target!

I am sooo excited because today my friend and I are going to Target! I love that store. Lately, I've had to settle for K-mart since it's in the city, and I've never really warmed up to the idea. I feel like I'm having an affair.



ps: I need some new music, and I'm hoping that you guys will give me some good recommendations (I need something I can study to, like Cat Stevens or Bread).

The Classics

You know how there are things in life that you've decided you have to do, no matter how cliche or extreme it might be? Valentine's Day in Paris? Certainly, but only if Eddie Cahill is available. Jumping off the cliffs of Dover (with a parachute, of course). Why not? Well, I've made a mini-list of the big events that I want to participate in before I'm too feeble (which gives me about a year). Usually, these classics are associated with holidays. This list is no way inclusive, but a good start. Feel free to add to it.

New Year's Eve in New York City

Boston Pops for the Fourth of July

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade sitting along Central Park West

Mardi Gras in New Orleans (before I turn 30)

Stand on the steps of Lincoln Memorial on MLK Day

Groundhog's Day in Punxsutawney, PA (whilst sporting a top hat and possibly a moustache)

Attend a presidential debate (preferably Democrat)

Be a participant in a Live 8 concert (I'm getting good at that tambourine)

Ring the bell at the NYSE (Dad, I'll catch up to you someday)


If I'm Inebriated (not happened yet, suckas!):

Run with the Bulls in Pamplona

Try out for a Musical on Broadway

Drive for NASCAR

Terror, Part I and II

Well, from the plethora of responses from my last post, I'm thinking I need to add some context.

The very first time I visited Philadelphia I stayed in a Hampton Inn on the corner of Race street and 12th street. After my interview, my dad and I decide to go out for a celebration dinner near China town (at Arch and 10th, which is a few blocks south of Race). It was a good meal, but it ran later than expected; so it was around 10pm when we started heading back. While enjoying our walk up 10th we turn on Race to find over a dozen men standing, lying, sitting, peeing, etc along 11th. It was a serious surprise to see all of these men, some with sleeping bags, others with just a pile of dirty, dilapidated clothes stuck to their obviously soiled bodies (the smell of the corner rivaled that of porta-potties). And they were a loud and aggressive bunch. Of course anyone can cat call (which they did), but when they start crossing the street to your side, red flags raise. So as quickly and confidently as I could in heels, I high tailed it to the entrance of the hotel. Father, of course, used this as a prime example of why I should never, ever be out in the city at night, and even said that four hours before dusk was warrant enough to be indoors (that would make the time four in the afternoon).

Really, four in the afternoon is a perfectly fine time to pass by this corner solo. However, a few miles north of Race when you start getting north of Temple University, four o' clock would not be the right time for a walk, a bus ride, or even, let's say, a Sunday afternoon drive in a Lincoln Town Car (as my mother and I did the following week). That corner looked like Mary Poppins compared with its northern crack baby sister who'd kill anyone as a way of passing the time. Trash was everywhere. Literally, EVERYWHERE. I have never seen a place look so filthy in the states (the smell not like that of the porta-pottie corner, but more like that of the sole toilets at an IBS symposium). Disgusting, right? Absolutely. It was like touring a third world country in a food truck that screamed take me. And it wasn't the only one screaming. As much as I love my mother, I can't stand her nerves. (She usually freaks out over small things, like "Jackie, that man looked at me funny." Well, mom, it's because he has a glass eye.) So when we realize our situation, she starts to yell in the car "My god, Jackie, we are going to die..." along with a slew of swear words. side note: she's driving. Each stop light exacerbates the situation with beyond shady people walking slowly in front of and behind the car, which causes my mother to be on the verge of tears. I finally snap. "Mother, clam down and look as confident as you can. Keep your hands on the wheel, and calm it down!"

Now I'm fairly sure that the situation felt a bit more precarious simply because of the crazy lady next to me screaming death was inevitable. Would I have felt safer without the sideline rants? That's one question I'm okay with unanswered.

places that scare me

The corner of Race and 11th (the place to go if you want to be mugged)

Anything north of Temple (the place you go if you want to be killed)

Chuck E. Cheese

USAMRIID (who knows what they've got cookin' up in there)

bathrooms

suck it up

This morning I finished my second exam (the first in anatomy) and it was a bit unnerving. Have you ever taken a test where before it started you heard multiple rumors from reliable sources that it was a killer; then, once you see it you think not bad. That means either I am right (genius) or I am an idiot completely unaware of how bad I sucked it up.

Speaking of suction, I bought a vacuum! It's a Dyson DC14 Full Kit Upright and it was the Woot item for the day (sale!). When I moved up here my parents gave me a shop vac. I had no idea what that was, but when they told me it could suck up nuts and bolts and water, I thought the vacuum people made it just for me. I tested it out a few weeks ago to find out that it had enough power to suck up pets and small cars. Literally, it was pulling the carpet up (and it almost took my rug). So I went and got one of those push ones that have no electrical power. total crap. So, kids, the moral of this story is to shell out the money for a normal one in the beginning or else you'll never see Fifi or your Mini Cooper again.