Key West

Heck yea, friends!!! I am going to Key West the day after Christmas! Tropical paradise and shennanigans await. The schooner that Kristin and I sailed on all summer has made the voyage south back to it's home in KW, so we are venturing to the Keys along with our boyfriends to reunite with Monk and the Mistress for a couple days and New Years Eve.

Leaving Baltimore at 10am on 12/26 and should arrive in Kissimee around midnight of the 27th. There, the four of us can get some shut eye before Kristin's parents arrive there and before Mike and I get back on the road and head to that string of islands. Kristin and Jason are going to spend a few days in Orlando with her family and then are flying to Key West on the 31st, where Mike and I will pick them up. Another friend of ours is making the trip as well, so the 5 of us are going to bunk up on Mistress and have a kick arse time in the most southern city in the United States!

Snorkeling, fishing, drinking tropical drinks, floating on rafts (while drinking tropical drinks), laying in hammocks on the boat, seafood, clothing optional bars, NEW YEARS EVE!, renting mopeds, renting bikes, finding creatures, maybe sailing, and hanging out with Monk are all on the list of things to do.

Since we are driving, I will be documenting this monumental trip and posting video and blogs on here. Hopefully, we'll make it there without killing each other and arrive with a couple cigars and fireworks from South of the Border....

YEA ISLAND AND SUN AND BLUE WATER!

OBX!!

LIFE OVERLOAD

Please excuse me for a moment....

AHHHH KLDJSOIUUURKjdoisvoiiuw!!(**#)%%P_@MNDGFOB()*#$)*($)@#(*$)@#(*! !! !!! Crying a little. I(#*$)(@#*($$. UGHHH!

Thank you.

You know when cars overheat? You're driving along, you hear some put-putting, and pull over to the side of the road where the car conveniently decides to crap out? Frustrated, you get out of the car on a 90 degree, sun blazing day, pop the hood, and all of this smoke and steam comes pouring out into your already hot face? My head/brain/life are that car right now. I am experiencing a condition that I am dubbing "life overload".

Let me explain. I am in love with post-its. When I need little reminders, I jot them down on post-its and tape them to things like my cell phone, wallet, or desk (places I know I won't overlook). Then, as I do each task, I just roll that sucker up and throw it away. So awesome, these post-its. However, in the last few weeks/days, my desk has become covered with post-its and I have resorted to the high school days of writing things on my hand since I have no room left for post-its. Some things to do include some of the following:

• Homework -- F. I have no time for it/desire to do it.
• Make photo prints for my ever expanding photography business - which is another thing to write about....oof.
• Buy frames
• Matte, frame, take to Funky Beehive and The Hill
• Meeting to form the Protek Gear LLC
• Sailing for three days this weekend when I should be doing any of the above
• Get work at real job done...F. See prior blogs to get my stance on that.
• Finish unpacking my room from my move last weekend
• And more that are on other post-its at home, purse, car.
• Keep in mind that all of these, especially the photography things, take a LOT of time to do and usually cost a pretty penny.

Things that are stressing me out to the max:

• Lack of spare time/energy/focus to do any of the above things
• Calendar filled up for entire summer, minus 4 weekends
• Above includes a lot of travelling
• Lack of resources, aka, MONEY.
• I think I am starting to have an anxiety attack right now thinking of these things, so I am going to stop with this list (there is a lot more)

So, to begin Life Overload therapy, instead of doing ANYTHING that I needed to do last night, I decided to make use of the massive jacuzzi tub in my new house (I moved last week). There is a skylight right over the tub, so I had a nice hot, bubbly soak while the rain fell on the skylight..it was very relaxing. Then I took a hot shower. Then I lit some candles, put on a jazz radio station on iTunes, and got in bed at 9pm to fall asleep to the rain. At the time, it was well worth it and I really needed some relaxation. This morning however, it doesn't seem that worth it because I'm back to where I started - freaking out about everything I have to do.

I need about one week to get my life in order and get shit figured out. My head hurts. Peace.

LDphotography

So I haven't talked about one of my favorite hobbies yet...taking pictures.

In 2007, I took my parents sailing in Annapolis for their anniversary. I took a lot of pictures on that trip and was just fascinated by the wind, the sails, and how the sun looked on the water in black and white. The boat we were on, Schooner Woodwind, has a photo contest every year, so I decided to submit one of the pictures I took to try and win a Boat and Breakfast. Veryyyy surprisingly to me, I ended up winning (see photo below). That gave me a slight ego boost and I thought "maybe I actually do get some good shots?". After that I didn't leave my house without a camera. I couldn't take enough pictures of sailing, water, boats and sun.

Last year at W-B's Fine Arts Fiesta, I was walking around the square with my parents looking at different artists photographs. Every time we walked by a stand, my mom or dad would be like "Lisa that looks like one of your pictures" or "Leese, your pictures are way better, I can't believe they're selling it for $200". After we left, they kept telling me that they thought I could make some money off of my photos and encouraged me to try to sell them somewhere. Being that have zero professional photography experience or training whatsoever, I pretty much waived the idea off. I still can't really tell you anything about aperture value, rather than that you can focus on one thing and have the rest of the picture blury. I'm an extremely novice photographer and have a plethora to learn. That being said, a lot has changed since that day at the Fine Arts Fiesta...

On one of my days off in October 2008, I decided to walk around to all of the galleries up and down Charles and Light Street to see what they had on display. I wanted to ask some questions abput the artists, if they were local, where they get their supplies (mattes, sleeves, etc.), just to see how they got their start. The galleria folks were definitely NOT my style. Here is an accurate description of one of the gallery folks I talked to: think of the scene from Ferris Bueller's Day off where the gang goes to have lunch at a really fance restaurant -- almost everyone that I spoke to that day was a mirror character image of the host from that scene...very snooty, annoying, made faces, and clearly had no time for my young, penniless self. Needless to say, I decided after I walked out of that gallery that I would never want any of my pictures hanging around some nerd like that anyway...ever. As I left that place somewhat disgruntled, I wandered across the street to this bright blue, funky little storefront. That is when I fell upon the Funky Beehive and Kara Hanson.

Kara is the owner of a shop called the "Funky Beehive" and it basically expresses every part of my personality wrapped up into one perfect little store. She and her golden retriever happily greeted me as I came in to look around. Aside from the unique, creative and entertaining trinkets she sells, what interested me the most was her focus on the Federal Hill and theme of locality. She features paintings, handmade jewelery, Natty Boh/Federal Hill signs, and photographs...all of which are typically made/taken by local artists. Kara offers these artists the opportunity to display their work in a fun and homey atmosphere which attracts just the kind of clientelle I was hoping to get some exposure to (unlike Snooty Galleria man). I spoke with her that day and told her I had some pictures I was thinking about selling. She gladly looked at some of my work, picked out a couple that she thought grooved with the store, and now my photos are competing for sale with the famous Aubrey Bodine. Stop by the store and check out all of Kara's funky gifts and pieces of art (including my photos!!)! I couldn't thank her enough for giving me the opportunity to share a hobby that brings me happiness with other people :)

Some more kudos are in order to Kara and the Funky Beehive because due to one of her personal/professional contacts, some of my work will be displayed in the new bar/restaurant on s. Charles Street called, "The Hill". More to come on that later. Also, my website, www.lisadierolfphotography.com, is still under construction, but will be completed very soon!!

I Like Lists

So here is my bucket list, which I plan on completing way before I am even close to kicking it. Maybe I should call it something else? Here is my Before I Turn 30 List (30, ew):

1. Go to the Venus Surf Camp in Costa Rica
2. Enter a surf competition and place in the Top 3
3. Live in a Central/South American country for one month
4. Start my business
5. Take video editing and photography classes
6. Spend a lot of money for one whole day at a spa
7. Become fluent in Spanish
8. Send my parents on a sweet vacation
9. Convince my brother to finish college
10. Begin writing my book
11. Get engaged, married and start a family

I'll modify as needed over the years, but those are all things that I wish I could do right this minute...except for #11, that one comes last.

Thousands

After the past week and a half's headlines on the thousands and thousands of people being laid off from their jobs, reality is starting to sink in a bit. This recession is no joke. People that I am very close with are being directly affected and losing their jobs. Now I'm realizing how insensitive some previous posts might have been.

The last two weeks of work were bad. There is no other way to put it, they were just really bad in more ways than one. But I am so thankful that I am still employed, even if I don't particularly care for the work that I'm doing. A job is a job. It is keeping me afloat, paying my bills and paying for my vacations, which I'm lucky to even be taking at this point. I just have to suck it up during these difficult times and stop complaining like a little kid until the economy starts to turn around. I could be much much much much more worse off than just being the person who's not getting what she wants out of her career after 2 years. I have zero right to rant on like I have been. Now, I'm not at fault for not liking what I'm doing at all, but now just is not the time to do it. Someone slap me then next time I complain about my career. Thanks.

The Best Job In The World

Welp, I got really bored last night after taking a 3.5 hour nap (thank you, Benadryl) and decided to put something together quick for this "Best Job In The World" application (http://www.islandreefjob.com/).

After watching a bunch of other people's apps, I think mine is competitive enough. I mean, it is going up against the "Uhhhh yeahhh, so um pick me because uhh I'm awesome"'s and "I've always wanted to go 'Down Undah' matey!! PICK ME PICK ME!"'s. Oh, and then there was the classic one of the couple that come as a "package" and just made out and talked about love the whole time...????. I basically just got down to it and didn't fake that I actually knew something about the Great Barrier Reef, however, I did touch upon different skills and things I like to do that were mentioned in the job description, so hopefully I get put in the potential pile when they see mine. The only other differences between my application and thousands of others are pretty much a) I am not from Colorado and b) I am not Canadian. Maybe that will be appealing, ha. I did write "M.B.S." instead of "M.B.A." and only realized that after I submitted the video (daaang, homie!), but hopefully that's not a big deal.

Now, chances of me actually getting picked are most definitely ridiculously slim, but whatevs, I had fun making this little movie and it kept me from just eating a whole bag of chips in my bed while watching the Travel Channel.

January 20th - Monumental Events

Well, today marks two things: the 24th year I have been alive and the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the first African-American Commander In Chief of the United States of America. Crazy, right? Change has come to America and also to yours truly.

So, I've been going through this quarter life crisis a year early, contemplating my career and trying to figure out what I really want to do with my life. Today I was sitting in a program management review and had a revelation. In this room were finance people like myself, logistics, contracts, engineers, program managers, a vice president, and schedulers. Everyone knew it was my birthday and before the meeting started, one of my colleagues asked how old I was turning, so in front of everyone I said "24". Everyone smiled and joked that I was the youngest person in here by probably twice that amount.

That is when it hit me; I am way too cocky and impatient. I was sitting there in a room full of years of experience in international business and a wealth of knowledge that expands far beyond anything I can probably fathom at this point in my career. I get so wrapped up in money, day to day corporate america bullshit, and spend way too much time thinking about what I don't have and what I want instead of what I'm actually doing and have. Earth to Lisa..YOU ARE VERY LUCKY! I need more time under my belt, I need to focus more about being better at my job than I already am, and I need to be open minded to the fact that yes, my job sucks right now, but that is because I'm still somewhat fresh out of school and I still don't know anything. No one really owes me anything here yet because I'm still learning. I am a preschooler in the University of Global Defense.

• So the question is this...am I to just take the monotonous, number crunching, dry, and BORING as hell work that I do, week after week, and just feel lucky that I'm even employed? Just suck it up and go through the same old motions that I go through every week because "someday" it will pay off? Stop being so impatient and take things as they come..whenever that may be?
  
  OR
  
• Do I say, F this. This job sucks and it has sucked since I've started. I'm not seeing that light at the end of the tunnel. Should I say, I went to school for four years, am getting my MBA and I deserve to make more money and people need to start realizing the value I've added so far? Should I waste 45 hours a week burning my brain cells on spreadsheets all day long OR should I really be putting them towards something FUN and that I actually enjoy doing and can actually feel valued and like I'm making some kind of difference in this world, rather than feeling like if I left no one would care

Part of me thinks the first stance is definitely the right and moral option. It is conservative, safe and resembles a "let it happen" person. The problem is that in my opinion, let it happeners are pussies. I am a "make it happen" person and I choose to say F you, Northrop Grumman and your weapons of mass destruction!!!! I want to work with people and change their lives! Not destroy them indirectly through Microsoft Excel!!!! I want to make even the slightest difference in anything, whether it be teaching some kids how to multiply in a Baltimore County school, protecting the Great Barrier reef in Australia, going away to the Peace Corps for two years and stimulating microfinance in Central America, or just taking pictures that inspire people or inspire their own creative thinking.

My last observation is this: Thank God for my sporadic and random train of thought and ability to reflect on horrible ideas like "being conservative". I would never make it out alive if I actually followed through with ridiculous ideas like that. Thank you God, or whoever, for giving me the gift of intelligent rationality.

Solution to my problem: Keep applying to random jobs that do not involve anything close to what I am doing now, and that only involve making an immediate difference in anything at all.

My latest attempts: Secondary math teacher in Baltimore County and http://www.islandreefjob.com/ (as improbable as it is...at least I'm dreaming).

I guess what is driving me to think about this problem so much is that I see people every day tat work who I don't want to become. My biggest fear of sticking in a job like this one is losing that ability of free thinking and just dissolving into the background drone of these awful fluorescent lights in these stupid, fuzzy cubicles. I don't want to be like that guy I see takling to himself at the copy machine, with a strange deer in headlights look, and who has the capability to multiply and divide ridiculously large numbers to the exact decimal point within seconds time and who has lost all characteristics of actually being a human being with social tendencies. I do not want to lose the ambition to be who I am and I want to stay young at heart by not succumbing to the pressures of bottom lines and Corporatocracy.

I won't give up. What is that popular saying? Good things come to those who wait? F those guys, I'm going after it.

Hello 2009 - Random thoughts

Is ambition a good or bad thing? Most would say good. But what if you are one of those people that are so ambitious, go-go-go, and commitment obsessed they somehow turn all of these great ambitious things into stressful need-to-do's that ultimately lose the characteristics that attracted this person to them in the first place?! All of these wonderful things suddenly become a headache and infects all of the other ideas and to-do's.

In my case, at least for the past few months to a year, I have set my mind to doing about 8,349,940,983 different things, all of which take place all over the world and most of which will cost a lot of money (that I definitely do not have) or to get rid of all of my debt (which is borderline impossible). My problem is, when I say I am going to do something I usually follow through 99.9% of the time. This should be a good thing, however, I have got to the point where it is not. What I have learned though, over the last few months is that life is not a to-do, not a list, and not on my google or outlook calendar. Life is meant to be just that; lived; not considered something that needs to be done right now, this very second, and something that can't wait until tomorrow.

My life post college has helped me realize a lot about myself and I have recently become very comfortable with who I am. I've learned to slow down. I've learned to think things through. I've learned patience and rationality. I've learned to reflect and to absorb. I have always been a good listener, but I've learned to reciprocate and reinforce. I feel this is a more recent development (within the last year), and what I think sparked it is by doing things that actually bring me happiness and resolve--things that dont have requirements, T&Cs, deadlines, or bottom lines.

Starting this year, there is a lot that I am eager to start achieving and exploring. It's time for some genuine personal reform.


There are many things that I want to do, improve on, and figure out. I want to take photography more seriously, I am questioning school, I am questioning my career, I'm contemplating life on the west coast, I'm getting back to blogging, exploring yoga and meditation, taking one thing at a time, forgetting what it means to rush, understanding relationships, understanding people, ignoring and avoiding superficialness, surrounding myself with people whose company I truly enjoy, accepting that people grow apart and that is OK, etc.


Happiness is meant to be a euphoric feeling-have I truly felt it? What I believe is that one can't be ultimately happy until you level with yourself on your own being. In that case, I'm a pretty happy chick.


Now, I am not trying to give a false sense of who I am. I am not some zen hippie that has finished a journey of soul searching and found the meaning of Life. I am only 24 years old and probably have zero idea of what lies ahead of me or what path I will take. I believe people never stop soul searching. I am still the random, scattered, overly ambicious, and loving and dorky person you all know. I'm exactly the same, I just learned to be less serious and more open minded and observant. This, in turn, helped me learn how to reflect and that, so far, has been a very healthy exercise.

Writing all of this stuff down makes me feel somewhat complete and satisfied. I like this.

Tamarindo

Buenos dias from Tamarindo!

We left La Fortuna's rainforest climate and upon hitting the province of Guanacaste the climate did a complete 360. Instead of humid, overcast, and rain every 5 minutes, we hit a very dry, hot, sunny, and barren area after driving for about an hour and a half. Crazy.

One thing that we failed to mention was a thrilling moment when we were hiking up from the waterfall in Fortuna. Everyone knows that Europeans are famous for sporting nut huggers at the beach. As we were hiking up, this elderly and clearly European man was hiking down in his hiking boots, speedo, and purple, unbuttoned, button down shirt tucked into his speedo.

Anyway, back to Tamarindo. This is an awesome surf town that has a left and right beach break with some hidden rocks around the cove. The mountains come down to the water at some spot and it really looks like what you would see on LOST. We were supposed to stay at this one hostel that has some obsession with cows (everything was painted to look like a cow) but when I went to talk to the lady using as much spanish I could muster, I still had no idea what she was saying and decided it just wasn't a good idea. We ended up finding a sweet place to stay right across from the beach, Cabinas de Marielos. Marielos is this extremely kind woman who runs the hostel. She gave us a beer when we got there, pointed out iguanas and told us where we should eat, etc. We rented surfboards and got out there yesterday to hit some sizable waves. Ian did really really well for his first time. After that we went back to our room and talked to our neighbors. Two guys are staying in the room next to us and they are from Ottowa and Toronto. The one guys name is Mike and the other one we are not quite sure of. I think his name is Narmin and Ian thinks it is Harmin. I just started to call him Garmin and that is what I will call him for the rest of our time here. They are really cool and I think we'll try to hangout with them tonight. Last night, after only having a cup of coffee to drink ALL DAY and no food, we ventured out to find this pizza place. After walking all around the town in the heat, dust, and being completely famished and irritated we finaaly decided to get the map for the place and just drive. It was worth it. The pizza was awesome and it came accompanied with about 23434 mosquito bites.

This morning I got up at 630 and went to the beach. Thats all for now. Chao.

La Fortunana

Hola familia y amigos! Escribiendo de La Fortuna, ole!!


San Jose was an interesting experience but was basically a dump. I´m glad we stayed there though because the hostel was super chill and there were people from all over the world there. Although it seemed pretty poor and dirty, all of the people were genuinely kind to us. We ventured out downtown for dinner and we thought that the cab driver said it would be 11,000 colones, which equals about 22 bucks for a 3 minute drive. It wasn´t until later that we realized it was 1,100 colones, which is about $2.25 haha. I guess we deserved it for our slow money math converting skills and being rookie travellers. Lesson learned. After dinner we headed back to the hostel just in time to see the fire show. This Tico had devil sticks that were lit on fire at both ends and was throwing them into the air. As he was doing this, this French chick was playing a bongo. I thought that was cool, but what was cooler was what happened a few minutos later. A group of the most random people formed a cirlce and starting singing and playing musica. The fire guy, some tall white English speaking guy playing the guitar, and a group of 3, as Ian says, ´yo boys´ (who you really wouldn´t think would take a vaca like this), and the long gray haired hippi fellow got together. North Dakota white boy played the guitar, the yo boys started singingreggae freestyling (they actually had amazing voices). Long Haired Hippi was sitting on the wall doing some sort of hippi dance that involved slapping his leg followed by throwing a punch to the ground and ending with a ´Chhhyeaahh!´ and a fist pump. Ian and I went over to listen but then they ran away from us. As they played, however, a hippi chick with dreaded pigtails came over and started moving around to the musica and they didn´t run from her. Lesson learned: having dreads and the ability to fist pump will make you friends in foreign countries.

La Fortuna: Breathtaking. San Jose was not really what I thought Costa Rica was all about, but this little town is exactly what my mind conjured up when I would think rainforest, volcano, hotsprings, etc. Originally, we were to stay at Arenal Backpackers Resort, another budget hostel. As we drove around town and couldn´t find it, we decided to check out Tabacon Thermal Spa Resort. Ian will continue from here...

HOLA!!! Although we have mentioned it before, words cannot express how great of a decision it was to get the GPS. I am not sure if we brought this up before, but no streets, highways, or anything has signs. Plus Lisa has a picture of what the GPS map was showing us and it basically looks like a spaghetti noodle all crinkled up. So we venture into La Fortuna and cannot find the place we are staying. Also the clouds are covering the top of the Volcano. So we decide to hit the Tabacon Hot Springs which are natural springs that flow from the volcano so they are heated. Since we can´t fine the hostel nor see the volcano we decide that we deserve to live the lavish lifestyle for two days. Makes sense. So we decide to book rooms as the resort. I won´t get into it too much, but the room has a jacuzzi, a back deck overlooking a rainforest, and also hot water which was a significant upgrade from previous experiences. We deserve it.

I´d get into more detail about Saturday´s adventures, but we went to the amazing hot springs, went to dinner, and then decided to take a quick catnap around 7. I woke up at 4 a.m. Maybe this is that jet lag thing all the people talk about. So after about 20 minutes of deciding what our vacation options would be at 4 a.m. we decided that it may be best to just let this sleep thing keep on goin.

My writing skills will not be able to do justice for our adventures today. You´ll have to see the pictures. Around 10 a.m. we took a zip line canpoy tour that took us high up on a mountain and featured 16 zip lines all the way down. This was amazing. These lines took us over canyons, rivers, etc and ranged from 100 meters to over 500 meters long. I´d convert that for you, but that would assume i knew something about how long a meter is.

After another quick stop at the natural hot tubs, we ventured about 2 miles to La Fortuna Falls. This is by far the highlight. There is about a 1 mile drive along what may or not be described as a road, followed by about a 10 minute hike down to the falls. This waterfall spills into a quary where people swim at the base. The falls were touristy enough that there was a beaten trail, but still maintained its natural environment. If anyone has seen the Robin Hood with Kevin Costner it kinda looks like the scene where Kevin Costner is taking a bath. Only in this case everyone was treated to my behind instead of his. I am not sure if this was an upgrade for all involved or not. I´d like to think it was. As we dive into the pool at the base of the falls the skies opened up with a huge downpour. However all those involved ( Lisa, myself, a German couple, and 3 dudes trying to swim under the falls) just threw our hands up to welcome the rain. It was amazing.

On the drive back we stopped at a local merchant who we thought was selling hammocks. Just thought it was an interesting shop. Upon walking in we were greated by an exciting individual who proceeded to show us his ¨office¨ where he made all of his hammocks and jewelry. Basically my man just hung out, listened to tunes, and made hammocks on his porch. I am buying a hammock from this man. So taking a quick mental measurement of my back deck I purchase a hammock that will certainly get some use when we get home.

We are now on our way to dinner, night time at the hot sppring spa, and an evening at the local ¨Discotek¨. Sounds good to me. Hasta luego.

Back to Lisa: Mis amigos, te amo mucho y pura vida!!!!

San (Noway) Jose

Welp, we arrrived to the fine city of San Jose safe and sound. We were welcomed by a downpour of rain, psychotic drivers, and speedy mopeds. All I have to say is, thank the lord for creating the person who invented the Garmin. It would have been hell trying to find our way to our first hostel, Costa Rica Backpackers, from the aeropuerto. In fact, I doubt we would have made it at all. Chances are we would have been either a) captured by banditos, b) been swindled by currency exchange conmen, or c) literally drowned in the heavy rain. I did have a plan for scenario a. I was going to bring my Northrop Grumman badge and tell the bandito that the stars meant that I worked for el presidente de los Estados Unidos and that they would die if they hurt me.

Anyway, we are here at our hostel and have made friends with an English girl named Holly AND a spotted cat that is sleeping on this random futon. Hopefully going to meet more friends and jsut hangout at the hostel tonight. Everyone is very kind and nice so far.

Ian´s Editorial Side Note- I don´t know a lot about the internet so I am using Lisa´s spot to add my own thoughts. I probably won´t even know how to read this when I get back. Anyway, having really only spent time in the 3 most popluar cities in the U.S. (Baltimore City, Ocean City, and Atlantic City) this has been a relative culture awakening for me already. For starters people don´t speak English. Who woulda known? Even people that are staying with us from England speak something that resembles English, but I have no idea what they are a saying half the time anyway. So my 8 day strategy for everyone I meet is to smile and nod a lot. When we first arrived it was raining, our room looked like a scene from The Wire, and the city was more then intimitating. Then I got a beer. And that beer was just called ¨Pilsner¨. And that beer also cost $1. Lets just say things turned around rather quickly. Although the Friday afternoon beer normally improves things, this beer actually made the sun come out and filled the common area here with people from all over the world. I´m glad we decided to do this hostel thing to try and meet folks as opposed to staying in swank hotels and have drinks with umbrellas. There is some really old guy with gray hair down to his knees, a tie dye T-shirt, and some sort of mesh sack that seems to live here. Needless to say this man will be my friend by tomorrow, if only for my Father´s sake. Tonight there is some sort of dinner and fire show by the pool. So I am sold on both those things. That is all I got. Lisa walked away, lets see if I can figure out how to post this.

Movin' On

In a few weeks, I will be packing up my life and moving to Baltimore, Maryland. In one month, I will be graduating. A little over a month from now, I will be putting my degree to work at my full-time job.

This imminent series of events is definitely a wake up call on what's to come. After four years in State College, PA, I'm definitely ready to split from this great place and begin the next chapter of my life. Lately, I've been beyond psyched to move to another state and city, start my job, explore, and begin "living" in a comletely different way. The idea of being totally independent and on my own and is such a refreshing thought. I'm pumped to see where my new home and life will take me.

I got a place near Federal Hill in a neighborhood called Otterbein. I'll be living with two good girl friends from Penn State. Although our careers in business, civil engineering, and law are very different, our personalities definitely mesh. We all share one thing in common: our love for our future kitchen. Its retro spledor is enough to put a smile on anyones face and make you want to cook in bellbottoms and plaid. Other than that groovy spot of the house, the rest is pretty awesome. I'm definitely looking forward to grilling outside and being soo close to the water..

My friends find it unusual that I'm not sad to be graduating from college, but to be honest, I'm over the scene here at Penn State. I've had some great experiences, met amazing people and friends, and took advantage of as many educational/social opportunities that I could. I'm completely satisfied with my college career, reached all of my goals, and did everything that I wanted to do. Now, I'm positively ready to move on.

Bring it on, world.

Emission Mission or Bust?

Global warming due to human activity is a fact. The Stern Report proves that world emissions of GHGs are increasing at a terrifying rate and a global movement needs to be sparked to curb energy related (and non-energy related, i.e. agriculture) pollution. Basically, if nothing is done, current energy demand will skyrocket (depleting fossil fuel reserves AND resources), devastating phenomenon such as El Nino, melting ice caps, and a dried up Amazon rain forest will severely affect certain ecosystems, and human life will be in even more danger.

Internationally, different groups, organizations, and governments are starting to implement programs and projects to start reducing harmful greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol is seeking results by 2012, and suggested solutions in the Stern Report will see significant results by 2050, if implemented. Things such as carbon taxes, less reliance on imported fuels by use of alternatives or domestic sources, using energy star labeled appliances, using renewable energy, etc are all ways to start cutting back on emissions. Former Vice President, Al Gore, has taken big initiatives in spreading the message on the climate crisis to the world. His movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", surely got the word out. Now, he, along with some musicians, plan on holding a concert to continue spreading the word on the issue. This, I have a problem with.

LiveEarth will be held on 7 different continents for a total of 24 hours on 7/7/07. The message: Stop fucking around and save the earth from human destruction. Although using popular music to get the message across (predicted 2 billion viewers), the whole ordeal is somewhat contradictory. Over the whole course of planning and executing this event, how much energy do you think is used? How much energy used do you think is "clean"? And do you really think that every stage's light show will soely use CFLs, if at all? My thoughts are doubtful. Here's another thing.. Leonardo DiCaprio said at the 2007 Oscars that the Acadamy Awards, from that day on, would be a "green event". I don't think celebrities showing up to the red carpet in Hybrids is enough to make the show green. A completely carbon neutral show would convince me of it's greeness. Going back to LiveEarth, it's true that it is a great way to educate the public on the severity of the situation..but, the money used to make the event happen (especially since it surely wasn't done by using wind or hydro power, etc) should have gone to something more constructive and effective; buying emission credits! Also, those 2 billion viewers will be using electric energy, the biggest polluter, to watch this concert. The amount of pollution created from planning, execution, and then viewing seems a to be a large price to pay for the result that they probably won't get. It also sounds really stupid: Let's emit a couple billion tons of CO2, methane, and VOCs so that people and nations will start cutting back on their own emissions? They are setting their goal farther from reach. Different approaches and measures could have been taken to spread the word in a more eco-friendly way.

Of course, this could be argued many ways and I am open to different opinions. However, the climate change is the greatest market failure the world has ever seen, and I feel promoting by polluting just doesn't make sense.

Ode to Blog

This is my first visit to the blog in a long time. I regret not taking time to put my thoughts down on a regular basis and I hope to change that. Since my previous posts were basically full of nonsense, I am going to start taking a more serious approach to this whole thing.

its the most wonderful time of the year

im at the point of fall semester when i just want to get out of here. everyone feels like this at some point at psu. why would i want to get away from the best possible place to spend 4 years of college? because i miss serenity, calm, veggies, the smell of my fireplace, reading novels, going where i want when i want, my family, not having a routine, hanging out with the only people that make me laugh until it hurts, and only having to worry about who is driving where when we go out.

after a while the redundant, weekly routine of school starts to become a drag. i start counting down the days for things to look forward to: going home for the first time since august, SLEEPING IN, birthdays..anything that doesn't revolve around wake up-go to work-go to class-study-watch my show-go to bed by 12 at the latest every single day. i start looking at pictures like the one above. that day was one of the best. my dad rented me a board, we drove the truck on the empty beach, he surf fished, and i surfed. this was our bonding day before i left for school. this was one of the last days i had before facing 4 years of the worrying and pressure (dont get me wrong, i LOVE my school and my classes and my friends more than anything). all that i had to worry about that day was where the waves were breaking and the fish were biting. every now and then i need that one day to clear my head, put everything behind me, and just go with the flow. it stinks though because finals are coming up. its crunch time and i wont have that one special day until christmas break. its funny though because after christmas break i long for everything im complaining about now. oh well. might as well make the best of it--party time...

Flip flop back to the closet

newsflash..it's november. no longer do we see green leaves and sun-shiny days. no longer can we lay outside our dorms/apartments to get that sun-kissed, glowing tan. no longer will we wear flip flops. here's a clue: although flip, flop, fall is alliteration, one of those words do not mesh very well with the general idea. fall. it's autumn, people. christmas displays are already in windows, and yes, it has already snowed here at psu. surprisingly, these things aren't hint enough for some people that it's time to bust out the turtle necks and wool socks. today, for instance, the high was 39 degrees but it "felt like 41". typical fall-flip-flopper thinks: "41 degrees, niceeee, that one tank top will match my rhinestone flops". honestly, what is wrong with you?? my hand went numb just holding my phone as i walked to class today, let alone my feet that froze even while cozily wrapped up in thick socks.

maybe you can use this piece of advice when you are wondering why im looking at you like you just kicked a puppy: nov-ember...rem-ember that 39 degrees is not warm, its 7 degrees above freezing. once the sun stops shining in psu it stops for 9 months. get a clue. do not try to wear tank tops, flip flops, and those swishy, baggy capris. you will NOT get a tan. why? daylights savings has passed..oh, and its NOVEMBER. guys, just bundle up and save yourself the shivers for your own sake and the sake of others that get cold when they look at you trying not to clatter your teeth.

Bedtime, Badtime

i like dreams. in fact, it blows my mind how your brain keeps working while you sleep, conjuring up wild. imaginative things in your head (which sometimes even forshadow! *deja vous) while you have no power to control them...i guess other than waking up and ending it? anyway, dreams are cool, but sometimes they are just retarded. i really hate when i dream about work. waitressing is bad enough i would prefer not to dream about it, yet i cannot control the dreaming of the work. i woke up the other night from a dream where a guy gave me a credit card to pay his bill. i, in turn, wake up a little bit and start searching my bed for this stupid credit card. im talking throwing my covers off and feeling around my sheets for a credit card that i thought i lost. and the weirdest part is that i knew what i was doing the whole time and that it was just a dream, but i still freaked out about losing the dudes card in my bed. haha. i dont think i need to talk about the bug dreams because im sure everyone has had one of those. they are creepy, make me itchy, a little scared, and i do not like them. thats it im tired, night!

Manayunk - A Magical Place

Tuesday night was the beginning of an adventure. An adventure for vegetables separated by the tyrannical pulls of bosses, research, professors, and food service, and and adventure for a boy named Frank. Being together all at once was kick butt and some of us haven't seen each other literally in months. I laugh so hard with these guys who have been my best friends as far back as ten years and it feels SO GOOD. I can only laugh like that when I'm with them, we're stupid, we have fun being stupid, we love each other, and we can make just sitting around something we can talk about for months.

Frank braved the city and rode his bike to Manayunk from Drexel (If it was me, I would have feared naked men running around the city trying to punch cops). Maura came via train and Jill drove Erica and I in her spiffy new cah. We bought some supplies at Acme, ate some pizza, played multiple games of tetris and did much talking. We started off with some fake Malibu Baybreezes. There was no Mailbu in it but they still turned out alright since everyone finished theirs. The daiquiries, on the other hand, were delish (I'm lying). Kim and Jill tried very hard to make the blender of frozen goodness, however, it lacked the frozen and tasted like Joaquin and Banker flavored syrup. Maura, Er, Frank and I refused to drink it while Jye and Kime yelled and said it was REALLY good and that they would finish the whole blender, haha. We "welcomed" Erica, played never-have-i-ever, bounced to the Tetris song, talked about Meyers and St. Nicks until our stomachs hurt from laughing, then Frank left at 3am (despite naked men running around trying to kill people) and we all passed out.

Today (Wednesday), Kim, Er, Jill and I went to downtown Manayunk and looked around in the shops. It was SO hot and we walked up and down a mysterious, steep flight of stairs in the middle of the jungle just for giggles. I was bit by a venus fly trap (picker bush), but I escaped. Er, Kim and I petted this real soft looking dog. The softness was cute but what the hell, that dog smelled so bad. And so did our hands afterwards. Ew. We took in some African art, records and CDs, $200 cotton tank tops (don't worry, they were 30% off..), yummy Bob's diner, and my first encounter with a person plagued with terets. After Bob's we got italian ice across the street and there was this little old woman sitting on the bench next to it. We were greeted by "F'ing cocksucker" along with the N word, bitch, and hand motions that should not be done in public. All it took was for Jill to look at me and I laughed (not out loud though). Then I felt really bad and my heart went out to the poor woman. Her ice was dripping and Erica, bless her heart, got napkins for her and gave them to her. When Erica turned around though, the woman started the hand motions. I am sorry, you had to be there.

So, that was our trip. It was a good one and I'm pumped to plan our spring break trip ahhh!!!

i love you guys!!!

Unnecessary Vocal Outbursts

alright, this will be brief because i am tired, hot, and i really want to enjoy a cold beverage (water i think..with ice!). this is just about something that i've come to recognize during my time waitressing. i realized not only do servers do it, but so does everyone else once you start thinking about it.

picture this: you at a table taking an order and then you walk back to the kitchen. another fellow server walks past you. and as soon as the get to you they start singing. and its not like they see you, stop, and then gaze deeply into your eyes and sing an entire song complete with vibrato. it's more like they walk toward you, see you, and when they are within 3 feet they will bust out a verse of a song..loudly...and might even shake their money maker a little. then the verse ends, the booty stops moving, and they keep walking to finish what they were set to do.

all servers do this. i admit i am guilty of it sometimes. caught myself in the act one day and then i started noticing everyone else does it too. the only thing i dont do is shake the cash.

then i started thinking about others that i have witnessed doing the same thing. my roomate, for one, is guilty. i would be sitting at my computer and she would walk in the door, sing a verse (loudly), make some sort of facial expression (similar to the awkward expressions and movements of the talented jessica simpson) in the midst of the performance, then sit down and do homework or something. joebro, also guilty. but he is just weird. gregory does it too. but he is just weird too because the words of whatever verse he is singing is sung softly, not loudly, and in a language noone of the human race could possibly understand. i believe it is of the "fer-ner-ner" dialect. it really isn't clear.

so yes, i hope you all start to acknowledge this strange, almost contagious, characteristic that every person expresses either consciously or unconsciously.