Blogs are clearly not my forte.

It says something about a blog when you go to update it, and the last entry was nearly 2 years old. I'm not sure what that something is exactly, but it's probably not good. I did update another blog for a while (http://scenesfromalondonsemester.blogspot.com/) during my time abroad, but that began nearly a year ago and ended 8 months ago.

This blog is supposed to focus on my Goucher experience. It's nearly over. I find it funny that reading the post preceding this one that I commented on the fact that I would be spending only four more semesters at college... and I'm now on my last. A terrifying reality, to say the least. The daunting nature of the task of figuring out a future is so much more than I thought it was. There's simply less.... structure, if you will, to fall back on. I always knew I was going to college. I always knew I would spend a semester abroad (thank you, graduation requirement). The decisions I made within that frame of reference were difficult, but less overwhelming because of said frame.

Moving on from now, the frame is much less defined. Grad school? Law school? Nah, I'm over academia. One more semester of papers galore and I'll be more than ready to give school a rest. A job. Sounds so simple when you put it like that. But as most of the country knows, easier said than done. I'm not alone in my hunt, not by a long shot. My qualifications? A BA in Political Science and some internships along the way. Four summers of serving up ice cream. Work ethic and a love of research. Fact-checker galore. I really should have taken my Uncle's advice and become an accountant. Too bad my heart's stuck in words, not numbers.

There's really not a rhyme or reason to this post, if you've come this far into it hoping one will emerge. I needed a place to express my disbelief and uneasiness with the fact that my collegiate career is ending; somewhere that I could get it out and maybe have it weigh less heavily on me. Better out than in, right? One can only hope.

Summer Time!

I am officially done with half of my college career. I will be spending 3 more semesters at Goucher, one semester in another country of my choosing, and then... done. Done, and I'll have to support myself and get a legitimate job. That task seems overly daunting, especially considering that finding a job or internship now has proven incredibly difficult. I'm still applying to internships with the hope that someone, somewhere, will contact me (and I still have faith!) but in the meantime I'm resume spreading to places in the area. I was sure I could go back and work at Dairy Queen this summer (oh, the joy) but it's come under new management so who knows. I'll stop by tomorrow under the pretense of getting ice cream and scope out the situation. It worked there the first time...

But it's weird to be home. Got in Friday night after a 5 hour drive in which my car was so full I could only see out of the driver's side window and only saw the passenger side mirror by virtue of a tunnel I created in the mountains of stuff that I had piled everywhere. Saw a few friends yesterday; we're all getting a slow start to summer and mostly just trying to catch up on the epic amounts of sleep we lost during finals. But my prediction for summer? If I find a source of income and get to spend at least SOME time in NC when my family goes it will be a good one.

Cross your fingers.

Spring Break '09, woo hoo.... oh wait I'm in Jersey.

So I definitely needed a break from school and homework, but dude. Spring Break? Kinda' boring. At least so far. I've gone to a few of my brothers' hockey games (nail biters, both games) and helped set up the house for a party we're having tomorrow. Got to see my friends last night after driving home and sitting in traffic in Delaware for NO REASON, so that was nice, but so far I'm really just predicting a lot of sleeping and catching up on reading interspersed with paper writing.

BOO YAH.

Maybe break'll pick up. I mean, I've only been home for a little over 24 hours. Impatient much?

What makes that OK?

So, I have this teacher. A teacher who works hard, is always well prepared, and is enthusiastic about his subject almost to the point of over-enthusiasm.
And then there are these students. Students who may or may not do the readings and are obviously not invested in the class. And what do they do? They sit in the classroom and for the majority of the class time proceed to make faces at the rest of the class in order to make it BLINDINGLY obvious that they think the professor is an idiot. Well, to those people, I have only this to say:

You clearly do not deserve the effort that he is putting into this class to at least TRY and make it interesting. Yes, the subject matter is boring, but that's a curriculum fault. It's a requirement for your major, so SUCK IT UP and stop acting like you have better places to be. At that time, odds are you really don't. If you stopped looking for the slightest faults in every word of every sentence you may actually find yourself ::gasp:: learning something! What a novel idea, right?

I'll never understand how people can do that. Yes, I've had some teachers in my life that I definitely did not agree with. I even had some teachers that I thought perhaps should not be teaching. But, they are STILL your teacher, and with that title comes respect. Respect that means they should not get up in front of the classroom and have to worry about who is making snide remarks and annoyed faces during class.

That's my rant. I'll edit it when I stop being so mad.

So, Semester 2 may officially kill me. There's no volleyball, so you'd think that I would have oodles of spare time that I can use to study and do homework, but really all it amounts to is that I have more time to procrastinate. This blog, along with my new addiction to Twitter and my constant Facebook-love are enabling that procrastination... But oh well! I know I can buckle down when I need to (read as: tonight and tomorrow I need to actually do work ).

Also, rumor has it that David Plouffe is coming to Goucher. I REALLY hope that's true; I was excited to see Ron Paul but I'm more pumped for Plouffe.

In other news, the New York Rangers fired Tom Renney! I'm sad to see him (and Perry Pearn) go, because I had met Renney and told him my whole family's obsession with the team as well as the origins of my brother Mark's name. (Named after Mark Messier, post-Stanley Cup in '94) At the same time, the Rangers have been very lethargic and seemingly unhappy about playing recently, with 10 losses in 12 games, and maybe, hopefully, this change will be good for them!
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=268362

Alright, I got proposals to write and pages to read. Adios!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Being at school, it never really hit me that there was only about a week until Christmas. I left a cold and dreary Goucher with no real signs that the holidays were approaching to come home; I pulled up to a house decked out in lights, with the Christmas tree visible through the upstairs windows. Wreaths and garlands adorn doorways and banisters, the nativity scene by the staircase is sans baby Jesus for a few more days, and the little light up village glows peacefully from its place in the dining room. All of these sights reinforce the fact that Christmas is almost upon us- but one thing that really brings it home for me is the way the house smells. The pine scent from the tree spreads through the house and as soon as you enter the door you're well aware of what time of year it is.

So, our stockings have been hung and the little mechanical carolers are swaying away. I have yet to do ANY Christmas shopping, but hopefully that will change soon. It was supposed to change today, but Mother Nature decided it was going to remind me of the season again and dump over a half a foot of snow on us.


I hope everyone has a joyous holiday season, I know Hanukkah starts at sunset on the 21st... oh hey, it's Friday today, so that means I owe all my favorite Jews a big Shabbat Shalom!


Happy Holidays! I'm off to revise the Story of Christmas and edit the cast list.

It's the least/most wonderful time of the year...

So winter break is almost upon us, but before we all get over a month to chill and not worry about papers and tests and homework we have... well, what I can only describe as the point in the semester when I have an incredibly strong urge to burn down the library. Goucher's campus has a lot more zombies now than during HvZ. But I don't have to worry about getting pegged by Nerf guns.

Before our actual finals we have the distinct pleasure of an epic week wherein multiple papers and projects are due. Papers and projects that I, being the expert procrastinator that I am, have managed to put off.

It's all my own fault. But I still like to bitch about it.

Also, if only I could delegate this Christmas Pageant to a younger cousin... hmm.... Maybe it's time to leave the directing to the 15 year olds. I can't believe we still do this thing.



On a happier note- one week 'til home! As much as I love the Gooch, there's something about Jersey that I miss. And there's also Christmas, and Advent calendars, and family parties. And driving to NY to see all my cousins. And my friends, and my parents, and my brothers! Sweeeeet.

I'm ready to peace out. I don't recognize what sleep is anymore.
I leave you with this.
A beautiful, beautiful man. And though Richter will always be the epitome of a Rangers goalie, Lundqvist is closing the gap between 1 and 2. You just gotta win us a Cup, Henrik!