NY^2

Movie Week: Two Down

Saw Avatar tonight. It is almost 2 am and I have to be awake in 4.5 hours for work. Heading to NY for new years.

Be safe tomorrow night, everyone!

Natural Forgetting

The reason I have no real blog tonight - I have a crappy memory. Earlier today in a conversation I realized what I wanted to talk about in my blog. Unfortunately - that was 11 hours ago and enough monotonous information has replaced my good idea. Unfortunate.

Hope everyone has made their plans for new years. Let's cross our fingers in hopes that this weather holds out.

Picture tonight is Christmas related. I realize that Christmas is over, and I realize that I posted a picture of my tree here at home already. But I believe tomorrow is the day where all the Christmas stuff finds its way to the far corners of the house once more. It is trash night tomorrow night and with both parents off I expect to come home tomorrow to the tree at the end of the driveway, and the house void of the Red and White. How quickly they pass.

Movie Week: One Down

Made good on my first of 3 movie goals this week. Saw Up In The Air tonight. Will talk about it and today some other time, maybe. I need to sleep, though.

Sun looked pretty cool coming in the lunch room late this afternoon at work. Took a picture it's rays streaming across the kitchen first, turned around and noticed something I thought was a little cooler.

End of the Regular Season

Well, for home games at least - NFL 2009 has come to an end. And it was ugly today - some blowouts (NE, GB) and some upsets (IN, NO) and the sloppy 2nd half that was the Eagles game.

All in all though - ever team above is going to the playoffs and that is great (except for NE).

In other news - this could be a movie packed week. I was considering, earlier, making tonight's post my top 10 movies of the year. But then I realized that I might be seeing 3 movies this week that could all be in contention. If nothing is going on tomorrow night I am going to go see Up in the Air. Wednesday - Avatar. And as I thought about it - if I am going to be in NY for new years - maybe I could try to find a theatre playing The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus while in town.

So - my top 10 of the year list is being put on hold in hopes that some of these movies make their way on there - not that the ones I have seen are bad but I am hoping these movies all live up to hype.

Compatiblity

Let's keep this one simple. I have a complaint (big surprise) about Nintendo's logic. For Christmas, I asked for the new Super Mario Brothers Wii game. It is a side-scrolling mario brothers game that really mirrors the early Mario games - same game play, same Princess getting kidnapped, etc. I am all about this idea because while Mario 64 was great, I never got into Mario Sunshine and I was impressed by but was still not terribly interested in Mario Galaxy.

Linked to the page via Amazon under their 'Related Items' was this item labeled "Classic Controller". Clicking on it, I realized this is a Wii-adapted Classic SNES controller/paddle/remote. What better way to play a classic SNES game than with a modern version of the SNES controller. If you have tried - playing these style games (non-Wii-mote games a la Wii Sports) with a Wiimote is frustrating. Holding the Wiimote sideways is not nearly as efficient as the classic SNES controller - why do you think people opt to use GameCube controllers?

So imagine my surprise when I headed to the basement today with my new controller and game in hand, ready to play my new game, and was prompted with a screen that would significantly put a damper on my morning. After installing a system update, and plugging in my controller, I started up the game. As soon as I get to the opening start screen a message pops up on the screen. "This adapter is not compatible"

What a waste of 40 bucks - can't return it - the package was glued closed - you had to rip the cardboard to get it out. Not only was I unable to use this controller, but as expected - using the Wiimote is just a pain. I want to know the logic behind not allowing this controller to be compatible. From my previous paragraphs you can understand my line of thinking to why it would be logical for these two things to work together. Right now, I am baffled by it.

Fortunately - I have another game that it might work with, and the video game (Super Mario Bros. Wii) is a real blast and totally feels like old Mario Bros. games. So a word of advice, if you are buying the game - skip the controller.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas was excellent. I was semi-apprehensive about a Christmas morning where my list had been so exact that there would be very little surprise. Luckily my mom impressed me with her decisions on clothes for me with my very brief description of what sort of clothes I was thinking about.

The other bit of luck came from my natural forgetting of my list. There were at least 4 items I got for Christmas that I asked for, yet totally forgot about. These moments combined with the joy of getting some of the things I asked for and really looked forward to made today a solid day - gift wise. From there - pops was great. Two new additions this year to the family. Two of my cousins had kids - one only about 2 weeks ago. Speeches, dinner, dessert, and conversation filled the rest of the day.

Came home and set up my new record player. It is so nice to have it. Listened to a few songs from each of the 3 albums I got as gifts (the rest are at my apartment in NY), and have made my way to bed.

Glad I got to see my two holiday-must movies - Christmas Vacation and Home Alone.

Christmas 2009 - you were wonderful. Thanks for the memories.

Who is ready for New Years?

I wish it was Christmas today.

Another year, another Christmas Eve.

I will discuss the entire two days on Saturday for now I wanted to write about a song a friend of mine posted on his Christmas Song blog.

The song is called 'Christmas Wrapping' by The Waitresses. Apparently they were a new wave band in the early 80s who, in 1981, released this song. The title is referencing the recent spotlight on rap music - the vocal style is similar to rapping it is melodic talking in rhyme. Thus the title, with a holiday spin on the term is titled as such.

In 6th or 7th grade, this was our song for music class. Every year there was a holiday show where each grade would go up on stage in our gym and perform in front of all the parents. Most of us hated it for various reasons - the songs were never the better ones, the dance moves were cheesy, and it is a lot of pressure to stand up there with hundreds of parents taking pictures and filming you.

Anyway, i can still remember the day we were handed the lyrics sheets. Before starting the song, our teacher, Mrs. Coughlin, asked us to please locate in the 3rd (or 4th - i forget) verse the profane word and scribble it out. It is Catholic school, after all. The line we were to edit was 'Oh damn, guess what i forgot.' We replaced the DAMN with DARN. I have always remembered this song and this edit we had to make. It must have something to say about the song because I don't remember a single song from any of the other years.

I still think we should have replaced DAMN with MAN. Sing it/sound it out - Oh man! guess what i forgot sounds a lot more like the original line without changing the context of the line, than Oh darn!

Also, this is one of the very rare Christmas songs that falls into the category of uncovered classic. I am not claiming that no one has ever made a cover of this song but of all the Christmas songs that stand out to people - the ones you will hear on the radio, most of the old ones have numerous versions. I am pretty sure Oh Holy Night will take the cake for most covered. But somehow, despite this song being played every year, hearing it on the radio at some point over the season, there only seems to be one version - the original. There are few other solid Christmas songs that are not covered. Maybe I'm wrong - if so - name some.

I guess its reflected in that this song is one of those ones no one knows anything about. They'll recognize it when it is on but I'm sure most of you do not even know what song I am talking about, yet if you heard it - you would recognize it.

Pictures tonight are of my street/house. Our entire street from end to end (about 100 houses in total) put out white bags with sand and candles lining our front yards - it essentially creates 'a runway for santa so he can find out street and land safely'. It's a pretty amazing thing to drive through.

Anyway - Merry Christmas everyone!

Here, at last.

Christmas eve is essentially Christmas for me and my family. We still wait to open our gifts at home until the 25th, but the festivities being tomorrow around 3.

I am not a Church going person - maybe an atheist, maybe agnostic - regardless - I grew tired of the Church routine a long time ago. Regardless of my parents coming to terms with that (the Church thing, I mean) they still feel that on certain occasions - Church is mandatory. I have tried to explain that I do not believe in God, do not support the Catholic Church, etc - but somehow that all matters little on Christmas. They see going to Church as more of a Family activity. So I suck it up, show up an hour early (got to get the good seats) and try not to make it apparent that I'd rather be most other places.

From there it's home for about 45 minutes, grabbing some of the presents, tray of Baked Ziti, and then loading into the car and heading to my Uncle's house (mom's brother) to really kick off Christmas. While at home, and at my Grandpop's (Dad's father), gift opening is one at a time and everyone watches - my Uncle's is a count down to tear. I know I am 22, but this is just as thrilling as it was years ago and it's a great way to really kick off Christmas. Paper goes flying and all of us - parents, and kids alike - are all focused on our 3 gifts in our piles. After getting through them a mingling and show-and-tell session commences followed by a Chinese Pollyana for the adults.

Then it is home and a struggle to fall asleep before the morning. I still struggle out of excitement to settle in. I can still recall arguing countless years with my parents because of those few gifts I received from my uncles house -whether it was an action figure, a video game, etc - being unable to play with it until the next day was impossible.

The picture today is my POV for about 80 minutes today. That is the time it took to get out of the mall parking lot during my lunch break at work. I don't know if people are just behind this year or if it is just this mall - but it should never ever ever take 80 minutes to get out of a parking lot.

There's no place like home for the holidays.

Something about Christmas just brings out the traditional/resistant-to-change-side of me. I am typically someone who is open to change. I like to think that I roll with the punches but there is a side of me that clings to the traditions of Christmas.

For one, I really am against putting gifts out under the tree prior to Christmas. Even though I am 22, my older sister is 24, and my younger sister is 19 - we still all wake up at 8 am and then at 9 wake our parents up and they go downstairs first. Once we get the ok (after my dad makes his coffee, gets a fire going, and in the past sets up his video camera - we've outgrown this aspect) we come downstairs and for the first time see the presents we are getting. That sense of wonderment that comes along with that moment is something that really flashes back to that sheer excitement of Christmas morning. The excitement that fades, no matter how grateful you are for your gifts, as clothes start to replace toys and games.

So, to preserve this sensation I try to keep this from changing. My two sisters still like to, once they have wrapped their presents, place them around the tree - mostly for the asthetic. I am ok with this because its not that big of a deal, and maybe because it has been going on for awhile.

A tradition I miss, that we used to do was making a Santa Calendar. I will have to, one day, relearn how to make these calendars. Essentially you make Santa's hat, face, and beard from construction paper. His beard you then grid out to make into the 25 days of December. Each night you glue a cotton ball over that number, as the day has ended. The end goal is that as of December 24th, you place the last cotton ball - completing Santa's beard. I know it's childish and not something I would still do at 22 - but i do miss it. Totally cooler than an advent calendar (although we did those too).

I guess I am a little more hung up on these this year because it is my older sister's last Christmas morning at home. She is getting married next year and as of Christmas 2010 - it will be just the 4 of us. I know it is silly, but its something I really enjoy and luckily my family gets that and keep these goofy traditions going.

There are a few other routines associated with this holiday that I won't bore you with. Anyway, it's too soon (by a few days) to be wishing everyone a happy holiday - but I will say be safe out there. Things get crazy this time of year with the amount of people on the roads, and last minute purchases, rushing around, etc. There are too many tragedies that occur around now - so everyone be safe, be smart, and especially - be good - there's still time to end up on the naughty list.

El Fin

So, I have made it home. Today was a whirlwind. I can't believe how things unfolded with studying, the tests, a potential position on a pretty incredible research study, and after it all - driving straight home. I am jumping right in bed tonight, friends. I start work tomorrow and there are only a few hours between now and when I have to be up.

Try to get some sleep, yourself - you look tired.

(picture tonight is from the top of my driveway - intention was to capture the home-sweet-home sensation with my house totally illuminated by lights - by the time I arrived they were off for the night. instead you are left with this semi-eerie picture. check out the 1 light on - yikes!)

Another NY First

Short one. Lots to do.

Had to dig my car out (with the help of roommates) with our dustpans today. Should buy a shovel.

Snow, legitimately this time.

While I realized that it has already snowed this year, today marks the first legitimate snow. And what odd sensation it is. Even though to an extent it feels more like 'that time of year' with all the reminders I have had this year, I am still not quite prepared for boots and gloves and all that comes with it.

Additionally, I feel underwhelmed by the amount of snow. No, I am not ungrateful. I think it has to do with how much we got at home. At my house as of an hour ago there was 13 inches with a prediction of it possibly hitting 20. That's almost 2 feet of snow! I can't even recall the last time it snowed that much, or what it felt like.

I know, I am spoiled. Some people never get snow. But still, in comparison to what I would be getting to experience if I was home (partially bitter just about being at school and not on break yet), the 5-8 inches we have here just seems weak. And how absurd! Any other year a 5-8 inch snowfall would probably be the big one for the season, or one of them. This is the first one and its already hit that mark.

Anyway, here is hoping everyone is getting to enjoy a little bit of this. Whether you think it is not that much snow, or you are too busy with work, go outside and make a snow angel. That is one of those activities that no matter how mad, sad, or stressed you are, will just put a smile on your face and make you feel like a kid. But watch out - snow down the back of your shirt is the worst!

Be safe everyone.

also check out this link - things that have become obsolete in the last decade (yes another decade list)

Christmas on Belmont

Maybe its the procrastination, or may its the snow but I felt inclined to work on getting the Christmas Party pictures together. Here are a few highlights from the night:

All good things must end. (temporarily)

No, relax! I am not ending or taking a break from my blog.

I am sorry for making you nervous, I did not mean to scare you like that. My title, instead, is in reference to my volunteer job. Because the semester is coming to a close and I am heading back to my home state of Pennsylvania in just a few days for the holidays, I can no longer volunteer at the daycare center. But not to worry, I shall return. I am even considering dropping a class (totally an elective, it is early, and it is at our Lincoln Center campus) to ensure I can volunteer there any and every moment possible.

I am a big fan of quitting while I am ahead. No that does not mean I give up easily, but if I no longer feel connected or inspired or just become plain uninterested in something I usually just stop right there before I come to hate it or become bogged down by it. (working at the radio station, Ram Van). Around mid-October I felt that way about the Concourse House. It was cutting in on time that could be spent, if for nothing else, sleeping in. It was a decent chunk out of my days not to mention an hour walk in total (to and from work). I took a week off around midterms but studying can only partially be to blame, I just didn't feel it anymore. Luckily, that stage passed and even on nights where I only get 4 hours of sleep, I pop out of bed to go to volunteer. Sure I am tired when I get home, and sometimes its added insult when my roommates are still asleep, but that insult is minimal - I wouldn't trade for it.

I have really come to love volunteering there. My class, these kids, are just amazing people. As I discussed with a friend, it is staggering how stimulating that environment is. Four year-olds are so intelligent. Maybe not how adults measure intelligence but they really are.

So, today was my last day, and also the Christmas show for the parents. For the past month the kids have been working on a Hawaiian-influenced version or spin on the '12 days of Christmas' titled the '12 days of Aloha'. All the gifts and motions are different. It is absolutely a challenge to remember all of those hand signals and words for me, so the kids definitely struggle, so we were nervous. It went so well. Sure, by the 8th day in the song some kids were struggling to keep up while others were reduced to mouthing the words - but the parents didnt care - they were all taking pictures and filming them.

After the show we went back to the classroom and had a little party with pizza and cupcakes (kids had mini-cupcakes so as to not send them into sugar rushes - nap time follows lunch and it may not have if they had been given normal-sized cupcakes, not to mention most just licked the icing and tossed the rest).

I discussed my potential days I could come in next year, got my stuff together, and it was time to go. They were all laying down for nap time and I was waving goodbye to them. As I was about to leave one boy, maybe my favorite in the class, asked me, "Are you leaving?" "Yes," I told him. He asked why and I said, "It's time for me to go home, buddy." He sat up in his cot and said in the most heart breaking voice, "but I'm going to miss you."

I can't explain how much it meant. Kids are brutally honest and sometimes it can catch you off gard and be a little harsh, but the reverse - the pure honesty in this situation, it's just awesome.

About 5 or 6 other kids chimed in with the same, and kept repeating it, mixing in "don't leave". The teacher actually had to tell them all to be quiet and go to sleep. I kinda felt bad for unintentionally getting them wound up, but not really - what a send off. I wish I didn't have to be away for a month.

Pictures of the Christmas Party at my apartment soon!

Woah Bon Jovi

So, its 24 hours later, I am back here once again and like I said last night - in 24 hours all the worrying i was doing about my tests would be over as would those tests and those classes. Well - I was not lying - and things went really well too. Both finals were absolutely manageable, and in finishing them I have completed 2 of my 4 finals. Which for all you athletes out there reduces to the fraction 1/2, and thus my title.

Added benefit that I did not get my papers back prior or post either exam kept me from any potential bad news affecting my mind set prior to the test, or the potential adding insult to injury if it had been given back after the test.

So both 'Law and Psychology' and 'Trauma and Family Violence' are officially over. I enjoyed them a lot, and I am also currently enjoying closing those books and archiving those folders on my computer and putting it out of my head.

Strange thing tonight - possibly brought on by a conversation last night, but today I started thinking about high school. To some extent, I realized tonight, I really miss it. When I thought about that I looked at my Adium and realized only 1 person from my high school still signs online to talk, and even though a bunch of my friends go to college with me, I still miss 'high school them' and 'high school us' to a certain extent - the band/practice, hanging around after school, rides to and from school (notable since they each were over an hour). Don't get me wrong, I don't regret where I am or who I am surrounded by. I couldn't be happier with the friends I have and the place I am right now. But there is a part of me who misses the days of high school, that life, those people and places. Anyone else ever feel that way?

Back To School

Headed back to New York today.

It baffles me how few people have ez-pass. I know few is the wrong word, but relative to the number of people who do not have ez-pass it is fitting. Drive to the GW bridge and take the ez-pass lane and notice how of the 20 lanes across the bridge, 18 of them are for non-ez pass and that section of the road is packed. The only reason you have been stuck in traffic is because some of those non-ez pass people use your lanes as far as they can before getting into the ticket lanes. After getting through the toll the bridge is half empty - it is a bit frustrating. Traffic does not bother me - but for some reason this does.

I wonder how much time would be cut down if everyone on that bridge used ez-pass. It would definitely reduce some stress. What's the down side? The money comes out of your bank account either way. The piece of equipment is absolutely free as is the service. You pay no extra, and it saves you time/having to have that money available.

I have yet to hear a legitimate argument as to why a person would not have this nothing-but-convinient-piece-of-technology.

Anyway, I have to get back to studying. 2 finals tomorrow. 24 hours from now I will be half way done my finals, and off for the night.

I'll see you then.
(today was a rare instance where even after the toll there was traffic and it was 1:30 in the afternoon. so not to worry I was stopped when i took this picture - no safety was risked.)

Haircut

Every May, at the end of the school year I get an appropriate haircut for the summer for my office job. Typically, by the beginning of August it is starting to get long but only by the last week is it noticeably long enough to say anything/it be unprofessional and by then it is time for school to start so they let it go.

Thus, if possible, I end up going until December without a hair cut. This year I did exactly that and it was the longest my hair has ever been.

So to make my biannual haircut worthwhile - I said 'leave only 3 inches on top.' Apparently in my mind 3 inches was longer than turned out to be. I wanted to make it short but not real short. Oh well. At least, for now, it still grows back.

It is, however, much colder.

Happy Birthday!

Who knew waking up at 530 am after crashing at 230 am would be pretty easy. Easy enough that I actually stayed up until 7 am, when my sister came downstairs to go to work, to make her pancakes too. And in between I caught up on Fringe. I continue to amaze myself at how much I can do/accomplish on such little sleep.

I got back in bed at 730 am feeling pretty awake even though I kept myself from having a coffee. All of a sudden it was 2:40 pm. I am not sure if I was actually rested (I would hope so) or if I was just in pure shock of the time but I popped right out of bed.

After screwing around online for about an hour it was time to get ready for dinner because I had to pick up my little sister from college before heading to meet my family for a nice Italian meal.

Looking forward to one of this tomorrow:

The Rain Won't Stop Us

And it didn't. Today was a great day, after a great weekend. When I woke up today I didn't think I had enough energy in me to get through the day. Last night's party was a lot of work. It is not easy to have a 25 person party in your apartment - the organizing and prep work, cooking ,etc. Luckily everyone was awesome. I had a lot of help from Claire (especially as the party wrapped up.)

When all was said and done things could not have gone better. We had so much extra food and for an apartment that has been ordering/buying every meal out of having no time to go food shopping - that's nice. Having 10 of your best friends dancing around your room with christmas music playing - everyone doing their best charlie brown moves and such is just amazing. Ill have some pictures soon.

Today we had our gift exchange and I was really impressed at how creative, thoughtful, or interesting the gifts were. Headed into the city while some friends and my roommates lunched on some of the left overs. Met up with my sisters and grabbed food at Max Brenners. If you have not been there - you should change that. Order everything.

Made it Rockefeller with them and Alex and took some pictures with the tree despite the rain. Also, a brave male proposed on the ice. He must really have had a good feeling about that one to subject his future wife to the cold rain for it. There must have been a good inch or more of water on the ice that he knelt in, too. It was great - everyone watching cheered. What it must feel like to get engaged in that setting or any where you have a slew of people applauding/cheering for you.

We finally headed home on the 7 pm bus following the eagles game via gamecast, car radio, and then tv when I got home.

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday. He turns 51. This is why i am home. It is also why, in a few hours I am waking up to make him pancakes. He doesn't know this. Nor did he know I was coming home tonight. If you know me, you know I like surprises/big gestures. So I sneak home, show up - and make him an actual meal to eat before he heads to work on his birthday before most of the world is even awake.

Night everyone.

don't first-of-all me!

holiday party = awesome.

more tomorrow.

Preparations

Tomorrow is the Holiday Party!
Oh you don't know what I'm talking about? Um...of course you are invited...

Anyway - my contribution to the party (food wise) is two trays of baked ziti. I have never made this before and so I have no idea if my very brief 5 line ingredients/directions from my mom were sufficient. I boiled and prepped everytihng tonight. Tomorrow they go in the oven and bam - verdict. Let's hope no one gets sick or anything from them - that'll be my gauge for whether or not it went well. (yikes!)

Day-care was alright today. Had a few kids I was watching in the blocks-center get upset with eachother and start crying (one literally laid down and started banging and kicking) But the day ended with another kid, one of my favorites (yeah i have favorites, so what), not laying down to take his name until I gave him a hug before I left for the day. Was truly awesome. Hope I can work out my schedule to get a lot of time there next semester.

It's That Time...

I am officially done with my classes for the semester. Okay, okay, so officially might not be the right word. Technically I have class on Monday Night, but my dads 51st birthday is more important and so im saying techincal schmechnical. I mean if the semester is supposed to end on December 10th, and Friday and Monday are 'reading days' then why is it that night classes are still in session until Tuesday? So I could have a Final at 1:30 and then have class that night? That does not seem right. Like the budget, just another thing that did not really add up this semester here at Fordham University.

Ah well - official or not - classes have come to an end and all I owe this school is 8 hours (max) of finals before I can relax.

A little dissapointing...

So last night I decided my picture for today would be of my printed out cover to my final paper which is due tomorrow. I knew it would not be out of the question to finish it and at a decent hour since i had already found the studies I was going to use and this paper only had to be 7-8 pages unlike the last one that was both in unfamiliar territory as well as longer.

Unfortunately, I did not finish. To clarify, the paper is complete text-wise, just not formatting-wise. I still need to do all the in-text citations and such before I can click print.

I am also putting my social anxiety to the test. Out of annoyance with the second part of the assignment 'i think itd be great to have everyone give a 5-10 minute presentation on their paper so that the whole class can learn about what you researched and what you found' sure on some level itd be nice to learn a few things the class never covered but wait a second that means more work. Specifically it means adding a class presentation to a research study. Instead of putting in all the hours it would take to prepare a formal presentation and powerpoint slideshow I am just going to wing it. I mean its part of the paper grade so how much could it really hurt my grade?

*Collar tug*.

See you tomorrow night when I can officially say 'I am done with classes for the semester'
Only get to say that one more time. For now I'll leave you with 'Last Day of Classes!'

150

i feel like i was just posting about my 100th blog update and it is already number 150. crazy.

law and order: svu marathons kill my day.
getting in bed early tonight so I might be more productive tomorrow.

Lesson of the day: too much honey on honey glazed chicken

It's definitely christmastime

Every day feels more like Christmas. I don't know what I am doing differently this year, but it is the first time, since entering college, that I feel the Christmas anticipation and excitement this far in advance. The past three years, just from being busy with finals, and papers due, etc. and how little I got off campus it just never hit me. I did most of my shopping online and in one sitting and the rest when I finally made it home two days before Christmas eve.

I think it also has to do with some events going on. Living with the people I live with has definitely enhanced the Christmas spirit. In the past there was never any christmas decorating, and barely any Christmas music. This year, we are having a holiday christmas party/dinner. As such we have christmas lights lining the ceiling of our whole place (mostly) as well as a christmas tree, which is all decorated with lights and garland and ornaments which definitely hits you that first time you have it lit in a dim room.

As with the christmas music - aside from an assortment of different christmas releases both mixes (Now that's what I call christmas) and albums (Josh Groban, Bing Crosby) that have been playing in here, a friend of mine has been running an almost-daily posting of a christmas song to listen to on his blog, which has been great being reminded of some old favorites and hearing some I have never heard before. Today's post has to be my favorite yet. The song is an instrumental christmas-inspired soft track that, about midway through, incorporates some classic holiday movie lines (It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, The Grinch) into the track. The accompanying video is also and enjoyable extra piece to it. You can view it here.

Finally - a rendition of It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Martina Sorbara is a great one to check out. I am including a link to the song on Yahoo but playing it is a bit more complicated. You have to look on the right side of the page where you will see "Top Tracks". The song is listed in there, where you can click the Play icon to hear the track. Hope that works.

I need to do something about this...

"This" being what time it is right now. If you didn't know - the clock on my blog is set to PST and I live in NY. I realized this a few months ago, but left it because I like my breadcrumb for the day to be posted under the day it was taken and not under the next day. Leaving the clock set to PST leaves me a cushion to post a picture from that day. This is especially helpful on nights where I have a lot of work to do or weekends when I am just not at my computer by midnight.

Recently, however, this 3 hour extension is not enough. The problem: not my time extension - it's my sleep habits. 4 am is not an okay time to be getting in bed on a Sunday night. Especially when I will be in class until 9 pm tomorrow night.

Sounds like New Years Resolution material to me.

Night all.

Snow in the city

Too tired for this.

How did it get to be so late?

I know I missed the deadline again. I am slipping - not losing interest - noted.
I just need a night of solid rest.

Highlights:
Work was awesome (what else is new)
Celebrated a birthday today (turning 4)
Ice cream birthday cake
Rockefeller Center/tree (not as cool in daylight)
MoMa - Tim Burton - NO PHOTOS!!!
Hippie girl with bad B.O.
Flame Diner
Bailing on warren/ram van with tom quinn
Friday night television (superior to the rest of the week)
Lorillard
MW2

A little less apprehension, a little more confidence

So yesterday I spent from about 1 pm to 5 am this morning working on my term paper for my capstone course/senior values course. This class is both the final Core Requirement for the school and the last tier in the Major Requirement. As such, the final paper was not going to be easy, and it was not. It was probably the most dense paper I have ever written and the longest (not including my chapter by chapter analysis for my lit class which was less a paper and more an extended list of descriptions) I have written. While the length was '10-15 about' my paper ended up, with title page and references - at 20.

As of 1 pm yesterday I had written only 2 of those pages. I am impressed with myself. At the same time, I did not do a very close proofread of it and it may be reflected in the final product exactly how last minute I did this paper. I essentially had finished the paper by about 2:30. From then until 530 I spent writing the references and placing the in-text citations for that paper and another paper also due today - a treatment study paper for my clinical psychology class. All together there were probably over 20 references and with 28 pages between the two papers - there were alot of in-text citations to be made.

Accomplishing such a task in the time I did so makes me feel a little less apprehensive about my one-day thesis paper i will write. If i am able to knock out the number of pages I did in the time I did, writing that many pages is definitely doable - not easy - just doable.

One paper left.

oh..and 4 finals - but I have time before them.

(todays picture is of a lamp outside of a building i passed walking to get a milkshake in the city. upon further inspection it was noted that this was no ordinary lamp as that is actually a flame. this area of the city was being lit by flame lamps - awesome)

the awesome power

of casino royale has caused me to be late tonight. i could blame it on the work. but for the last 15 minutes i was planning on posting and i started watching the final act of casino royale on USA. drat.

picture brought to you courtesy of 3dollarsubs

papers papers papers

pretty much what i looked at/what i saw all day today and will be looking at all day tomorrow.