Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe: Blond

Until their extinction (which will happen eventually), blonds will always be equally hated and worshiped; Worshiped for the obvious "blond stereotype" - big boobs, angelic hair, hot bods:And yet, they will always be hated as well (usually by sad brunettes, but still). Blonds are twice as likely to get made fun of for the apparent stupidity that comes with their hair color and twice as likely to be perceived as bitchy - a dumb bitch is the worst kind, just saying: Anyway. I'm not one to judge based off of looks... ok that's a lie, I did leave one beach the other day in favor of another because the previous beach "had too many trashy hoes"... But really, I'm not going to discriminate against you because of your hair color. Usually.

Last night, three of my best gal pals aka: Fab 4 went to see Sex and the City 2 it was fabulous, a total visual feast - and now I'm on a complete Middle East kick.We got all dressed up according to our specific "character" and headed out to the theatre looking outrageous, in a good way. Liz and I chose seats smack dab in the middle of a row seated behind another group of gal pals. The girls in front of us - hence forth known as "the other girls" - were older, not as dressed up as we were, and to put it mildly, lacked the sparkle and youth that our group had. Not to say these girls were old at all, they were probably seniors in college? Idk, either way they were old enough to have acquired some tact in their lifetimes.

During the previews, it is common place for patrons of the theatre to chit chat, ooh and ah at the various coming attractions and to generally get out all of the last minute chatter before the featured film begins. Well apparently the other girls didn't find this appropriate because throughout the 7 minutes of previews we were shot several "judgment glances" (as Sarah likes to call them). This is the tell-tale sign of a bitchy girl. How necessary is it to crane your neck and shoot a mean mug at the people sitting behind you? NUMEROUS times??? I'll tell you - its NOT necessary. It is ONLY necessary if the movie was already started and the "obnoxious behavior" going on behind you is consistent. I have had many moments myself where I've shot someone an evil glance OR done the polite-smile-I'm acknowledging you're obnoxious behavior- look. But several glances from about 7 different girls is a bit much, ladies. Now maybe that should have been a cue for us as a group to stop whispering or laughing etc BUT ITS THE PREVIEWS and everyone else in the theatre was doing the same thing. But our group isnt one to dwell on what other people think of us, so we said, "screw you bitchy girls" and kept on keeping on!

Well the first notes of the beginning music started and I said, "Ok guys, time to focus in!!" (and if the other girls were really paying such close attention to us, they would have heard said remark). So we all settled in our chairs ready for the movie. Well Bitchy McBitch in front of us was not going to go down without a fight. Suddenly, the blond of the group turned around to us, (She was clearly the "token bitch friend" and had probably been prodded by her cohorts to say something to us)

"OK SO! The movie is about to START?(upward inflection in a sentence that is in fact, NOT a question, denotes true stupid girl behavior) So if you could be quiet now, that would be GREAT."

We all looked at her with blank faces. I think Sarah muttered something that sounded like "Thank you" and I just looked at her gape-mouthed. With a flip of blond hair she spun back around and exchanged looks with the minion sitting next to her.

What?

I mean, I get it - you're here with your massive group of girl friends eating your nachos, perhaps brooding over a recent break up; it can be hard when a group of younger, much better looking, more lively girls come in and ruin your "ladies night". Nothing a good boxed wine cant fix. Trashy.

We all looked at each other equal parts embarrassed and confused. Then I just lost it and could not stop laughing - silently of course, I didn't want to disturb anyone....But then I got embarrassed again. I hate being talked to like I'm a child, let alone feeling like I'm 5 years old. But I was not about to have some dumb BLOND bitch ruin my night so I thought screw you, we're fabulous! and that was that!

And at the end of the day, I would say that we enjoyed our movie-going experience far more than the other girls did. We were laughing at all the jokes, and just loving every second! They just didn't look like they were having fun at all - either they didn't like the movie OR they all just had giant sticks up their butts (probably).

F4

Excuse me while I go sob in my vehicle...

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh nor more;
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never;
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into. Hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no mo,
Or dumps so dull and heavy;
The fraud of men was ever so,
Since summer first was leavy.
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into. Hey, nonny, nonny.


-Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing

Hello Summer My Old Friend, I've Come to Talk With You Again

Ah summer. A six-letter word that has the power to make children and adults squeamish with anticipation. It makes you think of vacation, sand and water; Bonfires and parties, shopping trips and sleep overs; BBQs and birthdays (mine is August 30th, thank you very much - holler to summer birthdays!) You work through an entire school year so that you can relax for 3 months once summer finally arrives. Well here it is. Summer is here!!!

To this day, I don't fully understand how parents/adults handle summer. Because to me, once you graduate college the whole idea of summer being a 3 month vacation goes bye-bye. This is one of the scariest realities of becoming an adult that I can think of. Forget children and job security, or making mortgage payments, or doing your taxes. No, losing summer is the worst adult "side effect" that I can think of. It honestly makes me want to cry and never grow up. I never understood why my dad would still go to work on a Tuesday in July, or why my mom couldn't just come spend the day at the beach with me. Summer vacation is kind of a fake-out. In school they teach you (literally) skills for life. You prepare for your future career and for the life you'll live once school is over. But they only teach you this stuff 9 out of the 12 months. The other 3 you spend doing all the childish activities you wish. But once you graduate and you have your diploma and you get that fabulous job at a fortune 500 company, summer will be just another season in the work-calendar year. How gross is that???

"Work" is a nasty thing. "I have to work" is probably the lamest expression known to man. Everyone has to work, I know. But when its a hot day in June and your friends have spent the entire day at the pool while you've been stuck inside working retail -- its a nauseating reality. And its so ironic! You make this money so that you can spend it on fun things, or so that you can save it for fun or important things down the road, and yet, while you're busy making the cash for the future fun things, you miss out on current fun things. *sigh*
I was determined to be in some musical this summer - determined. *Because apparently, the Us theatre department is just too good for that type of "culinary theatrical experience"* whatever. So I found a production that I thought looked good and was all set to audition. But then I got a really well-paying job that would interfere with most rehearsals....and so I chose the job (and the money) over the theatre. WA WAAAAA I felt like a total war criminal. Choosing money over your passion?! Who are you? Well I'm a poor college student who really wants to study abroad. Sooo that's that. No summer musicals for Catherine :( And once again money wins.
But for the time being, I am having the most fabulous time doing nothing. Watching movies and eating candy and laying outside are some of my favorite ways to spend the days. Until my job starts - (which is tomorrow) acting like a complete lazy ass is the only and best way to do summer.

Some Musings: A Rainy Day

*Rain makes things Beautiful

*Confirmed by Jim Noble: sidewalks, driveways and any other type of pavement look better wet. So in movies, photo shoots and TV shows (if set in a driveway for example), the pavement will be hosed down for the camera. Once you notice it, you wont be able to NOT notice it. So just know, the sidewalk you walk today looks that much better than it does on a sunny day.

*Rainy day fashion is so much fun - Trench coats, rain coats, wellies (or any other type of boot), fun umbrellas, hats, scarves etc etc. I love it! If I'm wearing boots, I purposefully walk through the puddles. Gotta love that childhood nostalgia.

*If you're late for a class on a rainy day and you walk in looking all disheveled - hair and clothes a little rain-altered - your entrance will not only be a little more epic, people probably wont care as much because its raining....because it really slows you down, right? "I got caught in the rain!" sooo cinematic.

*I've misplaced my umbrella, so I wear a pashmina on my head on days like today...and earlier, I was walking across the street and an East Indian woman was driving and came to an abrupt stop to let me cross. She smiled and waved me across the street from behind her steering wheel. Maybe she's just that sweet to everyone, but I swear, it was the headscarf. Lets be honest - it does make me look a little less "white"....which I love. Not that I do it for that reason, I just don't like my hair wet, I mean who does? ** That being said, if I could be any ethnicity, I would love to be East Indian, a la, Freida Pinto. Now you know.

*Rainy days create the possibility of turning any simple thought into something GENIUS. I bet you J.K Rolling did her best writing on rainy days. And I bet Degas created some of his best ballerinas on rainy days. It just makes sense - your mind is so much more engaged and contemplative. Rainy days cultivate creativity!

*On rainy days, I listen to French music. If you thought you had a good rainy day play list, just add some French stuff and your whole day will be MADE. Anything by Carla Bruni, Edith Piaf, or Madeleine Peyroux will do the job just fine. Even better, just type one of those names into Pandora and you'll be set.


*Today is the best Friday. Not only is it the last day of classes (!!!), but tonight, I get to go see the one, the only, BERNADETTE PETERS LIVE IN CONCERT

Its going to be magical.

Its gotten to that point: Obsession

Recently, my sister Elizabeth showed me some slam poetry/spoken word pieces and I'll let you know, I was hesitant...Slam Poetry? Seriously? But after hearing the first piece, and holding back tears I was hooked! Andrea Gibson is a remarkably talented poet who uses her poetry as a form of activism. Whether or not you agree with her messages, her words are haunting and beautiful and have made me cry and laugh and I have listened over and over again for the past couple of days.

Here are my favorites. I invite you to have an open mind and to expand your view of "poetry" by listening to her art.

"Photograph"


I wish I was a photograph
tucked into the corners of your wallet
I wish I was a photograph
you carried like a future in your back pocket
I wish I was that face you show to strangers
when they ask you where you come from
I wish I was that someone that you come from
every time you get there
and when you get there
I wish I was that someone who got phone calls
and postcards saying
wish you were here
I wish you were here

so wherever you are I hope you're happy
I really do
I hope the stars are kissing your cheeks tonight
I hope you finally found a way to quit smoking
I hope your lungs are open and breathing your life
I hope there's a kite in your hand
that's flying all the way up to orion
and you still got a thousand yards of string to let out
I hope you're smiling
like god is pulling at the corners of your mouth
cause I might be naked and lonely
shaking branches for bones
but I'm still time zones away
from who I was the day before we met
you were the first mile
where my heart broke a sweat
and I wish you were here
I wish you'd never left
but mostly I wish you well
I wish you my very very best

"Say Yes"


this is for the no becoming yes
, for scars becoming breath
, for saying i love you to people who will never say it to us.
 for scraping away the rust and remembering how to shine,
 for the dime you gave away when you didn't have a penny.
 for the many beautiful things we do
, for every song we've ever sung
. for refusing to believe in miracles
 because miracles are the impossible coming true, and everything is possible.

never go a second hushing the percussion of your heart
. play loud
. play like you know the clouds have left too many people cold and broken
 and you're their last chance for sun
. play like there's no time for hoping brighter days will come
, play like the apocalypse is only 4...3...2
 but you have a drum in your chest that could save us
. you have a song like a breath that could raise us, like the sunrise into a dark sky that cries to be blue. play like you know we won't survive if you don't, but we will if you do. play like saturn is on his knees proposing with all of his ten thousand rings that we give every single breath. this is for saying-yes

this is for saying-yes

"I Do" * ps. this is my favorite one.


You would re-write the rhythm of my heartbeat with the way you held me in the morning, resting your head on my chest. I swear my breath turned silver the day your hair did. Like I swore marigolds grew in the folds of my eyelids the first time that I saw you. And they bloomed the first time I watched you dance to the tune of our kitchen kettle in our living room. In a world that could have left us hard as metal we were soft as nostalgia together. For 50 years, we feathered wings too wide to be prey, and we flew through days strong and days as fragile as sand castles at high tide. You would fold your love into an origami firefly and throw it through my passageways till all my hidden chambers were lit with lanterns. Now, every trap door of every pore of my heart is open because of you, because of us. So I do, I do I do.


-- If you want more, Check out "Asking Too Much". I couldn't find a video recording, but here it is from LaLa.com

Cracks in my ceiling

I was just lying on the floor of my dorm room, listening to music and staring at my ceiling, watching the green light on my fire detector blink and pondering the perfectly symmetrical shape of my large, square florescent light. Ironically, there are no cracks in my ceiling, or at least, not in the area I was staring at - which is a little disappointing actually. Do you ever find that mundane and insignificant thoughts distract you from the real things you should be thinking and figuring? All day today, I'll feel like I'm on the brink of a mental breakthrough and then suddenly, I'm thinking about the sky-high price of Bounty paper towels.Who knew my horrible procrastination problem would transfer to my inner-most thoughts? Stupid.

The end of my freshman year of college is in approximately 10 days. I am basically 1/4 done with my college career. I can not (literally, I can't), comprehend how this year went by so quickly. I feel so old saying things like, "It feels like just yesterday when..." but lets be honest; it feels like just yesterday when I was moving into this very dorm room.

I thought it was so small. I was scared to sleep alone in a building with no one I knew, and my room seemed uncommonly dark, so I slept with a nightlight every night until the battery died. It took me far too long to really "move" into this room, I didn't even put up posters until 2nd semester. I regretted not having a room mate because it meant not having someone to eat dinner with every night, but then I started hearing room mate horror stories and I was immediately glad to have a room all to myself. I've memorized the sound of my refrigerator and I have perfected the art of making a good bag of popcorn in a 700watt microwave.

This room has seen lots of laughter and lots of tears. Dancing and singing, studying and eating. If walls could talk, my room would have quite the story. It has heard far too many secrets and seen far too many embarrassing moments. I have made these 4 cement walls into a semblance of a home, and next year, it will become home to someone else. Maybe a freshman, maybe an upperclassman. A boy or a girl, I don't know. They will plaster the walls with their own pictures and posters and magazine clippings and my underwear drawer will become their sock drawer. Their voice will replace mine and these walls will absorb their secrets, their fears, and their dreams. It's always uncomfortable to feel like you're being replaced, but this time, it doesn't feel so bad.

E246, you have been good to me, and I hope I've been good to you.