Ze Hungare Games

Boy, do I flip my lid when it comes to The Hunger Games. I just enjoyed the books so much. They were a great distraction during finals last year, and I do, I have a major crush on Peeta. There's a poster on my wall.

So, imagine my extreme freak-out when during our improv show Thursday I heard someone yell out "Gamemakers!" when Skars asked the audience for a suggestion of a relationship for the two actors on stage. It had been Kale Jr. I jumped out from behind the flat and pointed to her! OMG GAME MAKERS! I yelped! Skars went with "Grocery  store employees." WHATEVER, CRUSH MY DREAMS.

I texted Kale Jr. today--
ME: Lol at you suggesting Gamemakers Thursday.
ME: Best part of [the season] so far.
KJ: The best part is that I actually said "gay neighbors."

I hate my ears. And my thorough knowledge of all things Katniss.

(SVC gets me though.)

High School Friendships

High school relationships get a really bad rap--like "dramatic" or whatevs. But, honestly, I never experienced much of that. SVC--one of my prized HS pals--just got an iPhone, so we've been Emojiing all day. Duh. We've been talking about how we met, and I just want to give a shout out to how spontaneous friendships can be in high school, and how truly great that is.

HOW WE BECAME FRIENDS:

-We had English class together, and one day everyone was supposed to be silently reading The Scarlet Letter. We weren't. We were both looking around the classroom, and then at each other.
-I used to mismatch my shoes in HS. At first it was an accident, and then I thought it was cool. Trendsetter, what? SVC was the only person who noticed.
-He remembers some time when the teacher turned her back, and I flicked him off. I have no recollection of this, but that doesn't mean I don't think it happened.
-We started saying "hi" in the parking lot before school.
-He was a captain on the debate team, so his AIM was on a whiteboard in the team room. I copied it in my planner, and we would IM at night.
-We read each other's Livejournals.
-We decided to hang out some Friday. He got my number, called me, and we ended up watching Biodome with a bunch of people.

And then we became best friends. What!? But, we did.

SINCE BECOMING FRIENDS:

-We helped each other establish academic ideas.
-We traveled to Scotland.
-We've coached each other through break-ups and other crisis, near and far.
-We listen to and respect each other's opinions.

Some real, adult, solid friendship-type ish, y'all. Based on goofing off in class and a Pauly Shore movie. Friendship can be anywhere.


This is us at the first gathering of HS pals after we'd been exposed to college.

E.L.A.I.C.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close began with a blue New York sky. I felt as though I were wearing a necklace, maybe a golden timepiece, and the screen had scooped it up and was tugging it slowly--comforting on the edge of a choke.

I felt moved up and out from the first moments because I experienced the whole book again and then the experiences with the experiences and the experience of today with the experiences.

A boy from Alabama played Oskar Schell in his Dramatic Interpretation piece in my speech national final round in 2006. I met him while I was looking for my skirt which had fallen out of my bag.

Two months later my friend Claw told me to visit her at work the day before I left for college. I drove to the pizza place and found her extremely high. She left her post, went to her car, and emerged with her copy--incredibly marked up. She said I'd need it and told me I looked like I was going to a tea party. I looked to my right today. Henne was next to me, high school.

I kept the book on my dresser throughout my entire first term of college and read it over winter break. I read pieces of it to Vince in my St. Louis bedroom after Thanksgiving, I kept it in the back room at the ice cream store, and I sat on a tub of strawberries reading it.

A year later I bought a second copy for Kay, and we both read it in our first December together. The weeks leading up to my visit to his home when he was still back in Illinois at swim camp and I was nannying my baby cousin in San Diego. Kay and I brought our copies to the dunes of Monterey and could not speak. We stayed silent for hours watching the waves and climbing the sand. Now, I haven't spoken to him in a year. I can't remember what kind of hair he had. This bothers me. How did he look? We read what he called "the red hand book" together and now I don't remember if he hair was long enough to be curly last we spoke. I know he smelled faintly like burnt muffins from working at the bakery.

I'm sitting in the theatre though. Oh, I love this story. And while the movie encapsulates about 8% of the novel's goodness, I cry several times.

Henne sits across from me at the sweets shop. He takes his stubs out of his pockets and rips them in halves. I ask why. He says I probably keep everything, which is slightly true--at least until I decide if its worth scrapbooking. He asks if this night is worth remembering. And maybe that's it--I think everything is worth remembering.

I will always remember seeing my favorite book as a film with my high school friend and Hill and Hill's boyfriend and his roommate because we were a microscopic community and everything pieced together for me to feel this way and be this way and live this way. And it doesn't make any sense but that's why it does.

Friday Night at The Bux

Just spent a really really long time at Starbucks. About five hours--which I think is the record for how long I've been in a Starbucks. I have a fond memory of studying at the Starbucks that was within walking distance of my house in St. Louis my junior year with Vince, Hunny, and Ty. I remember Ty walked in and Hunny and I both were like, whoa, Ty, you look really nice today. And Vince was like, "He's wearing jeans and a sweater. I'M wearing jeans and a sweater!" We examined and concluded, "Yeah, but Ty has a belt." Vince raised his sweater to show us a cloth belt with purple paint on it. Nice try, buddy. I think we were probably there for four hours max though.


Vince.

Here are some things I saw at the Starbucks that' on the corner of the two busiest streets in my college town:

1. Several people came in to just straight-up gank WiFi and chill. I would think a Starbucks in such a busy spot wouldn't allow this, but for some reason, it was cool. Noted.

2. A man and a woman in their 80s set up a card game at a table and kept talking about Gabby who was "supposed to have been here by now." They played a while, talked about how expensive everything was these days, and DANGIT WHERE IS GABBY? Some teenage boys walking by asked, "Are you guys playing Magic?" They were. Eventually, Gabby came. Gabby was a very overweight, disheveled early-thirties woman who toted a rolling suitcase.

3. Big homeless woman plopped in the easy chair next to me and gave a very impassioned persuasive (?) speech to "Rita" for about two hours. She was speaking loud enough that she distracted me from the revisions I needed to get done tonight, but not loud enough for me to hear a theme of her speech--just bits and pieces. Although, it's possible there was no theme. Rita was not there. This woman was definitely not wearing a bluetooth.

4. A bald Indian guy approached me to ask if I thought women were more like cats or dogs. His three friends sat at a table yonder giggling like mad. I said neither.

5. "Hey!" boomed a short man at the front of the store. We all looked up. "Who has change for a 20?" Sometimes, you forget, pretty much anyone at any time can decide to command attention in a building.

6. Dude comin' in tryin' to sell his mixtape to a bunch of uninterested people.

7. A woman meeting her friend's baby for the first time. Precious. Baby started screaming--the mom breastfed.

8. A cute older couple on a date eating a contra-ban ice cream sandwich with a shared coffee.

9. Several other people, like me, holed up with their computers workin' hard.


My drank tonight: Salted Caramel Soy Mocha.

ATTENTION: IF YOU'RE GETTING COFFEE AND YOU'RE DRINKING IN-STORE, ASK IF YOU CAN HAVE A MUG. BOO THROWING AWAY PAPER/PLASTIC CUPS!

Offer Up

Time is never time at all.
You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth.
And our lives are forever changed.
We will never be the same.
The more you change the less you feel.
Believe, believe in me, believe
that life can change, that you're not stuck in vain,
we're not the same, we're different tonight.
Tonight, so bright, tonight.
And you know you're never sure,
but you're sure you could be right
if you held yourself up to the light.
And the embers never fade in your city by the lake--
the place where you were born.
Believe, believe in me, believe
in the resolute urgency of now,
and if you believe, there's not a chance tonight.
Tonight, so bright, tonight.
We'll crucify the insincere tonight.
We'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight.
We'll find a way to offer up the night tonight.
The indescribable moments of your life tonight.
The impossible is possible tonight.
Believe in me as I believe in you tonight.


STL High School Gang--together for NYE.

Resolutions 2012

New Year's High School Reunion in Chicago: Vince & GF, Hunny & BF, Mia.

Be healthier. Vague, but true. This means

1. Arranging my life so that it is RARE that I don't get enough sleep.
2. EATING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. Not every other day. Every day.
3. A pint of ice cream is not dinner.
4. Or breakfast.
5. Not feeling guilty about what I just can't do.
6. Not feeling stressed about what I know I can do.
7. Enjoying everything.
8. Taking time to consume good art every day.*
9. Respecting the place I live (this means making my bed as well as considering the landfill the coffee cup will go in once I'm finished with it)
10. Taking more momentary breaks to be peaceful throughout my days.


Hunny and her hunny.


Nac. 11:55 PM December 31st, 2011.

*Listening to Something Corporate while I bike does not count!

Oh, in five years time, I might not know you.
In five years time, we might not speak.
In five years time, we might not get along.
In five years time, you might just prove me wrong.

Four Things From GMail

Today was pretty rough. So, this things needed to be said. More on the roughness when I don't feel so bummed about said roughness.

1. Vince is applying to grad school. We discussed it.

ME: ...Come here?
VINCE: i am actually not familiar with anyone in arizona
VINCE: but it would be nice to be there while you CONTINUE TO FULFILL YOUR LIFETIME TRAJECTORY OF BECOMING STARGIRL

2. Chelle wrote me a reflective analysis of her veggie week.

"Dear Alice,

Today is Thursday therefore my week as a vegetable has ended, but because I know that this is very important to you I've decided to make you a list of things that I've learned.

1. This is very hard, meat is everywhere.
2. People judge you for not eating meat--I found this weird.
3. I have a lot more respect for vegetarians now.
4. I could definitely cut down on my meat consumption.
5. I didn't need meat as much as I thought I would.

Thanks for pushing me to do this Alice! Meep.

<3<3<3"

3. Clara on me feeling guilty about art.

"i don't really love that you feel guilty about not making art. people aren't machines! if you broke, and you couldn't make art, you would still be telling people about the things you think are important, and you'd probably live a great example, too."

4. Muff.

"You’re so beautiful to me that I think of you when I hear Blood Bank."