubes. In the end, it was for the best.

Werner Herzog Fan Club

The problem with this one was that it was a group blog. The idea was that each week we would have a prompt and everyone would write in their thoughts. We covered possible holiday dinner ideas and hottest presidents. In the grand scheme of my unsuccessful blogs, this one was pretty successful for a few weeks. While I know my friends are funny (hence, why I picked them, so I could steal their jokes) they surprised me with their level of commitment to the blog. Then one day they just stopped. I guess I'm to blame as I wrote the last prompt and in looking over it it was pretty crappy (something about pants and Bette Midler). In my defense I had just finished my thesis. I'm still going to go ahead and blame my friend P-Saf for the failure on this one. She's always an easy target.

Among Enemies

This is my biggest regret. I had grand plans for this blog. Let's start with a little background. During my final semester of college I heard about this project that the Haverford students were doing called "Among Friends" in which they actually paid "artists" to come to their school and lead "activities". These are in quotes because it was complete bullshit. One of the "activities" was a tour of Wal-Mart. Another person sewed felt beanbags. Even better, they blogged about it. Apparently their mission was to build a better community or something of that sort. I don't know, I just assumed that was the case. That's always the case in these sort of enrichment opportunities. In related news, Haverford apparently lost 35.5% of their endowment last year.

Anyway, I decided to create Among Enemies as a response. I came up with the goal of breaking my friends apart by graduation. The blog was going to "document" my quest. The problem came when some friends thought I was seriously trying to break us apart. My bad. My other problem came when I couldn't decide whether I was actually going to stage these events or lie about them. All and all it became far to confusing for myself and my readers and I gave up after three entries. I assure you, though, if it had worked out how I had wanted it to, it would have been hilarious. But, as my friend Nicky says, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas. This might have actually been one of the first things she ever said to me and I distinctly remember thinking she was crazy. It's now my favorite saying.

Moral of the story? Don't expect a blog with a point from me anytime soon.

Snowpocalypse '10-Live Updates

For once in my life I'm in the middle of the 'bullseye" of a snowstorm. I spent most of my childhood being envious of my cousins in New England who would receive feet and feet of snow while I would celebrate 6 inches. Last weekend I made fun of my sister in Washington DC for the 28 inches of snow that she would be receiving, secretly I was jealous. I have longed for a snowstorm of epic proportions for years. Having gone to a high school and college that clearly believed to give a person off for a snowstorm was a felony, I have been deprived of snowdays since eighth grade. Anything under a foot wasn't even worth wishing for a snowday for. I have waited and waited for the day when the Snowpocalypse would come and was denied until (hopefully) now.

Yesterday at "work" I was avoiding my "work" and checking the weather updates. To my delight the weather map had us in a deep shade of purple that the Mid-Atlantic region rarely sees. Almost directly over where my house would be was the number 22. 22 inches of snow? That sounds beautiful. It seems the Snowpocalypse is finally here.

Despite the fact that I have no obligations from which I can take a snow day, I still set my alarm last night as if I was planning on going to "work" this morning. I woke up and discovered that my "workplace" had declared that only essential staff were to report. After pondering whether or not my work was considered "essential" I convinced myself that while I consider myself a vital part of the community, they'll do fine without me today and went back to sleep.

That brings us to now. I have woken up, eaten a delicious snow day breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon and orange peel and will now commence with my snowday activities. Check back during the day for updates as I await the Snowpocalypse.

11:54 AM-I would say so far there is only 4 or so inches on top of the 5 that were already left from the last storm. It is precipitating right now but it sounds scarily like rain or sleet. This could be the downfall to my Snowpocalpse. We are dangerously close to the rain line. If this becomes a Rainpocalypse I might just start (to use a Ch'nel phrase) punching babies. My mother realized this morning that since she works from home....she doesn't actually have a snow day. Nonetheless she has been baking all morning. OMP claims to be working as well, but I'm pretty sure he's just biding his time reading the interwebs until he can go out and snow blow some stuff again. I'm trying to decide if my first afternoon snow day activity should be my book or an OnDemand movie. I think I'll start off with option 3, actually, shower.

2:10 PM-Settle in to watch The Aviator, which Netflix kindly delivered to me this week. Talking to P-Saf online, she gets me all hyped by telling me what a great movie it is. Stick it in the DVD player annnnnnnnd it's broken. Won't go more than one minute before it shuts itself off. Settle for 50 First Dates which I had in my DVD reserve. Enjoying the juxtaposition of the tropical Hawaiian scenery with the INCREDIBLE snowfall outside. It's really on now, things are about to get epic!

3:00 PM-The boys across the street, all football players from The College of New Jersey, come over looking for shovels. Mom, who cemented her place as coolest neighbor last year when she brought them the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, eagerly hands out shovels knowing we'll probably get our own driveway shoveled out as well. She is right. Touche, Mom, touche. My dog then tries to kill one of them when he returns with the shovel.

4:25-I finish my book. Highly recommend Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, about the 1892 Chicago Worlds Fair and the dark hidden underside. Unfortunately I'm now without a book for 5 o'clock reading time. Luckily I live in a library.

4:38-Internet is shaky. This could be a sign of things to come. Nicky informs me that her sister a few towns over has lost cable. I can't even imagine such horrors.

5:10-The end is approaching. Internet is shaky at best. Once this goes we can only wait for the power to go and send us back to Oregon Trail times. I'm sort of pumped for that, although worried about the heat...I've finished 50 First Dates and have moved on to old seasons of Gilmore Girls. Now all I have to do is wait for the beer to chill on the porch.

6:23-Have started The Glass Castle, which Mom pulled out of no where. Susan Boyle is on the CD player. Two beers go down surprisingly fast when chilled in snow. No sign of dinner being made, however...how do I bring this up to my mother without sounding like a demanding child?

7:51-Dinner ended up being pea soup and homemade bread. I scoffed at first as I am quite the entitled child and usually demand a more civilized meal. It was delicious. I apologize. Snow seems to be winding down, preliminary reports have us at 16 inches in both the front and the back yard (a discrepancy between measurements in the front and backyard caused problems during the last snowstorm as Mom and OMP had bet on the snowfall and neither was willing to lose. They didn't bet money, however, as thankfully none of us actually understand how betting works). I was hoping to break 20 inches, but 16 seems like enough to shut things down for awhile.

9:00 PM-

Like I Could Stay Away!

This January was the 2 year anniversary of the start of my first blog (lies, I first started blogging in high school with damn livejournal, but that's a dark mark in my past). That blog, of course, was the epic mariannasadventures.blogspot.com, which followed my travels in Ireland. To this day it is probably my favorite thing on the internet. Sometimes I read it and can't even believe I wrote it. It was a different time, different place and a different me. I like the person who wrote that blog. That person is funny, willing to take risks, and sees everyday as a new opportunity.

My next blog, mariannasfailures.blogspot.com was fun, but a little too bitter for me. I was never really proud of the person that I was in college. Something about college made me cynical and dark. The title alone shows how I viewed myself during my four years of college. I constantly knocked myself down and found humor in the fact that I was never good enough for my standards. That blog, while admittedly enjoyable, reminds me of this every time I read it.

My last blog, travelswithauggie.blogspot.com (btw you should all be hitting these blogs up, hence why I'm linking to them) was supposed to be my breakaway hit. It tracked my trip around the country, my defining moment, I was supposed to eventually turn it into the great American memoir (which would eventually lead to a movie deal and an almost guaranteed drug addiction once the fame wore off). Instead I stopped writing after Arizona. I started freaking out that people I met might read the blog and not like what I wrote about their states and their homes, even though I had nothing but good things to say. I worried that people might take my voice the wrong way, misunderstand my ridiculous attempts at humor. By the time I got home it seemed like too big of a liability. In all fairness I need to finish that blog up solely for the state of my memories, however I no longer view it as my big break.

I've been home for more than three months now. This is the longest span of time I've spent at home since high school. Based off of the response I've gotten from job applications that I've sent out, I'm going to be here for quite sometime. Quite frankly, I'm having the time of my life. I watch Law and Order: SVU marathons on Tuesday. At 5 o clock every night my mother pours me a glass of wine, turns on some soft background music, lights some candles and we settle ourselves down with a book until my father comes home. I get a homecooked meal every night. My college roommate lives right down the road and has access to a private bar that serves beer for a buck twenty five. She is more than willing to let me sleep on her floor when I take advantage of said bar. If I had to describe the life I wanted to live....this would be it.

The fact of the matter remains, however, that nine months out of graduation, I still don't have a job. I haven't even had an interview for a job. I send out at least three applications a day, sometimes up to ten, and have received maybe 5 responses telling me that the company is not interested. Most of the time the application just enters cyberspace and floats around in the endless abyss. When I graduated it was quoted to me that 80% of the class of 2009 in America graduated without jobs. I took comfort in this number. I quoted it endlessly. It was the perfect justification. I don't have a job because no one has a job. Nine months later....I can't imagine the number is that high anymore.

I've managed to busy myself. My summer job has taken me on as somewhat of a charity case. In exchange for occasional work they pay me enough money to support my weekends at the buck twenty-five bar. I am eternally grateful but crave something that promises a bit more stability.

After finding myself bored on the sofa one day, talking to my dogs and convinced they were talking back to me, I immediately jumped in the car and joined Weight Watchers. Not specifically for the health aspects, although those are a massive plus, but more for the socialization. For an hour a week I gather with Lawrenceville's soccer moms and retirees to discuss portion sizes and walking routes. I love it, they are truly hilarious people (whether they mean to be or not...). Although the laughter always stops when someone steps over the line and brings up something like their recent colonoscopy (it happens far more often than I'm comfortable with...). As a result I'm healthier and have far more energy than I ever did in college.

Overall...I'm great! I'm healthy, I'm happy and things are exactly where I want them to be! Which is why I've started this blog. For those of us left in that once 80%, those who assumed for the past 22 years that a job would be waiting for you once you got that degree and have found that that's just not the case. I want to document that (clearly) life doesn't end at 23. I want to document that person who doesn't live the 9-5 life (but also isn't a dirty hipster. For the record, I'm not trying to "beat the system" I am a huge fan of "the system"). I'm a late bloomer. I was late to the starting gate for the rat race....but I'll catch the next heat. In the meantime I'm going to wander around and cheer on the other participants knowing that no matter how many tries it takes, I have plenty of years to win gold (there will be plenty of Olympics metaphors over the next few weeks, btw).