Nicest note ever from one of Hallie's friends in LA:

"Kimpossible-

It was very nice meeting you. If there was a single quality I wished to instill in all women with beautiful noses, it would be the ability to immediately and appropriately recall previous jokes - you are an expert at what those of us who dabble in whimsical intelligencia call WIT.

That said, your short visit was hysterical and utterly funtastic. Not that you need to hear it from me, but please come back any time. The pleasure would be ALMOST entirely ours, except that I think it's reciprocal. :)

-Harry Doggins"

This made me laugh so hard. Apparently I look like the human version of Kim Possible (the cartoon)

I already miss California and have posted my pictures on Facebook if you want to check them out.

Southern California

was wonderful and amazing. I will post more about it soon, but I am still recovering. :)

Dear pending snow doom,

I am worried. There's no snow falling, and there will only be a little that falls between now and noon and then you're set to unleash your wrath on Central Iowa. I would ask that you please reconsider. Like I mentioned to Inclement Weather yesterday, I would also forever be in your debt if you allowed me to get to L.A. in one piece and on time. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours respectfully,
Melissa

Dear inclement weather,

Cut it out, please. (I said please!) I really want to get to L.A. to visit Hallie because I miss her and the amount of vitamin D my body is screaming out for is astronomical. My (probably) SAD would and I would forever be in your debt.

Your truly and respectfully,
Melissa

So last night I was thinking

about all of my friends that are getting married/starting families. I was also thinking about how I don't feel like I am ready to get married yet, or have babies, or any of that. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it isn't that I am not ready or not capable of doing these things and doing them well, it's just that I feel like I have so much more living to do before I reach that point.

I want to travel, see the world, and photograph it some more. I want to meet people that challenge me, shape me, break me, and help get me put back together. I want to read until my eyeballs shrivel up and fall out of my head, only for me to dust them off and put them back in again so I can read some more. I want to learn so much it makes my head spin. I want to get so completely lost I think I'll never find my way and then blaze a trail to where I need to be. I want to feel alive, vibrant and, more than anything else, happy.

I wish the best for my friends starting new lives with significant others, and I can't wait 'til I get there, but right now I'm in no hurry.

I am completely fascinated

with the RMS Titanic right now. I am taking a page from Sarah's book, I guess. Watched it this evening (somewhat with Megan before she fell asleep and then left) and now I think it's bed time.

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.

Farewell NYC

Waterworks have begun. :(

Grumpin'

Today was just not my day.

It started with maybe the worst night of sleep ever. My air conditioner was being stupid and now actually blowing cold air, so it was hot as all get out. Add 3 tipsy girls into a not very large room, clad with two large windows that warm the room during the day anyway and what you get is an uncomfortable, stuffy sleeping habitat.

No good. I slept poorly at best.

Then work was work...I still can't believe it's my last week! :(

And then after work I went to take my 2 boxes of books to the post office, but FML because the two closest ones close at 5pm and didn't have an outside drop off! My arms and back are sore now and it's uncomfortable.

THEN! Theeeen I went on a hunt for a luggage scale. I had called Macy's on my lunch break and asked if they had any in stock. The woman on the phone said yes. Success! So I go there after dinner and wouldn't you know it? They are out of stock. The woman so kindly directed me to this place called Luggage Source, which was already CLOSED. Blah. Disaster.

And now...sleep!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Yet somehow I kind of want to spend it alone, doing my own thing. But I don't know what I want to do. I see a problem with this.

I saw 500 Days of Summer yesterday and absolutely LOVED it. Check it out:



It seriously put me in such an extraordinary mood. :) Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great! I remember the days when he was on 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Maybe I will go to the Museum of Natural History. Just maybe.

I don't want to leave this city.

Lite-Brite...FULLBRIGHT!

I just looked it up and found out that 74 people applied for the same Fulbright program in New Zealand that I am going to apply for. 10 grants will be awarded for next cycle (which sounds soANTM).

A little less than 14% of the applicants to the New Zealand program get grants.

Super.

Why? Because I believe life is for the living. I believe in taking risks and biting off more than you can chew. [Kenneth on 30 Rock]

Fotografia

These are mostly pictures from while I was abroad during the fall semester, but just the same, I like putting pictures on there better than Facebook, so I am sharing them with you here.

Without further ado.

La fotographia

Please go check out Hallie's photography skills. They're pretty wicked.

I may sound like a pubescent boy, but I sure love this city!

In the last six days I have learned may things:

New York suits me. It suits me mighty fine.

Publishing is what I want to do. (The internship has been AMAZING)

Washington Square is perfect for people watching.

I am actually a lot better at making friends than I thought I would be (but I got really lucky. Like, really, really lucky).

Bradley cafeteria food really is that bad.

:)

Summer in NYC

Well it certainly has been awhile since I posted something that wasn't an excerpt from a book I was reading! I do like to share what I am reading (this week its The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman because I really liked The Golden Compass in my YAL class this semester) but I suppose a little somethin' somethin' wouldn't entirely be awful. I will cut to the chase.

I am spending the summer in New York City.

I somehow managed to snag an unbelievable internship with Simon and Schuster this summer! I didn't think it was possible, but like I told Sara...I was going big or going home. After one disastrous phone call with Harper Collins (in which they hung up on me almost immediately after I asked if a phone interview was possible), I thought I was pretty much set with Northwestern University Press in their acquisitions department. But then alas! S&S called, and here we are.

I leave at the end of the month and will be there through the first week of August. (!!!)

Ana was right, 2009 was bound to be better than 2008. And now almost six months into it...I think she's right!

And All Good Things Must End...

I have officially finished both working at DTI and my internship (except for the essay and forms I need to do and send in to Rick Smith at the SCC...)! It's a bittersweet period of my life at the moment. While I absolutely loved working at both places this summer, and will definitely miss the wonderful people I worked with, I am really looking forward to the next chapter of my life that will begin once I leave to go to Granada. It is going to be amazing.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

I have a new blog for the time I will be in Granada, Spain. Check, check it out!

Not What the Greeks Intended

This morning, when I woke up (with my awesome chest cold, strep throat, and fever) I did what I always go...open Firefox and skim Yahoo News before I head over to read my e-mail. I am usually a little over eager to get to my e-mail so I don't sit and read articles until later, but today one article in particular caught my attention.

After reading this, I was dumbfounded. I realize that China may not agree with the position that Cheek has taken on the Darfur issue, but even during the times of the Ancient Olympic Games, the basis was that "armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, wars were suspended and legal disputes and the use of the death penalty were forbidden. The truce was primarily designed to allow athletes and visitors to travel safely to the games".

Shouldn't this be the standard today?

I know the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980, I know. Mr. Piro, my English teacher in High School, was set to participate. This boycott has become a dark part of his life, it seems, because he carries the bitterness with him every day of his life. He continues to run and coach girl's cross-country year after year, and I don't know how he does it.

I just feel as if these boycotts and instances of visa revocation are not quite what the Greeks had intended for their games when they began so many years ago. I think they wanted the games to be a time of peace where nations could come together and compete with sheer athleticism and skill, a time where nations come to flex their political muscles and boast their economic superiority. I realize the US is a far cry from the perfect nation, and many would claim that Americans are a bunch of warmongers, and our nation has a history of grudges against China (think Sen. John McCarthy's Red Scare) but the Olympics are supposed to be above all that.

But I guess that would be in an idyllic world, and not the one we live in. Maybe someday.

Seeee you later!

As my vacation auto-send e-mail message states:

Hey--

I hate to break it to you, but I am on a short hiatus with the study abroad program until June 7th. I will try to get back to you before then, but if I don't have computer access until then, I apologize.

And yes, I will tell the Irish hello for you.

And never fear, I will tell the Irish hello for all of you who actually tune in here for sure.

...it still hasn't really hit me, but I am tired and thus, it is time for sleep. And to enhance the excitement: