Happy National High Five Day!

It really does exist--the 3rd thursday in April each year. Now I need to find out if there's a national fist-pound day, or a national "that's what she said" day...[Edit: the latter exists!]

I wanted to post this yesterday but a construction worker cut a cable in our building and crashed the server--we had no internet, no phone, and no access to any of our files. We still had to stay at work (who knows why) so we played a lot of minesweeper and then played baseball in the parking lot :)

My birthday was on Tuesday. Like all my birthdays in the past 5 years, it included lots of rugby! But whereas for those I was on a plane/at sweet 16/in a hotel room in Rhode Island frantically trying to finish my thesis, for this one I was at work, at rugby practice, and then out. It was such a great day and I had a ton of fun. I was particularly touched by the many texts & emails I got from the U19 rugby players! It was also great to have my work/school friends and my rugby friends in the same place that night--even if they did happen to pick tables at opposite ends of the bar! That night of hanging out, plus Saturday night's dancing ridiculousness, made for one of my favourite birthdays.

Particularly fun was the juxtaposition between my teammates, who congratulated me on "finally becoming a teenager" and "having my sweet sixteen", and my sister, who texted me "happy birthday you grandma! you're old and that scares me." I like this age, I think I'll stay here :)

oh v-day...

valentine's day is an interesting concept...on one hand, i can't hate a holiday whose main purpose seems to be excessive amounts of chocolate and those amazing conversation hearts that i am obsessed with for some reason. but on the other, if you're in love, shouldn't you want to show it every day? why does hallmark get a piece of the action?

that's not to say i've never celebrated. i mean, you HAD to send cards to all 30 kids in the class in elementary school. and i've done the nice-dinner-out thing twice, although one doesn't really count. my freshman year, my boyfriend at the time took both me and my friend J out for dinner. the waiters kept asking him to tell them his secrets to getting two dates on v-day!

at this point, i'm pretty happy with my plans for the day. aside from having to go to work, it's good! we held an office plank contest (inspired by some friends) and i lasted for 3:50 and beat the guys, which was fun. after work i have a hot date with some friends--they play in a basketball league, and i will be acting as team assistant manager (short shorts and high socks required). it just occurred to me that i will look somewhat like will ferrell in semi-pro...hopefully this will not be a bad thing! and then we'll be going out and celebrating thursday night, just like in the old days ;)

and as an antidote to the enforced touchy-feely mushfest that so many radio and tv stations fall prey to today, i've been listening to rufus wainwright's instant pleasure all day! (the video is awful but it's all i could find...just listen)

Happy Year of the Rat!

In the spirit of Chinese New Year, and because I didn't ever make regular New Year's resolutions, I'm making them now!So, my Chinese New Year's Resolutions will have to be held til next February.

1. I will stop playing with my hair. You all have full permission to slap my hand if you catch me at it!
2. I will make a budget and stick to it.
3. I will beg/borrow/steal and read all the books I've marked as "to-read" on Goodreads. I will read New Zealand fiction.
4. I will hug more.
5. I will bottle up less.
6. I will talk to my family more often, and visit my sister at school.
7. I will solo hike, and I will backpack. I will definitely backpack with Pam, because it's just sad that we've never gone together.
8. I will keep a more regular journal.
9. I will brush up my French.
10. I will plan my grand adventure!
11. I will avoid deportation.
12. I will keep in better touch with friends I don't see all the time.
13. I will run more.
14. I will hold myself to these goals!

I think that's enough for now. Happy New Year!

Marathon Week continues...

If Saturday was Marathon Day (complete with night-before hydration and resting up), then this is Marathon Week! I love the holiday season and all its parties and dinners...

On Monday we celebrated my coworker Kevin's birthday by taking him to a very classy dinner at--where else?--Hooters :) He was just a little red when the waitresses circled him to sing their birthday song. Side note: if you are ever at Hooters and don't feel like wings, the grilled cheese is amazing! After dinner I went over to the east side to see my friends from college, Tara & Lauren, at their Hannukah latke party--mmmmmm....latkes hold a special place in my heart ever since I first had them at age 8 or so and decided to convert to Judaism. No joke, I went home from school and told my parents I didn't need Christmas presents that year as I would be giving up Santa and all that and becoming Jewish so I could have latkes! My parents eventually convinced me that we could just cook latkes instead of pancakes on Christmas morning, and that seemed like an ok compromise to me...ok, I was a weird kid :) but Tara & Lauren are awesome and I haven't been able to see them much since we've been in the city, so it was great to hang out.

Last night was the NYRC holiday party and despite being over an hour late (the LIRR and I are not friends), I had a blast. I mean, I learned from Cap that me + open bar is generally a good equation, but adding in the team ups the awesome factor considerably! We hung out at the bar for a good long time and then all of a sudden there were only a few of us left, so we moved the party to the bar where Sabrina hosts karaoke. Truehart and I had fun picking songs for each other and for the rest of the guys to sing--his rendition of the Divinyls' I Touch Myself was excellent, and Murphy did a hilarious performance of The Gambler despite claiming he'd never heard it before. I may or may not have decided it would be a good idea to sing the Bad Touch. Yes, the discovery channel song...so it's a guilty pleasure :) And all of a sudden it was 2:30am! Needless to say I slept the whole train ride in the morning and have not accomplished much in the way of work...

Next on the list:
Wednesday: dinner with Casey & the NYC hot hot seniors before Case moves to Hong Kong (!!!), Liz gets swallowed back up by med school, and Tree & Haemi disappear back into their i-banking caves
Thursday: dinner with Rodney, who I love and don't see enough
Friday: housewarming party at Andy's, birthday night out for Kevin
Saturday: SLEEP!!! with breaks for shopping with Mira and the gym.

Let the marathon continue--I love it!

Also, I'm very excited because I just committed to giving blood on Sunday! I've never done it before because I don't particularly like needles (it was hard enough for me to have blood drawn for a mono test!), but I am finally going to man up and do it. Even if I have to get Mira to hold my hand...

Thanks, round 2

One of the benefits of being "bi-national" is getting to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. Double the turkey, double the fun :) Double the craziness too...I will never forget the 'traditional' maple syrup & vodka shots at Canadian Thanksgiving, or the ensuing decision to hold our own archsing--if the a capella groups could do it, why couldn't we? (Answer: because they can sing.) Standing shoulder to shoulder, arms wrapped around each other like a team huddle, we took over the biggest, most beautiful Gothic arch on campus to bellow "Oh Canada" at the top of our lungs--both the English and French versions, of course. I like to think that the arch's famed acoustics made our singing at least somewhat tolerable for those living next door...

So because I'm feeling slightly cheesy and introspective, and it's about to be a holiday, and because I didn't have a blog during Canadian Thanksgiving...some things I am thankful for.

1. Families. My own especially, but also the Inkelli and the Lankesters, who welcomed me into their celebrations even when it meant putting up with a stressed-out college student in addition to their own :)
2. Friends. For creating our own celebrations when to everyone else, it was just another Sunday night (see above). For 2am easy mac and 4am Wa runs. For hugs and sound advice, even when I didn't want them. For laughter. For sharing high places, stars, and dreams. For adventures. For picking up right where we left off.
3. Princeton. Amazing.
4. Rugby. Amazing.
5. Teammates, past & present, rhythmics to field hockey to XC to rugby, for being there too.
6. The fact that after today, Christmas music will be everywhere! (And I won't have to hide the fact that "All I Want for Christmas is You" gets heavy rotation on my ipod...)
7. Jennifer Angel, horoscope writer for the Daily News, who makes our morning commute much better.
8. The store across the street from the Port Wash train station that sells 40s and big bottles of Mike's, which makes our evening commute much better. Wednesday night shenanigans!
9. Awesome co-workers, who share my love for the above.
10. Gchat, scrabulous, and the New York Times. Ok, and maybe gofugyourself and perezhilton too...
11. Spandex. So much love.
12. The Port Authority, for having a bus that will take me to Harriman State Park.
13. My boss, who is letting me leave work right now. Time to run! Happy Thanksgiving!