Halloweekend

Yeah, I know Halloween isn't over for some of you, but I'm physically incapable of a Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday weekend, so my Halloween ends here.  While three (or five) nights in a row of costuming may seem a little excessive, it's really been an entire month of dressing up.  When you think about it, October at Trincoll has more theme parties than we can handle.  The first day of October hosted Tropical this year, followed by Eighties, ABC, and then Halloween.  That's not to mention all the parties I wasn't cool enough to get invited to, or the entire weekend we had off for Trinity days.  That's a lot of costumes, and my budget was definitely hurting a bit after my umpteenth trip to Savers to find a cute and original outfit. Luckily, by recycling outfits from the previous three weekends, you could get away with not even finding a new Halloween costume.  Lifeguard, 80s aerobic instructors, and "white trash" (use the white trash bag leftover from anything but clothes) are all perfectly acceptable Halloween costumes. So, if you're in a bind and decide that school isn't worth it and you want to continue celebrating tonight and tomorrow, you're all set.  That said, its definitely a cop-out to costume-recycle.  That's why so many of us agonized over finding three to five brand-new and clever costumes that were also appropriate for the January-like weather we had over the weekend.

Despite the aftermath of a horror movie that is our campus (downed branches and entire trees are covering the quad; they couldn't handle a snowstorm in October), most people managed to put together some great costumes.  Props to those who decided to forgo the traditional "slutty _____" and cover their assets in the apocalyptic weather.  Some of the cleverest costumes: Keep these in mind if you have a total change of heart and decide to celebrate "real Halloween" tomorrow.


A Box of Crayons:  Four friends each dressed in head-to-toe spandex of a different color, with a pointed party hat on top.  They carried a cardboard crayon box surrounding the four of them.  While the box proved impractical and the hats got lost, it was still a great group costume idea while it lasted.

A Blind Date:  A friend wore dark sunglasses and carried a white broom handle, and attempted to attach a calendar to his front.  Generally bumped into people, didn't look at the camera in pictures, and lost the calendar, so most people just thought he was a blind man.  Clever, though.

The Different Stages of Drunk:  What better way to celebrate the true nature of Halloween than the different states we find ourselves in?  She wore all black (blackout), wore bee antenna (buzzed), carried a trash can (trashed), and walked around in a cardboard box labeled "Toxicated" (she was IN-toxicated, get it?)  A jealous run-in with a boy who only thought to be blackout put a damper on the wittiness, but definitely my favorite punny costume.

Golden Snitches:  My own costume of course makes the list: we dressed in gold dresses made out of cheap fabric and stocked up on gold Christmas decorations from the dollar store.  Kid's fairy wings and the quote "Ten Points for Gryffindor" topped it off.  We found endless puns: "Where my snitches at?""Get yo snitch ass ova here"; A picture with a pimp became "Mo' Money Mo' Snitches," etc.  I, for one, found this wildly amusing.

Ironic Costumes:  An Occupy Wall Street-er; a male nurse, and a witty spin on slutty animal costumes: "I'm a Mouse, Duh," complete with Karen's vapid expressions.

Oh, my roommates are pretty good at carving pumpkins, too.

So Halloween may be over for me, but I'm sure there's plenty of you out there who are just getting started.  If you're not up for recycling a costume, here are some ideas to recycle somebody else's.  I'm ready for a break from the theme parties and costumes, for one, but Trinity kids sure know how to handle a thrift store and throw something pretty impressive together.

This is Sparta

Want a bit of an adrenaline rush early on a Saturday morning?  Want all your friends to think you're crazy? How about getting down and dirty in miles of mud?  This weekend, I competed in my first adventure race: a craze of trail running mixed with preposterous, boot-camp-like obstacles.  The Super Spartan Staten Island race was eight miles of this insanity.  Each step was a struggle to stay up through the slippery mud, sandy beach, or creek beds we ran through.  Every couple of minutes would be a series of obstacles: walls to climb over or under; cargo nets to scramble up, culverts to crawl through, flames to clear, and more.  A failed obstacle meant thirty burpees, those famous pushup-squat-jump terrors.  A day later, every muscle in my body is sore-- not only my legs from running, but arms, abs, and back from crawling, lifting, climbing, dragging, etc.  The race is popular with military personnel but I overheard this on the race course:

"I've been in basic for three months and I've never seen anything like this."

The video doesn't lie.

Some memorable obstacles:

Barbed Wire Army Crawl:  Fifty yards of flopping onto your belly and squirming through a muddy, rock-ridden puddle.  Careful, there are strips of barbed wire zigzagging about three inches above your head.  If that doesn't cut you, the rocks covering the bottom of the puddle certainly will.

Culvert Swim: I say culvert because the term sewer grossed some people out.  Essentially, we were in a pitch-black tunnel filled with water, and about six inches of head clearance.  Since my worst phobia happens to be drowning--more specifically, getting stuck underwater-- the claustrophobia aspect was not great.  

Monkey Bars: I liked this one because I thought I had lost my monkey bar talents in about fifth grade.  Luckily, I got some momentum going and was able to swing right across kind of easily.  And, all the other girls dropped after the first or second bar.

Cinder Block and Tire Carry: Two separate obstacles, one involved lugging a tire around in a circle up and down a hill.  Going up was heavy but doable; going down was a sheer mudslide that ended up in a tumble of tires and racers.  Dragging a cinderblock through the sand was my most challenging obstacle:  I missed the memo that there were separate weight for the girls, and consequently struggled with my big manly weight as it caught sand in its center and brought me to a near halt.  

There were various walls, puddles, ropes, and more to struggle through.  Luckily though, completing an obstacle gave us a ridiculous adrenaline high that made the stretches of running much more bearable.  And the feeling of running past boys and clearing an obstacle faster than them was extremely rewarding. The military dudes are notorious for talking themselves up at the beginning of a race, but their cockiness comes back to bite them when they fall on their face on a slippery mud slope as you scramble up beside them.

The finish line is marked by a javelin throw, at which I utterly failed.  I did hit the ground right in front of the target, but that wasn't good enough.  After my punishment burpees, the only thing left was escaping the "Spartan Warriors" standing in the finish chute waiting to beat you down with a club.  I pulled the girl card on that one, and I'm not ashamed to admit putting my hands over my head and screaming "I'm a little girl" while my racing buddies distracted them.  And at the finish: a medal, a t-shirt (the real reason I did the race), food, and a beer garden that didn't have their carding act together.  While I'm not usually one to down a foamy brew at 11:30 am, I have to admit it was quite refreshing.  The carbs do wonders for your recovery.

Spartans

Yes, all my friends think I'm crazy, and don't understand why I'd get up at five am on a Saturday to drive to New York and put myself through physical pain.  And yes, I missed a trip to the mall with my friends.  But by noon, when most of the Trinity world was just awakening, I had accomplished some pretty crazy stuff.  And all back in time to celebrate on Saturday night!

Sunday: Struggin' and Snuggin'

We all know Sundays can be brutal.  The combination of the hangover and all the procrastinated homework make for a pretty miserable morning.  It seems that dragging yourself to Mather brunch is the most productive thing that you'll get done that day.  It's easy to stress hard and feel awful for the majority of the day.  Headaches and droopy eyes in the library, trips to the cave to get junky study snacks, and showering off frat feet can really take their toll on your day.

Facing the thought of another Sunday

But after hours in the library and finally giving up on your reading, Sunday evenings can be kind of nice.  The roomies and I are snuggled up in our common room, watching the Emmys and munching on kettle corn.  Since I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to read four 30-page articles on the exact same subject for my three-hour Urban Studies class, I can spend a couple hours just surfing the internet.  It's the perfect time to catch up on everyone's weekend pictures on facebook, or do damage control from last night's festivities.  In another procrastination effort, I clean up my room, paint my nails, or do other relaxing, "productive" activities.  Knowing that I have six straight hours of class beginning at 9 am on Mondays, Sunday evenings are my last chance at freedom, and I manage to enjoy them

A day that starts out in suffering can end up being not that bad.  I'm feeling relaxed and accomplished and ready to start another week.  Sundays may have a bad rap, but they're bittersweet and relaxing in a way that I really appreciate.

Never Forget

September 11, 2001- September 11, 2011

Ten Years Later

It's hard for all of us to believe that the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. occurred a full decade ago.  Though we were just children-- I was nine years old and in fourth grade-- the memories of that day and the news reports we were glued to seem like they happened yesterday.  Across the country, I was awoken at five in the morning to watch live footage of the attacks.  School attendance was optional, and the day was spent in tumult and chaos as elementary school teachers tried to explain what had happened.  Television footage always gives a sense of detachment, and my young brain surely didn't grasp everything.  But we all knew that tragedy and history were made that day, and it wasn't something we'd likely forget.

And today, ten years later, that's proven more than true.  Not only do we remember the tragedy and heroism that occurred on our soil that day, but we're engaged in a long-term, international war on terror.  Our daily lives are impacted by this war-- whether it be on a personal, economic, or social level.  Steps are made forward, sideways, and backwards.  The war has both divided our nation and brought it together.  Today, though, we forget the current war and its complications.  We come together in remembrance of lives lost, whether the personal level or the magnitude of the deaths.  Candlelight vigils, ceremonies, and memorials are widespread across  the country and the world.  At Trinity's community vigil at the Chapel this evening, students and faculty gathered to pay our respects.  It's a sad day, but also one full of hope and unity as we continue to move forward from this tragedy.  

Back at Camp

The past weekend was a whirlwind as the majority of campus finally trickled back to Camp Trin.  Since I've been here for three weeks now, playing in the woods and braving hurricanes, I didn't have to deal with the stress of moving in and getting ready for school this past weekend.  Instead, my Quest buddies and I celebrated in true TrinColl fashion, and welcomed back old friends and swarms of freshmen alike.
The first weekend back at school before classes start is a magical thing.  No one has any excuse for not going out, so every night is packed.  The weather was perfect, so even when Campus Safety decided to shut down frats (seeing one of them in the basement at late night is a weird feeling) we could still carry on outside.  There were no responsibilities except classy trips to WalMart for dorm stuff and snacks.  My roommates and I set a decorating budget and managed to snag some great stuff for our common room and bathroom, including a "peeking frogs" shower curtain that really brings the homey-ness to a new level.

While heading to Target and WalMart during Labor Day can be a Trin reunion in itself, the real purpose of the weekend is to reunite with all those folks you haven't seen since the stressful day of May finals.  While I know Trin kids love to take New England road trips and hang out together on the Cape together all summer, that wasn't an option for all of us.  I hadn't seen anyone all summer, so seeing everyone all at once was both overwhelming and much needed.  There are several kinds of back-to-school reunions: meetings in Mather or on the Long Walk; when your roommates finally arrive and you help them move in; treks across campus to see your neighbors from last year; and the fabulous screaming, running, hugging, drunken reunions of those you may or may not be best friends with in the daylight.

Then there are those people you may not be super excited to see-- a lot of drama may have gone down last spring, you went home with someone you regret, or you grow apart from your freshman year besties.  Since it's nearly impossible to avoid anyone on this campus, may as well suck it up.  Chances are when you see that dreaded person in Mather for the first time and decide to just grin and bear it, differences will be dropped.  Summer is a long time, and most people don't spend it brooding on all the people they "hated" last semester.  Starting off on a good foot with everyone is the best way to have a drama-free semester.

On a more scholastic note (that's why we're here), today was finally the first day of school.  After over a week on campus with nothing to do, I was ready for some intellectual stimulation.  With no fancy internship or summer research project, it's been awhile since my brain has had anything productive to do.  Sophomore Success attempted to jump-start my brain, but it really takes a good lit discussion or essay to get me going.  We've hopefully all got a little bit of start-of-the-year motivation, but it's always a struggle to hold on to.  I'm all gung-ho about getting more involved this year: in the newspaper, mentoring, the writing center, whatever it may be.  I managed to miss the activities fair yesterday, though, so that's a great start.  The one essay I got assigned before school started remains in introduction-only lingo, despite having nothing to do for the past week.  But as we all get settled into a routine, the library will become home again and my brain will hopefully remember how to do its job.

And now, Shakespeare is calling me.  Here's to a good year of working hard and playing hard, which is what Trinity does best.

Come On Irene

So since natural disasters are suddenly all the rage in New England-- an earthquake last week and the famous Lady Irene hitting us over the weekend-- I feel a commentary on these insane weather patterns is necessary. I didn't feel anything during the quake, and was out in the woods with no notification of anything.  But we were informed well in advance of the impending hurricane-- canceling the pre-orientation camping trip I was hoping on leading.  We were rescued from the wilderness and strongly encouraged to seek refuge away from campus, though that proved impossible for many of us.  Solution?  Ignore the college's "suggestion" to hunker down in our makeshift hurricane/bomb shelter and dare Irene to put a damper on our Saturday night.  Quest leaders are a unique group-- forced to spend days and nights together in the wilderness will really bond you with a person.  So when we are allowed to return to civilization and take a shower, things can get interesting.  Fun, to say the least.  I was in the mindset that everyone was preparing for the worst, which turned out to be pretty true.  All day drizzles yesterday turned into heavy rain during latenight hurricane festivities.  Walking home, the thunder and lightning started to pick up, but still nothing serious.  It seemed like a sham!  Safe in Jarvis, we couldn't see or hear any wind or rain.  The only indication that anything was going on was the announcement of a mandatory evacuation of High Rise at one a.m.  No, it wasn't going to collapse from the wind-- the first floor was just flooding.  I slept like a baby through the events.  This morning, peeking out of the door, the damages were finally seen.  Trinity is quite literally 'neath the elms, as a tree fell across the Long Walk onto Seabury Hall, and branches, twigs and leaves cover the grounds.

 Nothing too out of the ordinary for a post-Saturday night at Trinity-- except instead of solo cups and cans littering the grounds, its puddles and debris.
Today feels just like a snow day-- hunkered down inside a Jarvis suite with all the Questies, snacking and watching the news, movies, and catching up on the Internet.  Thank god we didn't lose power, though-- we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves. Turns out Hurricanes in Hartford are pretty boring-- though the flooding and damages along the coast are nothing to be scoffed at.  The storm has passed, which means time to clean up the mess--and finally venturing out to get real food!  What an adventure to start off the school year.

Rites of Passage: Chipmunk Cheeks

I know I haven't blogged in awhile, because who wants to spend their summer indoors on a computer? (Oh yeah...we all do that).  But there just hasn't really been anything exciting enough to mention. Today, though, is the day I go through that lovely coming-of-age event known as wisdom teeth extraction. Often a staple of summer and winter breaks, the wisdom teeth surgery is one that most late adolescents must suffer through at some point in their young life. Unortunately, I am not one of the lucky few that is of superior evolution (without wisdom teeth-- we don't need them!) and I have to get all four under-the-surface teeth brutally pulled from my face. I am not really looking forward to it. My appontment isn't until 4 pm, which means I cannot eat or drink (even water) past ten am. Obviously, I had to set my alarm for 9:30 to eat a huge breakfast because I am not the kind of person who wants to starve myself for six hours. Since then, I've had all day to wander about my house, peruse the Internet, and contemplate my surgery.  Would have been nice if it had been scheduled for the morning... Its a beautiful day, and I would love to go out and run, but I'm afraid that working out will make me both hungry and thirsty, and then what will I do.Yes, these are the excuses I make for myself. So instead I'm killing time on the Internet, watching Jenna marbles videos and trying to plan for my future ( researching study abroad programs, specifically) to distract myself from the looming process.

I don't know much about what's supposed to happen. I thought I was supposed to get a consultation, but I'm just going right for it. I know I am getting fully anesthetized, which I've never done before. That would be interesting, except that I won't remember any of it. Everyone I mention this to has some sort of horror story or words of wisdom:
 "Don't pass out while you're in the waiting room, like I did."

"My friend cried when she went under and was still crying when she woke up."

"By the sixth day I still hadn't eaten anything and was too weak to lift a bowl of yogurt."

"Don't forget to take your pain meds with food or you'll throw up like I did."

"I blew my nose and all my stitches came out."

Seriously, people actually said all this to me! And then they all follow with the same thing: "But it's really not that bad!" Really? Cuz you made it sound bad!!
I'm not that nervous really, I know that its a 100% routine procedure and I'm looking forward to some time off work. I've never been on pain meds, and those sound fun. It'll be an easy way to diet! Unless of course, I demand that everyone take me out for milkshakes.

So nothing much exciting going on. Its my third to last weekend at home, and I'll be spending it in bed with some Always Sunny DVDs and my moms new iPad, using up all her data plan. Chipmunk cheeks ferdayz, my friends. Wish me luck! I will post a follow-up, Vicodin-induced summary of the process during the weekend to follow

Independence Day, Alaska Style

For all the jokes about how Alaska "isn't really a state," we certainly know how to throw down a good fourth.  Celebrations began Friday and continued through the weekend, finally wrapping up this morning when I awoke, exhausted and sore, in my tent after camping. 

The Fourth of July is one of those summer holiday weekends when the majority of Anchorage residents choose to leave town.  Girdwood hosts the Forest Fair, the hippiest, most pot-ridden handmade craft fair you'll ever see.  Groups of visitors and residents of all ages can be seen walking floatily in and out of the trees coming to and from frequent smoke breaks.  There are big-ticket professional art booths, as well as the crunchy tie-dyed underwear booth run by 12-year-olds.  The food-- typical summer festival fare such as funnel cakes and turkey legs-- is of course the best part.  The Forest Fair mantra is "no politics or religious orders" in order to encourage hippie-style harmonious living.  It's a little over the top but always fun to let your inner forest fairy loose with face painting and henna tattoos.

Further down the Seward Highway comes another fourth tradition:  the town of Seward.  This teeny harbor town about 2 hours south of anchorage only has a population of about 2500 people, but a reported 40,000 pack into its tiny streets for this holiday weekend.  The roads are closed to traffic, and instead filled with people, food and craft booths, and runners doing the famous Mt. Marathon race. 

My friend Kate on her way to a top-ten finish in the 2010 race

Mt. Marathon is an event unlike any other; it's a 3,000 foot peak right in the town of Seward, and every Fourth of July about 900 lucky folks get to run up to the top and back down.  There is a lottery for spots every year--capped at 350 per division for trail safety--as well as an auction of ten spots the night before.  People paid up to $2,400 just to scramble up a mountain. There's no set trail, just a rock face, some trees clinging to a cliff, and brush.  It's a full body workout of pulling yourself up the cliff by tree roots and trying not to slip backward on loose rock.  Once you climb the initial cliff, it doesn't get any easier as the trail stays at an intensely steep angle for the next mile of climbing.  Once you turn around, the dangerous part begins: scrambling and leaping through fields of snow and loose rock until sliding down a creek bed and rock face to the bottom.  Runners typically finish the race on Seward's Main Street covered in--literally-- blood, sweat, and tears (and mud).

view from the top!

Details aside, it really is one of the most unique races in the world, and part of my July 4th tradition since I was about twelve years old.  (Juniors-17 and under- run halfway up the mountain before turning around; adults run to the summit.)  This was only my second adult race, and I had no training under my belt (preferring to spend my summer working and partying rather than exhausting myself on dangerous mountains) but I still managed to make it up and down in one piece.  After the race is over, a free shower and donning the finisher shirt put you in a good mood for the rest of the day.  I had plenty of time to enjoy American staples like hot dogs, a parade, fireworks, and beer.  Thanks to my friends watching the race, and ice-cold Alaskan Amber greeted me at the finish line.  And Monday night's camping celebration was another night to (not) remember.  Cameras from the tv show "Alaska State Troopers" showed up at our campsite as troopers attempted to control drunken America fans.  Luckily, their main concern was drunk drivers, and allowed the festivites to go on undistrubed.

post-race festivities

All in all, a fabulous weekend celebrating a fabulous country-- with its own unique Alaskan twist.

Midnight Sun

The Summer Solstice, official first day of summer and longest day of the year, has officially passed.  Ironic that summer has only really just begun and we can already start complaining about losing daylight and the months of darkness that loom ahead.  But luckily, celebrating the Solstice in Anchorage is typically a joyous occasion: it is the exact opposite of those very dreaded aformentioned months of darkness. 

The Solstice celebration in Anchorage began on Saturday, because Anchoragites just can't pass up a nice summer day. (They are often few and far between).  With the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon and Half-Marathon, there are plenty of ways to torture yourself in the name of sunshine.  I ran the half, which despite being painful was also the most tanning I've gotten in all summer.  I guess I'll take what I can get. 

Downtown Anchorage was also alive with the Summer Solstice Festival-- basically a lot of overpriced touristy crap to buy and food that's sure to counteract whatever benefit running the marathon gave you.  What a great tradition.  Perhaps the most popular Solstice tradition is the midnight hike up Flattop mountain-- the most overused, overrated hike in Alaska.  Since you can drive your car halfway up the mountain (but  never find a parking spot) and follow a wide, gravel path and built in stairs most of the way to the summit, it is very overly popular on all days of the summer.  The wide, windswept plateau of a summit is perfect for late-night beer drinking and bonfires, both of which are illegal in the Chugach State Park. 

So Saturday night was the first of many Solstice-themed Flattop adventures-- mostly the 9-5 crowd who didn't have the luxury of waiting until true Solstice to make the hike.  The three extra seconds of daylight really made a difference.
What does it really mean to live in "the land of the midnight sun" on the longest day of the year?  Well, there's no tanning available at 2 in the morning.  In Anchorage, the sun set at 11:49 pm and rose at 4:20 am on the night of Tuesday the 21st.  Those four and a half hours of "darkness" never really get past the light blue dusky phase: enough to drive with your headlights on but not enough to be afraid of what's ahead in the shadows.  Drive eight hours north to Fairbanks, Alaska, where the sun only dipped below the horizon from 12:58 am till 2:48 am.  A couple thousand miles north of there, in Barrow, AK, the sun does not sink below the horizon for three months straight.  Then again, it still snowed there last week.

In addition to joining the masses at Flattop, there are plenty of late-night Solstice activities.  Most just include driving out to a scenic viewpoint and watching the sun(not)set:  Beluga Point, the top of Aleyeska Mountain, Point Woronzof, etc.  In a way, the Solstice is a bit like New Year's Eve: it never quite lives up to your expectations.  It may seem like the most exciting night of the summer, but the negligible difference in daylight gain really makes it just another long night of Alaskan summer.  Beautiful, yes, but it hardly turns out to be anything too special.  When I began this blog post at 2:27 am last night, my Solstice festivities had come to an end.  But now we're losing daylight more and more every day, so the rest of the summer will be a scramble to soak up as many minutes as possible before the darkness and seasonal affective disorder kicks in in the fall. 

Unfortunately, I can't get a picutre of the sky at midnight to upload, but I'll post one as soon as I can!

Doin' the Daily Grind

Ahh, that moment when you turned in your last final, packed your bags, and finally arrived home for summer.  Time to relax, tan, sleep in, and party with high school friends, right?? Err...for some of us, summer is the time when we've got to earn all that money that keeps us partying hard during the school year, and allows those lovely little weekend trips to the city or a neighboring school.  I've been lucky to hold the same job for almost four years now-- luckily, they are willing to take me back for holidays and summers when I find myself available.  Almost everyone has to find some sort of summer job, especially once they realize how quickly they burn through their savings while away at school.  There are always the classic summer jobs-- babysitting (as we get older, we may call it "nannying"), lifeguarding (usually an easy way to make money while tanning), hostessing or barista-ing at a popular eatery (also known as giving free stuff to your friends who come visit).  But there are tons of ways to earn money over the summer-- and if you say you can't find a job, you probably don't really want one.

If you live here in Anchorage, there are some unique jobs available.  We all know our friends who leave for two months to work at a fish cannery or commercial fishing operation, and make like $2,000 a week. In the words of Sarah Palin's Alaska, "Every Alaskan kid has worked on a slime line at some point in their lives."  (This is a lie. I, for one, have never set foot near a slime line, except maybe on a second grade field trip).  Or if you're really lucky, you can snag a Prudhoe Bay slope job. These kids usually have parents who work for an oil company, and they go up to the northernmost tip of Alaska for two weeks, work 18-hour days, then come home for two weeks.  It's actually a sweet deal and also pays extremely well.  It better, because apparently it was snowing up there yesterday.

I work a more conventional job, at a bakery, where I can actually go home after an 8-hour shift and not be stuck in the wilderness.  My bakery is so generous about giving college kids their jobs back in the summer, that we have far too many employees.  Even though I asked for 40 hours a week, the most I get is about 25.  They have to create extra things for us to clean, just to give us the hours.  It's kind of an inefficient business model, but I guess I still appreciate it!

I've had to look on craigslist a little for a half-assed attempt at finding another job, because sometimes I feel like I need a little extra cash.  Not enough to actually secure a second job, though.  I'll supplement with under-the-table babysitting jobs.  But craigslist is filled with employment opportunities, each sketchier than the next: "camerman needed for amateur adult films;" "Be the third wheel of our tricycle;" and more.  What do those even mean?!  My advice would be to stay away from all the job postings that don't mention the name of the business.  How do they expect to get any applicants??

An ideal job to me would be one where you make a shit ton of tips.  Unfortunately, my job discourages tips, so five dollars a day is making bank for me.  But if I was a barista or waitress, where you get around $100 a week in tips alone, I would save my entire paycheck and use just tip money for regular weekly expenses like food and gas.  Then, you're fully aware of where the money from your paycheck is actually going.  It seems like the best deal to me.  Or a full-time, tax-free nanny position.  Kids are bearable enough if you're able to drive them around to all those activities that are supposed to take the pressure off the parents.  When you nanny, parents pay gas money, activity money, and usually at least ten dollars an hour for you to watch tv and eat their food.

If anyone has either of these jobs available to me in Anchorage, call me up.  If you need a job, hopefully there are some places you can start looking: craigslist, local restaurants, your parents' offices, or the nearest summer camp.  I say enjoy these jobs while you can, before you have to do something productive and educational like office work or (gasp!) an unpaid internship in your intended field.  I'll stick with my mindless daily customer service and cleaning job for now.

Things I've Been Doing Besides Blogging

Well, hello again.  My long (eight days?) absence is come to an end, and I'm sure you're all rejoicing.  I've been home for about, well, eight days now, and I've been pretty busy doing things that are not internet related.  This may have something to do with the fact that my house no longer has wifi (shocking--yes, I'm at a desktop) or maybe something to do with the fact that it's been 65-75 degrees EVERY SINGLE DAY so far this summer, and I'm taking advantage of that.  Never know when the weather's gonna change and become last summer. (45 straight days of rain, anyone?)

Anyway, summer's the time to get outside and all that jazz, so I won't be spending as much time online.  Probably also because I can't use my laptop in bed anymore.  This is what I've been up to since being home the last week or so.

Working:  Well duh, gotta make that cash moneys.  I'm lucky that my job lets me call them up every time I'm in town and puts me on the schedule pretty much whenever.  For those of you who don't know, I work at the delicious Great Harvest Bakery, where free bread is always an option.  I get sick of it though, so you're welcome to come visit me and bring other delicious things.  I'll give you bread in return.  I love the girls I've been working with all through high school, but some of our newer employees are questionable.  I guess that's why they're always so willing to hire me back.  To supplement my bakery income I'm babysitting too.  Flashback to middle school much?  Oh well, it pays well, is tax free, and not that awful.  Especially when you can take the kids to Bouncin Bears and have an excuse to play too.

Swimming, Biking, Running, a little hiking:  I may have mentioned that my workout-obsessed mother signed me up for some races upon my return.  This includes a 12k run, a sprint triathlon, and a half marathon, all in the next three weeks.  So I've been trying to get my act together, as well as erase that freshman 15 once and for all.  At least the weather's been good so that riding my bike to work, going to track practices with my mom, and returning to my club swim team doesn't seem too terrible.  We'll see if any of it pays off on race day...race days, I should say.

Seeing old friends:  Isn't that the point of coming home for the summer?  That, and rent-free living, I guess.  My friends and I have frequented all the classic hangouts:  Kaladi Brothers, Perfect Cup, the Service frolf course, Rabbit Creek playgroud.  I still haven't hit up Moose's Tooth...who wants to join me?  Seeing old friends is bittersweet because you're having so much fun but missing all your new friends.  I, for one, keep seeing or doing things that I wish my Trin friends could experince too.  When are you guys gonna visit already?!  But old friends are also so easy to spend time with...the same activities and locations happen with hardly any effort.  It's so natural for us to just gather in the Taco Bell parking lot at 10pm....we're classy, I know. 

Tweeting:  #obsessed.  I made a Twitter a few months ago but waited so long to write my first Tweet that I was afraid nothing would be good enough to be my first one.  Well, I squashed that fear and finally posted, and now I can't stop.  I know I said I was staying away from the internet, but Twitter is on my phone so it doesn't count, right?  Follow me @aklovin14.  I've had a lot of ideas for clever tweets, but I don't want to overpost right away, so hopefully I won't forget them when I actually do choose to post.  I guess we've all #beenthere.  Some of my favorites that I follow: @azizansari, @thoughtcatalog, the popular @whitegrlproblem and the extremely clever spinoff @tringirlproblem.  tweet tweet.

Reading:  Of course, I've been staying intellectually stimulated by reading great works of literature.  This includes Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands, John Stewart's Naked Pictures of Famous People, Glamour and Cosmo, and of course the entire series of Harry Potter.  It's a summer tradition to read every book, cover to cover, as quickly as possible.  Gotta prep for the final installment in July!

Finally, I've been Missing TrinColl!  Can't wait to see all of you.

I'm Coming Home

One thing I do is travel a lot.  Whether it’s to and from school or somewhere slightly more exotic, I’m pretty used to spending long hours in airports across the country.  I know the Seattle airport better than some places in my hometown, and I’m always likely to run into someone I know, simply because it’s an automatic step in getting to or from Anchorage.  Stepping into the “Pacific Marketplace”—Sea-Tac’s dining and shopping area—makes me automatically feel one step closer to home. Heading to the east coast so often, I get to experience many different airports:  O’Hare, Newark, Minneapolis-St Paul, Denver, etc.  There are a lot of different ways you can hop, skip, and jump across the country, especially when it takes at least three planes to get anywhere. 

I’m flying home today (!!!!) for the summer, and my 16 hours of flying have taken me through Bradley, O’Hare, Portland, and finally Anchorage.  With plenty of time to kill both in the air and in the terminal, here are some things I’ve cataloged about the nature of air travel.

Airport food:  There’s honestly nothing better.  Every layover gives you an excuse to explore the terminal, killing time, and searching for some unhealthy snack or meal to tide you over for the next four-hour flight.  I almost always go to Dunkin Donuts at Bradley, even if its not breakfast time.  Today I went, ordered my iced coffee and egg sandwich, and realized I would not see another DD for several months.  (East coast phenomenon.)  There’s every option, from Chinese takeout to fast food to “Chili’s Too,” of you want to do the sit down thing.  Since layovers are all about killing time, I don’t have to feel guilty about exploring each terminal’s options.

People watching: Easily the most entertaining thing to do at an airport.  This is gonna be a conglomerate of every person the world has to offer—international, business, families, and wackos.  Examining people’s outfit choices are interesting too—I’ll never understand people who wear stiletto heels and dresses in the airport, looking like they’re more prepared to head downtown than across the country.  There are also the crazy outfits spotted in any crowd, but somehow exemplified by the fact that these people are simply sitting on their ass for any number of hours.  Are the maxi skirts, pajamas, goth getups, etc, really necessary?  I guess some people feel a need to make a statement wherever they go.  There are also those classic airport staples of monks or other religious folk spreading their word throughout the land. 

Shopping:  Commercial America has really capitalized on people’s boredom.  It’s always a thrill when walking off the jet way feels equivalent to stepping foot in a luxury mall.  Seattle, Denver, and Minneapolis all have notable shopping areas.  When flying home for winter break, I got all my Christmas shopping done at the Gap in the Philadelphia airport.  It killed time and saved me from the hassle when I returned home.  Denver has a Crocs store, always fun to gawk at, and Seattle has the best functional art store I’ve ever seen: Fireworks.  It’s got quirky books, home décor, accessories, etc and I can always spend plenty of time there. 

Airplane neighbors:  You never know what you’re gonna get.  I always hope I snag an aisle seat next to a cute guy, or really anyone my age.  I dread the chatters—older women who want to know every detail of my young life, somehow reliving their younger decades by grilling me about mine.  It’s always a gamble when you sit down—do you make polite eye contact, sometimes seen as an invitation for a non-stop conversation on your 6-hour non-stop flight?  Or do you quickly avoid the situation by jamming in headphones and pretending to sleep?  It depends on my mood—I don’t mind a few minutes of hi, where are you from, where are you headed, but I never know when its going to stop.  There’s also the option of being surrounded by snorers, coughers, and screaming babies.  I’m actually surrounded by one of each at this very moment.

Traveling can be fun, or at least a bearable part of the journey home.  As my calves start to cramp up from sitting in one spot for too long and I realize I still have a three-hour layover ahead of me, I start to get antsy and just crave my own bed.  In just seven short hours, I will be reunited with Alaska!  And that’s a good enough prospect to keep me trekking through concourse A, terminal K, and gate 37.

Into the Woods!

Starting tomorrow (which I guess is today), I will be spending five days out on the Appalachian Trail.  We will be backpacking, sleeping under tents or under the stars, filtering water,  cooking over propane, and shitting outside.  And I am looking forward to (almost) all of it!  As summer approaches at home, I would typically celebrate the end of the school year with a camping trip as soon as the last snow melted, or an after-school hike to relieve finals stress.  Out here in CT I've had to make do with laying out on the Quad to get my outdoors fix.  (It has paid off-- I'm more tan now than I ever have been at the end of an Alaskan summer).  But I honestly have been craving the wilderness.  You know, mountains, streams, sunshine, and none of this man-made crap.  While the "mountains" in Connecticut don't quite compare to the monstrosities of my backyard, they are green and beautiful.  I'm content to trek several miles a day and lay out my sleeping bag on a flat piece of ground.  Unfortunately, its forecasted to rain all week, so I anticipate some miserableness.  All I know is that I'm looking forward to getting outside and jump starting what I hope to be an outdoor-adventure filled summer.

We'll only be doing a tiny portion of the Appalachian Trail, but we may come across a legendary "through hiker," who traverses the entire 2,180-mile trail from Maine to Georgia, often taking months to complete.  I don't know if I'll ever be that hardcore, but this is a really moving video of one through-hikers experience.  He took one picture of the trail in front of him each day of his hike, and condensed the entire journey into a five-minute movie. Sweet.

P.S. I know I haven't been consistently posting, but there will obviously be nothing new until next weekend, as my lovely MacbookPro doesn't have the same affinity for the outdoors as I do.

Packratting

So today the dorms close and the last few northies are straggling out, off to enjoy summer....I still have one week before I reach my beloved hometown because I decided to go backpacking on the CT Appalachian trail next week.  So I still have a few days to pack up my room but not really any idea how I'm going to fit my entire life into one duffel bag to take home.  I've been mooching free storage off my friends who live in the area-- a microwave in Boston, a box in New York, etc. I have no idea where all this stuff even came from-- leftover costumes and accessories from theme parties and Freshman Fun Night; a wall full of cards, postcards, and memorabilia; random objects from rare crafty moments.  Obviously everything means something from freshman year, and I'd love to keep them all in hopes of meticulously scrapbooking every event.  Realistically I should just throw the stuff away because I'll probably never get around to documenting it.  Some of the key items I found and what they mean to me:

Pile of bow numbers and medals:  I had a brief stint on the crew team this fall; I walked on to the team because I wanted to get in crazy-good shape.  They told me I was too short to row and I became a coxswain, forced into high-stakes races in which I never would have had the opportunity to participate otherwise.  While not for me, it did introduce me to an entirely new skill and group of friends that love me even though I no longer am part of the team.  In fact, I'll be living with three rowers next year, which might get overwhelming.

Decorated half-gallon water bottle:  Foam letters spell out "swim hard, play hard" on this gift from my swim team "secret psych."  This reminds me of NESCACs and a great season, and even more so reminds me of the nights celebrating the end of the season.  It's kind of obnoxious but definitely something I have to keep.  Also perfect container to hold beverages while quadding.

Knit Tiger face hat:  Got it in Chinatown San Francisco during a fabulous spring break road trip with my brother.  I thought I was getting a deal on it since it was Chinatown, only to see the same hats at the same price at Fisherman's Wharf, notoriously overpriced.  Though I've never worn the hat, it was a great trip full of friends, family, and rainy California adventures.

Vero Beach Sports Village postcard:  The winter break training trip from hell in Vero Beach, Florida is not likely to leave trinswim's memory any time soon.  From the nasty food, dank motel rooms, and non-proximity to either pool or beach, that trip was full of complaints.  But it brought me closer to the swim team as a whole, which really defined my year.

Doodled-on shoes:   From the Friday afternoon adventure crew (Renee, me, and Julia), this was an ongoing project of decorating cheap white tennis shoes with fabric markers.  I'm not too artsy but I still think these turned out well and were a fun way to fill our Friday afternoons.  Sometimes we went to thrift stores, party stores, or out to ice cream, but it was always nice to get off campus and see the real world once in awhile.  Helps when your best friend has a car.

The room is full of more crap than this, but writing this actually helped me narrow down what I'd like to keep and what isn't necessary.  Freshman year went by in a blur, but luckily I have plenty of crap to remember it by.

Stuff My Mom Says

This post is in honor of Mother’s Day.  It is also in honor of yesterday’s post on procrastination.  My mom and I have a pretty solid relationship… She's easily my best friend, and I try not to make that sound cheesy.  Bottom line, my mom and I text and talk a lot while I’m away at school.  Sometimes (a lot of the time) she’s on my ass about things like grades, a job, and my future.  But I also share a lot of the more fun stuff with her, and she tries to pass on some witty wisdom. And occasionally some really ridiculous random anecdote or observation. So, in the style of that guy who got super rich and famous by tweeting shit his dad says, here are a few examples of that amazing motherly advice.  Unfortunately, I delete the texts from my mom on a weekly basis so that I don’t make any unwise Saturday night text/call decisions—secret’s out—so some of her best material is unfortunately lost in the cyberdump. 

Mama and Me :)

On drinking:  “I know you’d rather stay in on a Saturday night.” 

Sunday morning of Spring Weekend: “Good morning! Are you behaving?  Have a bagel with tuna for lunch—good carbs and protein.  Put water in you beer cup and pretend. Don’t be afraid to take some alone time.”

After a 3-minute late-night pocket dial: “You called me at 12:30 last night, and it sure as hell didn’t sound like the library.”

On health: “Get outside and RUN!” Followed by a link to the Hartford Marathon website and all upcoming races in Hartford County. 

“You know that feeling when you put on a really great-fitting pair of pants? Do your happy pants dance!”

“Oh by the way I signed you up for a half marathon the weekend you get home from school so I hope you’ve been running.”

On school: “You know what they say about econ.” “What?” “You make that final your bitch.”

I called to tell her that I got my very first A+ of college.  “Congratulations honey!  In what?” “Fitness!”  “Why the hell are you calling me right now?”

“If you don’t get straight A’s I’m not paying your tuition next year.”  I’m not sure how funny this one is, because I think she might be serious.  UAA, here I come. 

On the rest of the family: “I showed dad that rebeka black video.  We can’t stop singing it.  He’s always going around singing ‘it’s Tuesday, Tuesday, gotta go to work on Tuesday’…help!”

On boys: Trying to explain the importance of “chemistry” in a relationship: “Do you love his body? You should only be with someone if you love their body.”

“Don’t be afraid to experiment.  College is not the time for emotional connections.”

Thanks for all the words of advice and help, mama.This list could certainly go on and on, and I'm certainly forgetting some of the best gems.  Maybe I'll do a part two, for her birthday or something.  Stay tuned. Love you mom! 

Procrastination at its Finest

I haven't blogged in awhile, I know.  I'd like to tell you that the reason for this is that I've been working hard studying for all my finals and using my reading days to their fullest potential.  But the fact is that I've been chilling in the library for 5-8 hours a day with absolutely nothing to show for it.  Then, the sun came out so I scratched the library as whole to sit out on the quad and do more of nothing.  But now it actually feels like crunch time... first final in t-36 hours.  The hours of time that stretched before me at the beginning of reading days have somehow dwindled.  And people are starting to feel the stress.

The library is a pretty interesting place during finals week.  Almost half the library is now open 24 hours and people are taking advantage.  This is the one time of the year when anything goes...people are taking power naps on the floor or in the comfy chairs (warning: if you sit there, you'll never get work done.)  Meal times no longer apply, so people have all kinds of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snacks spread out across their work station.  Getting pizza or Chinese food delivered to the lib is also common.  Evidence of caffeine highs, adderall binges, and energy drink crashes are all around.  I've seen someone eat a flashcard out of frustration.  They've clearly had too many chemicals in their body.

I'm really really good at getting distracted during the long, unstructured hours.  So much so that I felt the need to install Mac's SelfControl app, which blocks predetermined websites and programs.  My own self control is so lacking that I had to download an app for it, yes.  But I can click a button and be blocked from facebook, StumbleUpon, and other distracting websites for two hours, or however long I choose.  It makes logging on again a very welcome study break.  It's a great app and I'm glad I have it, but I do recognize that it's a little pathetic.

This blog post right here is an example of "productive procrastination." So is filling out online course evaluations, deleting old emails, making a color-coded to-do list, calling my parents, and catching up on all my Thursday night tv shows.  These are all things I've done over the past few days, while trying to convince myself that they are actually worth doing.  But it's really just another way to avoid the English paper on Julius Caesar that's due on Monday.  (I've written a paragraph a day over the last three days.  Pretty solid.)

Well, study break's over. Back to the grind.  Sleep, eat, lib, repeat.

Disney and Politics

Hahaha. Go Obama. I'm glad he can accept some criticism with a sense of humor.  Especially absurd criticisms about his birth. And who doesn't love a little Disney. He's kind of an awkward comedian though.

The End of an Era

Uh, hey guys. So I guess the final Harry Potter trailer came out today, or something.  Well, I watched it for the first time today, anyway.  And let me tell you, I love Harry Potter.  Like, midnight-premiere-of-movies-AND-books love.  (I just don't think you can be a true fan if you haven't read the books. Sorry.)  And come July 15, 2011, the Harry saga will officially end.  All movie franchises must come to an end eventually, because people just aren't creative enough to think of crazier and crazier stuff.  And because J.K. Rowling made a happily-ever-after epilogue that basically put the kibosh on any further story lines.

After Harry Potter and The Very Long Camping Trip (aka Deathly Hallows Part 1)  this movie will pick up where the final battle left off as well as incorporate the quest for the hallows.

I actually vividly remember my first Harry Potter experience: in second grade, we were supposed to share our favorite books with the class.  One kid brought in Sorcerer's Stone.  He got in trouble because his mom actually read the book to him, instead of him reading it himself.  I didn't like that teacher very much.  Anyway, not long after my parents decided to start reading the Harry Potter books to my brother and me.  It became a family tradition for several years: the whole family would read a chapter a night.  Around the fourth book, my parents started staying up after family reading time, and would end up finishing the book.  Then it became a free-for-all: whoever could get their hands on the family copy of the latest book got to read it first.  So I kind of grew up with the young wizards, like many kids.  And every summer I re-read the entire series, usually in anticipation of a book or movie release.

So now what?  Just like the Toy Story series, our childhood peer is now grown up. (Andy was a child when the first movies came out, and was leaving for college in #3, the same summer I was.  Another important pop-culture coming-of-age event.)  Come July, I know which of my friends I will be attending the midnight premiere with.  You know who you are.  It's gonna be a memorable experience.

Trin Takes a Stand

Who knew that people were even racist anymore?  I thought these days, we had graduated from discriminating by race and had moved on to discriminating by other things, like gender or sexuality.  But no, apparently bigotry is alive and well on the Trinity campus, given by the slew of emails we've received highlighting the racially charged incidents in the past few months.  Last Thursday's account seemed to be the last straw as Trinity students of all backgrounds joined together demanding a "zero tolerance policy" for acts of discrimination and harassment.

Today's rally, which was reported live by local news and made its way to msnbc and the Associated Press by mid-afternoon, was held on the Cave Patio during lunch.  Students waved signs demanding justice and proclaiming "My name is ____, not _____(insert racial slur/derogatory term of choice)."  A high-energy group of students and faculty then stormed administration offices, chanting "Stop the Hate."

Stop the Hate is right.  Are we still stuck in the pre- Civil Rights era, where schools, buses, and water fountains were segregated?  Is that what we want?  Trinity students are supposed to be intelligent and motivated.  You had to get decent grades to go here, so what were they teaching you in school?  Trinity already has a reputation for being a homogenous bunch of rich white kids, and it seems like we're intent on enforcing that image.  But we truthfully have a very diverse student body and lots of smart kids who want to make a difference.  I know these racial harassments represent a very tiny portion of the student body, but that's who's getting national attention.

That said, I've never seen a student activity or cause so heavily attended.  The rally at the Cave today was crowded with students who don't normally get involved.  I guess it made me glad to see that so many people care, since the student body is known to be a bit apathetic at times.  The rally really impressed both students and administrators, who are now working together with student groups to form a more comprehensive set of consequences for acts of harassment.  But I couldn't help but think that rallies and protests and whatnot happen on a daily basis on other campuses.  Big universities have clubs and groups of all kinds protesting whatever issue they find with the world-- something college kids are usually pretty good at.  Trinity is so small and so content with its problems that this rally was probably the biggest student-organized protest of the year.  I'm glad such an important issue is getting the attention it deserves, and I'm glad Trinity students are finally taking a stand. We've already seen the efforts start to pay off.  I hope this spirit continues to drive the student body towards social action and change, because we're young and feisty and we can make a difference.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

For those of you who don't know, I kind of pride myself on being a bit of a liberal hippie freak.  Even though Alaska is one of the reddest states out there (Palin?!), it's also one of the most environmentally conscious.  We're not always protecting the environment, but due to our general proximity and hot-button oil-drilling issues, the environment is always a hot spot in the news.  Anyway, I'm one of those people who tells my friends to recycle and hates bottled water.  I'm not perfect though, the furthest my involvement goes is being on the email list for Green Campus.

Since today is Earth Day (and this week is Earth Week, and April is Earth Month...) I thought I'd list out a few of those "easy things that can save the world."  They're obvious, but most of us just don't take the time--myself included. Maybe you'll consider one or two?

Recycle.  Uh, duh.  There are recycling bins in every building of this campus: dorms, dining halls, you name it.  It's single stream recycling, so that means all you have to do is dump any kind of plastic, glass, paper, aluminum into one easy bin.  We all love that feeling of throwing away a big bag of empties-- just throw it in the right bin.  Remember all the homeless guys with shopping carts picking up thousands of cans off the quad on Spring Weekend?  Yeah, they were making bank from the 5-cent deposit fee.  But they were also recycling.  And come on, if they can do it, we can.
The recycling bins in the Cave and the Bistro are also some of the most under-used.  You can pretty much put anything in there, and it's all very simply explained on the posters above.  Empty yogurt cups, plastic salad dishes, forks, spoons, knives, soup cups, can all go in there.  Yet we all just bunch up the table's trash and throw it away.  Boo, I think we are better than that!

Shut Stuff Down!  You use a lot less energy if you do simple things like unplug your appliances and turn your lights off.  When your lamps, hair dryers, microwaves, etc are off but still plugged in, they are still seeping up electricity.  You can leave the fridge plugged in, though.  Don't forget to shut down your laptop and other electronics completely to save battery life and therefore electricity.  These things seem like a no-brainer but it takes that extra second of effort.

Reuse.  For God's sake people, stop buying bottled water!!  I saw a "special" at Mather the other day: "Use six meals to buy 13 bottles of water!  Save a couple bucks."  Why do you need thirteen bottles of water??  Buy one, and fill it up again!  It saves the hassle of going to find a new one, anyway. Not to mention the fact that some god-awful percentage of the world lives without access to clean water, while we spend billions of dollars on the "designer water industry."
 Same goes for coffee cups and paper bowls: use a mug, or a tupperware for your late-night Easy Mac.  Yeah, you'll have to wash it.  Sucks.

There's a lot of easy options out there.  I'm not trying to sound preachy--but I guess I am.  Do we not care about the world at all?  It's easy to check out and just hope someone else will clean up the mess.  But college kids are supposed to be some of the most self-righteous, holier-than-other generations people out there.  We all know that we're smarter than our parents anyway. If not us, who's gonna do it?

Visit www.earthday.org for anything you could possibly want to know about greeny stuff.

The Magic of a Mupload

What's in a mupload?  A picture by any camera would be better quality, less pixelated, more flattering.  What is with this current obsession with underexposed, unplanned pictures?


A mupload is, for those of you who don't know, a shorthand expression for "Mobile Upload," or a picture taken with a Smart Phone and directly posted on Facebook.  Duh.  Urban Dictionary defines it here, which is pretty accurate if you ask me. It can also pertain to a picture taken with a smart phone and then texted to one or more people.  So where does the fascination with muploads arise?  We've all got smart phones now-- IPhones and BlackBerrys are the most common devices for snapping a mup.  We all have around-the-clock access to our Facebook page as well-- gone are the days when you needed an actual computer.  In this day and age, everything happens immediately.  If someone doesn't answer a call, you don't leave a voicemail-- that would take too long.  Texts and BBMs are instantaneous as well.  And picture sharing is no exception to the split-second generation.

The mupload has certain characteristics that separate it from any other Facebook album.  It captures a spontaneous moment: you're out and about and come across something too funny, cute, ridiculous, etc. to pass up.  Whip out the phone (it's usually already in hand) and snap a pic.  No unzipping of a pocket to grab the digital camera, which would take way too long.  The quality is never great: often the subject of the photo is moving, the lighting is poor, you're too far away...but the moment is still memorable.  Instead of taking the pic and then casually waiting until you get home to upload to your computer, then add to an album, the mupload is immediately posted using the Facebook app.  It shows up directly to the news feed so that all the kids who aren't out having fun can immediately click it and comment away.  It also sends the message to the Facebook world: "I'm out having fun right now, this is what I'm doing. Jealous?"

Muploads are not always pictures of people, which makes up the majority of all other Facebook pictures. After all, how are you going to tag your friends if no one's in the picture?  The mupload skirts this issue quite cleanly.  Of course you can tag people who aren't actually in the picture, as long as the picture documents some kind of inside joke that relates to them.  Then they will see the picture and comment something like "ahhhahahha remember the time when this happened to us?? Love ya!!!"

I think the best part of muploads are the captions.  Witty captions to go along with whatever ridiculous thing you're seeing make the picture even more entertaining for the Facebook world.  I'm not gonna lie, I've sometimes thought of a caption I want to use before I even take the picture.  A quick phrase can sum up what you're doing, where you are, and why the event is memorable enough to post.

Muploads can be any time, any place, and any thing.  They perfectly embody the "immediate gratification" for which our generation is so well known.  The grownups are always talking about how our generation doesn't have to work for anything, we have no work ethic or patience.  Well, in the case of these pictures, that's kind of true.  We don't even have the patience to wait until we go home: those pics need to be seen by the world NOW so that everyone can see what a great time you're having.

Well, I'm off.  But don't worry, if anything exciting happens I'll be sure to take a pic and post it right away.

Wild at Heart

Pic of the Day

These cuties were casually spotted by my mother on her morning run the other day. 

Her first thought, of course, wasn't "Run!" but "Mupload!"

Guess they are out of hibernation--which means summer's really here!

P.S.  Never run from a bear.  Try to calmly back away.  In the event of an attack: with a black bear, like these guys, fight back.  A grizzly? Play dead.

You've Got Mail

Don't you love that automated email that just brightens your day: "Package received in the Trinity Post Office."  A package? For me?  Could it be the mysterious results of your online shopping spree?  A late birthday present?  Or even the wonderful surprise of a care package from home?

I received a care package today.  It was mailed over a week ago all the way from Alaska, though my brother's made it to Colorado in just three days.  My mom collects stuff for care packages that she sends out maybe bi-monthly.  They're never too thrilling, but it's still exciting to see what she came up with.  My mom has a tendency to just walk around the house and pick up any object not being used and send it to me.    This includes half-empty bath or hair products that haven't been touched in years, or crappy promotional things like pens or flashlights that bear some bank's logo.  There's also usually some old thing from my bedroom that I asked her to send me-- a reason for the care package in general.

 Today's package includes: two oranges (remember: over a week old), chocolate-covered dried mango (interesting..), a flashlight keychain, my really really old broken IPod that I'm hoping to salvage music from, gum, socks, etc.  The thing about these packages is that there's never anything really big or special in them, but they are a great surprise and always make my day.  I would never feel good about those pre-ordered mass-produced care packages that parents can sign up for-- because this is truly where the thought really counts.  That said, here are some things that make a really, really good care package:

1. Money.  Duh, who doesn't like a little extra cash from home.  We don't always like to admit to our parents what we're spending money on, and especially can't call up home and ask them to pop some questionable items in the mail.  My mom noticed a charge on my brother's credit card statement from "BlahBlah Hookah Lounge"....that started a conversation.  If he had just used some cold, hard cash the issue would never have come up.

2. Baked Goods.  Another no brainer, but cookies and treats from home are just SO much better than the processed Mather deserts.  This may sound awful, but in an effort to encourage healthy eating my mom rarely sends baked goods.  Way to do your parenting from 3,000 miles away...just kidding, MOM! Baked goods go like wildfire during latenight in the dorm.  Keep 'em coming, mom and dad.  Campus Pizza doesn't always cut it.

3. An Answer to my Future.  Couldn't our parents, bored and lonely without us at home, spend some time planning our future?  Every day we have a conversation about summer plans, internships, classes, etc.  How about I open the mail to find completed applications, resumes, etc.?  I'd be a lot more motivated if the application process was out of the way.

4. Hangover Survival Kit (or other themed goods).  Time to get creative, parents.  Pick a care package theme and roll with it. Spring Break, Finals, or holidays are great excuses for a themed package.  And after a great night of themed partying, wouldn't you want to open a creative box filled with Advil, coffee, sunglasses, etc.?  I think this is the new age of care packages.

5. Cards.  All teasing aside, the card is my favorite part of any care package.  My parents used to not send one until I kindly requested that they do so-- a few sentences of love and encouragement do a college kid good.  I keep the cards, either taped to my wall (if they're pretty) or in a drawer.  It may sound cheesy, but pulling them out every so often can really cheer you up if you're feeling crappy or homesick or anything.  Postcards from all the empty-nester traveling parents are fun too.

Hopefully this post reaches my parental units and they feel inspired to keep the packages coming-- I'm hoping it's not just a freshman year thing that I'll "grow out of."  Guaranteed that TCPostOffice email always puts a smile on my face.  Thanks for the stuff, mom and dad!

Desperate for Housing?

As this year's housing lottery rolls around and we all begin freaking out over whether or not we'll get that coveted quad in Wheaton with our three best friends, we may take a minute to look over the adventure that was freshman housing.  I feel very blessed that my roommate and I only seldom take the passive-agressive bitchy route. Many friends of mine have had to deal with some weirdos and some meanies this year.  A few of the highlights:

My good friend spent her entire first semester of college living in fear of her room. The roommate was a spoiled little girl who was clearly not able to adjust to the living arrangements of college; within the first month she was demanding a room switch to somewhere less noisy.  True, we live in a real "freshman frat."  But no college dorm is going to be perfectly silent on a Saturday night.  This roommate seemed to think that my friend's schedule was ungodly- when she had to wake up for morning practice, get dressed in the dark, and leave the room five minutes later, the roommate made her displeasure perfectly clear.  Through passive-aggressivley muttered expletives, melodramatic sighs, and more, she made my friend afraid to even breathe in her room.  Fortunately, the area coordinators finally took enough of the roomie's complaints about North and moved her into a single for second semester.  A direct quote from the AC: "There's no way I'll let that girl live with anybody."

Another good friend, we'll call her C, seems blessed to have accrued some of the least social roommates in history.  As a boarding school freshman,  little 14-year-old C spent the year with a roommate who slept with all her clothes and shoes on.  On top of the covers.  So that in the morning, she could roll directly out of bed and hit the books.  You'd think her suffering in high school would pay off, but no.  Upon her arrival to Trinity, C found her new roommate just as...erm, interesting. This one spends every waking hour pouring over her books, and cannot seem to handle the fact that C has a social life.  If we enter the room she "politely" asks us to be quiet.  She has confronted C about letting other people into the room, leaving a water bottle on the wrong desk, and won't share the light from her desk lamp. Seriously.  C was just trying to be considerate by using the desk lamp after the roommate had gone to bed.  But no, she was kindly asked to turn it off and continue her work in the dark.  When C was really sick, the roommate yelled at us for coming into the room to take care of her.  Some people clearly have no perception of the people around them.

A friend from high school who goes to college in Alaska had this to say about her roommate: "Our beds touch at the ends, and when she brings her boyfriend home, I have to pretend I'm asleep.  But really it's like a roller coaster!"  Sexiling is a common problem, but not even bothering to sexile is even worse.  There are roommates who steal, from your leftover snacks to your identity.  Don't be afraid to take a stand against roommate troubles.  A favorite of mine from a strong-minded friend of mine:

That's one way to do it, I guess...

I guess we're all looking forward to sophomore year and choosing our housing-- just pray to god your best friends don't become your enemies.  And I guess we can all be thankful that we don't live with a Leighton Meester-like psycho stalker, a la The Roommate.