fall semester

has been pretty okay so far.

i was having massive panic attacks during band camp (back in august)....

but now, as time continues, i realize these things that i have to do are not going to kill me.

they're only assignments.

however, this has made me a terrible procrastinator.

oh wait, i've always been a really terrible procrastinator.

anyway.

i can spin rifle now.

it gave me a lot of grief back during the first few weeks of the 2009 MRD season, but now i'm okay.

by grief, i mean mental breakdowns.

oh jesus. haha

i've definitely been more outgoing this semester.

this is good and bad at the same time.

never drink with MRDs you've only known for a few hours...

that bus ride back from Liberty....it was pretty awful*.

BUT that's probably the only awful* thing that's happened. hahaha

*awful = awfully awkward.

there have been crushes on baritones, aptly nicknamed Squidward.

there have been broken hearts....and i'm partially responsible.

it sucks when you set up your friends....only for it to end really really really terribly.

there have been sleepovers with drunk friends, of the same and opposite gender.

sleepovers = literally sleep-overs. we crash, we oversleep. the end.

but now people are like "......you two?"

and i have to defend myself.

it's an emotional "affair"....nothing physical.

i won't let myself develop a crush on him.

we'll see how long i can keep that up.

and this blog, for that matter.

let's see....

new york, new york!

"a hell of a town,
the Bronx is up and the Battery's down.
the People ride in a hole in the ground.
New York, New York --
it's a hell of a town!"

spent the weekend in NYC.

i think i briefly mentioned this before...natalie randomly called me up and asked if i wanted to go.

HECK YEAH.

so friday morning, we woke up early and went to D.C. to catch a "DC2NY" bus in front of this cute little commuter café....

there was a lot of traffic, but now that i think about it, it might have just been a drawbridge.

about an hour into the trip....i guess we were less than 20 miles out of Baltimore....

we stopped.

because the windshield wipers broke.

(it was down pouring. ridiculously.)

except that the bus driver was just like "pit stop! be back in 20 minutes!"

at noon he told us that we would have to wait for another bus...there was one with 10 seats on it for those who had to be in the city immediately.

that one came after about maybe 40 minutes? 45?

our bus came after that.

but not until 2PM.

we waited 2 hours.

unlucky for me & matthew, we didn't think about leaving the bus to get lunch until the bus arrived.

so we gave up on eating. haha

we played SIMS3 for a while, though.

IT'S RIDICULOUS! i love it. :P

we got stuck in other ridiculous amounts traffic in Jersey.

a little after 6PM, we finally reached the city.

we left at 9:30AM...

we were supposed to get there at around 2PM.

wow.

but all was good!

we drove past Herald Square

(i geeked out like crazy. i think i'm allowed to, considering i got to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last fall. haha)

and then got off the bus and into Penn Station.

we rode for such a long long time (about 40 minutes) to Riverdale.

ben picked us up and drove us to the apartment (yes! thank you! it was still raining...)

his parents' "library" apartment (they don't have room in their house for their books) is in such a posh area.

good lord.

the houses in the area are like multi-million-dollar CASTLES.

i want to live there.

we ordered chinese food, played more SIMS3....

and drank a lot.

it was a good time.

we played a drinking game with the pilot episode of "The Office".

whenever Michael Scott laughs at his own joke, Jim looks at the camera, Angela gets mad, Dwight says "assistant to the regional manager" (or something of that ilk), or a prank is pulled, then you drink.

we ran out really fast. :P

on saturday, we woke up, went to breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts (YESSSS!!!), and hopped back on the train.

the Bronx needs to be not so far from Times Square.

i will talk about this again later. haha

we walked around Times Square for a little while, looked at the newly blocked off areas, saw a high school drama troupe pretend to be bronze statues ('twas awesome) and saw the naked cowboy.

then stopped in Toys 'R' Us for a bit.

then stared walking off in the direction of SoHo.

we eventually made it back to Herald Square, where we stopped at Macy's (after i freaked out some more about the parade)

Macy's is AMAZING.

i mean, yeah, in NoVA there are 8 Macy's stores, and even more in the entire D.C. area....

but the one in NYC is AMAZING.

we looked around, then started our journey to SoHO again.

we walked almost all the way to the Flatiron Building, then hopped on another train.

got off in SoHo.

AND IMMEDIATELY WENT TO UNIQLO.

i have been obsessed with UNIQLO since i was 9, and have been wearing it since even longer before that.

we must have spent like an hour...or maybe an hour-and-a-half there.

ben & natalie walked around trying to make conversation with the employees....

only to ask them later "so, would you consider yourself a hipster?"

BAHAHAHAHA.

oh god, i wish i could work at UNIQLO.

it's got an entirely different feel in NYC than in Japan.

in Japan it's all over the place.

it's like Old Navy or GAP or even Target.

everyone owns something from UNIQLO....everyone is women, men, children, teens, elderly, babies, whoever!

in NYC, it's the ONLY store in the U.S. and is like.....

perfect for hipsters?

funny. :P

usually when i go, i come out with at least one massive bag.

this time i only bought a t-shirt & a linen scarf (b/c mom says we're going back later this summer to buy clothes for jeremy...starting 7th grade is a big deal!)

matthew bought so much stuff!

i'm glad he enjoys it as much as i do. i think i've taught him well. :)

we had a snack at the SoHo Café (how appropriate.)

and then hopped back on the train and went to Williamsburg!!!!!

(we almost had to derail our Williamsburg plans because matthew & i spotted TOPSHOP a little too late. oh well, next time!)

WILLIAMSBURG IS INTERESTING TO SAY THE LEAST.

that is all.

haha.

"look at this fucking hipster." was uttered many times.

there were these two really awesome "German" ones.

we're not sure if they were really Germans with thick accents when speaking English, or if they were just being "ironic".

either way, they were talking about denim and cut off shorts and it was HILARIOUS.

ben is remarkable.

he's the youngest out of all of us, but manages to pass as a 25 year old (at 18), so he went and bought us Pabst.

Pabst: the beer of hipsters.

hahaha

so here is where i start freaking out some more:

i think i might have seen Annamarie Tendler leaving the station we were entering.

she passed me on the stairs.

who is this?

she is the designer of Court & Plume.

I LOVE HER HEADPIECES.

but i wasn't 100% sure it was her, so....

i really wish apparition was real, because it would make life SO MUCH easier.

there is a lot involved in trying to get from Williamsburg to the Bronx....

it takes a lot of time.

time we didn't have.

eventually we got back to the apartment and decided to leave again at 6:45PM to get back to the station by 7PM, so that we could get to Times Square by 7:30....

TO SEE HAIR!!!!

however, we didn't leave until i started freaking out at 6:55PM....

we got to Times Square at 7:54.

nat, matt, ben & i sprinted from 42nd & 7th to 44th & 8th.

LITERALLY SPRINTED.

it was like in a movie.

mostly because it was so crowded and natalie kept shouting things like

"THREE MINUTES!!"

"TWO MINUTES!!"

etc.

at 8PM (when the show was supposed to start), we got stuck at the crosswalk.

we got to the theatre at like 8:01PM....

BUT it wasn't too late.

people were still in line at will call.

people including

KRISTEN CHENOWETH.

KRISTEN FREAKING CHENOWETH.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I FREAKED OUT???!!

i'm a huge Wicked and Pushing Daisies fan.

i almost peed my pants.

literally.

my heart started pumping EVEN MORE.

you would think that after sprinting, you wouldn't be able to take anymore excitement.....hahaha

it was magical.

our seats were in the third row from the back (luckily they were the four on the aisle...i had the actual aisle seat)

but they weren't bad.

you could basically see everything, and the cast members loved climbing all the way to the back.

they messed with us so much.

IT WAS AWESOME.

they chit chatted with me & matthew a bit, played with my hair, waved at us, sat on us, it was.....

just spectacular. ♥

speaking of being able to see everything.....

you know the scene where everyone is naked?

yeah.

you could see everything from the third row from the back on the second floor mezzanine.

EVERYTHING.

at the end of the show, after the cast bowed and the whole theatre turned into a dance party,

CLAUDE CAME UP TO THE MEZZANINE AND TOLD PEOPLE TO COME DOWN.

NATALIE, MATTHEW, BEN AND I DANCED.

WE DANCED ON THE STAGE.

WE DANCED ON THE STAGE WITH THE ENTIRE COMPANY OF "HAIR".

WE DANCED ON THE STAGE WITH THE ENTIRE COMPANY OF "HAIR" IN FRONT OF EVERYONE IN THE THEATRE.

HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN SAY THEY DID THAT!?

well, only anyone who decided to go down to the stage during a performance.

which is not everyone.

:D

if you can believe it....

IT WAS THE BEST FEELING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Claude touched my shoulder.

Berger gave me a hug.

everyone was excited.

it was W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L.

best moment of my life.

i fell asleep on the train.

haha.

we partook in more shenanigans.

i read his father's books.

he has a very very very old copy of Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense.

and many many many books about Shakespeare and all of his works (ben's father is a Shakespearian lit professor at Fordham)

we woke up too late on sunday, so we had to skip Central Park and go straight to Penn Station.

you would think we would learn that if it takes 40 minutes to get to Penn from Riverdale, we would leave earlier than we should but.....

anyway, we cut it really close again.

we showed up at the bus stop at 2PM exactly.

luckily, the bus waits 15 minutes before the actual departure.

hahahaha~

this time the trip went without a hitch.

the guy sitting natalie was very attractive, albeit hilarious to watch while he slept. (you had to be there)

ahh....

i'm glad that it was a super awesome super fun trip.

i can't wait to go again.

it might be about time...

that i post again.

so the last three weeks of the semester went well,

and the first three weeks of summer vacation have been quiet and relaxing, though albeit boring.

my finals went well enough.

my grades ended up being

Japanese 320: A

Human Life-Span Development Psychology: A

British Literature 2: A-

U.S. Government: B+

Health & Wellness: B+

sadly, my GPA went down by 0.07 to 3.71....

which I SHOULD NOT BE WORRIED ABOUT. haha

the shenanigans which took place in the Mill the last time i wrote ended awkwardly.

but the shenanigans from the weekend before final exams were spectacular.

i wish i had noticed how awesome my acquaintances were before the last week of classes.

summer is going alright i think.

i really need a job.

too bad seasonal isn't happening with most companies this year. :[

D.C. last week with my Yacht Club friends was super exciting and fun....

but i got severe sun poisoning and ended up throwing up a lot when i got home.

all is well now.

i recently bought a new dress from H&M.

it's cream and looks like something from the 1950's or maybe like something Chuck would wear in "Pushing Daisies". :]

i also got gold wedge heel Sperry Top-Siders.

they're fantastic.

going to NYC this weekend with nat & matt.

woo! for spur of the moment decisions!

more later.

FIVE THINGS

that are awesome.

to me.

1) on wednesday night, while waiting for our cookies to be delivered to the dorm, i was stopped by an upperclassman who lives downstairs. she told me that a friend of hers that i had only met in passing a few nights prior had told her that she thought i was beautiful.

no one i don't know has ever said i was beautiful.  actually, i cannot remember the last time anyone has ever said i was beautiful.

cute, maybe, but not beautiful.

i'm really happy. :]

2) alex, one of my favorite baristas at Starbucks, approached me yesterday when he was on his break to ask me how i was and that it's strange that he doesn't see me come in for a cup of coffee anymore.

he misses me? haha~

3) my psychology professor played "To Be Surprised" by Sondre Lerche at the beginning of class yesterday after i sent her a nice email about cherry blossoms and about the song.

she never takes requests.  she said the photos i sent her were beautiful. yay!

4) at around 12:15 today, while trying to decide where to go for lunch, a streaker ran past me and two of my friends, then sprinted around the Quad.  today also happened to be Choices day, where the students who have been accepted into James Madison come to see the campus with their parents and learn more about the school than on a normal campus tour.  

there were three tours in progress on the quad at the time of the streaking.

it was glorious. we all applauded him.

5) my little brother called me just now to tell me that he had won a photo contest.  first place in his division.  he's going on to districts. 

the photo was of the two of us the morning of my high school graduation.  he wore his fencing garb, including mask, and struck a pose that looked like he was attacking the camera.  i wore a cream colored dress with polka dots, and rested my elbow on his shoulder, as if he was my shoulder rest.

he wrote a little thing to go with the photo that was along the lines of "since my sister spent last summer studying abroad, and since she is in college now, i don't get to see her very often.  i miss her."

OMG. HE REALLY DOES LIKE ME AFTER ALL!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

custom sneaker photo shoot at ISAT.

then partaking in shenanigans tonight at the Mill.

then my little glimmer of hope comes down for the guard clinic tomorrow!

fun weekend! :]

21 days until summer starts!

oops?

yeah, so i haven't been really using this lately, have i?

been a little over a week now...

and you know, some awesome little things happened.

now i regret not writing them down, because i can't remember.

oh well.

let's see, the one thing that was super awesome (so far) for today....

i had an awesome tomato, spinach, basil, and provolone panini for a late lunch.

yes.

OH.

wait, one funny thing just came to mind.

this past weekend, most of the campus went home for Easter, so our main dining hall was practically empty.

one of my dearest friends stopped by my table to say "bye!" on her way out.

while she was waving and walking away, she turned and--too late--she ran right into a supporting column. 

i leapt out of my seat and tackled her in a hug on the floor.

the 13 other people in that section of the dining hall were all shocked into laughter.

i think the two of us were laughing the hardest, though.

and one last thing that has put me in a good mood lately:

"If you will tell me why the fen appears impassable, I then will tell you why I think that I can cross it if I try"

-Marianne Moore

-S

Sakura Matsuri, D.C.?

i'm so tired.

but happy.

DC was awesome today.

the weather was amazing (albeit super windy).

the cherry blossoms were beautiful.

i absolutely love spring time!!

unfortunately i did not get to see Okinawa sanshin/drumming or Kawashima Ai...

or Carrieboo.

she got to DC as i was leaving. :[

we decided to take a break from the outdoor crowds to go to the Museum of Natural History....

where there were indoor crowds.

there was a guy who had an awesome hat (and sense of fashion).

i ran into him three times in the ocean exhibit.

i loved his hat.

i should have said something.

oh well.

the crowds were nuts.

there was a pig and a tiny dog wearing mini yukatas.

wow.

there's more, but i'm so tired.

-S

sakura hira hira?

after skipping out on the last twenty minutes of my British lit class, i went home.

the weather kind of improved today!

ryan and i ate lunch outside while admiring the beauty of the noontime weather...

but that was only around for a little while.

started getting really windy/cloudy...

but it cleared up when kay and i got dropped off at the metro station.

mom made korean bbq for dinner while dad told us his sailing stories.

then we had mango cake and chamomile tea.

and decided on the spot to drive into D.C. to see the cherry blossoms at night.

so beautiful!

we ended up driving around the city for like an hour.

and by the city, i mean the mall area....

like the nice governmentaly area.

we hopped out of the car and ran around by the tidal basin.

it was SUPER windy.

the trees danced.

then we drove around some more and ran into the WJLA7/News CH8 truck!

AWESOME!

jeremy decided to hop out of the car after we pulled over so he could mess up the camera guy's shot.

kay and i hopped out and chased him around.

good times.

it's so beautiful at night.

festival tomorrow!

-S

11:31 PM, Zane Showker Hall?

it's 11:31, and i am sitting in Showker doing basically nothing.

and it's awesome.

i laughed so much today.

i woke up and did nothing but watch collegehumor vids, then went to lunch with some of my upperclassmen friends....

Matt kept doing his Batman voice...i almost choked on my baked ziti.

sometimes he needs to pay attention to TPO...time, place, occasion.

i don't want to hear about his roommate's shaving adventures while i'm eating.

psych was interesting as always.

went to dinner at Texas Road House for Cristal's b-day dinner.

we ate too much bread.

but the bread is awesome.

so it's okay. :]

and now i'm here.

Miri attempted to teach us how to do the "Gee"(?) dance.

i failed.

now we're watching youtube vids on the big screen.

(we're in a classroom.)

this is kinda awesome.

going home tomorrow for the Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.

it better not rain on saturday!!

-S

where am i running?

today was actually a fairly boring/gloomy/uneventful day...

i can't really think of anything particularly happy or interesting to mention...

well, okay, at lunch Courtney told us this story of an incredibly embarrassing moment in NYC last Thanksgiving....

the best line out of the whole story:

"The Thai food was delicious, but it had a vague aftertaste of shame."

i love it when she tells stories.

actually, this evening wasn't all that bad.

Cristal, Patrick and i went to dinner, just the three of us...

lately, they've been the only two people i've been really close to (well, and Erin too.)

so yeah, those three.

FLOC was fun, as always, despite missing most of the society as Winterguard went to Ohio for worlds!

i hope they do well!

at UREC i read James Joyce's "Araby" while on the bikes, then ran/walked for a mile.

i don't feel so hot right now, BUT

a very good looking friend of a friend ran into me and gave me an awesome smile.

his smiles are always awesome...and see, they're totally genuine.

it's not like a fake smile that you might give to acquaintances you don't know too well.

(well, it's not always fake.  i'm a master at fake smiles. muahaha.)

i think i'll end here.

-S

5 minutes of bliss?

Today my psychology professor gave us an interesting idea.

It's not a new idea, but it's kind of interesting.

"Spend 5 minutes writing about something that surprised you, made you laugh, or just generally put you in a good mood today."

  

Hmm...

So, I think I'll use this to do so.

The weather was really nice today.  I like it when there is just the right number of people just sitting out on the Quad...not too empty, but not too crowded.

There was a guy out there today who had the BEST Chucks ever.  He got up and started walking ahead of me...I was so distracted by his shoes that I walked into someone.  The Chucks had this interesting orange, yellow, and brown swirl pattern on them....I wouldn't be surprised if he had painted them himself.

I love it when I can find creativity or uniqueness at JMU.

I'm so sick of North Face jackets and UGGS. (there's a reason why they're called UGGS...)

Maybe spring will finally bring out some newness in the fashion here.

-S