russia too?

maybe.

i have itchy feet

i can't help it.
i like to go places.
new places.
it's not that i don't like to go home.
i do.
but i don't know if i'll always have the chances to just go.
minnesota.
italy.
las vegas.
alaska.
antarctica.
to name the most current few.
i have goals.
all 50 states.
37/50.
every continent.
3/7.
i don't know what makes me so itchy to go.
it's just in me.
i want adventure.
i want to see places.
i want to meet people.
i want to learn new things.
i want to go.

oh yeah

i could definitely get used to this no school thing.

although, it has put a cramp in my style that i still have to work. believe me, there are plenty of other ways i would like to spend my saturday than suffering through eight hours of standing on my feet. at least it's starting to get busier with the holiday season.

i went to see happy feet tonight. it was very cute and had more of a moral than i thought it would. i liked it and recommend it. when i was going up to get my free popcorn (which i asked for with no butter and got tons of butter on...uck. at least it was free), this guy who was obviously there to distract his friends who were working started talking to me and asked if i was seeing happy feet because it's the best movie out now according to him. and i said, indeed i was but it was a hard choice between that and casino royale. and that got him really talking. he told me how much he disliked casino royale and that nobody should see it (mostly because he wanted people to see happy feet) and it was just like watching poker on espn. it just so happens that i love watching poker so i do believe that casino royale is next on my movie list. i was just impressed at this dynamic person who just stood at the concession counter striking up conversation with whomever crossed his path. it put a smile on my face at least.

okay, you got me...

yeah, that was totally me wearing slippers to class this afternoon. socks and shoes are just so tedious.

yeah, i totally wore them to go shopping after class too.

and yes, i absolutely was listening to the radio station playing christmas music already. and i was loving it!

the latest nyc adventure

my beautiful friends...












my lovely friends aubrey and nicole (who i know from working in maine) came to visit last monday night through wednesday morning. we spent the day tuesday in the city. it was one of the most fun day trips i've had to new york. the adventure started after we could not find a single legal parking space at the princeton junction train station. we decided to drive instead. please don't tell my mom i drove in manhattan!

we started by going to strawberry fields in central park then headed down to times square. we met up with another friend, michael, bought theater tickets and had our first celebrity sighting of the day. there was a big to do in that middle part of times square between the virgin megastore and mtv. it was the game (who is apparently a rapper who is buddies with 50 cent). i didn't know who he was but aubrey and nicole did and were excited to see him!

then we made our way to canal street for some shopping and little italy for dinner where we had our second celebrity sighting. well, maybe not celebrity but famous person. at least someone who is in movies and on t.v.! we chose to eat outside at a nice italian restaurant and a guy from the next table over turned to ask us if he could smoke his cigar. i totally recognized him immediately but didn't know his name and couldn't remember for the life of me what the name of the movie was that he was in. finally, i asked my friends and they knew immediately i was trying to think of "can't hardly wait". our neighbor at the next table over was freddy rodriguez (one of the jock friends of the popular guy in that movie and also on the t.v. show "six feet under")! i'm sure he was aware that we had recognized him. he was a really nice guy and had a great smile. at one point, his wife's chair tipped over and hit me and he was really sincere and apologetic. i was quite excited to see my first celebrity in a normal setting (even though not an a-lister ... i think maybe he's a b-lister ???).

next we made our way back to the theater district to see 'rent'. this was my third time to see it but the first for everyone else and i was glad for them to see it because i love it so much. i must admit that drew lachey (who i saw the first time i went to see it) has been the best mark of all. but i was really excited to see my favorite lady from the supporting cast had moved up to one of the main roles!

then we walked to rockefeller center and back up fifth ave. to central park where we had to say goodbye to mike. then we made our way back to the parking garage. after all the walking, i was super thirsty so i decided to stop into a duane reade to get some water. celebrity sighting number three. okay, i didn't actually see him but my friends did. apparently garrison keillor was walking out the duane reade as i was walking in. i'm so sad i didn't get to see him!

once in the car, we drove all the way to the world trade center site. i must say that driving in new york city is not as hard as previously thought. though, driving at night is much easier i'm sure. but still, i find that i've had more problems driving in other cities (i.e. dallas, houston, chicago) than in nyc.

we got back to princeton around 2 in the morning. aubrey and nicole had to leave at the same time i left for class on wednesday. they had a long day of driving to chicago ahead of them. but it was an awesome visit for the short time they were here!

(i still can't believe we saw so many famous people! i never see famous people! i only always just hear the stories of how everyone else has had a run-in with a celebrity. three in one day. my friends are lucky!)

i'm having whelming problems

i'm overwhelmed.
and
i'm underwhelmed.

is it possible to be both at once?!

i'm overwhelmed at all the things i need to do.
i'm underwhelmed by my incapacity to do it, or at least do it in a timely manner.

i'm overwhelmed by my desire to do certain things (like go to italy in march).
i'm underwhelmed by my consistent lack of funds to responsibly be able to do it (doesn't mean i won't do it, it means that i will be slightly stressed while planning it).

i'm overwhelmed by my sticky notes telling me to do things.
i'm underwhelmed that i take the time to write sticky notes but not to do what they say.

i'm overwhelmed that i'm always overwhelmed.
i'm underwhelmed that i never do anything about it except complain.

what to do with whacked out whelming issues...

ugh

this is me not feeling well

the wild montana sky

montana
beautiful
i'm not nearly a good enough photographer or my camera is not nearly as high quality as i thought and i did not often enough reach for it
i could not capture what montana is
this is not really a surprise
if you've been to montana, maybe at least you'll be reminded by my ramblings of the beauty you found there
if you've not been to montana, go
i loved it
who wouldn't fall in love with big sky country


as you may well have guessed, i quite enjoyed my time in missoula with my friend eliza. after being in all the time zones in one day on my way to missoula, i was quite confused as to what time my watch should read. this problem was confounded by daylight savings time. but once i arrived at eliza's, it didn't really matter what the clock said, i was having a good time.

sunday, i went to church with eliza. i loved it. if i ever decided not to be methodist anymore (not likely but still fun to entertain thoughts), it could be highly likely that i would become episcopalian. i loved her church. i loved the liturgy. i loved the statement of faith. i love their explanation of their denomination that they left in the pews. i love that they ripped off john wesley's quadrilateral without saying they did so. i also love that one of the activities they were sponsoring was a "sound of music" sing-along at a local theater. so, eliza and i spent the afternoon watching some of the 'house' marathon, eating burritos and drinking nasty fruit pop. (how much do i love that they say pop in montana!) then we went to the sing-along where there were people dressed as nuns, favorite things, etc. imagine rocky horror picture show for churchgoers...

the next two days i devoted to watching the entire first season of 'house' while eliza went to classes.

finally, after i had sufficiently shut my brain down so it could relax during reading week, i decided to explore the downtown area of missoula. i loved it. i found beautiful handmade montana crafts, cool and funky stores including a free trade store where i spent too much money and a store that sold custom made lotions where i let my creativity run wild in finding new combinations of scents for lotion thus spending too much time and money there. but it was fun!

we ate at a lot of good places. i met a lot of cool people. i saw a lot of beautiful things. i heard a lot of political campaigning.

one night, i don't remember which, we went to see the community production of 'cats'. it was awesome. i've always wanted to see 'cats' and aside from my blacklight/sock puppet experience in prague, i didn't think i would ever get the chance. i was quite impressed with the singing and dancing abilities of the theater folk in missoula. the only disappointing part was that grizabella the glamour cat wasn't a fabulous singer and it just so happens that she gets to sing the most famous song from the show. ah well, it was a great experience nonetheless.

on friday, we went to a bison range where the above picture was taken. alas, we saw no bison but we did happen upon an excessively large badger, elk, plenty of deer and a huge, glorious moon. when we got back to missoula we went to an art gallery type event in the downtown that they have every first friday of the month. all the galleries have new exhibitions and the public is welcome and they serve delicious free treats and show fabulous art.

saturday i spent driving from missoula to spokane, taking every scenic route that i had the whim to follow. don't be fooled by the potato reputation of idaho, it looks nothing like a potato and is quite beautiful. it rained for most of my driving but it was still very much worthwhile. i spent a significant amount of time driving around couer d'alene which someone mentioned to me once was the most beautiful place they had seen on earth. i wouldn't go so far but it was very peaceful to be around. finally, after some last ditch efforts to find souvenirs from idaho in the flying j truck stop, i made it to spokane where i stayed at my friend jeff's house for the night. i met jeff at olympic national park when i worked there. sadly, he had to work all that weekend and i didn't get to see him. but i did spend time with his fiancee and their son. it was a little weird because i had never met them but quite a wonderful family. then i got up way too early for my departure.

the only thing i can say about my time in airplanes on my cross-country trips is that i am a little irked with the new caterers at the minneapolis/st. paul airport. they delayed both my connecting flights that i had from there. the first time made me miss my flight in seattle. and a week later i thought they would have worked out the kinks, but they hadn't. it's okay .... gave me time to do the only school work i did over reading week: read 'scenes of clerical life' by george eliot. trust me, i needed time where i had no other options but to read it. it was a little hard to get into.

so, i cannot rave enough about the fabulous time i had in montana. it was soul-filling.

and all the while, i had this chorus in my head:

oh montana, give this child a home
give him the love of a good family
and a woman of his own
give him the fire in his heart
give him the light in his eyes
give him the wild wind for a brother
and the wild montana sky

-john denver with emmylou harris
"wild montana sky"