Keepin' it close to home.

DCist recently compiled a list of songs by local bands that have left washingtonian's in a state of aural pleasure for the past year. I agree. Favorites on the list include Greenland, M. Bragg, and The Bonapartes. I'm surprised to see that non of Army of Me's songs made the cut...

Get linked!

On an entirely unrelated note...

here's what DCist had to say about our style:

"In a world increasingly dominated by overpaid Hollywood stylists creating so-called “fashion icons” out of teenage starlets, one of our favorite things about D.C. is the unique style sensibilities of its residents. From Mousetrap glam to Georgetown preppy, you rock your looks with as much confidence and conviction as you defend your political opinions."

So true... our beloved district has one of the most unique vibes I've ever encountered and I love the juxtaposition of politics and la vie de bohemme.

The fun begins!

Kathryn and I were finally reunited last night at about 12am at Dulles Airport. She wasn't too happy about her arrival time, but it wasn't really a big deal. I'm not that far from the airport so I didn't mind picking her up at all. I'm so excited she is here. Right as we got her bags in the back of my trunk she got her camera and started to record the ride back to my house (where she will be staying for a week) and it was just absolutely ridiculous. We debated whether or not we should post it on vimeo but we came to the ultimate conclusion that it was just far too long and far too ridiculous to make strangers sit through. We were singing really off key to Bright Eyes and it probably would be embarassing for everyone involved. Anyway, she's here now and I'm super excited. We will be making more clips that will hopefully make the cut and be posted on vimeo so keep an eye out. And if you don't have the link to my vimeo page and want it, leave a message or shoot me an e-mail. :P

NEW YEARS EVE IS TOMORROW!!!

and here we go again...

Top 5 parties

1. Halloween in Collegiate Court
2. Keirn's going away in Collegiate Court
3. Foxridge "whatever happens in foxridge, stays in foxridge"
4. Wake Forest circa January 2005
5. UVA with Nina Cohen/Christy Lewis

Continuing...

Top 5 CDs in rotation this year:

1. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
2. Kanye West - Late Registration
3. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
4. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
5. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans

Calais! Calais! Calais!
This year we spent Christmas in Charleston, SC where I've been the past week or so. Needless to say, it was great. My family was there and I could go on and on, but I will spare you. There was great food and I was in the company of wonderful people and that's pretty much all you can ask for. The weather was ridiculously nice outside too. I wore a t-shirt one of the days. We went to Church on Christmas and let me just say that the southerners really know how to build a church. It was gorgeous and the preist was so cute. I loved it and had a great time and can only hope that you guys did as well.

In other news, my parents officially announced their retirement to the family. They are planning on saying goodbye to their beloved jobs in 2008 when I graduate. They recently purchased a house in Myrtle Beach and I got to see it for the first time this week. I'm pretty much in love with it. It's smaller than the house we're living in right now, but it is absolutely GORGEOUS. The detailing on the doors and walls and knobs etc. are to die for. It's the perfect size for them and has extra rooms for when I visit with friends. The backyard is also amazing. It's got an outdoor grill built into this brick wall thing. There's a pool and a side fountain. My mom suggested that I get married there. It's got a golf course down the street so my dad is happy and the beach is only one block away. And it's not the touristy part of the beach either which is just perfect for them. I'm really happy for my parents and I'm really excited for their house. The builder also told us that Tiger Woods just bought a house down the street so maybe dad will catch a glimpse of him on the green. I'm really glad they are finally doing something for themselves. They've given up so much for us it's about time they went all out. This house is ridiculous though, the color schemes are amazing and mom got an interior designer to help her turn it into her dream home. So far it's about 80% finished and from what i've seen, it's just - there are no words. From the mirrors to the floors, to the patio in the back... I will not be able to resist the temptation to visit.

I was browsing through my Tech 2005-2006 photo file on my computer and I came across this picture. I totally didn't even know I had it. It made me smile and laugh. And I guess this picture does a pretty good job in summing up my year. Full of good times, laughter, smiles, funny and amazing people. Thank you guys for making it a good one. :D 

Thump... Thump... Thumpity... Thump... Thump
(that's what my heart sounded like when I went to the Andy Warhol gallery yesterday)

Last night Kaj had the overwealming urge to go to DC and well, I've been wanting to go to the Andy Warhol gallery since Thanksgiving (also, we had tried to do this on Tuesday but it failed) so we finally got our schedules to match up with the Corcoran's and we went and Andy Warhol-ed it up. I picked him up in Arlington where he spent the day and cut my finger on a door while holding it for an old woman. Our walk to the metro was pretty ridiculous - my finger was bloody and we didn't have band-aids and I'm a germ-o-phobe so you can imagine how funny it was. Kaj asked the lady at the metro booth for band-aids and she had them! I was relieved but she did give me the 3rd degree on what happened which was kind of strange. Needless to say it was probably one of the most interesting trips to DC I've ever been on. Now that Kaj's been home from France for awhile, he's decided to become a DC know-it-all. So far so good. He has a pretty good sense of direction and found the Corcoran with no problem. However, he doesn't know what any of the buildings actually are. He's good with streets and that's about it. Anyway, the exhibit itself was absolutely amazing (shock!) - I loved it. Kaj was the perfect person to go with too. He let me take my time as I stared and stared and stared awestruck for hours. He liked to read the captions so I guess that kept him busy and kept me informed when he relayed all the information back to me. Not a fan of modern art, Kaj walked out of the Corcoran a convert. I guess my job was done for the day - I didn't do much though, Andy Warhol seems to have that effect on people. The display was great. I liked how the rooms were all themed. At one point, I remember turning to Kaj and just saying, "I can't believe we are this close to Andy Warhol right now." It was pretty surreal. I'm going to have to go again - I'm thinking of taking Kathryn when she flies in from North Carolina. I highly recommend it, if you haven't seen it all ready, please do so. Here's your chance! This exhibit is practically in our backyards - it would be a shame to pass it up. You won't regret it.

Keep it going...

Top 10 people I hung out with all the time

1. Kathryn [prob. everyday this summer]
2. Rachel
3. Matt
4. Drew
5. Keirn
6. Kathleen
7. Jerry
8. Maddie
9. Sarah
10. Pat

As the year comes to a close I think it will be fun to make top 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. lists. I'll post a few every day up until New Years eve.

Top 5 concerts:

1. Bright Eyes & Feist [November 2005]
2. Rufus Wainwright & Ben Folds [August 2005]
3. Bright Eyes & The Faint [May 2005]
4. Army of Me & The Bonapartes [Dec 2005]
5. Audrey Sessions @ Virginia Tech! [Oct 2005]


Top 10 college memories:

1. Hanging out with Audrye Sessions
2. Wake Forest Basketball game last year when Chris Paul was still there. 3rd row seats.
3. Meeting Dr. Simmons for the first time and being so scared about the future, but now looking back and realizing this man does wonders.
4. Hurricane Katrina sending former Tulane student Keirn to Virginia Tech for the semester
5. Hokie Football in the fall - there's NOTHING like it.
6. Being super lame the first time Pat came to visit - I cringe just thinking about it.
7. Making gingerbread houses with Jerry
8. John Boyer's World Region's class - probably the best class I've ever taken in my life. "There were ninjas!"
9. The cadets singing carols in my dorm during exam week in uniform.
10. Randomly being on Extreme Home Make Over and making fun of an orange Ty Pennington.

I made the Dean's list, and my Science G.P.A was over a 3.5 (which is the min. requirement to make it into Med-School) sooooo, basically this semester was awesome and I'm feeleing good about MCATs.

Oh yeah Animal Collective is playing in Asheville, NC and Washington, DC come March. :D Come with me!

Strikes everywhere!

It appears that the dancers of The Washington Ballet, more specifically the dancers of The Nutcracker have gone on strike. In otherwords, no Nutcracker for anybody this year. Sadly, the rest of the shows have been cancelled which could be detrimental to the company seeing as this event brings in the most revenue all year. I'm really saddened by this because this is an annual family tradition. For as long as I can remember, come Christmas time, we'd always go to the Kennedy Center or Warner theatre and I could always count on that to be the one consistant thing that happened in my life, but not this year. I know I'm probably sounding a little dramatic, but it's sad since this is a little piece of my childhood that I've hung onto for so long and this year it's gone. I guess, there comes a point where you just have to let go - I don't feel like I'm ready yet. 2006 is going to be a very challenging but hopefully rewarding year. I'm moving out on my own - I will be living in a townhouse cooking for myself and hoping it's not a complete disaster. I will have my toughest course load then, and I will also be taking my MCATs which will pretty much determine where I will be going the next 4 years of my life. I'm so excited since I've never been so sure about anything in my life. I guess this is what growing up feels like. I guess I just wanted to end the year by holding onto a piece of my "old self" if that makes any sense.

In other News, New York transit is on strike? Hopefully this doesn't happen in DC, from what I've heard/seen so far on the news and from friends, it is a pain in the ass.

So much for Andy Warholing it up...

Last night Kaj and I planned to make our way into the city to see the glorious Andy Warhol gallery at the Corcoran, however, this morning our hopes and dreams were shattered to pieces when we tried to see where we could park via the Corcoran website and came across this page. It seems quite random to me that the museum is closed every Tuesday. This would happen. My life is just that awesome. We decided to reschedule our excursion for Thursday instead and then, I came across this page - which is just perfect because we're supposed to meet friends for dinner on Thursday night in Georgetown anyway so after we Andy Warhol it up, we can Post Secret it up and kill time before dinner.

Perfect!

ALSOOO....

Army of Me was featured in The Washington Post a few days ago. Click here to read the article online, and click here if you're not a member and a scanned copy of the article in the paper should pop up.

DCist also covered Saturday night's concert and you can see it here.

Rummaging -----> sweet finds.

Today I was going through my closet because I have that kind of time on my hands and I came across an old school Polaroid Camera! :D I thought I had gotten rid of this a long time ago but I'm glad I didn't. I remember my dad bought it for me when I was in elementary school because I had some sort of science fair project due (and this was way before the digital camera days) and I had to have my pictures of various stages of bread mold (or whatever it was we were doing) on a poster board by the next day and the solution was... POLAROID CAMERA! I'm really glad I found it, I think it's still got some film in it too. Kaj and I are going to see the Andy Warhol gallery tomorrow so I figure I may just document my trip. I doubt they will let me take pictures in the museum itself, but if they did that would be terriffic. It's so ugly (pictured to the right) and bulky - the newer polaroids are much more compact and "futuristic" but, regardless, I'm in love with this photo-taking phenomenon of the 80's and 90's all over again. I prefer my old ugly polaroid camera to the 2005 soon to be 2006 ones anyway. I'm really excited about this. I'm surprised it has survived 3 moves. Now, if only I could find my old NES system...

discovery!

This morning, i went to put a croissant in the microwave and what did I find under it? The most amazing tea/coffee maker on the planet! Believe me, it's by no means an overstatement. I just tested it out and this cup of tea I'm drinking is made to perfection and required the touch of two buttons. Big shoutout goes to my dad's employees for getting this for him which he has decided to display in our kitchen for the use of his wife and children. My dad and I are coffee/tea drinking machines. I'm pretty sure we have caffeine in our blood 24-7 (okay, overstatement) but needless to say, I am very appreciative of this and am sad I cannot take this to school with me. I'm going to have to make a short clip and show you guys how this works because it amuses me to no end and it is so pretty. Keep checking vimeo out - I hope to have it up soon.

Back to this bangin' cup of tea.

You know you're hardcore when you've busted your finger and blood is gushing out, but you're still playing. The Bonapartes are badasses.

Home and lovvvving it!

I went to the Army of Me concert last night with Rach, Drew 1, Kaj, and his little sister. It was a great way to celebrate being back home. It was at the Black Cat (one of my favorite DC venues) and it was so much fun. We took the Metro and passed Cafe Saint Ex on the way there... it brought back a lot of memories. The concert was fun, it was an 18+ crowd. The Bonapartes opened and they were great, I enjoyed them a lot - this was the first time I'd heard them play - they were a cross between Modest Mouse and The Killers. The lead singer also had some pretty sweet dance moves. It was also their first release show and they've been getting a lot of good press around DC lately so watch out for them this coming year. Next, The Whips opened and they were really funny and entertaining but none of us were too impressed by their music. Lastly, Army of Me came on and as usual, they were amazing. They played a lot of songs from their "Fake Ugly EP" you know, just kickin' it old school. And then they did some of their newer material which included: Perfect, Going Through Changes, etc. This was their last show of the year and it was home so there was a great vibe throughout the whole place, then Vince announced that they just got a record deal (FINALLY!) - we were all so happy for them and right after he said that, they played "Come Down To DC" which I thought was very appropriate. I loved loved loved it. Such a fun night - I didn't get back home until 3am, but it was well worth it, I was in great company.

Next up: A visit to the Andy Warhol Gallery with Kaj and Rach.

Real quick...

- It's so good to be home. I've missed missed missed Northern Virginia
- I took Kathryn to the Airport today. I was sad because our schedules kind of clashed, but she will be back here soon enough after visiting her Dad in North Carolina.
- The Army of Me concert is tomorrow. I am very excited. We've got a good group of people going. Among them are, Drew, Rach, Kathleen and Myself. You are welcome to join us. It will be good times. RSVP and we'll all go together. :D
- Mike and Ollie are staying at Liz's house to see the great American Cities of DC and New York before flying to San Fran and then back home to New Zealand. I'm so sad these guys are going home. They are fantastic guys with killer personalities and well you know... a great accent. I hate to see them go - they will be terribly missed next semester. :(
- I got my Illinois shirt in the mail!!! I love it.
- I've been listening to Earth Wind & Fire's "September" all night. I feel like a big nerd, but it reminds me of how Juxta's Eric sings it (since I don't have that version) and it kind of puts me in a good nostalgic "I miss Tech" already kind of mood.
- Kaj is back from France and I received a few calls from him today which I was very excited about. I cannot wait to see this kid! I'm glad he is not jet-lagged anymore.
- Mike is also in town visiting for a very short period of time. If you want to see him, do it before Sunday.

On heavy rotation...

Elliot Smith's "St. Ides Heaven" and "Clementine." Clementine was the first Elliott Smith song I had ever heard. Replaying old memories tonight.

Other exciting news:

After a semester in France in the most picturesque location imaginable, Kaj is home! He can rest assured that his door will be one of the first that I knock on when I get home.

On the Agenda...
(December!)

- A visit to the Andy Warhol exhibit in DC
- Lunch with my cousin Dane who I haven't seen since this summer
- Army of Me concert
- Nutcracker with my family (annual tradition)
- Hosting a Holiday party with Rach
- Horseback riding in Western Loudoun with Kathleen
(we're going to try to pick up Polo this summer)
- Kaj's welcome home party (after a semester in France)
- Georgetown excursion day with Kathryn and Rach
- New York Summer trip meeting :D Finalizing details, choosing our hotel, coming up with an itinerary etc.
- Christmas at home
- South Carolina ?
- Kathryn flying in to stay with me for a week

I'm so excited. 2 more days.

Jeux d'enfants.

This movie is on my Christmas list. A French romantic comedy (and you know how I love all things French), it's a story about two kids that meet in grade school that have a colorful tin box. They pass the box along to one another when they want to dare the other to do something. This game of dare becomes extreme at times and follows them into adulthood (hence the literal french title meaning, child games). They end up falling for each other. I hear it's got a similar vibe to Amelie and I cannot wait to check it out. At a mere $10.99 on amazon.com, I say, why not?

Link to official website

PS: The American title of this movie is "Love me if you dare."

Currently...

- really enjoying the music of James Blunt (specifically the song "You're Beautiful")
- not enjoying how he looks over sexified in his picture (posted). I don't like when magazines or photographers do that. They take so much away from the human essence. Imperfections are beautiful, don't hide them. Well, maybe this picture isn't the best example now that I look at it, but you know what i'm talking about... all the airbrushed celebrities make me kind of sad because they are so naturally beautiful to begin with.
- getting excited to go home
- also listening to a lot of Aqualung (I guess the Brits are conquering my ears this exam week)
- thinking about how i should start packing

One more exam stands in the way of being immersed in Winter Break.

We have so much to celebrate!

The past few days have been great! Friday, Nich and I decided that we all needed to get together so we cooked alfredo for 15 people and had them all come over. The university was closed until 1pm on Friday so a lot of people's finals were rescheduled for 7:45am on Saturday which just wasn't fun for anyone involved. We decided we should have a low key night and it turned out wonderfully. By Saturday everyone was at their wits end. Exams will commence on Monday, but we all decided to throw a party. At first it was just for those same 15 people that came to dinner. We had a lot to Celebrate: Peter's birthday, Keirn's last semester at Tech, the end of our first exam week, Tommy's power hour Christmas mix, the holidays coming up, our group of friends. Keirn and I decided to cook for everyone this time. We made so much food, some of which included, pigs in a blanket, s'mores, cupcakes, dip... we pretty much went all out. These guys are like family to us so we were really excited to do it. Anyway, we ended up getting a keg and pretty much celebrated after exams around 3pm and went on through the night. By the end of the night a lot more people showed up and we had to get another keg, but it was great having everyone together one last time before exams. There wern't any random people at the party. Everybody knew everyone else - I thought it was pretty ideal. As you can probably gather from the pictures below, we all had a really great time. It was a great way to finish out the semester.

I also posted a video from last night on my vimeo page.

Ha ha, great minds think alike.  

Intoxicated! 

Awesome. 

I got him back. 

Drew beating me up. Me living to tell about it. 

Writing on Tommy's shirt 

Moe! This kid so so money! 

Yesssssssss! 

Avec le vin 

Todd looking drunk 

With Matt. :D 

We should have gone streaking...
One more paper and exam to go! I'm really actually kind of upset because as of an hour ago I finished all my exams and will probobably finish my paper by today (good thing). But my last exam of the semester just happens to fall on the last possible day of exams which means that I get to stay here until Thursday and not really do anything. Anyway, by last night, I had been studying for my Chem exam for roughly 48 hours and had become so dilusional I was singing the milkshake song. Then, for some reason, I felt it was a great idea to streak torgersen bridge (pictured and taken from VT's webpage). I didn't actually do it (thank you voices of reason), however, I did carefully think this out. Torg bridge is such a stretegic streaking location. Just look at it! It connects the library and Torg hall. It has easily accessible staircases at both ends so you can run up a set of stairs, streak, and run down the stairs on the other side. Underneath torg bridge are two "get-away" doors where you can have a "get-away" car parked to pick you up. Who doesn't study in Torg bridge for exams? Seriously, it would provide great comic relief for people who are stressed out. Basically PERFECT. But nobody wanted to do it with me. I feel as though streaking torg bridge is something a Hokie must do along with making out in the stakcks and camping on the drillfield before he/she graduates. Am I right? I even thought about what would happen if one got arrested for indecent exposure and had to go to jail. Though it probably isn't the best idea to spend the night before a final in jail... if you brought your books, I'm pretty sure you'd have incentive to study. Incentive = you not wanting to talk to the townies in jail with you. I wonder if they would let you study in jail. I mean there wouldn't be any distractions and you'd be too scared to talk to anyone/move. Okay so, obviously I didn't go through with it, but let it be known that it was seriously considered and thought through. Finals Spring 2006 anyone? Ha ha.

Sidenote: I've been listening to Aqualung's Strange and Beautiful on repeat all morning. (Better than the milkshake song? - definately!)

Oh man...

I am so excited right now. This morning, I bought (in my opinion) the coolest shirt EVER. I cannot wait to get it in the mail when I get home and wear it all day. And as if this shirt wasn't cool enough, it just had to be printed on American Apparel! In other words, the most quality sweatshop free shirts on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line! Yesss. So anyway, it's pictured, to the left. Don't get too jealous for you can score one of your own! Pat's probably going to be totally jealous since he's from Illinois. Don't worry, I'll wear it one day in his presence and make him cry.

PS: Sufjan Stevens is awesome and so is this CD and if you haven't yet, you should probably do yourself a favor and go download The Lord God Bird right about now.

I'm on the verge, I'm on the verge!

I'm pretty sure I just had the most bangin' day. I've been pretty concerned with my Pre-Med requirements this semester because the primary Pre-Med advisor (Dr. Simmons) is so hard to get a hold of becuase he has so many meetings with so many students so usually there's a one month wait to see him (that's if you're super lucky) anyway I signed up for a Chem class this semester thinking it was part of my Pre-Med requirements and it turns out that it's not (Go figure, life throws awesome curveballs at me constantly). Anyway Dr. Simmons told me I had to go talk to Dr. Amateis becuase he said he'd let me get by with taking that class as long as I took the second semester of a different Chemistry class, but he said it was really up to her to see if I was ready or if she'd let it slide. Anyway, I had a meeting with her today and she was so nice and helpful. She told me she had talked to my current Chem professor and she reccommended me for the second part of the Pre-Med Chem class and they let me opt out of the first one, but I still get credit for it which is just AWESOME. I'm so glad it worked out because I was afraid I'd be a semester behind which would have thrown everything off. It's so ironic because as far as my major (Psyc) goes, I can actually graduate next year, which would be a year early, but because I've declared Pre-Med, I have a lot of other classes to take, which obviously keeps me here and extra year, but it works out becuase I was supposed to graduate then anyway. Also, I don't want to take MCATs this year anyway so it works out. Today, I also declared Soc as my minor. The people in the Soc department were very helpful and it was quick and painless and now I am officially Pre-Med/Psyc with Soc. It's really exciting. I would never have thought that I would have picked up Soc, but I'm really happy with the decision and right now it feels as though everything is coming together so nicely and I'm just at a really good place right now. I know what I want to do for sure, and I love my classes/profs. Also, I took an exam this morning for Personality of Psyc and I'm pretty sure I rocked it! I was really excited when I left the room. I'm actually taking all my exams early and I would be done by this Friday and get to go home early except for I have ONE exam next Thursday (the last day of finals) and my professor won't change the date, or let us take it early so basically, I will just be staying here for 4 days doing nothing. :( I want to go visit friends at other schools, but I'm pretty sure everybody is taking exams right now so that's probably not an option. I don't know what I will do with myself... suggestions?

All smiles.

The corps of cadets just came through my hall singing Christmas carols while I was studying for my exam. It made me so happy. They were in uniform.... their hot ones. The ones that are all white that they only wear to Military Balls. So cute! It almost made my night... but then Colin called.

I wish I could tell you what's going on with Colin. He called to share some ridiculously exciting news which I cannot leak because I have been sworn to secrecy, but it bascially made me very happy. I was not only flabbergasted, but just so excited for him. My neighbor sharon came by because she heard me being excited for Colin over the phone and she told me I looked like I was going to cry for him because I was so excited. I mean, if I didn't have an exam to study for, I would probably be on the phone crying/laughing/clebrating with this kid. He is amazing and I am so proud of him and so happy for him. I know this is vague, but it is for good reason. Congrats Colin! :)

PS: I'm listening to Jeff Buckley right now and it's amazing! CD: Grace. Favorites include, Lilac Wine and Hallelujah.

Promises.

I've been on a Dove milk chocolate kick lately. My dove of choice? Promises. Like fortune cookies, but they taste better. Anyway, I've been saving the wrappers with little messages inside and since it's the end of the semester, there's really no point in me having a ton of these little squares of aluminium sit around so... I"m going to compile a list of wisdom a la Dove.

- Test your own limits and keep going
- Sometimes one smile means more than a dozen roses
- Love without rules
- Send a love letter this week.
- Smile before bed. You'll sleep better.
- Find your passion.
- Listen to your heartbeat and dance.
- Watch reruns, then replay your memories.
- Lose yourself in a moment.
- Learn soemthing from everyone you meet.
- You know what? You look good in red.
- Go against the grain.

Only I would get a recipe from someone at 2am.

This past weekend I went to Collegiate Court to watch one of the most devestating games I have ever seen (so devestating, this is the first time I've talked about it because I had to allow for some cushion time to lessen the pain). Anyway, that night, the boys cooked for us and by "the boys" I mean Drew and Nich (pronounced neesh), the two out of ten or so guys that were there. Surprisingly, they did a fantastic job and it left me completely envious of their cooking capibilities for they were far more superior than mine. Anyway, they made us Fetuccini alfredo (Nich) and Pork Tenderloin (Drew) both of which were cooked to perfection. It was pretty much amazing. Anyway, I asked if they could give me some cooking lessons or forward the recipes (Nich's recipe especially because I am a HUGE pasta/carbs fan). Drew said he would come by the townhouse next fall and help me cook so I wouldn't eat ramen every day or starve to death, and for that I am completely thankful. Okay well, moving along to the TRUE root of this story... At 2am last night I got an IM from Nich... with none other than this spectacular recipe (below):

nish: hey, the recipe for the alfredo is
nish: 1.5 cup heavy whipping cream, 1.25 cup parmesean cheese (you can use more or less depending how cheesy you like it), 1-3 cloves of garlic (smash them before you put them in the pot), pepper, and 1 tablespoon of butter
nish: and cook it on medium heat, maybe a little less
nish: until it mixes nicely
nish: this is for 1 box of noodles
nish: put salt in the water when you boil the noodles, and after you drain the noodles
nish: throw in mozzeralla, like a handful, and mix it around
nish: then just add the sauce and chicken

Sounds easy enough right? I think I can attempt to do this, however, I would like some directions on how to cook the chicken. I wonder if it has to be marinated? Also, with the sauce, I wonder if you let it simmer, or bring it to a boil... I need specifics. Also, I am an observational learner, so I think it would be a lot easier if I could just see it being done. Does somebody want to try cooking this with me sometime?

Panty raids... what?

Yesterday I received this Campus Notice, and today Ty Pennington was in my dorm room. I came back from classes today and saw a camera crew in my dorm and just thought that someone was filming for a final or something. Afterall, this is the beginning of exam week. Anyway, I had my iPod on and was in my own little world at the time and I didn't think much of it. The entrance way to my hall was kind of blocked by the crew so I politely asked if I could get to my dorm. Ty was there and I knew he looked familiar but I still wasn't putting the pieces together. Anyway, I made it to my dorm room pretty oblivious and then my neighbor from across the hall pulled me into her room. I hadn't even gotten my jacket off yet. And all she said to me was "act surprised" and made me play Nintendo. Sure enough after a few minutes the cameras busted into her room and we "acted surprised." Afterwards, my roomate and I went back to our rooms and they asked if they could film in there as well. We agreed, and seconds later, Ty busts through the door and goes through our drawers yelling "PANTY RAIDDD" and afterwards somebody asked us to sign a waiver so I'm thinking they are going to use it on air... which would be pretty funny. TiVo anyone? It will be interesting to see how this all turns out. It was a pretty random day. It's great when you attend a large and very scenic University. Cool stuff like this happens all the time.... to the point where you're not even phased anymore. I LOVE IT. PS: It snowed for the first time in Blacksburg since we've been here TODAY! I shot some footage (very turbulent footage) on my way back from classes... (it killed my batteries, and i wish it didn't otherwise i could have gotten some ty pennington and TLC and Main Eggleston-ness for you guys and that would have been amazing). Wow, good times.

PS: Mr. Pennington is quite orange considering it is the month of December and snowing.

Add these songs to your iTunes!
(Hopefully they will be on heavy rotation)

1. Tristan Prettyman - Shy that Way
2. Bright Eyes - Napoleon's Hat
3. Jason Mraz - Gypsy MC
4. Bob Dylan - One Too Many Mornings
5. Jeff Buckley - Lilac Wine
6. Army of Me - Perfect
7. Sufjan Stevens - The Lord God Bird*
8. Pavement - Spit On A Stranger
9. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
10. Elliott Smith - Twilight
11. Coldplay - White Shadows
12. Audrye Sessions - No One Is Listening
13. Travis - Flowers In The Window
14. Elliott Smith - Son of Sam
15. Ben Folds - Late

* His voice is just ridiculous in this song. I think I melted when I heard it. Lovely. Nice story behind the song too.

Cohen's away message:

mary fuckin le come back and tell me that story soberly. and do me. thanks.

ha ha ha... i love her.

Exams begin for me this week. I can't believe this semester is practically over. I had a 2 hour lunch with Tommy today because we had a lot of catching up to do. Turns out, our friend Ashely got married. And, last night our friend PJ got engaged so I'd like to extend my congratulations to Peej and his lovely. And, another one of our friends is thinking about poping the question. I have to keep this under wraps, but this is all very very exciting and I wish them all the best. This is a lot of exciting news shared over a lunch meeting... no?

oh yeah we lost last night. it wasn't fun.

My friends prove to be more amazing everyday.

Dylan has been working on this short for awhile and you can view it here. The poetry is written by our friend Keith and I think it's great (in a non bias way). I hope you enjoy it. I did.

Pffffft. Scratch that. Local Andy Zipf is where it's at.

Get some Andy here.

I'm a fan of the song "Your Fire." I would like him to sing me to sleep.

I'm feelin' it.

New Obession de Mary for you guys. They are called "Street to Nowhere." I think the lead singer sounds a little bit like the guy from Our Lady Peace from time to time. It's very eerie and edgy. As far as instrumentals go think Postal Service mixed with the strings of Audrye Sessions. I really like it. Click the link below to check it out yo'self.

Street to Nowhere

"When you told me about losing your virginity
your eyes drifted into the scene and I wanted to be there
to shake you and say wait, damnit
wait for me."

- Derrick Brown

These days it seems like I cannot get enough of Derrick Brown. That was an excerpt from his poem (one of my now favorites) called "Unsent." This stanza particularly caught my attention. I mean how many times have you or someone you've known thought that? "Wait, damnit, wait for me." Le sigh... Now this is getting a little too sentimental.

On another note, it stopped raining in Blacksburg, but it got a lot colder. Ironic isn't it? Actually, not really this is Blacksburg where you can have 4 seasons in a day. Anyway, I guess I don't really have much of an update today. It's crunch time for everybody so that's what we've all been up to. Patrick has to write his thesis. :( I sent him a card, but he doesn' t know it yet, so hopefully he'll get it soon. I accidently smeared the ink so I'll probably get made fun of because it looks like a disaster. I'm telling you ball point pens are > than gel pens for that reason.

In other news, a professor informed me that next year's incoming freshmen will be required to bring a laptop to school. I mean I guess they can have desktops in their rooms, but they will be needing a laptop in all classes meaning that the paper and pencil are on their way out and it will take 4 years to do this (obviously since they're not going to make seniors get new computers). I guess they're really emphasizing the Tech in Virginia Tech. Virtually every place on campus is wireless now so I guess that makes sense. I think it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I know I am easily distracted and with wireless capabilities in all buildings, I don't think I'd be able to pay attention. However, I heard that they are making all intro professors change their way of lecturing to accomidate this process. I think this may have something to do with the top 30. Thought's anyone?

Zing.

This semester for one of my classes I had to watch 5 foreign films of my choice from the list that my professor provided. Tonight, I watched the last of my 5 and at first I wasn't very excited about it because I just thought it was going to be one of those blood bath kind of movies but it turned out not to be and after watching 4 movies for the class I had been slacking and was kind of stuck watching this one ton ight but I'm glad I did. If you ever get a chance to, go rent "The Twilight Samurai." It is very well made.

Also, I got a chance to read more Derrick Brown and I'm going to have to change my favorite poem in his book to "Unsent." It's so honest.

I guess that's all for now, I don't really have much to say.

In case you missed the concert...
(and I hope you didn't)

Here is the Washington Post's review for Friday night's amazingness.

Speaking of concerts... Army of Me will be playing at the Black Cat on December 17th. It will be a good show. Vince will sing is heart out for you - no doubt about it. Plus the Black Cat is an awesome venue, shows are always good there, and I promise you will meet some interesting people that you will never forget. Last summer I was there and saw A.C. Newman and Pedro the Lion and it was great because the setting was intimate in the sense that no matter where you're standing you can see the band. The crowd isn't too large, everyone is rather spread out and you have your space. I also met two guys attending Georgetown who claimed they were from Kansas and Arkansas or something random. It was good times. Also, that story was terribly irrelevant and I'm sorry you just wasted moments of your existance reading that. But.. there was a moral to it and that is... "whenever you're at the Black Cat you are sure to have a good time."

PS: Currently LOVING Audrye Sessions right now. I'm glad they came to play at Tech, one of the best nights I've had here...

"I'm the nerve in yo spasm
the if in yo riff
and the o in yogasm"

- Derrick Brown

The book I've been wanting came in the mail today! The mail room wasn't open when I went to go check, but the nice lady who gives us our packages went in and got it for me. I told her I had been trying to get this book for the past year and some odd days. Anyway, I opened the package in a fit of anticipation and saw that the author had signed the first page. This is what it said:

"Mary Anne, may these poems change your eyes at night and your mouth in the company of lovers."

I loved it. It was very appropriate. :D

Anyway, I've been reading it for the past half hour. Sadly, I have a lot of other work to do so I can't finish it in one sitting although I would gladly love to do that. It's a rainy day in Blacksburg so it's the perfect time to just sit in my bed and do a little reading for the soul... but alas. My favorite poem so far (note: this is subject to change since I have not finished reading this book) is called "QUARTER SLOTROCK for my friend, the end" and there's an excerpt from it above.

Introducing the Chloe Paddington Bag.
My parents usually get my sister and I presents for Thanksgiving which I think is totally unnecessary because we basically have everything we need and it's in such close proximity to Christmas, it is kind of an overload for them. Anyway, they asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted and I mean I think I'm a pretty minimal person. I don't really need much aside from your essentials: food, shelter, water. Well, I have been receiving Chloe catalogues at the house and I've always liked these bags. Classic italian leather with a nice modern twist (the lock and key). I guess my mom had been looking through these because on Thanksgiving I received one of the bags (see left, but think dark brown instead of black). I really like it. It's large enough to fit all of my essentials plus a journal I take with me eveywhere I go and a book or two. Again, it was really nice of my parents, but kind of unnecessary, however, I will not be complaining. Trust that I will put this to good use.

Mood: Chipper.

(That was so LJ, sorry... at least it didn't say "nostalgic" or "indifferent" or "melancholy")

In an earlier post, I said I would talk about my excitement over a poetry book so here I am delivering the news to the 2.5 people that read this.

I've been trying to track down a poetry book by Derrick Brown (former lead singer of The John Wilkes Kissing Booth) called "If Lovin' You is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Wrong" for the past year or so but nobody had it. I went to multiple bookstores that just told me it was out of print, I even went to his website and... well, nothing. Even Amazon didn't have it. AMAZON! How does Amazon not have a book? It's 2005! Anyway, I actually e-mailed the author and to my surprise, he actually responded to my e-mail and said he still had seven personal copies left. He said it was "out of print" because he hasn't been able to find a publisher that he really likes but said that he could send me a copy since I really wanted one. I sent in my money ASAP and waited a week and there was nothing. Well, over break I checked my bank statement and it said he had cashed the check (thank you online banking, my life is amazing with you) so hopefully, this book will be waiting for me in my mailbox when I return to Blacksburg. One year and some odd days of anticipation... I am very excited (naturally). This book will be food for the heart... or at least I hope so, I'll let you know how it goes when I pick it up in my mailbox tomorrow (hopefully)!

PS: It took Matt and I 6.5 hours to drive to Blacksburg today to get back to school when it should have taken 3.5-4 hours. Holiday traffic/accidents are really no fun (obviously).

Quick.

- We had the best red wine tonight
- I'm going to New York tomorrow! :D
- Currently packing
- I bought a fun pair of flats
- I got a haircut. It's short!
- Finally got that poetry book I wanted (will touch on this subject later)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so happy to be home this week. I haven't come back since I left for school and with all the accidents on 81 and 15 getting home... I now see why I don't make that trip often. Anyway, for those of you traveling, do it safely and don't get too upset if you encounter 4 accidents within 30 miles (yes, I am still a little bitter). I hope you get to spend today with your family and loved ones and may you eat... EVERYTHING.

I am thankful for...
(you had to know this was coming)

- My amazing family
- You guys (my friends) for continually being there to make memories with
- A certain boy who strikes my fancy that is so good to me
- This semester being one of the best (socially, gradewise, sports, roadtrips, etc)
- Hokie Football. There, I said it.
- My school for being one of the best places I've known. For being a home away from home. For the southern hospitality of the locals to the "oneness" of our campus. I LOVE VIRGINIA TECH. I can't see myself anywhere else.
- Being able to go to New York City tomrorow
- Being able to catch up with old friends this week over lunch and/or dinner (I think I've eaten out every day this week at least once). It's okay I'm left with a stomach full of calories and a mouth that smiles!
- FOOD! And being home and having unlimited access to it.
- Thursday Night Socials :D
- The epic NYFC trip round dos.... this MAY!
- My Pre-Med adviser making sure I do not fail at life, ever. Seriously, I owe this man so much.
- Life

I cannot wait for the movie Factory Girl to come out! :D

Sharon (scarf crocheter extraordinaire) sent me this picture after she informed me she had finished my scarf. :D She is the bearer or great news. It's good to be a Hokie, no? In-State rivalries make for fun times and even better pictures.

D-Love is such a renaissance man.

Well... with the anticipation of moving into a townhome next fall. I can't help but get excited about all the art I get to fill my walls with (after I paint them a light coffee color of course). So far, I've been fortunate enough to have some good friends of mine send me their beautiful artwork. Michael L. for instance, sent me amazing black and whites of city things like bridges, metros, buildings etc. I am planning to blow these up and put them in black frames. I think the contrast with the light coffee colored walls will be phenomenal. Anyway, today Dylan (or D-Love) randomly sent me a piece he was working on just to get some feedback. (It's featured to the right - Jonathan Meiburg from Shearwater) I really liked the idea behind this and asked if he would mind doing a few pices like this for me to put up in the townhouse next year and he agreed! I'm really excited. I'm not really sure what pictures I should get him to D-Love up but I still have a little while to figure it out. In the meantime, if any of you guys have suggestions of what would look good blown up and turned into a degree of Pop Art, let me know! I would love to hear what you guys think.

Oh I almost forgot...

In case you were wondering, Eric Williams wasn't there on Thursday night so I didn't get to meet him. He had an away game. I guess my dreams of taking a picture of him while we are both flexing in the mirror have been shot... however, I am not giving up. I will have a picture with him like that and it will be a part of his webshots album. You will get the reference if you have seen it.

Bright Eyes x 2.

By now I'm sure you guys have read about me being excited to go see Bright Eyes two nights in a row. And now that I have crossed that off my list of things to do... I feel like I owe it to you to write about my experience. Okay so I guess I should start by explaining the ticket incident and how I got tickets to two shows within 24 hours of one another. I originally had planned on going to see Bright Eyes with Patrick on Thursday in Asheville at the Civic Center (where I saw Conor play last year with Josh and Drew1). Patrick bought tickets for that and everything was fine until he realized that the concert was on the same day as the last Wake Football homegame against Miami so to remedy this issue I told him I could just get us some tickets to the show by my house the day after at DAR Constitution Hall in DC and just make a weekend out of it. Afterall, the Andy Warhol exhibit is on display right now in the Corcoran. Anyway, a week before the show Pat told me the Wake game had been rescheduled and we could still go to the Thursday show. So, that's what we ended up doing and Kathryn said she would come to my house for the weekend and go to the Friday show with me. So now that we're clear... I'll finally tell you about the shows.

Thursday :: Bright Eyes in Ashville, NC

I absolutely love this venue. I saw Conor play here Spring semester of last year and it was wonderful. It's a beautiful opera-like venue with the most comfortable seating imaginable. You walk in and are greeted with people selling you all types of great drinks. It was the same this year, I loved it. Pat and I were pretty stoked we had 7th row seats because he is amazing like that. The show was fantastic. I don't know what else to say. Feist is just ridiculous, I really wish I were her. Her voice has this eerie retro feel to it. Her music is very mellow... like a deep rich wine (I don't know how to explain it). It's jazzy, and makes you want to snap and act as a metronome for her live soundtrack. Her breaths inbetween the songs... all the vocalized pauses wer basically perfect. I mean this girl is just beyond words. Seriously Feist, let's swtich lives, think about it and let me know okay? Next was Conor and as usual he was extraordinary. I loved every minute of his set as did Patrick. He did a lot of stuff from Digital Ash and I'm Wide Awake. And a few of my old favorites such as The Calendar Hung Itself. He also played 3 new songs, I only caught the name of one of them which was called "Napoleon's Hat." I really enjoyed it. He said you could download it off of iTunes or buy it off of Saddle-Creek. It's on a split CD that benefits Hurricane victims. The sound quality was also great. I didn't feel like I had just gone deaf afterwards. Unfortunately, there was a harpist (Sabrina) that was supposed to play at the show and was there but tore off her toe nail and had to go to the emergency room so Conor and the band went on without her. I wouldn't have really known if they didn't bring it up. I still thought everything sounded great. It's one of those things where it's like you can't miss something you never had. I think the highlight of the show for me was the Feist-Oberst duet of the song "Mushaboom" which is a great song (download it if you have the chance). I highly recommend it. My only one complaint would be that the crowd was full of middle school wanna-be hipsters. I think I saw about 800 Conor clones with the exact same haircut and collarshirt/tie combo. Patrick and I felt really old because we were part of the 10% there that could actually vote. These kids don't even know what the guy is talking about. I mean, I don't care if you like his music, but please for my sake, listen to his music for the right reasons.

Friday :: Bright Eyes in Washington, DC

I was really excited about Bright Eyes playing in DC not only because it is my "hometown" but because he was playing at Constitution Hall. Obviously we know what his political views are and for him to play there was so symbolic. I was really excited because I knew he had something good in store. Because of ridiculous traffic on 81 due to 4 accidents and then 1 accident on 15... I didn't arrive home until the concert had already started and to make it worse, parking in DC on a Friday night is practically impossible so we ended up missing the first two openers. The one I missed on Thursday and Feist. I felt really bad because I really wanted Kathryn to experience Feist but I guess there will be other tours right? Anyway, we got there during the set change and made it just in time to catch Mr.Oberst. The first song was "Sunrise, Sunset," and the harpist was able to play and it was just astounding. It sounded phenomenal. I wish Patrick could have experienced it with the harp because I think it did make it 10 times better. Anyway, he didn't play as much of his new stuff so I didn't have to sit through the same set two days in a row which I was very thankful for. During one of his songs he invited people to waltz and a bunch of people did. It was really beautiful watching thousands of people waltzing up and down the asiles in Constitution Hall mind you. Kathryn and I looked at each other and we were just like "damn, wish we could have brought some guys with us." This went on for a few minutes until security made everyone sit down. Yeah I know, jerks. Anyway, the show was great, my friend Erik came up from Tech to go see it so we met up with him which was a lot of fun. The show was great. The crowd (thank goodness) was not filled with angsty hipsters but rather people of voting age and people who actually cared about what was said. Well I mean, what would you expect in a city like DC? It was great. My only complaint in regards to this show was that it was a little loud and I don't know if that's just because we we had awesome seats (again) and we were just closer to the speakers or if it really was ridiculously loud. I'm thinking it was the latter. It didn't ruin the experience for me by any means, I just don't like walking out of concerts and not being able to hear properly for an hour or so. Other than that, I had a really good time, picked up the Fiest CD (which you should do too if you get a chance, or stick it on your Holiday list) and the Live Bright Eyes CD which is good too. I'm really glad I went two days in a row.

I got my street cred back today.
(according to Hunter)

The glorious away complete with my version of "Damn it Feels good to be Gangsta":

Hey remember that time we beat UVA 52-14? :-)

Damn it feels good to be a Hokie a real gangsta ass Hokie plays his ball right. A real gangsta ass Hokie always runs the fuckin ball cuz a real gangsta ass Hokie knows the plays right.

Response a la Hunter Kern who I've been "fighting" with lately.

Hunter: mad street cred to you
Hunter: damn girl
Hunter: you were in a slump for the longest time
Hunter: but damn
Hunter: you earnin mad respect yo
Hunter: have a good thanksgivin

*Note 1: The "slump" was due to 3 exams every week for the past month in addition to Pre-Med stuff and conducting Psyc research. Rest assured... I'm back.
Note 2: Hunter never says "mad respect yo" ever. So this is a FIRST. Be excited that you got to experience it HERE.

landsbergo: omfg, i'm stealing that from you
landsbergo: you are awesome

I didn't know this recreation "remix a la Mary" would have been so widely accepted. I'm gonna have to say this was my great accomplishment of the day.

PS: It should have taken me 4 hours (at most) to get home yesterday but there were 4 accidents on 81 within 30 miles and one on 15... almost missed the Bright Eyes show (which was awesome both days... this will be saved for another post) and ended up spending 7 hours in the car. Poor Tommy had to listen to me sing the whole way and got to deal with my abrupt stops and usage of breaks because I had come to the realization that traffic was backed up yet again by another accident. Sager sums it up by saying:

Sagar: Yeah I know worst effing drive home ever

I saw Erik at the Bright Eyes show yesterday. Apparently he hit all the traffic too... and agrees that it was one of the worst trips ever.

CONOR OBERST 'nuff said.

Tomorrow at this time, Patrick and I will be in Asheville, North Carolina at the Bright Eyes shizzo. :)

I will be coming back on Friday for ONE class, so, let's do lunch or something before we all leave for break... (Friday!) And, if you're in town for break, I would like to see you. (Jason, that pretty much means you... and Mike L., you too). I won't be home all week but I would love to get coffee or do lunch or something at some point because I really want to see you guys.

Anyway, back to Conor Oberst.... he has put out a live CD with Elliot Smith and Feist covers... oh and by the way Feist will be opening tomorrow!

PS: Pat lives with Eric Williams... maybe he will be around tomorrow? Maybe I'll catch a glimpse and feel like a total pre-teen at a BSB concert? This should be an interesting juxtaposition no? Conor Oberst and Eric Williams. It's gonna be good times.

Shameless Plug on D-Love's behalf.

Dylan's site has been revamped. It is hot and you should check it out if you get a chance. His wit will suck you in and eat you alive and you will fall in love with him and listen to his radio show Saturday night and it will be the most glorious moment of realiziation ever.

Get Your Jollies!

Horseback Riding?

Yep, the rumors are true. I will be spending the first part of my break (pre-New York) Horseback riding in Western Loudoun. I'm more than excitied. I haven't done this in awhile. It's been 9 years or so which means I'm pretty much starting from scratch. I think it will be fun to learn how to do this again and see if I'm still any good. My friend Kathleen is a pro, she's been in some competitions so she has pledged her time to help me through this whole process. I'm really nervous, but hopefully it won't be too bad. I will document this experience and post pictures up when I have them. I think we're going to be having some really good weather over break so at least I have the elements on my side. If anything, it will be gorgeous with the leaves changing and we have the mountains as a nice little backdrop. I imagine this will be ideal. I'll let you know how it goes, but as for now, I'm full of aniticipation and excitement.

Yeah I mean, at one point, the bartender and I got into a fight and as you can see in this picture. I'm totally winning, hands down. 

Yeah we're cool.  

Unlike a normal person's reaction when somebody sits on their pelvis... I grab an ass. 

If I could name this picture, I would name it, "Defeat."