ahh, school, ahh

So far, I like my classes! Granted, I have only had half of them. The only downside is that my classes have been super super full, which means that I have had to sit on the floor, which means that along with getting my learning on, I had a pretty numb butt for part of last week. Fun.

This upcoming week is going to be scary. 7 classes + one part-time job + teacher training for the other part-time job (Maybe? I have yet to hear anything about this...) + wind ensemble + marching band + homework + trying to be sane. JKRowling! If I was a sane and emotionally balanced person, then 1) I would not be me and 2) I would probably be less interesting. You know it's true.

And then there's the whole grad school exams thing. I know that I should take the GMAT, but I really really really do not want to. Not for a legitimate reason, either. My dad is all, "Why are you afraid of a test? That is stupid! You know math and will do just fine!" This is all true. Except for the knowing math part. When I was doing my econ homework (at 1:30am, despite the fact that it wasn't due for several days), I had to look up how to calculate the slope of a line. Woot, rise/run! It's more the whole practicing for an additional exam and paying the $250 to take it. This does not interest me! The jury is out on whether or not it is going to happen...though I do need to get my act together re: the GRE, because that isn't going to study for/take itself, either. Boo.

This leaves me here, at 7:10pm on Sunday evening, procrastinating from doing my stats and econ reading. I am a bit afraid of these classes, even though I know I shouldn't be. What if the information just doesn't make any sense? It would be really awesome if I made the Dean's List again, just saying...so I can't suck in these classes. Last night, I had a dream that it was already finals. It was a relief, like, "Wow, look how the time has flown!" Of course, in real life, that would be horrifying, because I need to get my act together and start working on grad school applications!

And now I'm going to start my reading.

progress in life

I am in the process of finalizing my class schedule. It is not fun. The one economics section that worked for my class schedule is full. I am going to petition to get in, but on the off-chance that this fails, I had to sign up for a different class. This isn't so much the issue--the fact that I needed to find two different JTS classes is.

Like I said, not fun.

I am also trying to peg down jobs/internships for the semester. So far I have a fantastic freelance position worked out. Hopefully everything else will fall into place soon.

As far as grad schools go, I feel like my dad is trying to trick me. He's been all, "Why don't you try applying to Columbia's Journalism School?" "Are you sure you don't want to go to grad school for anthropology?" While he has always been relatively supportive of the whole j-school thing, he has not shared this enthusiasm with my interest in anthropology. This is all part of his, "I am confused/worried that you aren't actually passionate about arts administration when it's really just something I'm not 100% supportive of" campaign. While all of my friends would probably agree that I emote A LOT, the things I emote about aren't always at the forefront of my mind. For me, expressing intense emotion (exuberance, annoyance, etc.) is an easy way of relieving stress and anxiety, because I am a highly anxious person. The time I spent in Israel last summer? I wasn't super psyched about it beforehand. I'm not entirely sure how I can express to my dad that arts administration is something that I am very interested in. I mean, I've already devoted an ungodly amount of time to the Columbia Festival of Winds--shouldn't that be enough?! I have a hard time expressing interest/being involved in things that do not interest me, and I'm certainly not involved in CFW for the benefit of my sanity, so at this point, I'm not sure what I can do. (In contrast, my mom is extremely supportive of my academic pursuits for grad school. Woo!)

So yeah.

Ahhh, I'm planning my future!

I bought the Princeton Review's GRE prep book and am building a list of schools. I'm also preparing a list of "gap year" programs. However, I am definitely going to take the GRE, because I am almost definitely going to be enrolling in grad school in the next 5 years, which is how long the scores are good for. I am also in the process of finalizing work/internship opportunities. Maybe.

Woo, senior year!

Right now, I want to apply to grad school for arts administration. Here is a list of the schools that I am considering:

1. NYU

2. Columbia (TC, to be exact)

3. Indiana University

4. Ohio State University

5. University of Oregon

6. Claremont Graduate University

7. School at the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)

8. Columbia College

NYU, TC, and IU (that's how us Midwest folks abbreviate Indiana University...University of Illinois is U of I, Indiana University is IU, and Iowa is...Iowa) are my top choices and the programs that I am definitely applying to. OSU, University of Oregon, and Claremont Graduate University made the list because they look interesting. There is actually a list of schools that have arts administration grad programs (http://www.artsadministration.org/grad), which made my search a lot easier. As tempting as it would be to apply to a program in London or Australia (I mean, c'mon, how cool would that be?!), I doubt it's going to happen because I want to visit all of the schools that I am considering applying to. This is another reason why NYU, TC, and IU are at the top of my list...they're the easiest schools for me to visit. In fact, thanks to CUMB and Columbia Summer Winds, I have already spent a decent amount of time in TC. I have limited experience in the actual NYU buildings (except for the Hillel, woot woot!), but The Village really grew on me this past summer. IU is less accessible, but I could drive out there sometime when I am at home. OSU is also under consideration. I have a friend studying there, so visiting isn't infeasible. University of Oregon and Claremont Graduate University definitely aren't infeasible, it'll just be a lot more expensive to visit them.

This means that if I do not stay in NYC, I will most likely be returning to the Midwest for grad school...the Big Ten could have me yet! Granted, neither school is super super close to home, though IU is only a few hour's drive away. I'm not going to lie, part of me is a bit unhappy that there are no arts administration programs in Illinois/Chicago that I wanted to apply to. The School at the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and Columbia College both have programs, but I haven't decided yet if I want to apply to those programs, which is why they are toward the bottom of the list. If I decide to apply to either of these programs, they would be immediately moved up on the list, priority-wise.

"Gap Year" Programs:

1. Joint Distribution Committee: Jewish Service Corps

This would involve being placed in an organization within a Jewish community in a foreign country for a year. My first choice would be Israel, but I would be open to pretty much any opportunity.

2. American Jewish World Service: World Partners Fellowship

I would be placed in an (non-Jewish) organization in India for a year. Seeing a trend here?

3. AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps

I would be placed in an organization in either NYC, Chicago, Washington, DC, or New Orleans for a year.

The applications for the gap year programs have not yet been released, so I have been focusing my attention on the grad school applications (and *sigh* studying for the GRE) right now.

Fun!

Let me tell you about my family!

Disclaimer: This is not my real family. My real family is socially adept, they just hate people. Which is fine, because sometimes I do, too. In fact, I have had to train myself over the years to willingly hang out with people. This wasn't too hard, because hanging out with people is fun. But I digress.

I will now present you with a hypothetical situation.

Hypothetically, I'm dealing with a lot of stress right now. Hypothetically, I like distracting myself by organizing bitchin' hangouts and playing weird games. Hypothetically, I have friends who not only humor me in these endeavors, but have come to enjoy themselves. (If they don't enjoy themselves, then they are good actors!)

There was the street fair extravaganza, the karaoke madness, and this weekend, there will be fun at the beach. There are also the summer winds hangouts. (Taking 7 classes + a job + work study during the school year makes it difficult for me to be social. Boo.)

But now, on to the games!

1. Guess His Name and Scream It

The thing I like about this game is that the name says it all. I'm sort of afraid to actually play this game.

2. Cuter Than Dillon? (No.)

Toni's adorable little brother Dillon is 1) cute and 2) Asian. I spend my time trying to find Asian children, and when I do, I text Toni with descriptions and whether or not the kid is cuter than her brother. So far, the only contender is a little boy who was running naked through the women's locker room, screaming, "I am a muffin!"

3. Pick Your Grandpa

There are a number of awesome elderly gentlemen in summer winds. Like, no joke, they all rock. They rock so hardcore that I spent time wondering, "If I could pick one of these dudes to be my grandpa, who would it be?" I eventually made my decision, but realized that this game doesn't need to be limited to grandpas! So far, I have: BadassGrandpa, CoolUncle, CreepyUncle, GayUncle#3 (Because you can never have too many!), and CRAZYAUNT. Seriously, CrazyAunt is super cray cray. She was the first "addition" to my family, because I decided that she was legitimately crazy enough to be part of my real family. Now I just think it's fun to call her my aunt and confuse people who do not know the backstory. Which is almost everybody. Oops.

so.freaking.busy

This past week was spent hanging out with friends and learning the ropes of my internship. Highlights have included checking out the awesome restaurants near my internship (still to come: Gray's Papaya and Shake Shack) and not organizing my room. Summer Winds has started (I'm playing the horn solo in Shostakovitch's "Festive Overture", which I'm insanely excited about!), and I am attempting to plan various social events for myself so that I am not cooped up in my apartment all the time.

One of the benefits of my internship is that I get access to the gym in the building. Both times I went last week it was relatively empty and I didn't have to wait to use any of the equipment. I could get used to this! It's better than running outdoors in the gross weather or paying the summer fee to use Dodge.

On Wednesday evening my friend Mara from camp stayed with me! I hadn't seen her since September 2007, when I went to the airport to see her off before she left for Israel. And now...she is moving to Israel in August! I am super excited for her and hope that the transition is smooth.

Yesterday was Columbia/Barnard alumni weekend. CUMB met up with some alumni, played songs, and did our usual shenanigans. We might have posed on the Barnard Greek Games statue, and I might have gotten to 2nd base with the statue. This is debatable. What isn't debatable is that the chair of our alumni fund has a super adorable baby boy! That is all.

After we were done playing, the alumni went to other activities while we took advantage of the lunch, which included things I would not want to keep outdoors in the heat...like clams. Oh well, it was all delicious! We then put our instruments away and shared stories...a bottle of Nikolai might have disappeared in the process.

We then went to Lerner where there was a "meet and greet" with the alums. We heard the most incredible stories! It was thrilling to hear about all the awesome things they did, and the alums were proud that we are continuing their glorious tradition of G(tb)^2. 'Nuff said. We then continued the hanging out...I think I was with bandies for around 13 hours on Saturday, which is fine by me!

Today was also very fun. A group of CUMB and Wind Ensemblers decided to take advantage of all of the street fairs going on today. After buying metrocards (I got my first Monthly Unlimited pass, which I DEFINITELY took advantage of today), we went to 12 Eldridge St for the Egg Rolls and Egg Creams street fair. The subway was a bit weird, but we made good time. I ate a pickle, drank an egg cream, and got to hear authentic Chinese instruments.

We also went into the synagogue (it was built in the 19th century and is now in the heart of Chinatown) for a Chinese tea ceremony. The man leading (the tea artist) talked about the teas. I learned that there are green teas, red teas, and black teas. The color refers to the amount of oxidation the leaves have undergone. Green is the least oxidized, black is the most.

The tea leaves were in a little pot. The tea artist passed the pot around, instructing us to first smell the leaves in the pot, then the tea lid...and to only breathe in, not to exhale back into either. He then poured hot water into the pot. "You cannot time the steeping, you must feel it," he said. (However, the leaves cannot be steeped for longer than 2 minutes...just the loose leaves, not the bagged kind I buy in the store.) Each person had a small cylindrical glass and a larger handle-less teacup. He poured the tea into the cylindrical class. We then poured the tea into the cup and then smelled the cylindrical glass. He always asked us what it smelled like. I could never exactly say. It smelled good, herbally, but I couldn't pinpoint the smell.

When we drank, he instructed us to slurp the tea, so we would take air into our mouths as well. We then moved our tongues up and down and inhaled, and then swallowed and opened and closed our mouths, so we could smell the "tea mist". It was a very cool process. The tea artist only bought expensive teas. "The least expensive tea I will buy is $600/lb," he said. He accidentally brought out his most expensive tea, the $40,000/lb variety (or so he told us). It had a rich taste, very aged. This makes sense, as he said that the tea was aged for 40 years.

Throughout this, there was a demonstration in the lower level of the sanctuary, where the cantor was singing various hymns. I would explain and translate them throughout the tea ceremony.

Downstairs, we made challah! Or rather, we braided the challah and then took the unbaked loaves with us, to cook later.

We then got lunch in a Chinese restaurant nearby. My criterion was that the menu needed to be in English. This was satisfied, and the food did not make me sick! Win.

We then went to the World Science Festival street fair, but didn't do much there...except take pictures with a child in a T-Rex costume!

Throughout this, the challah was rising...because it was full of yeast. I had crunched my and Tim's challah tins, and they spilled over their tins and were conjoined twins. This didn't happen to anybody else's challah.

The weather was looking pretty iffy, so we went to Camille's parents' apartment to bake the challah and play President. All of the challah were delicious (ultimately, they all looked exactly the same when cooked), and the hanging out/card game was fun. The sky was very dark (there was actually a tornado warning), and it rained while we were inside. The weather cleared up pretty quickly, and we eventually returned to campus. The rain had taken the humidity out of the air, and the weather was gorgeous!

It was the perfect end to an incredible weekend. :)

this bed freaks me out a little

I've been meaning to write a legitimate post for awhile. Then, Hannah discovered my blog, and I felt the need to both uphold my reputation and write something that wasn't emo.

Last Tuesday, I moved into my apartment. I still haven't unpacked. The room is small. I have a full size lofted bed, and all of my stuff is under it. There is a piano in the room, but I'm not particularly motivated to play it. The guy I'm subletting from left stuff in the closet, books on the shelves, and...unused condoms and hair ties tucked between the mattress and the bedframe. Also, there was a piece of gum on one of the headboards.

In conclusion: Boys are super icky and gross.

The bed is also kind of wobbly. He might have put it together himself? One of the end boards is unevenly nailed in.

In conclusion: I could have made this bed much better. Also, despite various efforts, the bed hasn't yet broken. Though the condoms assuaged some of my fears, since it meant that the primary renter clearly has had sex in this bed and not died.

There are three other guys who live here. One is in California. They are pretty cool.

I haven't told my parents exactly where I live (not that they would know the names of the streets) because it's flirting with Harlem, and my parents have more important shit to worry about than the fact that I get off at the 125th subway stop.

On Wednesday and Thursday I had orientation for the leadership training component of my internship. I'm not going to go into detail about my internship so far. I started on Tuesday and things have been going well. The only annoying thing is that the last intern made a really confusing spreadsheet that I spent all day trying to fix. Now I need to add in all of the missing information. Fun.

On Friday I slept in and in the late afternoon I took the NJ Transit to see Toni! I learned that "Delayed Green" is a traffic sign, not a street name, and that Elizabeth drives a car with lots of silly bumper stickers on it. She had an extended weekend and obviously wanted to spend it with me and Toni. We might have drank a bottle of Bartenura and Facebook stalked/texted people. We probably Facebook stalked you. Just saying. We spent the night at Toni's house and in the morning met her SUPER ADORABLE BABY BROTHER DILLON. He is super cute. I also met Toni's mom, who is also super cute. But back to Dillon. He has inspired me to create the best game, ever. Everytime I see a passably cute Asian child, I text Toni and tell her about how much cuter Dillon is. Examples:
1. Small Asian child wearing a Harvard t-shirt. Dillon would never be so pretentious. He would go on, driving his little bike around, too busy being adorable. Besides, MIT geeks have more fun...
2. Small Asian child with pseudo rat tail. It's obvious why Dillon is cuter.
3. Small Asian child in the women's locker room at the JCC with his mom, yelling "I am a muffin!" while running around butt-naked. This was almost as adorable as Dillon.

We then embarked on a holy mission: Snuggie shopping! You see, this weekend was to be dedicated to our new favorite show, Cougar Town. In Cougar Town, they all buy blumfies ("Half blanket, all comfy!"), so we needed to imitate this. We went to several stores and sacrificed what was left of our dignity by approaching salespeople and asking if the store carried snuggies. An angry salesgirl at Walmart said that they were "Up front, near the cigarettes and shit." In fact, they were in the "As Seen on TV!" section. We could have bought a pink or blue snuggie for $14.88, but since they had no leopard print snuggies, we decided it was not worth it. However, Elizabeth did capture an awesome picture of me disposing of the Bartenura bottle in a garbage can in the Walmart parking lot. Super classy.

We then completed the next part of our mission: buying cheap wine! You see, in Cougar Town, they are ALWAYS DRINKING WINE. This is another reason why we love the show so much. We went to Trader Joe's, picked up four bottles of 2 Buck Chuck (now $3 a bottle, sadly), and made Elizabeth wait outside while I paid. It turned out not to matter, the saleswoman didn't card me. Toni and I then packed the wine into our backpacks and we drove the car back to Toni's house, said goodbye to Dillon and Toni's mom, and walked to the train station.

We had a Cougar Town marathon and drank some wine, then went to Sam's apartment to watch the first game of the Stanley Cup. Long story short, the Blackhawks won, Elizabeth drank a lot of Blueberry Stoli, and MANY interesting things were texted to Paul. We then went back to my apartment and continued the Cougar Town/wine marathon.

I learned something about Elizabeth. She is a serial spooner. Seriously. My bed was able to fit the three of us, but Elizabeth insisted on being in the middle and spooned Toni the entire night. This is after she licked Toni, me, and herself. The next day, she did not remember doing this.

The next day (Sunday) was more of the same, though Elizabeth went to hang out with Bryan for a bit and I made the bad decision to embark on a walk with Toni in the middle of the day. I still have the sunburn. We then watched crappy movies on Hulu until Elizabeth returned. We then watched MORE Cougar Town and then went to Pisticci's for dinner, which is right by my apartment. The significance of the location is that they have outdoor seating. While seated outdoors, I spotted a cute guy. Toni said I should shout his name. Obviously, I do not know his name. This created the game titled "Shout a Name and See if He Turns Around". If the guy turns around, the game's participants get to lady chest bump. BING! We then continued the marathon (we got through 19 of the 24 episodes!) until Toni and Elizabeth had to leave.

I'm exhausted and need to sleep, so I'll recount the ridiculousness of this past week tomorrow. Later, player.

stuff that's on my mind

The title is pretty self-explanatory:

1. I need to take the GRE. I should also probably study for it.
2. I should stop doing things solely for the sake of entertaining people, because I am officially a caricature of myself.
3. Running! I should do it.
4. I should unpack, or come up with an organizational system for keeping my clothes in my suitcases. This is more likely, as there are not enough places in my room in which to store my clothes.
5. It is really hard to un/lock my apartment door with my keys because I am a moron.
6. I cannot be antisocial this summer! So far, I have succeeded in this. But I haven't even been back in NYC for a week yet.
7. I hope I do well in my internship!
8. I can relate most things in life to Cougar Town, but I will be judged for this.
9. "Confident in My Sexuality" is the best song, ever.
10. I wish I was in Israel. Like, a lot. Even though I was an antisocial freak last summer. I miss the weather (shocker!), the scenery, reading Hebrew all over the place, navigating the bus system, and learning Hebrew words by watching American TV shows with Hebrew subtitles.
11. The thing that sucks about sucking it up and moving farish from home is that I sometimes feel like I am abandoning my family. Because my parents know that I want to stay in NYC. They are totally okay with this, as far as I can tell, but I still feel bad sometimes. And yet, right now I do not think that Chicago is the right place for me to be, unless I'm going to work at the Jewish Federation, or something like that.
12. Sometimes I am worried that I've stopped caring what is socially acceptable for me to say/do in public.
13. Sometimes I have a moment of clarity and get over myself and realize that I am formulating my social identity, just like everyone else, and that I am a completely normal person having completely normal life experiences.
14. I wish I had a dog.
15. I wish I had two dogs.
16. I really like making lists. I always have.
17. I have always been very neurotic and anal, even as a small child. I used to cry if the spout on my sippy cup was pointing in the wrong direction.
18. I am somewhat frustrated with school because I am not sure if any of the classes I am taking will ever directly relate to a career. The joys of a liberal arts education.
19. Sometimes I am afraid that my fancy degree will be useless in the real world.
20. Sometimes I am afraid that my other degree will also be useless.
21. I feel bad that I am now completely secular, but at the same time I am afraid that people think that I am really religious and feel alienated. I am not really sure where I stand re: Judaism, but I still feel completely at home with my religion. It's a weird feeling of unease.
22. I feel like if I eventually do meet/date/fall in love with a nice Jewish boy, that I will become more religiously involved with Judaism, and I resent the fact that it might take a romantic partner to bring this out in me. I want to love my religion for my own sake, not for someone else's.
23. I am not-so-secretly procrastinating from the fact that I am bored but do not yet feel like falling asleep.
24. I like cuddling/spooning, yet even though I sometimes lament being alone, I actually do love sleeping by myself. I have trouble sleeping when I share a bed with someone. This has always been the case.
25. I still wish that I could fly, be invisible, and walk through walls/things. I will never choose between these three super powers.
26. Even though I stand by every single major life decision I have ever made and know that I sincerely believed in them at the time, I have regretted almost all of them after the fact. Still, I think that regret is a useless emotion, because you cannot turn back time. You can only apologize for being an asshat. Therefore, I am loathe to admit which choices I now regret.
27. This list is only really for me, and that is all that matters.
28. I talk about how I want to be in a relationship, but I'm not sure that's actually true. This doesn't mean I am indecisive, it means that in a moment of indecisiveness, I will say no. I firmly believe that if I actually want something, I will not be wishy washy about it. I don't have time for that kind of shit.