day 5: laughter is the best medicine

Senior week and a rainy day at Cedar Point with 012/the alphabet. We ducked into Friday's for drinks, food, and much needed refuge from the rain. This picture is from that day. (We're in a photo booth and too cheap to pay for the photo booth pics so we improvised).

It's actually not this picture that makes me laugh. It's the video that we took as we were walking along the lake and heading back to the main area of the park. K is the videographer. L & M are ballroom dancing along the sidewalk. I (J) can be seen in the background doing an awkward ballerina leap. All of a sudden the camera shakes and we (J, K, L, M, and N) are doubled over with laughter. K pans to the offending light post as if it jumped in her way.

That was May 2008. I still laugh so hard I cry every time I watch the video.

day 4. all in a night.

What does your night look like?

I come from a family of bs-ers after dinner. We sit around the table after dinner talking about nonsense (and sometimes important things like Kev's major, me moving to MN, and baseball) long after we've cleared our plates. Dad is the only person who isn't a fan of sitting around the table. He'll sit for a little before making his exit. At Christmas, we sit and talk about plumbing and the neighborhood and family. So much so that the dinner table stories made it into my capstone.

I've always lived with table sitters. In college, we'd sit around a table at the cafeteria or, better yet, 012 until it was time for Jeopardy (another key part of my night). In MN, we spent most evenings sitting around the table, singing 3 part harmony to RENT, and talking about the crazy stories from our work places.

All ready for Christmas dinner.

with Gram. Scrabble playing often occurs after a meal.

Sitting around after dinner is important to me. It's when we talk and fight. It postpones doing dishes, a chore that I always get stuck with. The chairs get hard and, if we're lucky, someone will suggest moving to the "soft chairs" and we'll sprawl out on the couch with Jeopardy on in the background or simply continue the conversation. This is where I learn about people, where we catch up on our days, and upcoming plans. It's a check in. And, as I've discovered, is something that not everyone does.

day 3. favorite cast in a tv show

[link]

Confession. I don't watch much TV anymore. Glee is really the only show that I make a point to watch on a regular basis. (There's RHONY, but I only watch that in marathon reruns on bravo and those ladies are far from my favorite cast).

day 2.

Person you have been closest to the longest (excluding family).

This is a hard one. In HS, there were four of us (dubbed the Awesome 4-some). We spent nearly every evening together senior year studying for physics. We spent 4 long years together in band. We've weathered fights, distance, and everything in between. We split up for college - 2 x 2. We're now forging our own lives and leaving the confines of our hometown.

day 1.

There's a thing going around facebook called the 30 day challenge (or something like that). I rarely like to jump on the bandwagon so I've refused to join in on it. I am usually annoyed by it because no one ever finishes it so I'm stuck at staring the picture from day 11.

So, what am I going to do? I'm going to (partially) eat my words and do the 30 day challenge on here. I'm hoping that it will get me into the habit of regular blogging.

1) I must start my day with coffee. 

2) I spent 10 months in MN as a member of a volunteer program and working with a refugee resettlement organization.

3) I'm a diehard Cleveland Indians fan.

4) I put my left shoe on first. Same with pant legs.

5) I'm Irish. Very Irish.

6) I hate spiders, clowns, and snakes.

7) I don't like wearing shoes.

8) I have issues with textures of certain foods. (celery, peas, bananas, etc.)

9) I try to avoid writing with black ink. It depresses me.

10) Taking pictures makes me happy.