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Sunday, July 15th, 2007
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1:08 am
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today was lovely!!
the subway usage was not as flawless as yesterday... i ended up getting off a stop early and wandering around for awhile, trying to locate significant street signs, until i found sarah. then on the way home i got really confused and acccidentally got off at a very very shady station where i stood for about 20 minutes, waiting for the next train and staring at the floor, trying to ignore all of the very very creepy people around me. and this was around 12:30 am. whoops.
anyhow we did a lot of fun stuff... shopped around in several cool areas of the city, went through chinatown, little italy, et cetera. ate some very good gelato and cannoli, then for dinner had mexican, or maybe it was spanish or something, but anyhow we had some mango guacamole (i wasn't aware that i liked guacamole) and then i had some cute little taco type thingies. very sophisticated!
also saw harry potter V today. sweetness. however the man next to me took off his shoes and socks during the movie... that was strange. and a little bit distracting. but i managed.
10-4 folks, i'm tired.
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| Friday, July 13th, 2007
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11:12 pm
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whew, mara had a fun/long day!!
here are some highlights, details may follow:
- a sweetass boat tour around all of manhattan, including the statue of liberty etc and many fun historical tidbits
-hanging out in fiona's real live new york city apartment! i find this cool. there were guys that opened the door and hit the elevator buttons for you and stuff. haha i was impressed.
-a really good sandwich at amy's bread, which is apparently famous, and also a really good cupcake from some other place, the name of which i forget at the moment
-the creepy man on the bus who told me that i "should model" and that he "likes all the beauty marks on my face." AHHHHHHHHH.
-GUESS WHAT! JOHN STOSSEL'S SON IS COMING TO HAVERFORD NEXT YEAR! haha ok maybe nobody cares but john stossel is the man! the dude with the mustache! john stossel, people! (we stalked his son on facebook and he's not much to look at though. he seems to only take pictures with large breasted skanks. but who knows, maybe he's a nice guy. or maybe not. but his dad is a libertarian with a cool mustache.)
that's all that comes to mind at the moment, peace out. also send me your address if you want a postcard and i haven't sent you one yet!
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| Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
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4:16 pm
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haha... i apologize for the spastic-ness of the last few entries. i made the mistake of having a mocha right after class last night. WHOOPS. i was quite alert into the wee hours of the morning. so yeah.
thank goodness it has cooled down a little bit here.. yesterday was gross.
before class i think i will try to clean my room. i've been here, what, ten days? and already it's total squalor. that's just how i roll.
haha.
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1:01 am
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best book i have read in a very very long time = norwegian wood, haruki murakami. absolutely amazing. started reading it after class tonight & couldn't put it down... just finished. i highly recommend it.
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| Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
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10:28 pm
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OH. MY GOD.
delilah (as in the plain white t's song) is a real person. and she ran track for columbia. AND SHE IS CURRENTLY THE ASSISTANT COACH AT BRYN MAWR.
THAT MEANS I HAVE SEEN DELILAH. WE HAVE COEXISTED IN THE SAME INDOOR TRACK ARENA AT LEAST ONCE.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
don't ask how i find these things out, i have too much free time on my hands.
I AM A CREEPY STALKER BUT OH MY GOODNESS THAT IS SO COOL
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9:03 pm
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GET ON FACEBOOK RIGHT NOW AND FIND THE GROUP CALLED 'INTERNATIONAL "THAT GUY" SPOTTINGS.' Look at the pictures. I laughed out loud, alone in my otherwise silent dorm. In fact, I almost peed. Maybe I'm pathetic, or maybe this is actually really funny... let me know.
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| Monday, July 9th, 2007
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10:51 am
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hola amigos- many good mini-stories to relay from this weekend. i'll do a couple now and fill in the gaps later when i get tired of studying. so yesterday we spent several hours at the annual Fancy Food Show, which is where vendors and food people from all over the world come to show off their new products. there are sections for a zillion different countries and also for each state... everything from barbecue sauce to mint flavored water to kangaroo jerky. and LOTS of free samples. i mean lots. my mom was there to "gather information on food trends for her nutritional consulting." i was there to "eat the free chocolate." anyhow, one thing that seems to be a huge trend is different kinds of fizzy energy drink/ soda type stuff. so i walked up to one booth that had samples of some sort of bright blue carbonated drink, and i tried it, and it was really good. but then i looked at the brochure and, get this, it's a "libido enhancing beverage for women." WHAT! ok, those who saw me through years of vicious pencil-gnawing know, the last thing i really need right now is a "heightened libido." but apparently this drink was originally named Niagara, and the Viagra company got mad and made them change it. Hahaaaaaaa. Mary Miller didn't find it so funny... she was like 'Mara, don't drink that stuff. Look at those gross suggestive pictures on the pamphlet.' So I looked at the pamphlet, which to me looked pretty innocent, with some photographs of different flowers on it. But with a closer look it became apparent that these lovely flower pictures did in fact zoom in on flower parts that look strangely like, well, genitals. So then we walked away. Because Mary was disgusted, and Mara didn't really want any horny juice. In other news, yesterday I got all excited because my phone rang, and I was like HOORAY somebody is calling me! But then it was my grandma. And not only was it my grandma, but she didn't even mean to call me. SHE TYPED IN THE WRONG NUMBER BECAUSE SHE IS OLD and doesn't know how to use a telephone. so yeah. that summarizes my social life right now. come on people, communicate.
haha that's enough for now, ciao.
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| Saturday, July 7th, 2007
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8:43 am
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this weekend my mom's in the city for a gigantic food expo, so i get to hang out with her. luckily for me, being with mary miller in new york city includes free food, musems, shopping, and broadway shows. SCORE.
so this morning i set off for my weekend adventure... and tonight i get to see rent!! on broadway!! be jealous.
mary's here to retrieve me so toodle-oo
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| Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007
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10:32 am
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on my morning walk in the park, i met a border terrier named Wally. which was funny, because mine's name is Wylie. he was very cute. the park is really nice... there are several different walking trails, and i think one goes down by the hudson. this morning i was trying to scope it out to see where a good place to run would be. luckily there aren't many big hills around here... i'm not a big fan of hills. now i think i am going to go scavenging for some breakfast, and then find a good place to sit & do work for a couple hours.
OH WAIT i forgot to tell you about my class!
disclaimer: should my significant other be reading this, i apologize for what i am about to say.
the teacher is quite possibly the prettiest man i have ever seen in my life. ladies, be jealous. plus he is a genius. he talked for almost three hours straight and it was brilliant.
ok.
other than that... i would say the class is somewhat fast paced. and by somewhat, i mean WHOA SLOW DOWN BEFORE I GET MOTION SICKNESS AND VOMIT. so, yeah. but whatever. there are seven other people in my class, all of whom seem somewhat normal. there are two women who look a bit older, but other than that i think everyone's college-aged. so it's those two ladies, one girl my age, and four boys. i think a couple of them go to columbia and a couple are migrants such as myself.
in other news, i finally took a shower. and while i was in there, i saw another girl, so i guess that means i picked the right bathroom. upon further inspection, it turned out that the other one had a urinal in it... so i had a hunch that that was the men's room.
anyhow, i've got shtuff to shtudy so i'll talk to all you kool kats later
-mara
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| Monday, July 2nd, 2007
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10:33 pm
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survived class #1. professor is beautiful. very tired. details tomorrow.
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12:14 pm - monday morning
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I just walked around for literally three hours. Whew.
This morning I saw a girl kick a pigeon by accident. It was pretty funny. You'd think that the pigeons around here would learn to get out of the way, but no... I was walking down the sidewalk and saw this pigeon, and saw the girl, and then I heard a thud and the pigeon fluttered a little bit, trying to regain its pigeon composure, and then I laughed to myself. Because, you know, it was funny.
Also, I just met a girl on the elevator who goes to Bryn Mawr. Wooo, bi-co shoutout!
I went to get my official ID card this morning, and the picture is ridiculous. Not only do I look like a conehead, due to what I hope is printing distortion and not the actual shape of my skull, but I look pretty mentally challenged. The guy told me to stand in a certain place, and then he mumbled something else, so I said "what?" and at that instant he chose to take the photograph. So, if you had to assign a caption to this photograph, it would be something like "duuuuuuh." Or maybe just "conehead." I'll show you when I get back, you can decide.
So I have yet to take a shower here, since I can't figure out which bathroom to use. There are two on this floor and they both say "men," but supposedly one of them is the women's room. Hmm. I better solve this mystery soon, because one of these days I am going to have to go to the bathroom. Probably.
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| Sunday, July 1st, 2007
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10:23 pm
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dormitory update: i just found a pair of boxers in my drawer. LOVELY.
blue with white stars, in case you were curious.
and some socks too.
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7:02 pm - RESURRECTION
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Glory allelujah, the livejournal is risen!
Yes, my friends, it's true: for the next six weeks, I have decided to revive this old thing to document my adventures in the (as Jess put it) Massive Ripened Ovary of a Seed-Bearing Plant. For the lame among you, that translates to "Big Apple." I can't promise that my narratives will be coherent or remotely interesting, but there is a chance that I will have zero friends here, and I have to talk to SOMEBODY. So that's where the internet comes in! Hooray, livejournal!
So. Where to begin. I am staying in a dorm called Schapiro, on the sixteenth floor, coincidentally in the room next to Sammy Stern's boyfriend. Remember Sammy Stern, FC-ers? Here was the whole conversation:
[Mara sees boy/man approaching the door next to hers]
Mara: Hello.
Boy/Man: Oh, hi, did you just move in?
M: Yep, just for six weeks.
B/M: Oh cool, where do you go to college?
M: Haverford.
B/M: Wow! I went to the Haverford School for high school.
M: Oh neat, we run past there all the time.
B/M: You run for Haverford?
M: Yep.
B/M: Do you know Ian Ramsey-North?
M: Sort of, I know who he is.
B/M: Yeah I ran against him in high school. So are you from Philly?
M: Nope, Pittsburgh.
B/M: Oh cool, where in Pittsburgh? My girlfriend's from Fox Chapel.
M: Me too, actually. She went to my high school.
B/M: Oh cool, small world.
M: Yep.
MORAL OF THIS CONVERSATION: IT IS INDEED A VERY VERY SMALL WORLD.
But anyhow, yes, that's where I live. My dorm is about the size of good old Gummere 223B, and is also a single, thank goodness. I don't have anything up on the walls yet, but I figured that poster-shopping could be one of my missions this week.
It has been a very long day... which I will start to document, since I have nothing better to do at the moment.
Sooooo we left New Jersey around 9:30 this morning and made it here by around 1. Then we walked, and walked, and walked some more. When you go on trips with Ralph Miller, this is basically what you do 24/7, so I have a lot of practice. We had to locate a) the place to check in, b) the place to buy my textbooks, c) somewhere to get lunch, and d) somewhere to purchase the various paraphernalia that I forgot to bring with me, e.g. shampoo, shower sandals, and pencils. So Mary, Ralph & I set off on a very long walking tour of the Columbia campus and its surroundings. It is a really nice area with plenty of trees and other reminders that nature exists scattered amongst the big stone buildings. The libraries are absolutely beautiful. I haven't gone inside yet but that is on my to-do list.
We went in the bookstore (several times, actually, as we walked in giant circles looking for different buildings) to buy some school supplies... the number of different objects that they managed to plaster with a giant COLUMBIA logo was pretty astounding. That includes my new shower sandals, which are light blue with a lovely navy "CU" emblem. CU TRADEMARK, that is. Think "Haverford" is trademarked? Somehow I doubt it. Trademarks seem very un-Quakerly.
Mary managed to locate a little grocery store where we bought some apples ("Don't forget to eat lots of fruits!"), granola bars ("Don't forget your fiber!"), and drinks ("Don't forget to stay hydrated!") Other than that, as far as sustenance is concerned, I'm on my own. That should be interesting.
We went inside lots of other places... a cool bookstore called Labyrinth, the fitness center, some stores, et cetera. The details are getting boring here so I'll wrap this up.
My class starts tomorrow, so until then I plan on exploring a bit, maybe finding a good place to run, stuff like that. I'm going back to NJ on Wednesday to spend the 4th of July with my parents/grandparents/sister, and then my mom will be in the city next weekend for a food conference... then Laura's visiting the weekend of the 20th, and my dad the weekend after that... if you'd like to claim one of my other weekends, let me know!!
Alright, peace out for now.
-maraaaaaaa
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| Sunday, August 20th, 2006
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3:52 pm - Until Next Time
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It's difficult to write something that you know will turn out to be a closing, a bookend, a final punctuation mark. This whole time as I punched in one inane little sentence after another, I wasn't really trying to say anything. I was just trying to stretch myself out on paper/computer screen as far as I could, hoping that maybe my narrative self would help to drag out whatever traces of real ideas might be hiding under the piles of mental complexes and phobias. I don't know if I succeeded or not, but I know I'm not the same as I was on June 19th, 2005 when I wrote that my current mood was "lazy" and that "Deck the Halls" was stuck in my head.
I spent the past year not really wanting to start over, but now that it's here and hanging right in front of me and inevitable I guess it's just time to go. It's time to throw myself into something new. I have a feeling I'm going to be studying 22/7 and running the other 2, but hopefully that will translate into some form of success somewhere down the line... even though these days I'm never quite sure exactly which direction the line is going. You can spend all the time you want running through plans and schedules and imagining all the great things you're going to do, but it just has to go one day at a time. One foot in front of the other. And today the step forward is saying goodbye.
Nobody likes it because we hate to think of goodbye as progress. That's what it is. But you know what... when I dropped Gabe on his porch and sobbed into my steering wheel the whole way home, that was progress. I grew up more in that fifteen minutes than I did in the past fifteen years. And when I got home, each gasping breath I heaved into my pillow while my body shook was a step. And when I gave no fewer than twenty farewell hugs yesterday, that was a step. And when, this week or next week or next year or whenever you go, you tell your mom and dad you love them as they close the door to your dorm, you'll be moving forward too. And it's awful now, it hurts, it tears at you so deeply that sometimes there's nothing to do but lie on your bed and shiver. But when I see him again, when I see them again, when I see you again... just imagine. Maybe by then we'll all be whole.
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| Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
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8:53 pm
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for some reason our air conditioner is not on and i am sweating profusely
ok i have even less to say than usual but the alternative to writing here is rereading a chapter about solid waste disposal. no, thank you.
ok nevermind i am going to get a drink
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| Monday, May 29th, 2006
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10:28 pm
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i have taken yet another step toward becoming a normal human: I HAVE A FACEBOOK! yes that's right folks. go find it and write on my wall. it still really confuses me but hey, summer's coming up, and what better to do with my time than figure out how to use facebook.... right.
have a lovely day/ night
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| Sunday, May 28th, 2006
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10:51 am
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| Saturday, May 27th, 2006
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1:51 pm
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back from states, did ok, ended up in sixteenth. didn't make finals, but didn't do embarrasingly badly either... and thus ends my high school track career. hooray.
so now we've got seven days of high school left... and somehow i have a feeling i will be doing my homework until the very last one. why do i do this? the world may never know. whateverrrr it's sunny outside so i don't care. ok that's enough
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| Wednesday, May 17th, 2006
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10:25 pm
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friends, i love you people so much. you are beautiful and fantastic and MWAH i love you. yep that's all.
goodnight
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| Monday, May 15th, 2006
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8:54 pm
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ok i am a copycat i know... but i'm bored so too bad.
1. What is your middle name? Leigh
2. What color underwear are you wearing now? heh pink with polka dots.
3. What are you listening to right now? buzzing of the computer
4. what are the last 2 digits in your phone number? 65. that's a stupid question.
5. What was the last thing you ate? a strawberry
6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? i would want to be either really dark purple or a shimmery goldish. but i don't know what i'd actually be... why don't you tell me?
7. How is the weather right now? Cool, a little damp, but okay.
8. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? alex hotte, to plan our brief wilderness excursion for ensci
9. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? depends heavily on who it is... but overall probably eyes.
10. Favorite type of Food? i just love food altogether.
11. Do you drink? nope.
12. Do you smoke? nope.
13. Ever get so drunk you dont remember what you did? nope.
14. Hair color? blondish brownish... not quite sure anymore, i've got some old highlights that are starting to grow out
15. Eye color? greenish
16. Do you wear contacts? nope
17. Single? wouldn't you like to know
18. Favorite Month? hmm... december is good, but spring is always nice too
19. Have you ever cried for no reason? i think there's always a reason, even if it's not apparent
20. Last Movie you Watched? The Notebook. AHHH so good. yeah ok i cried.
21. Favorite Day of the Year? ohhh i don't know.
22. Are you too shy to ask someone out? i think so. i've never done it before so i think that means yes.
23. Hugs or Kisses? can't have both?
24. Chocolate or Vanilla? CHOCOLATE
25. What books are you reading? um i started cold mountain about a week ago but i'm kinda stuck around halfway.
26. Piercings? just ears, and the top part of my left ear too. that's my favorite. makes me feel like a rebel.
27. Fav. Movie{s}? i am too movie-ignorant to even attempt to make a list. but i enjoy lots of different stuff.
28. Fav. baseball Team? haha i don't care
29. Any pets? just Wylie, the spastic terrier
30. AIM? none of your business
31. Butter, Plain or Salted popcorn? lightly salted i think.
32. Dogs or Cats? probably dogs.
33. Favorite Flower? um i dunno?
4. Have you ever fired a gun? not a real one, but i remember going to a bb gun range of some sort on a few kon-o-kwee camping trips back in the day. yeah that was pretty sweet
35. Do you like to travel by plane? it's ok if i'm going somewhere good
36. Right-handed or Left-handed? right
37. How many pillows do you sleep with? one of the swedish foam ones because it keeps me from tossing around all night, then another normal one just for kicks
38. Are you missing someone? yeah but not in an i'll-never-see-you-again sort of way
39. Who do you think is gorgeous? male- the dude who plays noah in the notebook. female- keira knightley. can i steal her face please? not fair.
40. Virgin? yeah
41. Do you bite your nails? bigtime.
42. Ever gone skinny dipping? not yet..
43. Heritage? italian, german, english, scots-irish, some other random stuff
44. What do you wanna be when you grow up? nooo idea... just happy.
45. allergies? i didn't think i had any, but last week there was apparently a lot of pollen and i almost died. so maybe pollen.
46. What color shoes did you wear today? black... my mom's sandals
47. When you look at yourself in the mirror, what's the first thing you look at? if i have dirt on my face
48. How much cash do you have on you? on me? zero.
49. What's a word that rhymes with "TEST"? CARESSED! yeah that's a good one
50. Favorite plant/flower? didn't this ask that already?
51. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone? my cell phone is upstairs and off, and i'm lazy, and i'm not getting it.
52. What is your main ring tone on your phone? clocks.
53. What shirt are you wearing? my blue euro shirt from sophomore year
54. Do you "label" yourself? um i guess... ?
55. Name brand of your shoes currently wearing? barefoot
56. Bright or Dark Room? dark. i don't know why. hmm.
57. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? Maia is going to be famous. Also, we are the same person. Except she has an I instead of an R... but whatever, technicalities.
58. Ever "spilled the beans"? who hasn't?
59. What were you doing at midnight last night? sleeping
60. What did your last sent text message say? i have nooo idea
61. What did your last received text message say? something from Jane about the band concert
62. What's a saying that you say a lot? "i'm aware of that."
63. Who told you they loved you last? i think it was ralph
64. How many people have you kissed? none of your business.
65. How many hours a week do you work? don't have a job
66. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed? zero
67. Favorite age you have been so far? eighteen's not bad.
69. What is your current desk top picture? the colosseum (!!!)
70. What was the last thing you said to someone? "No, Mom, my foot does not hurt."
71. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to go back in time to fix all of your mistakes? That's a toughie. I don't know.
72. How tall are you? 5’3... and a quarter?
73. Do you own a gun? haha no
74. Rehab? yeah i basically live there
75. Have you ever killed an animal? i believe i ran over a toad on the way home from prom last year
76. Are you Irish? maybe a tiny tiny little bit, but not really
77. What's your favorite Christmas song? adeste fideles! that's o come all ye faithful in latin... yeah.
78. What is your favorite smell? maybe chocolate
79. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? cold water is good
80. Have you been shot? um no
81. Have you ever been hospitalized? i've had to go there but i haven't had to spend the night or anything
82. Do you like painkillers? i've never had any actualy crazy painkillers
83. Whats your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex? HA HA HA
84. Do you own a knife? not personally
85. Do you love the pain a tattoo brings? uh i have a feeling i would... right. yeah nevermind, no, of course not.
86. Name Five Drinks You Regularly Drink: water, seltzer, cran-grape juice, ummm yeah haha that's about it.
87. What's In Your CD Player? counting crows.
88. What's Under Your Bed? i don't even want to know.
89. What Time Did You Wake Up Today? 5:47. every day.
90. Current Worry? oh man. ensci... graduation... the future... yeah.
91. Current Hate? my ass... but that's perpetual, not current.
92. Favorite Place To Be? probably my room.
93. Least Favorite Place To Be? stuck at a school desk when i want a nap
94. If You Could Play An Instrument? piano, totally. so hot.
95. One person From Your Past You Wish You could be with? hmmm... when i was really little there was this old man named saul who lived across the street and would always wave at me. i think i would like to meet him again now.
96. Where Would You Like To Go? greece. and new zealand.
97. Where Do you want to live? ITALY
98. Color Of Most Clothes You Own? i have no idea. this is getting tiring
99. Number of pillows you sleep with? I already answered this
100. What do you wear when you go to sleep? shorts/ tshirt
101. What do you think you'll be doing in 10 years? living in a box on the street
102. First piercing/tattoo? ears
103. Last person you yelled at? probably Mom
104. Latest crush? ooookay
105. Last thing you ate? a strawberry, dammit
106. If you could be a pirate, would you? sure
107.What songs do you sing in the shower? yeah i don't sing.
108.What's in your pockets right now? don't have pockets in my pj pants
109. What color are your bedroom walls? green
110. Last thing that made you laugh? frolicking in the woods with alex
111. Best bed sheets you had as a child? i had some with little hearts all over them... those were nice.
112. Any pets now? yeah i got more pets since i started this survey
haha ok that was a good use of my time
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