Poppin Bottles in the Ice

Every once and a while this holiday season, I do plan on composing posts which are seperate and have nothing to do with Christmas spirit. This post is one of them. The only relatable thing is the lyric "like a blizzard", since snow is often associated with winter and Christmas as a winter holiday. That's all I've got. The conception of this post came about because of the fact that my brain is apparently very suceptible to getting the song "Like a G6" by the Far East Movement stuck in my head.

For those of you who haven't heard the aforementioned song, I present it to you below.



I have now discussed this song with several people, and have had a few outstanding discussions on the word "slizzard". Urban Dictionary offers several definitions including, but not limited too, a high state of intoxication, a slutty lizard, or becoming so intoxicated that one thinks they are a lizard. The placement of "slizzard" in the song goes,

Poppin bottles in the ice, like a blizzard
When we drink we do it right gettin slizzard

While some might applaud individuality and creativity, all I can really think is, could you not find a word to rhyme with blizzard? Despite the stretching and distortions inflicted upon the English language, I do enjoy this song, but mainly because it's catchy, easy to dance to, and for some reason it is a popular dance number at Water Polo practices. I do dance to this song, and it is often stuck in my head, however, while I'm bobbing my head I'm also shaking it in literary confusion and disappointment.

Wish List Wednesday!

We are now in the second week of the Advent season and onto the second installment of my Christmas List themed Wish List Wednesday postings. Last week's items were a mix of nerdiness and domesticity. This week marks a departure from both of those areas, unless awesome technical nerd knowledge is employed in super-charging some of the items below. This week's featured item from my Christmas list keeps going off and on the list. Please feel free to let me know if I should make it a permanent fixture or not.

The item in questionable standing on my list is the Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS gun. My eyes first laid upon this glorious wonder over Thanksgiving Break as Nick and I were wandering around NYC and landed in F.A.O. Schwartz. While the Nerf gun serves no practical purpose, besides demolishing my housemates, you simply cannot deny the awesomeness. This automatic baby boasts a firing rate of three darts per second.



Continuing with items that are not on my list, but have related associations, I selected two other toy listings which have little practical purpose, but just make any nerdy child smile. Next time I have $250 to drop for no reason, I'll look to this Star Wars Republic Dropship with AT-OT Walker Lego Set. Who doesn't love Legos?



Lastly, I have to admit I still have stuffed animals with me at college. The ones here are small in number and significant in my life. That being said, I am still a sucker for cute fluffiness, and I always enjoy visiting the penguins at the Oregon Zoo no matter how smelly the area is. Who can't resist a stuffed penguin?



In conclusion, I appreciate that a part of me will always be a spunky seven-year-old. Happy Holidays and to my college companions, I hope we all make it through finals and exams!

Comfy Pants

Growing up, I have acquired and stored a lot of peculiar memories that I do not quite appreciate or seem to understand until later points in life. My Dad normally dresses in regular business attire with the occasional break into business casual. When he arrives home from work, he says hello to everyone, goes and looks at the mail, makes idle chit chat with my Mother, and then normally goes upstairs to the bedroom. When my Dad returns shortly after, he is still wearing whatever tailored shirt he had on that morning, but his tie is off, his birkenstocks are on, and he is wearing some pair of sweatpants.

For many years I did not really understand why my Dad had to change his pants to come back down, read the Wall Street Journal, watch t.v. and eat dinner. Between strict dress codes, fashion trends, and my Mother's shopping influences I did not own a pair of sweatpants myself until a pair for Jesuit's swim in my junior year of high school. Even today, I have three pairs in my possession: a pair of RPI sweatpants purchased freshman year, a pair from swim team senior year of high school, and a loving pair of Victoria's Secret pants that I keep meaning to give back to Chelsea. I sadly lost that pair from junior year during my first year at RPI.

Tonight after a long day of errands, cleaning, studying, work and water polo practice it clicked. While I have been wearing sweatpants much more frequently in college, it is normally on the way to the gym or to bed. If you ever see me wear sweatpants to class or on campus, it's a pretty good indicator that some combination of my mental, academic or social well-being is in chaos. Jesuit's dress code is still ingrained in me a bit to this day. Despite my outer standards, I do enjoy sweatpants in my own home. I have changed into sweatpants before in the evening, but it finally clicked tonight as I changed into my senior year pair. Comfy pants are a hidden comfort in life.


I have known others who practice the comfy pant phenomenon. A good companion always changed into a pair of comfy Adidas soccer shorts. My Dad has a gray pair and a dark blue pair that he also sometimes wears when coaching soccer practices. My ultimate comfy pair is the one I am currently wearing. The sweats from senior year swim team, I somehow mistakenly ordered a size medium, which wouldn't be such an issue, if it wasn't for the fact that my waist is fairly small, and that it's a men's medium. Despite the fitting flaws, they are the comfiest things alive. Thick, gray, and possessing pockets, pairing these sweatpants with the same shirt I wore during the day with jeans makes my legs a bit happier. Also my stomach for that matter. I just got out of water polo and my abs could use a rest.

While I know that not many people comment on my posts, I do know that people read them. So what say you folks? Do you have a pair of comfy pants? If so, what are they?

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

Today in Troy, the students and residents were sprinkled with light snow. While snow, is a fairly regular occerance in Troy, and most of upstate New York for that matter, snow always marks the coming of winter and cold. It is officially cold in Troy. For some though, it is colder than others. I remember back to freshman year at RPI. I was young, naive, and full of doe-eyed wonder and romantics about snow and the cold that accompanies it. Regular snowfall was like chestnuts for me: mythical, something only possible in storybooks. While I am now older, I am still filled with childlike jubilee at the sight of snow, however, something has changed. I am wiser.

Unfortunately, I have to honestly admit that I was one of those kids from the West Coast who froze their silly little heads off freshman year. It took a while, almost all winter, to realize how to layer in order to survive. I purchased my first pair of snow boots on my own and was introduced to "double panting" or the donning of a layer of long underwear under one's jeans. A friend from Texas, Los Angeles and myself learned the hard way that snow is not necessarily that cold, but the winds and Northeast temperatures that accompany it are.

Sophomore year I graduated to the level of winter dress knowledge where I could layer and not over-layer to the point of sweat induced exhaustion. Junior year, I purchased a new wool peacoat and gained tall, tan leather boots as a gift from my Mother. As a senior now, I am proud to say that I can dress for the cold, be stylish to boot, and not even be over-layered. While this might seem like a silly trifle for some, I'm pretty proud to be cutely prancing in the snow and smiling into the bitter winter wind.

Just remember, you can't go wrong with wool and gloves and hats are your best friends.

It's Beginning to Sound A Lot Like Christmas

Hark! Hear the sounds of Christmas cheer, sung aloud for all to hear! It is December fourth, the day before the second Sunday of Advent. Tis the season to be jolly! Flurries of snow danced upon the wind yesterday afternoon as I walked back from Nonlinear Programming, and while listening to Pink Martini's version of "Santa Baby" I started to sing along. I have previously mentioned that I do sing to my self out loud when walking places, but carols seem to be especially prone to escaping from my lips.

There is something about Christmas carols that seems to differentiate them from other well known songs and tunes. Whenever one person starts to hum or sing a Christmas carol, you can bet that others nearby or in the room will soon join in. That happened in my apartment on Thursday night and ended in three part harmony. There's a warmth in your heart with Christmas carols. A good friend of mine who is Jewish even knows certain tunes and gets a smile from them. It's not neccessarily the words, or the tunes, but rather a good deal of feeling and attitude that people emulate while caroling that really hooks people.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart

Flash a smile, say a prayer, limber up your vocal chords and make the most of the season. It's one of the few times of the year when everyone else is forced to tolerate my horrible singing, so I might as well make the most of it.

Season's Greetings!

Yesterday twas the first of December today. While I consider it acceptable to start celebration and preparation for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, with the coming chaos of "Black Friday", I know many feel that it's not quite the season until December starts. This season, as previously mentioned in my post about Thanksgiving, brings me so much joy. It is a shot of seratonin to my brain, a warm embrace to my soul, a comforting blanket of love wrapped around my heart. As my roommate and housemates know, I decorated on Sunday, and my levels of holiday cheer and happiness almost approached scary levels, however, it did give fruition to such joy in my apartment.



I have a decorated Christmas tree, which while unfortunately fake, stands around six and a half feet tall full of merriment.



In addition, a good deal of my apartment looks like this and is covered in lights. Despite all of my insanity and unbridled and uninhibited joy, irregardless of all the negative in my past and personal issues, there are a few simple reasons why I enjoy Christmas so much. One of the principle reasons for celebration is a closeness that the holiday season brings. Goodwill towards your neighbor becomes commonplace. Smiles are painted on more people's faces, and everyone seems a bit more willing to chat in line at the department store to a stranger. Mankind, despite its endless failings, shows true beauty in treatment of others at this time of year.

This semester has been either too slow or too fast for me between social events, new friendships and bonds, classes, my employment on campus and research work. In the past, two of my best girlfriends Erin and Sarah, and I have enjoyed a much greater frequency of each other's company through Wednesday Girls' Lunch and the occasional movie and wine night. I see Erin much more than Sarah due to our Monday trips to the Pub, but it really is not the same without Sarah. Last night I decided to skip the gym and text Erin to see what she was up to. Sarah, Erin and I ended up at my place, glasses of wine in hand, nestled under the Christmas lights enjoying each other's company and watching It's A Wonderful Life. Was it just a simple coincidence that all three of us were free for once this semester? Probably, but I'm still going to say a little bit of it was Christmas magic bringing people together.

Wish List Wednesday!

For the next few weeks, I have decided upon a theme for the Wish List Wednesday posts I publish. Although I am 21 years old and a senior in college, my mother still requests that I make and send her a Christmas List each year. I do understand, after so many years, it becomes hard to guess what someone might like, especially if they are away from home for ten months out of the year. Thus, for the Wish List Wednesday posts, I will list one item on my Christmas list and then two things that could accompany it. As I age, my lists seem to get smaller, so I will not be skipping out on many items by only doing this format for four weeks. I also really like that I will have four posts to correllate with the four Sundays of Advent.

The first item is actually on my Christmas list. I first saw them in a magazine and couldn't believe that such a thing actually existed. These Star Wars cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma are awesome.


There really shouldn't be much more to say than these are awesome, and that it is obvious why I desire them.

Secondly, this item continues more along the lines of my enjoyment and love of Star Wars than my passion for baking. Williams Sonoma really appears to be doing something right this holiday season in all kinds of awesome with this apron.



Lastly, the third related item is based upon my overall passion for cooking and baking. I cannot wait to get a job, move into my first "adult" apartment, and receive my grandmother's mixer with all the crazy pasta attachments. If I do not get it, or my mom does not want to wade through the storage bin, then I would really love a KitchenAid mixer.



The candy apple red color just adds to my materialistic lusting.

With the completion of my first Christmas list themed Wish List Wednesday, wow that sounds like a materialistic mouthfull, have a good day all and may cheery warmth fill your hearts!