Friday, February 29, 2008

just watch

i know this i my third post in a row, but this is too good.



i can haz tiny rabbitz greenz?

Thursday, February 28, 2008

if you've ever wondered about graduate school...

then this might be the post for you.

today is thursday, so i have my 6-8:30pm class on composition theory with harvey.

at 5:30pm i left my apartment quite frantically with all sorts of books and papers to turn in and papers to grade and two different bags and you get the idea. i got to campus just in time to drop some stuff off, say hello to a few people, and then we all headed upstairs to the writing center for class. well, six o'clock came and went and there was no harvey to be found. turns out that he had an eye appt this afternoon and told one of our classmates that if he wasn't there by 6:15pm, we should all go home.

so...we sat in the hallway (the writing center was locked) and waited for 6:15pm to come. around 6:04pm, we all got excited about the prospect of a class-free night. being good graduate students, by 6:15pm we had decided as a group to have class on our own.

i'm not even kidding.

voluntarily, we went down to the wick's room. we asked pat to unlock it for us since it was after english dept hours, and we had class without the instructor. we went over our readings. we did our presentations (one of which was mine) and we had our own class. one guy was determined to make it quick, so he kept us moving through the three presentations, but we could have gone the entire time. we discussed the four articles for about an hour and fifteen, i'd say. and we didn't get distracted or off topic. are you ready for the kicker?

we enjoyed it. i know, it's crazy. we had a free pass to leave, but we decided that rather than get further behind in the readings, we wanted to keep going. it still makes me laugh. after class, we all happily turned in paper proposals and our article annotations and said our goodbyes.

i went to dunkin donuts and graded 16 papers in 3 hours. i don't know if you know, but that is remarkable. they are revisions, but still. that's fast.

so...now i'm back in the apartment and i'm going to watch a bit of dirty dancing and go to sleep. jack the ripper will handle itself in the morning. who really plans class anymore anyway? besides, today i turned in 2 project proposals, represented stuculty at one meeting, gave one class presentation, read and annotated 3 comp theory articles, and graded sixteen 101 papers. tomorrow at 12pm spring break starts.

all of a sudden, i feel like crying. or laughing? eh...no matter, i'm not doing either. just staring at the computer with the most stoic look on my face. okay, now i'm laughing.

oh, and mom:
Photobucket
Photobucket
i promise to one day have my camera with me when i see the beautiful parts of snowy maine. the college park parking lot is not one of those places, i assure you.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

new books!

just thought i would update you guys on my books for next semester. i'm making this course up myself, so i have four books currently in the running. the class is going to focus on celebrity culture. mainly our response as a society to their strangely public lives. should be fun.


best pictures. ever.

can you tell who that is on the front?


the most academic of the books. this one provides a cultural critique of our messed up society and the use of everything as entertainment. this book has many endnotes.


this pic is small, but it's the inside story of a national enquirer journalist who claims that all the stories are true. pretty interesting read.


this one is smaller still. i'm still waiting on this book, but pat says it's a great book. go figure.

well, we were supposed to have a snow day today. i guess we were all banking on it, but then maine weather did not disappoint. however, the higher ups feel like we can make it to campus. dust off the road crew boots...i'm on my way.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Happy Birthday Anita!

Okay everyone....Sorry, I forgot that when you upload pictures you want to put the last one first because they are added to the top. But it's somuch work for me to do this in the first place that I'm not going to redo the whole thing. So we'll get to the happy birthday part in just a second.

Christmas Light Looking! We go every year and it's great fun!!!
Lavender Roses!! These were so beautiful I just figured everyone would want to see them!!
~Here we go~

Happy Birthday to Anita! You may not be able to see it but she's holding a piece of her cake for you to see. This picture will also cover for Granddaddy's birthday on the 5th and Keven's birthday which was on the 18th.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!



Sunday, February 17, 2008

STARS

Just wanted to share with y'all.... Been a stressful week.

Kiel, as you know, went to Boston with his family for a funeral. On their way back on Tuesday night, they hit a blizzard. It took them 6 hours to get to Baltimore; it should have only taken them an hour. Twelve hours after departure, they arrived home safely in VA. I was very thankful; however, I still couldn't sleep. Kiel had an interview with TriCities Beverage (which is a Wine Distributor that the Harbor Club used when we were still in business. Our good friend Biggins works for TriCities.) Biggins called Kiel as they were making their way back to VA and told him he had gotten him a job (basically) and all Kiel had to do was go talk to the guy and fill out his paperwork. The interview was at 9AM the next morning in VA beach. Now Kiel got back from Boston at 4am.... Do the math, not a lot of sleep. It was raining here that morning. It was this past Wednesday.

I tossed and turned that night, and when I did sleep, all I dreamt about was rain. Rain hitting pavement, raindrops, etc. Anything that had to do with rain. I couldn't figure out why, and when Kiel left, I just got up. I couldn't sleep anyway and finally agreed to myself that I would take a nap later. At 10:30 I got a call from Kiel, but I was in the shower. I call him back, and all I can hear is road noise. Cars going by, horns blowing, and Kiel sounds funny. "I've hydroplaned off the road. Let me call you back, the police are here." My heart starts to poud. No one is home, so I'm by myself. Ten minutes later, he calls me back. "My car is being towed to Chiltons." From there, he describes his heroing tale.

Apparently, the guy that was supposed to interview him had an employee call out sick. This meant the man had to drive a delivery truck that day and wanted to reschedule with Kiel. Kiel had no problem with this, so he just simply turned around. He said it was about five minutes after he turned around. He was on the highway, going about 60 mph. The next thing he knows, his car hits a patch of water and it sends him off the highway heading for a pole. Now this is the clencher: Kiel has NEVER worn his seatbelt for as long as I've known him. He will on long trips, but that's about it. It's stupid and I hate it, but he refuses to wear it. "It bothers his neck" is his excuse. This particular morning he had his seatbelt around his left arm, for whatever useless reason that may be. "I shut my eyes when I saw I couldn't slow down and the pole was coming right at me. I just wanted to relax my body for the impact." Next thing he knows, he's spinning and the car jumps. When the car finally comes to a stop, he hasn't hit a pole, but a TREE. He barely hit the tree and by the grace of God, he missed the pole by inches. The state trooper that helped him out of the car told him because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, essentially what should have happened was this: Kiel should have hit the pole and gone through the windshield, but only before having his left arm RIPPED OFF because he decided to wrap the belt around his arm. "Honestly Mr.Curran, we should be scraping you off the highway today." the trooper said. According to the report, Kiel hit a patch of mud that was a foot long right before the pole, this caused his car to spin just a tad. The pole then caught his right wheel, snapped his tire in half, and broke his axel in two. The front end of the car was re-alligned. The tire, torn in two, and the axel broken in half. The cop said had he not hit the patch of mud, the impact from the pole would have killed him due to him not wearing his seatbelt. Thank the Lord for the patch of mud. Back to the tree; the pole slowed his speed down when it caught the wheel. He spun and hit the tree from the side of his car, thus coming to a stop.

Here, I was so worried about them coming home from Boston, only for the real danger to be the very next morning. His poor car is so sad. I wish I had a picture of it. It made me cry when I saw it. Covered in mud, a little crooked and leaning to one side, it has seen many adventures. He is having his car fixed, and it should be ready by Tuesday.... But I couldn't believe all of that. He walked away from it without a ticket and without any major injuries... Only a bump on the head from hitting the stearing wheel. It gives me goosebumps to think about it. By the grace of God he went off the road as opposed to oncoming traffic. Other people could have been hurt or killed.

Let's just say he buckles up now.. Click it or ticket right? All of that reminded me to pray for everyone, no matter when. Don't just pray because something is getting ready to happen that's important; pray to keep them safe at all times. I forget to do that. I pray for general things, and forget to go down my list of loved ones and ask for safety. That jolted me, reminding me to pray not just during the "Big Trips" with lots of danger in travel, but for the small trips up the road. You just never know.

I think I sprouted a gray hair over that one. Hope everyone is doing ok! Love you and BE SAFE!!!!! BUCKLE UP!!!!
<3,
Tina

JUNO

jessica - that was indeed, a really random post.

however, my saturday was bizarrely similar. i spent some time at starbucks, watched a late night movie, and was awkwardly caught between two friends. funny how that happens.

anyway, the movie i watched was JUNO.

it was predictably napoleon dynamite-esque in its made up adjective interjections (paulie bleeker, the boy in the poster, continually uses the word 'wizard' when others might say 'sweet', 'cool', or as only napoleon can 'flippin awesome'). sadly, bleeker only has a small part in the film, but he is plenty endearing in his few scenes. juno and her friend who shall remain unnamed because i forget her name are fun, but the laugh out loud bits of dialogue were actually provided by juno's father (j.k. simmons) and stepmother (allison janney).

for example, after juno told her parents that she was pregnant, the two took a moment to reflect with juno out of the room.

simmons: did you see that coming?
janney: yeah, but i was hoping she was expelled or into hard drugs.
simmons: that was my first instinct too. or a dwi, anything but this!

and then there is juno's baby sister, probably three or four years old with the worst name on record. a moment at the dinner table:

simmons: liberty bell, if you put one more baco on that baked potato, i'm going to kick your little monkey butt.
(in liberty bell's only bit of acting in the film, she laugh/smiles at juno after this comment.)

a couple more quotes before i get back to my homework. this one requires some scene-setting. juno decided very quickly that she was going have the baby and give it to a couple that was unable to have their own child. during the first meeting with this couple, juno and the husband end up playing guitar upstairs while juno's dad and the wife (jennifer garner) are sitting uncomfortably silent downstairs with the attorney. the following small talk ensues:

simmons (noticing a machine through an open closet door): what is that thing?
garner: it's a pilates machine.
simmons: what do you make with it?
garner: oh, you don't make anything with it. it's for exercise.
simmons: oh. my wife ordered one of those tony little gazelles off of television. you know, the guy with the ponytail. i don't know about that guy. he doesn't look right.

however, the film was not all laughs and was actually surprisingly heartfelt. juno is a sardonic, thinky teen and there is never a moment when her family and friends aren't wholeheartedly supporting her. i thought for sure her flakey friend would flake and her parents would fly off the handle, but neither happened. i'm pretty sure that this is the bit that requires the willful suspension of disbelief, but for what other reason do we see movies?

finally, one little line that seems appropriate for the blog.

juno: i never realize how much i like being at home unless i've been somewhere really different for a while.


note the cheeseburger phone. :)

last night...

(...couldn't even get an answer...) <-- just kidding, it's a song...

ANYWAYS- last night was such a weird night... i went over to renae's apt. to say hi to matt notaro and long-hair jay and then matt's older, weirder brother was there too. i don't know what about it, but it was just extremely weird. It was good to see renae and matt and jay though.

THEN i went and met katie and steph and anna at barnes & noble, fun times. then renae and the crew showed up at barnes & noble causing a little tension between two recent ex's... awkward... a little. AND i felt like i was in the middle cuz i wanted to hang out with both groups but then it was weird going from one group to the other, i felt like i was talking with the enemy or something... it gets weirder.

THEN renae's crew left, and my crew went to chick-fil-a... it's approaching 10 o'clock now. I got a starbucks coffee on the way (which was amazing)... so we hang out at chick-fil-a until it closes, and then katie and i start heading back to PBU and steph takes anna to her car. WELL renae calls on my way back to PBU and asks me if i'm going to the movie with dan, jose, sean, pat and lil'kev... well dan had asked me earlier but i didn't think i was gonna make it because he told me it was at 10 something... well he was confused at it ended up being at 11 something. SO katie and i decide to go to renae's apt. and figure out what's going on... when i get there i decide that i would like to go to the movie and katie does not. fair enough.

SO it's 10:30 by now and renae and i are getting ready to go to the movie, which we get to at 11 and it starts at 11:10.... HOWEVER, the boys are not there... i call them and dan says they still have to pick up lil'kev... ok... so we wait. oh yea, and we also have seats in the very front of the theater cuz there are none left... wooppeee! SO the boys finally get there and dan sits in between me and renae and sean sits to my right and jose beside sean, lil'kev sits beside renae and pat doesn't show up... the movie was GREAT... HOWEVER there was a running commentary by dan throughout the whole thing that gave it an extra little spin.

SO the movie ends and we all get up and go outside... this whole time though, only dan is talking to renae and i ... no one else said a word to us BECAUSE jose is in a bad mood, sean has short term memory loss and lil'kev doesn't know us... great... this is just peachy fun... SO renae and i end up walking the boys to their car and then we say goodbye to dan and walk to ours... do any of you see what's wrong with this picture?! how rude... oh well, whatever....

SO my night ended about 15 minutes after curfew (1:15am) when i finally got back from all those 'ADVENTURES'.... i didn't go to bed, though, until about an hour later because i was fooling with my music on the computer... so... now... i don't know what time it is, but katie and i have already been up to the cafeteria for breakfast and now i'm gonna do some more homework before chris and laura come and pick us up for our adventures in CHINA TOWN!!! YEEEHAAAWWWWW!!!

don't be too jealous, <3 jess

p.s.- sorry this is the most random post ever... oops.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

SnOw DaY!!!

so...today was a snow day. it reminded me of the snow day movie, because when i first found out, i was sure that i was going to have more fun than any other day in recent history. i was confident that i was going to understand and really bond with the misunderstood kid from school, and i had an inkling, just an inkling, that i could possibly fall in love. or at least maybe get kissed as the credits come falling down from the sky.

instead - none of the above. i lounged around, yes. i made myself breakfast and even allowed myself to nap lazily in front of the tv. then tragedy struck. well...not exactly tragedy...well...you can be the judge.

3:59 - amy calls. i debated answering and then said, why not? and picked up the phone. she starts by saying, "so, word on the street is that harvey kale just called you and you didn't answer your phone. is that true?" (background: harvey kale our composition theory professor. there is not one reason that he should be calling my cell phone. or so i thought.) anyway, amy goes on to explain that a candidate for the composition position is visiting maine today (on MY snow day) and harvey would like some of us to meet with him. so, to amy i say, "i don't know...what time does he want to do this?" she says, "i don't know...oh...hold on, he's calling me right now. i'll let you know." she hangs up. i continue to sit on my bed in my snow day haze.

4:06 - phone rings. unknown maine number. my heart rate increases substantially and i answer the phone to harvey kale. he is with dylan, the phd, and he is wondering if i could meet and talk with him for a bit. he knows i'm doing my own stuff, so he understands if i'm busy. i say, "actually, i'm just working on my annotations, so it's nothing i can't leave." (background: in harvey's class we read 4-5 articles per week and annotate each one of them. this was the homework i was just beginning when he called.) harvey tells me that this is a special circumstance, so i can turn my annotations in late. i tell him that won't be a problem since i have tonight and tomorrow. he says, "i think i live very close by you, amanda, could we drop by and pick you up?" i explain where i live which is not where he thought, but still close. he is very excited that i have agreed. he says, "well, we'll just get our coats on here and we will be over around quarter after four."

my heart is probably beating at this point, but it's so fast that i can't really tell anymore. the time is now 4:08pm. it's a snow day. a SNOW DAY. i have not showered. i have not gotten dressed. i have not done my hair. i probably don't smell good. i had tuna for lunch and i live in a studio apartment. and i have seven minutes to right all of this in order to meet a dashing young phd candidate named dylan. great.

here is an old pic of harvey for your mental pictures. his hair is now all the color of his bear, just about. he wears chuck taylors and rolls his pants up so they are short enough to see his socks when he is standing. he also usually wears a baseball cap when he is out. today he was indeed wearing one.

oh, right. he is the one on the right. :)

so - as you can imagine, i begin flying around the room, flinging sweats off and clothes on (the closest/easiest option is the outfit that i wore to class last night. on it goes. my hair was slept on last night, then again this morning (remember the snow day nap???) so it is atrocius. i have no choice but to hairspray the dickens out of it. so i'm hairspraying, plastering, blow drying (which, in a pinch, actually works - note to self) when the phone rings! so, i run back to the bed and answer the phone to *drumroll* matt. matt wants to know "how it's goin". i say, "harvey kale is on his way to my house and i haven't showered or anything!" "Ooooh," he says "well, i was going to see if you wanted a ride, but i guess you have one. i told amy that i would only go if you did." still spraying my hair, i say, "you HAVE to come." he sighs like we are known to do and we say our goodbyes. i continue to run around like a hot dame out of vassar.

i look outside to see the worst conditions i have ever seen in orono, maine or elsewhere. last weekend we had rain that turned to ice. the ice is thick and completely covers the college park parking lot, because we don't plow. we got a few inches of snow on monday which was good b/c it provided a little bit of traction on the ice. this morning we got another 6 inches of snow that returned us to normal snow depths, but then it got really dangerous. mid-day it turned to rain and now everything is flooded. the snow has blocked all drainage systems and just holds the rain. the ice is still below in some places. so...puddles, could be all water, could be slush, could be solid ice. beautiful.

longest seven minutes of your life? well...they were pretty quick on my end. anyway, at 4:15pm, i went out to the breezeway, like i said i would and fairly soon after, harvey kale pulled in in his red pickup truck. great. dylan the phd got out of the truck and i thought i was going to have to sit in the middle. instead he opened the little half door behind him to reveal one of those sideways, flip-up chairs, which i quickly climbed into. we then did awkward introductions. he turned around to shake my hand, of course. harvey grabs my arm and gives it a squeeze like you would expect a proud grandfather to do at a graduation or achievement of some sort. instantly, i am very glad i came. so, we have awkward conversation in the truck and arrive at school in approximately two minutes. harvey dumps us (me and dylan, phd) off at the door and amy lets us into neville.

the rest of the story is not terribly exciting, i think phd and i have a comraderie of sorts thanks to our soggy pickup truck ride. he thanked me in a very sincere, eye-contacty way when the whole thing was said and done. now - i know you are curious. i have seen the other two candidates for this position. i do not know which way i am leaning completely, but i can tell you in a word why this guy should get it and that word is 'suspenders'. that's right, he was wearing hot suspenders. this guy is young, thin, pants perfectly tailored, but he's wearing suspenders. that is okay by me. however, his tie was tied very awkwardly which suggests a partner of some sort that did not make this trip with him. i just refuse to believe that his ties are always so badly tied. i really wanted to just fix it. it was a good tie. nice pattern, worked very nice with the suit, but ugh...that knot.

alright, i guess that is enough of my life in blog story form. A+ to those of you who actually read the whole thing. i'm sure my tenses were all over the place.

a snow day!

the rest of my week ( and a little of next )

Wednesday (tonight):
-dinner with the crew at 6pm in the Eagles' Nest (which means no cafeteria food for tonight, yeehaw!)
-work in the cafeteria from 7pm to 8pm (filling in for some concert pianist who doesn't have time for work tonight...)
-Target run with Meg and Renae to finish getting stuff for Valentine's Day

Thursday:
-IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! and I have a Valentine!!!! :) yeehaw!!!

Friday:
-classes and such... and THEN.....
-Joseph Cuthrell and Katie and maybe Renae and I are going to King of Prussia Mall... only the largest mall on the East Coast... heck to the yizzesssss.
-I'm gonna buy some clothes... and it's gonna be great!!!
-fun times, i'm sure will be had by all... all night long :)

Saturday:
-Matt Notaro and Long-Hair Jay are visiting from NY... usually fun times.
-Also homework.

Sunday:
-NYC with Chris and Laura Leichty for a Chinese New Year celebration!!!

Next week... a blur... until... FRIDAY.

Friday through Sunday of next weekend:
-SNOW CAMP!!!!!
--Renae and I are working at Snow Camp (my second year, her 50th probably... she attended and then worked at it...). It's a retreat for a few youth groups from NY and her church goes to it. It is like the highlight of our semester!!! We are basically waitresses for like 200 or 300 kids. It's not like our youth group trips where all the kids get up and form a line at the tables with all the food.... NO WAY, these kids get served... and they get refills... and they get more food... and they are sooooooo needy... but in a strange way, it's so fun! I'm going to take some pictures probably... but I don't know if you'll be able to see any because my camera has not been wanting to upload pictures lately.... so we'll see how that goes down. Sorry there aren't pictures in this entry either... i love pictures... oh well.

Love you guys!!! Talk to ya'll soon (hopefully).
-jess-

Monday, February 11, 2008

My Obama Experience

I have to say that last night was extremely fun. I've never been to any sort of political rally, making last night an extra special event. We arrived at the VA Beach Convention Center only to see one thing: A line that wrapped down several blocks. I can say with much confidence that the line was a few miles long. I heard on the radio this morning that there were twelve thousand people there last night. It was crowded....

Kiel, Shavaris and myself were those who attended last night. After two hours of waiting, people several blocks in front of us began to run. I'm not talking just jogging, I'm talking running like they were being chased. Scaling flower beds, statues and other objects in their way, my first thought was that someone had been shot. That would be the only thing that would making them run so frantically. Then, our line began to move, first at a quick walking pace, then at a jog, then at a frantic run. Like retards, we run. Lo and behold, Obama had asked that the chairs be removed in the conference hall so that everyone could get out of the cold. Even though we were at standing room only, crammed in like sardines, I found it very nice that he cared enough to get us out from the adverse weather.

His speech was great. Health care/ Insurance for every American (which struck a large cord with me having been one of those people who didn't have health care for a period of time), increase in government salaries (ie teachers, police officers, etc.), trying to fix the recession we are in... etc. Amanda, he did quote what Hillary had said about going against the republicans. He said something that I thought was very rare for a politician to say: "This nation was founded on hope and faith. The HOPE of something great, and having faith that it would one day come to pass. It's time that we all cease thinking of each other as just 'republicans', 'democrats' and 'independents'. If we all work towards our hopes of improving this nation, then it doesn't matter what political affiliation we are. We need to hope for change, and have faith that all of us can work together to make that possible."
He just seemed very sincere, in a very non-phony way. I like him. :)

Only one bad thing: there were lots of babies and toddlers in there with STINKY diapers. I have never smelled stinkier doo doo than I smelled last night. Very random, I know. But it was stinky.

On a heavier note, Kiel's aunt passed away last week. His family is driving up tonight to Boston for the funeral which is tomorrow. Then, Mrs. Curran has to put her father in a nursing home on Wednesday. They'll drive back Wednesday in the early AM, and stop in Fredericksburg to put "Doc" as they call him in a home. :( Very sad. If y'all could just say a quick word of prayer if you get time for them. Safe return home and to help them get through those two hard things. It makes me wish I could get Doc an apartment at Harbor's Edge. Old people are just so cute and little. I just wanna love on them. I say that so much, I should make a bumper sticker! :)

Hope everyone is doing well!
<3 you all!
Tina

Come on now everybody.....

I have a GRAND idea! How about if everyone, yes that means each one of us, does at least one post this week. It can be one sentence (or even a fragment if need be) or a whole story. I just can't accept the thought that we don't have things to share with each other. So come on everybody...(anyone recognize the song????)

Okay, so I'll go first.

It's Monday and I'm already dreading Friday. Why? you ask...Because I am about to be with a BUNCH of teenagers, most of which I do not know, and I will share ALLLLLLL of my space with them - sleeping quarters, showers (the most dreaded), bathrooms, free time and game time (which I hate if I have to participate). Okay, and can i just say, the last time I was there - NONE of the shower curtains were sufficient. Why? I say why? The part I AM looking forward to is some hanging time, talking time and worship time. I just prefer to do it when I feel like doing it:) So, if anyone would like to remember me in your prayers, that would be much appreciated. I WANT to love everyone there and I WANT to love being with them. Hhhmmm, do miracles still happen?:)

Thank you bloggers!

I'm so glad to see new blog entries, and I'm very happy to see Christina is still around :) I've been wondering what you're up to!

First for confession, I have blogaphobia. Each time I think to post something the fear begins. It will sound doofey or be spelled wrong or just be very boring. BUT, I love to read the blog.......so I must be willing to contribute.

Here we go~~

So Saturday I was feeling great and wanted to rid the yard of gumballs. That earned me 1 blister and 2 splinters. In honor of Survivor, I even made fire and burned all the sticks that were scattered about. BUT, the yard looked great!!

Sunday we had a wind storm.

The gumballs were dropping like popcorn!!

Also, we had a "sunbathing pool" in the backyard. When it blew into the front yard last week, Keven put it in his truck to get rid of it this week. Well it blew from the truck, down 3 houses onto the driveway of a neighbor who just had to be outside when I found it. I said sorry.....he said he watched it come down the street......oops!

That's all. Have a great day everybody!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

:)

I'm going to see our friend Obama tomorrow night at the VA Beach Conference Center. I'm very excited actually. Never before have I considered a Democratic candidate... until I saw Obama. Let's face it, I don't think any of us would like to see Hillary take office. I am ALL FOR a woman to be in office. It is wonderful that this presidential election has both a woman and an african american in the running. But Hillary? I just don't think she's very nice.

Getting back to what I was saying: I TOTALLY agree with you Manda. I'm extremely excited to see him tomorrow and hear what he has to say. If anyone else is free tomorrow and they are interested in going, it's at the VA Beach conference center. It is free admission, just don't bring any purses or signs in for obvious security reasons. Doors open at 5:30 and it starts at 7:30.

Love you all, hope you are all doing ok!!! :)
Tina

Saturday, February 9, 2008

don't everybody post at once, now.

just kidding. :)

anyway, i spent my entire day waiting for a politician. i know, i know, it's surprising. but, i really like this guy.
.
barack obama is all about hope and change, and let's be honest, that's pretty much my m.o. these days. he has the experience of working in the illinois and u.s. senates and doing all kinds of great stuff there. he backs up the hopefulness some criticize with practical programs to implement the great things he is proposing. i won't get too far into it b/c i don't know everything or even really too much about politics in general. but look at his website and PLEASE vote for him in the primaries. mccain is a sure thing for the republican ticket, but we DO NOT want hillary to win the democratic nomination...she is not THE woman for the job. i'll explain why i think so if you really want to know what i think, but i have my suspicions that you are already skimming this paragraph as it is. :) please do think about barack, though. check him out here and listen to your heart. (and me!)

okay...so about my day specifically. we got there at 10am to find about 20 people in line outside the bangor auditorium. we decided there was no reason to stand in line at that time, so we went to dunkin donuts and then joined the much longer line around 11am. we were finally let into the auditorium at 1:30pm where we again stood on the open floor to wait for things to happen. around 3:30pm the openers did their thing. several maine politicians warmed us up for barry (as beth likes to refer to him).

one of the pre-gamers was this young guy who is some big muckity muck in maine politics, but the thing about this guy is that he is really young. according to the girls around me, he is the stud of maine politics. interesting... anyway, this guy is talking away and then all of a sudden, midsentence in fact, we hear a voice on another microphone say, "ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the united states, barack obama!" so, of course, crazy cheering and clapping and neck craining happens, but no barack. the guy is very disconcerted and looks towards to the entrance, but again, no barack. the young guy then hesitantly says, "ladies and gentlemen, i do not know what that was about..." and then just went on with his shpeal. i'm pretty sure someone grabbed a live mic and just yelled. beth and i lost it, and i have no idea what else that guy said. it was easily our favorite part of the event.

finally, a few minutes after 4pm, barack obama came out to much applause and hand shaking. his speech was great. i recognized certain parts from the commercials, but he is a really engaging speaker and he certainly knows what he is doing. also, i agree with him on a lot of things, so there was a lot of clapping and general excitement.

another highlight for me and beth (we went with matt and met other people there, but we are both short and relegated to the back, so we had our own meerkat fun in the crowd) was when the secret service stood in front of us in their hot suits and ear cord things. barack was shaking hands with people on the other side, so they were sizing up the hand shakers, i guess. it was just a hot setup.

okay, i guess you are all done hearing about my politics. don't hate me because i'm political. or beautiful, i guess.


how can you refuse this guy? :)