I’m in brighter spirits today… week extentions on huge ass papers will do that. I could not believe my luck. Now I have two weeks to write my huge ass paper on Bulgaria and Romania.

I figured out that the Panera next to my store carries the Washington Post everyday of life… yesssssss. Although, apparently the Post thinks that Incubus and Deftones are metal or post-metal and I’m not really sure about that classification. I do know that I’m still very much in love with Brandon Boyd and Chino Moreno (mostly because of his name but whatev). I also read another interesting story about abortion being banned in Nicaragua… very curious.

I made a contact with someone who passed the exam I’m taking in April the first time around and now is waiting to be sent overseas. I plan to pick his brains to figure out what he did.

I’m exhausted and I want break to be here pronto but at least I’m happy… for the most part.

Yesterday was spent getting ready for Christmas. We decorate early at our house. My mom and dad always go crazy. I don’t suppose you know too many other families that have three Christmas trees, do you? I think it’s a little overboard but I love it.

Oh yeah, I also got bangin’ bangs; swoopy bangs. I haven’t had bangs of any sort since middle school. It was time for a change.

We also had to take pictures for the annual Christmas card. This year, we decided that Britt, Katie, and I were each going to hold a cat. We were going to try to get Abby (the dog) in the picture too. We tied red bows on all of the cats. At first Abby didn’t want to cooperate so we were trying the picture with just the cats. Then Mom couldn’t get the lighting right so the cats began to get impatient and growl and meow and what have you. Mom finally got the lighting right so we grabbed Abby so we could at least have one well behaved animal in the picture.

Totoro still has his red bow on. He thinks he looks pretty sweet with a bow tie. Casey pointed out that he looks like Tucker Carlson. I concurred but pointed out that Tote doesn’t really look like a douchebag… so yeah.

Brian got me hooked on “Fidelity” by Regina Spektor. I cannot stop playing that song. I’ll probably go out and get the cd this coming weekend (after hearing that one song, I had to peruse the others and ended up loving those too).

I love when people introduce me to new music; especially really good music that I had no idea was there before. Those people always have a huge impact on me. I remember the guy that introduced me to the Smiths. This was back during one of the summers that I worked at the pool. He was a long time sub for us. I think his name was Matt or Mark or Sam (names are not my strongest suit). One day he came in with a bunch of burned cds and started playing them. The bulk of the music was either the Smiths or Morrissey and it seriously changed my life. Music can do that to you. Fast forward several years later: I’m still a huge Smiths fan and I’ve made them my own.

It’s hard to separate the music from the people though. In one way, it’s good because there will always be reminders of people everywhere. In another, it’s bad for the very same reason. I’ve had many a song ruined for me this way. Fortunately, there’s a lot of songs that I hear the first few notes of and can’t help breaking out into a smile because it reminds me of someone or something. I love it!

I guess the whole robbery thing really freaked me out. Last night, I had a terrible dream (when I finally fell asleep; many of my initial attempts to sleep have been pretty futile for the past few days due to what could only be described as the most obvious reasons). Essentially, my dream consisted of someone holding up our store while I’m behind the register…. hopefully lightning only strikes once and nobody else will get any stupid ideas and try to rob another store around us.

I saw the most terrible movie ever today. I went with Rebecca and Leah to see “The Fountain.” Clayton, a friend from high school, and his friend, Megan came too. While the cinematography was beautiful, the story was muy lame. We went shopping afterwards but I did not really find anything truly stellar. Luckily I’m almost finished with Christmas shopping.

I’m still happy to be home for sure. It’s funny the way life works; giving you reprieve after a week of sudden shake up, shakedowns, and breakdowns. Rest after the reeling and reeling I still am. I have to go back to the worst city in the world tomorrow and I’m dreading it with about every bone and every piece of cartlidge in my being. After the movie today, we were standing around and talking and Clayton and Megan were talking about how much they like Baltimore. I just do not see the appeal. I go to DC a lot more than I go to Baltimore. It’s worthless and I dislike it most severely.

I want to be on winter break so bad. I want to be in DC everyday just to get my mind off of everything… essentially I just need to get through three full weeks. Three weeks of hell but only three weeks nonetheless. Will they be three full weeks of more mishaps, missteps and tribulations? Perhaps…. but, really, who cares? They get me closer to approximately two weeks of commuting to DC from the Rock and 4 weeks of being in NoVa and commuting approximately 20-25 minutes to DC… and all there is left to say to that is sweeeeeet.

Here’s to pushing the negative aside… I’m just trying to keep moving on.

*Talking in Your Sleep by the Romantics

Thanksgiving was amazing. Home cooked meals are always good. Steve came up for dinner which was fun. He’s very brave for continuing to come up to the Rock with the whole fam damily. We played Cranium which always makes for a completely ridiculous time with my family. After I clean the apartment, I’m heading home for the weekend which is completely dangerous because I do absolutely no work when I’m home.

In total, this week was quite otherwise. On top of everything that I kinda, sorta alluded to on Wednesday:

• Grandpa Ciesco passed away Wednesday night. Mind you, he was like another grandfather to me even though he was really my cousins’ grandfather. He had not been doing too well but this was kind of a shock. I’m definitely going to miss him. RIP
• Mattasaurus is leaving the coffeeshop to gallivant with pretty Australian boys for awhile I’m so totally jealous of him. Then he’s probably moving to NC to a commune.
• I had to work with LP and it was as painful as I thought it would be.
• Boston is probably going back to Boston which is sad.
• The store across from us got robbed this morning while BP and I were in our store which terrifies me. It was someone from off of the light rail. The cops caught him but the cops were in and out of the store all day today asking if we had seen anything. I’d be terrified if we got robbed. I’m terrified now that the store right across from us got robbed.

They say when it rains, it pours. I totally believe it. I just kind of hope this storm is over.

I feel tiny…

PS I could not finish reading the Buchannan book…. he is a ridiculous, ridiculous little man. Blah on him!

I am sooooo happy that this week is over. I’ve been crazy busy and save last night, I’ve been getting approximately 4 hours a night (read: going to be at midnight and getting back up for work at four). That type of lifestyle really just does not agree with me. I don’t need much sleep but when you’re running all the time, four hours is just not substantial.

Tuesday:
After work, I drove back to Frederick and studied for my GRE’s for a few hours. My mom came home and took me out for lunch to Houlihan’s which was really nice. I was really happy to spend time with her since I’ve been really busy this semester and unable to make it home too much. It was nice finally being able to talk to her face to face instead of over the phone.

I went to my delegate’s victory party. It was nice but I’m pretty sure that I was the only Republitarian in the vicinity. I knew a few people from this campaign and the last so I was glad to catch up with them. My delegate offered me an internship for the legislative session which I unfortunately could not accept since I’ll still be a Fed-Govie at the beginning of the session. Also, I most definitely do not want to have a career in politics so I need to stick with the Fed job so perhaps they’ll offer me a real job when I graduate. I’ve made it my goal to find a nice, upstanding Democrat to take the internship .

Wednesday
I had classes and another political debate. I think it went pretty well. I had to debate whether or not the No Child Left Behind Act was effective. I really, really hate the program and see it as one of the least conservative programs around. I am a huge proponent of states’ rights and believe that the federal government should stay out of state affairs. NCLB allows the federal government to essentially control many aspects of education that the state once controlled. It is a huge, expensive, wasteful program that does not adequately address education issues anywhere.

The Green Party debaters were completely unprofessional and made me very embarassed for our school. One speaker in particular chose to curse and use generally rude language during his speeches. It was uncalled for. He also spent about 95% of his time attacking the other parties without coming up with a contingency plan for any particular topic. Le sigh… silliness ensued.

Thursday
I had to work. We had a horrendous rainstorm which knocked out power at 4 in the afternoon. Fast forward to 7 pm when I’m still reading by candlelight because BGE cannot do their job. Casey and I played monopoly by candlelight. I’m Monopoly obsessed. Republicans (and Republitarians) are born with a inate business sense that makes them killers on the Monopoly board or any other business-y type game or endeavor. Oh yeah, they also come out of the womb knowing how to shoot guns… it’s a serious birthright.

Some guy proposed to me at work. Obviously my mocha making skills are pretty fantastic.

Friday
I slept badly last night because it finally got to my eyes too much to read in the dark so I think I went to bed at about 8 or 8:30. I didn’t really mind not having electricity but for others, one would have thought the world ended…. le sigh. I set my cell alarm but the battery was running low so I was hoping that I was going to wake up. Sure enough, I woke up to an alarm and since the apartment was still super dark, I went to Einstein’s Bagels in Towtow for a bagel sandwich and some coffee and then went to take the dreaded test. I’m just trying to put that back behind me right now. Blah.

I worked on a group project this afternoon and went to the grocery store finally.

Oh yeah, and my future may have just changed once again… I may change my grad major back to IR but I need to explore that option a little more.

A brief list of nothingness:

• I wish I had some answers to the questions that are plaguing me pretty hardcore right now.
• I have figured out that I almost loathe people with no work ethic.
• I want this week to be over pretty quickly.
• Bulgaria and Romania are pretty much boring.
• Roscoe Bartlett is cantankerous.
• I need to go to an art museum very, very soon (probably a treat for this weekend).
• “The Final Countdown” is the worst movie ever in life period the end.

I just got back from an amazing weekend…. one which I really needed. Weekends essentially start for me on Thursdays now since really all I really have to do is go to work. We already have out our Christmas stuff which I really can’t believe since Christmas still seems so far away. In a way, I hope that seeing all the Christmas stuff will push me to do my shopping quickly as I dread going within a couple miles of a mall as the holidays get closer.

I hung out and did just the tiniest bit of homework and a little bit of cleaning after work on Thursday. I drove down to College Park and met up with Ryan. We ate thai down in Wheaton and hung out. I ran into road construction on 695 coming home and got home very late.

Work on Friday in one word, blew. I think the most ridiculous people in the area were all in my store on Friday. I had to work until one which was not particularly fun. I came back  and finished getting ready and left for Lancaster for the weekend.

We tried to go to Lititz ( a town that basically revolves around chocolate). Unfortunately everything was pretty much closed down so we drove back and went back to the mall in Lancaster. I got a shirt to wear out to the bar later and a couple other things (including some more Djarum because the laws in PA don’t suck). That night, we pregamed a little bit, sang karaoke, and then we went with Elisabeth to meet up with their friend, Rob, at a bar. The bar was incredibly pretentious and looked like New Jersey threw up the entire Gotti-like population of 20-something year old guys within its confines. It was okay. Elisabeth left pretty quickly due to a bit of weirdness. We still managed to have an okay time though.

Saturday, Leah, Elisabeth, and I got up and walked down to Central Market with Rob which is an awesome sort of farmer’s market place. I got some amazing chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies. We had breakfast and wandered around town for a few hours. We went into this really cool vintage store and played with hats and jackets and such for awhile. I got a ton of incense including some more Nag Champa. We also went in a used bookstore where I found a copy of “On The Beach” for a dollar (total score!).

Rob and us girls went our separate ways and Leah, Elisabeth, and I went back to Lititz to try to get some chocolate. Things ended up working out a little better that time around and I got my chocolate… in fact, I got an entire chocolate tool set. We went to this place called the Chocolate Cafe where most of the food includes some sort of chocolate. They even had chili with chocolate in it. We settled on the chocolate fondue. It was absolutely and positively orgasmic and our waitress was so adorable that I just wanted to put her in my purse and take her home with me.

We went home and I had a nap. I got up for more pregaming and then we went to Elisabeth’s Orchestra concert. I liked it a lot. We took a ton of pictures beforehand and I named her cello Old Man Witherspoon. We went to get pizza afterward and took it back to the house to watch porn because apparently that’s a new tradition. I had this amazing Greek pizza.

This morning, we got up and went for breakfast at this cute little place down the street. It’s a cute little coffee place that if I lived in Lancaster, I’d spend everyday of life in. I said a good goodbye and left.

It was definitely a good weekend and something I desperately needed seeing as how I’m probably going to be decimated by the week’s end. This is going to be such a busy week… ack.

So I was a little upset about the elections… at least statewide. I knew that power was going to switch in both houses. The Republicans have messed up too much and the Democrats did a really good job of equating every Republican to being in line with Bush (very stupid tactic, I still can’t believe it worked as well as it did).

I am still not sure how surprised I am that Ehrlich lost. I think he’s an amazing moderate Republican and I think he did a fantastic job with the state. I think the state looks (perhaps looked… who knows) a lot better after he was in power.

Maryland is still very much a blue state. O’Malley knows how to make love to the media. As gross as B-more still is, he is still very much loved. I’m not sure if I’ll like the track that he’ll take Maryland on. I do not care for a lot of his plans. I hope he’ll choose to continue on with some of Ehrlich’s successful programs but I’m not sure that he will; the next four years will tell.

I did well in my local elections. Almost all of the people that I voted for won so I’m really excited about that. The Delegate that I worked for this summer won the highest amount of the vote. She’s amazing.

One good thing to come out of the elections is that it is going to force both parties to reexamine theirselves. Bush called this election a referendum on his policies and now the voters’ voices have been heard and he already seems to be making changes. I really get the feeling that Rumsfeld did not leave under his own free will observing comments made on BBC and comments from Bush’s own speech. Hopefully Gates will be a good choice. I do not know much about him but he seems to have a lot of FP experience.

The Democrats ran on a platform of merely pointing out how bad things are in Washington. They have the House and they have the Senate now. They are going to be forced to show what they have. They’ll have to reorganize and come up with a plan. Pelosi has been thrust into the majority position and will have to rally a badly fractured party. I think we will see Democrats move more to the center seeing as how many of the Democrats that were elected were conservative Democrats.

Moderates win in this which means that even though I’m sorely disappointed in my own state’s races, I still win.

Going out for dinner in DC tonight…. driving up to PA to see the gorgeous Leah tomorrow. Woot and a half!

*Something I told BN this morning. We spend a lot of time saying random things and doing stupid stuff at work… today was no exception.

So I had to tell work that I’m leaving for a month to go back to “the man.” Surprisingly, they took it pretty well. I won’t be leaving for another month and a week so I gave them plenty of time. Either way, things went a lot smoother than I had expected.

I had to run lots of errands today including one to Office Depot in order to fax paperwork to “the man.” Government always includes a massive pile of forms and papers and such that must be turned in in order to complete a very simple task… oh but how I love it more.

I got a ton of reading done so really all I need to do before I go to PA is work on at least my Bulgaria/ Romania paper and study for GREs and I should be good to go and not feel too bad about passing up a weekend of work for a weekend of fun (a very necessary trade off in my opinion ).

I’m excited to see the outcome of the elections tomorrow. They were saying on the news tonight that 200,000 absentee ballots were requested, approximately three times more than usual, and that these ballots could have an effect on some of the local elections but probably not at the gubernatorial and senate level. I think the races all across the country are going to be substantially interesting.