epic haiku

right now

This vary moment I am writing this in my room while Ryan and Matt are jamming. They both have great voices. It's something close to heaven.


Ryan and I drove out to CMU to pick Matt up for the weekend. We ate lunch in an Irish pub, since that's the only sort of place I eat now. I've been cleaning up my room and getting my stuff out of my sisters room since she's coming home for Spring Break. We keep running into stuff from out past. Like, pictures of the three of us from way way back. It's crazy good knowing people the majority of your life and still liking each other and having similar interests. Matt said earlier I was like his Seeress since I've known him as long as he remembers himself and Ryan just sniffed my "old" perfume and was like "old Natalie smell." Pretty cool.

because I can

I love deep conversations about poetry and God that involve saying "like" a million times and using the Fword to reiterate God's sovereignty. I just do.

The coldest St. Paddy's day ever...

I watched the video footage I took in Boston tonight with my parents. I learned that my dad doesn't know what Guinness is, which was very strange for me.  This harkens back to last Friday which was St. Patrick's day. The Guinness started flowing at 8am at this pub called the Black Rose. Linnea, Eb and I noted this the night before with amusement and sat down to watch both Y Tu Mama Tambien and Thirteen back to back (scary evening). After watching both of these movies and talking for a really long time we noticed the sun was coming, so we decided to head down the Black Rose since not only could we get beer, we discovered that The Drop Kick Murphy's were playing for free there as well. We left the house at about 5:20am and stood outside inline waiting to get into the pub for almost two hours. None of us have ever been that cold before. We stopped feeling parts of our bodies. Right before 8am we found out that they were only letting 50 more people in, and we were at about 80. We waited for almost 15 more minutes, Eb went up and asked how many more people were getting in and then we made a decision to leave. It felt weird running with my legs as frozen stiff as they were. It was quite the experience. We didn't feel warm for the rest of the time we were there. The coldest cold ever. We slept all day and spent the evening playing Settlers and Catan.

from Boston

Laura Kaufman took this of me and Earl on the couch in Boston

and Tuggy took this one of Linnea, Hope, me, and Laura in this cute Boston pub and

this one of Hope and I touching the ass's ass. More later.

The Piano plays Euchre at the MFA

Today is another "down day" after the haze of yesterday. We went to the Museum of Fine Art which really rocked. I really loved their impressionism collection. I kept running to these amazing paintings that I didn't expect to see, like this Monet, and especially that one, as well as this Renoir. I also was impressed by all the official portraits of our Founding Fathers, especially the ones by John Singleton Copley, his this one of Paul Revere. We also saw David Hockney in the gift store, he has a special exhibition of his portraits going on and we figured there must be some sort of party for him since they were setting up a full bar and tables while we were leaving.

After the MFA, we went to see Ultraviolet, because, well, we did. It sucked, but was also very funny and we enjoyed ourselves and the amazingly bad dialogue. The night before Linnea, Earl, Eb and I stayed up late watching The Piano which I have been wanting to see for about a decade and was even better then I was hoping it would be! Wow, Linnea and I kept talking about how "everybody" said it's really sad, be we were totally satisfied with its ending.

Last night I read something that really gripped me in a back issue of Elle (February, so like a month ago, Madonna on the cover). In an article entitled How to Be Single which had a list of ten rules for appreciating and embracing singlehood, the 8th rule ("Say Yes") reads in part: "Forget about your 'type'. A type is a fetish, and fetishes have a way of closing down options." Wow, that hit me hard... but do I even have a type? Probably.

We've been playing a lot of cards. Last night, Gin Rummy (Linnea beat everybody bad) but the night before Eb and I destroyed Linnea and Earl at euchre. There should be more Gin Rummy today, and they are promising to teach me how to play Settlers of Catan. Michael Leaves tonight and Earl leaves in the morning. It's just no good.

down day

I really enjoyed Proof. Gwyneth is amazing, as always.

Today I stayed behind and slept in, took my time getting dressed, watched the Gilmore Girls, tried to contact people at Covenant about my re-entry stuff, watched more Gilmore Girls with Hope. It was great. Linnea is now making her world famous curry. I am pumped. Tomorrow we go to the art gallery.

Earl, Eb and I were just talking about dream events... like all of us getting front row Springsteen tickets (which are eighty bucks) or all of us going to Europe together... last night we were talking about having a commune... or a street in St. Elmo.

In a house with nine twenty-somethings there are so many freaking cell phones.

in Boston

So, yes, I am in Boston, hanging with what Linnea describes as "our family" of Eb, Earl, Michael, Linnea and me. Right now we are in a tired, with a plan, but to tired to carry out the plan mode. Frusterating, but part of life.

So far the most fun has been meal time at little pubs and Hope and Tami's dinner. I've eaten at two Irish pubs so far, the best of which was a place called Sevens somwhere a couple blocks from the main park in Boston Proper. It was me, Earl, Eb, Michael and Linnea wondering around starving and happening on this great place that felt like a piece of the 19th century just dropped into modern times, but with better health codes.

Also a lot of fun, just wondering around Boston. This started on Friday when I set out to see the freedom trail with Hope and Tuggy, and then continued the next day with the above described group.

Boston is pretty cool. I have enjoyed the looks Linnea and I get walking around town holding hands, which is just something we do. Earl joined in and then people we passed were REALLY confused. We tried to get Eb and Michael to join, but no luck.

Today we pretty much laid around the house, literaly. We just finished talking about bands Eb wants me to listen to, and listening to them, all piled on Linnea and Tami's queen size bed (Tami was in the living room though, with the rest of the house, Elk, Hope, Keri and one of Elk's cousins). Earlier we went to see the Cono choir at the girls church. Three of Eb's four sisters (and Elk's cousin) were members. So, yes, Eb does have family and wasn't just an egg that was put here by some aliens or something.

We are now going to watch Proof, or so they say... since that's been the plan for hours.

"I don't sleep m*th*rf*ck*r" -Natalie Portman

1. It's been a hard week.

2. I am picky about people I allow to share my name. (Yes, it is up to me to grant ultimate approval.) For instance, I am down with Natalie Merchant, Natalie Cole, Natalie Wood, and other women who share my name of equal or greater repute. I am not down with that Imbruglia chick or the other one who just goes by my first name. I have wavered on and off about the OTHER big Natalie at this point in time, having been compared to her, told I am cooler then her, had people wondering if I really was her (long involved story of no real interest), but after Saturday night and this, I definitely think Natalie Portman is worthy. "I'll kill your fncking dog for fun, so don't push me!" Granted, I just like to pretend the SNL guys are saying they love ME when they sing "We love you Natalie." I also think it's really hilarious when girls say "suck my dick"...(yes, I have been angry lately)... I was watching this with my father, he did not find it as funny as I did.
  
3. My dad went to Presbytery this weekend. Mom and I watched a bunch of episodes of Sex and the City in an attempt to aquant her with these people I am always talking about (no, Andrea, they are real). We had the perfect evening Saturday, cruising the world food isle at the grocery store, getting lavender smelling wonderfulness bath stuff and candles, Japanese take out and more Sex and the City! I started her on season five (with lots of pausing and telling her the history) and now we are in season six.

4. I finally finished watching the ice skating my dad taped for me. I think over all this year disappointed me because of the adjustments to the new scoring system. There was a lack of sparkle. Emily Hughes really impressed me. Sasha Cohen was fine, but didn't really impact me emotionally. I was really rooting for Irina Slutskaya,  I guess I just have a soft spot for the Russians. I also was really impressed by that 16 year old from the country of Georgia, Elene Gedevanishvili. I was happy for the Japanese, but again, the whole thing was lacking a certain luster.

5. Oscars! I liked the way things turned out. I had certain people I wanted to win things in, but since I only saw a few of the movies up for awards this year, I don't really have sour grapes. I just need to see the other films. I've had this sort of "only movies that make you laugh" rule, since I have a tendency to ONLY watch dramas if left to my own devices. Laughing improves the immune system. I need all the help I can get.

6. Madonna new album is my official shower music these days.

7. I leave for Boston on Thursday.

8. My sleep is off again. Freaking antibiotics.