c'est la vie

my car

2006-05-26T21:40:00.000-04:00

Say hello to my new car. Well, it's new to me. :)

the trouble with Tom

2006-05-04T19:25:00.000-04:00

J.J. Abrams, Felicity, Joey Potter and the Mission Impossible theme song.

What do all of the above have in common? They have been tarnished by association with Tom Cruise. I despise this man. His whole baseless scientology bit is insane. His ideas about depression and medicine in general are laughable. He plays the same character (basically) in every movie: jerk. Let's review...
M.I.: Hero jerk
Jerry Maguire: sporty jerk
Risky Business: pimpin' jerk
War of the Worlds: i'm getting attacked by aliens JERK
Rain Man: gambling brother jerk
Interview with the Vampire: Jerk vampire
the Last Samuri: the jerk white guy who saves all the poor asian people with his mastery of martial arts and swordplay
the Firm: Lawyer jerk
Top Gun: Pilot jerk
Days of Thunder: Racecar driver jerk

That's all of the movies i can think of off the top of my head. Maybe I can get Jennifer Garner to kick his ass. She would do it. Syndey Bristow can do ANYTHING.

my week

2006-04-23T11:05:00.000-04:00

I could not think for a clever title for this post! So I worked my first 40 hour week this past week, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. Actually, it wasn't bad at all. At work I'm basically a glorified proofreader, but I get to listen to my headphones while working, so I'm cool with it. The Chase building is like a mall (I can't get away from the damn mall!). It's got a mini-mart, dry cleaners, Starbucks, Xerox place, and two cafeterias. It might even have it's own gravitational pull.

Anyways, now that I'm busy all the time studying for my GRE re-take (yes, I am a math genius!), working, and spending quality time with friends I am content. It's a very nice feeling. :) Yea!!!

my life plan

2006-04-13T20:34:00.000-04:00

Yea I know what you're thinking.. big suprise, Robyn has a plan. Actually it IS kind of a new thing because for the past few months I've been operating without one and although I can do that, it stresses me out. So without further ado... THE LIFE PLAN!

Work at Chase until July
I start on Monday, it's 40hours a week and it's probably going to suck. It's one of those mindless corporate jobs with no world saving potential at all. I'm not even 100% sure what I'll be doing, but I know it will probably not keep me up at night, so I'm ok with it for a few months. Oh, and it pays decently

Get a car
Yea! I'll finally be able to afford one, and I can hand Pat the keys back to Old Blue (The '83 Benz).

Work for Road of Life from July 06-July 07
This is going to rock my world. I'm so excited about this job I can barely contain myself, but I've already written enough about it, so moving on. During this time I'm still going to be living with Joan. My meager salary won't allow for a car payment and rent. It's all good tho.

Move to C-Bus
Me and Mia will then relocate to Columbus, yea!!!

OSU School of Public Health September 2007
Not only am I going to get into the school with my stellar credentials (I mean really, a whole year of health related volunteer work, and a kick ass GPA!), but I'm hoping to get an assitantship to pay for my MPH, the entire MPH. That's why I'm so into math lately, I'm retaking the GRE and bumping up my Math scores. I'm actually really good at math when I know what I'm doing.

And that's as far as I've gone. But I think two years plan is pretty f*ing decent for a girl who didn't know what she was doing at all. I love my plan, let's see how often it changes in the next two years, haha!

I GOT THE JOB!

2006-04-04T18:48:00.000-04:00

Yeeaaa! I got the job as a VISTA member and I will be staffing Road of Life, a sweet non-profit dealing with cancer prevention!!!! I'll probably be doing lots of fundraising and hopefully a little grant writing too. I'm way excited. It starts in July so i'll have to get a crap job until then, but who cares!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

2006-03-30T22:19:00.000-05:00

I went to listen to one of my old favorite CDs today, it was GONE. I lent it to someone who I can't remember, and now it's gone forever. Then I proceeded to go through my CD and DVD collection to ascertain what else was missing. I realized that a good chunk of my most enjoyed possessions were missing. Had I been robbed??? NO. I've been NICE. "How have I been nice?" do you ask??? Well when I particulary enjoy something such as a book or CD or DVD i'll recommend said item to a person, and often times lend it to them. For some reason, such people seem to think that the word "LEND" implies that i'm GIVING said item to them. There's a reason it's called LENDING folks, because I'd like my shit back.

So do me a favor.

Look on in your closet. Is one of my t-shirts in it? Look on your bookshelf. Is one of thebooks/CDs/DVDs that I lent you there? If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, GIVE IT BACK!!!

In the future i'm going to start asking for collateral.
"Can I borrow this DVD?"
"Sure, if I can borrow your cell phone, or YOUR SOUL."

happy birthday TO ME!

2006-03-27T16:47:00.000-05:00

My 23rd birthday was a definately a good one. It came in three parts not entirely because I'm a brat and wanted three birthday parties, but because I'm a heathen child of divorce (thanks mom and dad :) and I have friends who live out of town. Part one consisted of dinner with Mom and Pat at Friday's, which was lovely, followed by an appearance from J&E for our usual Wednesday night LOST viewing.

Part II was on Thursday night. I had dinner with Dad, Shell, and Pat. That was also very nice. I have to add that because it was my birthday, at my dinners I have allowed myself to indulge on the "no-no's" of my diet. I had plenty of alcohol, sugar, onions, peppers and ICE CREAM (not all at once of course).

Part III convened on Saturday with Van, Jason, and Elaine driving out to the far reaches of the Earth (a.k.a. Delaware) to go out to dinner with me. We went to bag of nails and had a delicious dinner, lots of vodka sours, and a rousing game of 20 questions, haha! Then we went back to my house and watched "13 going on 30" which I thorougly enjoyed (1) because I was sauced and (2) because I've got a HUGE friend crush on Jennifer Garner.

Overall I had a great birthay, Thanks everybody!!!!

Sad

2006-03-16T00:12:00.000-05:00

Aunt Rita lost her battle with leukemia yesterday night. Her funeral is this weekend. I miss her already.

roby might have a jobby

2006-03-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

So I shouldn't say anything because I might not get it... but I might have a job soon. I interviewed with an organization called Road of Life today. It's a non-profit that basically designed a health curriculum for 4th graders with the aim of teaching them cancer preventing habits, i.e. not smoking, nutrition, exercise. The job is thru Americorps so I won't be getting paid much at all, but WHO CARES!! The org. is awesome and if I get the job *fingers crossed* I would actually be doing something worthwhile with my time. My interview went really well (I think) and I might have scared the guy because I was so excited about the job. Ha! Anyways, I won't know until next Monday if I get the job or not. If I don't get it, I might be slightly destroyed (for a day at least). LET'S HOPE FOR THE BEST!

sick sad world

2006-03-06T22:21:00.000-05:00

I hate posting sad blogs, but that just kind of the way it's shaping up today. A lot of things are going on. Things that aren't too wonderful I'm afraid...
First, South Dakota's abortion ban. Word on the street is that it won't make it to the Supreme Court, let's hope so.
Jason and Elaine had to put their cat Mavi down. They are both really upset about it, he was like their child.

My aunt is dying. The doctors said that there isn't anything more they can do for her. My brother and I went up on Saturday to say goodbye to her. It was terrible. A lot of my family was there with us which was good, but didn't make it any easier. She was put in hospice today so now we just wait. My mom is teetering on the edge of tears from moment to moment and I absolutely hate it. I'm just trying to do whatever I can for her. We are just feeling kind of blah.

I remain a jobless bibliophile. I've been completely engrossed in this young adult book, and this lovely piece of twisted experimental prose has had me reading non-stop for two days.

Robyn & Karlie's rules for dating (Part 1)

2006-02-23T20:21:00.000-05:00

Lately Karlie and I have been pondering qualities in mates and/or general rules for dating. We have decided upon the following:

(1) Commenting on our body parts (i.e. "nice tits") automatically disqualifies you from the game, thanks for playing.

(2) Having a hump or a limp does not automatically disqualify you from the game. In fact as Karlie keenly noted, humps can be loveable (see picture).

(3) It might be better to date someone with consistently bad hair than someone who has beautiful hair, due to the fact that mr. good hair will inevitabley shave his head making him unattractive and chilly.

(4) Even good hair cannot make a long-distance relationship not suck.

my bloody valentine

2006-02-13T20:10:00.000-05:00

(Robyn is angry)
I couldn't NOT write anything about Valentine's Day. This is a holiday that consistently makes people feel bad about themselves. Either they feel bad because they aren't getting any, or they're upset at the prospect of not meeting the expectations of their lovers and not getting any.

(Robyn is calming down)
Now you can tell someone not to feel bad about this silly holiday, but it doesn't always work. My personal crusade has always been to spend Valentine's Day surrounded by friends, all of whom I love dearly. I keep changing my mind about the holiday. I'm probably just bitter.

(Robyn gets sentimental)
I know that if I die tomorrow, the people that I care about would know that I loved them. So perhaps this is a holiday about honesty. I honestly care about you, I honestly don't know if I care, or I honestly don't. Actually there shouldn't be just one day for this to happen, but V-Day may act as sort of a facilitation for those who aren't as blunt as this nerdy byrd.

(Robyn eats chocolate)
I think we all may agree that V-Day at the very least serves as an excuse to eat dark chocolate, so I'd better get on that.

my joy

2006-02-08T18:23:00.000-05:00

Do you ever just have one of those days where nothing can touch you? More specifically a day where you just feel fucking great! I'm having one of those days. On days like this I say I have "my joy". I slept in late, and then danced around the house for an hour or so to "Do Wa Diddy" by Manfred Man. I think I was trying to imitate Turk & Janitor's air band performance of "More than a feelin" from last night's Scrubs. Let me tell you, I'm pretty talented.

Days like this are great, because I feel hopeful about the future. It's easier to be patient when you feel good and you're on LOADS of prozac. I might even have a job interview in the next few days, we'll see how it goes! I'll appologize to anyone who talks to me in the next few hours in advance: I'll probably sing "Do Wa Diddy" to you, I may even dance. :)

an ode to brian

2006-01-30T19:18:00.000-05:00

I have a preoccupation with Brian Williams of NBC nightly news. At 6:30 every evening he appears to summarize the events of the day. I like that he's so well informed.

He writes a blog, The Daily Nightly. Well it isn't just his, but he posts on it, and I like it.

I feel that he is the type of person who I would like to read aloud to me a biography of an ex-President. When he wears the blue tie, it brings out the color of his eyes.

oh yea, i have a blog...

2006-01-26T14:31:00.000-05:00

Oops. Well January is almost over, and I can hardly believe it. I have been spending most of my time at home reading books. This month I've gone through: The Celestine Prophecy (re-read, still f*cking great book), Dracula, The Historian and The Alchemist.

To the left (or above, depending on how this reads) is the neediest kitty in the ENTIRE world, Mia. I love her dearly. Every morning I wake up and she is either staring at me (kind of creepy), or laying on the pile of dirty clothes on the floor. She proceeds to follow me from room to room. She likes to jump on my feet, watch me brush my teeth, play with my knitting needles, and type on the computer. Isn't she lovely?

I had an interview with a temp agency this morning. It's not the grandest thing in the world, but it will hopefully lead to a job, we'll see. My fingers hurt from the battery of typing tests I was subjected to. I'll hopefully post stuff more regularly now that things are picking up a little around here.

happy new year!

2006-01-01T20:31:00.000-05:00

I arrived safely in Ohio on Christmas Eve eve after an uneventful (thank god) 15-hour road trip. I had a quiet and nice Christmas at home with the familia plus my Aunt and Uncle, the latter whom I almost killed because he gave away the twist in "Million Dollar Baby". Aaanyways, i've been enjoying my little break here so far, meaning my break from reality. I'm in the process of finding a job (full-time with sweet benefits, anybody interested?), building my strength back up so I can actually exercise again, and trying to find some sort of direction for my life. I'll keep ya'll updated on how all of that goes.

Ok so now the main event, New Years Eve! I think this year was the best so far. As you can see, we played Twister. This picture shows just how much I love the Van Arsdale family. Above you see me smashed in between Greg and Lauren. It was her bright idea to play with six people (that doesn't work so much). As you may be able to predict, I ended up in a pile of Van Arsdale. We spent most of the night playing ridiculous board games. If you don't think that would be very exciting, you have not met my friends. We had the best time. I laughed so hard at some of our word choices in Balderdash that I almost busted my gut several times :)

According to Karlie's family tradition, cramming twelve grapes into your mouth within the first minute of the New Year is good luck, so of course we did it. We drank champagne and made a half-assed effort to bang pots and pans (I told you guys I was doing that this year no matter what). We sorely missed our poor Malaysian jungle boy Zachary, but I had a great night with my lovely friends and am SO happy to be back in their presence :) Happy 2006!

Peace out Boston.

2005-12-20T18:42:00.000-05:00

This is my last post as an improper Bostonian. On Thursday i'll be headed home to my family and friends. I wanted to take a moment to wax poetic about my time in Boston, so if you don't enjoy my sentimental rambling, don't read on.
(To the left is Rachele, holding the very appropriate Xmas present she gave me.)

I'll miss the sight of the Charles & the city between Kendall and Park Street, but I won't miss the smell. I'll miss the people in my program, but not the East Coast attitude. I'll miss my room in my apartment, but not the sound of the Saturday night raves our upstairs neighbors sometimes had. I'll miss the variety of activities, but not the cost of them. I won't miss living next to the ocean because I can't see, smell, or hear it. I'll miss my PCP and her staff (they were amazing), but not my repeated hopsital visits.

In all honesty, I'm so glad that I came here. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world. In some cases, people have to move far away to realize that they are independent. In my already stubbornly independent case, it helped me realize how much I need the people I care about. I feel pretty brave for moving across the country all by myself, and I did pretty much everything I wanted to do while I was here. I'm excited about whatever I'll end up doing next. The best part about the future is that you never know what is going to happen :)

With that being said, I'm ready to GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! Peace out Boston, I'm going home.

I'M DONE!

2005-12-15T22:58:00.000-05:00

Guess where I no longer go to school? EMERSON!!!! Yea!!!! I'm done with the unprofessional nature of the entire organization, as well as some (definately not all) of the students. I had my last presentation tonight. I have to turn in my final group paper, and I had a wicked good group, so I think it's A worthy.

I might have a guy taking over my lease, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and more people coming in until he actually signs the paper and my name is off of the thing for good. I'm going to lose some money, but it's better than having to pay for an apartment I'm not living in.

Pat and I are getting along well, he's helping me out quite a bit. He's helped me clean the apartment and made me food on several occasions. What a good brother! I guess we are making up for lost time when I didn't see him for three months. Anyways, I hope we continue to enjoy each other for the next few days. He's been really patient with all my school work. This weekend I'll actually be able to show him around a little instead of making him swiffer the kitchen floor. :)

I'M DONE WITH EMERSON!!!!!!!!

Brother Bear

2005-12-12T09:49:00.000-05:00

An update on my dear auntie: I have a line of amazing strong women in my family (we call it "being a Kokinda", my great grandmother's last name). Currently, Aunt Rita is stable. The internal bleeding stopped, and they were able to perform surgery to calm her insides down a bit. She is still on a respirator for now, but is doing much better than on Saturday night.

In other news, my parents have sent my brother here to "keep an eye on me" until I move. Translation = Make sure she eats, and doesn't have a nervous breakdown. He will be here a little shy of two weeks, so that should get interesting. He doesn't have anything better to do, because he's on break from school. He can wander around and look at all the old stuff around here, he likes that crap, and since this is Boston, there's a plethora of it. I'll keep ya'll updated on whether or not we kill each other in the next week or so. I can't wait to get out of here!

Hang in there Rita baby.

2005-12-11T11:21:00.000-05:00

What a week, Murphy's law certainly has been doing a number on my life, and the lives of those around me. Last night, I found out that Aunt Rita had had a seizure, and was bleeding internally. They brought her into surgery but her blood pressure kept dropping. Mom was all upset because she couldn't be there, and she could't give Aunt Rita her bone marrow. I think most of us were up most of the night worried about her. I guess they stabilized her B.P. this morning, but I don't know what's going to happen. My mom is driving to the clinic as I type. I hope that she's ok. Like most of the women on my Mom's side, she is incredibly strong. It's so frustrating because she just can't get a break. I guess I have to have peace with the fact that she has some of the best doctors in the country doing everything they can for her. I wish I was at home with my family.

On Friday, I came down with a migraine (not surprising with the week I've had). I went to my PCP and she gave me meds, but they didn't help. They took me in an ambulance to the hospital. In between the time I arrived at my PCP and the time I got into the ambulance, about 8 inches of snow had accumulated and most of Boston had been under what could best be described as a white out. It took us 30 minutes to travel 3 blocks and the ambulance was sliding all over the road. It's the first time I had been more scared that I was going to die from being in the ambulance than my medical problem itself. To make a long story short, they shot me full of drugs that stoped my vomiting and headache, and I'm fine(ish) now.

This next week HAS to be better.

Moving on.

2005-12-07T11:18:00.000-05:00

So I think pretty much all of you have received a weepy phone call from me about how unhappy I am here. Elaine and Jason are getting the brunt of it, and are handling it quite well (a sign of good friends). I've decided to leave the dreaded Boston. I've been sick physically and emotionally since I've got here, and I don't want to wait around and hope for it to get better. It's a waste of my time, money, and cell phone minutes :). I'm going home to reset myself, and attempt to take some control over my life. I thought that I had gotten over or through all of my "I have a disease" issues during senior year of college, but it turns out that I really haven't. I've been seriously depressed since I've been back here after Thanksgiving, which scares me, as I find it harder and harder to maintain my usual mix of joyful sarcasm. The best part is that I know what is wrong, so now I can start to fix it!

As for my graduate program, it's not what I hoped it to be. I was looking for something that would feed my passion for reaching out to others with similar disease issues. The program is not bad by any means, I just feel it's mediocre. I don't want to have a degree in "what's that?". I don't want to go into monstrous amounts of debt (almost $12,000 for next semester + living expenses) for something that I'm not feeling. It's not a good fit for me, and I'm glad I realized that early on.

Boston is a nice place to visit, but I don't want to live here. So now I'm working on tying up loose ends - getting someone to take over my lease for the apartment, getting my finances in order, etc. I just found out that I won't have to pay back my assistantship money from this quarter (well unless Tim f*s me over and says I didn't work). I'm going to talk to Tim (program director) today, and hope that he's not going to be too pissed at me.

When I get home I'll be looking for a job and applying to an MPH program at Ohio State that will start in September. Imagine, classes during the day, only a year and a qtr. to finish, cheaper living expenses! My goal for the rest of the time that I'm here is to enjoy my wonderful roommates, and try not to flip out too much (that's harder than it seems), and finish up my school work (also quite hard to do knowing I'm leaving!). Thanks to my lovely friends and family for all your support and time :). I'LL BE HOME SOON!!!!!!!!!!!

You touched my heart, literally.

2005-12-01T22:35:00.000-05:00

Today I went to the Gross Anatomy lab. That's where they keep the cadavers. Our Intro to Medicine class scoped out some disected bodies to get a different perspective about what we really look like on the inside. Let me tell you, we look like chicken. I will not be eating poultry for awhile.

As excited as I thought I was, I found myself quite disturbed at first that my teacher would just jam his hand into Jane Doe's torso and pull out her intestines. Have we no respect for the dead? I wondered if this anonymous woman had donated her body to science, or she was just someone with no one, and when she died they just took her (can they do that?).

I didn't like seeing the faces of the people, that was quite unnerving. It all looked like it was a cleverly designed movie prop until you saw the face. The entire room smelled terrible. I hope I don't have dreams about it.

My prof clarified that these people had all donated their bodies to science, so that made it a little bit better. I held a human brain, heart, and lungs in my hands. The brain was smaller and heavier than I thought. The lungs were spongy, and the heart was lighter than i expected. I also touched a colon (for personal reasons, haha). I could wax poetic about how I held the center of life in my hands, but it was all kind of surreal. I'm glad I had the experience, I probably wouldn't do it again. I'm definately NOT donating my body to science. I suppose I could start a debate about would it really matter to me or not because I would be dead anyways, but I'll save that for another time.

Blessed am I

2005-11-28T23:42:00.000-05:00

(I couldn't help the improper Yoda grammar, i just saw the third Star Wars again.) Anyways I just got back into Boston. I don't know if the air pressure in my ears hasn't stabilized yet, or it's just the exhaustion but i'm feeling quite loopy. Hence it is the perfect time to make a quick "holla" (as Pat would say) to all of my wonderful friends. I was feeling quite under the weather for the duration of my visit to Ohio. I am blessed to know the lovely people that I do, in that although I was sick and fairly grumpy they came and entertained me. So, I still got to do most of the things that I wanted to do including: saying goodbye to Zach (I miss you already!), spending some quality LOST time with Elaine, Jason, and my lovely life partner Ms. Lauren Michelle, and ponder deep thoughts with Kyle. I also have to send love to my mom and brother because let's face it, I was a HUGE pain in the ass :). So before I pass out, THANKS EVERYONE! I'll see you at Christmas, I promise to be more well behaved (and awake, haha).

O-H-I-O

2005-11-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm home. I got yelled at this morning by Zach because I didn't post a new blog yet. I am totally wiped out tho. I think the days in the hospital, running around with Zach, and our full day of travel has finally caught up with me. I hope to spend the rest of the evening in front of the fireplace wrapped up in a deliciously warm blanket. It's snowing here, the ground is almost covered! Tomorrow we will head up to Sandusky and Port Clinton to see the familia for Thanksgiving. Ok i'm going back to my warm fireside seat! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This is the true story of two blogs...

2005-11-21T23:39:00.000-05:00

picked to come together in a city brimming with history, to see what happens when two good friends stop being polite, (not like we were ever polite to begin with) and start getting real! Ok this picture is especially for Gem... GUESS WHERE I AM? The Boston Real World House! Yes, this counts as a historical landmark. The house was actually kind of disappointing. It's now a community center. We looked in all the windows and I think we freaked out the lady who was inside. :)

To check out an extremely detailed account of mine and Zach's adventures over the past few days, check out Zach's Blog . Let me just say I am one tired chick. We walked EVERYWHERE and saw EVERYTHING. The most interesting part to me was the Granary Cemetary, which is a stop off the freedom trail. Many of you know I have a peculiar interest in cemetaries, and this particular cemetary was no exception. Some of the stones were from the 1600's! I think the oldest one we saw was 1668.

Benjamin Franklin's parents were buried here, along with Paul Revere. Zach's two fingers are supposed to signify the "two if by sea" saying. We also saw Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, and all kinds of other historical stuff. I'll show you more pictures when I am less tired.

Ok i'm off to bed. I'm flying home tomorrow, so I need my rest!

Free at last...

2005-11-19T14:04:00.000-05:00

So, after a sigmiodoscopy, 3 enemas, a CT scan, a chest x-ray, numerous blood tests,a BLOOD TRANSFUSION (what!) and three nights in the hospital, I'M HOME! Well I'm not home home, but I'm at my house in Somerville recovering. Zach made it here safe and sound last night. Kat was nice enough to pick him up from the airport. Right now i'm just resting here on the couch with Zach and Rachele

We're watching the OSU v. Michigan game, GO BUCKS!!! The picture is the lame attempt at the "o" and "h" from ohio. Whatever. Anyways, I'm tired so I'm about to take a nap. I've got to rest up today so I can entertain Zach tomorrow. P.S. anyone who had a hand in the making the "Zachage" gets my thanks! :)

it's fall (for a few days at least)

2005-11-07T23:56:00.000-05:00

These are not my shoes in case you were wondering. This weekend on Boston Common they had an art exhibit that had all of these random shoes out (see other picture). They had a whole section of boots representing the over 2,000 members of the military that have died in Iraq. There were other groups of shoes representing Iraqi citizens who have died to date.

I know it sounds kind of weird, but it was actually really sad. I wasn't sure at first if these were the actual shoes that belonged to people, but then after I thought about that it didn't make much sense.

All of the military boots are in this picture. Some of them had stories about the soldiers that were written by their families.

You can kinda see the leaves changing, it's really pretty. I like it best when they all turn red.

In other news: I got an A on that huge midterm paper! Hurray I don't have to drop out of graduate school! (For those of you who don't know, if I get a B- GPA they take away all my money and i'm pretty much done for.)

it's November, finally!

2005-11-01T18:10:00.000-05:00

And you all know what that means, Robyn comes home! I'll be in Ohio from the 22-28th for Thanksgiving break! Also, Zach is coming to visit before he runs off to Malaysia. It turns out that the snow from Saturday (see post below) set a record, and that usually doesn't happen here in October. Today it was in the 60s and beautiful, this place is so random.

I've got one random thing to rant about. Colon cancer. It's 2nd on the list of "cancers that kill people" (yea I sound like moron but i couldn't think of a better way to say that). It is also 90% CURABLE if caught early (before it metastisizes). So, if you're over the age of 50, have a parent or sibling that has or has died of colon cancer, or have an IBD, go get a damn colonoscopy. Yes, they kind of suck but if your test is clear you are set for 10 years. The test isn't the bad part - the drugs that they give you are kind of fun, it's the prep that is a pain in the ass (pun intended). I have a feeling that this is going to be my life's work - getting people to talk about their bowels. *Sigh*

you've got to be kidding...

2005-10-29T14:06:00.000-04:00

What you see in the picture is not a clever Photoshop trick. It is actually SNOWING here! What the hell! It's only October! On the bright side, if it's snowing it's completely justifiable to turn the heat on.

I finally finished my wicked long midterm paper, it ended up being 24 pages long! I got my one day of zoning out, and now I have to start on my next paper due Thursday. One of my friends said "I think we'll be glad that we DID this [graduate school], but not that we're DOING this".

Sidebar: Is anyone else mad that the movie version of "Queen of the Damned" combines "The Vampire Lestat" and "Queen of the Damned" into one thing, and also add some stuff that never happened in the book? Also, I think Lestat's singing voice is actually Jonathan Davis from Korn. ew.

Whatever... off the the worst job ever! That's right, Pier 1!

a perfect storm

2005-10-25T12:21:00.000-04:00

Just like I promised, we are getting spanked by Wilma and another storm that have come together to form "a perfect storm". Right now it is raining like an MF, and the wind is gusting at 44mph. Parts of the siding on the house next to us arecoming off, but it was kind of an old crappy house anyways. Ah, my first nor'easter... I think i'll stay inside today.

french toast

2005-10-24T15:10:00.000-04:00

Rachele and I went to Paris this weekend! Here we are riding the Vespa we rented. You can see the Eiffel Tower in the background. Tom Cruise was there proposing to Katie Holmes, we ran them over. Ok so I'm totally lying. I could see Gem's face turning red with anger that Imight have come to France and didn't stop by to visit her :).

We took this picture at the Kotex feminine products booth at the Regatta. The pictures of the actual race looked like tiny ants rowing a boat, so I opted for Paris instead. The Regatta was cool, we basically singed up for a bunch of free stuff. Rachele won 100 free skymiles from Delta, which means nothing. I won a luggage tag, which means even less. The rain has come back, and we're going to get spanked by hurricane Wilma tomorrow, yuck. But it's mid-term week so it's better that i'm inside working on my super-involved paper anyways.

We didn't end up going back to the pumpkin-lighting thing because it was pouring down rain. This weekend is Halloween, and I am still sans costume. I'm sure i'll figure something out. It's only a few more weeks until I can stick it to Pier 1 and never ever go back. They think I am a slave or something - I don't like it. I'd much rather be hanging out with my favorite ladies in the Provost's office. Ok back to work...

All the leaves are brown...

2005-10-21T21:09:00.000-04:00

Ok so the leaves aren't exactly brown, but that's the only fall-ish related song lyric that I could think of.

This afternoon Kat and I went down to Boston Common to carve pumpkins. Tomorrow is the big pumpkin festival on the common, and the goal is to break the world record of consecutively lit jack-o-lanterns. Last year there were 16, 452 lit and they didn't break the record. They are going to light them tomorrow night, so I think we're going to go down and see that.

There was a huge tent with a few hundred people helping out. It was kind of like an assembly line - some people cut the tops, some got the guts out, some carved. Kat and I gutted and carved the pumpkins (the messy job). Between the two of us we contributed 6 or 7 :).

There's a picture of me and one of my little pumpkins. They had us carving hearts into them because those are going on this huge scaffolding thingy, it's going to look really cool all lit-up.There were pumpkins pretty much everywhere, it was quite enjoyable.

Oh! So for the past month or so our living room furniture consisted of two lawn chairs and a kind of recliner type thing. We've been debating the futon purchase but we're all to cheap to do it. While Kat and I were walking to the T we saw this futon outside of a used furniture store. We went in and talked to the guy and he told us he'd knock down the price and deliver it to our house if we'd pay cash and take it today. To make a long story short, it's now happily sitting in our living room! Yea! This also bodes well for Zach and other future visitors who won't have to sleep on the floor! Tomorrow Rachele and I are going to see the Head of the Charles Regatta, so I hope it doesn't rain!

This is the gigantic scaffolding with some of the pumpkins on it - all of the heart shaped ones. I'll put a picture on later of it all lit up!

In other news I got a sweet deal on my plane tickets for X-mas time, so ya'll (yes i just said ya'll) had better plan on spending some quality time - I'll be home for about three weeks.

There's Kat carving one of her pumpkins :)

"nothing lasts forever in the cold [October] rain"

2005-10-14T21:24:00.000-04:00

(I think if you can name all of the songs that I pull my blog titles from, you should get a prize. I think Pat may be the only one who is up to the challenge.)

Oh yes, it's been raining like a MF for about a week or so now in Beantown. I did a little coloring (to the right) because that's all my frazzled brain can handle after spending my time buried in journal articles.

It was freezing in our apartment so we had a roommate meeting about whether or not to turn on the heat. After a unanimous vote in favor of warmth, the chicks belows us turned on their heat. Many of you may remember from science class that heat rises, so hurray! I'm warm and I don't have to pay for it, rock!

I was supposed to go dancing last night so I reluctantly dragged myself in the rain to the other side of the world to meet with some nice ladies from my program. Being on the other side of the world, I had to make sure I got home before the buses and T stopped running. I got to dance a total of zero hours and zero minutes because the DJ showed up late and I had to leave, bummer.

Lots of people have been asking about my classes. I really like them and am connecting with the material. I read this stuff and think "wow, that happened to me!". I think that besides cultivating my mind it's helping me to deal with my own health issues, and that is always great. Someday i'm going to write down my disease story and make millions upon millions of dollars. This can happen as soon as people aren't afraid to talk about their colons :). Back to work!

My first visitor!

2005-10-10T15:33:00.000-04:00

I have just learned from a very reliable source (aka the man himself), that ZACH IS COMING TO BOSTON! He's coming a few days before I leave to come home, so we are flying back to Ohio together! I'll be spending the next few weeks planning all kinds of fun and interesting things for us to do. Some ideas: sneaking into the Harvard library, throwing a bag of Tazo tea into the Boston Harbor and taking obscene pictures at the plethora of historical sites in the city. This series of grand events will of course be documented on both of our blogs (check out: Malaysian Madness).

It will also be Harry Potter movie weekend when he's here and we WILL be attending HP themed events. Maybe Harry and the Potters will play again....

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! Zach, you just made my week!

my blog it is a-changin'

2005-10-09T19:56:00.000-04:00

I changed my blog around so it looks a little prettier. I'm going to go tour about some more when it stops raining and I'll be able to put some more pictures of the ci-tay up. I don't hate Boston, I swear. I was just a little homesick last week - but i'm over it thanks to the help of some good friends (you know who you are :). The Red Sox lost on Friday (haha) so I got to watch my football game on Saturday night. LOST was also on later that night so I caught most of it.

This week i'll be spending most of my time writing a huge paper about media messages and my disease. It's amazing to think that a million people in the U.S. have some form of IBD but most people don't even know what it is! If you have some time to spare and want to educate yourself about Ulcerative Colitis, check out the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation website. Then TALK TO ME ABOUT IT! I'll persuade you to join my cause :). I get Thursday night off of class because it's Yom Kippur, holla! Also, I need a good book to read so give me recommendations.

what i hate about boston.

2005-10-06T00:17:00.000-04:00

Sometimes a girl just wants something that reminds her of home. Am I a little homesick...YES. What would I be doing on a typical Wednesday night at 9:00pm? I'd be with Jason, Elaine and VA watching LOST. Since I don't get home from class until 10pm on Wednesdays now, I have to tape the damn show and talk to them about it later. Tonight I came home from class, turned on the video, and what do I find? LOST? NO! The f*cking RED SOX game! Arrgggh! The icing on the cake to an annoying day.

As much as it's the little things that I sometimes enjoy about living here the tiny things also aggravate the HELL out of me. We can also never get the OSU football games. We're not in the right "region". I could care less about baseball, I want my football. I cannot WAIT to get home for Thanksgiving where I can see my family and friends. Damn, am I grumpy today or what!

Voldemort can't stop the rock

2005-10-02T23:50:00.000-04:00

This morning I went and saw the sweetest band, "Harry and the Potters". They are two brothers who sing songs about the Harry Potter books and were introducted to me by Karlie a few years ago. Go to their website, http://www.eskimolabs.com/hp/, listen to the songs, and tell me they aren't hilarious.

To the left is "Harry from the 7th year" or, the older brother. The younger one introduced himself as "Harry from the 4th year" hahaha. Anyways I was highly entertained. Song titles from these boys include "Save Ginny Weasley", "Wizard's Chess" and "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock". They dressed up in the 'Hogwarts' uniform and entertained a crowd of screaming pre-teens wearing capes and waving wands. It was marvelous.

riding on the metro-o-o

2005-09-29T23:22:00.000-04:00

It's the tiny details of life that I always find amusing. This is my favorite part of my ride on the T (which is the subway, FYI). My line is mostly underground which means that the scenery consists of random sparks that fly off the top of the train, wires attached to a concrete wall, and kids with Ipods waiting for trains that haven't come yet. My little moment of joy comes when we pop up over the Charles river and get to look at the city. This lasts only for a minute or so before we go back underground. The pic is a little fuzzy because I was taking it from inside the T car. It was kind of stormy today, hence the clouds. The other side of the river has a building that is shaped and painted like R2D2. I'm not joking. I think it's part of the Museum of Science. I'll try to get a picture of that on my next ride.

It's like MTV cribs, but not really.

2005-09-28T14:06:00.000-04:00

I'm sick of describing what my room looks like, so here are some pictures! Next time you ask me what my room looks like, I'm just going to refer you to this handy description.

Notice my bed is right under the window. I can see into my neighbors windows and they can see me too. Kinda creepy huh? As many of you know, I was sometimes awakened by my neighbor (Sara, haha) late at night. Luckily she moved.

Also notice that hot LOST poster that was given to me by two special Laurens last year for my b-day :)

Here's my messy desk. The door on the left goes into the entryway and the one on the right is my closet.

I think i've got at least one thing from everybody - whether it be international art (thanks Karlie, Zach, and VA) a big crab hat (Jason & Elaine) or a tiny replica of Cutler Hall (hello to my favorite OU ladies). All of that stuff definately makes me feel more at home!

And the other wall. Not too fancy. That other door leads into the little alcove near the kitchen. Yes I have two doors to my room. No, I don't use both of them.

What else of note have I done this week... Oh! I met one of my new doctors and she was wonderful, which is very important, we're a team afterall :).

I started my job at Pier 1 and I'm already not too jazzed about it. I hate trying to make people buy crap that they don't need. My manager even said "there is nothing sold in Pier 1 that people actually need". So I just have to pretend that I'm super excited that I'm working there, which I can do (I worked at the mall, remember?).

the playlist

2005-09-26T23:04:00.000-04:00

i am easily distracted by good music:
(in no particular order)
Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode)
shook me all night long (AC/DC)
livin' on a prayer (Bon Jovi)
I need a Hero (Bonnie Tyler)
It's all I can do (The Cars)
just what I needed (the cars)
golden path (the chemical brothers)
train in vain (the clash)
should i stay or should i go (the clash)
boys don't cry (the cure)
me myself and i (de la soul)
groove is in the heart (de lite)
faith (george michael)
baracuda (heart)
don't you want me (human league)
people who died (jim carroll band)
ring of fire (johnny cash)
deceptacon (le tigre)
TKO (le tigre)
bohemian rhapsody (queen)
under pressure (queen & david bowie)
blitzkreig bop (the ramones)
it's the end of the world (r.e.m)
just like heaven (the cure)
friday i'm in love (the cure)
goody two shoes (adam ant)
cruel summer (bananarama)
red red wine (ub40)
mr. big stuff (jean knight)
tainted love (soft cell)
instant pleasure (rufus wainwright)
man it's so loud in here (they might be giants)
move this (technotronic)
push it (salt n' pepa)
surrender (the proclaimers)
into your arms (lemonheads)
not that kind of girlfriend (smoking popes)
our house (madness)

Job, etc.

2005-09-23T03:25:00.000-04:00

Today I interviewed for, was offered and accepted a part time job. The job pays 23.50 an hour and I would only have to work two nights a week. The tagline for my job was "Must feel comfortable wearing provocative clothing". HA!

Just joking. I actually got a job at Pier 1. It's only part time, definately doesn't pay that much and I think I just have to dress business casual. Which most of you must realize what a problem that will be for me. I'm just happy that i'll have another source of income besides loan refunds.

Tonight after class all of the Health Comm. kids went out to a sweet place downtown. It was nice to finally get to socialize. In the process I found a fellow Le Tigre fan who told me about a special dance night that sounds like it's similar to "A Danceable Solution"!!!! I guess a bunch of us are going to go sometime soon! Hurray!!! I can spread my terrible dancing all across the United States. I"ll just have to get some of you guys to come and rip it up with me. Boston needs to be let in on some of VA's breakdancing and Zach, I can't do interpretive dancing without you!

In other news, Rachele randomly ran into some of the guys on that show "Rescue Me" (the firefighter one w. Dennis Leary). It's her favorite show and she was freakishly excited about it :)

Tomorrow i'm going to listen to people talking about the healing power of art. Maybe art can heal PMS. What do you think?

Froggy

2005-09-19T02:47:00.000-04:00

Frog on the North End. The North End is where the "Little Italy" of Boston is. The city looked like this pretty much all weekend. Effects of tropical storms. Blah!

P.S. I don't have any idea what those buildings are, so don't ask. What do you think, I live here or something?

I found it!

2005-09-15T13:51:00.000-04:00

(The ocean, that is.)

So on Monday Rachele and I decided to take a field trip to the ocean. It only takes an hour to get there from our apartment, which is not too bad considering we're riding the T the whole time. The beach we went to wasn't very glamorous, but I was paying more attention to the water than the sand. The water was really calm when we arrived, as you can probably see in the picture. It was a tad chilly but it felt wonderful to have the sand between my toes!

I called my folks to brag that I was wading in the water. While on the phone with my dad, I placed the receiver near the waves and asked him to guess what the sound was. He said, "it sounds like a toilet." I laughed so hard I almost dropped the phone. Mom replied to a similar phone call with "Oh thanks a lot, I'm at work and you're in the ocean." We didn't get to swim b/c we couldn't find a place to change, but maybe next time. I plan on making the trip quite often, as I have never seen the ocean in the winter.

I started my Emerson class yesterday. This whole graduate thing is going to be a lot of work! :) I also started my assistanceship, which turns out to be pretty great. My grad program is assisting the city of Somerville on this huge health initiative so helping with that. Right now I'm just interviewing a bunch of people.

I'm still looking for a part-time job, and I have a few interviews at the end of the week. One of them is too funny to mention, unless I actually get the job. In that case, I'll tell you guys all about it!

The weather: 73 and T-Storms. Right now it's pouring b/c of Ophelia. My first of many rainy days in Beantown.

Our house in the middle of our street...

2005-09-15T10:20:00.001-04:00

Ta da! Check out our very purple residence! We live on the second floor so we have the front porch with the oval shaped window. Our neighborhood is quiet, or as quiet as it can be living this near to the city. It's actually quieter than the Foster residence in Athens, a.k.a less screaming and bottle breaking by intoxicated individuals.

The only bummer is the lack of air conditioning. Apparently, the Pilgrims weren't to hip to the idea of central air. I shouldn't complain tho - I have been told that in a few weeks I will be praying to see the sun.

You may also notice the tree in the picture. The only green space in Boston not littered with crackheads... *sigh*

Orientation & such

2005-09-10T16:31:00.000-04:00

Those of you who have been bugging me for pictures of my house will have to forgive me. I seem to have left the cord that connects the camera to the computer at home. I will have mom send it soon. I had orientation on Thursday. It was really long and pretty boring until we met the people in our program. There are 12 other kids besides me; Eleven of them are chicks. They all seem pretty cool as of now, but you never know! The head of my program is really great. In case you didn't know it's a collaborative Health Communication program between Emerson College and Tufts Medical School. Basically, I'll graduate with a degree from Emerson, but I got a sweet student I.D. from Tufts that says "Medical Graduate Student" on the bottom :).

On the Emerson side I get to do this great consulting project with any healthcare organization in the Boston area. That project kinda counts as my thesis. It's basically like another GLC (ask me about glc if you don't know what the hell i'm talking about) project but w/o the groupwork. That's at the end of my program though.

After our director explained all that jazz, we went to our first class (Introduction to Clinical Medicine). Our prof. was great, and class was really interesting. I also found out that towards the end of the semester I get to go to the Gross Anatomy Lab (a.k.a. the Cadaver lab!!). I have to keep a pretty high G.P.A. to keep my assistanceship so I'll be spending most of my time doing homework. That's not really a big stretch from my usual school routine so I should be fine.

Thanks to everybody so far who's been super supportive of my big move: I love and miss you all!

The weather today (Sunday): Partly cloudy and 70

So I'm here...

2005-09-06T23:40:00.000-04:00

Sorry it took so long to update this damn thing, but we've basically had a fight to the death with Comcast. Anyways, I made it to Boston after a 15 hour road trip on Friday. Two things I could not have made that trip without: 1. my Dad 2. Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits (haha). My apartment is great and the move went fairly well. I was pretty sad at first but then I quickly realized how dumb that was considering that I now live in BOSTON. My roommates are Kat and Rachele and are two nice ladies from New York and Ohio, respectively. I live right across from the Somerville Hospital, a block down from the fire department, and next door to a cop. I think we're ready for just about everything. We spent the day today navigating the ins and outs of the Boston Public Transportation system. We only almost went the wrong way once, so you'll have to wait for a good "Robyn gets lost" story. I've got my orientation on Thursday and start class the same night at Tufts. Tomorrow I go to meet with my advisor/teacher/head of my program/assistanceship guy, so I hope we get along.

The weather: beautiful sunshine and mid-70's. Very comfortable for my jeans & t-shirt style.

2005-08-27T11:40:00.000-04:00

Now leaving Ohio...