Unfortunately, I c annot find the sheet of my paper with my resolutions, but here’s the best I can do from memory:
1. brush my teeth at least once every day
2. complete at least one triathlon
3. get a teaching job in austin, TX
4. complete at least two scrapbooks
5. live the last semester to the fullest
6. become a better cook
7. lower my expectations for friends– just go with the flow
8. get more clips for my resume
also, I resolve not to cheer people up too often, and to not celebrate holidays.
I’m writing this on one of my laziest days. I woke up at 10:30 and came into the tv room. There, I fell asleep on the couch under the red sleeping bag until 1:30. I’ve been watching food network ever since. I did go out to get the mail, and said, “Where am I?” to no one. The good thing is that Dan’s coming back today, and I’m hopefully going to go play soccer in the green room later.
So far, this year has been very good. I’ve had a ton of family time, including an impressive 7 mile run with dad yesterday, followed by a lift with him. I’ve decided to get back to my sports roots this year (while staying intellectually solid), so I’ve played basketball the last two days in a row, and I’m hopefully going to take a P.E. with Jeremy, who’s pretty beast. Cycling club may also be in my future.
The New Year started off on a poor note. I was with Ben, driving to Lelde’s house. Ben turned on his signal and went into another lane and went through a yellow light. We had seen a cop right before that. We had also drank a full bottle of champagne before that. The cop pulled us over, and Ben blew a .12 and got taken away. I walked to the police station after getting a CSC and chilled there until Ben announced that he was staying the night, and had gotten a DWI. I walked home, which was a bitch, but nothing compared to Ben’s future troubles. The next morning, Ben called me and I got him out of jail. He went to go pick up his car and I walked to the bus station to take a bus to Rochester.
Rochester was another mixed bag. There were moments of brilliance, wherein Flo, her friends, her family and I got along well. Rachel and Harvey are really nice, and so is their friend Justin. But for some reason, her parents didn’t really seem…interested in me. Truth, I liked talking with them both, but we just didn’t seem to click. On the good side, the Williams family excited a love for Lox and Cheese in me, and we painted pottery, which was good fun. Color Me Mine! Other highlights were Dinosaur BBQ and snoring on their couch during Harry Potter. Why didn’t you wake me up, Flo? Oh yea, and Christmas Crackers and Banannagrams.
After coming back from Rochester, I had one more trip to complete before I could “totally relax” for a real break. I had an externship in Colonie, which is very close to Albany. Since Becky is from Albany (Glenmont to be particular), I asked her if I could stay at her house/hang with her. We didn’t really get that done until the last second, and by then I was pissed off and had decided that I would just stay in a hotel. When Becky finally called, we sorted it out and I ended up staying with her and her mom. Albany was actually a fantastic trip. The externship was amazing– so much stuff packed into two full 9 hour days. I was under the wing of Rob Brill, a city desk editor. He’s pretty gregarious and often asked his colleagues if I could just talk to them/look over their shoulder. Teresa, a real G, and another person to add to my short list of “people I really really respect,” suggested that I go with Will, the photo editor, on one of his assignments. This was an adventure. First we dropped off some tape at a broadcasting agency, and got a tour of the studios from Mike, which was awesome. Mike said that his daughter wants to go to Cornell to be a vet. Then we went to the Capital building to see the State of the State. I wandered around for a while and saw the press rooms… Met a reporter named Irene who miraculously was also added to the list (Alka, Tiffany, Sarah Brown, Teresa, Irene, Dan O’Connor, Garret, John Fingado..a couple others). Other people I talked with include Sarah (investigative reporting– see deathbymistake.com), Tim Knepf (web design), Jake (copy editor). Also popped in on some meetings like the daily Budget meeting, and some sort of internal city meeting. I liked chatting people up and getting their feel on the industry. There sure were a lot of jokes about how I should get out of journalism while I still can… but hey, if they can do it, then I can do it. Looked over Rob’s shoulder as he edited articles with the writers. Rob also mentioned that an article instantly gets better if you add in more fields (the economics of something, the human interest, the science– MTC, see!). the only huge problem with journalism that I saw is that it is changing to an internet medium, which entails a lot of staring at the computer screen and less print.
On the casual side, staying with Becky turned out to be really fun. Her mom Dawn is cool and friendly, and also very generous. She flew off to Vegas to teach for a few days, but she was more than happy to order a pizza for us and to talk to me. Other than that, Becky and I saw Princess and the Frog (awesome), went to a Bier Garden to see James and Cathy for a sec, played Donkey Kong (she schooled me), walked around the mall, got dinner at the Macaroni Grill (amazing) and watched the BCS championship and two episodes of the Jersey Shore. I think we got along well, although Becky seemed tired when there was down time. I think she misses her boyfriend, Adrian. Becky also recently got contacts, so I was timing her as to how long it took her to put them in and then take them out. She also said that it’s weird feeling the wind on her eyes, and that she felt “badass” driving without glasses lolol.
On a random note, I saw Sophie’s friend Ryan (the revolutionist), Joel and Flo’s friend Carolyn at the Binghamton bus station. Said hello to all of them. Carolyn was going to Honduras for Agua Clara, as an engineer.
Back home, I chilled with Ben a bit. He told his parents, which I think is a good thing. I’ve also struck a good medium with Flo. lol, this may sound weird but… I don’t call her anymore. If she really wants to talk, then she can call me! This has had a good effect on both of us (Flo and I have been talking smoothly, and we miss each other), as well as me individually (paradoxically, lowering expectations make us both more loose). She’s coming to Ithaca in 4 days, I sure hope we can have a good real relationship, in addition to this solid virtual relationship. 
I have faith. We’ll exercise together. Maybe see a movie. Maybe a sleepover. But I don’t pine after her like I used to, which is definitely good for my brain. I htink I subconsciously wanted to pine after her (I am a self-proclaimed romantic and thinker)… now we can be sappy at the right times (valentines day, once in a while on the internets). I just really hated calling her and her not calling me back until the next day because “she was out until late with a friend and then had work the next day.” Oh well, I hope things will be good now, I think they will be.
Strang over and out.
