London Calling

I'm back from my 2+ weeks in London all refreshed and ready to get back to the daily grind (NOT!!!)

The day I flew, there was a big blizzard in NY, it probably snowed from 10 am - 3 pm and then it turned into an ice storm, though my flight was shockingly supposed to leave on time. That was until we got on the plane only to find out that one of the toilets was broken. The pilot explained that they all worked while in flight, but they use a different system for flushing while grounded, and one was not working while we were on land. Um...who cares - no one goes to the bathroom on the plane while on land!! They had to call the specialty toilet tech to fix it, but there was only one and he was on another plane. When that was fixed, they had to get the specialty guys to de-ice the plane. After that, they needed another set of specialty guys to dry ice the plane. THEN we had to wait for MORE specialty guys to direct the plane onto the runway. That totaled 2.5 hours of me sitting on the plane with two screaming kids sitting behind me, and quite frankly it was torture.

I landed on Saturday and Dave picked me up from the airport. His roommates were away the whole time so I was able to throw my shit all over the flat, yeah! We cooked loads and watched a bunch of movies (I recommend The Machinist and In Bruges.)

Dave looking all hubba hubba in the kitchen

Hugs

On the night I arrived, we went into Clapham and met up with some of Dave's friends for Xmas dinner and drinks. I pulled something really dinky out of my Christmas cracker, can't remember what it was but it was plastic and probably broke.

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We met up with Jay a few times and I met Joy for lunch that first week. Dave and I also searched high and low for quiz machines around St. Christopher's Place, one of my favorite areas of London.

We actually "did" some things on this visit. A pub quiz in Clapham. A panto (I'd never been.) The movies (Burn After Reading.) We also went ice skating at the Natural History Museum.We didn't fall at all
We heard a big crash (garbage or something) and I was like "Uh oh, who knocked the dinosaur over?" Hahahaha!!!! Well, I thought it was funny.

We went to his parents' house for Xmas. On Xmas eve we played the Wii and went to the Red Lion (the village local pub), Xmas day at the house we had dinner, played my new Spot the Intro game, and did karaoke till 3 in the morning, Boxing Day his brother et al came over, and the day after all of the cousins put on a nativity play.

Little GoodmansDave's uncle from Texas via Saudi Arabia came for a visit on the Sunday. We went into Clacton and it was about -23 degrees by the water. You can tell by the photo:The following day we went to Colchester Castle.

First capital of England (I think? I can't remember, I drank too much over the holidays.)

Olivia with her medieval shield
Dave, my soon-to-be slave

On New Years we went to Brixton for the XFM night. It was okay, I'm not a fan of Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip who were playing but good music otherwise. Long queues but at least we were able to walk there and back. They confiscate your gum there by the way.

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We went to Canary Wharf to meet Shiraz for lunch. I'd never seen these "men" before.

We did a London Pub Walk along the Thames. It was a tour of places on the south bank with stops at 3 pubs. I finally got to see where Bridget Jones lives!

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We stopped in the Tate Modern as part of the tour. The giant exhibit with huge spiders is up at the moment.

On my final night, we met up with Ben, Alex, Dan Dan and Andy C. at Liberties for a drink. I left on Sunday and it's back to the visa countdown now. Blegh.

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I'm watching The Bachelor right now. Since when do the girls get out of the limo and tell him he's gorgeous, handsome, beautiful? Are you kidding me? The dental hygienist walking up to him with fake messed up teeth was really funny (until she confessed that she'd been stalking him.)

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On Tuesday night I saw Glasvegas at Bowery. I only knew a few songs by them but the hype over them in the UK has been ridiculous so I thought I'd go. Yeah, so I'm not convinced. I think they would have sounded better in a bigger venue as they have a powerful sound, but I just wasn't that into the music. That may be because I don't know the lyrics of anything and you can't understand what the singer's saying but still I wasn't feeling it. Also, they had these super bright spotlights that shined on the audience for at least half of the show - that's the first time I'd been to a gig where the audience was squinting or looking down for a lot of the time. I saw Keith Murray from We Are Scientists downstairs afterwards though. First indie band spotting of the year yippee!

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Last night a few of the girls from work hung out and ordered in Indian food. Amazingly I tried something new!! The food was actually from a kosher vegetarian Indian place so I couldn't get my usual chicken tikka masala. I had Palak Paneer instead - it was cheese chunks in a spinach sauce and it was delicious.

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Something I have to share with you - my new favorite commercial. Watch it here, I love it!!!

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Time to read Twilight, totally obsessed.

Love Is a Time Machine

Last night was Oasis at The Garden. IT WAS AWESOME!!! As if I'd say anything different.

They had a good mix of songs, didn't concentrate solely on the new album, played a couple of my favorites, and satisfied the (mostly English) audience from what I could tell. The best was 'Supersonic' which ended the main set. From what I can remember (order is def mixed up), they played:
Fuckin' in the Bushes
Rock N' Roll Star
Lyla
The Shock of the Lightning
Cigarettes and Alcohol
To Be Where There's Life
Slide Away
The Meaning of Soul
The Masterplan (!!!)
Songbird
Morning Glory
The Importance of Being Idle (and you thought I made up the blog title myself)
I'm Outta Time
Wonderwall
Supersonic

Encore:
Don't Look Back in Anger
Falling Down
Champagne Supernova
I Am the Walrus

The thing about seeing Oasis live is not just that the music is amazing. I also have a lot of memories that go with both the songs and the shows. I always feel like I'm 16 when I see them and I this strange kind of innocence falls over me. It brings back memories of hearing "Live Forever" for the first time live and loving the way Noel changed his falsetto for each chorus, or realizing that they repeated the same verse in "Acquiesce" live but never did both original verses (ever as far as I am aware.) So many phases I've gone through seeing them live - being a teenager going into the city to see my favorite band for the first time, knowing every in and out of their live performance from having listened to it on repeat for months and being able to scream what song was supposed to come next, going to Milan by myself and almost getting killed by Italian fans who broke the gates down to run inside (didn't matter because I had been lucky enough to be crushed up against a part of the fence that was 5 feet from Liam randomly smoking a cigarette), waiting for them outside Radio City and catching one of Andy Bell's cigarettes (which I still have in a Ziploc bag), seeing them with an ex-boyfriend who was pretty embarrassed to be at an Oasis show, dancing in the Glastonbury mud with (mostly new) English friends kicking off an amazing festival experience, seeing them play MSG for the first time which was huge for them in NY, jumping up and down to 'Lyla' with Liz at V Festival, and finally seeing them again now after a too-long hiatus. Some cancellation disappointments in between set aside, this band has played an important role to me throughout various stages of my life.

Tonight I'm a Rock N Roll Star

What's the Story Morning Glory? Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll...

Forgot to mention that Ryan Adams opened. I missed the first half but he sounded pretty good from what I saw and surprisingly didn't act like a dick at all. I only have his first album and know a few other songs, turned out I didn't know anything he played though. This is probably because he's released close to 395 albums in the last few years. Unrelated but do you remember that song "Standing at a Broken Phone Booth With Money in my Hand" or whatever it's called? I just heard it. Random!

Ooh Stick You

I went to the doctor today to get some allergy tests as I'm trying to get to the bottom of what this 2 year sinus explosion in my head's been all about. The first thing the nurses did was write numbers all down my arms so they could stick me with corresponding needles. The fact that they planned to stick me at the same time from both sides made me nervous on top of the fact that these were multiple prickings, but it made me really uncomfortable when one of them said, no - #4 is termites, not #5! Ewwww. Turns out I had a reaction to three injections on each side. Result: dust mites, double EWWW! I found my arms to be so hilarious that I couldn't resist taking a photo and sharing it.I can't believe how good Keane's new album is. The first two songs are absolutely ace. Also, I hardcore love all the beats from The Streets' latest cd. I haven't been able to actually listen to the words though since I'm always reading The Metro when I have it playing. Some of the tracks kind of sound like backing music for strippers (not that I'd know anything about that.)

I went to London for Thanksgiving (very American of me, I know.) I'm going back this weekend for two weeks, I can't wait!! The GBP better stay at $1.48 (unless it goes down of course.)

One of the nights I was there on this last trip, Dave and I walked sooo far - from Bond Street to London Bridge to be precise (plus I had walked around the center during the daytime too.) For those of you who don't know the distance, it's like this:

Last year Carnaby Street had giant chain links set up. This year there are giant snowmen. Kind of reminded me of the marshmallow dude from Ghostbusters.

We posed for a photo with the xmas tree decorated with ice skate ornaments at Somerset House. Shockingly, the only time I'd ever seen Somerset house was in Snow Patrol's live DVD of their gig there.

A woman offered us extra skating tickets but we didn't go because we had plans. Anyway, that was quite nice! We continued our journey down Fleet Street. I saw The Courthouse (is there a special name for it?) for the first time too. I realized I'd actually been to a pub next to it when I lived here but didn't notice it until now. Freaky photo of St. Paul's from the Millenium Bridge:The night before I flew to England I went to Lauren and Eric's wedding. Have some photos:

Since I haven't blogged in ages, here are two photos from Halloween for good measure. Costume repeat (shhh don't tell anyone!)

Oasis tomorrow! So excited I might actually die.

Million Dollar Question

Today, ordering my usual at the coffee cart...

Me: Hi! Can I please have a large coffee with skim milk and two sweet n lows and an egg roll with butter?
Coffee cart guy: Which roll?
Me: The long twisted one.
Coffee cart guy: That's called an EGG ROLL.
Me: You're an asshole!

Fine, not really but I wanted to say that.

Cable guy came on Sat and I can finally watch tv in my room after 4 long months of only being able to access Good Morning America and turning to Opie and Anthony while getting ready for work. You know what? They are pretty funny. It's okay to unleash my inner boy once in a while.
Lost is on tv right now. Did I tell you I saw the guy who plays Carl in Spring Awakening? Did you see Spring Awakening? Go see it! Also go see Thirteen!

I bought the latest Snow Patrol (great make out music, I don't think Dave will agree. Actually he may un-engage himself from me on that suggestion.) Also bought Kaiser Chiefs which is okay (I mainly enjoy the song with Lily Allen.) Next up is the new Streets and getting The Shock of the Lightening single when I'm in the UK next week. By the way, if you are in the UK and are reading this, I'm coming over if you are around and want to hang out!

For the girl who has not been going out, I've been so doing so well - I went out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and had some wine and sushi with Kat and Kristine tonight for Gossip Girl. I didn't go out on Saturday. Instead I forced Meghan to watch Millions because I was so freaking excited to see Slumdog Millionaire the next day. Slumdog was excellent. It's about a kid who grew up poor in India and ends up on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? They show how he knew the answers to the questions through flashbacks in his life. I loved it!!!!! Here's the trailer:



Did anyone see Beyonce on SNL? Drool central.

Don't Ask Me I'm Only the President

The electoral votes are still being counted but it's pretty obvious what's about to go down. What I want to know is how the group who make up electoral district 122 got into their positions? This was the most disorganized system I ever seen!!

I was actually lucky enough to vote in my apartment complex. I went down there a few minutes before 9:00 am and the line was probably 75+ people deep. This is understandable as people want to vote before work, but not understandable (OR acceptable) when -

• The 75+ line is only for last names A-L when the other line for M-Z has a maximum of 5 people on it at all times.
• They didn't check any IDs, only made you sign under your pre-printed signature. So I could have essentially given anyone's name who I knew was voting in that district and just copied their signature and voted for them.
• The two voting booths are split the same way the lines are, meaning that after registering,

.............-The A-L booth has another line to wait on that is 10+ people deep.

.............-While the M-Z has no one in the booth at all!

When it got to about 3 people before me to register, the brainless volunteers finally decided it was okay for the A-Ls to use the empty voting booth so they wouldn't have to wait another 15 minutes on a second line. DUHHHHHHH!

There was a dad behind me with 2 daughters who were screaming, running around, and crying the entire time. They were hanging on the registration table, and to top it off, when I went to exit the voting booth, one of the girls was actually in there with me. Control your fucking kids people!

All toll, I spent an hour and 15 minutes waiting to get my vote on (compared to the M-Zs who probably spent no more than 5 minutes all in all.) This is a lot of time spent for someone who doesn't even like either candidate!! All I care about is Bush leaving, so congrats to whoever wins.

I do care about Bloomberg running for and winning a third term. Does that count for something?

I Feel Fine

Today was an awesome day at work. This is because we ANNOUNCED OUR BEATLES GAME!!! yayayayayayayayayayayayayayay
Back when I was a wee 14 year old, my dad received the double discs of The Beatles 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 as a gift. I became totally mesmerized by the music and would literally spend every night sitting on my living room floor next to the stereo listening to the songs through giant padded headphones. To this day I have friends from Jr. High on Facebook who ask me if I'm still obsessed with the Beatles. Who could have imagined I'd ever end up working on a Beatles project?? Funny how you can really end up at the right place at the right time.

= YES!!!!!!!!

I'll give you 12 cents if you can guess my favorite Beatles record and a whole dollar if you can guess my favorite Beatles song (you won't get it.)

The only thing that killed my buzz today was seeing a man playing with his penis in the subway station. As you can imagine, it was very disturbing!

So much to do before the Halloween festivities begin. I need to paint my nails red, acquire red lippy, and track down some candy canes. Agh!

Long Time Coming

On Thursday, I woke up at 5:30 am, flew back from San Francisco and had a CMJ gig. When I got to Bowery, I bumped into Engelmon who told me that Chuck Bass was there! CHUCK FREAKIN' BASS!!! He also told me that Serena Van Der Woodsen and Vanessa had been spotted as well but I didn't see any of them. Thanks for the tip on nothing Matt!!

Scouting for Girls were the penultimate band. I knew the song 'Heartbeat' which they play on XFM which is decent. They were very into audience participation, a bit too much, but I thought they were alright.

Delays didn't go on until 12:30 am (I surprisingly wasn't that pooped) and they were awesome!! They are super melodic and the singer has still got his unique freakishly cartoony voice that I love. No encore (I'm assuming that was a CMJ thing) but I already can't wait till they come back (hopefully they won't wait another four years.) To tide me over, I've been listening to them non-stop since the show. Here are some photos -

They sang about this (not the stairway part)... This... and this!

On Friday night I went with Erica and Kat to her local and we met a dude who majored in History at Binghamton and graduated this past May. I was like WOW I'm old. Then his brother was like "If it makes you feel better, I graduated in '06." And I was all yeah goodbye!

On Saturday night a few of us went to a birthday at Nikki Beach or Nikki Midtown or whatever it's called. I used to go there when it was 151 back in the day because there was free happy hour. The last time I was there I actually fell asleep on the couch, no joke! That's the only time I've ever done that in a bar (well, actually it was a club so that's probably worse.)

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Yeah so anyways, I didn't know that whore was back in style! (How come you guys never tell me these things??) I don't know if it's bridge and tunnel, pure desperation, or a combination of both but the girls were disgusting. Oh also, a dude came up to me and this was the conversation -

Dude: Excuse me, are you black?

Me: Um - do I look black?!

Dude: Your body is CRAZY!

Me: Um, thanks? Definitely not black.

Dude: But your body is CRAZY!

Me: I'M NOT BLACK!

Thanks to work, yesterday I went to AC/DC's final dress rehearsal before their Black Ice tour. We got bussed to PA (and watched about 15 episodes of Rob & Big on the way there and back), had very close seats (it was a private invite-only show), and overall it was pretty freakin cool.

For some old farts they really know how to rock!

They had fire explosions, I thought we were going to die.

Angus is awesome, I had no idea.They had a load of canons go off during the final song. Luckily, I've still got my hearing. They sang about this...This...

and this!

A whole lotta her below...

They Ain't Leavin til Six in the Mornin'

I forgot to mention that on the cruise for Lauren's bachelorette party, they were showing Titanic on one of the tv stations. That was so wrong.

I went home on Friday night because I was getting my hair cut on Saturday (my hairdresser is retiring so this was my last cut by her) and I wanted to go to the mall. I figured I'd wake up early and run errands since I had my parents' car, and typical my luck the car stalled (at least I was in front of my house when it happened.) I still made most of my rounds in my parents' new car which was much smoother than the other one.

Heather and I ate at 5 Burros last night and I got a praying mantis in my frozen strawberry margarita (no photos like our teeth from last time.) Then a bunch of us went to Faith and Kristine's to drink, went out for Jennie's leaving party, spent part of the night at one of those sketchy karaoke places in Korea town, and ended up at Yaffa Cafe where I got a banana and nutella crepe which was delish (I want a banana with peanut butter right now but I'm fruitless.) I somehow stayed out until almost 6:00 am. I haven't done that in forever!

Heather stayed over and we slept till a quarter to two, ordered in bagels w/Meghan and Kat came over for a bit. No hangover for me so I went to step aerobics (I've been to step twice and kickboxing twice so far this week since I joined the gym.) Sadly, the hardest part of my workout at the 86th St. NYSC is actually climbing up the six floors of steps to get to the classrooms. I feel like a jerk taking the elevator.

Tomorrow I'm going to San Francisco (for the first time ever even though I've been to California like 6 times) for work. Hopefully I'll be able to meet up with Todd too who I haven't seen in 3 years or so. I get back on Thursday and am going to see the Delays that night, though I just realized they go on at midnight, poo!

Think I'll have peanut butter on bread now.

Eye of the Tiger

Tonight's kickboxing class at the gym was bananas. Not regular bananas, like BANANAS!!!

I knew I was in trouble when I saw the jacked male instructor walk in (definitely not like the feminine male instructor I had for step aerobics last night.) We started out by jogging around the room, doing 20 push ups, squats against the mirror, 75 jumping jacks and on and on like it was never ending. It was absolutely excruciating, one of those moments where I think I can't believe I paid money to do this (and that was just the warm-up.) The class got much better when we did the actual boxing (this time with gloves, I don't ever usually take kickboxing that require them) though my hands wreaked afterwards (my poor engagement ring.) I also got called out for ducking a punch as doing a dance move which was pretty funny. Michael Jackson Street Jam obviously taught me something.

Did anyone watch Grey's Anatomy tonight? I was watching it in pieces because I was cooking. I didn't really know what was going on with the storyline - though what I did know is that as I was taking a bite out of my dinner, I looked up to see a patient's face peeled off with just the eyeballs exposed on muscle during a surgery. NOT appetizing.

Please Don't Stop the Muse-ic

Did anyone hear the string quartet (or whatever they were) play 'Time Is Running Out' by Muse in the Dean's house on Gossip Girl tonight? More importantly, did anyone see Chuck Bass' awesome green socks under his orange trousers?

I joined New York Sports Club today. I still think paying $72/month for a gym (and that's with a company discount) is a massive ripoff. Well, that was until I realized Equinox is like $110+ or something stupid like that. Are you kidding me?! I'd like to think they give special services in the sauna for that kind of money.

I'm sitting here with my stupid sudoku book in my lap. I can master difficult puzzles by doing everything in my head now (I used to write loads of numbers down in the beginning.) I haven't tried the "fiendish" level yet. I'll probably be dreaming games when I get to that point.

Anybody want to see the Delays playing Bowery for CMJ next Thursday?

Hmmm...does anyone read this blog anymore?

Current Music: The Strokes - What Ever Happened?

Just Lose It

Now for today's OOPS! moment:

I was on the 6, it was packed and I was standing up against the train doors. There was a girl standing next to me playing with her Blackberry. At the 33rd street stop I felt something hit my leg - I turned around to see that she dropped it perfectly between the train and the platform with it landing face up on the track. OOPS!

Back in August when Dave was visiting, I picked him up at JFK via the Air Train. When I swiped my Metrocard to go through, the barriers didn't open, yet it still deducted $5 from my card. When I told the attendant, instead of doing something to take care of it, he swiped my card again to let me through, deducting another $5 from my card. His only answer was for me to apply for a refund, like I was ever going to get one. Well, I did apply for one because it pissed me off, and to my surprise the MTA actually sent me a new Metrocard. Shocking!

Is this anyone else's favorite commercial because I still laugh every time I see it:

Ocean Breathes Subway

This has been the first week in, err, weeks where I've come home at a decent hour and not done anything but change into comfortable pants the minute I walk in. I feel like I should be doing things, even though I'm just hanging around the apartment. Things I could be doing right now include:

- Clean that pile of stuff on my pink chair

- Read my book

- Paint my nails

- Write thank you cards

- Play sudoku

- Watch DVR'd shows

- Call/email my friends

- Do laundry

- Repent

Yeah, I don't foresee any of the above happening except possibly watching tonight's America's Next Top Model. Oh! I did get Tasti D-Lite before if that counts as doing something.

One great thing about living in this neighborhood is that Corner Bakery place on the southeast side of 93rd and 3rd. The smell that resonates from that place when they bake at night, my God! I even smelt it from all the way across 3rd avenue tonight.

,mzxcn,dcn

Who was I talking to recently about NYC throwing old subway cars into the ocean? Back story - Dave and I did the Circle Line around Manhattan this summer and there were loads of old subway cars (the gross kind like the E train) piled up along the East River all the way north past Harlem. In fact, here are the photos:

Apparently they take them out into the ocean and just dump them. I had never heard of this and was pretty shocked as it's definitely a controversial thing (I still don't get why they can't recycle the materials?) Anyway, I saw this little article in AM NY this morning:

Current Music: Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

Blogging Because I Can!

I'm half-assed watching the debate but I just can't focus. This is because it's FUCKING BORING! I've also been wanting to say this for a while but didn't post it as my Facebook status for fear of backlash by the masses:

Obama supporters are like Yankee fans - They get off on listening to themselves root for their cause and are COMPLETELY ANNOYING!

jhdfksjhf

I bought the new Oasis cd and I must tell you, it's fucking fantastic. I'm not just saying that because I have to stand behind my boys (I definitely admit they've had a few crappers i.e. All Around the World) but it's seriously awesome. I got tickets for their MSG show (Ryan Adams opening - NICE!) though that doesn't fully make up for their prior cancellation at Terminal 5. That devastating blow made me think about how Oasis has fucked me over a couple of times in the past -

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Spring 2000 - I dragged Julie all the way down to the FNAC to get tickets to see them in Paris (no, I didn't drag her from NY, we were there already) giddy as a kid in a candy store, only to find out they canceled.

Spring 2000 - I dragged my ass to Milan by myself to see the first stop on the make-up tour at which Noel declined to show.

Fall 2008 - Oasis book a show at Terminal 5, make it near-to-impossible to get tickets, Alex manages to get me tickets about a week after I thought I was permanently shut out, and they canceled. On my birthday. That was due to a fan attack-related injury, but so not the point.

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Alas, I still love them.

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I was also thinking how this has been an amazing calendar year for concerts for me. It was basically a slew of legends (well legends in my head.)

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Stevie Wonder at MSG

The Verve at Wamu theater (never thought I'd see that again in this lifetime)

The Who at The Orpheum (in the third row)

George Michael at MSG (yes, legend)

New Kids on the Block at Nassau Coliseum (not kidding it was great - vid to follow)

Oasis at MSG (pending they don't cancel)

Plus a few others that will get honorable mentions in my end of year recap.

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Pork barrel blah blah blah.
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I totally became addicted to Sudoku. I avoided it for years because I knew that would happen. One long plane ride and an In Touch Weekly and these puzzles became crack. Like, I won't go to sleep without doing a couple of pages of these mathematical nightmares now. Not healthy.
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I also tried Pinkberry for the first time. The taste is like nothing I'd ever experienced, shocking to the tongue but easy to get used to and enjoy. Plus I don't feel like a fatass eating it with fruit and you get a natural taste unlike Tasti D Lite which is nice.
jhdfksjhf

I went to Lauren's bachelorette party this weekend. It was actually an overnight cruise on a real cruiseship which had a destination of "Nowhere." I think they should have sold shot glasses and souvenirs that said "Nowhere" rather than "Norweigian Cruise Lines" but what do I know about marketing. Have some group photos (courtesy of everyone but me):

Now, have some New Kids:

If anything, listen to this for the screams.

Dirty Dancing - A boy band at its finest!