Barbara Walters, Pants, and Jon Stewart

I am not going to bore you with my usual "I should be working" whine. 

Well, I guess now I have. 

Anyway, I would first like to point out that I was featured in my friend's blog, which highlighted our incredibly intellectual conversations. Which we have frequently. 

I went to all my classes today without doing anything spectacularly stupid or intelligent. It is not a first, but it sure it a rarity. In journalism research we talked about interviewing techniques. I learned about all the things I'd been doing wrong (and right) and actually discovered that once upon a time, Barbara Walters actually had something intelligent to say. Then, The View happened.

In academic writing we talked about television addiction, because in our study of persuasive writing we read some articles on television addiction. If college has improved my health habits in any way, it's truly that I never watch t.v, save for a little Jon Stewart now and then. A healthy dose, actually. A spoon full of mockery helps the absurdity of reality go down. 

Oh, and breaking news: I hate Nathaniel Hawthorne and what's he's doing to my life. I mean really. I think my short story professor just assigns us multiple Hawthorne readings because english professors see the labels of "pretentious"  and "dull" as a positive thing. I mean, I love intricate writing as much as the next nerdy Ithaca student, but this is some flowery overkill in a language that Shakespeare would look at, squint, and ask, "What is this crap?" 

Today it got all the way up to 41 degrees. People were playing frisbee on the quad and wearing flip flops. Welcome to my alternate reality. 

Verdugo, other considerations

Today my Global Studies Professor called me a pessimist in front of my 60 person lecture class. It was awesome. 

I merely expressed my opinion that non-state actors will never be able to surpass the influence of nation-states, especially in the creation of a peaceful global system, because they lack any mechanism of enforcement for their decisions and policies because they have no legitimate control over the use of force. Therefore, any perceived power in non-state actors like the UN is really that of the economically and militarily dominant nations that already pursue their own selfish interests at the expense of smaller nations. 

And she said:

"My, my, quite the pessimist, aren't you?"

If I hadn't been busy blushing up a storm, I would have replied that I'm not a pessimist, my parents just raised me in D.C.  I was also kind of pleased. In that class I seriously have to check myself to stop talking so much and dominating discussions. It's kind of Hermione Granger-syndrome, but I don't actually know all that much, I just like to express my opinions. 

Well...let's call it "analysis."

Maybe someday I'll be a pundit. Oh, my parents would be so proud. Yelling at people on a t.v. split-screen is totally a noble profession. 

I should be doing work. Because I will never master the spanish language if I don't learn the word for "executioner."

It's verdugo.

Which totally sounds like the name of a vegetable. And I just spent 20 minutes on Google Translation trying to find one in spanish that sounded like it. 

No dice. 

I'm actually going to go do work now.

Managing Monday

It's well documented in this blog that my mondays suck for more than the reason that they are mondays. But I'm surviving this one, and look! I even have time to write a blog post. 

We got out way early out of journalism research today because we had an exam. Loop's exam for j-research is pretty much legendary, in that no one ever passes. Kind of. I think I did all right, considering that I was facing what was supposed to be impossible. It's wasn't great, but it was good enough for me not to be weeping into my keyboard right now. 

During my dining hall shift this morning I think I prepped approximately 5 bajillion grilled cheese sandwiches, in these huge bins. It was totally a blast. That's a lie, but at 6:30 a.m., mindless repetition in substitution of physical labor is like a gift from God. 

On Friday night I braved the 40 mph winds to book it over to the Hill Center pool to interview all the divers. The thing about the Hill Center is that they totally love to lock me out of wherever I need to be. So this interview involved me kicking the door of the women's locker room for an extended period of time. But I got what I needed. So sacrificing all a largest percentage of my dignity and composure was totally worth it. 

Saturday night, after a day around town with friends L and A, a bunch of us made the pilgrimage to the Ithacapella concert. One thing you have to understand about Ithaca College is that Penn State is to football what Ithaca College is to acapella. EVERYONE GOES. Ithacappella is always good. Always. They do their standards awesomely, like this. But they also take really current songs. Saturday night they seriously did Kanye West's "Heartless." Really. They also did "Burnin' Up" by the Jonas Brothers, and my personal favorite, "Say" by OneRepublic. 

Sunday, I wasted my life by going to the college opera and realizing that, no, just because IC does it does not mean I am going to be entertained. There was some flying around the stage, and some neat costumes, but in the end, it was a french opera. There was a lot of high pitched vibrato, and a whole lot of subtitles. Not my cup of tea. 

Then, I headed back to the dorm and was crushed underneath the ridiculous amount of work I should have been doing all weekend. But I got it done. 

Massive success! 

Oh, and the Oscars? I was totally psyched that Slumdog Millionaire won, because it was actually the only one I actually got around to seeing. And it was great!

And now, I am going to re-energize with a cup of tea and/or a dance party accompanied by Kelly Clarkson. 

Short, SHORT work break

I would just like to take my momentary break from the crazy hellishness that is this Sunday night, and point out that athletes are kind of crazy. 

This is an exact quote from an Ithaca swimmer about swimming:

"Back in the day, Mark Spitz swam his fastest with a mustache, hairy chest, and a speedo. Today, at any championship swim meet, you would think that it was the pre-flight launch pad to send a couple hundred cancer patients into space. We are all shaved, focused, and wearing suits that cost as much as a new computer, but that last for the one meet. Swimming has changed, I'm sure it was originally just a mode of transport for some tribesman, but it developed and got competitive, because, like all sports, someone was faster than someone else. After generation and generations of training and techniques and technological developments, swimming has been transformed into one of the most spectacular displays of sportsmanship, athleticism, and camaraderie to ever exist." 

I kind of wish I made this up.

I go to school with crazy people. Melodramatic crazy people.

This morning I got to sleep in all the way to 8:30. It felt like I had achieved nirvana.  Normally on Wednesdays I marvel at actually waking up with the sun out, but today it looked like it was about 6:00 p.m all day, so...no sun. It actually rained for a part of the day, and finally turned into snow. 

Well, snow that felt like God was dumping his Slurpee directly into my face. 

This morning I had lovely academic writing. My professor is nice and everything, but that class is seriously mind-numbing. It's a graduation requirement but seriously, I KNOW how to write a thesis statement.  If Carballo and Krauchi did anything for me in my IB career, it was teach me how to write a thesis-driven paper. I'm obviously not perfect, and a good part of me knows that a thorough examination of my writing is necessary, but I am a whiner. I really need to know how to edit my papers. It's something I rarely do. 

The fact that these blogs often make no sense whatsoever is evidence of that. 

After that class I headed up to the Towers dining hall to submit the block housing form with the girls I'll be living with next year. I totally love them, but at this point it's eerie to think about living anywhere but the Boot, and not having Celine Dion, Jason Mraz, or some dance song wafting through the hallways at all times. 

We're a weird dorm, but it's awesome. 

This weekend will be absurd. I have TWO deadlines and tons of work to get done. How is it Thursday already? 

Slacking on Blogging, Disarmament Policy, Internships

I'm going to try to be better with this, I promise!

On one hand, my lack of consistent blogging shows that there have been no significantly traumatic and/or embarrassing events in the past couple days. 

Mainly I have just been trying to keep everything in order. I'm trying to eliminate all distractions. I stole Claire's brilliant idea and had one of my friends change my Facebook password so I'm not tempted to waste my life away on it for at least today. Maybe even tomorrow. Who knows the wonders I can possibly achieve? 

Right now I'm trying to finally apply for internships. They're pretty varied, which means I am writing tons of stupid cover letters. I am pretty sure I am just as good at writing cover letters as I am at playing tennis. 

I have physically injured others while playing tennis. 

Therefore, my futures with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Wheaton Gazette, or Washington Parent Magazine look grim. 

Tomorrow I have to get up in front of my spanish class and tell them a story about my life for five minutes. If I were to talk like I do in my blog, I would probably regale them with a tale about how I turned my canary-yellow towels into puke-colored towels. If I am actually going to keep them awake or keep them from thinking I am a crazy person, I will probably tell them about my trip to Mexico before senior year. 

I'm sure you'll all wait with baited breath to see which one I end up choosing.

I am madly in love with my Global Studies and Politics class. I realized today that I am the type of person who LOVES to argue over things like the United State's defense spending and nuclear weapon policy and whether international organizations would have the ability to implement worldwide nuclear disarmament. 

I LOVE this class and it's making me seriously considered doubling with politics. Because while other kids feel like sleeping, I'm actually trying to read more. Because I want to be right. All the time. 

I  also like that there's not always a right answer. 

Luckily doubling is a possibility because I came into college with 35 (!) credits thanks to IB and AP. What's your argument against public schools now? 

It's awesome that I found a way to procrastinate by writing about not procrastinating. 

Valentines Day, Visits

My Dad is visiting me today!

I'm quite excited, because sometimes you just need to be taken care of. Seriously. 

Yesterday was quite the day. I logged onto the AP wire yesterday at 5:50 a.m. to find out about the plane crash in Buffalo, and to report about it. A lot of students are pretty shaken up about it, because so many of them come from that area. I was nervous too, having my Amma living right in Buffalo. 

It's weird when you have to report news like that, having no idea going into it. Anyway, it should be a good, if busy, weekend. The dorm is relatively empty, because people went home for the weekend to visit loved ones or recover from a couple long weeks of non-stop work. 

Yesterday night a bunch of us went to the IC After Dark event "The Dating Game" and watched other students seriously have to act like they were on the game show itself. It was hilarious to watch. 

I just got a phone call from my Dad, so I'll have to run and edit later. 

Oh Hi There, Crazy Life

Honestly, the more work I have and the more stressed I get, the more I want to blog. 

You would think with the insane amount of writing and reading I now do on a daily basis this is the last thing I would want to do. But actually, when I'm writing this, I get to slow down. Take stock of everything. Figure out what's important, what still needs to be done. I would say to keep on schedule with my Global Studies paper I need to bang out at least 800 more words tonight. Spanish definitely needs a little more TLC. I have to free-write for my academic writing essay coming up. Even my extracurriculars have me writing, with newscasts and features taking up evenings and weekends. 

The most insane part, I think, is that having all this to do, as overwhelming as it is, I feel like what I'm working on is worthwhile. Hard. But worth it. 

I am a self-saboteur, or maybe I am just testing limits. I promised myself I wouldn't pick up a beat this semester, especially after I picked up another shift at radio to replace working on the Inquirer. 

And now, here I am, the new men's crew beat reporter. 

As a journalism student I sit through endless guest speakers and professors who make side comments about the dying industry, the debates about how to fix it, the degradation of media, and how we're all brave to pursuing such a volatile career at such a time of upheaval. 

Brave? Stubborn, maybe. 

I think I have it in my head that I can work my way out of the doom and gloom predictions. I think that if I do absolutely everything, join every type of media, I will not only find a job, but I will also find my niche. I want to double major. I can't stomach the idea of pursuing an undergraduate education that is not as fruitful or as tough as it can be. 

Well, there's your daily fill of the dramatics. 

For the record, today during the latter half of my spanish class all I could think about was my intense desire for Chipotle. Because that was far more important than learning the Spanish word for the Crusades. 

Las Cruzadas! 

Tell me when I am ever going to discuss the Crusades or the formation of the anglican church in Spanish. That's the vocab we're learning.

Seriously. Enrique VIII y todas sus esposas. 

Seriously. 

My life.

"Ouch!" Says Abby's Brain

Abby's brain can no longer absorb any information, a spokesman for the journalism major said today. 

An intense medical examination revealed that too much time spent writing a Global Studies paper and absorbing 50-page articles like "The Nation-State in the Culture of Capitalism: The Society of Perpetual Growth," sitting at a computer writing for 5 hours straight and  attempting to write a research proposal, which meant reading medical journals, rendered the student's brain absolutely useless. 

"I think she had it coming, as Godly punishment for actually enjoying her Saturday," said a source close to Abby. 

Doctor Imtired Iwanttogotobed, an expert in academic burnout, said the only cure for brain-mushiness is an over-consumption of caffeinated beverages and fake-cheese products over a short period of time. 

Abby's spokesman said she fully intends to follow all medical advice, and says that Abby had already started phasing these practices into her daily routine, approximately three years ago. 

Abby is scheduled to spend many more hours in front of the computer over the next week and Iwanttogotobed said that it is unlikely that Abby will be able to fully recover or have a full night's sleep until mid-May. 

**Oh, and I've finally joined Twitter. For those of you who don't know, Twitter just answers the question, "What are you doing?" in 140 characters. To see it, go to twitter.com/ICabby.  I can easily update it many times a day. So you can know when I, like, get locked out.

Yeah, that happened. Today is just awesome. 

An Excellent Saturday

Somehow, for the first time since arriving at college, I had a Saturday that was totally free of obligations. That is, if you ignore homework...which I pretty much did. 

It was also FORTY-FIVE DEGREES (!) out, which felt like summer paradise, so friend L and friend S and I took the bus down to the Commons and did a little thrifting. Friend L treated us with her ridiculous gift card to Starbucks, and I nearly passed out due to the sheer wonder of it all. 

I rarely leave campus, and so doing so and also getting a little taste (literally) of civilization was so refreshing and relaxing. Then all the Boot girls came together and experienced the amazingness that is One Tree Hill season one.  I probably shouldn't have introduced this addiction to my dorm, but hey. It was fun. So it was pretty much an excellent Saturday. 

Friday night friend L and I headed over to the Ben Light Gymnasium and took in half of the women's and all of the men's basketball games. It was crazy fun to cheer along with the packed house, and we really beat down on Hartwick in both cases. It was also kind of cool to see the student media in action. 

Today, I am locking myself in my room, save for meals, and working. And writing blogs. And probably distracting myself. 

But I WILL be productive! 

**EDIT

Okay, so I SAID I was only going to work today, but then I saw this SNL video and realized, I needed it on my blog. 

Selfish Promotion

Okay, so I totally fail at listening and or watching the shows I actually work on. So I missed the radio premiere of "Now Hear This!" last night. 

But I believe the television counterpart will air Sunday. The segment I've been helping on should run next week! Anyway, if you're interested to see what our show's about, here's the promo. 

It's almost the weekend! I have an assignment! Hopefully I'll be able to drag a few of my friends to the basketball game tonight against Hartwick. 

I had my early newscast today, and it went much better than the last 6 o'clock one. I actually jumped around in the newsroom for a little bit before going into the studio so I could actually wake up. AND I only wrote one oddly long sentence that was hard to say. There's always one of them that you read and are like, "I WROTE this? This is like the War and Peace of sentences!"

Other than that, it's Friday, so there's cause for celebration! Let's see if I can survive my first non-football weekend.

Okay Winter, I'm So Over You

At this moment, weather.com is telling me that it is 9 degrees outside, but feels like -7.  

Negative seven.

And it totally does. I am so over being cold. 

Anyway, the week is winding down, but I've got an assignment for the weekend and have no clue what to write about. I also have radio to do today (4:45 on WICB.org is the best one to listen to). I have another shift for the six o'clock hour tomorrow. In the morning. Fun. 

I'm really just going through my schedule these days, without any significant mess-ups or fantastic happenings. I did, however, read the book A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini for my global studies class, and it was pretty eye opening. 

Mostly I'm just tired by this point of the week.

Just like Christian Slater on that cancelled show, I'm my own worst enemy

**EDIT

So I was sifting through files, and I found some pictures that my sister and I took on my computer over break. And they made me happy. She's kind of sick, so these pics will have to do for my get-well hug!

Anyway, back to the point...

The same day I quit the Inquirer, because I am over-scheduled...actually, the same HOUR that I quit the Inquirer, I picked up another radio news shift. The five o'clock (p.m, thank god) hour on Wednesdays. 

Because I'm a psychopath. 

I'm done with classes for the day, which is awesome, but I have tons of things to get done. 

Today my short story Professor used me as an example in front of the class. He discussed our assignment for next class, and as we all stood up to go, he said:

"Oh, and see her? Abby, with the coffee? I know it's an eight o'clock class but some of us know how to fix that. I want you all awake next class." 

He may not like me very much but at least he is aware that I remain conscious during his class. Unlike the music majors. 

Also, if we're keeping track of my maturation or development as a relatively independent human being, I realized this morning that I haven't bothered to match my socks in approximately a month.

I'm awesome.

Something Had to Give

I thought I could make it all work, but then I realized that I was supposed to be exactly THREE places at 7 p.m tonight: my news radio meeting, the Society for Professional Journalists meeting, and the Inquirer taping. 

When it all came down to it, the Inquirer gave. I love those guys, it's loads of fun, but right now, it just doesn't fit. The others are just too crucial. I had a great talk with friend A (all the way in wise-old Boston) yesterday and she made me realize that sometimes it is straight up impossible to do it all, and THAT'S OKAY. Which is something, especially in high school, I'd never realized before. 

Anyway, I had a blast at the IC Super Bowl party in Emerson Suites, watching the game on a huge projector, and consuming free food. I chilled with football buddies K and D, and helped friend L learn to love the game. What an amazing game to watch with a 100 or so people. The cheering, gasping, and clapping never ended. 

I missed watching the game with my family though, because I would have then watched all the hours of the pre-game and consumed ridiculous amounts of nachos. I would have also liked to see my mother react to Bruce Springsteen rock the halftime show. 

There are many things to get done tonight, and I better get started. But I'll keep you all updated, as usual.