25 Random Things

My good friend Joe tagged me in one of those notes on Facebook where you list 25 random things about yourself. I thought long and hard, and here is what I have come up with:


1. If I hadn't transferred, I'd be graduating in 89 days. But I'd also be miserable.
2. In 36 days I'm flying to California for a band. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever spent money on but Megan and I will definitely have the best 5 days ever while we're there.
3. Sometimes I think about moving far away, but I think Boston has always and will always be my home.
4. NESN should fire Kathryn Tappen from hockey commentating and hire me instead.
5. Officially, I own 100 pairs of shoes and I don't think that's enough.
6. In addition to shoes, I collect shot glasses that I have never used to take shots from.
7. One of these days I'll visit all 50 states. So far I'm at 17 plus DC.
8. I have seen Guster upwards of 30 times in concert but have yet to meet the band.
9. What the hell am I going to do with a PoliSci major?
10. If only every day could be Christmas Eve - except then I'd be really, really fat.
11. I'm glad my friends come to me for advice, I just wish I could follow it myself.
12. Ten months from now I'll have a degree but will also be 40k in debt. To start paying it off I'd like to become a flight attendant.
13. Dr. Pepper is my least favorite beverage. I also hate ketchup. And cherries.
14. Embarrassingly enough, I have Titanic memorized. Including the deleted scenes.
15. Dana Carvey's Broccoli Song is the best way to turn a bad day around. Either that or cuddles.
16. I have grown up a lot in the last year. I think I have better goals and ideas about what I want out of life.
17. I am only slightly addicted to my Blackberry.
18. 22 was, by far, better than 21 as far as birthdays go. I have some amazing friends.
19. If nutrition was not an issue, I'd eat crepes every day. With Nutella. And whipped cream. Oh okay and strawberries and bananas too.
20. I'm still not convinced college was right for me or that I was really ready for it.
21. 8 months ago, without even trying, a really amazing guy saved me from a really awful situation and I hope he knows how much I appreciate it.
22. It's a good thing I don't make more money or I'd be covered in tattoos.
23. I have questionable taste in television shows and I am okay with it. The same is true of movies.
24. Owning a panda bear would kick ass. Or a penguin. Or a llama. I'd settle for a cat though.
25. I hope the Bruins don't win the Cup until I can afford season tickets!

I was surprised at how difficult that was. But I think the thing I learned the most about myself is just how much I have grown up and changed in the last year or so. I'm pretty gosh darn proud of myself!

A Recycled Post: Why I STILL Love Themed Parties

Oh look at me posting late again. I guess that's what happens when work continues to promote me and give me more and more to do on a daily basis. I suppose I'll get this all worked out in due time, but until then, well, patience is a virtue.

Also - I'm running a tad bit late to trivia this evening, so pardon me while  recycle a post that I made for my good friend Steve's blog. This is a favorite of mine, so without further ado, I present to you my love of themed parties!

So as previously mentioned, it’s now seeming like fall and it’s definitely back to school. Now, I don’t know if you know this, but Boston is kind of a college town and our city’s population has very recently swelled to 800,000, accommodating an additional 200,000 or so twenty-somethings. And what’s a better way for these co-eds to spend a night at than at a party? Specifically, at a themed party!

A ride on the Green Line last weekend reminded me of just how hip and happening themed parties are here. I would say that a good 60 to 70 percent of the parties I am invited to have some sort of theme. Popular themes include white and/or black parties, the 1980s, CEOs and corporate hos, Boston sports figures and the roaring twenties.

Now, I admit, from time to time I have been the host of such a party. Last year, my roommate and I got a tad drunk and we ended up whipping out our credit cards and buying some costumes online. It was July. Later that week the costumes arrived and we realized, “Oh crap! We just wasted $60 each on costumes... in July!” So we had a very, very premature Halloween Costume Extravaganza. (I want to make a quick side note, I was very happy with the costume, which was purchased here. I highly recommend the site if you find yourself invited to a themed party or if you are considering a career as a stripper and/or exotic dancer.)

I’m going to include some photos inspired by this party to really illustrate the rest of my story, which I call ‘The Three People You Meet at Themed Parties.’

First, we see the girl who drunkenly (though often these costumes are bought stone cold sober) bought an elaborate ‘army girl’ costume (and yes this is exactly what I bought, and you should all just stop laughing right now). These are the people who secretly (or openly) love themed parties and want to go above and beyond to fit in at the event, they are also usually female. These people are the ones who are “attending” on Facebook, who instead of bringing their own beer, brought their own tequila. These people aren’t just in costume, they have the makeup, shoes, and jewelry to complete the outfit. They are absolutely offended by the other types of people at this party.

This leads me to person number two. This person is called “guy in the horse mask.” This guy responded as “maybe attending” on Facebook, because he loves parties, but doesn’t love themes and is holding out for a better offer. When a better offer is not found, he will pull together a lame excuse of a costume at the last minute, but will ensure it has enough comic value for him to still get appreciation on the effort. This person is usually a guy, and his prime motivation for complying to the theme is the possibility of getting laid later on by one of the girls who fell into the first category.

The last type of person at a themed party is “that other dude.” This guy (and this person is almost certainly a guy) came for the booze and didn’t even bother to dress up, and he probably didn’t even respond to the Facebook invite. He knows he’ll get crap for his lack of dress, but only until everyone in costume is wasted, at which point they will promptly forget about it. This guy probably came under duress, as a date, or possibly due to peer pressure from a good friend. In the end, he still has as much fun as everyone else, possibly more, and the pictures on Facebook the next day are far less embarrassing for him.

Now I’m not here to pass judgment on any of these people, just a few observations I have made at the many parties I go to. I will even be so bold as to say that while you were reading that, you said “oh my gosh, it’s like she knows ME” during one of those descriptions. And by the way, since I clearly fall into the first category, if anyone has some cool and not overdone themes to suggest for my future parties, please let me know. I might even invite you and make you the guest of honor!

At the Movies: Boston Does It Better

You only need to meet me for about thirty seconds before you know that I'm from Boston Proper: the accent, the aggressive driving, the feeling that the rest of the nation owes me personally for Thanksgiving and Sam Adams... oh and I think we make the best movies too.

No seriously. Just read through my list of favorites and you'll see: Good Will Hunting, The Departed, Mystic River, The Boondock Saints even My Best Friend's Girl - I love them all! I take pride in seeing some of my favorite locals (Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Marky Mark Wahlberg) drop their r's and glamorize the Southie projects and I fell in love with Leo DiCaprio all over again when I realized he could fit in here better than the 800 thousand college students who invade Suffolk County every fall.

We have spirit. We have class. We have stories. Hell, we have everyone from John Adams to Whitey Bulger. It's no wonder these movies are so big (and not just for us locals, these are major box office hits). So call me crazy, but one of my legitimate favorite hobbies is watching these movies over and over again, criticizing the accents (Dear Martin Sheen, only the Kennedys talk like that!), the silly inaccuracies (Hey Matt Damon, you missed your stop on the Red Line day after day in Good Will Hunting- why did you insist on going all the way out to Dorchester?), and generally loving the fact that my city seems to exemplify the creme de la creme of "American Dream-like" stories.

From the Revolutionary War, to the Irish and Italians of Boston, to the gentrification since the 70s there are a million more movies out there to be made. So New York can have its sky scrapers and its pizza, I'll take my "walking city" with our straightforward (okay, rude) attitudes any day.

Marky Mark once said that "girls from Boston will kick your ass, you've got to be on your toes, but there's a loyalty there that's hard to find." And he's right. Those of us born and raised here fit that description to a tee, and those are the qualities characters are made of.

So keep making your movies here, you Hollywood producers- because we love it!