It's crazy that in a week and a half I will be in Ukraine! This summer has both dragged and flown by, but now it's over and I will be gone for two whole years. I've never been away from home for that long. When I come back will I feel like this is still home, or will I feel like I've left my real home behind in the land of onion-domed castles and the Cyrillic alphabet? I don't know, but I can't wait to start on this adventure!

My best friend, Hannah, and I got matching tattoos last week. Mine is still pretty red, so this is a picture of hers, but they are the same design. I love it.

Ah, here is an interesting story that happened recently. Last Wednesday was my last day of working at Angelo's (the family Italian restaurant that I've worked at since high school--5 years, to be exact), and at the end of the shift we had brownies and ice cream as a kind of  goodbye party. There were a lot of extra people there, and this girl, Ashley, had them all gather around me and her. Then she took both of my hands in hers and gave a really sweet speech about how much she loved me and was going to miss me, and then she kissed me. On the mouth. In front of everyone. And Amy videoed the whole thing. haha

A Little Update

Wowzer, it's been quite a while since I last posted on here, and SO much has been happening in my life. First of all, I have officially graduated college. In fact, the day of my university's graduation ceremony, I was on a plane to Italy where I spent two indescribable weeks with my aunt and uncle. Here are a few pictures dal mio viaggio in Italia:

 Two weeks after returning from Italy, I went to Philadelphia, PA, to visit my cousin, Jenni, and her family. I didn't take any pictures, but we saw and did some pretty stellar things. I got to see Edgar Allan Poe's house (which was awesome, considering my English major status), Betsy Ross's house, Independence Hall, and we got authentic Philly steak and cheese subs from Toni Luke's (voted the best place in Philadelphia to get said food item by the Food Network). All in all, another fantastic trip to add to my summer repertoire.

Oh yes, and the coolest news yet: I got the job with the Peace Corps and will be spending two years teaching high school English in the Ukraine. How crazy is that!? I'm leaving in early September, so I have a lot of things to buy before then, and a lot of materials to read up on. I'm so excited!

Café Crème

     “How do you like your coffee?” He asked her.
“Just cream, please.” She replied.
     “Oh? How come?”
“Sugar makes it too sweet. I want to taste it pure.”
     “Then why not just drink it black?” His elbow was now on the counter, and his chin was in his hand.
“I need the color the cream gives it. That’s how I know it’s coffee.”
     “But of course it’s coffee. You just ordered it and saw me make it.”
She tapped one finger three times on the tip of her nose. “Yes, that’s true, but my mind needs to know it’s coffee.”
     “What?” He was standing straight now.
She laughed, and it sounded like music. “When coffee’s black, it looks like it could be anything: a cup of Coca Cola, plain hot tea, car oil. But when coffee’s got creamer in it, there’s no mistaking it for anything else, and my mind is satisfied.”
     He nodded his head as he thought about what she’d said. “It could be hot tea with milk,” he said after a moment’s pondering.
     “Ah!” She raised one finger in the air, like a mother reprimanding a child. “Hot tea with milk has a more watery consistency. My brain isn’t fooled by your little tricks, Mr. Barista.”
     “Uh, it’s Trent, actually,” he pointed to his nametag, “and I think your mind could use a little less coffee.” He smiled so she’d know he bore her no ill will.
     “Perhaps,” she smiled, “But I’m going to give it all the coffee it wants. Forever and ever, as long as we both shall live.” And with that, she flipped her hair and sashayed out the door.

Little shit

In a rare moment of sisterly compassion, I gave in to my 5-year-old half-brother's request to play "sword fight" with him. They were only plastic swords, so i figured "What the hell," right? Wrong.

Everything was going well. I was whooping his ass with my superior sword-fighting skills and added height advantage, when the little shit hit me in the mouth with his sword. What even.

Now my bottom lip is the size of a cherry tomato, and I'm scared to leave the house because people will see it and think I'm infected with a deadly disease or something. See if I play with you again, little 5-year-old.

Yes and Yes and Hmm and What

Please let me just explain all the awesome things in my life right now:

1) Hannah is home for a visit!

2) The Euros for my trip to Italy next month came in the mail!

3) I ran 3 miles today (and by "run," I actually mean walk/run).

4) I am graduating from college in 3 weeks.

5) I'm going dancing tonight with some of my favorite people.

6) It's gorgeous outside!

7) I have hardly any homework I have to do this weekend.

Happy Holi, Y'all! (. . .One week late)

Oops

I have not had much luck at work recently.

First of all, I broke the sink. I was watering lettuce and had turned on the cold water faucet to do so. However, when I tried to turn it off, the handle just kept turning and wouldn't stop the water. If anything, it came out faster. The lettuce overflowed, then the sink overflowed, then Angelo's almost overflowed (but not really). Finally, one of the dishwashers was clever enough to turn the water off at the wall. The sink handle was stripped, apparently, and now Angelo's has one less sink. Oops.

The second disaster I created involved a fire in the microwave. I took some pita pockets out of the freezer and stuck them in said microwave to defrost them. We were really busy at the time, so I continued about my work on the deli. About 30 seconds later, I started to smell something funny and looked around for the source of said smell. My eye happened to pass the microwave, and there were flames inside it! I was like, "OH MY GOD THE MICROWAVE'S ON FIRE! NOBODY PANIC!" and ran over to put out the fire. My boss runs around the corner at about the same time, holding a huge pitcher of water (which I assume was to quench the flames, not her thirst). Apparently, I had forgotten to take the twisty-tie off the pita pocket bag, and it must've had metal in the tie. Oops.

The most recent disaster was probably the most embarrassing. I was all alone on the deli one afternoon, so I had to take out the food to the tables as well as make it. I was carrying two large chicken salads with 4 oz. cups of ranch sitting on the sides of the plates. When I got to the table, one of the plates started to wobble. I set one of them down successfully, but the other one, not so much. The salad was fine, but the ranch dressing spilled: all over my pants, all in the man's drink, and also on his lap. I reacted with an, "Oh shit!" Then realizing I had just cursed at a customer, proceeded to apologize profusely for my lack of professionalism. Also, there were children in the dining room. . . Needless to say, I hid in the back of the restaurant until the man had left. Oops.

5 min in 4 hrs

I just love my Aunt Donna. 

Last week I was sick in bed for four days. This week Aunt Donna was sick with, we assume, the same virus/flu/touch of death that afflicted me. So today, to cheer her up, I went to her house. I got a cup of coffee, she got a cup of tea, and we sat on their gigantic couch together with the intent of watching Downton Abbey. The movie started, and literally five minutes into it, we paused it so I could go to the bathroom.

Four hours later the movie was still paused at the same spot. We had talked from 2:00 to 6:00, all the while staring at the TV screen that had a lady's dressing maid on it. She had terrible hair too. It looked like some sort of animal had died on top of her head. As much as I love movies, I think I'd take a good conversation over them any day--especially if the person I was talking to was Aunt Donna.

Countdown

SO! I am on my last Spring Break of undergrad. right now.

Our tickets for Italy have been purchased, and I will be on the plane when the rest of my graduating class is sitting in a stuffy auditorium waiting to receive their diplomas. I think I definitely have the upper hand in this situation.

Here is the villa we'll be staying at for part of our time in Italy.

http://www.molinomeocci.com/

 

IMSOPLZD

I was driving on the Interstate to school the other day, and I passed a car with a license plate that read:

MTHRSMLK

I was very confused by this but also incredibly pleased to have come across such a cultural gem. The driver of the car was a black woman who looked to be in her 50s or 60s. What an unexpected surprise!

Just Some Fillers

I suppose you could say that school is in full swing now. 

The Winter term class I was taking is now over, and I got an A (yayyyy for me).

My short story for my fiction class is due in a week, and it's not quite done, but I like where it's going. Here's a preview--the opening line: "If you love me, you'll eat that Skittle." Riveting, no?

The history class I'm taking was (I thought) going to be my easy class this semester, but the professor began our last meeting by saying that, as of this coming Thursday, he will no longer be teaching the class. This means there will be a new professor taking over, and I will have to re-evaluate my strategy for the class. Damnation.

Hannah, you should be pleased. I have started working out for an hour two times a week, and my time at the gym involves some running. However, last Thursday, after I was through with the bodily torture, I went to El Carreton and drank a 24 oz. margarita to congratulate myself on a jog well done. Whoops.

Ohhhhhhh yes, before I forget. My trip to Italy with my aunt has now reached a certainty. We're going the second week in May (two weeks after I graduate college)! Also, my uncle has decided that he's coming with us on this trip that originally was just supposed to be me and Aunt Donna. BUT as a consolation prize, he's going to buy my plane ticket for me! So, all in all, the only things I'm going to have to pay for on this entire vacation to Italy will be souvenirs! Hell to the yes.

Back to Reality

I can't believe that Christmas Break is already over, and I start my last semester of college in two days. What!

Hannah came home for two weeks over break, and I think I walked on a cloud the whole time she was here. I didn't realize I could miss any one person that much--my little ray of sunshine. Believe it or not, with me here in North Carolina, and she in Seattle, Washington, thousands of miles away, we got each other the EXACT same Christmas present--a yellow coffee cup from World Market. I think this makes it official that we are two halves of the same person.

"Au Dessous Du Volcan" by Yann Tiersen

I'm Persuaded that:

Sunrises and sunsets are the earth's heartbeat.

"Sun Hands" by Local Natives

No thanks, Band Wagon

I guess I'm reaching that age where all of my friends from high school are getting married and having kids (not necessarily in that order). Within the past month, perhaps less, no fewer than four girls from my high school class have gotten engaged, and there is nothing funnier than the post-engagement pictures they post. Please note the crazed looks in the girls' eyes.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

I awoke this morning to an absolute stillness. The cat wasn't crying outside my door, no cars were rumbling down the road in front of my house, and my mind was quiet. It was the kind of stillness that any conscientious human being would be loath to disturb, and as I lay there burrowed under my three quilts, the point was further solidified in my mind that there is no life before coffee.

The Grossest

This past weekend I babysat the FBI agent's three boys overnight while he and his wife went to a Christmas party. The boys are 12, 10, and 5 1/2. They're all really sweet though, so I didn't think they'd be any trouble. 

However, within the hour of their parents leaving, there was a crisis. The boys were playing basketball in the back part of the house with some sort of squishy, approved-for-the-indoors-type ball, when I heard all their thumping around cease, and the wailing began.

Figuring that they'd had some sort of spat, I rolled my eyes and made my way to the back room. There was Graham, the youngest, screaming his head off and holding a tissue to his nose. Apparently, he'd gotten hit in the face with the ball.

I took him to the bathroom and tried to calm him down while the other two boys told me what had happened, but when I took the tissue away from Graham's nose to assess the damage, blood gushed out. Then he coughed, and a stream of blood came out of his mouth into the toilet--exorcist style. This freaked him out, and he resumed screaming at the top of his lungs.

At this point there was no consoling Graham, and it was all I could do just to make a few swipes at his nose with a tissue. Then the gross part happened. When Graham choked on a sob, he breathed out sharply through his nose. This splashed blood all over the bathroom toilet, on the walls, and the floor. The bathroom decor was completely white to begin with, so the color of the red droplets made an even starker contrast to the linoleum than would normally be.

At the sight of his blood all over the bathroom, Graham freaked out even more and began to vomit everywhere. He wouldn't keep his head over the toilet, so a lot of it ended up in the sink as well as on the floor. It didn't help that he had just eaten less than 20 minutes prior either. 

When I finally got Graham quieted down, his bloody nose staunched, and his clothes changed, it was time to bring out the rubber cleaning gloves and face mask. The bathroom looked like a war zone, and guess who had to clean it up? Yes, me, the babysitter. It was, I believe, the grossest thing I've ever had the misfortune of coming in contact with, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to look at a hot-dog the same way again.

Haunted Earring

This week I wrote my article for the newspaper on ghost stories in North Carolina. As such, I had to do a lot of research on the topic online. There's a lot of creepy ghost/haunting stories out there, and I admit, I started to get a wee bit scared. Then I glanced down.

I was sitting cross-legged on my bed with my laptop propped on my knees. Perfectly normal, right? Well, when I looked down, I saw something very NOT normal in the middle of my lap. A single earring. Usually an earring would not be cause for alarm, but this time it was.

The earring was a half moon with a star inside it. I'd never seen the earring before, and how the hell did it get there on the middle of my lap without me seeing it? It was like it just appeared out of nowhere. No need to panic, I thought. Maybe it was just one of my friends' earrings and had gotten mixed up in my quilt or something. Not so.

I texted a picture of said earring to all my friends whom it could possibly belong to or who had been to my house in the past three months, but none of them had ever seen it before. Then I really freaked out. Was a ghost or demon or some other kind of supernatural being (like the ones I had just been researching) haunting me? In response to this preternatural occurrence, I locked my bedroom door and sat hunched on my bed with my little black cat, Henry. (I didn't realize until later when one of my friends pointed it out to me, that I had a black cat with me--whom I thought would protect me or some such illogical hope.)

I went to work that night and shared my creepy experience with some of my coworkers. They seemed to share my trepidation about the situation, and I went to bed that night unable to fall asleep for a very long time.

When I woke up the next morning, I had a text from Hannah (my friend who's in Seattle right now working for Americorps). The text said, "Did you like the earring?" I totally forgot that I had opened a letter from her on my bed the day before when I was researching for my ghost article, and I guess the earring had fallen out of the envelope onto my lap without me seeing it. What a relief!

When I later told my father about this incident, he just rolled his eyes and passed it off as his crazy daughter's overactive imagination. Thanks, Dad.

Ghosts, Moss, and Drunken Revelry

This weekend I went to Savannah, Georgia, with some friends. Our riverfront room was haunted by a ghost named Hank who kept turning our TV off and walking around noisily while we were trying to sleep. The city was BEAUTIFUL though, with Spanish moss everywhere.

The Savannah River from outside our hotel

Lexie and I on the trolley before our tour of the city.

An example of the copious amounts of Spanish moss present in Savannah.

Statue of a woman [scaring away ghosts?]

Everything here is beautiful.

Flannery O'Connor's childhood home

Liz, Lexie, and Jenny on Forrest Gump's box-of-chocolates bench

Drinks at Kevin Barry's Irish Pub where an Irish man was singing some Irish songs.

Coffee in one of Savannah's myriads of parks on our last day in the city.

"Yes, hello. I would like the largest iced coffee you can possibly make, please."

Just Some Thoughts I Was Thinking

Sometimes when I'm bored, I like to envision what people's tombstones would read if I was in charge. For instance: 

Here lies Robert Bannerman:

Late to Class

or perhaps

Here lies Louanne Thompson:

May you in death be forever silent. Finally.

Should my parents be worried, do you think?

MUSE Concert

Last Tuesday, I went to the Muse/Metric concert in Raleigh at the RBC Center. IT WAS AWESOME!

"Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse