Vigil

From Gov Chris Christie's (NJ) speech on 9/11/11. Excerpt from Mary Lee Hall's "Turn Again To Life."

If I should die and leave you here a while,
be not like others sore undone,
who keep long vigil by the silent dust.
For my sake turn again to life and smile,
nerving thy heart and trembling hand
to do something to comfort other hearts than thine.
Complete these dear unfinished tasks of mine
and I perchance may therein comfort you.

Shouting On a Crowded Train

Wow, has it really been 3 weeks since I posted? I don't have time for a full post but here's a little something.


Vignette from the train ride this morning:

Me: [la la la I have my earbuds in I am minding my own business and getting on the Q]
Woman: "I LIKE YOUR RING!!"
Me: [look down. confused. only wearing my silver claddagh ring, not fancy] "Oh, thanks."
Woman: "WHO GAVE IT TO YOU?"
Me: [legit question, I'm wearing it on my left ring finger] "My dad."
Woman: "Oh so it's your dad's ring?"
Me: [is this seinfeld? do i have man hands?] "No, I asked for it for Christmas, and my dad gave it to me."
Woman: "IS HE DEAD?"
Me: [well this just took an odd turn. easiest explanation is...] "Yes."
Woman: "OH, DID HE GET SICK?"
Me: [seriously?] "Well, I mean, he left."
Woman: "WHEN DID HE DIE?"
Me: [ok say whaaaa] "I'm sorry, I really don't want to talk about it. Have a nice day." [earbuds back in]

I mean come onnnnnnnn. Who keeps pestering someone after they say their father is dead?? Just when I thought I might have seen everything.

Swirly

So, I'm feeling totally drained and uninspired today because I had approximately 36 hours of weekend this weekend, instead of the usual 60ish. At least I made about 800 bucks this week instead of the usual $450... now I can afford winter boots! (And maybe even pay for my flight to warm, sunny Florida for New Years.)

This weather, although damp and dark sometimes, is starting to feel more and more like Christmas is coming every day. I've never been to NYC during the holiday season, but I suspect it's going to be one of the most magical things I've ever experienced. I already have my decorations out in the corner of my living room and I am SO ready for Decorating Day (aka, the day after Thanksgiving, in which I get really drunk, eat Turkey Slop*, and decorate the apartment until it's entirely covered in glitter and/or tinsel).

For those of you who have ever done Christmas in the City... any favorite traditions? I'm totally going to the tree lighting, and if I have money I'm doing either The Nutcracker or the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Give me your spectacular, I'll give you pictures of the happenings; scout's honor :)


*Turkey Slop is one of the few traditions from my relationship with The Ex that I've kept in my life. Basically, you make biscuits, then top it with shoestring french fries and the leftover turkey that's been swimming in gravy all night. Best. Recipe. EVER.

Photographs and Memories

First matter of business: Liz asked what dress I wore to the fancy NYC cocktail party I wrote about earlier... it was this one, but with black peeptoe heels instead of nude slingbacks.

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

This past weekend I went out to Prospect Farm for their Fall Festival. Having grown up in the suburbs for the first 24 years of my life, I think of something very different when I hear the word "farm" than the locale I arrived at. The farm is, in reality, 1/8 of an acre, a skinny strip of toxic soil on a pretty steep incline next to a quiet but obviously well-traveled thoroughfare. Not exactly ideal farming conditions, and a bit disappointing upon first glance. However, I'd already spent the money to get there (I usually avoid going anywhere other than work that I'm unable to reach on foot) so I shelled out a few bucks for the soup tasting - which is what attracted me in the first place, along with the hope of meeting a cute Brooklyn boy - and a slice of homemade zucchini bread, and started exploring.

I am SO glad I stuck around. This farm is absolutely incredible - the lot is owned by an urban studies professor who is rehabilitating the land in order to one day turn it into a productive farm. Did you know that plants such as sunflowers and mustard greens can actually leach the lead out of the soil so dramatically that in just two harvests it's possible to grow food that is safe to eat? I didn't! So basically I wandered around asking everyone with farm t-shirts on as many questions as I could possibly think up, ate some soup, and basically had an awesome time. (The soup was actually a tad disappointed, but one woman made a Spicy Cauliflower & Chorizo Soup with baked kale chips and it was SOOOOO good.)

Then I went home (swinging by the farmers' market in Union Square on the way to pick up some eggs... seriously, eggs eaten the day after they were pooped out of the chicken are phenomenal) and spent the rest of the weekend hiding from trick-or-treaters and rearranging the furniture to make room for Christmas decorations. Which are now in a pile in their designated corner, waiting for the next 26 days to fly by. Woo woo!

I hope your weekends were as awesome as mine... let me know what you got into!

walking/stumbling/on these shadowfeet

Argh/blargh, I've been neglecting the blog again. Between hustling like CRAZY at work, friends in town, getting sick, and an unexpected, impromptu trip back home for a friend's wedding, I have been over-exhausted and under-inspired. It's not like I'll lie and say that I was "too busy" - being broke means spending a LOT of time at home on the couch - but work has taken a lot out of me and sometimes it's all I can do to lift the remote and zone out with Jersey Shore and mindless internet games.

I missed the 5-month anniversary of moving here too (this time only by one day, though, hooray!) but now that I'm entering my 6th month in NYC, life is finally starting to turn around. I have a lot more job security even though I'm still technically a temp, and I even begged for and subsequently received a substantial raise. So now I can actually make rent on time every month! And maybe even have money for food AND winter boots! *spirit fingers*

I'm still not really sure who's reading this with any regularity, so I'm not certain what to write about... Work has basically been my entire life lately. They even asked me to help out at what amounts to their food festival, both at the front door/VIP list and as a brand representative - so I got to meet a lot of (famous) people and interact a lot and basically be on the front lines of an event, which is exactly why I moved here. Plus I was invited by my boss to my very first Fancy New York Cocktail Party (tm) and basically felt very glamorous until my wicked hangover at work the next morning.

I feel like I'm finally starting to come out of this deep slump I've been in for years. Losing my job in NC is where it all started - I feel so depressed when I'm not doing anything in my life, and now it's all starting to turn around. I actually was somewhat productive yesterday, which is basically a Saturday miracle. So, yay me! Maybe this means I'll start feeling inspired to write more often... but I'd love to know who's reading. Drop me a note in the comments box if you are.. and maybe what you'd like to hear about? I'm assuming that if you read this blog, you already know me personally (and therefore read shorter updates on Facebook)... so what landed you here?

Coupla things:

1. I just got my second mosquito bite since moving here. Quite an accomplishment, really, considering the bite-ridden hell I lived through every summer in NC. Except now that I'm here in NYC, I panic every time I feel itchy because I'm convinced that I'm going to have a bedbug infestation and go broke and die.
   
2. OMG OMG OMG I HAVE AN INTERVIEW AT ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS/IMPORTANT MAGAZINE COMPANIES IN THE WORLD!!!! Just checked my email and found out :D  Also I'm surprised at the turnaround time - I only applied two weeks ago!
   
3. I have finally indulged my vanity and have installed SiteMeter at the bottom of the blog so I can see how many people view my blog every day. Yes, I'm vain and insecure, but I'm okay with that. I just wanted to give you the heads-up - if you've been stalking me, I will know about it (and stalk you right back! I love followers) :)

La vie...

A blog? What's that??

I don't blog because I have nothing to blog about... the only thing worth noting all week was that I went to a comedy show with my friends on Wednesday (which is actually a routine thing, except the comics and the friends may vary by week) and got juuuuuuust tipsy enough to kiss one of my friends. Not a big deal except that I think he's had a thing for me for a while, and I don't want to be more than friends with him, so I feel a little guilty, but hopefully he'll recognize it for what it was.

It is worth noting, however, that when he asked me "why?" (why do guys do that? that's the second time I've been asked why. it makes no sense.) I didn't have a good answer, but upon reflecting the next morning, it was because all my joy just bubbled over from emotional to physical. I was surrounded by friends, had laughed my butt off all night, and I was in this amazing city. As often as I blog about my doldrums, I often forget that there are moments like that, with the streetlights and the sprinklers and the noise, when bliss and delight totally take over and I remember why I have risked everything to be here.

La vie, c'est belle.

Apartment fetishes (but first, a note from your resident TV-holic)

We'll get to the real-estate porn in a second, but first I'd like to talk for a minute about The Bachelorette.

I take no shame in admitting that I have been hook-line-and-sinkered into watching -- and loving -- this show. I started watching with Jason Mesnick (EVIL BASTARD) and have fallen for the eventual runner-up/next-Bachelor/ette every time, to the point where I'm pretty sure ABC reads my mind before casting the subsequent season. I loved Ali from the beginning, mostly because she seems sweetly guileless and reminds me of a previous roommate, minus most of the crazy. Or so I thought. Apparently the crazy is starting to come out as the stress sets in in the final couple weeks of the show.

So, as they'd been teasing for weeks (and Reality Steve told me months ago -- yes, I read spoilers), Frank decided to get back with his ex-girlfriend and had to tell Ali about it. He explained himself to the camera crew quite nicely, and then fucked it to shreds with Ali. Judging by her reaction, there was not a lot of editing done to his explanation by the production staff, whose handiwork is pretty easily recognizable by now. Basically, the gist of it all was that Frank was falling for Ali... but the process of falling for HER brought up feelings for his most recent ex. I think this is totally legitimate. If you are starting to get deep with a new partner, and all of a sudden you realize that there are unresolved issues with an old partner, you need to go get closure (or re-start things, if it's right), camera crew or no camera crew.

Instead of being a normal, sane person, Ali basically throws a shitfit disproportionate to the amount of trauma she ought to be feeling. I get that she feels hurt and betrayed, I've been there before, but if Frank could actually explain himself, she might get it that they've only been "dating" for what amounts to about 2 months, and if he doesn't feel that she's right for him, he should leave -- just like she's been telling all the guys THIS WHOLE SEASON. If she doesn't mean it, she shouldn't say it. He is rejecting her rose. Sorry. I liked Frank a LOT, but their relationship was strained the entire time, and either Roberto (!!!!!) OR Chris (feh) would be a much better match for her.


ANYWAY. Most of you don't care about this crap, so have some pretty pictures of apartments I can't afford.

WHY CAN'T I HAVE THIS? I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN, $1.685 MILLION?? *SOB*

$7.995M. Just gorgeous. Greenwich/ West Village (also where the first apartment is located) is too amazing, confusing streets aside.











The rest of the beautiful apartments that I'd sell my kidneys for: here

"Mostly Alone"

Sometimes I'm afraid that I've spent too much time by myself these past few years. When I started my last job, I was going through the first major heartbreak of my life, and didn't have the emotional energy to see my friends.

By the time I lost that job due to the shitty economy, I had made a few close friends at work and was spending time with them more regularly, but my long days at work still made it hard to muster up the energy to go out for drinks after work. Most days, I would come home, make dinner, and watch TV.

When I finally did lose that job, I was emotionally ready for close relationships again, so I threw myself into the activities of the nearby church, which I had heretofore avoided for several reasons. But even that sort of tapered off after a while, and at any rate, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of unemployment provides PLENTY of time to be alone even with "extra"curriculars (that aren't so "extra" when there's nothing for them to be "extra" from!).

So I still ate meals mostly alone, went to movies mostly alone, watched TV at home mostly alone... the list goes on. And after a while, after the terror and extreme discomfort subsided, I really started to - perversely - enjoy it. I relished the ability to finally do things by myself, after 8 years of codependence in high school (friends/family) and college (boyfriend/friends). I'm still a social creature and do prefer to be with people most of the time (although I will NEVER clothes-shop with someone ever again, I hate it I hate it I hate it)...but being alone is addictive.

So now I've become a little bit of a hermit. My move has forced me to change that somewhat, but I can always beg off with budget excuses or exhaustion or WHATEVER, and it's so tempting. I need to wrench myself out of this voluntary loneliness. Cheaply. ;)

This post is not inspiring enough to have an awesome title

Oh whoops, I have a blog! Hello! Between internet being down in the apartment (due to switching accounts over) and being kinda sick still, I've been sort of out of it. Although I've still managed to check ONTD every day, surprise surprise.

Things going on:

I found a job!! FINALLY! Right now it's only temp-to-hopefully-perm, but I can't imagine they won't like me and want to officially hire me. I'll be a receptionist/assistant at a branding/marketing firm that seems really cool and chill and awesome. They have big-name clients but they're all really laid-back. Not making much money, either, but once I have my schedule down pat, I'm going to grab a second job hopefully. Hostessing is probably my favorite option. So we'll see.

The One called. He calls every 3 or 4 weeks or so, and it's always lovely to hear from him. We got into real-deep-true-life stuff this week, which doesn't always happen, and we have a lot more in common than I thought we did in some important areas of our lives. I wish he would wake up and see that I'm really good for him. The whole long-distance thing is shit, but I guess there's not much we can really do about that.

...Um. That's kind of it. I'm just sort of living life, exploring the city as much as my body will let me. (After a particularly long day of wandering through the financial district and getting lost in Chinatown, I drank a full quart of Gatorade in, like, 10 minutes flat.) Watching Netflix movies a lot. Hanging out with The Best Friend. Already it's turning out to be a wonderful summer (if a little more humid than I was expecting).

Ah yes! Zachary Quinto will be off-Broadway in Angels In America this fall. Tickets are only $20. $20!!! Cannot wait.

So that concludes my blog post about pretty much nothing. \:D/

Let's get physical! Physical!

Well, I am currently too exhausted to cook, or even be hungry, so I'm going to lie on my bed and blog instead. Healthy!

I've struggled with my weight for about as long as I can remember. I was a pretty skinny kid, but I guess around puberty (or even maybe during that awkward, pre-pubescent, training-bra era) I started seeing myself as not-so-skinny. Maybe it wasn't exactly true, but I am by nature a sedentary person. I'd rather read a book than go get sweaty outside. I managed to keep my weight down all through high school - although, again, I was not skinny, just didn't have a LOT of extra fat - and even through most of college, but after my junior year of college, when I moved about 2.5 miles away from campus and therefore took the bus to class instead of walking, the weight started going on a bit more than it previously had. Not helping, of course, was The Ex, who despite his gymrat ways never did any cardio but still managed to tell ME I needed to lose weight. He looked a bit like Bartolomeo Pagano in the 1914 movie Cabiria. Whatever.

I've realized I need to cut back, but quite frankly I despise working out. Gym, outdoors, doesn't matter. I guess I should say that I hate running/ellipticals. If someone devised an obstacle course (a la Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp) or decided not to charge me for climbing their rock wall, I'd be all up in there getting my fitness on. But most forms of exercise are icky for me, or - like yoga - not what I need for my fitness goals.

But being in NYC has been SO helpful in all aspects of the weight battle. Not only am I walking WAAAAY more than I ever have in my life, including college, but being around people with body types other than "sorostitute" and "morbidly obese" (which is what I felt like my college town was totally comprised of) has made me a bit more comfortable with having a ring of fat around my middle. Not comfortable enough to keep it, mind you, but comfortable enough that I don't want to just die every time a shirt doesn't fit me right. Plus, the "chub rub" (which is a term I just stumbled upon yesterday, and LOVE) is almost gone! Hooray!

Okay, hunger is starting to return... which is appropriate, since all I've had today are a bagel and 12 ounces of chicken noodle soup. (I hate getting sick.) Off to make chicken carbonara :)

Also, I have TWO interviews tomorrow! One is at the place I'm currently temping, which is MAJOR because it's a famous magazine in a famous building and I would adore working there. The other is at a boutique marketing/branding firm, which would be awesome because there'd be room for me to move up pretty quickly. Cross your fingers for me :)

Blurb

One of the main reasons I've always loved moving to a new place was because it was the best way to reinvent myself, to get out of whatever stale rut other people had put me in. I wasn't incredibly popular in elementary/middle/high school, so it was always nice to "start over." The funny thing about this move is that I don't feel the need to change or reinvent at all. I'm getting out of a major career & dating rut, but I've found who I am, and I like it, and the way I behaved in my old town is the way I'm behaving here. I can't imagine myself putting on pearls and dining at Bergdorf or Le Bernardin because that's not what I would have done back home. I'm the same old occasional couch potato, who has no problem watching Dexter reruns on a Friday night instead of going out until 4am - I might do that someday but not unless I feel like it. Maybe that's not the perfect way to handle a big move to New York City, but why give myself a makeover if I like the way I look?

I don't do drama, my tears don't fall fast

Well, it finally happened - the homesickness has officially hit.

I have NEVER in my life been homesick. It's just not something that I've ever felt, or even felt that I should feel. But I just texted a friend from The Lunch Club about something unrelated, then PS'ed that Friday lunch just wasn't the same without him/them and I missed him/them, and BOOM! Tears.

Also, I cried this morning at the season finale of Bones that taped yesterday, where (SPOILER ALERT) Bones and Booth had to say goodbye at the airport as they went on separate assignments for a YEAR (CANNOT TAKE IT, WHYYYY). (END SPOILERS)

I knew that I would miss him the most, but I don't cry like this, I just don't. And maybe the city is just too big right now, but I saw friends and made friends last night, and I get to see my best friend tomorrow, but it just HURTS because I wasn't 100% emotionally ready to leave in the first place, and now all I want to do is listen to sad songs and cry.



PS: The staffing agency I saw yesterday was SO much better than the first. I have a temp (only one week, but still) placement NEXT WEEK at a MAJOR publishing house, which is super exciting for foot-in-the-door potential.

Hoof-sore

Oooooh I am tired. I left my apartment at 9am, walked ALL the way to Central Park (about 40 street blocks and 7 avenue blocks... I don't want to think about how many miles that adds up to), spent two hours there, and subway'd it back. On my list of things to do this summer is lose some SERIOUS weight by virtue of taking the subway as little as possible and walking everywhere instead, but if I'm exhausted by 1pm this might not be a good strategy. Maybe it just takes getting used to.

Interview with Staffing Agency #2 is in a couple hours. I hope they can find me something, even though (unlike S.A.#1) they are only a temp/temp-to-hire agency. Even temping would be an improvement over unemployment, obviously. And I've heard really good things about this agency, whereas I felt a little brushed-off at the first place.

My best friend in the whooooooole wiiiiiiiiiide wooooooooorld is moving to Brooklyn today, which fills me with all kinds of squee. I've missed her a lot, and getting lunch/drinks tomorrow will be AMAZING. Also I'm getting drinks tonight with a friend from undergrad who just finished grad school up here. Busy couple of days ahead of me... Hopefully next week will be the week that I find the job of my dreams (or at least the one that will get me there). Screw you, Mercury-still-climbing-out-of-retrograde, I'm going to MAKE the universe work for me! ;)

It's hard to glare out my window when the skyline is so pretty

This weather is making me nervous. There's a consistent cloud cover (but not low-lying like last night, where the top of the ESB was covered) and one forecast SAYS rain, but it hasn't rained since about 8:00pm yesterday, and one forecast says it won't rain anymore this week. I want to go out and explore and maybe barge in on a couple of events firms and beg them for a job, but if it's going to rain I'd like to avoid it. I had to go out yesterday for groceries, and it was ICKY.

To cheer me (and you!) up:



PS I am totally going to marry Seth Meyers one day. I live in his city now. Stalking is only a misdemeanor, right?

Mmmm, bacon.

Me: *wandering into the kitchen* Oh, you're making HOT DOGS. For some reason I thought I smelled bacon. Maybe I'm just craving bacon.
Roommate: Isn't that a sign that you're having a stroke? I'm pretty sure that's a bad sign.

 

LOL. But I still went out and bought bacon today.

Word vomit

So, the interview with the staffing agency went well - I'm "on call" for a possible for-real interview tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then supposedly Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing... The real world kinda sucks. Aren't you supposed to just be handed a job? I feel like I'm doing things wrong, or rather that I WOULD do something wrong, if I put myself out there and just walked into an office somewhere and asked for a job. Blergh.

So far life is amazing, though. But it's supposed to rain tomorrow AND Wednesday, so we'll see how much I love New York when it's raining. After my interview today I stopped by St Patrick's Cathedral (only about 10 blocks from where I was interviewing, so I figured I may as well) and happened to get there about an hour before daily Mass, so I wandered around until that started. Lit a candle (St Jude, for my "lost cause" of not totally crashing and burning up here), that sort of thing. I love being able to just DO these things, it's completely amazing. I still feel like I'm on vacation. Part of me hopes that never changes.

And then I got to Skype with three of my best friends back home - we used to watch 24 together every week, and so we watched it together tonight too. Amazing. I really despise Skype and telephone calls and that sort of thing, but sometimes I guess you just have to grin and bear it. Another friend and I fiiiiiiinally were able to stop playing phone tag after about a week, so that was lovely. It's so great to hear from old friends. I don't feel lonely just yet, but I imagine that might kick in soon. Being in a big city is wonderful, but a bit alienating. I know I'm as alone as I choose to be, plus The Best Friend is getting here on Thursday (*FLAIL*), but seeing a familiar face or hearing a familiar voice has become more special and dear to me lately.

If you're reading this blog, it's probably because I know & trust & love you well enough to give you the URL, so you are one of those people aforementioned. Give me a call. Post a comment. I love you and miss you. <3

I'm heeeeeeeeeeeere!

I made it! I'm exhausted. But I will be posting pictures very soon... read: as soon as I can figure out how to put my bed together. I can't find the manual OR the little hexagon tool that IKEA gives you, although I was brainstorming in the shower this morning (naturally) and I have some pretty decent ideas as to where they might be hiding. I'm highly motivated to find them - sleeping on a mattress on the floor is comfortable, I suppose, but not highly sanitary or awesome.

Helpful hint, by the way, for anyone who decides to move 9 hours away: MAKE SURE THE MOVING VAN HAS CRUISE CONTROL BEFORE YOU RENT IT!! My foot hurts. Actually, my everything hurts. But it was so worth it... My bedroom has a view of the Empire State Building (and the top of the Met Life tower) and everything is just amazing.

Ok... I'll post again tomorrow. I have an interview with a staffing agency tomorrow, and a contact at a moderately famous restaurant for a host position, but keep your fingers crossed for me. Off to church!

Prepped and ready

Why hello blog, I had almost forgotten about you! Between packing, finishing up projects at church, traveling, and attending at least two social events per day in an effort to spend as much time with my friends as possible before I leave, I have been EXHAUSTED and so busy that I barely have time to watch the shows that I DVR.

The hour is almost upon me - at this exact moment in 7 days, I hope to be at least in Richmond VA, if not closer to D.C., on my way up to NEW YORK! Exciting, terrifying, etc. I'm only partially emotionally ready - little things remind me every day of how much I can't wait to get out of here (people who are bad pedestrians really irk me, as it turns out), but BIG things -- all my amazing friends -- remind me every day of how much I'm going to miss it here. They're even throwing me back-to-back farewell parties this weekend, when they could be going to graduations or sleeping in or whatever it is that people do when school is over for the summer.

I'm going to be SO glad I did this, but not having a job locked down is really starting to freak me out. To make matters worse, when I went home to see my family a few days ago, my brother sideswiped my car. You know, the car I was planning to sell in order to make rent for a couple months while I scrambled for employment. Luckily the damage wasn't TOO extensive, and I was able to get it fixed, reminding myself in the 2.5-day process that being a pedestrian in this town REALLY sucks.

At any rate, I'll be taking the plunge soon whether I'm really ready or not. I like to compare it to having kids (which I do NOT, but whatever) ... you're never REALLY ready to have kids, but you just have to BE ready when the time comes, and you'll figure it out. And then you'll be sleep-deprived for a long time.

Also, I will be seeing THE ex tonight. His little brother (one of my favorite people on earth) is graduating this weekend, and I need to be psychically ready for this. Best case scenario is that he comes up to me and tells me he has finally realized how much pain he put me through, and apologizes profusely and tells me he made a huge mistake in treating me the way he did. Realistically, I'll say about 5 words to him when he says hello to me awkwardly around his family. This is probably the VERY last time that I will ever see him, which is comforting and scary at the same time. BLERG.

Yes, I am blogging about Phil Collins.

I keep my bathroom iPod on shuffle, and every morning I'm stuck with this annoying little routine where I click through about 50 songs trying to pick out three songs in a row that I actually enjoy that will last me through my shower.

(I was using my iPod as storage when I had to replace my hard drive in November, and then the hard drive on my IPOD died and so I can listen to the songs but can't connect the device to my computer... I have a reference to an iPod repair place thing, but they take a long time sometimes so it'll be smarter to wait to fix it until I move, and I'm getting an iTouch for my birthday next month anyway.)

Anyway, yesterday I stumbled upon Phil Collin's "Can't Stop Loving You," which had tremendous meaning for me (I KNOW.) in high school. My best friend in high school... gosh. We were like yin and yang. My mom disliked her pretty much ONLY because we made so much noise. We were ridiculous together, and had so much fun together, and she was there for me through everything and introduced me to the Catholic Church and ... just, everything. I guess she's the first person with whom the word "soulmate" made sense to me.
(Background: Our friendship REALLY kicked off September/October of our sophomore year, and she transferred to public school for junior year.)

The first day back at school from Christmas break during our junior year, she called me for one of what had become our daily marathon phone sessions to tell me that her parents had decided to move them to Ohio, of all places, for her senior year of high school. Naturally, my heart completely shattered. I basically sat in my room for hours, crying and listening to Vitamin C's "Friends Forever" on repeat. (Still can't listen to that song without tearing up.) I actually didn't wear makeup to school the next day! And this was high school! People asked me if I was terminally ill.

Anyway, the whole situation was life-changing. I wrote my AP English autobiography assignment about it. My mother's sociopathic lack of sympathy about it was what cemented our divide. We stayed in touch, of course, but I am absolutely terrible at long-distance relationships and so consequently we don't talk very much. Facebook and LiveJournal are wonderful inventions - we can spy on each other's goings-on without having to pick up a phone. Clearly not optimal but the best I can do most of the time, apart from my annual trip up to Ohio (on my way to Michigan) where I can stop in at her place for an evening. But now, FINALLY, we are going to be in the same city again. It's such a relief, and totally funny how fate works out.

New York is not scary at all when I think about having her there with me. To be fair, she's moving there to be with her boyfriend, and if I've learned anything about boyfriends in the last two years that I've lived with The Roommate, I've learned to be realistic about how much time they're going to want to share with me. Of course, I adore her boyfriend (he's BRITISH!!) so that helps. But it's so funny to think of how life works out. I don't think the City is ready for us...