what happened to childhood

When I was ten, I was probably playing in a pile of dirt or in a creek.  

what is the world coming to 

mad world

I hope not to sensationalize this more than it already has been, but these three people were friends of my father.  As he put it, "I've lost people before, but never three at one time."  I do this to in some way contribute, to recognize what has been done and what has been lost.  May their friends and families be comforted.  

talk like an egyptian

"It was impossible to converse with her without being immediately captivated by her.  Her voice was velvety, her conversation stimulating, her powers of persuasion matchless; her presence, an event."

I know, I know, you all are thinking that the above quote is about me.  

Sorry to disappoint, but it is not.  It is about one of the most mysterious women of all time: Cleopatra.  

I have long had an interest (obsession) with all things Egyptian, ever since I was a little girl and my mother got us a set of hieroglyphic stamps.  I even dressed as Cleopatra for a school event long ago: 

Yep, I was really damn cute.  Please notice the strategically placed cat.  

I stumbled across this article in the New York Times about the tomb of Cleopatra, or what they think is the tomb of Cleopatra.  READ IT.

Remember, clever women are dangerous women. 

  

omg school omg

Please see title.

party with some rockstars

I was recently introduced to the wonders of Craigslist.  Chelsea showed me the "missed connections" section, which was hilarious, and we hoped that we would one day be listed on there (cute brunette, Baxter Street Bookstore).

I soon ventured further from "missed connections" to view the other sections about people.  Let me say here that there is a lot of junk on craigslist, a lot of whack people and some vulgar stuff and some RAUNCHY pictures.  That being said, I soon found my way over to "men seeking women".  'Cause, you never know.

I came upon a post that said something about "2 weird guys playing show".  I was intrigued.  I read it, and laughed the whole time.  It was two members of a band that would be in Athens on Wednesday night.  They were looking for two friends to go on a double date with.  They reminded me a lot of a good number of my friends, at least their sense of humor did.  And they were cute.  I responded to their post, saying that I wasn't sure about the date business, but they seemed like a lot of fun, so I would try and go to their show.  

They didn't respond until Wednesday afternoon, and told me I needed to go to the show, and bring my friends.  I responded to them with my phone number and told them they could stay at my house if they needed to.  I also tried to get Chelsea to go with me to see them, and she said it was a bad idea.  Which is honestly probably the more responsible attitude, but my thinking was, this will either be the best night of my life OR I will end up in a ditch somewhere, wearing someone else's underwear. I'm not sure the two are mutually exclusive.  But she refused.  

I had my doubts, but I finished the paper that was due on Thursday and thought, what the hell, I'm young, I'm single, I've had a long week, I'M GOING FOR IT.

I got to Go Bar and I was the only one there.  

Except the band.

All SEVEN of them.  

Including Danny and Marcello, the boys I had been texting.  We sat around talking for a while, I desperately tried to get more people to the show (thanks, Nicholas for showing up!) and they played a little while later.  

AND THEY WERE SO CUTE.  

After the show and after they had packed up, I took them to the Grill for coffee and we sat outside the bar, waiting for Chelsea to show up for the double date to begin.  Once she got there, we took the rest of the band to my apartment to go to bed, and we four went to Waffle House.  They are from San Francisco, so Waffle House was new to them.  Then we took them on a ghost tour of campus.  We went back to my apartment and played Apples to Apples before passing out around 4am.  

Thursday morning, I got up around 11:30, showered and went downstairs.  One person was reading, one was playing the acoustic guitar and one was doing yoga.  Did I mention that these are like the coolest, chillest people I've ever met?  And nicest?  So nice.  Their music is really dark and heavy and strange, but they are like..there are no words to describe how REAL they are.  Half of them are teachers.  And all but one are vegetarians.  

Naturally, we went to the Grit for lunch (and they would not shut up about Fred Schneider and Michael Stipe).  We enjoyed lunch together and then they were on the road to Atlanta.  

The moral of this story, kids, is that you can find some great friends via Craigslist.  I do caution: if you choose this path, PROCEED WITH CAUTION. I had a good feeling about these guys, and I ended up being right and meeting 7 awesome new people. However, not everyone on craigslist, on the internet is so friendly.  Let me also say this: DON'T BE AFRAID TO MAKE A MOVE.  I have spent most of my life not taking chances, doing everything right. This was a bold move and I'm so glad I made it.  They were so fun.  

New Thrill Parade.  Look them up.  

this isn't goodbye

I have three papers due this week and a test.  

I'll be back on Friday.  

Kisses.  

wtf spring fashions

I am not in a good mood.  

The first thing I would like to complain about is this military-inspired jacket that I keep seeing.  I first saw it on the Sartorialist in March:

I then saw it in Vogue, or Harper's Bazaar.  THEN I SAW IT AGAIN:

OMG I HATE IT SO MUCH.  And why do you have to wear it with black leather pants?  Hmmm???

Secondly, I haaaattteee the way J.Crew rolls up their pant legs.  HATE IT.  I hate the way it looks.  

So imagine my anger when I open The Sartorialist today and see THIS:

WHY OH WHY

*Disclaimer: none of these photos belong to me.  Please don't sue me, Mr. Sartorialist or Mr. Crew.

dye-ing for spring

Those are the pictures I tried to include when I first wrote this.  Please excuse my lazy placement.  

I just wrote for three hours straight.  Ok, maybe not three hours, but from 2-4:30, I was scrivo scrivo scrivo.  We started Rembrandt in northern and we had a test in ancient, so my little kid hands are sleepy.  

Sunday night, me and a few friends gathered at Chelsea's for a pre-Easter dinner.  May I interject here that I had THREE dinner invitations for Sunday night. THREE.  I don't get three invitations anywhere in a week.  Three in one night.  My powers of tricking people into liking me are working...

It was what appeared to be an egg themed evening.  Chelsea made quiche (my recipe, which became mine when David gave it to me) and we then dyed eggs for Easter.  BUT FIRST we had like the best salad I have ever eaten.  Or at least the most aesthetically pleasing salad.  

Chelsea made the leafy parts and Ajyra brought the strawberries, walnuts and feta.  

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm so good

We then ate the quiche, which is always tasty.  Then we dyed eggs!  Which I don't know that I have ever done, but it was a lot of fun.  Behold the glowing eggs of Easter!

That is some bowl Chelsea had, which appropriately served as a nest for our pastel eggs.  

After we dyed the eggs, we ate the pie I made for dessert.  It was like the oreo dirt cups you probably made as a child, with chocolate pudding and gummy worms and oreos.  At some point, my family started making a pie variation, which I'm sure is common, but I couldn't find the recipe anywhere online.  I made it based on the vague directions my mother gave me of "it really isn't that hard to figure out-milk, pudding, cool whip and cream cheese".  I poured all of that goodness into an oreo pie crust and topped it with cookie crumbles and gummy worms.  

It was so damn good.  Good enough that Ajyra broke her no chocolate for Lent vow ("Don't tell anyone.  Palm Sunday is close enough, right?  Ugh, Bonnie, I wish you had made it in styrofoam cups instead").  

It was a fun night, almost warm, but not cold.

Right before the April snow flurries. 

reCYCLED not reUSED

omg I have fifteen things I should be doing AT THIS VERY MOMENT so this will be brief.  

From what I have heard, most toilet paper is made from virgin trees (that doesn't mean trees that haven't been germinated. pervert.)  Trees that could otherwise be growing, providing shade for a forest and habitat for critters, are being used to make toilet paper.  Think about that for a second.

think think think think

Something you use for a very short amount of time and is then discarded (I'm assuming) is made from trees.  A renewable resource, yes, but the time it takes TO RENEW them is considerably longer than the time it takes to cut them down.  

Now, there are better options for people, like myself, who care about cutting down trees to make toilet paper.

RECYCLED TOILET PAPER!

I was very hesitant at first.  My immediate thought was "omg gross they're using toilet paper people have already used to make new toilet paper??" which I knew of course was not the case, but a funny thought none the less.  It is made from recycled paper goods, just like any recycled paper you might buy.  I bought some probably over a year ago and did not buy it again, as it was not a very good product.  

Now that everyone is on the "green" band wagon (either because they have realized we're killing the planet very quickly or it is an excellent way to make money), companies have started to I guess put more time and energy into developing recycled toilet paper that is usable. 

Scott has an excellent version that is almost exactly like their regular product.  It is a little less soft, but not so much that I would stop using it.  It is made from at least 45% recycled materials. 

Publix also has a version from their GreenWise line.  It too is a very good product.  It is made from 100% recycled materials and also uses a chlorine free whitening process. 

From my understanding, Marcal makes all of their toilet paper from at least a certain percentage of recycled materials.  Several companies will put on the packaging if they make their product from recycled materials or not, and usually give a percentage number.  

This is a very small way that you can help the environment.  It isn't drastic, it won't cost you money (in fact, I believe most of these products are cheaper than many other brands of toilet paper) and it won't change your quality of life.  It will just help to make the world a better, healthier place. 

my name is not susan

If I had to pick for myself a feminist concentration, it would probably be body image issues.  Mostly probably because that is something that I personally have dealt with/am dealing with/will probably continue dealing with for the rest of my life.    

Body image issues are only a small fraction of the complex and difficult problems women face today.  Something that I fortunately have never been faced with is violence.  I don't really understand the violence against women thing.  My guess is that women are seen as the "weaker sex" and can therefore be taken advantage of?  Or maybe it is a form of control.  

And it isn't just physical violence that women face.  There is emotional abuse, sexual abuse and what I'd like to discuss here, verbal abuse (and many many more).  

I watched a video on feministing.com, an anti-violence commercial, that I would like you all to watch.  It is only a minute long, so here, watch it.

I understand that a lot of girls my in my age bracket like to use words like "slut" and "whore" and "bitch" as terms of sort of...endearment.  I know I do.  And I don't mean them as "hey, you, you who sleeps around a whole lot, you want to study with me later?" Those words have just become phrases that we throw around.

Maybe we should think more about what we are saying.

I hope that none of you are actually actively dealing with verbal abuse.  The closest I have come to this name calling is drunk idiots calling me "baby" or "sweetheart".  But seriously, lets please think a little more about how we speak to one another.  

I'll use this as an opportunity to invite everyone to participate with Take Back the Night.  It is a way to make people more aware of violence against women and in general.  Next Thursday, April 9, there will be events all day at the Tate center, starting around 10am.  At around 7:30pm, we will march from the Tate center to city hall, where there will be a candle light vigil.  It really is a neat experience, very moving and empowering.  

If you're uncomfortable with marching through the streets of Athens, there will also be Dance Back the Night, Tuesday, April 7.  It will be at Cine and it starts at 7pm and ends at 2am.  Various bands will be playing from 7-midnight and then a DJ will come on.  They are asking for a donation of at least $3, and all proceeds benefit The Cottage (formerly the Sexual Assault Center of Northeast Georgia).  It should be a lot of fun, and I know I'm really excited for it.

I know a lot of what I post is comical or silly or me ranting about cereal, but this is something I take very seriously, something that is very dear to me.  Even if you just read this and maybe change the way you speak to women (and I too am going to reevaluate my speech) or maybe talk to a friend about this, it would mean so much to me.  

AND IT WOULD SO MUCH MORE IF YOU CAME AND DANCED AND/OR MARCHED!!!