Ode To Sleep

Just a song by Twenty One Pilots that I like.

Friday:

I really actually do not remember what I did on Friday. Let's think. ok ok got it. Woke up, went to get Porta in Asbury Park for lunch with Rob, Monica, Mom and Joe. We had five pizzas and five people. Seems reasonable. And of course a Nutella pizza for (lunch) dessert. Because lunch needs dessert too. Dinner can't be the only one.

Rob, Monica and I romped around Asbury Park board walk until we didn't feel like it anymore. We got home and somebody had the idea to see a movie in the theaters. I am always, always down to go see a movie. If you ever need a movie buddy, you can always call me. Unless I have a prior engagement, I will always say yes. There's something about the big screen, the buttery popcorn smell, and the sticky floors that get me going. We saw Mad Max: Fury Road. I have never seen a Mad Max movie prior to this one, so I didn't know what I was getting myself into. It had the highest ratings out of all the movies in theaters, so we figured we would go for it. It was, in fact, an excellent movie. Although I had no idea what was going on for most of it. I would recommend it if you are looking for an action movie with hints of comedy and feminism. Lots of explosions and bloodshed. 

Friday night was the Rangers playoffs game against Tampa Bay (right?). Popped over to Molly's house to watch it because apparently she's into hockey now. I'm not a huge hockey fan, but it was disappointing to watch them lose. Root, root root for the hoooommee teeeaaaam. Wrong sport? Don't matta. 

Saturday:

Spent my morning and most of the afternoon lying around on the beach getting a butt-sunburn. No ragrets. For some reason my cousin Jake was in a work-outy mood, and we did about 3 sets of sprints on the beach. I don't recommend. Ten out of ten wouldn't do again. I love the beach. I know that most people could get sick of the beach if they went every day, but not me. I love waking up and knowing that I get to go to the beach any day that I am home and choose to. I love the sun and the sand and the water and the towels and blankets and bathing suits and sunscreen and salty air and salty hair and seagulls and surfboards and sandwiches and SANDwhiches (if you know what I mean) and card games and kadima and volley ball and water bottles and all things beach. Every day. I would go every day if I could. I'm trying this new thing where I actually apply sunblock before and at the beach because of like, skin cancer and stuff. It's working, but not 100% effective because I'm defective and don't know how to apply it evenly. If you have been around me within the past 48 hours then you have heard multiple times from me that I have a sunburn on my butt. It's something about people with sunburns, they always tell you about it. You know. You have a 0% chance of not hearing about any sunburn that I have. Because Imma tell you. Because I'm gonna complain about it until it's gone. Even though it's my own damn fault. Deal with it? 

Post-beach, time to shower and get ready. Saturday night at midnight (so technically Sunday) one of my best friends Ally turned 21. My friend Molls and I are already 21 so we planned on going up to Hoboken because she goes to school at Stevens to help her celebrate her birthday properly. And celebrate we did. Driving up to Hoboken, I didn't have an EZ-pass because I lent it to my brother and forgot to put it back in my car. SIXTEEN DOLLARS. I spent $16 on tolls. why New Jersey, why? And they only take cash. like, who even are you? who do you know here? Arrival 10pm on the dot at Stevens, and to her apartment we go. Walk in and there's about 15 or so people in the living room. her apartment is SWEET. There exists nothing like it at Lehigh. Lehigh buildings ain't got SHIT on Stevens. Sorry to say. But it was huge and beautiful and spacious and looked like a home.

Funny story: I pull five bottles of Corona in a plastic bag out of my backpack and put them in the kitchen. Molls and I are gonna split them. Take two of them out of the bag, go sit in the living room to hangout and drink. I then go back into the kitchen real quick to grab the bag with the other three in it so we don't have to keep getting up to drink them. As soon as my hand gets ahold of the plastic bag and I lift it, I hear a "BANG!" like somebody just picked up one of the Corona bottles and whipped it against the wall as hard as they could and it exploded. Luckily the explosion was contained to inside the plastic bag. I have no idea how it happened, but the bottle just burst. I feel a sharp pain on my hand and I look down and just blood. dripping off of my finger. Sink please. wash please. bandaid please. Don't let me look at it. #faintingproblems. A piece of the glass hit my hand so hard it actually left a bruise on my hand (I checked it out Sunday morning). Ridiculous. why would a bottle just explode out of nowhere? I am still baffled by it. and if you've been around me the passed 48 hours, you also have already heard this story. It was messed up.

It's funny how you can catch a strangers eye and somehow know that moment would be the first of many you would have. It started with exchanging glances and laughs during a drinking game with the entire group of us. maybe 22 people. Don't know her name, who she is, who she knows. Just a set of eyes that somehow keeps ending up locked with mine. I take a shot with my friends, the next thing I know she comes up to me and introduces herself. I get a name and an age and a major. Are you going out to the bars? yeah. In the elevator, we fit 18 people in it. the person I end up squished against is her. We get split up from the group, I only know 4 people total out of the 18 we are with. When we accidentally get split up, I am with her and two guys, none of which I know. We are in a bar, it's huge and loud and busy and we are looking for our friends. She takes me by the hand and pulls me and I follow. She keeps my hand the entire time and she leads and I don't let go. There's something about hands, man. Hands. Found our friends, DAncing in a circle with 10 of us. Somehow she ends up next to me, every time. We make it to a rooftop bar. my friend is puking in the bathroom. I go down to check, and I see her again. Her and I are the only two in the bathroom while our friend is puking in the stall. They call a cab for our friend home, but there's no room for me, and she stays with me and offers to walk me home. We get a slice of pizza and run into my cousin. She doesn't smoke so I decline and we walk. She walked me eight blocks to her street, but I needed to go twelve. She offered for me to stay at her place. I almost said yes. But my home friends were at their apartment, and I was driving home with them early tomorrow. She put her number in my phone and called herself from it. Stayed on the phone with me for my entire walk back. alone, at 3:30am in a city I've never been. Sometimes, I really really like people. Just people in general. I love being surprised by people. I'll never see her again but that's okay. I don't think I need to.

FUNNIER story. The first bar we get to, we end up getting kicked out of. The blacked out birthday girl was banging on the bathroom door yelling "STOP TAKING A SHIT". Whoever was in there was taking too long for her. Turns out it was one of the bar tenders. She exits the bathroom in a fury, "You guys need to get the fuck out of here". Who? Me? I didn't do shit, lady. She gets the bouncer. We leave. oops. 

No more stories need to be shared about Hoboken. Ten out of Ten, would go back and do again. Thanks for the memories. 

Sunday:

Wake up 8am, in the birthday girls bed, alone, with molly on the floor. Back to sleep. 9am, I should probably get up. Everyone else is awake. Wash my feet in the bathtub because they are covered in dirt and full of blisters. Hoboken literally did me dirty. Pack my backpack, grab molly, go home. I am actually racing my friends from school (the frisbee girls). They left at 10am from lehigh headed to my house, and I left hoboken at 10:26am. Luckily I beat them with an hour to spare. Gave me time to shower and prepare myself for the day. its 12:42am right now as i'm typing this, and it doesn't even feel like I was so far away this morning. All of that happened last night. Like, crazy how time works, right? It's insane. Anyway, Dot, Diva, Nitro, and Stella all get to my house. They meet Ted, fall in love. The first thing Stella does is lay down face first in my front lawn on the grass. Drunk much? Probably. Not unlikely. 

We get lunch and head to the beach. It's cold, and cloudy, and we waited until we actually heard thunder before we got the hell off the beach. My car has a flat tire, also, so that's cool. We were driving around in Stella's red Prius the whole time. Back to my house for hot tub in the rain. One of the dumbest ideas I've ever been a part of. Odds of us getting electrocuted? pretty high. Went inside for Cards Against Humanity. Every card that Diva picked as the winner had something to do with poop. that girl loves the butt stuff. Headed to the boardwalk to do some touristy things. Butterfly fries on the beach. yum. My favorite arcade next. Diva won a blue ball, first try. One dollar. OH MY GOD. I found the most amazing gave ever. It's basically guitar hero only with a four giant piano keys and you have to hit them matching up with whatevers on the screen. I had to try it. found some quarters, I placed 15th on the top 15 board. I can do so much better oh my god get me another dollar. Next time, absolutely killed it. my friends couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I got 103 keys in the time limit they give you. The top score before that was 82. I blew them away on my second try. Playing that game got me so hyped. My heart-rate was elevated, I'll tell ya that much. Got ourselves some temporary tattoos and other various shitty prizes, and went home. hot tub time round 2. out to dinner at my parents To-Go restaurant, and then they went back to Lehigh, and me back home. 

Dropped my car off at STS down the street overnight in case the tire is too flat to drive tomorrow. Walked back. It was a calming walk, I have to say. Not too far but far enough. it was dark out and warm and breezy and the streets were empty. Decision made, I need to walk more places. Besides the fact that my feet are covered in blisters. 

Sleepy time. Gotta get up early and get back to Lehigh to move into my new house. I like not being in one place for too long. I used to feel comfortable when I was in a place I was familiar with, but I like changing so much more now. I don't wanna stand still. Something about me has changed I think. I itch to just be places with people, even if people means myself. I just wanna be places. I don't want to be attached to one specific place. 

"never let the grass grow under your feet" 

- mom to me via text message 

Electric Love

The night of me babysitting Teddy (when I typed my last post) my friend Sofia came over. I haven't seen her in about two years, and we fall back into the same conversations we used to have. I love effortless friendships. Friends you don't even need to try and be friends with, it just comes naturally. Sometimes things get fucked up, but if you have effortless friends in life, you should recognize it and cherish that shit.

Phrase I learned from this weekend: "Ride the Wave". it's basically a contemporary "Go with the flow". but i like ride the wave so much more.

I woke up the next morning (Wednesday) and drove all the way back to Lehigh. I wanted to nap so badly but instead, I just packed up everything in my room, shoved it into my car, and then it started thunderstorming. I couldn't put things into my storage unit since the heavens opened up with violent showers. So, I went to my usual place: 476 birkel. After the rain passed, Emily and I moved everything into my storage unit, went on a beer run for Coronas and Lime-a-Ritas, and then to the guacamole store for guac. And yes, I mean grocery store. Also, just a side note, I would like to point out that Lime-a-Ritas are fuckin' dangerous. They're 8% alcohol, come in little 10oz cans, and taste like sweet Jesus. Don't do more than two. I promise. the hangover WILL be real. Emily is a master guac maker, although she prefers it a little spicy for my taste, but it's good just the same. We hungout with the other roommates and some frisbee girls, creating a new version of truth or dare. The only new part is that it's played with a deck of cards. When it's your turn you draw a card, if it's Red, then it's truth, and Black is Dare. Unfortunately with the frisbee girls, every black card meant a Shot of Bankers Rum, and every red card meant an uncomfortable question about sex. But let's be real, that's the reason I'm friends with these fools.

As I was typing this, I heard a thud and a scratch on my door (it's 1:15am). I could only assume it was my pup. I let him in and he immediately jumped onto my bed and rolled onto his back, exposing his puppy belly. He does this every single time he's in my room. I got back on the bed and he immediately places his body on top of mine and washes my face for me. with his tongue. I love this dog.

anyway..

Woke up early this morning and tried to be a real person. Turns out I'm just an idiot. I literally packed everything I needed to get ready for the day into my storage unit. Including but not limited to: My bath towel, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razor, tooth brush, and tooth paste. So, first thing i had to do was walk my ass down to the Rite Aid to pick up everything I needed. and then to Target because of course Rite Aid wouldn't sell towels. duh aly. fuck. While I was at Target, I did manage to pick up a dress and shoes for tonight, along with a romper, and the best tshirt ever made. oh and a coke zero, for the hell of it. love me some coke zero.

Moved final things into storage unit and said goodbye to 515 Taylor forever. You were a great house. The Taylor Gang is a legendary crew and I'm lucky to have been a part of it. The drive home was filled with 21 Pilots. Emily's favorite band. I listened to their newest album, Blurryface, probably three times over. It's pretty good. My favorites are Tear In My Heart, Stressed Out, and Heavydirtysoul. in case you plan on listening to it. I find myself making this drive to or from school very often. it gives me lots of time to think about things. Today's thoughts were mostly about sunburns. A) Because I have a sunburn and B)because a sunburn can be so relatable to things. The thought I had was relating a sunburn to any event or experience you've ever had. Say for instance, this weekend for me, which was this big awesome memorial day weekend party. I didn't realize how great it was while it was happening, only when it was over, just like how you don't realize you're getting a sunburn until you have one. And then fresh after it happens, you're still ablaze from the memory of it, riding the coattails of the good time, that's the actual sunburn. It hurts because you know you can't go back and turn the memories back into moments. And then once you start peeling after the sunburn, it's like you're letting little pieces of the memories go, leaving no more physical trace of the sunburn. Just a newer, tanner version of yourself. This could also be a metaphor for a relationship, but I need not go down that road.

As soon as I got back to my home in Point Pleasant, My mother, step father, brother, and doggie were waiting outside for me. Guess I got there just in time, because I walked in the front door as Monica came upstairs ready to leave. We all piled into the Tahoe, right after grabbing ice cream from the ice cream man with my 6 year old neighbor. Destination? Atlantic City.

The idea for this trip came about when a buddy of my step dad's, Jeff Pirrami (also known as "the fat rat bastard" look him up on google he's a riot) invited us to see his show, Burlesque, in the Borgata. He got us all free tickets to the sold out show, so we figured we would make a night out of it. First Stop: The Knife and Fork. Holy amazing. This building has been around since prohibition, I kid you not. 1912. It was super old and the benches on the booth seats lifted up to secret compartments to store your alcohol when the cops came. Sounds like a high school party to me. We had one of the best dinners I've ever had. The most notable part of dinner was the French Fried Beet Chips. Slices of beets, fried like potato chips. They tasted like sweet and salty chips and they were just magical. holy good god.

At one point in the conversation we got to talking about stick shifts. Monica told us she was fortunate enough for her parents to buy her a car for her birthday one year. She said they bought her a stick shift in order to keep her from texting and driving. But she tells us while laughing, "I can cream cheese a bagel drivin that thing". I guess their tactics didn't quite work.

Full to bursting, we rolled our way out and into the car. Next Stop: the Borgata Hotel and Casino and Spa. This is by far my favorite hotel/casino in Atlantic City. You could say I'm spoiled via Location in my life; an hour from NYC, and hour from Philly, and hour from AC, so I am no stranger to this place. I've been coming here to the hotels and casinos ever since my mom met my step dad and got married in '06. Sometimes we just come down here for dinner. Nothing special. Just dinner. My step dad has been coming here ever since he could drive. We parked the car and made our way to the casino floor. YES. Finally. I'm 21 and get to use my powers for good. and by that I mean Losing $54.50 on slot machines... Womp. Not as good as the first time I was at a casino in the US for my birthday last month. I won $175. Wizard of Oz slots let me down this time. Mom made out like a banshee right as we were leaving, winning a hunnerd somthing off of her initial fifty to start. She won $88 on one spin. That's som bullllllshit.

Final Stop: Burlesque. Now when you think of a burlesque show, you probably think of nipple pasties, flashy costumes, loud music, boobs, butts, and naked women. Well, add in a fat comedian and you've got yourself the Burlesque show at the Borgata. Now I know you're thinking, "why the hell would you see a Burlesque show with your parents and your brother and his girlfriend." But in reality, it wasn't that bad. and the show itself was OMG worthy. I would see it again in a heart beat. fifteen beautiful women showing off what their mother gave them on stage to music and dance? Yep. Absolutely. The best number was with two girls and a hoop dangling from the ceiling. they did some cirque de sole shit, accompanied by the 50 shades of Grey version of Crazy In Love by Beyonce (will post below if you haven't heard it yet). It was hot. so hot. oh and Jeff's jokes were hilarious too. Like laugh out loud funny.

If there's one thing I learned from watching this how, it was the art of stripping. Because let me tell you, there was a lot of stripping. Lots of stripping, and lots of nipple pasties. So here it is folks, in case you ever need to strip for someone.

The art of stripping: always start with gloves, and you must throw them in a sassy manner. then hats or anything on your head. followed by any outer jacket or garment. Next is your dress. but make sure you're wearing a corset because that follows the dress. You can untie it yourself or let them do it, or let another half naked girl do it. If you're wearing one, remove any drape covering underwear. Last but not least, you take off your bra. All that's left is undies and pasties, and it's beautiful. Sometimes you can even get the boobs to spin in the same direction if you practice enough.

After the show, we met up with Jeff and some other really old but famous comedian, and went to the Long Bar, some classy looking bar in the hotel. We actually saw four Burlesque girls there in regular clothes, and I was absolutely star struck. I wanted to like, go up and just tell them how amazing they are and buy them a drink. It was really odd though, seeing them go from Literally just nipple pasties and underwear to yoga pants and nikes and a zip up hoodie. Like, marry me, plz. thnx.

We all ordered drinks and I got my favorite per usual: Whiskey sour. I started feeling like an adult. Then I was like, naaaaaaaaah. The ride home was a bit rough. life lesson: don't drink and ride in the back seat of your parents Tahoe. or you gonna get sick.

the game of the week so far has been Dice with Buddies. a game an old friend of mine showed me, but my mom plays it all the time still. She's got me into it, and I got Monica into it, and I'm always looking for people to play with. So if you have it, and are reading this, and want to be my friend, you should start a game with me. I wouldn't hate it. 

Thats about all I got. Here's my new song for the summer, along with the song from the burlesque show.

the part they used in the show starts around 1:30 in this video. It's not exactly the same version of this song but it's close. and fuck. is it sexy.

Trap Queen

Being trapped in a car for three days with someone who is sick with strep throat can only have two outcomes. 1) I walk outta this trip with strep throat. Or 2) I have the immune system and will power of a deity.

.. I wrote that post while I was still on the road on my cross country trip from Colorado to Pennsylvania. A lot has happened since then, I guess life got in the way of blogging. But so far I've ran into three people I don't speak to regularly or at all who have told me that they like reading my blog and keep up with it. SO, since today and I am sitting at home all night, babysitting my dog who's in a cone (I'll explain that in a minute) I figured I would try and type my life out since it's been so damn good.

To wrap up the road trip, I got back to Lehigh and went to the frisbee girls' house to pick up my car and water Emily's plants. That girl has a lot of plants. A. Lot. on the porch, in the kitchen, in her room, on the roof. plants. flowers. cacti. you name it. My car was blocked in and I panicked for a bit because Rob had to leave home for Jersey but he didn't want to leave me if I didn't have my car. Turns out Em left me a car key to move her car and all was well. I watched the movie Kingsmen twice in a row that night, too tired to do anything else. The first time was for me, the second time was with somebody else. Luckily for you, I don't kiss and tell. I actually ended up missing Lehigh's graduation ceremony that I wanted to go to because I was too tired from the road trip. Actually, the graduation ceremony was the only reason I went back to Lehigh instead of going straight home to Jersey. But, as it happens, it worked out fine.

The next few days I spent at home are pretty much a blur. Monica, Robbie's girlfriend, came to visit. She flew in on Wednesday. Mom and I thought it would be a fantastic idea to rearrange all of the furniture before she got here. We weren't happy with the layout of the living room and the den, so we were just like, fuck it, let's switch them. So we did. and it surprisingly turned out really really well. My favorite black, leather sectional couch is in the den, where the big TV is. and the two leather chairs and the round side table got moved to the living room, where it's much more secluded. Moving furniture is actually a pain in the ass. But the entire time, I couldn't help but say "I'm having so much fun", because I was having fun. I'm a big fan of moving furniture around. Anyway, Monica is here, and she's from Cali and went to school with Rob at Boulder in CO. She's a total doll. I love her. We hung out for a while. I learned that the game Heads UP! is actually dangerous. (see instagram). At some point I saw Pitch Perfect 2 with Elizabeth. I got a good laugh from it, although it was a bit short of a cinematographic masterpiece. Then, one of the days, I shut my finger in the front door of the house and ripped some skin off of it.

The highlight of my life so far since summer has started was Memorial Day Weekend. Which also was my cousin Jake's birthday (and the twins, Carly and Lyndsie). I picked up Josh from his cousin's house in Colts Neck on Friday morning and we went to Normandy Beach to prep for the weekend. Sam and Jake got there shortly after us and we had a lot of work to do. We had to finish decorating the garage with picture frames and make sure there is enough room for people to sleep. Jake and Sam pull up in a huge pick-up truck and in the truck bed is, I shit you not, a pig. No, not a live one. Picture this cold, wet, dead little piggy who was gutted, tied up, and put in a bag. I didn't even know what to say. But their plan for the weekend was a pig roast. They had two kegs, and just armfuls and armfuls of booze. Josh and my first job was to get to WaWa as fast as we could to pick up ice for this pig. How much ice do you need to keep a pig cold? I dunno, do you? Nope. 18 bags of ice sound good? yep. So that's what we bought. A few of Jake's and Sam's friends got there on Friday night, and we hung out at the house and got to know each other a little. It's sometimes hard for me when I'm there because all the cousins, Jake Josh and Sam, all seem to know each others friends, or at least, it seems that way to me. And not many people know me. So going into this weekend, I knew 4 people that were going to be there. At most, there was about 30 people there. However, by the end of the weekend, we were chatting and had said that everyone there was really, really great company.

Saturday morning we woke up at 8am to get the pig roasting. People just started showing up at all hours of the day, we got some games going, some music playing, and there was just some good, wholesome fun. I learned a few new drinking games, and made some new friends. It was awesome. I can't explain much more to you, because "What Happens At Club Grieco, Didn't Happen", but I will do my best. By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, I found myself asleep in the garage on the couch, awoken only by a group of 5 people that I didn't know but they knew me, dancing around and singing one direction. It was probably about 5pm and I heard the song "Kiss You" and it happens to be a favorite of mine. So I got up, put on my snapback (that wasn't really mine, it was Cam's, who is one of those girls that books are written about, my god) and my sunglasses, and danced. and sang. and rallied for the day. I'm pretty sure I was hungover by that time, but a few (seven) ibuprofen later, and I was fine. Before I knew it, there was talk of "wanna go out?" "when are we going to Hemmingways?" "who's all going?". Shots were taken, mostly of fireball, mostly out of sea shells, Ubers rolled up, people were scrambling around. It was a free for all. But somehow, we all ended up at the same club, and even managed to grab a booth. Bar or a club? I honestly don't know the difference. I think it has to do with size. I would rather not say what happened at Hemmingways that night because A) I don't really even remember and B) the parts I do remember do not need to be repeated on the internet. But you can only imagine that it was a damn good time.

That night I slept on a half-inflated air mattress with no pillow and no blanket. Woke up and found my phone, and a full bottle of water on the bed. I love you, Nalgene water bottle. Never let me down this entire weekend. Checked my wallet; ID, check. Credit Card, check. we made it folks. we did it. We got our lives together and made it to the beach. I tried to prevent a sun burn, but alas, that shit is inevitable. I even purchased a bottle of sunscreen for myself, and applied rigorously, the most rigorously I've ever applied in May. Yet, still sunburn. I purchased the most beautiful Navy Spirit Jersey that has Normandy Beach written on the back. It's something that I would steal from somebody if they owned it. But now I own it, so I don't even have to steal it. Sunday night we held a Beer Pong tournament. Played with random partners of either Boy/Girl, or Girl/Girl. It was absolutely boss. I had such a good time. Ridiculous. My partner was Becca, this short, curly haired girl who was easily as good as I was at beer pong. Our first team we played was her boyfriends team, and we ended up beating them. I hit the last cup, and it was great. We celebrated so hard. We lost our second and third games, knocking us out of the tournament, but the two teams that we lost to were the ones who ended up in the final four. So, I don't feel that bad. I don't know what even Sunday night was, I think it was pretty chill, and I wish I could say more, but I can't. I have some snapchats of the night I might post on here with this post. I haven't decided yet if I will. but, what happens at club grieco, didn't happen.

Monday morning people started rollin out, and the clean up started. I bet you're wondering, where are the parents in this situation? Well. Because of the entire party, my aunt and uncle left for the weekend to stay at another cousin's house. absolutely absurd. My aunt is completely anal about her house, and keeping it clean, and basically it just got trashed. We cleaned up as best we could before she came home. I thought it looked pretty good. the rest of sunday was spent on the beach, soakin in them rays. and by that I mean getting more sunburned. This weekend was one for the books, and if you were there, you know, and if you weren't, then you just can't.

Josh and three of his friends and I got dinner at the Patio Bar last night and it was just the perfect end to the weekend. The sun was setting, our table was at the edge of the deck, looking out over the bay, there was live music playing, we had drinks and shrimps and oysters (yes I tried one) and nachos and calamari and clams and lobster rolls, and it was just fantastic. I've never had a summer start out so great.

Both of my brothers had the stomach flu last night, so we spent the night in watching Harry Potter. I fell asleep on the couch at 9pm and woke up in my bed at 11am. You could say that I was wiped out. I woke up this morning and walked into my mom's office to over hear a phone conversation of her and my step father about my dog, Ted. If you aren't aware, this dog is the love and light of my life. I have never met a more amazing, brilliant, loving and sweet creature in my life. He loves easier than any human could ever love, and he loves me. A rare trait to find for me. So as you could imagine, hearing that he jumped out the window of my family's Tahoe going 50mph almost brought me to tears. I almost started yelling. but once I calmed down, I had to wait until my step dad got home and brought him inside. He was limping a little, had a gash over his eye, and road rash all over. My step dad said he heard this huge noise and looked into his rearview, slamming on his brakes and almost hitting a pole trying to pull over, all while watching his baby puppy dog go tumbling down the shoulder of the road. Boom, boom, boom, this poor dog just slammed along the highway. Just hearing this story was horrifying. I cannot imagine watching it happen in person, because my step dad loves this dog more than I do, and I say that with full confidence, and I love this dog more than myself. Mom took him to the vet and they patched him all up, nothing too serious, but he has to wear a cone so he doesn't bite off his bandages. My step dad took the Tahoe to the cleaner to get the blood and fur out of the carpets. My family is so busy that unfortunately they can't be home for a portion of the night to take care of the pup, so that's where I come in. I'm sitting on the couch, with this baby at my feet, miserable in his cone, watching chopped and typing up the blog. I don't have a strict schedule, so fortunately I was here to watch him. I'm making sure he's happy and is not licking his bandages. I also have to hand feed him and water him because his cone makes sure he can't hit the ground.

I'm so sunburned it hurts my insides. This is nowhere near my worst burn, but it's still not pleasant. It's a light burned glaze over my whole body. I'm looking to eat some dinner sometime soon, and can't stop craving fried chicken.  If anybody wants to come over and have dinner with me, I wouldn't say no.

this post is super long. I didn't even proof read. no regrets. I should probably either blog more frequently, or have less detailed blogs. But let's face it, if you've made it to the bottom of this blog, then you had the time to read the whole thing anyway. and now, I leave you with the song of the weekend: Trap Queen.

Illinois thru Ohio

10:50pm Saturday Night (typing to you from room 319 at the Hampton Inn and Suites: Youngstown, Ohio)

Robbie woke up today looking and sounding like he had the plague. Alarm went off at 5:30am and he took a shower. Then immediately came out and had the chills and was shaking and went back to bed. Hmm. More sleep for us I suppose. 8am rolls around and we make the call the Rob is too sick to drive today. I run around the hotel looking for advil or some sort of fever reducer/pain reliever, and also deodorant (because one of us that isn't me forgot it). I grab and butter 4 pieces of toast, some capt'n crunch, and a hot tea to bring upstairs from the complimentary breakfast. Rob falls asleep and I get to shower. I come out and he's asleep in the bed with a plate of toast on top of him. Kid must've been tired.

Checkout and hit the road. Drive .2 miles and stop at target. Purchases include: twin pack of tooth brushes, a razor for me, and some starbucks. ok WE OUT. I know I'm the solo driver for at least six hours, so earlier this morning while I was letting Rob sleep I made a six+ hour long spotify playlist. and it didn't let me down. We hunkered down for some solid driving, and I drove straight through two tanks of gas, making only two stops for gas/food. The first leg of the trip it was pouring. So badly. I actually had to turn my hazards on and drive 40mph. I could barely see the car in front of me, let alone the rest of the road. It proceeded to rain for most of the state of Illinois and Indiana.

I've started to make a mental list throughout this road trip, and wanted to write it down to remember it. It's called..

Top 50 Most Mildly Annoying Things That Happen to Me (in order of when I think of them)
1.) Driving behind and next to three Tractor Trailer Trucks
2.) Having somebody pass you on the right
3.) Having to slam on your breaks because everyone in front of you sees a cop and throws out the anchor
4.) Having your last hair tie snap while you're putting your hair up.
5.) Forgetting to Pack a key toiletry, such as toothpaste or deodorant.

More to come, as soon as more mildly annoying things happen to me. Today was severely uneventful. I drove for seven hours straight, from 11am Central time to 6:42 central time. Filled up for gas, and Rob drove us the last hour to the Hotel in Youngstown, Ohio.

The room isn't as nice as last nights room, but the beds are the same. With the same sheets and pillows. The bathroom in this hotel room is waaaay less fancy than in Peru, Illinois (where we stayed last night also in a Hampton Inn&Suites). Mom googled us a restaurant to go to, and it ended up being two buildings away from our hotel. It was called the Station Square. It was a semi-fancy semi-casual Italian Restaurant. Now, seeing that our step dad owns an amazing Italian Restaurant, sometimes it seems insane to go to other ones, especially when we don't know if they're decent before hand. The first things that gets brought to us that we ordered were our soup/salad, shrimp cocktail appetizer we ordered, and the bread. oh the bread. It was literally sandwich bread. Like white bread. Like wonderbread if I had to choose a brand name to give it. It was a rocky start for us, but the entrees were pretty good, as were the shrimp cocktail and soups/salads. Overall 5/10, might go back again. Wine was good. I got a glass of wine. Because legal and I can. Rob and I chatted about how different we are and why we manage to get on each other's nerves so quickly. We decided that we are so similar in some ways, and too different in others. I'm a macro and he's a micro. Plain and simple.

Post dinner coma. Rob facetimes girlfriend Monica. who is visiting us in NJ for Ten whole days. the excitement is real. She was going to smuggle Robbie some In-N-Out burgers the day she left, but she is leaving too early so they won't be open. Disappointment.

Final grades went on the internet today. I got 2 B+'s and 4 A's. 3.75 semester GPA? I'll take it I suppose.

Snap chat is my favorite application for social media. Like, if I had to pick one. add me ;). alywang.

I think I see a trip to Houston, Texas in my future. Whether that future is in my sleep tonight or in real life later this summer, I'm not sure.

Now, currently, Listening to the Smiths, putting some more songs on my extensive spotify playlist, and writing this blog. No idea what time my alarm should be set for tomorrow, and I don't even care. I'm just gonna sleep until I wake up. Night night.

Distance of day 2

Total distance (~1200 miles)

LOL at the Peru Hampton Inn. come on. 

mmmm clean white sheets

because I'm super fly now. 

So disappointed with the bread sitution

SURF AND TURF good god.

Holy Cow

So in case you were wondering, there is nothing in the state of Nebraska. (Nebr for short, pronounced "nebber"). Except cows. There are more cows than people in Nebraska.

Pit stop #1 Ogallala, Nebraska

Pit stop #2 Henderson, Nebraska 

Starbucks pit stop. Who brings their dog into Starbucks? Of course it's a small little dog. People eat here. Stop. Or people could be allergic. Stop bringing your pets into indoor public places with food and beverage.

Apparently my name is "Allil" now.. 

1:55pm central standard time. Oh my Omaha. The thunderstorm we are stuck in right now is ridiculous. Grey skies as far as the eye can see, rain falling like bricks, lightening bolts across the clouds and thunder that makes you say "wow I felt that one". 

This was pre-storm. we decided that if we saw a tornado we would pull over immediately... To take a picture with it.

"If your chicken is delicious enough, you can hate whatever group you want" - rob in regards to chicken fil-a and gay rights ... 

Driving for I don't even know how long. In the middle of Rob's second shift, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. Good decision. It started downpouring again while we were inside. Finally pass through Omaha, out of Nebraska and into Iowa. 

I left SIX... I'm pretty sure that makes me a straight up dumbass. 

Warm and sunny welcome from the people of Iowa... Or naw. 

5:38pm (central time?) Robs throat is really hurting him, so we make it all the way to outside of Des Moines before we make a pit stop and switch. They sell alcohol in every single rest stop we've been at so far. Just casual convenient stores. Only with alcohol. Tempted to purchase and consume. Now we are sitting at an Urgent Care in the middle of Des Moines trying to get him fixed. 

Mom just texted me telling us that there was a tornado in Denver and tornado warnings in Nebraska. Never have I ever been more glad to be in Iowa.

I have to be the worlds worst road trip partner. I always have to pee. At least once an hour. We only stop every 3 hours. So. Yeah. 

I've discovered a new friend who likes to text me as much as I like to text them. And if you're reading this, I'm still not sick of you yet. 

Bought myself a map of the country's interstates, so I'm gonna go map our route on it while I wait for rob in urgent care. I'm fooling around with the map and say to Rob "hmm look it's Des Moines" but I said it like "dezz moin-eez" and some lady from across the waiting room goes "it's pronounced Des Moines (deh moin)" and I almost laughed out loud. I'm thinking to my self, well yeah no shit. But instead all I let myself say was "I know" 

6:32pm. Still waiting at urgent care. I just wanted to note that one of my favorite books, Paper Towns by John Green is becoming a movie, and it comes out July 24th. The excitement is real. Hopefully they call rob soon because we are burning daylight. Illinois by nightfall might not happen. 

12:05am

Rob had strep throat. Classic. After 2 hours at urgent care and twenty minutes at CVS, we were at a fork in the road. Do we carry on to Illinois as planned and stay at a hotel, or do we call it an early nigh and stay in Des Moines, making up for lost time tomorrow. It was my turn to drive, so I drank my third redbull of the day and thought I was ready to go. Turns out my hard limit for redbulls per day is 2. Good to know. Had to stop at Wendy's. I felt like I had been drugged. Ate 10 nuggets. And a JCBD. Made rob drive for an hour while I recovered from high and crash. Crossed the Mississippi River, it was amazing. A little dark out, but the river was really wide, and the bridge was huge and green and had pretty architecture. There was a boat in the water with flashing rainbow lights all over it. It looked somewhat out of place, but also completely appropriate. I drove last 50 minute leg of the trip, and just as we were getting on each other's last nerve, we pulled into the hotel. Two full sized beds, one for each, and it's heavenly. It smells super clean and the bathroom is really nice. 

I have to wake up at 5:30am and its 12am. Which means I'm wrapping this and posting it. By the time most of you read this Saturday morning, I will be hopefully somewhere close to Indiana. 

I met a boy on my flight from Allentown if you recall, and he had this awesome app that requires gps but it tells you everywhere you've been in the world, as long as you set it to record.

This is our trip so far minus where I forgot to record in Iowa. Oops. 

It's not a Boulder, it's a rock

Have you ever used the app "Speech Jammer"? If you have a decent pair of ideally noise canceling head phones and a friend, I suggest you download it for a good time. If you aren't sure what to do, just google "speech jammer" or search it on YouTube. I tried recording mine and Robbie's experience but it didn't work. Try it out! 

Woke up Thursday morning, on the floor, underneath Robbie's bed, in a sleeping bag. Food. Now plz. There's this amazing breakfast place on Pearl St called Snooze. I went there once back in fall of 2013. Absolutely worth it. Breakfast pot pie (Robbie's 3 favorite things he he he) and sweet potato pancakes, followed by a Bloody Mary. Breakfast of champions. 

The bloody had sriracha in it . So hot. So tasty. And basil and cilantro. Ugh. Yes. 

After a quick stop at Starbucks, we made our way out to the town of Estes Park and then the Rocky Mountain National Park. Basically wild elk everywhere, and mule deer, but sadly no big horned sheep. I could tell you about it but I could also show you pictures. In Estes Park we passed the hotel that The Shining was based loosely off of. (The Stanley, which unfortunately I didn't get a picture of)

Mule deer

Elk

Elk

Couple of kids geekin out. Lol. "One word. Just. Damn"

Made our way to Rob's house, which is conveniently located across the street from his fraternity's house. Which, by the way, puts Lehigh's to shame. Their property takes up an entire block. They have a huge fraternity house with a yard and a balcony and three flag poles and a giant buffalo statue in front. They have a gazebo, a basketball court, and a volleyball court. On the north side of "the main" is "the north" which is a smaller house filled by the brothers. To the other side of the main is the West, then the Far West, then the West Coast. The property is just massive. Filling the volleyball courts on this hot afternoon were four huge ruit tables and 30 shirtless guys. Except they weren't playing ruit. They were playing "Beer Die". It kind of looked like corners with teams of two and beer in front of both of them, except you take a die (like for a board game.. Like numbered 1-6) and chuck it as high as you can in the air and try to land it on the opponents half of the table. When it bounces off of the table, your opponent has to try in catch it with one hand in a swiping motion. If they miss it, you get a point. First to seven points wins. Also, making it into the opponent's glass of beer gets you points. I gave it my best shot, and lost terribly with rob. Although my catching was adequate, my die tossing was sub par. And the height requirement is as high as the table is wide. I'm bringing this game to Lehigh. Die is life. 

Next stop was my friend Kianna's house! She's from Colorado and goes to Lehigh with me, and as soon as she heard I was gonna be in Colorado she invited us to dinner. She lives fairly close to rob so we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed over. We pull up to two 8 year olds (one being her brother) pelting soccer balls at one another in the front yard. Kianna's mom, Darlene, who is an absolute joy, convinced Robbie to cook the burgers, and dinner was on its way. Sweet potato fries and baked beans and salad. Also homemade pesto paste by Darlene, was soooo good. We hung out and chatted and the 4 of us finished the wine and decided it was time to go. Finally got to say goodbye to Kianna, since she left Lehigh without saying goodbye (imma let it slide), and we made our way back to Pleasant Street for our last night in CO. 

Stayed up late hanging out with robs roommates and fraternity brothers. Off campus houses here are similar to Lehigh. 3rd floor lofts full of couches and assorted paraphernalia. OH. Also this school calls the place where the Greek houses and other off campus houses "The Hill" just like Lehigh. And they also have a bar called "the goose". Twins. 

Alarms set for 3am were unpleasant. Took a shower and packed an entire bedroom worth of stuff into his tiny yellow  xterra and said goodbye to Boulder for the last time. This pack job is prime. I'm posting this from the road, it's 6:55am here. We got Starbucks (matcha) for breakfast, accompanied by Einstein bagels sandwiches and spare bagels for later. 

That was about halfway filled.

Yellow Robbie ! I win. 

At the convenience store. 

We chose the northern route. Colorado to Nebraska to Iowa to Illinois and stop near Chicago for the night, to Indiana to Ohio to Pennsylvania and stopping in Bethlehem for the second night. We just went through the most ridiculous fog i have ever seen in my life, followed by some rain, and then nothing. We were super confused.

In Robbie's impersonation of the words of one of the Klansmen from Django Unchained, "I can't see fuckin' shit". 

Sunrise.

"This ain't a rap song, this is my life" 

Colorado Road Trip Part 1

1:55pm
Hallo! this is the first installment of my cross country road trip. It begins with me waking up and folding five loads of laundry. Whoaaa!! crazy. Nah. I have a lot of prep work to do before I go. I have to jam 4 days worth of clothes into a backpack, keeping in mind the bizarre weather of Colorado. I have to print boarding passes, wash my sperry's in the kitchen sink, get the fish I'm babysitting to another babysitting. Fill my car up with gas so I can park it at Birkel while I'm gone (thanks frisbee girls! xo). I was at the gas station and attempted to use the window cleaner thing, and my car now looks like a mess. The windows are clean but the drippings of the water dragged down all of the pollen that was on the rest of my car into these horrific streaky messes. It looks god awful anywhere that isn't the windshield or the back window. oops. Next stop CVS, for mini-sized everything!! mini shampoo (moroccan argan oil DUH) mini conditioner, mini body wash, mini deodorant, mini tooth paste, a regular sized tooth brush, and even mini gold bond body power (I use it all the time and it's magic and I suggest you try it out, but it was so cute in mini form I had to buy it). If you are wondering why I'm purchasing mini items, I'm not starting a circus. I'm travelling with only a carry-on and the TSA likes to make life difficult and you can only have small items of liquids and stuff with you. boo. but yay for minis!

Sitting on the couch waiting for Stella to get back from the bar. and yes, it is the middle of the afternoon. After that, it's chipotle and airport time. WOO.

8:04 pm

Sitting on the plane in Charlotte waiting to leave for Denver.

Got chipotle with Jenna

Made it to airport 

Sat on floor on the opposite wall of some kid. We were both charging our phones at the same time. I was leaning on one side of this wall and he was on the opposite. For some reason I knew that it wouldn't be the last time I saw him.

Also, checked my final grades, they're posted for one class. Guess what? I got a fricken 100% on my psych final exam. Not to say that I'm awesome but that's the first 100% ive gotten on an exam ever. And it was a final. 

I sat in the 13th and last row on plane, window seat, opposite of bathroom. Kid that sits next to me is same kid from wall. Of course. Name is mike. The Flight attendant comes around and I'm 21. Mike told me he drank for the first time ever a day before his graduation. I am the best person he could have sat next to. I didn't have cash so he bought drinks gor is both. We bonded over Smash bros. he lost a bet to me about whether or not Sonic was in Brawl. I was right. Loser had to buy the other a drink in Charlotte during our layover. Yes. Turns out this kid has lived in Indonesia. And hes lived in Qatar. Which so happens, "Qatar" is pronounced kuh-tar not cutter. At Charlotte buys me drink at bar. Make it two. Introducing kid who doesn't drink to whiskey sours. Gotta do it right. Grabbed some Bojangles for the plane. Best decision.

8:57pm (no idea what time zone im in). I am so mad at myself. I didn't pack my camera. I have this beautiful canon DSLR that my grandma got me for Christmas two years ago and I didn't bring it. Now I have to document this entire road trip with my cellphone. Ugh. Why have nice things if you don't even remember to bring them with you when it counts?

Like, I remembered to bring my laptop and forgot my camera. I'm barely even going to use my laptop. I could've used my camera the entire time. Boooo on me. Whatever. Gotta cut my losses and stop complaining. 

Finished eating my bojangles. ITS BO TIME. Best slogan ever. Being in the window seat and having to put your ass in two peoples faces to get up to go to the bathroom is never a pleasant time. But at least I have a nice butt, and I'm wearing spandex. So, you're welcome. 

Why did trivia crack die? 

9:49pm Still no concept of time zones. Turbulence, I can feel it. "Please fasten your seat belts" comes out of the speakers. I look to my right and gaze out the window into the night. It's black, and the infinite blackness is interrupted every .7 seconds by the white light on the wing. It reflects off of the particles of the cloud we are in and lights up my entire field of vision. Bursts of light and darkness. I took a picture but it didn't do it the slightest bit of justice. It was really freaky. 

10:01pm descent into Denver. So much turbulence. Oh My god. It makes me question how these things stay in the air at all. 

Found Robert at the airport!! 

The drive from Denver to Boulder where rob lives was surprisingly quick. Got to his house, chilled with his roommates, drew and Dylan. Super awesome guys. Watched Kingsmen. The dopest movie I've ever seen, and hilarious. For real go watch it. 

Bed time. "Where am I sleeping?" "Well I have a sleeping bag and a floor" holy shit was it a sleeping bag alright... I felt like a caterpillar on steroids.

It was beautiful. I emerged a butterfly. 

Sleep time. Goodnight Boulder. Can't wait for day two. 

look at this graph

trollolol

this video is too much . I actually can't. repeat x1000000

Woke up. econ final. crushed it. HA. jk. at one point during that exam, running through my head went, "I'm going to get a 10 on this final. I'm going to get 12 out of 120 questions right and fail." Econ, Y U SO HARD?

done. I'm so done. the final final. it's complete. emily took me to lunch at On the Border and I got a celebratory margarita. because i'm 21 and i can. It was cactus flavored. and neon pink. and it cost more than my lunch. worth it.

Go home to my house and the door is open. running through my head, "i'm going to get murdered. there is a townie who broke into my house and he's going to murder me". Luckily it was just Fiene and Steph moving Fiene's stuff from this house into their new house. So the rest of the day was spent almost killing ourselves, moving mattresses, dressers, and desks to and fro. I got to ride on the trunk of Fiene's car with the back hatch open, legs dangling out the back, holding onto the dresser so it didn't fall out. Or so I didn't fall out. I think it was mutually beneficial. Best moment of the day. Two hours after I had lunch I had dinner at Jenny's with steph, fiene, and jenna. All three of them left today to go home. More goodbyes. ugh.

Did so much laundry today. three loads done, and none of them are folded. It's 1:22am. and I don't plan on folding them until tomorrow.

Packed up most of my room, because, guess what, TOMORROW I get to go to Colorado. I am so excited. flight booked out of Allentown airport, 4:55pm departure, layover in North Carolina, get to Denver by 10pm. and then, the adventure begins. can't wait to write about all the shenanigans that happen over the next few days, so keep a look out for that.

Played Cards against Humanity, aka my favorite game, with my housemate Julia and her guy friends. It was so funny but at one point I was literally the biggest asshole that ever lived. The category card was "Instead of coal, santa now gives bad children __________" and my answer was "Dead Parents". Everybody laughed so hard it was the funniest combination that was played in the entire game. However, it turns out, the kid who was the judge for that round had his father pass away THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. Tell me I'm not a horrible person. He didn't tell me that until after the game was over. But he told me it was the funniest pairing of cards he had ever played with. Thank god he's a good sport. almost equally as bad, the card for Julia (who's jewish) was "how did I die" and the winning card that was played was "Auschwitz" I also got a card played on me from Julia that was "The Gays", so it all evens out in the end. everybody gets offended at least one. but I still felt like an asshole.

Made my way to Birkel. I have somehow managed to assimilate myself into the Frisbee community, which I am so thankful for. Despite the fact that I'm not on the team with them, those people are some of the best I've met at Lehigh. Lots of power hours and corners and policemen later, I can happily say this was a successful last night on Lehigh's campus after finals. I am officially a senior in college. Is that frightening to you? because it's frightening to me. oh my god.

Anyway, tomorrow Stella *frisbee name for Jenna* agreed to drive me to the airport and get chipotle with me before I go. Thanks Stella! I'll keep you posted on all that stuff, hopefully with pictures and crazy stories.

Until then,
A

Jamming out to this in my car lately on repeat. don't know why. lyrics I guess. 

Econ got me like.

woke up Monday morning, laptop next to me, fully clothed from Sunday night, leaning up against the wall. Emilia walks in and i wake up. she laughs. I take a moment to realize I fell asleep and slept until morning. Lost my phone the night before. scramble to my night stand and shuffle through the top drawer, looking for a watch. got it. 6:28am. shit. back to bed.

woke up, check the time, 10:39am. DAMMIT. Claire had a tattoo appointment at 10am I was supposed to take her to. what if she'd been trying to call me. I missed it. I'm the worst. JK. open laptop, message her, place doesn't open until 12. got appointment moved to 5pm. Okay probably time to get up.

Wheres my phone? I need a shower. facebook message emily, phone is in her pocket. ok good. I can just use my laptop all day. no biggie. Showered. put laundry in the washer. I actually had to go purchase a new pair of norts from the bookstore today because I didn't have any clean ones. Black with yellow and pink strips on the sides. badass actually.

I've decided that we don't need cell phones. you just see the people you want to talk to in person. and you can e-mail them. but you don't need to be textin people 24/7. unhealthy. I wish I lost my phone all the time.

I had to say some goodbyes today. Firstly to Emilia. I'm going to miss you sleeping on the other side of the door. and watching crappy movies. and going to Red Robin all the time. And being at the movies so much but never once making it on a Tuesday. Falling asleep with the door open, talking to each other about how great you are. *insert eye roll here*. Binge eating twix bars. I'm not sure how you tolerated the messy state of my room this entire semester, but I'm happy you did. Until August, meels.

Next, my friend Caroline, who was an exchange student from Ireland here is leaving today. I didn't even get a chance to give her a proper goodbye because I was too busy. Caroline, I knew since the moment I busted into Brad's apartment that one snowy January night that we would be friends. and I was right. I'm gonna miss you tons. And I will never call fries chips... unless They're at mccarthys, and they're cheese curry chips. in which case, yes, chips. aye. I'll miss ya. and if I have time, you know I'll be making a trip to Ireland this summer. Or Bristol? or wherever you are moving to.

Drove with Emac to my storage unit. Mattress tied down to the roof of her car. The anxiety level was 10/10.

Sitting in an auditorium of Lewis Laboratory since 5pm. It's 6:42 and my review starts at 7. Trying to work through an Econ practice exam. Failed attempts. I want to crawl under the seats and take a nap.

BIG NEWS. I'm actually so excited about this. My brother just graduated from CU Boulder (woop!) and has to drive his car and his stuff back to Jersey. So guess who gets to fly out to Colorado and take a CROSS COUNRY ROAD TRIP back with her big brother? THIS GIRL. You don't even know how excited I am. If all of the plans work out, then I should be flying out of Newark possibly Thursday at some point, and then packing and leaving the next day. Might even get a layover in dallas-fort worth airport. (texas woop!) I've already been procrastinating studying by looking up routes back to jersey from CO. One of them goes through northern places, like CO, Nebraska(lincoln and omaha), Illinois(chicago), Indiana, Iowa, Ohio(cleveland), and PA. the other one goes through CO, kansas(kansas city), missouri(st louis), illinois, indiana , ohio (columbus), and PA. I guess it's up to robbie, I've never driven across the country before and he has. Which route do you think would be more fun?

Review session was boring and unhelpful. Such a let down. I fell asleep face down in my notes. Time for Wawa? yes. Grabbed my freshies Jordan and K-Wu and we out. even got to take Jordan's Wawa virginity.

"how do I get a soda?" *standing in front of coke machine*
"where are the lids?" *lids are in container directly in front of her.*
she actually almost got lost at one point.

Two redbulls, a quesadilla and a pretzel later, we are at the library studying our faces off. I went through TWO old finals for this class. did i mention they were 120 multiple choice questions each? TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTY questions later... And when i say "went through" I mean trying to answer each question on our own, then using books/google/resources to teach ourselves the correct answer. If I don't get an A in this class, then I want a refund.

Note to self : red bull is amazing. just caffeine in general, really.

Had to say goodbye to Trina tonight. One of my favorite people on this campus. There were tears. Trina I'mma miss you so much. I know you won't be visiting, considering you're all the way in the LV, but I'll be missin you like cray. Please come back asap. August can't come soon enough.

Last goodbye of the day was to my Glittle (grand little aka little's little) hayden. Of course she was wearing a sweatshirt with dollar billz pattern on it. "lookin like a million bucks". Classic hayden. Have fun in Arkansas. or is that an oxymoron? what do they even have in arkansas? besides tshirts.

it's 2:53am and I'm in bed. Emilia's room is empty. This is the first time this semester where I've slept in my room knowing that at no point tomorrow morning, Emilia is going to walk through it and wake me up.

What have I learned today? shit ton of econ. and that goodbyes are hard and I hate them. but it's so worth it because I actually have people that make saying goodbye hard. I like having people to miss. Because then I get to look forward to seeing them again.

Good vibes

I just want to say that through it all, I've found some of the best friends I could ever ask for here at Lehigh. My housemates in the Taylor Gang, you guys are amazing. and I'm so fortunate to have you fools as my day-in and day-out homies. As for the birkel and ideas crowd, you people are more than I could have ever asked for as friends. you've given me a home outside of home. you've given me a place to be truly myself without a blink of judgment. A place to play corners, a porch to paint and ponder life on, a couch to take cat naps on, and a home to cry my eyes out in when life gets too hard. I never could have imagined having friends like you guys. and if you read this, I just want you to know that you're my best friends, and you mean the world to me, and this summer is going to be filthy. in the best way possible. I'm thinking the jersey shore, Canada, Wisconsin, Lake houses and cabins, and possibly colorado and THE LV. (and I don't mean the Lehigh Valley. I'm talkin' Vegas).

Tonight I went to dinner for the last time with my irish friend Caroline, I rode on 387 out the sunroof of a car, I studied a little bit of econ and realized that playing drinking games in the basement with good people and good music was a lot more fun. I climbed a tree (even though you told me not to, mom) and made friends that I already had but now are solidified as friends. (Pistol, we make a dream team, whether you read this or not).

This semester has taken a 180 for me, and if you've been a part of it, thank you. I'm only thanking you if you've been a positive part of it for me. If you've been a negative part for me, and you're reading this, I want you to question why. and then I challenge you to either be a positive part of my life, or not in it at all.

Here's to being 21. and having really good friends. and realizing life is more than the bad things that happen. It's all about the good things. It's all about the good vibes. Find them and ride them, my friends. Good vibes are sometimes all we have to hang on to. Here's to a good summer, and an even better senior year.

So this is what 21 feels like

Saturday night 1am, sitting at a shitty bar sucking on a whiskey sour, with a not so shitty boy and the prospect of possible sex at the end of the night. (which was great btw). A friend of an old friend comes up to me to say hi. we chit chat, he asks unknowingly about a friend I'm no longer friends with. Before he walks away, he seems as if he's forgotten to tell me something. He says, just so you know, I really like what you write in your blog. Back a couple months ago, when I read it, I really liked it.

Now mind you, I have maybe spent half an hour total with this person in my life. I know his first name, and saw him here and there freshmen year. He's a friend of a used-to-be mutual friend. Something about hearing this from him reminded me that I like writing in my blog. regardless of who reads it. I posted this on my first post ever, but this blog is for me, and not for anybody else.

I have a hell of a summer planned after these finals are over, and senior year coming up. And you know what? I want to blog about it. and the people in it. and the things that happen. and the way they make me feel. I want to blog at 2am about what's eating away at my soul. I want to post about all the people that make me happy and all of the stupid and ridiculous things we do together. I'm documenting this for my future self. Or if I spontaneously combust or die or something, you all can have something permanent to go back to and read. But mostly, I'm doing it because I want to. I want to and so I'm going to. and if you're not okay with what I post, then you should probably stop reading it. And if you are okay with it, then I welcome you to the journey.

I have my last final coming up on Tuesday, and I'm procrastinating studying to write this post. but I would like you to know I plan on crushing it. Despite how much the sound of 120 multiple choice questions makes me want to throw up.

I have a lot of high hopes for the year of 21. and most of them involve doing the shit I want to do with the people I care about, and nothing and nobody else.

As George Washington once said, "Fuck the Haters".

-A