Crush the Orange

Activities this month..

Quick update since I dont feel like writing about it and its not very interesting on paper anyway.. 

3 weekends ago- Family anniversary party for Uncle Alfred and Aunt Miriam was nice. Nobody danced except my immediate family (aunts uncles grandparents cousins)… but that’s only because were awesome. 

2 weekends ago- Tough Mudder in New Hampshire. I drove up with Don, Jus, Cait, and Will. It was awesome. Very hot and I got awful tan lines, but it was so cool to be there and support them. A 13 mile obstacle course on a ski resort looked harder than I thought. Perhaps I wasn’t born for that…

Last weekend- I ran my first 5k with Caitlin in Nissequogue State Park! Will and Joan did it too, but everyone knew they would finish. I ran mostly with Joan and it was great. I kept wanting to stop, but having her by my side kept me going the entire way through. She said the same thing when we finished. My time was 28:32 woowoo! The next day, Cait and Will brought me with them to Flying Point Beach in the Hamptons. There was a big bonfire, and I had a s’more where the chocolate was melted on the marshmellow on a stick over the fire! It was really beautiful there. 

BOSTON

Since Friday, I’ve been on the Island, Rhode Island, Boston, and Manhattan..and I’m tired! Met up with Chelynne in Boston and we did the Prudential Center Duck Tour. The tour is designed to give you the history of the city without making you feel overwhelmed. It was really nice. Some things I learned: 1) a studio apartment on Beacon St. goes for almost a million dollars 2) The Boston Garden was the first public Botanical Garden in the U.S. and even has Palm Trees! 3) The Charles River’s (which our bus turned into a boat so we went on the river) water quality is tested 5 times a week in the summer and once a week during the rest of the year. On a scale of A-F, the water quality is at a B-, which means its safe to swim in and almost safe to drink! We ate at Cheers! and a place called Anthem, both in Fanauil Hall and both were pretty good. Chey says the clam chowder is the best she has ever tried, and while I didn’t have anything to compare it to, it was delicious. And if you want to go, I recommend making a reservation at Neptune Oyster Bar, otherwise you might get incredibly excited to eat your first oyster and than terribly disappointed with a 3 hour wait.

Overlook Beach

Went fishing this past weekend with Erika, Michael and Kim at Overlook Beach. It was fun driving on the sand! We were only there an hour because it was too cold for us- we want to go again when were not bundled in layers of sweatshirts, blankets, and ridiculous penguin hats. Something about throwing out a line and reeling it back is exciting.

General thoughts

Ok, taking some deep breaths this week. Put in my application for regular auxiliary pioneering starting May 2013. Ma doesn’t feel the same way as I do, so why not make the most of my gift of singleness? Trying to learn espanol and hopefully by next feb ill find myself in Costa Rica. Also RBC with Kim is coming up in two weeks! Busy summer.. I better make it to the beach with a surfboard at some point or I will cry myself to sleep every snowy night in December.

Foods that do not to be refrigerated

• eggs
• almond/peanut butter
• bread
• canned tuna
• granola bars
• mayonnaise
• all natural fruit drink boxes
• canned black beans
• cheddar, asiago, parmesan, gruyere or swiss cheese
• dried fruit
• nutella
• pasta
• vegetables and fruits
• butter 

Oh this is happening. 

Jamrachs Menagerie

The entire book was a bit disturbing, but I really can’t say exactly why I wasn’t able to put it down. Out of all the parts that were incredibly awful, I couldn’t help but cry when Jaf asks “Can you bear to see me?”
“Is that what you think?… I thank God every day that you survived.”
I think it’s because I can relate to that feeling, you know, the one that makes you feel like your the one to blame? Almost like thinking about it makes your chest tear and your legs start to crumble..

Weekend in the city

I went into the city on Friday after work to have dinner with Laura, John and Amanda. I realized I haven’t seen John and Laura in a year and had an amazing time at dinner catching up with them. I’m so excited for their move to Manhattan!!!
I slept over Amanda’s apartment, it was small, but cute. We went out that night, and met “Will, Meghan, and Lauren” and danced to Whitney Houston. Amanda’s eyes got wide when I found her.
The next morning we went to Momofuku (fruity cereal milk milkshake is officially my drink of choice), Dylan’s Candy Shop (even the stairs had candy in it!!), and Central Park. While there we saw a man walking his long haired dog with dreads! Very cool, it reminded us of the mammoth on Sesame Street.
I left Amanda to meet up with Desi at the Guggenheim. The exhibit was post war Japanese Art by.. Gutai? I didn’t like it. My interpretation of it was that most of his work symbolized death, pain or suffering- mostly because most of the sculptures or paintings were dark or red. They had a bed made completely out of razor blades and two wooden half poles covered in nails..it was weird.
I did, however, enjoy two of the smaller featured exhibits. The first was an artist who’s name is Zarina. She does drawings that look mostly of wood or bark but it looks so natural and clean. I need the book that features her artwork. The second was a small white room filled with all things retro and vintage, from salt and pepper shakers, large piece puzzles, metal lunch boxes to porcelain Mickey Mouse characters. It brought us back to childhood. Ah.. The good days.
Finally was going home. We took the subway and I sat next to a man that was rocking back and forth. I smelled something funky, but it’s the subway so that’s to be expected, right? Well, he stands up suddenly and I look to find that his jeans that are 4 times bigger than the size he needed had fallen down and there was his big black bare butt staring me right down. As soon as I realized that’s where the smell was coming from, I quietly gagged and walked away.

Art Expo 2013

Incredible. Hundreds of artists all together at Pier 92, displaying their unique works to the city. In love. Cait came with me, and although she wasn’t as into it, she was good company. Favorite artists: Anna Razumovskaya, Marc Harrold (photographer), and Daniel Del Orfano- in that order. Afterward we took the subway to S’MAC (finally!). ha on the way we saw a girl eating a banana like a monkey.. literally the banana was hanging off her lips. Back to S’MAC, I ordered the Alpine. It was good, but next time I want the buffalo macaroni and cheese or the fig an Brie. YUM. Next was Momofuku and I tried the fruity cereal milk milkshake and the chocolate truffles… To die for. It was a fantastic day, everyone deserves a Saturday like the one we had.

Wachusett Mountain

Spent the weekend with Molly. We woke up late on a Sunday morning to a blizzard but we can’t be stopped. We drove her Subaru an hour to Massachusetts so we could snowboard just the two of us. On the way there, the roads on the highway were bad and we passed several cars that had spun out and even a truck who was backwards on the other side of the highway! I was a little scared, but once we got to the mountain, the snow had stopped and we were ready. We did the bunny hill a few times and I lost my iPod. All well. By the afternoon, me and Molly were barely falling and we were on the medium slope!! I had such a great time and everyone there was super friendly, like snowboarders love helping each other. it reminded me of the people in Montreal. So excited to see what happens next winter!!

Sharks and the MoMA

Met up with Amanda on Friday and went to the Museum of Modern Art, free of charge- courtesy of Target. The bookstore they had on the side of its building was great, so many books I have never heard of that I would like to buy. And the store part of it was really neat, they had little kitchen appliances and postcards, I even found a painting that said TWA! In the museum, It was definitely rushed and a bit crowded so we stopped on a couple of floors that looked interesting. Things that stuck out to me 1) “The Scene with the Hand that Points” 2) A sculpture that consisted of blonde pony tails tied onto a circle of barbed wire 3) Two balls in what looked like nylon, hanging from the sides of the wall, maybe 7 of them all at different lengths 4) Barnett Newman’s “The Voice” — this was incredible. I want to buy it! 

Next was the 3rd Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival which took place at the Crosby Street Hotel. It was 9 short documentaries about Sharks, Manta Rays, and Seals over the course of two hours and afterward,Christopher J. Gervais came out to answer any questions and talk more about the production of the film. A couple of the films touched on Tiger Sharks, and one man named Walter Bernardis who devotes his life to free diving with them, was interviewed. Another talked about how they have developed new technology to help tag the sharks to track where they travel when they are not by the boats of humans. Since the tracking, they have noticed that during certain parts of they year, the sharks will stay close to the beaches and than all of sudden leave and encircle a smaller area in the ocean and shoot themselves up and down vertically over and over again. Scientists still don’t know why or what they are doing. The film also made me aware that killing sharks for Shark Fin Soup is a real problem in Asia. The people catch sharks, slice their fin off and dump them back in the ocean where they will than die. Others capture sharks and than, for educational purposes, bring it outside in the streets and slice it open, exposing its inward parts. And still other sharks, get caught in the net by the beaches, and they drown because they cannot circulate water through their gills. It was all very graphic. Cristina Zenato was my favorite part though. She free dives with blue sharks (I think) and there was a video taken of her, at the bottom of the ocean kneeling and a shark comes up and lies on the ground in between her knees and she starts petting it! Than she turns it so that the shark is horizontal to her and she gently holds its top fin with one hand and its mouth with her other and stands. Than she slowly moves it so that the shark is upside down and its mouth is resting on her hand. It was absolutely incredible. One more point— apparently, the producer of the movie JAWS said that his biggest regret was filming that movie, simply because it made people so afraid of sharks, when really they shouldn’t be. 

Molly’s Visit Dec. 2012

First night we went bowling with the kids from our hall at 300. AMAZING. Horse Back riding was bunches of fun!! We went to Sweet Hills in Melville. Than after, me and Molly drove into the wrong complex and picked up a stray cat. I spend $50 on food and supplies for it, named it Gilly, and than put it outside after a day because it wouldnt stop crying. Stupid thing. Than today I get home and there are sticky notes EVERYWHERE in my room. And I also wish Gilly would come back and she isnt. And its snowing outside!!