things i'm finding funny - and side stories

well my hours at work have been reduced (which means i get to wait impatiently around to hear back from internships i've applied for). this also means i'm happier.

somehow, though, i'm not any less tired. finals are roaring ahead and this weekend i have a giant econ policy brief to do, an SPSS lab, and another giant stats worksheet. also, i'm going to apply for another few internships (why not?). instead of me doing these things now, i'm catching up on my homework and generally dorking around. not productive dorking, mind you, just dorking.

some of my favorite/funny things:

- the store Fishs Eddy in Union Square in NYC. Mo and Andrew took me there because every time i visit i am envious of their dishes. it's like ironic/cute/fun/cheap good quality dishes and general kitchen things. i didn't think i would be that excited about plates, but when the plates look like a NY Times crossword puzzle, i can get excited.

- we have OnDemand (thank you for making a priority, Charita Ray) and watched the HBO Documentary about this hilarious writer Fran Lebowitz. i'm sure all the people who read this over the age of 35 already know her, but the documentary Public Speaking by Martin Scorcese is hilarious. i might have to watch it again and write down her hilarious quotes next time. one i can remember:

Question from audience member: Who do you go for for a second opinion?

Fran: Why would I need to do that?

also: "It's wonderful being right all the time because then you get to observe everyone else being wrong."

i like her.

- also, McSweeney's posted an article entitled the "Butterball Helpline Help-line," which Mo read on Thanksgiving while i watched the parade. My favorite line from it: "Nutmeg is a jerk."

- my cousin steve on the phone on thanksgiving hearing that i'm in New York, the first thing he said, "last time i was in New York City i got stuck in the middle of the gay pride parade."

say no more.

surprising/lame/happy

i'm epically failing at keeping my life together, and the blog has fallen by the wayside. apologies to my three faithful readers.

some things that have recently come to light (surprising/lame/happy)

- i'm looking for a new internship for the spring semester. this means i've been constantly tweaking my resume and cover letter. since i want to work in urban redevelopment/housing issues, i'm applying for jobs/internships in that realm. most are due by the end of November, so i'm feeling positive. as i've explained to most of you, i can't be an accountant anymore (even though i'm glad to have learned the skill without having to spend money on a college course). onward and upward.

- i'm not terrible at Economics. this was the surprising one. although i still have the final to take, i did very well on the midterm and i'm actually understanding it. i'm guessing the reason that i did so terribly in Econ 198 in undergrad was because i was too busy planning my wedding/life together with the guy i sat next to and had a giant crush on. he got an A. i did not. typical.

- i shouldn't try and write a paper about something i'm not interested in the day after halloween. this isn't HD 101 anymore, Sarah, get with it.

- poor Blue Steel's window got smashed in by some kids when i left my ipod in there and they wanted it. a hiccup in my last Saturday. i hope they enjoyed the indie folk rock and whitney houston.

- vegan roommate Leslie is back in the house! an exciting new development. she has inspired me with her presence - i have upped my fruit intake three fold this week already. (my diet is abysmal to say the least). and no, joy, i haven't had any vegetables this week at the house. i'm not going crazy here.

- registered for the Spring semester: Public Budgeting (potential snooze, but a core course), Race and Urban Redevelopment, and Urban Politics. i'm very excited :)

- started reading Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee. it's very good, but every time i read a book for fun i feel guilty for not studying something else.

- sometimes i just have to shut my brain off and watch the Kardashians. so sue me.

in sum, i'm trying to keep my head above water until Thanksgiving, when i make the adventure to NYC once again for what will prove to be another delicious meal and Andrew's home brew.

not happening

the church internet/server thing for the whole building has just blocked facebook at work.

this is not happening.

home again home again...

...pigeldy pig. (oft-quoted by my pop, Steve-O).

september was nuts. i remember telling people when i started school at the end of August that all i wanted to do was get through september and it'll be smooth sailing.

well, it's kinda smooth sailing now. (barring the whole full time school/part time work thing)

two cross country trips, a weekend retreat in virginia, and a whole day last weekend in DC for a personality-type training thing for school. it's finally over, and i'm tired.

i used the imminent basement flooding situation (have you seen the weather reports about the mid-Atlantic? yowsa) to ask my boss if i can work from home today (Friday) and he graciously let me. i only had to bail the reservoir in the back of my house once, and it looks like the rains are gone for now. so i slept in until 8, emailed the pants off board members and co-workers, and started my stats project.

i have lots to do this weekend in both school and social events (far be it from me to miss a SOCIAL event). but i'm taking it all in stride because i'm home.

finally.

i never liked my house more, never wanted to make a real meal in my house more (mind you, real meals are usually pasta roni, but still), and haven't been this excited to put on an Ohio State shirt on saturday and finally be with people who won't ask me where i'm from AGAIN.

mostly, though, baltimore isn't DC.

while i'm going to move down to DC in july, it's so nice to get away from it all right now. i can drive my car, i don't have to wear closed-toe shoes, i don't have to always pretend to care about the mid-term elections, and i don't have to think about work. the culture in DC is so hurried and *cough* pretentious at times that it's exhausting. yes, i know you went to Brandeis, but i care more if you're willing to sit down and drink a Miller Light with me and tell a good story. sometimes i get the feeling that the culture of DC is one of sales: everyone's selling their candidate, their merit, their political agenda, their ambition. and many people ask me "where i see myself in five to ten years." (before i started school, i thought that question was only for job interviews...i was wrong).

did i mention it's exhausting?

i love baltimore because it's a different world. it's kitschy, it's' working class, it's ghetto and grimy in many many ways. i care about mid-term elections, yes; i also care about my career and want to be successful, i have goals. but sometimes, i just want to throw my hair up with my ripped jeans and walk around fell's point. without ever thinking about what i want to be when i grow up. right now, i just want to be happy.

i don't think that's unambitious of me.

sarah (#1)

she shared a room with me when i was 6 - i remember the piece of paper i put on the door of our room (Sarah #1 and Sarah #2 live here!) in my six year old scratch. my bed was on the left side and hers was on the left. i hope i was a good roommate, because she was. so neat, so organized, minimalist (Depression-Era to a T). she lived there until she moved to her own apartment a block away from The Weakley's house on Pike St. -- Jadwin St., Apt. A. whenever i go back to the tri-cities and am driving on McMurray or Jadwin I'll think of her. the space she occupied there.

she used wax paper for my lunches when she packed them (always better than when dad did), and sometimes i even remembered to save the wax paper so she could reuse it

i have her name.

i have her feet - high heels are a killer.

i don't quite have her gift for cooking, yet. hopefully one day i'll be able to master the pies with the evergreen trees in them. and the bunny bread (although brelin already has that under control.)

some phenomenal advice: "the best way to get a man is just to trip him. that way, he'll fall down right in front of you, you take care of him and then he'll realize how wonderful you are."

she used to sing "Three Cornered Hat" in German.

she made my favorite prom/homecoming dresses, always there in the clutch when the hem was wrong or the material too difficult to work with. such patience and talent.

the last time i saw her the conversation started with, "so, who are you bossing around nowadays?" -- she knew me too well.

her brothers and sisters called nicknamed her "Saint Sarah" for very good reason.

impeccable kindness, impeccable determination, impeccable faith.

i only hope that my life is one she'd be proud of.

i love you, grandma sarah.

--

January 11, 1919 - September 23, 2010

--

bring out the side ponytails

it's been far too long since i've had time to update you on the current situation, but mostly it consists of working and studying. i knew this was coming, but yet i'm still surprised that i rarely have time to see BFF Bacon. upsetting, yes.

most notably, school started once again. i like all the people in my program and i'm starting to think i might not suck at statistics quite as bad as i anticipated. it is, however, only the third week of classes. check back with me mid-October.

it's refreshing to be back on a college campus, where it's ok to park yourself for three hours and just read. i've also made a gigantic change to my studying: i actually use the library. i'm here all the time it seems, mostly because there's a starbucks attached to it. those GW folks, they know how to get kids to do work. i'm a sucker once again.

the only thing i'm struggling with is my attitude towards undergrads. i'm trying to remember how i used to walk around like i owned the place (which wasn't too long ago) and had to contest with swarms of giggling sorority girls on Letter Days (Wednesdays). but the undergrads are a different breed here at GW. for one, not a scraggly beard or flannel shirt to be found. this definitely gives me the "i'm not in kansas anymore" feeling that i've mostly been able to skirt. this clean-shaven better-hygiene phenomenon is mostly attributed to the culture of the east coast, which i understand. (side note: i usually have to text joy when i see a good beard)

...but there's a general sense of entitlement of the preppy undergrads. a general nose-in-the-air approach to life. as if the mere fact of them getting into this university means you can give me dirty looks for my birkenstocks or crowd the door of the starbucks with your talk to joey's party and the lacrosse game.

and side ponytails with leggings. we don't have enough time for that discussion.

suffice it to say, this is a generalization. yes, i'm making my prejudices known.

there are exceptions to the rule (see: high school classmates who i actually knew who went here for undergrad and were transplanted from the West) but generally, i'm not a fan. i'm sure that someday soon my feelings will change drastically and i'll begin to adopt my general "Rainbow Connection" attitude toward life. it's inevitable. but today, there was just one side ponytail sighting too many.

it is nice, though, to point out the ones who look like they're twelve. i just want to give them a hug and tell them it's going to be ok.

some thinkings: my war

i should say something because of Obama's speech on iraq today, when he officially says we've ended combat missions. it's weird though, my good friend from college, Tom, is one of the 50,000 troops headed over there now. my head's still there.

--

iraq is my generation's war. but unlike the vietnam war and its pervasiveness on my parents' generation, most of us (Gen Y-ers) forget that we're there. while it is true that the violence was never as high, nor have the deaths reached a staggering number (although, how many deaths does 'a lot' constitute, in a war that we've been in almost 10 years?), the politics, the scandals, and the hatred surrounding this war is felt in a real way by people like me.

i think my generation won't really start thinking about it until years down the road. it's too complicated, too much other information that we'd rather be reading (jersey shore, anyone?). which is sad.

and the thing is, i don't think we understand it because so many people have different opinions on it -- why we were there, why we stayed there, how we could've gotten out. ask anyone the question of "was the iraq war a good idea?" and they'll have a gut reaction (for me, NO) and then they'll probably say ("but..."). it's the 'but...' where it gets murky. and we don't like murky. so many different problems and politics gumming up our black and white answers. while i have a black and white answer, i couldn't come up with a great debate. i just couldn't.

--

the New York Times today does an awesome job summing it up with this slideshow, which i found very powerful. they're coverage in the articles is great too, so if you have time, check those out.

--

i remember clearly when the war started, the 'mission accomplished' flub, and the first time i knew someone personally who went over there and got wounded (my first "boyfriend"). my international problems teacher in high school, Mr. Mars, was the one who made me pay attention. he wrote the deaths and the casualties on the board every day -- 60, 75, 81 -- didn't seem like that many to us, we thought. but now, the death toll is roughly 4,500 Americans and far too many iraqis for anyone to get a solid number, and many, many more wounded.

freedom? liberty? democracy?

... i'll have to try and explain this to my kids.

nixon and kinetic sculptures

i can't believe i haven't told you all about the greatest museum (perhaps in the country) but i am now.

i went with little sarah and charita in january, but i remembered its brilliance when i took andrew, alyssa and joy back when they visited.

the American Visionary Art Museum is so badass, i can't begin to tell you. they specialize in "folk art," but it's so much more than that. it's a collaboration of art from people doing great things on the margins of society - in mental institutions, prisons, in their little trailers in north carolina, etc. from giant kinetic sculptures, glass and crystal mosaics, recreations of paintings from the MoMA done in miniature (by a guy in New York in his tiny apartment). basically, it's a celebration of art by individuals that don't normally get recognized. which makes my bleeding heart bleed a bit more.

their current exhibition is called "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness." i cry every time. it's about race, war, stigma, and the people creating brilliant pieces of art about these topics (and in spite of their seemingly dire situations). the exhibit ends soon, but check out some of their art. and if you're in the baltimore/DC area, check it out.

i'm jazzed to see the next exhibit. odds are, i'll cry. again.

also, their gift shop is awesome. it's like they took cast offs of old/quirky promo materials and art books, posters, and (if you're from the tri-cities) The Octupus' Garden crap and put it in a room. i picked up a thermos mug of THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK for one dollar, and then i sent my father an oversized postcard of Richard Nixon.

only at the AVAM, my friends.

side note:

on the postcard i wrote to my father, i mentioned that his statements regarding Nixon as a "f-ing moron" helped me become a politically savvy woman i am today. i was corrected.

my dad: "you got it wrong, Squidly. Nixon was a f--ing WEASEL. Now REAGAN was an f--ing moron."

whew, glad that got cleared up.

irrelevant

i'll be posting pictures and musings from the PHENOMENAL visit to baltimore from alyssa and andrew, but here's a gem from this morning's conversation with my mother.

me: i have a date with door #3 tonight.

mom: oh, who's this? what's his name again? ....or does that not really matter at this point?

me: names are irrelevant until after the third date.

mom: ok, that makes it easier.

shacking up

... at a library again.
alyssa and andrew are coming into town starting on thursday and i cannot be more jazzed. i was talking to andrew last night and we figured out that it's been roughly 3 1/2 years since me, andrew, joy, and alyssa have been in the same room. it doesn't feel like that long, but i suppose it has. crazy.
so, needless to say i'm trying to get everything together in order for me to fully focus on the visitors -- my boss is out of town and without email (so no email checking will happen at midnight for me!) and then...
i got my first freelance writing gig!
the timing, not so much perfect. i have to have a first 3,000 word sample for a textbook chapter on swing era jazz due the 19th. that's in 9 days. 7 of those days my friends are here. alright, weakley, it's go time.
so tomorrow, i'm headed to the Pratt Library to finally get a card (for you and me, alyssa) and hang out for three hours. i'm hoping to be able to start writing at least a little bit and get all the research done.
i can do this.
i think.

new blog

i'm switching to this blog now for the five people that actually read my rantings. it seems as though my old blog has been hacked into by some sort of asian porn (not ideal).

i've been meaning to do this for a while, but haven't gotten around to it until now. i'm stuck in my office alone (after already having worked my hours for the week, mom, don't worry) waiting out this ridiculous thunderstorm here in dc. i am meeting someone for happy hour later and have no umbrella. typical.

anywho, team, that's the update. i'll probably give you all more later when i'm actually on my couch or something.

(oh, big ups to alyssa -- hope you feel better soon and i can't wait to see you! andrew smith might come down to baltimore too. english nerds unite once more -- )