Snow. Really.

Honestly, I knew Ithaca would be cold. I survived the winter months. I bought a stupid hat. I actually wore gloves when I wasn't even going skiing. I wore scarves as something other than an accessory. I stopped wearing flip flops in October. I even considered the possibility of wearing a sweater.

But now it is April. And it snowed ALLLLLLL DAYYYYY.

Not fair. Uncool. 

At the risk of sounding uncouth and immature, let me just say:

Screw this. I JUST WANT SUMMER.

I know that most of the high schools are just starting spring break, and that they have many, many weeks left of absolutely monotonous and sleep-depriving teenage torture, and that I shouldn't complain. But hey, I DID that. 

Right now I'm stuck underneath a pile of papers that won't write themselves and that have due dates fast approaching.  I have so much to do but no will to do it. I can't concentrate. I just can't.  

But I know I'll manage. I always get things done in the end. It's just that my high procrastination tendencies are making my productivity and sleep levels suffer. I have to change that. 

I eagerly wait my future post in which I will whine about wanting to return to school. I'm extremely impressed with all my (all,what, 5 of them?) readers. You guys put up with absurd amounts of whine plus the occasional self-indulgent and melodramatic reflection. 

I'm trying to think of anything relatively interesting to relate. You know, about college. Since that's supposed to be what this blog is about. 

I can't. So I decided to take a picture with my fake chicken. Because I'm not even that talented at procrastination. And we matched. 

Further proof that I'm adorable AND ladylike.

I think we look alike.

Oh, and that in the background? That's totally not my light. It's a spaceship. A chicken spaceship.

Ithaca Today...Yesterday

It felt like I was living in some alternate universe yesterday. 

It was so cool and so tiring, and almost transformative for me. 

Yesterday morning, as the Deans Hosts grouped before the tidal wave of work and activities of the Park accepted students day and overnight, our supervisor had a treat for us. The eight or so of us got to hang out and chat with Sal Paolantonio for an hour and a half. It was SO COOL. I was also thanking Papa, because it was thanks to him that I'd read Paolantonio's book over winter break. Two of his daughter's went (or go) to Ithaca, and were both Park students. One is a senior now.

He gave us fascinating advice all wrapped up in these amazing stories. His biggest emphasis was on the power of hand-written thank you notes. It's because of these that Michael Strahan wouldn't speak to any reporters after winning the Super Bowl until he talked to Sal, and said, "I want to speak to Sal because that's the first thank you note I've ever received." Those notes are also how people like Andy Reid will call him first if something's happening. Like that time when he was at an IC parent's weekend and he gets a call from Reid saying he's suspending Terrell Owens for the season, and Park students helped him shoot live shots from campus to break the story on ESPN. 

IT WAS SO COOL. 

He gave a marketing communications major the names of people to contact, with his reference, to get connected in the PR department at places like Jacksonville and with the Giants. 

And the best part? 

After the talk, I went up, nervously, and asked him if I could possibly get his card. And he said:

"You know what, you win! I was hoping someone was actually listening and would ask me."

I only freaked out on the inside. 

So now, here I am, with Sal Paolantonio's card sitting on my desk. I'm going to write him an thank you note. 

From there on, I helped direct students and answer questions in Park for an hour, then hosted a journalism student question and answer session. Then, I picked up my prospective students for the night. A ton of the girls on the floor were also hosting students. We took them down to dinner and down to VIC's Battle of the Bands.  We also made a pit stop at this small intimate coffee shop called...Starbucks. It was delicious. 

I think we convinced a lot of students yesterday.  That's where I made my decision, exactly a year ago. The same event. It was such a surreal day. It required a lot of work and quite a bit of self-reflection. It was cool to look at how far I've come from sitting nervously in a discussion section a year ago, confused and terrified, to a college girl finishing up her second semester and finally figuring out the right path to take. 

Sports journalism will have to stay as an option. I mean, now that I have an ESPN national correspondent's cell phone number, and he knows my name. 

I guess this is college. It's way crazier than I expected, that's for sure.

Who knew?

Catching Up

Obviously I have been totally slacking on this "blogging" thing I do. 

A lot of that is because of how much work I have and how many activities I do.  But it's also because since I'm trying to get my application for my double major approved, I've been running around from building to building getting a million signatures and sorting through the bureaucratic process of the registrar's office. 

So while that's totally not fun, I am SO PUMPED for my second major and am almost there with the approvals. I need one more signature, and then I turn it into the Humanities and Sciences Dean and wait. However, Dr. Soyinka-Airewele, my Global Studies professor, agreed to be my advisor. Which is awesome. 

I had a group presentation today in that class (entitled "Going Home to Afghanistan: Displacement and the Politics of Return"), and it went well. The only bad part was I had to stand in front of the class for a whole hour and a half.  It is not fun when you really have to sneeze but can't for approximately 60 of those 90s minutes. I may or may not have looked like a crazy person. 

Oh, and today I got a graduate school pamphlet in the mail from Georgetown. Already. REALLY?

I am so not ready for that process again. Give me a year. Or two.

You Ask, I Oblige.

Some extremely attractive snapshots of Relay for Life! At least we look like sane people in the last one.

I love them all!

Anyway, today was fine. I'm surviving Monday. The only problem is that I just ate my last Thin Mint. This is tragic. 

Somehow I'll make it through. 

It's quite amazing: today I'm only at musical soundtrack stage. Obviously I'm an expert at being in denial. Or maybe I just have confidence that I can handle it all.  I e-mailed my advisor asking how to declare my second major, and he seemed skeptical that I would have time.  But this is because he is unaware of the 35 credits I came in with. They help. 

I just want it all approved so I can get started with my future. As melodramatic as that all sounds, it's true. 

Relaying for Life

Yesterday was a day of absolute insanity. 

I dragged myself out of bed at 8 on a Saturday (this is a crime. A CRIME.) and got ready to head over to the Cayuga Inlet with my roommate Beth.  She rows for the novice women, which is ridiculously convenient.  

When we first got there, I departed from the group of crew girls as they went to start setting up boats and prepping for warm-ups. I explored around the boat house and stuck my nose inside Cornell's, which is 9 billion times nicer and larger. The difference between a top-ranked Division I team and a top ranked Division III team is huge in appearance and performance. Not that that stopped our women's varsity from beating Cornell. Nor did it stop our men's team being crushed by Cornell. 

It was a gorgeous day. Sunny, 60 degrees. It was unbelievable. So I hung around, watching everyone set up and warm-up.  Hobart, Marist, and Cornell teams set up tents and loaded boats off trailers. 

The weirdest part was that Coach Dan Robinson found me because he recognized me from orientation. I kind of got a scolding. "You shouldn't be here, you should be out there."

Which a part of me agreed with. I miss team sports. Maybe I am just obsessed with lakes and the sparkling waters of Cayuga made me subconsciously think of summers in Otis. Who knows. Robinson said a lot of rowers start sophomore year. 

Anyway, so he showed me where they were posting results and tried to explain them to me, because he said very often they are reported incorrectly. Let me just say, it makes no sense at all. I mean, I understand it now--at least, the basics-- but it doesn't make ANY SENSE. 

Then, I sat around and watched many many races with large lulls in between. My editor Cory came down to cover the women's team, and I tried to explain crew to him. But I didn't exactly know what I was talking about, so I think I just made him more confused. 

Then, because I had nothing else better to do, I interviewed 8 different rowers, and Coach Robinson. The required number is three. Whatever. After that, I got a ride back to campus with Cory. 

After that, it was time to get ready for Relay for Life. The theme was 80s, and so my friends and I spent a lot of time applying gross eyeshadow, messing up our hair, cutting up t-shirts, and pulling on brightly colored leggings and leg-warmers. Pure awesomeness. We all carpooled over, and then spent many many hours at Cornell's indoor track, Barton Hall, walked the track, dancing around, listening to acapella, and being crazy.  For a while, future roomie Ashley and I tabled for Active Minds, where we blew up balloons for an hour or so.  The idea was stress relief. At our table people wrote things that stressed them out on balloons, and then popped them.  So, it was totally worth my sleep-deprived delirium today.  

Now, I've got to do some serious writing and get this work done. Time's running out, it's almost April!

Sometimes, It's Not All Bad

It seems that as a whole, this has been a crappy and dreary week for everyone. It definitely felt that way for me. My classes are wearing on me. I'm trying and it's not always working. That's why, when I got my huge mid-term paper on Louis Erdrich's story "The Red Convertible" back from my short story professor, I started to tear up (just a little bit) at the comments. 

Largely because I cry at everything. I am that chick that cries during every movie ever. But I'm going to be a little obnoxious and reprint what my professor wrote:

"Abby, I have read many student-written essays on  'The Red Convertible,' since I teach it every semester.  But your is among the best I've seen, and may actually be the best.  The essay analyzes capitalism's impact on the brothers, capitalism's manifestation in the the car; it identifies and analyzes the story's persistent trope of 'moving without moving' in consistently clear and vigorous writing. The very high level of analysis, synthesis, and writing all unite to make your essay a work of outstanding quality. This is excellent work by any measure, and I read it with extreme pleasure and edification."

Seriously? You can't MAKE this stuff up. It's practically stolen from the ending of a Disney movie. 

As self-indulgent and self-congratulatory this is, sometimes I just need to reaffirm publicly that I have the capability to totally kick ass. 

Oh and I also made a cake for my friend's birthday today, all by myself. No one died. My dorm is still standing. I didn't start to cry half way through reading the recipe.  We've yet to see if it's edible, but I'll chalk it up prematurely as a success. 

The weather's gross up here, but at least it's not cold! 

Now, it's off to the sports section meeting for me!

Let me start off today's blog with a hearty welcome for my friend Laura and her roommate Kate to the blogosphere. They've just started blogging from room 314 at Providence College, and even if they only have one post so far, they're sure pretty to look at, at the very least.

I've been trying to convince all my friends to get blogs for some time now. Some people may find it lame that I sign up for everything: Twitter, blogging, Facebook, the whole nine yards. I just consider them technological manifestations of my awesomeness. And, I always want to be updated on my friends' lives. 

Oh, and I'm a huge nerd.

On another note...

It is WARM today! Like, 50 whole degrees! I also turned in a big academic writing paper this morning. My "persuasive argument" about the anti-feminism of women's magazines turned into kind of a philosophical rant about media conformation to patriarchal norms. 

Which is all sort of hypocritical of me, seeing as I subscribe to Vogue. But then again, I also get Sports Illustrated, so I guess we'll just pretend that I like to look at pretty pictures. At least I don't get Cosmo. Their overwhelming self-congratulations of their supposed feminism really seems obnoxious to me. 

Anyway, rant over THERE.

Yesterday I worked on a phone-a-thon to call accepted students in the Park School. Chatted with some pretty interesting journalism students and parents. The parents ALWAYS asked more questions than the students. The students in general seemed like they just wanted to go to bed already. It's a chronic symptom of senioritis. But it was certainly strange sitting there for an hour and a half calling tons of people I didn't know. Interesting. But strange.

I also did quite a few interviews yesterday, trying to shore up some more sources for an article for a class and getting in contact with the crew coach. It was all kind of exhausting. 

Anyway, I'm off to a Relay for Life meeting. The fun really never ends!