Honey, I'm home!

Greetings from Northwestern. I'm currently camped out in the hallway outside my dorm room, on my pink lounger, with a bottle of Smirnoff and a bag of Terra chips. College life suits me just fine ;). I'm actually supposed to be working on my "1AC aff" for debate. BTW, translated out of debate lingo that means, the first affirmative constructive speech. I'm not exactly fluent in debat-ese yet, but I'm getting there.

Debate camp is hard. Like incredibly so. These people are ridiculously well accomplished and insanely intimidating. We have a bunch of grad students who are helping us develop our cases until law school starts and among the eight of them, 4 are Harvard Law bound, 2 are Yale Law bound, one is going to UChicago, and the last one didn't do so well.... he's only going to Columbia. That's the crop of seniors that just graduated. And each and every one of them got into law school predominantly based upon their debate experience.

Today, I went to my first debate society practice and sitting in the room listening to the upperclassmen and grad students stretch ideas, run theories and point/counterpoint cases felt like sitting in a room with some of the country's foremost legal minds. It was so exciting. I honestly cannot think of any better prep for a career in law than debate and argumentation. Funnily enough, even my mock trial work in high school didn't parallel a legal career the way college debate does.

Anyways, onto the fun stuff. Yesterday, as my first night as a college student, I made the requisite run to the Jewel for illegal booze and then went back to a frat party (or, was it a bunch of debate nerds just hanging out at a frat... ?) lol and play poker, got drunk and got to know my teammates until the wee hours of the morning. Then I woke up today with a slight hangover, a massive headache and about ten minutes to get my ass all the way down to south campus (about a mile).

Now, I really should get back to work. But quickly, let me articulate how amazing it is to be back @ Northwestern. I love it here. Whether it's the surroundings or just the fact that I have so many poignant memories associated with the place -- I don't know, but it makes me happy.

And also, I finally got a new phone but the only numbers I have are those of the people who have left me voicemails in the past two days. You know that I don't actually know anyone's number....soo leave me a message with your digits. (PS: Lucy! This means you!)

Right On, Mr. President

President Truman once said:"If I knew how much packing I'd have to do, I'd have run again."

That's so true! Not that I'm not excited to be going to college (I am. Trust me.), it's just that this past week has been consumed with trying to organize my stuff for the move to Northwestern. Who knew being me required so many accoutrements? Actually, everyone who knows me probably knew that, I just don't like having to acknowledge that fact.

My room is so small too, I'm unsure as to how I managed so much stuff into it! And what's more is that, even now, after I have what feels like the equivalent of a small country packed into our cars... my room doesn't look bare. It's as if nothing's missing! I'm curious as to where all this stuff came from.

It is quite possible that it may have come from Super Target, as I think I've been there every one of the past four days. It's really quite an amazing store, for those of you who haven't been there. It definitely managed to amuse Debs and I for hours on Thursday.

My life has been fairly boring as of late, I don't really have much to report. The other day, desperately seeking a diversion from packing, I actually did Kristen's homework assignment. Not for her...nope, I just went ahead and completed the assignment as if I was a student in the class along with her. (PS: it's posted on my xanga, if you feel so compelled to read it). I also spent two hours trying to coax Sarah's toga into a flattering design. Completely pointless exercise if you ask me...theirs' were even uglier than ours were last year. (Is that even possible, you ask? I didn't think so...but apparently it is). Catie and I had a Sex and the City marathan/gabfest one night last week. I got my haircut yesterday etc etc etc etc. I haven't even managed to do anything embarassing lately (save the instance in which I actually emailed Kristen's teacher my "homework" and told her how much I loved her assignment . . . hey! It was late at night!!).

Hopefully debate camp and the nerds I meet there will provide plenty of interesting stories from Sunday onwards. PS: I get to travel a ridiculous amount for debate, we hit up every one of the big ten schools in the first couple of months, and then go onto Emory, Harvard, Yale, Wake Forest and Smith the second quarter. So, watch out, it's Serena, coming to campus near you... lol.

Oh! Quick thing, the best part of my week has been getting phone calls from all my friends @ college. . . even though they've just been really quick updates. I miss you guys alll so much and it's so sweet of you to call to say hi even though you're ridiculousy busy. Hugs to Lucy, Tara, Char, Meryl, Anna, Anubhav, the Asian Posse and the ABCs, Ashish (happy birthday babe) and Rajiv. MWAH! Miss y'all tons and bunches!

ciao!

thanks for the broken toe, kid

here's yet another installment of the serena chronicles. please inform me how many other people you know who can go to a family party at the temple and get a broken toe as a souvenier from the evening? oh, but wait because here comes the best part: the broken toe isn't even due to my own innate clumsiness ... nope. a five year old stomped on my toe, and since i'm apparently made of glass.... it decided to break. yes, a five year old broke my toe. the second best part is that they can't exactly do anything for a broken toe (what are they going to do?!?! give me a cast?!?) so i just have to suck it up. and i can't wear heels. this means it took me almost 25 minutes before i could leave the house today, because i had to find open toed shoes that were flat. it was quite a chore given my penchant for high heels. regardless, the broken toe episode is the counterpart to an amazing weekend.

on other notes -- i was ranting earlier, but i decided to save y'all the drama and stick to a condensed version. basically, i love knowing that if i post an away message saying i'm in pain due to an obnoxious dentist --- people will show up on my doorstep with movies and teddy bears. i also love knowing that regardless of whether i'm single or dating, i will get roses on my birthday from friends of both sexes. i also love knowing that when i'm upset, people notice and care enough about me to do something about it. the fact that i never even have to break down and send out an SOS to my friends when i need them means SO SO SO SO much to me. it validates my existence (to a degree) and makes me feel like i'm doing something right in the world. thanks guys: for allowing me to give so much of myself to you and for giving so much of yourselves in return. i know i'm a pretty damn good friend to those of you i'm close to -- but you guys are even more exponentially amazing.

my dorm room is officially smaller than my closet. now, for those of you who have had the privilege of seeing my closet, this isn't that ridiculous as my closest is moderately monstrously monolithic--but still! my closet is full of clothes and shoes and purses and pictures.... how am i going to fit two people, two desks, two bunk beds annnd all my stuff into my dorm room?!?! i need harry potter magic. mr. weasley...where are you?!?! ps: i'm bringing my camera, seeing me stuff all my crap into my dorm room should make for entertaining pictures. at least i get to move in a day early thanks to debate camp! i wonder if i'll start school with stories that run...this one time, at debate camp ... ;) one can only wish!

tonight's the first night that i really realized how empty naperville is with all the u of i kids gone. if they were here i would be probably down in the basement right now playing pool or poker or at the very least watching a movie, snuggled up on my couch with dan or dave or someone! today was a missing people sort of day. i really missed tara and charito in the afternoon - i felt like a chick flick a barnes and nobles expedition. then later, i found myself missing my husband, anubhav, because i really needed a good philosophical debate and a probing question session, during which my life (love and otherwise) would have been thoroughly dissected. randomly, i also sort of found myself missing my friend nathan, who has apparently, decided to fall out of my life again (this time, probably for good). i had the funniest story to tell him today and i couldn't really think of anyone else who would have appreciated it as much. i tried telling it bryan at dinner, but he didn't really get it. oh well. it's comforting to know that my friends and i will keep in touch to some degree (with the exception of nathan, i guess).

my facebook friendships are getting better and i've realized that even though i'm moving further away from my naperville friends -- some of my friends are just as far away now as they always have been. a phone call, an im, an email. i'm glad i've become so adept at maintaining long distance relationships over the past few years. my friends travel with me.

that being said, after talking to friends who are at college now -- i have been moderately disturbed by the number of kids who are homesick, and as such, are spending their first few nights of college life IMing their high school friends. i know the temptation is there but .... it just seems a little... i don't know, juvenille? i think that i'm going to try to stay off AIM for the first few weeks (at least the first week) of school. AIM has a habit of luring me into meaningless, but time consuming conversations with acquaintances. my really good friends don't settle for AIM only communication anyways, they call me on my cell. i think that's a decent resolution -- to try not to cling to old friends as i'm trying to make new ones.

love, serena!

a love affair...

...with the windy city.

i am still trying to decide whether which was better: friday afternoon or friday night. not an altogether bad conumdrum to have to ponder.

friday kristen and i loaded our bikes into the back of my car (which, incidentally is not meant for hauling things, i've discovered) and set off for evanston (where northwestern is). it was incredibly amusing to see my trying to wrestle those bikes into my trunk, but, regardless, the important part is that they got in, and we set off (note: i almost said got off, before i realized the unintentional double entendre that would cause...). we got there, we walked around campus a bit, i did my version of the campus tour. ie: instead of, this is the student union and that, over there is allison hall --- this, is where mark and i went flower picking and missed curfew one night, and that is where aayah and i sat to eat lunch every day. sort of a walk down memory lane-ish sort of thing. anyway - breakfast/lunch at clark's, a pit stop at a new popcorn shop which sells (brace yourselves!) caffeinated popcorn. (how cool is that?!?!). at lunch, our poor waitress had to chase down not only one, but twwoooo check evaders. who even does that? i felt so bad for her! after lunch, because she was with me, kristen's bike decided to break. this was not cool as it would have put a stop to our bike tour-ing plans. what was cool, was that, i miraculously managed to find a bike store two blocks away that could fix it! for ten bucks. verrry cool, and grown up ish - i definitely get a kick out of being able to fix problems in addition to creating them ;).

okay - here's the cool part. (ready?!) we biked to downtown chicago. 27 some odd miles. HOW COOL IS THAT? we seriously biked allll the way into the city along the lakeshore path. it was sooo pretty. and we got to see the air and water show from this amazing vantage point. it was kind of like chasing a rainbow, because we were talking about how close the skyline looked, and then we found a bike path that was headed in that general direction and so we just kept going towards the sears tower. the only difference is that, instead of an imaginary pot of gold (which never really materializes) - we got midtown traffic. but seriously, it was a beautiful thing. i never really thought of bikes as a means of transportation, i've never really gone anywhere by bike before. apparently my thinking was skewed.

friday night was amazingly cool too. i got taken out to sushi wabi for dinner. this hip industrial sushi joint downtown. i'm unsure as to what i ate (i think i might have eaten eel) but the guys just told me that they would order and that they would only pay if i didn't ask questions about what was in the maki rolls. their strategy was enjoyable. my food was amazing so long as i didn't concern myself with its composition. and i didn't have to pick up the two hundred dollar tab for the evening ;). and then, as if my tastebuds weren't happy enough we went to redlight for dessert. . .ohh my god. i think what i ate was the physical manifestation of sin. it was thatttt good. topped off with a waltz around millenium park... canoodling in the new reflecting pools -- all under the watchful eyes of those weird tower sculpture thing-ys (it made me feel like an exhibitionist!!). and i think a new favorite chicago memory was born (old ones include: salsa-ing with dan @ adler, swing-ing with mike @ grant park, movies in the park with catie and also with bob, ghiardelli with ashish, ravinia picnics, my amazing bike ride with kris, and now sushi wabi).

i used to think i was getting jipped by not moving away from home for college. but if going to NU means i get to experience more of chicago? i'm not missing out on much, after all. i <3 you baby.

<3, serena!

hi, i'm an 11 year old nerd.

i am the biggest nerd ever. but, if you didn't know that, you really don't know me well enough to be reading this. and face it, that picture on my front page establishes that if you were looking for some hot girl's blog to be reading --- you've stumbled across the wrong one. anyway, i shouldn't have to apologize to you, my readers, for my nerdiness. you're all already intimately aware of it.

that being said, here is the nerd chronicle for today. i went to barnes and nobles** (yes, there is an s!!! it's just invisible on the sign) and pulled out every college survival guide they had. i don't know, lately, i've just been thinking how i really, really, really want to make the most out of these next four years. i don't want to have any regrets. not, that i do now -- but still. so i sat down, notepad in hand and started to make a list of rules for myself next year. stuff like, i will study two hours for every hour i am in class. and i will make a 4.0 my first quarter. i will run four days a week .... etc etc etc. yea, it sounds nerdy, but a funny thing happened this year that made me believe in the power of lists.

my mom was rooting through old papers looking for awards to plaster the house with prior to the first of my many grad parties. and she found this old list that our school had made us make on the last day of eighth grade. it was one of those stupid, welcome to your future type exercises, designed to make us feel as if our lives were undergoing serious upheaval, as opposed to just switching schools. regardless, being the idealistic child i was, i obediently filled in 20 goals for high school. including things like, become an officer of key club, get involved in x amount of activities, rack up x hours of community service, get a good gpa, make certain test scores, get into the following colleges, and so on and so forth. i mean, i suppose they were standard goals of any high achieving student going into high school. the funny thing is, that even though i thrust that list into a pile of paper the next day and forgot all about -- when i looked at it, four years later -- i had accomplish all of my goals save one or two. i never consciously thought about them as goals, they just sort of materialized on their own. that wouldn't be remarkable, except i never was as successful in high school as i thought i could be, i wasn't even close to disciplined enough. but i suppose, an underlying reason was because i never dreamed big enough. i accomplished, in the end, only what i had dared to dream i would accomplish, nothing more. that, is the power of lists - i suppose. as such, i'm drafting one for college.

on other notes at barnes and nobles, i was also hit on by a 12 year old and his compatriots who thought i was ELEVEN. ELEVEN freaking years old. how horrible! admittedly, i was wearing ::collective gasp:: jeans and a tee shirt, so i wasn't dolled up or anything. but, still. that's horrendous for someone who is just a few months shy of her nineteenth birthday. and i'm not even that short anymore! i grew! @ my physical i measure 5'0.75''! YAY! i broke the five foot barrier. i suppose it's possible i was just craning my neck... since i was ... a little. but i'm going to choose to believe it's the growth pills i ordered offline. lol. thank god nothing weird happened to me from them. ;). regardless, that was a terribly amusing encounter. i sort of just pulled my driver's license out and dangled it in front of their noses when the guy asked me for my number. when did 12 year olds get that brash anyways?!?! i don't seem to remember us asking for people's numbers?!? maybe i was just a nerd (still am). and even if i did give him my number, what was he going to do with it?!?! call me up and ask if i wanted his mom to drive us to a movie?!?! gawd.

today, i also managed to have another serenaesque moment, this one in regards to the US Postal Service. i have decided that the mail hates me. it always takes an inordinately long amount of time for my packages to get places. or, as in this case, they end up at the wrong places. this is where my quirkiness pays off though. i get this huge thrill out of addressing envelopes. sometimes when i'm sticking a card in with a gift, i'll still address the envelope as if it were being sent through the mail on it's own. i sent lucy a package two weeks ago, and she just got a phone call from this lady on the other side of town saying that she had mistakenly been delivered lucy's fed ex package. the woman had opened up the package and seen lucy's name and address on the letter inside. so she found her number in the phone book and called lucy to inform her that she had her package. ...i wonder what happened to the address on the box itself.. anyway, lucy's getting her gift thanks to my weird obsession with addressing everything possible. i love, love, love the way these WEIRD things happen to me. i just know ashish is laughing at me. right. now.

tommorow's my grand tour de force of evanston on bike with kristen. i am soooo psyched. on that note, i should probably call it a night. ps: i am mailing everyone letters and cookies this month. leave an address!

house arrest among other things.

i, the person who singlehandedly led the facebook crusades ... have decided to stage a mutiny. i hate the facebook. it has turned me into a big bundle of irrational (or, oh god, could they possibly be rational?!?) neuroses. okay, so when am i ever anything but a big bundle of neuroses. good question. but i swear ... this time it's even worse than normal!

so, here's the thing. i told all my friends about facebook. and they all started becoming addicted to it. so far, so good. becoming addicted to it is par for the course. but the problem comes with what happens next. everyone started surfing and meeting really cool people. jill has come out of online seclusion and become an AIM fiend just because of her amazingly cool (and, might i add, HOT?!?!) UChicago friends. and catie keeps babbling on about her kickass facebook friends. if i have to hear about jonas one more time, i might just...turn into the green eyed monster. it's not that i begrude my friends their happiness (really). i just want some of my own!!!

plus, here's where the neuroses come in. there are 600 members (approximately) of my freshman class on the facebook. that's nice. the only issue is, i have looked through all of their profiles, messaged some, a few now frequently IM me too. but - i don't have any cool facebook friends! i don't like any of them! maybe the internet is just a bad forum for meeting people (although considering the huge advent of online dating, is that really a feasible conclusion?). or maybe, i just haven't gotten lucky yet. but the fact that keeps staring me in the face is that i've theoretically been introduced to half of my class. i guess, i'm just hoping that all my friends are in the half of the class that didn't join the facebook. ps: most of the people not on it yet are engineers. and nothing against engineers...but give me a prelaw student anyday. so, bottom line? my new spaz attack these days? that i'll have lots of friends, but none who aren't situational, none who i actually like, and none whose relationship with me transcends the bullshit. sigh. i just want friends i like! thanks for nothing, stupid facebook.

anyways, on other notes -- i've officially manage to finangle my way into a nine o'clock curfew for the rest of the summer. okay, for some of you the rest of the summer is like 3 days away. but for me? it's a freaking month! that's a looong time. i can't even go get kicked out of barnes and nobles @ close, because i would already have been home for two hours!! note to self though: with my parents, honesty is not, not, not the best policy. i tried to talk to them about drinking, partying and birth control issues in regards to college. . . not such a brilliant plan. sometimes, i seriously think my mom believes i dated my boyfriends without ever once kissing them. i love the way other children get grounded for actually doing stuff. but me? i get grounded for being adult, honest and mature about it -- and informing my parents of my decisions. my new strategy is to be like everyone else and just sneak around. buuut, i think i'm allowed to have visitors...so if you want to come visit the prisoner...do!

and finally, on music taste. i was talking to bryan about this the other night, and we decided that music taste, well developed and individualized -- is something that needs to be cultivated. it's an acquisition that requires hard work and time. you have to go looking through stacks of indie cds and listen to crap bands for a long time, before you can find some unknown group that only you've heard of, so that way you can have your own "music taste". so, since i have time on my hands (ps: the movie marathon went amazingly well, and is still moderately under way, what a great idea!) until school starts - i'm making that my new goal. i want to have music taste! so, let the record store crawl commence. my first good find? wheat. they are reallly good. (thanks bryan).

weekend in boxers

this weekend shaped up pretty well in the end. girls' night, with eight hours straight of sex and the city was amazing (plus cheesecake...and chocolate....). although, as a random sidebar, has anyone else noticed how distinctly unsexy the sex scenes in that show look? instead of making me turned on...i just always want to laugh. the groping? the awkwardness? the random animalistic grunting noises? riiiiight. i mean, yea, that's the reality of the act (now that i think about it) ... but maybe sometimes, cameras are best left outside the bedroom. just a thought though.

char and i had an amazing talk that night, well after everyone else had fallen asleep. just about relationships, love, sex, drinking and everything in between. it's funny that i almost missed out on being friends with her. i keep reiterating that fact, but it is funny. so many friendships (romances too actually) this summer have come out of nowhere and just blindsided me with their intensity. debs, char, tara, sully, jon, dave. . . etc. whatever twist of fate brought them all my way, i'm incredibly thankful for.

so then saturday (actually, more like sunday morning around four) was just amazing for so many reasons. many of which i will leave unsaid as this is a public blog, and those details are probably only for my girlfriends. lol. but anyways, suffice to say, house parties rock. although, to be honest, 99.9 percent of the time, the whole "party" atmosphere: the lots of people, superficial conversations and small talk stuff ... just aggravates me. i usually end up cordoned off somewhere, deep in conversation with one person (which is what happened this time too).

sunday i relearned how to ride a bike as i haven't been on one in eons and i need to bring one to school. (i am still sore in unmentionable places --- i think i need a seat that is softer than granite!) but yes, you should applaud me: i went on a two hour (ish?) bike ride without falling over even once. my friend catie went on a 520 mile bike ride last month, but in case you didn't get the memo... you should still be prouder of me ;).

sunday i also went to jill's grad party (i got to go after all). i hadn't seen her in forever, so that was definitely worth the drive out there and the ensuing fight with my parents about always being out of the house. i've noticed something though, whenever i go to parties for my friends in which i'm the odd person out, the only one who didn't go to their school, or who doesn't know anyone else at the party...for some reason they feel no remorse at leaving me alone in a room with people i don't know. i guess they assume i'll fend for myself. as a result, i spent a lot of jill's party (family only) deep in conversation with her mom, her grandma. her family is adorable, so i didn't mind, but the fact that my friends just assume that i'll be fine always amuses me.

since i didn't get any sleep either friday or saturday, sunday night was devoted to sleeping. i think i crashed for like 12 hours straight. and that, ladies and gentlemen, was my weekend. the highlight had to be my friend rajiv's phone call though: he called me saturday morning and we spoke for about five seconds before he dashed into work for the day. and then, he called me back saturday night and told me that normally he was really grouchy in the mornings at work but that today (saturday) he was all smiley and cheerful, so much so that his coworkers all asked him why he was in such a good mood. he told me that he thought about it all morning and that he realized he was so happy because he had heard my voice first thing in the morning. (collective aww). i don't know why i put up with some of my guy friends' behavior when i have friends like rajiv! they don't even call me! lol. suffice to say, he's a sweetie!

anyways, there you have it. my weekend in boxers. (boxers because: a) that wasn't brief and b) who even wears whitey tighties anymore? no one i know!)

sammy stylin'

my first official day of no longer being a working woman. and it felt amaaazzing. now, okay, to be honest, i woke up @ seven anyways. but, i did lie in bed daydreaming until ten thirty. if anyone wants to give me lessons in being a bum (a la sammy style) leave me a comment ;).

anyways, i got in a round of golf in the afternoon with dan, which was fun. he beat the pants off of me (almost literally, but that's a whoollle 'nother story). oh! by the way, did you know that if a guy doesn't make it past the ladies' tees on his tee shot he has to drop his shorts? lol. you learn something new every day! i trudged home and went and degrassified myself, did a spot of chauffeur duty for my brother and then headed off to yet another one of the ubiquitous grad parties that have seemed to dominate my summer.

i know i was raving about them the other day, but this one wasn't a mixer so much as it was --let's stick all of the people serena used to be friends with in a room and make her feel really uncomfortable and talk until she makes a fool out of herself. really, it was quite entertaining. anyway, i bailed on the party after staying as long as social conventions dictated, and then headed out for an evening of bookstoring with bryan. it was, quite possibly the best date i've had in a long time. me, my books and as a bonus, a guy! hmm, maybe the last two items should be rearranged... as a sidebar: barnes and nobles should reallllly start paying me. while i was there tonight, i helped EIGHT patrons find books they were looking for, and made TEN book reccomendations. payage is definitely called for!

by the way, i've decided that there are so many movies i need to catch up on, that i'm designating next week to be movie catch up week. i'm going to break them down into categories: chick flick, action, drama, indie film, and comedy; pick three from every category; and then go through all the categories in order. note: i think i'll do every other category on the treadmill so that i don't turn into a couch potato. strange? yes, probably. if you want to come over and join in, do. (i will probably need help turning on the dvd player...so maybe you should come over).

and i don't wanna miss a thing...

i spent the majority of my day @ work today on a field trip trying to track down a toner cartridge for our printer, but oh well, at least it was my last day of work for a loooong time... although my dad is trying to make me go back as i've just found out debate camp doesn't start until the first week of september. note to self: do not give in. anways, i've been xanga surfing a bit today and it's weird to see how everyone is reacting to leaving. (see my xanga for more on that later).

on other notes, i'm still laughing about what happened to me yesterday. sigh. my life is just priceless sometimes. as ashish asks me 24/7 whenever we're on the phone: "serena, only you. WHY do these things always happen to you?" well, ashish, i haven't the foggiest...lol, but it makes my days a lot more interesting. speaking of which, in case you haven't heard the story: my roomate's name is lacy peterson and she has been declared "missing" by northwestern as all of her paperwork mysteriously vanished. (wonderful, just phenommmmenal). i'll keep you posted on any further developments there.

i randomly realized how much i miss jon huang right now. and, after reading all the going away entries i decided to make a list of people i want to see again before summer is over. (sully and debs, you two are givens as you'll be around for a bit). in no particular order: tara; anubhav; jon h (!!); john h; al kurti; my prom group (WHO ALL STILL OWE ME MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!); char (doh); irish; khasim; tyler miller (i miss you!); bob (ditto); alex; sammy; ryan; alex bolyantz and dave simnick (char i know you're cracking up right now. no, i am not a cradle robber!). there's no way i named everyone, but leave me a comment and we'll catch up before we leave!

on a last note - tonight was so much fun. chato, debs, reiks and i all went to see princess diaries 2 and then out for pie @ bakers. on the way to bakers debs and i put aerosmith's "i don't wanna miss a thing" on repeat, cranked my stereo up, rolled down alll my windows, and just drove through downtown belting it. (that song will always remind me of this one dance, someone singing it in my ear softly as we kind of just swayed to the last song of the night). it was such a girl's night out, chick flicks and junk food, girl power sort of moment. i love sappy romances.

off to bury myself in a book for a bit. hip, hip, hurrah for staying up later and sleeping in!

Y, serena

beethoven's the fifth

this weekend has somehow made the transition from potentially phenomenal to incredibly stinky. first, my friend from minnesota was ostensibly thinking about flying in, but then he decided he didn't want to (which didn't really suprise me).
i was actually okay with that development (partially because i'm fairly certain he hates me) -- mainly because it meant i could jet down to sunny florida for the weekend to see my amazing friend lauren and probably rajiv(<-- !!). buuutt i've been on put on excessive amounts of vicadin for the ridiculous pain in my mouth and therefore, the pharmacist deemed me "unfit" to navigate an airport this weekend. that i couldn't deal with.
i can't even go to jill's grad party because i'm not allowed to drive. ugh. i hate being sick. i can't even remember the last time i even took medicine! moral of the story? come visit me or call me!!!

what happened on the way home from work almost made up for the miserable upcoming weekend, however. sidebar: in order to really get this, you prob should read the previous entry, but this is still funny in its own right. observe:

so, i was leaving work early so that i could get to my doctor's appointment (college physical), and speakers blaring, i'm merrily conducting away as i've passed the intersection of yesterday's "mishap" without event. all of a sudden i hear sirens and see flashers rapidly closing in on me (again!). i look down at my speedometer - eight over. "darn it," i think as i pull over to the side of the road.

i roll down the window, tears at the ready and prepared to cry my way out of my very first ever ticket ... only to hear "what symphony you conducting today, babe?" it's my friend, mr. trooper, from yesterday.

now, i'm actually just listening to an eric whitacre cd (yesterday was a string quartet tribute to dashboard confessional ;) ), but this bozo wouldn't know wagner from mendelssohn so i shoot him a glib answer: "beethoven's the fifth," i reply.

"i know this great little italian place nearby, want to explain the symphony to me over a late lunch?"

my initial reaction is to go: "WTF?!?" but, instead, i slowly give him a deliberate, assessing look: "no, thanks."

"why?" (he's moderately whining now)

here is where i should have informed him that i am only 18, or that i don't date anyone whose future doesn't include the letters MD, JD, PhD, MBA or at the very least MA, or perhaps i could have just shared the most pertinent fact of all...that i was late for my doctor's appointment. but my thought process at that point in time?: 'serena, you've caught yourself a live one...have some fun'

so, instead, i said: "well, there really isn't that much to explain, it certainly wouldn't fill an entire lunch date"

"oh?" (this was his intelligent response, possibly hoping we'd find some other way to pass the time)

"yea, this particular symphony was composed as beethoven was coming to terms with his homosexuality. listening to it has really helped me through the past few years, i find i identify with many of the emotions present in the piece."

"oh...." (same response, different inflection this time ;) ).

"see? that wouldn't have lasted us through the appetizers" and with that, i gently pushed his head back out of my window, rolled up the window and sped off, confident i wouldn't be flagged down.

priceless (really).

now, i'm off to go get high. come visit!

Y, serena

ow ow ow ow OWWWIE!

allow me to start off by saying that i am currently in the worst pain i can ever remember experiencing. i went to the dentist's to fix something they tried to fix like three weeks ago, and from my pain level, it feels like it's only gotten worse. six (or was it seven?) shots of novacaine helped while i was being drilled at, but now, hours later, the pain is ridiculously unbearable.

however, while i was under the combined influence of novacaine and six tylenol, i managed to have a moderate amount of fun. (ps: if i called you sometime before ten tonight....i apologize, now, well in advance. i have no real recollection of what i might have said). sarah and kris and i decided to go to blockbuster where i somehow managed to flirt my way into not paying for our rental. this was an amazing feat as i probably looked ridiculously bedraggled, and me, dressed up doesn't normally inspire anyone to fall at my feet...so me bedraggled probably induces people to run the other way. regardless, that coup de grace made the evening that much more fun. plus the movie we rented was adorable (13 going on 30). go rent it, it's really cute. i wish i had a guy like that!

on other notes, i got pulled over for the first time ever today (coming home from work). it was actually quite amusing. here's the deal. i listen to classical music while driving and about a month ago this person i know taught me how to conduct and keep time, 2,4; 4,4; etc etc etc. so, i've developed this maniacal tendency of beating road rage by conducting symphonies during the commute to and from work. well, anyway, on the way home today, this young trooper is giving me a look of utter and complete disbelief as i am stopped at a red light. so, my response? i start conducting with even more gusto, pinching my imaginary baton for all it's worth. his response? he turns on his flashers and flags me down. then, he accuses me of flicking him off, repeatedly. i tried to explain to him nicely that i was merely conducting a symphony. he wasn't too impressed with my response, although he did acknowledge that it was creative. i finally managed to convince him, but not before i had demonstrated my conducting virtuoso. i wonder if he's still scratching his head? it was priceless. wish you'd have been there.

finally, as a sidebar: to anu and sully. i'm sorry i wouldn't buy for you guys tonight. but honestly, i didn't really feel up to going back up after i got home because i was in so much pain, and plus i would have had to put on makeup, contacts, heels, etc to make myself a believable 21. and, also, my parents wouldn't let me out of the house. i really do love you, i just couldn't come through tonight. (sorry).

Y, serena

can i be your study buddy?

yesterday night i somehow managed to con my husband (anu) into buying me dinner ;) and we finally caught up after like a month of making plans that never materialized. five months ago, if you had asked me who i would miss the most when i went off to college, i would have said no one. it's interesting to see how things change. anyways, anu tried to make me sympathetic to his "girl" plight, but i stand firm in my belief that anyone who has multiple girls chasing after him does not qualify for sympathy! tough luck hon!

on other notes, i broke yet another computer @ work today. okay, actually, i didn't do a damn thing! it just happened! the computer decided it suddenly wanted to have a cow (i think it was a jersey cow) and it stopped working. sigh. as a result i can't get anything work related accomplished and everyone in the office is out @ a client site, so there's no one around to help me. oh well, i managed to be productive anyway (no, not this doesn't count!) i printed out my NU orientation week schedule and highlighted all the events i want to go to and then made a little calendar thingy for myself so that i can make it to them all. (it sounds dorky, i know but there's seriously so much to do that week, how will it all get done otherwise?!?!) it was moderately exciting. i really missed school these past few months.

in fact, i have a funny story about that before i get back to researching grad school stuff:
it's april-ish and i'm @ my favorite springfield hangout, (barnes and nobles) sans bob, for once...or maybe i was waiting for him? regardles, there are all these tables of kids cramming for the AP exams. for whatever reason, i'm suddenly hit with a wave of longing for some good 'ol ap lit esque, nerd camp camraderie and so i call up alex (alex is a huge jock and is very disparaging of my nerd tendencies, although he is insanely smart himself) in hopes that he will be able to get me to snap out of it before i do something i regret. alex doesn't answer, sadly, and so i do something dumb. i scooch my chair over to the people next to me, and under the guise of innocent flirting, manage to weasel my way into their AP Chem study group. (i had taken the exam the year before). i went back three times that week to "study" with them. i'm sure they thought i was trying to pick them up, but honestly? i was just attempting to satisfy my craving for legitimate schoolwork.

nerdy? colossally so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (in fact, i'm suprised you haven't shut this entry down in disgust!!) but, there's a bit of self effacing truth buried in that comical story... i feel ridiculously useless and nonproductive and lazy when i'm not studying. i like to call it AP syndrome.

random miscellany

town pride! in case you were unaware, naperville is the best place ever to live. (well, obviously, because i'm here! ;) ). and for the record, that's not just my unsubstantiated opinion. nope, once again, naperville made the top 100 places to live list. woo-hoo!

on other notes, since i got a few questions about it, just an fyi. if you saw my away message this weekend (it said i Y rajiv bahl. real women wear rajivbahl or nothing at all. "honey, my order hasn't come in yet, so i guess i'll just have to sleep naked.") it was a joke!! but, the inspiration for it was amusing. my friend (rajiv) has a website. and his website has promotional clothing items on it, and as i was browsing the store -- i realized they sold thongs with his name emblazoned upon them and was, suitably amused by that fact. ps: i ordered one (i had to! the hillarity was simply too much to pass up!)

on the topic of away messages though -- have you ever realized what a huge role they play in our day to day lives? i'm not even really an AIM junkie (i was cured this past year -- now even though my sn is signed on all day, i'm really only usually on in the evenings) and i still acknowledge how important they are. my friend mandy and i decided to try and experiment this summer. we both tried to exploit the power of our away messages, we wanted to see how much value people really placed upon them. so we posted very provocative (dan - that's your word! deja vu, mrs. billone, john) statements on them and just sat back and waited to see people's reactions. at first, no one said anything. then, i started getting cell phone calls, emails, tons of IMs, all wanting to know "WTF is up with ur away message, serena?." people started asking if they were the person i was writing to (you weren't. the person i was writing to doesn't read this or even go online). it just amused me to no avail the amount of attention a single line of text could garner. mandy had fairly the same response. moral of the story? i don't know. i just thought it was an interesting phenomena.

i'm off to run before work!

Y, serena

four days!

so i have been working full time for almost eight months now with no really significant breaks. (one week off for prom, one week off for friends out of town, one week off for vacation). and today marks the beginning of the end -- my last work week! (and it's only four days -- i'm done after thursday!!!). i am so incredibly glad. a couple of things i've realized after joining the office world though, firstly work is nice because unlike school, it doesn't come home with you. there are no extracurricular activities or homework assignments or group projects intruding upon your time. your evenings are your own, it's really quite nice. secondly, i am going to be working full time (or at least part time) for the rest of my life. . .i liked my jobs this year (senate intern, junior consultant) and they were still monotonous, and i still watched the clock like a second grader anticipating recess. i really hope that some sort of chemical reaction happens between now and seven years from now, when i've completely grad school and am ready to enter the work force for good. i can't imagine being a clock watcher all of my adult life (no matter how handsomely i am compensated for my efforts!!)

now, as to my weekend. just in case you were interested ;). friday i went and saw little black book @ cinemark and then went out with dan for coffee afterwards. little black book was good and bad, ironically enough, for the same reason: the lack of a happy ending. that's a bad thing because it's a chick flick, that's sort of the point! and it's a good thing because happy endings usually make me all sappy and hyperanalytical (even more so than my normal state) of my current relationship inevitably ending in me being disgruntled. saturday, there was, for some reason completely unknown to me -- a mongo party at my house which lasted until early sunday morning. there were several really grotty guys there too, who decided that their expensive cars (bought and paid for by the bank of daddy nonetheless) meant that i would swoon at their feet (riighttt) and that since i didn't, they were entitled to cop a feel. gross. i got sick of being groped and retreated to my room for the evening. thoroughly enjoyable, let me tell you. but the coup de grace of the weekend was, arguably, today! i went book storing like alll day.
it was phenomenal. it's become a weekly tradition: all week i read fiction excerpts from the new yorker, the new york times, the la book review, publishers etc etc etc and i compile a list of good literature i want to read. then i narrow my choices down to two or three books, clear a day in my schedule and just go sit at the book store and read. (today was shopgirl and the heart is a lonely hunter). i take a pen and my literature journal (i've filled like five this summer already!); noting quotes i particularly like, ideas, theories -- things that move me. but basically, i just read and read and read. i love losing myself like that once a week. if anyone has any good book rec's, please leave them! i'm into noveau literature these days (anything with a love story wins bonus points). plus, as an aside, apparently one of the unwritten requirements for barnes and nobles employees is that they are hot, male, college students. (seriously...go look!)

Y, serena

major? minor? help!

i may not have had the most successful high school career ever, but i do think that i did a really good job of mapping out my curriculum for the four years. when they told us to make up eight year plans in eighth grade -- i actually did. i sat down with the coursebook and highlighted every course i wanted to take in my four years. i didn't always stick to my plan...and i definitely made a few missteps along the way (like photo?!?!). but that plan was what determined my decision to take soph speech my freshman year, and what allowed me to graduate a semester early but with eight years of english and six of social sciences. it really helped.

so i want to have my four year plan in hand when i go off to northwestern this fall. this time it's even more crucial that i know exactly what i'm doing and when. so i have to start with an end in mind and then progress backwards. i've always known what i wanted to do, i've always wanted to be a lawyer. but recently i've been thinking about business as well. no problem, i can do a joint JD/MBA program. that's easily enough accomplished, at some schools, it's not even an extra year -- it's just a compressed program. but then, about two weeks ago, when my friend nathan was here -- i got into an argument about genetics and designer babies with him and his friend rachel. and then he was talking about pursuing law school after an engineering background. now i'm NOT proposing i do engineering (omg, i would diiiiieee), but it made me realize, more than ever, that a science background is not unthinkable preparation for law school. and that conversation made me remember how much i've always loved genetics. i've always talked about what an interesting field bioethical law would be and how much bigger it's going to get in the upcoming years. i just never actually thought about getting involved in it.

so i started researching, and i figured out that you don't actually pick a specialization in law school. you just sort of fall into one. so then i started thinking, well if i major in econ and english... what can i minor in?!? i mean, i don't realllly need to do a business minor, i'm already majoring in econ! i don't need to do a legal studies minor, law school no longer like pre law students. i could do philosophy or psychology or sociology or (gasp) nothing.. but even though those appeal to me, and would add to my liberal, broad based education -- there's no legitimate reason to study any of them. but, i could, theoretically, minor in biology. couldn't i? i don't know. i'm confused! i can't wait for school to start, i want to meet with my advisor NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i love you -his name

sully and i went on our traditional weekly (monthly? somewhere in between the two..) walk last night: those things have been one of the highlights of my summer. we ran into sammy and ryan too (nota bene: it scares me that two college students have nothing cooler to do than hang around downtown naperville on the summer evenings...i was soooo anticpating a sudden rise in my coolness factor after becoming a college student...but apparently not!!) anyways, back to the riverwalk walk with sully -- i am still amazed by the fact that the riverwalk goes all the way down to brown's chicken! what they heck is that?! why was i not informed of this before? that section is really pretty and romantic, however, there's this gorgeous fountain that's all lit up down there (cheap date idea guys? ;) ). anyway if you ever do chance to trapise down the newly created section of the riverwalk, make sure you read the inscriptions on the bricks down there -- they are very entertaining.

if i was a guy, i would buy one and have it inscribed with "i love you. -his name". and then everytime he wanted to do something really romantic for a woman, he could tell her he wanted to go on a walk, and make her stop and read the bricks along the way, until ta-da! she finds the one with his message. if i wanted to be optimistic, i'd say he could inscribe her name along with his and the message, but i'm a cynic and i think it'd be cooler if he didn't and he manged to recycle it and get brownie point from a long succession of women. lol. wow - that's horrible!

anyway, i can't believe that school doesn't start for another TWO months. that's forever and seven days away. i want to actually talk to all the cool people who have been messaging me off of facebook!! oops, business meeting. ttyl.

no more short skirts (theoretically)

i don't know if the weather has been bothering anyone else lately? but it's most definitely been bothering me! it's cold! like september, october, crisp bite to the breeze cold! what is with that? it's supposed to be summer!

oh well. i don't really mind, i suppose. it just means i can't wear skirts anymore, or at least not as often. not that i've ever let the cold be a deterrent to me before though...;). regardless, about the weather, yes, it's weird.

speaking of weird, i just had the strangest flashback ever. for some reason thinking of strange weather made me remember last summer, first session ctd, (it was the night all the water was turned off and i couldn't shower or brush my teeth or even use the bathroom because i had been dancing for so long) i, just now, had a flashback of walking across the campus to an academic house with becky or janessa to use the rest room along with a group of kids i didn't know, and skipping home through puddles in my huge white, platform flip flops. i don't know why, i just suddenly remembered that alley. and now, just as suddenly as that memory appeared -- it's gone.

anyways, work is almost over! yay for not working full time for the first time since january (woah!) that's cool! and i don't even know if i still have debate camp...the coaches haven't emailed me back yet, apparently there was some housing glitch?!? who knows. i just hope my dad doesn't force me back into an office. i can't deal with that anymore. that's a scary thought, as i'm going to be working in an office every day, without the benefit of summer break, for yeaaars and years. i hope i just get to stay home and vegetate during the day and go out in the evenings. i thought this summer was going to be suuuch a drag, but being back for the summer has allowed me to rekindle so many dormant friendships as well as meet hordes of new people. every night, it seems like i'm inundated with options of who to go out with, what to do -- sometimes it's hard to make sure i get some down time too. so prolonging my summer would be cool, although people are going to start leaving shortly. then again, i have a long list of friends i need to visit @ college, so maybelly i could do that too? well, regardless, come august 17th i'm going to be doing something!

on other random notes i wrote and mailed 12 letters today at lunch. it was so cool, i felt completely retro sitting there and licking stamps and envelopes. watch your mailboxes, maybelly you'll get one!