... and it's back

I'm pretty sure that the last time I posted, I was sitting at this same desk in the back of my office... granted, then I was staring at mountains of Office Depot boxes. Today it's just the computer and the bags we're putting together for move-in weekend. While move-in doesn't technically start until tomorrow, I moved into my gorgeous new apartment on Wednesday and promptly fell in love. It's brand new, beautiful, clean, and there are windows everywhere! We've got a great view of the Charles and of Nickerson Field (so that we can watch BU sports games and their fans... or lack thereof), and the elevators talk to you. I love it (especially now that all of my roommates have moved in), but I learned a lesson: moving does not agree with me. I have bruises, scrapes, and sore muscles. My body hurts, but I'm now completely unpacked and thrilled with the apartment... and ready to kick off the school year, starting with working move-in weekend in the same information booths I did for Commencement. Expecting tons of questions and a lot of rain tomorrow, but hey, that's Boston.

Things to come: [quick] summer recap, pictures of the new place, and maybe posts with more frequency than every couple of months.

Dear Office Depot, what??

As I sit right now in my office I'm watching my boss unpack the twelve huge Office Depot boxes that arrived mysteriously about an hour ago. That's right, twelve. And they were strangely light - as if they were packed with air. Now that she's here unpacking them, we know why: each box contains one of the boxes we ordered and a ridiculous amount of AIRplus bubble wrap. Someone in the Office Depot warehouse must have been incredibly bored (or just really screwed up), because all of those boxes could have been shipped in one single box (without bubble wrap... who needs to protect cardboard boxes??), but no. It's just entirely ridiculous, but also hilarious. On the bright side, we have free boxes... and bubble wrap. But sad - how wasteful! They wasted boxes, shipping fees, and labels. But at the office, we're all amused. Think of all the things we could do with that bubble wrap! Make bubble angels, rake bubble leaves and jump into the bubble pile, make a bubble ball pit... sounds like an office carnival to me. If only I had brought my camera into work today...

Lessons from the inside

Lesson of the day: just because someone is sitting inside of an information booth does not mean that she knows everything. Nor does it mean that she finds it funny, charming or entertaining when you ask random and absurd questions, even though she'll awkwardly laugh along because, hey, she's getting paid to sit there.

This weekend was BU's commencement weekend (congrats to the recent graduates, by the way!), which meant that, for me, it was a weekend of sitting at those special little red information booths up and down Comm Ave answering questions. All weekend. It was nice to be outside (even if I did get a little burnt!), and the people watching was good, but I'm so glad it's over. So much outside, so much smiling, lots of exhaustion, and ridiculous questions. The highlight was yesterday, when some father came to ask us what the winning Powerball numbers would be that night. We awkwardly laughed it off, and as he walked away, his son said "Dad, you're such a tool." Actually made my day.

Commencement was ridiculous, though. When you see/meet people's families you finally understand why they are the way they are... which is either great, entertaining, or both. There were SO many people here, it was crazy. Today, especially, because it was the all-university commencement (featuring Hillel's own Danny Bellin as the student speaker!).

Before that, though, we went to Weislow's graduation at the religion department. It was super small (about 16 graduates), and so all the graduates introduced everyone they brought, which was cute. Some pictures...

Josh, Weislow and Barney en route to commencement.

Champagne toast.

At Weislow's graduation.

And now they're all officially alumni and off to grad school next year. Crazy.

All that's known

Yesterday was probably my ideal day. What started out sad-ish (saying goodbye to friends moving out for the summer) turned into delightful (shopping adventures) and ended wonderfully (Spring Awakening and ensuing adventures).

Mor, Marla and I took our chances on student rush for Spring Awakening (playing until the end of May at Boston's Colonial Theater) and it was well worth it. $25 got us front row seats, close enough to make eye contact with the cast during parts of the show (which we did, by the way). The show itself was phenomenal, I really recommend you see it... the music's great, the cast has huge energy, and it's fun to watch. Plus, they're all really young - mostly all around my age, which kind of makes you want to be best friends with all of them.

Because I have some stalker skills left over from my concert days, we met up with some of the cast after the show at the stage door...

Kyle Riabko, male lead

Us with half the cast/orchestra

Pretty girls.

... and then we ended up on the T home with them. Kind of uncomfortable (seem stalker/creeper-like? yea..) but kind of delightful.

A favorite holiday

Success! Not only did I finish my midterms yesterday (hopefully successfully), but it was also the Purim party at Hillel. Yes, I know Purim's really next week (and I'll be celebrating it with Alana and some friends at Maryland), but we decided that the end of midterms, the beginning of spring break, and being a few days away from Purim was good enough reason to party down at Hillel.

Purim's probably one of my favorite holidays, just 'cause it's so much fun! I've got fond memories of being younger and hearing the megillah read while watching my rabbis celebrate appropriately - drunken. And there are costumes and food and wonderfulness, what's not to love?!

We kicked off the celebration on Wednesday night with the Purim Schpiel (which I irresponsibly went to - but it's not my fault, we were in it!), basically a huge play mocking everything in the community - from Kip to Kol Echad (all the a cappella groups, really), and almost every individual inside the building on a daily basis. Last night was the Purim party - lots of people dressed up in costume having a good time. I personally rocked the pirate costume

Happy.

Crazy dancing befitting the holiday.

Just some elements.

And soon I'll be headed out on spring break, off to explore Baltimore... wish me luck!

Bad, bad news.

Tragedy of the day: I've realized that I have three midterms next week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. In my mind, next week is now hell week. I have two options: I can either crawl into a hole to study and accomplish things or pretend that midterms aren't happening and have fun the last week before spring break. Which will I do? I'll give you a hint, I've never been very responsible...

Tell me something good

I saw an RV driving down Beacon Street today on my way home. I’m pretty sure it was the first RV I’ve seen in Boston and it reminded me of the RV of my childhood. Not that I ever actually had one, even though I kind of really wanted one - there was just something that seemed so cool about them. Not a popular kind of cool, more like cool in the sense that you could travel around with everything you own. Which is what I try to do every time I fly, and I always fail epically. But my friend’s neighbors had an RV that was always parked in their front yard. In the early days of our friendship, this was a marker of where to turn to go to our house. That was in the fifth grade. Ten years later, it’s still in the same spot. I don’t need it to find her house anymore, but it’s kind of comforting that it’s still there. And I’m pretty sure it hasn’t moved, like I don’t think I’ve ever not seen it there.

I did find, upon coming home in December, that there was a new addition to my neighborhood – a school bus. Literally just sitting in my neighbor’s yard. I don’t know what they could be possibly using it for (or even if they’re using it for anything, maybe they just wanted a bus?), but it’s pretty awesome in a weird, quirky kind of way. I feel like that’s something you lose living in the city because you don’t have a yard to put funky things in. I think I’d settle for an apartment, though, and I could put whatever quirky tchotchkes on display in the living room. Not that I don’t love my current room in my adorable brownstone, but living in what’s still effectively a dorm is kind of drab and tragic. No matter how much you put on the walls (and we have a lot), it’s still a dorm room, despite the pretty fireplace/mantle. On the bright side, housing starts in March – so I’m crossing my fingers for something good!

The best of both worlds

Cookie cake is incredibly underrated. And I think it’s entirely unfortunate because it’s basically the best of both worlds. The other night, on a whim, we baked a cookie cake to go along with our Thai food and Cold Stone cupcakes, and it was probably the best thing we ate. Granted, after a couple of hours of doing nothing but eating and watching chick flicks on television (thank you, ABC Family), appreciating the cookie cake was probably the furthest thing from our minds (much more immediate was the idea that we should probably never eat again). Still, though, they’re pretty fantastic. And it’s not the cookie cake’s fault that we have no self control. It just happens to be an enabler – a delicious one, at that. And for every once in a while, that’s just fine. I’d definitely choose it over the ice cream cupcakes we got from Cold Stone (which were not as exciting as I’d hoped), and probably over many other desserts. Except for bread pudding, but that’s an entirely different situation.

The wonderful cookie cake we made the other night.

All you need is love

Today I saw a heart running down the street. Not even kidding - there was a man running down the street wearing a huge felt cut-out of a heart. At first I thought it was just the Valentine's Day spirit hitting him and him choosing to react in whatever way he felt best - for some, it's chocolate and champagne, for others, running down the street dressed as a heart. I was wrong. There was, it appears, some kind of Valentine's Day race/run. Maybe for a cause, maybe for love - but it was definitely fun for me. Walking down Beacon Street, I was passed by many a pink-clothed runner - one wearing lingerie over her running gear, some in pink gaudy sparkles, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and some people just generally decked out for V-day.

Wearing his heart on his sleeve, err, body...

I wonder what they were running for, though. As we passed the Holiday Inn, there was some table handing out drinks to the runners as they ran by, but there was no mention of a cause. Maybe their cause was love? I haven't heard of a run for love, yet. I think that would be original. There's a run/walk/jog/scoot for every other cause, which is great, but honestly kind of overwhelming. Any weekend, every weekend you can walk for a cause. They've sort of lost their novelty. Not like people shouldn’t be out actively pursuing cures for every disease, I think it’s great, but I feel like walks are kind of overdone now. They’ve saturated the market, in a sense. It’s much more powerful, more effective, I would think, to have a few large-scale walks every year, the way Race for the Cure was. Less is more, my friends. That being said, don’t stop looking for cures, don’t stop with the social action – just be creative about it. I kind of enjoy coming across costumed runners on the street – it’s like Comm. Ave running guy, only better!

Cheese.

I’m really trying to like cheese. It’s a goal of mine, mostly because I feel like I should like it. Everyone else does. Maybe that line of thinking is sheep-like, but I don’t think being a sheep is always the end of the world. Right now, for instance, it’s driving my desire to like cheese. It could push me to try something else new later, who knows?

But cheese. I’m trying, really. I started out slow with the sharp cheddar, and it’s been working quite nicely. Last night, while out for a friend’s birthday, I decided to make the leap to goat cheese. Success! It was a little overwhelming, but I actually enjoyed it. It was some kind of goat cheese and eggplant mix that was really quite enjoyable. It left me feeling satisfied and empowered – think of all the new cheeses I can try – brie, gouda, Swiss, mozzarella, provolone… we’ll see how adventurous I’m feeling next time around. Not to say that I’m not an adventurous eater (although I guess I’m probably not), but I have a strange habit of not liking what are generally considered staples: ketchup, coffee, pickles, cheese (a work in progress), and most other condiments. I guess I just have strange taste. I really wanted to like them all, I tried… and failed. But cheese and I are starting a nice new relationship, so maybe there’s hope for the others? Probably not, but it’s a nice thought.

Adventures in eavesdropping

Today may have been one of the longest T rides I've been on. Ever. It actually took us 20 minutes to get from North Station to Government Center. And at Government Center, it took probably another 20 minutes to get a B train... although it was really nice to see two C trains go by empty because they came immediately after the first C train.

Once I finally got on the train, I discovered one of the more awkward situations you can find yourself in - caught in the middle of someone's conversation. Some people enjoy awkward encounters - I don't. I really do all that I can to avoid them, but this one was unavoidable. And entirely not my fault - I sat down first. But there they were anyway, the guy standing over me, chatting with his (I assume) girlfriend sitting in the seat behind me. I really didn't want to be eavesdropping, I tried turning up my iPod, but in the end their conversation (mundane as it was) had more of a pull than Matt Nathanson.

Would I normally care about the lives of random people? I would think not, but really that's what blogs are - tidbits about bloggers' lives, their thoughts on certain topics, things they find interesting - and I do read those. I guess the anonymity of the internet just makes it easier. And significantly less awkward because, let me tell you, this whole situation on the T felt awkward. At least for me, anyway. Because, when it came down to it, I did want to know about the appetizers they were thinking of serving tomorrow night, the vegan restaurant she was taking him to for dinner, the battle of the bands he was going to be in, and how she wanted to rearrange the furniture in the apartment. I was just curious. And bored. But I also felt like they knew, in some way, that I was listening to them. I had my earbuds in and was still listening to music and was trying so hard to stop eavesdropping, but I feel like they knew. Uncomfortable.

Hey, cupcake

Cupcakes are taking over the world. Not in a dangerous, morally bankrupt kind of way, just in the way that they're now everywhere. If I didn't love them, I'd think it was entirely ridiculous. Yesterday my friends and I ordered cupcakes from Cold Stone for Valentine's Day. They look awesome














but still... cupcakes filled with ice cream? Because ice cream cake (while awesome) wasn't enough - let's make them smaller, cuter and more irresistible. Thanks, Cold Stone. Apparently they're only available until mid-March, but if they do well I'm seeing a spin-off store in the future... Cold Cake? Cold Oven? I don't know. If the cupcake craze continues, I'm sure its spin-off will go over better than when Joey tried to replace Friends. The Cupcake Activist approves... do you?

Regardless, cupcakes are everywhere. From Sweet, the adorable cupcakery around the corner from me, to the cupcake bouquets I see advertised on passing buses, they're actually inescapable. It seems sudden - like they were creeping up... last year, cupcakes were a dessert occasionally found in the dining hall, obsessed over by a few friends and a novel concept store in Somerville. Now they've got their own stores everywhere, "make your own cupcake" night is always going on in some dining hall, and they're plastered all over. They had no marketing strategy, no political campaign, and the most evil thing they've done is add a few hundred calories to people's diets. And now they're sitting on top of the world, fluffy and sweet as always. Maybe it should serve as a lesson to the Brain: you don't have to be an evil genius to take over the world.

Hey, big spender

I'll be honest: sometimes I talk to inanimate objects. Or really, just people who aren't there - names on sheets of paper, like tonight when I'm just asking Eric to pick up the phone, or Joseph to donate some money, or cursing Lyle because his phone number is out of service and I really wanted him to repeat last year's $360 donation. There are only so many times that I can initial a sheet and mark it NH (not home) or PP (phone problem) before I get a little frustrated. Even more frustrating, though, can be when people actually do pick up the phone. So, I've compiled a list of things that irritate me about people on the phone.

1. Picking up your phone during dinner. It is quite possibly the most irritating thing you can do, especially if you don't know who's calling. If it's important, I'll leave a message. Or call back. I promise. There's no need for you to pick up the phone only to tell me I've interrupted your dinner and that youi're going to hang up on me now. Unnecessary.

2. People who don't pick up, but whose answering machines sound like they are. "Hi, long enough pause for me to start talking, we aren't home right now. And we wouldn't give you money anyway." Thanks, really.

3. People who are downright rude. I'm sorry if your husband's name is the one we have because he writes the checks and I don't know your name even though you're the BU alum. I apologize, really. We'll fix it in our database, but you don't need to be a bitch about it. And you should probably still give us money. And please, don't be mean to me. I'm trying to be as nice as possible while uncomfortably asking your for money when everyone is poor, so lighten up, okay?

4. Picking up your phone when you're actually one foot out the door. See above with picking up the phone during dinner. I'll call back, really. I do want your money, after all.

5. People who ask awkward questions. Last semester, a guy asked me who I was voting for. He continued (after I had told him I wasn't going to tell him who I voted for) to tell me that I had just voted to raise his taxes but, because he wasn't an SOB (his words, not mine) he'd still donate money. Excruciatingly uncomfortable. Really, are you that bored?

6. People who cut you off. Talking on the phone is just like driving - I don't want to be cut off in the middle of it. Fine if you don't want to donate money, but at least let me finish speaking first. I'm plenty comfortable with the rejection, just don't make me feel like an idiot by cutting me off midsentence. Please.

Even though people can be ridiculous, I do enjoy working in development. Three almost painless hours of calling and asking people for money, while relaxing in the office and hanging out with some friends. Not too terrible. Although today the person I was calling was dead. Incredibly uncomfortable, especially because I felt so terrible about it. But sometimes the calls are good and sometimes they're bad. With today's economy, a lot of the people I call actually do want to donate, but can't because they've been out of a job for the past nine months. And that's really hard to hear, and even tougher to imagine. It's the same thing I tell people who ask me how the fundraising's going - it's got its ups and its down, some better and worse than others.

On the bright side, things I like today about work:

1. Talking to nice people on the phone, especially those who want your advice. And then give donations. And parents of my friends who give donations on credit cards. Fabulous.

2. Rachel's (not me) Pandora playlist - featuring old music, once dearly loved.

3. Entertaining answering machines.

4. Big hitting nights: $569 in one night!

5. People who actually like being called. Yea, that's right.

Even though it was a successful night, I do still kind of miss the old Manhattanites I used to call. If they picked up, they donated big. And if not, they had awesome answering machines!

7 Deadly Sins

So last night my friends and I attempted going to a 7 Deadly Sins party. It failed epically. Walking into a smoggy, sweaty house was incredibly unpleasant and we realized probably a minute after the fact that we didn't want to be there anymore. Tragic, really, because we were really excited about it. We even looked up the 7 deadly sins online, because nice Jewish girls like us just didn't know them. In case anyone was curious, they are:

1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Envy
7. Pride

I was greed, clearly. Even though that party was a failure, we went on to have a good night and to meet some pretty cool people elsewhere. Today, upon discussing last night's experiences with some people at a Superbowl party, I was informed that there are 7 new deadly sins, as declared by the new pope. Why not make it 8 new ones while he's at it? Like the way this year's Real World has 8 instead of 7. Because he didn't, I guess that would bring the grand total up to 14. Eek, that's a lot to look out for. The new ones (the 7 social sins, as it were) are:

1. Bioethical violations (ie. birth control)
2. "Morally dubious" experiments (ie. stem cell research)
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

Questioning these kind of brings me back to junior high (elementary school? I can't remember) when Spiceworld was all the rage and the Spice Girls got in trouble for rhetorically asking whether or not the Pope was a Catholic. Way to go, girls. Anyway, to me these seem slightly ridiculous. Yes, those are what some people may see as issues in today's world (although I personally support birth control, have no problem with stem cell research, and really wouldn't mind possessing excessive wealth), but deadly sins, really? They even lack the single word character that makes the original set so memorable. I don't think anyone's going to have a new 7 deadly sins party. But if they did, what would I dress up as? A choking earth or a crack addict?

Can't get enough of your love, baby

Remember Freddie Prinze, Jr.? I'll be honest, I had all but forgotten about him until I flipped on the TV this morning and Down to You was playing. Talk about a blast from the past, I remember him as one of my biggest celebrity crushes circa the seventh grade. Except for Scooby Doo, all of his movies were the same, with a rotating cast of girls - boy finds girl, boy dates girl, boy screws it up, boy and girl get back together, presumably happily in love for the rest of eternity. Cheesy for sure, but there's something actually kind of comforting in knowing that they're always going to end up the same - Down to You, She's All That, Head Over Heels, Summer Catch... all the same. And oh, I loved them all. Really, I'm still kind of a sucker for a good chick flick. Actually, any chick flick. Unless it's done so badly it's painful. Either way, Freddie was there during my huge chick flick phase and I'm glad I was reminded of him today. Maybe I'll remember him when we're picking out movies for our Valentine's Day marathon, I did always love Head Over Heels.

Friday, I'm in love

Things I love today:

- The sunshine
- Finally getting a job
- Remembering I have all weekend to do work, why stress now?
- OPI nail polish, especially in Got the Blues for Red
- Wearing dress pants and feeling like a grown up
- Checking things off of my to-do list
- My roommate's black scarf
- The Mongolian Grill that I had for lunch in Warren Towers
- This article that recently resurfaced while I was looking for examples of good writing
- Board games
- Seeing everyone I know in one spot on campus
- Finding lots of good vegetarian/Thai restaurants around Boston
- Surprising songs that come up on my iTunes shuffle

Singing in the Rain...

... except not really, because I'm less than thrilled with this raining situation. For "America's Walking City," Boston seems to be particularly terrible and maintaining its walkability in the winter months in the face of snow, rain and, my favorite, "wintry mix." Today was a wintry mix day - what started out snowing became sleet and then rain. Tragic, really. I didn't go home between the end of class and my meetings because it sucked too much outside for me to walk home. As a result, I sat in Hillel all day and accomplished approximately nothing. But when I did inevitably walk home, at 9:00 pm after a day of class and work, it was horrible. The ground was slippery from the snow and frozen rain, it was cold, and it was still raining, so I was rocking the raincoat under my peacoat and an umbrella. And apparently all rainboots aren't necessarily waterproof when you're walking through a lake because mine leaked. Tragic all around. It could have been worse though - when I got home, two pairs of really sad looking Uggs sat drenched outside the room. Poor roommates. Poor shoes.

Cinderelly, Cinderelly...

Last night at this time, I was playing Cinderella. Not the get swept of your feet by Prince Charming bit, but the slaving away over ridiculous cleaning under the eyes of an unrelenting overseer part. BU decided that, as a favor to its student groups, it would give groups an opportunity to clean Agannis Arena after events in exchange for money for the group. Being the poor, desperate dance group we are, we took the bait and spent our Monday night/early Tuesday morning sweeping, mopping, and picking up trash after the Killers concert. $650 dollars later, my body still hurts.

We actually went through every single row to pick up recyclables and trash. Then a lucky few of us "got" to go to the compacter, where we tossed individual bags of trash inside, only to go back upstairs to mop the rows. Funny story, I've never actually mopped before. (Thanks, Swifer). Those things are heavy. And messy. And entirely counterproductive. But slightly amusing only in the sense that we had quite a few laughs after we broke the mop machine... my first time mopping was entirely unsuccessful.

What started out as fun with Oreos and a trash bag became four hours of terrible unpleasantries. Let me tell you, when it turns 2 AM, I am not a happy camper. Nor are half the people on the team. And walking back a mile and a half at 3 AM, just glorious! But really, people are disgusting - they leave everything on the ground to be picked up by someone else. Gross. Thanks, Killers - your fans rock. At least we didn't have to clean up the 60 pounds of confetti.

These photographs

Today, in an attempt to stave off doing work, I uploaded and posted pictures from the past two weekends. While I was tagging them, I realized that I have a ridiculous amount of tagged pictures on Facebook -- actually over 1600. Ridiculous. Unnecessary. Even if I do like them... and a lot of them, I don't. So today's mission: untag photos. Not because I don't like the way I look in them (because I get SO irritated when people untag just because they think their ears look too big... they just are that size, get over it!), but because there is such a thing as too many photos.

So I'm well on my untagging way! A lot of them are the same - you know how you have that one really photogenic picture that everyone in the group needs a copy of, so you wait, posed, for everyone's to get taken, and then 10 copies of the same picture are tagged of you. Entirely unnecessary. One will do. So today I'm paring down my numbers, wish me luck!

Rest in peace

I've been neglecting this. What was so simple and enjoyable when I was on my couch in snowy Minnesota seems to have faded along with all of my free time once I returned to my Boston brownstone. Nevertheless, I really want to keep this up - and I'm working on it! It's just... there are so many distractions! Yea, there's school - this semester has more busy work than I've had probably since my senior year of high school. It's kind of ridiculous, I actually have weekly assignments for the first time in two years. On top of trying to keep up with all of the readings. Thoroughly unpleasant.

As if I didn't waste enough of my time on classwork and extracurriculars (along with jobs/internships I'm desperately trying to find), I happen to have had a slight incident with the Twilight series. Nothing too serious, I promise. Sam was reading it and then finished it just in time for me to start when I was waiting for my printer to install. It's just... addicting. I've got two down, two to go, and I just don't know what to do with myself.

I'll be honest, I'm a little ashamed. I never really intended to get into them, just to read them for the experience. And it's not like I'm obsessed with them. I swear. Eugh. There's just some quality about them that hooks you in and creates this intense need to know what's going to happen. Even if you know, deep down, the way it'll end. It's the same thing with chick flicks and trashy romance novels, which I've also been known to give myself over to. And really, I think that's what Twilight is to me, basically. The vampires don't really make a difference - if I want those, I'll stick with Buffy and Spike, thank you. One friend of mine noted that Twilight fell short in her opinion because it tried to make it seem incredibly plausible that vampires were living next door and that you may fall in love with one at any second. This as opposed to the world created in Harry Potter where you knew you wouldn't be involved in any wizards. But I'm not sure that that's what pulls people into this phenomenon. Harry Potter hit everyone across age and gender barriers. I'm pretty sure that those afflicted by Twilight are mostly teen/young adult girls and those others susceptible to a tragic love story (ie. me, sap that I am). And really, I think afflicted is the right word - it's like having a 24 hour bug. And you can finish the books in that amount of time, if you're driven enough. But, as all teen obsessions do, many get transfixed for longer. In fact, my friend's 15-year-old sister told her that "any fiction other than Twilight just wasn't worthwhile." Eek! I wouldn't go that far at all, but it's certainly engaging... like a toned-down trashy romance novel. Only more dangerous. Kind of.