Hey nerds, it's me, Gina. 

I haven't written anything on here in so, so long, so I thought "hey, everyone is probably all torn up inside, wondering what you've been up to in the past two months!  Why don't you just give them some bullet points, throw them a bone!"  So beloved friends, here you go:

• I graduated college.  I don't think I've been on here since before that happened.  WOOOH!
• I hate that I graduated college.  I have panic attacks on the daily because I ain't gots much going for me in terms of building a career or anything really.
• Annie moved. 
  
• Janine moves midway through next month.  I cannot imagine what the next two years of my life will be like because I literally have no memory of my life pre-Szafranskis.
• I've been quickly developing and slowly crossing books off of a Book List.  It's very good--so far I've burned through A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers is my soul mate); The Bluest Eye; Twilight and am halfway through New Moon.  I know it may appear that I've finally crossed the line from hate-loving to purely love-loving this series, but that is not so!  The writing is worse than the acting (Stephenie Meyer really needs to come up with a new way of describing Edward besides looking like a "gorgeous angel"), and the story lines are all so, so transparent and flimsy.  I hate most everything about them, so why do I keep seeing the films and reading the books?  I think it has something to do with masochism.
• speaking of Twilight, I just got back from seeing Eclipse
• I enjoyed July 4th by drinking margaritas poolside.  La di da
• we had our annual Sista Sista Disney Trip.  Year 5 was fruitful--we even got smart this time and decided to take a nap break during out 3 o'clock slump.  Smart thinkin' girls!

That's all the interesting stuff, I believe.
I'm done. 
C ya.

I had my graduation party yesterday which went really well.
I got to wake up at a decent time. 
Didn't have to clean.
Went out with my mom to buy Gina wine and tie up the last minute scraps of preparation.
Chose some good music.
Got to finally put on my super cute outfit.
THEN
Melissa, Michelle, and Natalie came over.
Janine and Annie came over.
Sarah Melvin came over.
Stephanie and Paul came over.
Jessica never came over even though she said she would. 
Jessica never responded to my text asking where she was.
She never even called.
But whatever, I had lotsa fun without her. 
It's just kind of rude, is all.

Anyway, we headed to the Babick's party afterward and then headed to The Ould Sod which is now my favorite bar in the universe.
Why?
Because everyone thought Janine was having her bachelorette party due to the fact that she had a large, sparkly embellishment on her headband that I guess people mistook for a tiara.  This sounds like it would be obnoxious, but it was really great because one of the owners also had this misconception and he got her wasted for free!  YEAH!  Anyway, I had a great time because there was karaoke and I think I did real well.  Katy and I sang "Summer Lovin" (I made her be John Travolta...hey, it was my graduation celebration.  I got to call the shots), and then 5000 years later, I sang "9-5."  I even got compliments from people who were not my friends so I think it really did sound good this time.  Again, YEAH!  Next time I decide to karaoke I just need to make sure it's somewhere no one else wants to do it.  The Ould Sod was super crowded and I hate to wait waaay too long just to get two songs in. 

Annie!  You're leaving so soon and we have so many things we still need to do.  Maybe we should just give each other a copy of our work schedules so that we'll know when the other is free and then when we aren't at work we can just be at each others' houses?  It sounds like the easiest way to go about it.
So here, this is mine:
Sunday 2-730
Monday 230-730
Tuesday 1130-430
Wednesday OFF
Thursday OFF
Friday 2-930
Saturday OFF

So let's do some stuff.  NOW.

It's 2:22 a.m. and I was under the impression that I would have to stay up a lot later than this to get my studying done so I consumed twice my average dosage of caffeine and now I can't fall asleep.  I suppose I could finally read Eliot's second piece of literary criticism or maybe finish Housekeeping, but to be honest, I just don't care anymore. 
And I think I'm decently prepared for my Modern Brit Lit test.  It's open note and open book, so that helps.  I haven't quite looked at any of the materials for my On the Road final, but that was my favorite class with the best books, so I remember them all. 
On Tuesday, rather than having a final, my poetry professor hosted an afternoon garden party as our last meeting.  The weather was gorgeous and we simply sat in his back garden, talking and eating a light lunch, then talking some more and eating dessert.  His house had nice, bare, Mexican/Native American decor and it was so clean and fresh.  It was really one of the best afternoons I've ever experienced and definitely the best experience I've had all of college.  No stress, nothing but a few hours of required relaxation.  I had some nice conversations with my classmates and we're going to try and go get drinks before one of the girls goes back to Northern California in a week. 
I graduate on Friday--crazy.
Ugh, I hate the feeling of too much caffeine.  I think maybe I'll have an intense dancing session in my room and then try to get to sleep.  But first, a list for things that I want to do this summer:

• Disneyland?
• Tattoo?
• Go to Friends of Cats
• find a for realz job
• make lots of money
• go on my Great American Road Trip
• make some new friends
• write a short story/focus on trying to write prose
• find something else to get published in
• get to work on my reading list
• make a real life plan.  seriously.  decide what I WANT.

But I'll probably just lie on a pool floatie for the next three months and watch The Graduate over and over again.

So I'm at the SDSU library and am trying to write an essay, my last essay I ever technically have to write in fact, and I just feel like I CAN'T DOIT, but somehow I'm on page eight of ten.  It's all bullshit though, nothing but stupid, repetitive sentences, which I guess is okay for now because I don't really plan on sleeping tonight and I'm going to do some serious reviewing before I submit it.  I just wish I could verbalize what I want to say while someone else refines my thoughts so they sound good and academic and grammatically correct and in perfect MLA format.  Speaking of bullshit, Brian is into the game of "would you rather..." where he basically just comes up with two equally disgusting situations and asks which I would rather participate in.  His worst one today is as follows:
would you rather...
eat a raw/live chicken whole (feathers and all)
or
have a buffalo diarrhea all over your face?
I actually would go for the latter because you can just clean yourself up super super super good afterward and (I think) you'd be as good as new.  You have to suffer with chicken feathers and feet and eyeballs and brains and beak processing through your system for days.  I don't know though; what would YOU do?
But that's completely off-topic.  I need to focus, I need to get a massage, my shoulders are killing me.  Or not so much my shoulders but that muscle-y space in between my shoulders and neck.  I need to figure out what I want to say about the portrayal of female sexuality in The Hours.  But mostly I just need to find a perfect place to study because the state library 24 hour study area is WAY TOO CROWDED and LOUD.  Almost all of the seats are taken.  It's 11 pm and there are almost no open desks.  How ridiculous is this?  It just goes to show you that everyone at SDSU procrastinates way too much or that all the professors here have ridiculous expectations for their students.  Considering the conversations I've been hearing, I'm banking on the former.    I seriously need to just freaking get on it. 

Here are a few small things before I go:
--CONGRATULATIONS JEFF!
--I hate work so, so much.  I need a real job.  A job with editing or writing or something that has to do with English in the least bit.  Something that matters even a little.
--My last day of classes is tomorrow.  LAST DAY OF CLASSES EVER.  So crazy.
--You graduate too, dontcha Baby J?  When?  Are you excited or nervous or both?  We should form a support group for recent college graduates with no direction in their lives.
--Hey, that's actually a decent idea.  I could make some good money off that.
--I want to go karaoke again as a celebration for finishing college.  But somewhere where they have Lady Gaga and new Beyonce. 

C'est tout.  Bon soir mes ami. 

Alcoholic Vervet Monkeys! - Weird Nature - BBC animals by BBCWorldwide on YouTube

I first saw this video maybe two years ago and just fell in love. Now if only I could get one of these as a pet...

It's been a crazy long time since I wrote a blog out, so I'm just going
to go for it.  I don't feel like recapping my entire life here, so I'm
just going to write what comes to mind when it comes to mind and stop
when I get sick of typing. 

Saturday was Katy's birthday (celebration).  However, when she woke up
and came downstairs I for some reason decided to wish her happy
birthday.  Way to go, Gina.  Way to go.  It doesn't make me feel so bad
because Janine went out of her way to send Katy a 'happy birthday' text,
so at least I'm not alone in my utter stupidity.  Anyway, Jhaj, Kitty
Kat, and myself went to Fashion Valley to try to find Katy a new
birthday dress.  We started at Bloomingdale's which was probably a
really bad idea because Katy almost bought an $80 dress.  However, my
Boucher-frugality intervened and I convinced her to put them on hold
while we shopped around.  She ended up finding something way cheaper,
just as cute, and much more 70s at H&M.  So congrats to me on
outsmarting overpriced clothing stores!  I am ridiculously poor, so I
just bought some three dollar purple nail polish, new lip gloss, and
real beautiful/real cheap earrings to spice up an outfit that I have
already worn 1000 times.  These days you gotta shop smarter.  Katy's
friend Ashley joined us about halfway through.  Last time I met her I
got this feeling she hated me, but this time I just got the feeling of
dislike, so at least the degree has lessened.  Janine said it's probably
just that we both have strong personalities, so it creates some
discomfort.  I will agree with that.  But you know, Ashley laughed at a
couple of my jokes, and that's how I gauge if someone likes me or not,
so at least we know some progress is being made.

Okay, so after shopping we went home, got ready, and met J and A for
dinner at Karl Strauss downtown.  I've never been there before and had
never actually even known that it existed, but I was real happy with the
choice of venue because it was real nice.  They had pretty delicious
food too, and (this is a pretty huge statement for me to make) . . .
probably the best bacon I've ever had.  Now, this is a somewhat tricky
statement and there are strings attached.  The bacon was beer-brined and
seasoned, and tasted perfect on my sandwich, but was also perfect when I
ate it by itself.  HOWEVER, the seasons made it much more of a
dinner/lunch bacon than a breakfast bacon.  It was pretty meaty too, and
I like my breakfast bacon to be a little thinner and perfectly crisp. 
It's like alcohol: I'll still give it five stars, but suggest only
eating it after 12 pm.  Okay, bacon review aside, we had a nice time. 
Our waitress was pretty dumb and kinda bitchy, but Janine's former
manager works there now and he gave us half off our bill.  SWEET.  We
only had to pay $13 a piece, including tax and tip.  There were three
drinks on that bill too, mind you. 

So after our rousing dinner/photo session (which is what birthdays with
the sisters always seem to turn into), J, K, and I went to U-31 to meet
up with Katy's friends and celebrate.  Well, it turns out U-31 is quite
the hot spot, and when we got there, there was meager line forming. 
Luckily we got inside quickly, but some people had to wait for about
half an hour.  I would like to use this spot to say that if you are
complaining about waiting in line to get into a bar and you are younger
than 26, you need to shut up and deeeeal with it.  You're young, that's
what happens when you go to bars/clubs.  Just deal with it bitches. 
N-E-WAYZZ, the bartender that I want to marry was there so that was
great, but the DJ was terrible, so that was not so great.  He played
maybe ten songs I knew all night and was really bad at even choosing
good techno.  If no one on the dance floor is moving, that's not a good
sign.  But whatevs, Katy was happy and that's all that matters.

BUT we're going to make up for the lack of dancing next Saturday by
going to Henry's.  Hopefully we'll run int some Navy SEALs again, like
say, I don't know, Larsen Jensen?



Okay, here are things I need to do:

--get tattoo

--write 2 essays

--finish all my reading for my classes

--go to Disneyland for the last time?

--plan out my Great American Roadtrip/Trip to Lollapalooza (which is the
same exact vacation)

--get lots of monies to do these fun things



If anyone knows some sort of part time job I could have, that would be
sweet.



Oh, also, before I cut out, my boss Missy got transferred to another
store, and now my old ASM (who everyone had some problems with...) is
our new store manager.  My life doesn't seem real sometimes.


Oh yeah, and
 
                    HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATY!

Okay so this weekend was a huge bore, but financially successful as I only spent $12 all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday combined.  WOO!  I really have basically no money at all any more and everything I earn goes toward stupid things, like buying my cap and gown. 
Anyway, my brain is running really slow (I can almost hear it making that chugging, clicky sound old computers make when processing too much information at once) because I pretty tired, but hey, here's some good news:
that small, no-big-deal literary magazine run out of SDSU that I submitted poems to sent me an email today saying "Congratulations, we're publishing two of your poems!"  Sa-weet!  Thanks to finally just submitting something, I'm going to be able to say that I have been published.  I guess that's a little something to be proud of.  I celebrated by singing "Congratulations to me" to the tune of "Happy Birthday," then eating half of my chocolate bunny and watching Glee.  Since it's a small publication, I think that's all the celebration it merits.
And you know what's terrible?  I think I have writer's block.
Oh, but speaking of poetry, today my poetry class attended Carolyn Forche's reading that was on campus.  The woman introducing her broke the news to us and Mrs. Forche that she had just been nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature.  BIG DEAL, yeah?  It made me feel special to be able to listen to someone with those credentials.  Also, her poems were real beautiful, and a few of them made me super hungry.  She's good at injecting her works with TASTE. 
Speaking of taste, I'm hungry again.  I'm probably going to go eat some pepperoni and finish getting some of my work done.  End.