Finally!

My wisdom teeth are gone! My surgery was this morning at about 8 AM. I was glad to get it over with after this monstrosity of a situation from earlier this year.

I admit, I was nervous about going under anesthesia, but I don't even remember falling asleep. I barely remember waking up! I just remember being helped over to recovery and getting oddly weepy for some reason--although I don't think any actual tears were shed.

Brandon was a super-trooper and took me to and from the doctor's this morning, and Mom has been readily available to me all day. :) I'm sore, but not too swollen. I wish I could drink something, but I'm too nervous about disrupting the blood clot (which still isn't forming, over 4 hours later >:( ) and getting a dry socket, which I hear are the absolute WORST.

Might feel up to a milkshake later, though. :P

In other news, things in the house have gotten a lot better--although there have been bumps! John and Mom's fiance have had one phone conversation, which cleared up a lot of angst on both sides. I'm optimistic that things will turn out, in time.

It's John's 22nd birthday tomorrow, and I've sent him some goodies in the mail to tie him over until I can see him in person. I know, almost a year of dating, plus engagement and I'm missing his birthday because of work and teeth. But I'll be there at the beginning of September for our one-year anniversary!

On a sadder note, tomorrow is also the anniversary of Robby's death. I've been spending a lot of quality time with Brian this summer--well, as much as our schedules will allow anyway--and that's meant a lot to me. Brian's one of my best friends, and I'm really proud of him.

There's a tailgate being held for Robby at a Pittsburgh Pirate game in two weeks, which should be a really great event in his memory.

Mom just made me a milkshake, so I'm going to enjoy that and watch some crappy daytime TV! :D

Wish me a speedy recovery!

Love,

A.

Why I Love Brian, Part Twenty-Two

Brian

i like to dream of a world where i'm zac efron

I'm heading home Friday for Spring Break, Rheanna's Bridal Shower, and Brian's Birthday! (Although I'm a dummy who scheduled my return bus trip on the day. Idiot.) Maybe I'll see some of you there? John is also a butt who is going to England without me. (But he's going to have a great time visiting his friends and he'll be bringing be back a LOT of chocolate. :D)

Love,

-A.

Joyeux Anniversaire á moi!

You heard right--I am now 21!

Which, to those of you who have known me for any length of time, means that almost nothing will change, except that I can now go to bars with my friends without having to flash the bouncer/bartender. (JOKES.)

My weekend was excellent--the play was a success, and John and I got an amazing dinner at my godparents' house last night, as well as a new laptop from my mom (which I need to configure with my home internet somehow).

This morning was also very pleasant--I was my Problem of Evil class today with my slightly scary ex-CIA agent professor, and during our break, he did the little finger crook and beckoned me over, stony-faced. I about crapped my pants.

So, I walked over, and he looked at me levelly. "You've done it again."

Pause.

"You did very well on your test. You like this stuff, don't you? You're interested in it?"

I was so relieved, and totally pleased! We chatted a bit more about the distinct lack of God-talk that takes place at MICA before class started up again. When I got my test back, I saw that I did fine, but I certainly wasn't the highest grade in the class--I wondered why he'd chosen to take me aside. Maybe it was because my essay spoke so clearly to faith--my professor is a practicing Catholic. Either way, it was a very nice birthday gift. :)

My plan for the day--I have work until 3 (Robin did the packages at the desk for me as a gift!), then I'm going to shower and get ready for dinner with John, who is taking me out at 6 (but I get to open my gift before dinner! :D). We're going to get home before 9 in order to greet my friends, who are coming for the little get-together Jen planned for me! Yay!

I'll also be wearing the new dress that Lacie sent me. I've been in contact with her again, and was pleasantly surprised to find a package from her a few days ago. It's a gorgeous dress:

And I look fantastic in it. It's always great to be given the perfect birthday outfit.

I'm really looking forward to tonight! I'll update ASAP!

Love,

-A.

ETA: I can't believe I forgot to mention this--Lauren was awesome and called me exactly at midnight to wish me happy birthday. :D It was a very, very pleasant surprise and a very welcome talk. My sister is, once again, incredibly prying and inappropriate, but she really makes me laugh, and I love when she calls. :) I'm bummed I'll be missing her at Thanksgiving, but her birthday is coming up!

A teensy update!

Work is starting to catch up to me, and I wanted to post a quick update about how I'm doing before I get swallowed up!

Yesterday I failed to make a 9/9/09 entry, even though 9 has always been my favorite/lucky number! However, the day itself was great--John and I had our first official date, and since it was Colin's birthday, Robin and another GD friend Nicolette (who was in all of my freshman core classes) conspired with me to do something for Colin's 22nd! Nic provided the cake, and I suggested trimming it with Swedish Fish and Skittles (his favorite candy). It was too sweet and too yummy, and hopefully none of us got diabetes. Jen and Ben and Jess were there too, and John came with me and Katie showed up later (the Six Flags crew, minus Betsy and plus John!), and it was so fun to see everyone. :) There was also another viewing of THE ROOM, which is always awesome. :D I love my friends.

I'm happy. :) I know I have a lot of stress and work ahead of me, but I am really happy, and I just need to match my happy with motivation! :P

I hope you're all equally happy and enjoying your week!

Love,

-A.

"I'm just CRAZY about Tiffany's!"

Well, our NYC trip was very, very successful.

Robin and I got dropped off around 12:30pm in the Upper East Side at Madison Avenue (no GG sightings--sorry!), where we walked and looked into shops for a little while, then crossed through Central Park into the Upper West Side to the Shake Shack, where we got some hamburgers and ate them on the chilly benches nearby.

We went to the Natural History Museum next ('fo free, because Robin had his Warhol Museum ID--hell yes), which was REALLY fun and interesting and it just reminds me how present God is. There was this one part of this display about the creation of the universe that was talking about what triggered the beginnings of life, and it was like "The reason is still unknown", and I was like *snerk :P

Anyway, we posed with this GIANT fossilized turtle ("I like tuhtles"--if you haven't seen it, YouTube it), then saw a prehistoric giant SLOTH.

It was cool. :)

So, then we got on the subway to Fifth Avenue, where we saw a ton on Christmas-themed shop windows. We stopped at Tiffany's, at my request, and I posed by a stuffed albino peacock (one of Lucius Malfoy's, I presume. :P). Inside, we saw this amazingly giant gold, diamond, and peridot necklace. As we were looking at it, a girl about our age came to the counter and asked "How much is this necklace?" With as much distaste in her voice as she could muster, the saleslady said, "$385,000." And the girl was like "Oh", all disappointed, like she was going to buy that GIANT necklace for a reasonable price! WTF? "Aw, mom said I could only spend $380,000 this year! D:"

Then we wandered into Starbucks and got a light dinner, then walked over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree, and nearly got crushed in the mob. :) The tree was lovely, and it reminded me how present God is, once again. :D

So, we caught the subway again to SoHo, and met the bus. Robin and I slept pretty much the whole way home, which was lovely. Then I slept for twelve MORE hours, and did some of my finals today. :)

Also, Betsy went to H-Mart (Asian food store) this morning with Paul, and apparently tried to convice him that Robin and I have a thing. :/ I'm not sure if he believed her or not, but he mentioned it to Marla, who in turn told Robin. Robin said that Marla was very, very skeptical, so that's good, but we really have to cool it.

It's sounding like Betsy needs to shut her trap, because Jen indicated that Betsy told her that I vent about Jen's relationship DUMBNESS to Robin. GOD. AS IF YOU DON'T, BETSY. I'll need to take that up with her.

Alright, I love you guys, and I'm going to direct you to my Facebook, where I have posted my birthday pictures.

OH, one more thing. Chase posted on my wall, wanting me to call him and catch up. What do you guys think? I'm curious about his doings, but not INTERESTED. I more want to gloat about how well I'm doing. :P

Love you,

Alyssa

My birthday festivities.

I had a shift on the 15th from 9pm-12am, so I turned 20 while sitting at the Commons desk. I ACTUALLY turned 20 at 4:59pm, while I was in Robin's bed.

I woke up at about 10, and just laid there until my dad called at 10:30, then got up and got myself to CLEANING. Our apartment was pretty gross (piles of dishes, clutter, dust, hair), and even though it was my birthday, I was happy to get all the crap out for 1) my party and 2) the girl I may sublet to who is coming to see the apartment tomorrow evening. It's now a trillion times more beautiful, thanks to MOI. :)

Unfortunately, Jen had to take the opportunity to be a complete ASS and talk to her ex-boyfriend on the phone and get into yet ANOTHER fight and cry all over Betsy for twenty minutes while I forced myself not to go in and yell at her. I SWEAR. Jen--Dylan always warns you that he's going to treat you badly. Boys always warn us. Yes, it sucks that he treats you like that, but you choose to engage in it time and time again, so it's your fault. I'm unafraid to say that you getting hurt by Dylan is your fault. If you had just broken it off in the first place instead of fucking him when he visited over fall break, you wouldn't be in this mess. And yet she STILL intends to take him home for Thanksgiving and pretend they're still together. LAME.

ANYWAY, I vented about it to Betsy for an hour or so while Jen ran out to get brunch, and then at about 2:30, Robin called me to tell me that his bus got in 45 minutes earlier than expected--a lovely birthday surprise. He had been in New York to see Andrew WK perform with a string quartet. So, Betsy and I picked him up, and I hung out at Robin's while Betsy and Jen started the cake.

I made it home around 5:30, then helped a mopey Jen dress (she looked all gorgeous :D), then Betsy (who has the most bomb-ass [to borrow a Lauren Term] gold Dolce high-heeled oxfords I've ever seen), then, at about 6:30, I started curling my hair. I was ready by seven, and Robin showed up around 7:20, then Erin and Melissa a few minutes after then. But, of course, my birthday seems to end up being the day people have the least respect for showing up to places on time, so Marla, Paul, and Tiff didn't get there until 8:30. And THEY had the menus! Grrr. So, we ordered our food (only five of us ended up eating out of the group of eleven), and started cake while we were waiting (Hot!Ryan [looking HOT] and Colin joined us for that). The cake was SO rich and tasty. :)

Our food showed up, and we laughed A LOT, about art kids, mostly. :) It was an incredibly pleasant evening, and I have leftovers to look forward to when I get home. :D

I'll try and have some pictures of my HAWT outfit and my AWESOME shoes by this afternoon. :) Thanks for the birthday wishes, you guys! Love you!

-Alyssa

Happy 20th to me!

I am no longer a teenager, and I welcomed midnight while singing a really good Jack's Mannequin song. All good. :)

WashingTON, WashingTON.

I went to Washington, DC today with hopes of applying for my student visa. It was a pleasant trip, but let me elaborate:

I woke up at 9:40, and lazed in bed 'til 10, having stayed up until four with Robin at the desk. I finally rallied and dressed, then checked MARC train times and DC maps to make sure of where I was going (Embassy Row in Dupont Circle).

I got to Penn Station to catch the 11:40am train, and two girls about my age asked me if I was part of the Johns Hopkins Pre-Law DC visit to GW and Georgetown. I, obviously, was not, and they were distraught that they wouldn't find any more members of their group. I introduced myself to Kim and Leah, and managed to embarrass myself quickly by knocking the gorgeous iPhone out of Leah's hand trying to give her a handshake. UGH.

We walked down to the train together, and they waited outside of it for any potential stragglers. (Or perhaps to avoid my iPhone-Destroying Hands of Crazy.) I ended up sitting across the aisle from two nerdy but nice-looking guys who looked like law school-types. I asked, and they were, and we struck up a conversation about MICA and Italy. The boys, Alex (with really pretty blue eyes and a big Greek-style nose, although he's Romanian) and Nick (tall and lean with the signiture "dork" haircut) were shortly joined by Elias, who had, coincidentally, spent the semester before in Italy.

Also coincidentally, Alex and Nick were from PA, and Nick was from Mount Lebanon, and the three of us have November birthdays, and Alex's birthday is the same as Lauren's! It was very weird but really cool. We talked a lot about Pittsburghese and art and art school (which they found incredibly curious--it was very funny), Alex was chatting me up BIG time. It was really sweet.

We separated once the train pulled in, without exchanging last names, but I figured Elias was an unusual enough name to find on Facebook without to much trouble (I was right). I did end up running into Nick on the Metro though, and he missed his stop because we were talking about the Pens. :) It was very cool.

On to the frustrating part. I got to Dupont Circle and got a little lost, but with the help of a nice bank teller, got turned around and back on track. I found Embassy Row, but ended up walking probably a mile and a half to the Italian Embassy. I felt SO GROSS, but I didn't want to take my coat off and carry it.

SO, I finally get there, and the guy at the gate, an older Italian guy, asks my why I'm there. It goes a little like this:

Him: Alo, what can I do a-for you?
Me: I'm here to fill out a visa application.
Him: You are a-too late. (It's one-thirty pm, by the way.) The office is open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from a-10AM to 12:30pm.
Me: REALLY. Is there ANYTHING you can do?
Him: No. You a-live in Washington?
Me: No, Baltimore.
Him: Oh. You will a-have to come back, then.
Me: *frustrated tears* Oh, okay. Thanks anyway.

WORST EVER. It just stressed me out a lot, and it's That Time, so I'm even more emotional than usual. SO, I walked the mile and a half BACK to Dupont Circle, and decided to stop for coffee and something to eat. I spotted a Books-A-Million store, and walked in to find two of my favorite things: books (who'd've thunk it?) and coffee. So I grabbed New Moon off the shelf and got a coffee and piece of caramel coffee cake from the really nice guy at the register, who, coincidentally, heads out to Rome next week to sing at the Vatican, because he's in some men's choir.

I read until almost 4, which was SO unbelievably relaxing, then decided to head back to Baltimore, so I bought the book, which I was about half-done with (the check-out guy was ALSO really sweet, which was SO nice), and got back on the Metro to Union Station, bought another ticket to the MARC train, which ended up being so packed with commuters that I had to stand for the first 20 minutes of the ride.

Robin called me as they called my stop (he's in New York to see an Andrew WK show), which was a nice 'Welcome Home'-type greeting, even if he's not in Baltimore. I got home just in time to see Betsy ice a brownie cake for a classmate's birthday, then fly out the door to a Post-Bac dinner, and Marla called to ask me to model the corset she made (Jen was supposed to, but Marla made it too big--also, the photoshoot calls for me to be the character of a "Showhorse" [Corset=saddle] and Robin is my "Groom". God has a sense of humor. :P).

NOW, I'm going to finish this entry, take off my shoes and NAP until Marla calls me to watch a movie.

Whew, and then I have a grave shift, then I take a shower and meet my Illustration Concepts class at the bus at 8:15 AM to go to the Brandywine Museum, then get back at six or seven, THEN go to my 9-12 at the Commons, then it's my birthday! :) Damn, eventful weekend! But I'm looking forward to it. I won't be a teenager anymore.

(Also, I didn't get to mention the LOVELY birthday gift I got from Brandon, the new Chris Ware book. Don't know Chris Ware? Google is your friend. Thanks, Brandon. :D)

Seven weeks 'til Florence. Wow.

Love you all,

Alyssa

P.S. This entry has SO MANY tags.

ETA: P.P.S. "I remember wishing [he] were my brother. I realized now that all I really wanted was a claim on him. It didn't feel brotherly when he held me like this. It just felt nice--warm and comforting and familiar. Safe. [He] was a safe harbor."

-New Moon, page 375

:)

Yeah, things are going pretty well.

Although I'm getting a LITTLE behind on work, but I'll be fine.

I'm getting all geared up for SACI, which is both scary and intensely exciting. Although, I fully realized yesterday how much I'm going to miss MICA, or more accurately, my closest friends here.

Speaking of, Marla got a puppy! She named him 'Howard', but we re-Christened him "Booster Gold' after we realized that no one wants to say the name 'Howard' multiple times a day. :)

Okay, lunch break is over--back to Ceramics!

I have a photoshoot with Betsy today--the concept is my faith--I'll get a hold of some photos and post them. Muah!

-Alyssa

P.S. Four days 'til my 20th!

SHOES. OMG SHOES.

Okay, my horror since Tuesday night has subsided.

I got SHOES. Not just any shoes. Birthday shoes. Nine West, five-inch platform Vasca pumps. Shoes that have, in fact, appeared on Gossip Girl. They are gorgeous, dahling, and I'll have pictures soon. They are the closest thing to "Fuck me" heels I've ever acquired. :)

This is a short update, I know, but there's not much else to tell.

Love you!

-Alyssa

ETA: Me, Robin, and Robin's best friend Sam (who is visiting with his lovely girlfriend Jessie) did really well tonight at the Epic Pop Culture Battle. We got second place, which means a pint of free ice cream, $40 to the Ottobar (where I met The Doctor who blew me off. Twice.), and free bus tickets to NYC whenever we want! :) Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

ETA2: I have a warm spot on the back of the left side of my ribcage. :)

"O, say can you see?"

First of all: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AB-FAB! Hope it's amazing. Be safe. :)

(I originally wrote 'Be sage'. So, yeah, get on that, too.)

I got my passport today! It's kind of amazing, because they said it would take three weeks, and it's only been a little over a week. :) Maybe because I'm so close to DC.

My picture is fairly dreadful (the whites of my eyes blend into my skin), but it made me feel this weird surge of patriotism to receive the passport. Sort of an odd reaction--feeling patriotic when you receive a document that allows you passage OUT of your home country. :P

My visa application goes next, and the quick receipt of my passport is a lovely relief--the visa is supposed to take FOREVS. Em, any insight?

The passport's quick delivery is just another nice reminder that God is looking out for me. :)

The rest of today will be spent eating, thrift-shopping for my Halloween costume (I'm copying one of my Mom's ideas and being a Marionette), then curling up at home and rereading the rest of Watchmen. Did you ever finish that, Ab?

What are all of you doing for Halloween? Costumes, parties, pumpkin-carving?

It's so gray and rainy here--it was surprising humid this morning, but it's cooled down a bit since then. Strong winds, too. I want to hear some thunder and see some lightning! (But only after I get home and curl up--my living room has four windows with an awesome view of the sky.)

In other news, the drama has settled between my roommates, but unfortunately for Ryan, he suffered a very, VERY painful--erm--personal injury and has been out-of-commission for a couple of days, knocked out on painkillers. (Rotated testicle. WTF.) He's doing better, but is, naturally, a little embarrassed. Poor guy.

ANYWAY. Not much else to report, but I hope you're all staying warm and happy and healthy. :)

Love you!

-Alyssa