it's been a long, long time coming...

while sitting in my biological anthropology class this afternoon, i received the most straightforward yet somewhat hilarious of text messages:

"Forward this message to your sister ... post something on your blog ... the same goes for you"

and so, for you AJ, and all of you other anonymous readers, here is an update! i am so so sorry for the prolonged lack of entries. i recently purchased a blackberry and created a twitter account (separate events), and trying to keep up with at least five modes of communication is quite difficult to do!

so much has happened since the last time i posted, that i don't even know where to begin. i've been running as much as i can, which i must admit hasn't been much this week. dammit. i've been feeling really good though! last thursday was our friend dan's 20th birthday party, and it was such a fun party. around this time last year, we all had a group of friends who we nicknamed "the dirty dozen," and due to unexplainable, natural causes, this group of friends isn't as close as it used to be; HOWEVER, thursday was a reunion, and it was phenomenal. earlier in the week was nayana's 21st birthday, which was a blast too, so i guess that explains where i've been. there's a saying that goes: "school, job, friends. pick two. welcome to college." in the recent weeks, i've been trying to juggle all three, and it's been exhausting but extremely fun.








we have exactly one week of classes left, finals the week after, and then i'm officially halfway through with college! how exciting is that? i've been researching study abroad programs lately, as well as the peace corps. today, we saw a group of irish boys at the grocery store, and now i am set on going to ireland. i mean, i work at a pub now, so aren't i about halfway there? eee!

my precious baby sister busted her knee the other weekend at a volleyball tournament and most likely needs surgery, so i think i'm going to go home for a week or so in june to hang out with her. what a way to start the summer, huh? great for me, but horrible for her.. poor girl :( hopefully jennelle will be coming with me too!

RIP Mr. Moe :(

strings.

i don't know if it's because i've been listening to a lot of andrew bird lately, but i've had the biggest urge to start playing the violin again! i read an article that said andrew bird learned how to play using the suzuki method (like us!) and he plays with such a serene, exhilarating sound. i've also wanted to learn how to play the guitar for a very long time, so maybe this will be the summer of running and instruments! we'll see.

i'm also very much over working in restaurants. i found an internship at the JFK library for this summer which sounds really interesting. not so much fun or exciting but interesting. the deadline is next week though, and i need a letter of recommendation, so i don't know if i'll be able to get it in on time. we'll see.

two weeks left of school! i cannot wait. i realized the other day that, because of summer school, i've been in school since the beginning of july! ugh, i cannot wait to take a break. the apartment hunt has been so far unsuccessful, which is very discouraging. the market is so expensive right now! everything we've seen that's in our price range is disgusting, dirty, and in the basement, and any type of decent living is well over $2,000 a month. ridiculous.

louis ck with a slight chance of slush

due to the sudden downpour of slushy snow this morning, i decided to stay on campus for my three-hour break instead of coming home. i forgot how much i absolutely love people watching, hearing what toils, troubles, excitement, what have you, some people go through. Some people worry about the most absurd, almost silly things, and it makes me wonder why something so small can be so distressing. i could sit somewhere and listen to people all day long. sometimes, when i'm walking through a busy area, i'll try to catch a line or two from each conversation that i walk past, and i'm telling you, people talk about the funniest, strangest things sometimes. Do it next time you're somewhere busy.. you'll get a kick out of it ;)

lucas and i had a nice sushi lunch the other afternoon, and he mentioned this comedian who's filming an HBO special at a venue in boston. I'd never heard of him, so i looked him up when i got home, and i'm telling you.. Louis C.K. Please check him out. It's been quite a while since i've actually laughed out loud at a comedian. this guy is hilarious.

hilarious.

what!?

yesterday in one of my american studies courses, i read the most hilarious thing. okay, we all know that columbus thought the world was flat, right? WRONG! in fact, columbus believed that the world, and i quote, "is like a round ball, on part of which is something like a woman's nipple..." a woman's nipple? seriously? columbus thinks that the earth is shaped like a boob? i'm sitting in the library as i type this, giggling to myself at this newfound knowledge. i just can't even fathom... oh, the things we learn in college.

this week has been exhausting, and it's only the first! i don't know what i'm going to do this semester if every week is like this one. ugh.

if you recall from a previous post of mine, i mentioned something about a surprise, and since i officially took the days off of work yesterday, i can officially tell you that i'm going home for spring break! i found a ticket on jetblue, non-stop roundtrip, for $300. so sweet! i can't wait to see everyone :) i'm especially excited to see erika, since it will be the week before our birthday. last birthday was the first one spent apart, and i felt so lonely! most people believe birthdays to be the one day of the year where one is allowed to be selfish, but for me, it is meant to be shared. thank god jennelle's is right before mine, or i would have felt completely selfish.

i wish you all a lovely weekend :) superbowl! (even though i have no idea who's playing, nor do i even care, really...) but enjoy it!

xoxox

151.00

today was gnarly. i started classes at 8 o'clock, was out by two, and had to work from four till close (which is two AM...) i've been exhausted all day, but for some reason now that i'm home, i don't/can't fall asleep. a storm is coming our way, and i'm keeping my fingers crossed that classes will be canceled so this staying up late won't come back and bite me tomorrow.


one of the classes that i'm taking is "images of the body" and i am so excited for it. we have to choose an image for next class, and i chose this one by renoir:

tonight at work, i had this table of three little old ladies. one of them asked why i didn't have an accent, so i told her i was from sonoma. this cute little old woman shrieked aloud, telling me that she LOVES sonoma, is a member of the benziger winery club (which i didn't even know existed...) and she even guessed the crossroads of our neighborhood from my slight description! it was just the cutest thing.

it's kind of ironic that i would have such an encounter, because i've thinking very strongly about moving back.. i know i've written many ideas on here, and i very well may change my mind again, but it just seems like a wonderful moment of opportunity for me, kind of like moving back east in the first place was. it's not that i really miss home, or that i hate boston now; it's quite the opposite, actually. it really comes down to the yearning i have to be close to my family. two years away has been great, but it's really very difficult to be so inconveniently far away from them. it's very hard to put into words exactly what i mean, and because of that i don't talk about this very much out loud. i feel like a part of me is missing though, and it's beginning to ache a little bit.


i'm slightly ashamed to admit, even though my dad told me not to be, but i feel a little bit hypocritical. i was so adamant about moving away from sonoma, from california, succeeding in a new place, refusing to be one of those SVHS kids who ends up at the JC. even more so, i refused to be one of the kids who goes off their respective distant school, only to find themselves back in sonoma, taking classes at the JC, because they couldn't survive in their original destination. i don't want to make any justifications or excuses about why i am probably going to end up like my worst nightmare, but two years is quite a while to live somewhere else, especially straight out of high school.

pardon all of this talk.. i'll most likely end up writing an entry in the new few weeks that's declaring my undying love for boston, or jumping for joy at my acceptance to NYU or something, but in the meantime, all i crave is california.

xoxo, ashley

escuela.

my first class was this morning at 9 AM, and my friend james ended up being in the class too! i haven't seen him since last spring, so it was exciting to see him again. i have an enormous break from 10-1, and i'm so bored, i don't know what to do with myself. except take ridiculous pictures.. i don't know what to think of this one.

i've been thinking a lot lately about transferring to a school back in california. it's probably because it's the middle of winter, and i've been sick, but the southern california sunshine sounds beyond incredible.. this twenty degree weather is no longer my preferred cup of tea. i find myself dreaming of the house i grew up in, daydreaming about what my life would be like living in LA, SLO, san diego, or san francisco. i really miss (almost) constant warm weather, not having to check the weather six times in one day, and not worrying about getting brain freeze from being outside for two minutes. uhg. in state tuition wouldn't be too shabby either!

what i am excited about is that erika and i have been video chatting again! it's so much cooler than just talking on the phone.

i'm obsessed.

with this song. i've unknowingly listened to bonnie raitt since i was about four years old, and i just adore her and her music. she has one of the most heartfelt voices.. she's fantastic.


school starts tomorrow! i'm actually pretty excited because i am so bored of just work. here's to you, christmas break. it's been nice :)