May, 2003

Summertime and the livin’s easy

OH MY GAWD! I discovered THE ABSOLUTE BEST Salvation Army today. It’s freaking amazing, yo!!! It doesn’t even compare to the other Salvation Armies Carrie and I visited in Troy and Albany!!! I went on a serious shopping spree and spent about $30 for an entire new wardrobe practically! While perusing the racks I came across a great country western line dancing skirt–dude, it must have weighed about 15 pounds!! AND THE TWIRL! I wish I had brought a camera crew so that you could see how that skirt twirled! It was so great! Among the items I actually purchased are a sexy black “going out” shirt, a real vintage Army shirt (it actually has the ARMY tag still on it!!), A guy’s light blue button down, the FUNNEST HOTTEST dress I think I’ve ever owned: it’s a light blue-ish green with white polka dots and looks like a 20’s flapper dress kind of…hard to explain, but it’s extremely hot, a pair of jean shorts (because I have exactly NO pairs of shorts that are not black spandex :-P)….. and a top-of-the-line designer name white slip dress with an exotic flower embroided on one shoulder. This one is actually 3 sizes too big, but I’m going to ask my friend, who is also a fashion designer, to alter it for me. Ding! All in all, it was a very very VERY exciting trip. I must have tried on 40 different things! AIIEEEE!!!

In other news, work is going well! I finally feel like I’m back in the swing of things after the semester away. Business hasn’t actually gotten busy yet, but we’re all hopeful that next weekend will bring the start of the summer season. I’m staying at The Rock again with Minnie Mae. Working lots of hours–besides being Luch Chef six-seven days a week I’m hostessing 3-4 nights after that. It’s lots of fun!

I’m so excited for Napa!! I can’t believe that I haven’t even had time to put up the pics from our trip there in March yet! Ahgaigha. Sorry ’bout that guys. I don’t have an internet connection this summer, so I guess you won’t be seeing those until I actually get to California! I also have yet to post real pics of the last parties we had at school, Spring break in North Carolina, Aunt Joan’s wedding, and several other highly exciting events. If I even had a real phone at the place I’m staying this summer, I totally could put those babies up, but alas. I guess the suspense of waiting for another few months will just make them all that more exciting when you do actually get to see them, right?

Just to let you know why I’m not posting as often as usual–it’s that the library is usually open only during the time when I’m at work, so it’s not that I don’t love ya’ll, just that the public computer acess at my fingertips is quite limited. Hope you’re all having a great summer!!

Get This Summer Started

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Yesterday was the big family graduation party at the Rock! Woohooo! It was so much fun (except for the part when Seth flipped the 4-wheeler and tumbled down a 40 foot cliff into the road, requiring a quick trip to the hospital– where doctors declared that he had a concusion and a sprained wrist). He’s doing quite a bit better today though, so that’s good! 🙂 I didn’t take any pictures at all, but I might have a few other peoples’ to share eventually. The weather was beautiful and it was so much fun having everyone together for good food and wine and fun! Thanks for all the wonderful presents!!

I’m starting work at the Three Birds on Wednesday morning–woot woot! I’ve missed being busy and consumed with hard manual labor this semester, and am very much looking forward to getting back into the swing of the restaurant life! There are a few new menu items and many exciting changes on the line–I’m sure it’s going to be an excellent summer!

Joe is in New Mexico for the summer working at Sandia National Laboratories!! Although I miss him desperately, it sounds like Mother Nature is just welcoming him with open arms. In fact, several road runners have spoken to him already! Did you know that those are actually real birds? (And that they actually talk?!?!) I always assumed that they were just some strange species Looney Tunes invented! ?!?!?!?! I feel I might have to go visit to see one of these little babies in person before I can believe this strange new truth. 😉

New Beginnings

So, my college career at Binghamton University has finally come to a close. *Sob* It’s a bit bittersweet to know that most of us will be leaving this place forever (sweet that we never have to come back, but bitter because we’re all going to separate corners of the globe!) Good luck to everyone!!

graduation.jpgLast Friday we hosted a scandalous party here in Building 7 G01. Let’s play a little game: I’ll provide the pictures and you guess the theme….

This weekend Joe and I spent some quality time together–did some camping and whatnot. The spot we stayed at (before the Tornado hit) was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!! It was decidedly the best camping spot I’ve ever seen and the most fun and enjoyable camping trip I think I’ve ever been on. Due to the extensive audience we’re witholding the name of our camping area for fear that, as a result of this free publicity, the site will be over-run with tourists and avid campers. We can tell you that it was on a lake in the Adirondacks–if you want to know more you’ll have to do some serious blackmailing.

On Monday and Tuesday we (Da Girls) travelled to Caitlin Larabee’s getaway house–which is also located in the Adirondacks. Because of its status as “One of our Last Big Flings Together” we gave ourselves up to a night of ultimate bonding experiences (as is evidenced in the photos, we hold nothing back).

Tommorrow is the traditional Senior Bar Crawl. During this historical event, all graduates take their mugs and their friends and follow an Official Bar Crawl Map in a tour of every bar in Binghamton. I believe it Officially starts around 4pm and lasts until about 6am. We purchased special attire for the event (in the form of neon colored fake hair pieces and glitter hair spray). Should be lots of fun!

P.S. Didn’t quite have time to make pretty websites for these photos yet, which they definitely need because they can easily be misconstrued, but if you want to just see the pics and can wait a while for the beautiful display, here are the pictures from the (You-guess-the-theme) party and here are the pics from our trip to the Adirondaks.

Hiatus

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Finally back in Binghamton for the last few days of school. Man, this semester went fast! I’ll be officially done with all papers, exams and classes on May 8th–only five days away!! AIEEEE! Speaking of official, I was officially accepted to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and will officially be starting classes for the Baking and Pastry Program on August 25th. Can you imagine my excitement?!!! The Wine Spectator Restaurant at the school recently won the “Best Fine Dining Wine List” award. Hotness! I can’t wait to check it out in person! Ding!

After recent (and constant) berating about my less-than-desirable math skills, I would just like to take this opportunity to remind you that I am a Recovering Patriarchal Woman. As said member of patriarchal society, I now realize that I have been socially programmed by teachers, parents and friends from the very beginning of my mathematical career! (Specifically by those in Kindergarten, 3rd grade, 5th & 6th grades (we’re talking extensive discrimination here), 7th grade Algebra, and 12th grade Calculus). Through their body language, tone of voice and facial expressions, these people conned me into believing that I am not capable of “mathing it up” very well. In fact, these patriarchs and products-of-patriarchs assumed that since I was a girl and therefore couldn’t do math, they wouldn’t even bother to call on me much in class! And furthermore, they rewarded me for failing with coddling, sympathy and other debilitating (though perhaps enticing) payoffs for being feminine. How on earth do you propose I improve my skills when I’m up against AGES of feminine mathematical prejudice! I ask you! (Hmmph!) Now that I’m aware of this extensive discriminatory behavior, I am determined to break away! Just call me “Shira The-math-practicing-machine Crane” from now on, because there will be NO MORE female-math-bashing in my life! (Thanks to Lois Tyson of Critical Theory Today).

In other news, one of my Spanish classes (Spanish 581T: 20th Century Latin American Literature )recently held a performance of El Se�or Presidente. I took pictures of most of the scenes that I wasn’t in and compiled a brief documentation of them here. The light was bad, so the picture quality isn’t very good, and the program I used to generate the pages doesn’t support spanish characters, so the grammar also is less-than-perfect. Buuut, if you didn’t get to see it at all, you might be interested in checking it out–if you’re in that class.