Taking the Long Way

i haven't really had time to post lately, but there's been lots of fun stuff going on, like wedding showers, Boston visits, gym time, realtor meetings, volunteering, secret projects and job searching. if you don't know, kelly is moving out to chicago for the summer to perform in the newest tap show, Imagine Tap, and erin and i are moving with our friend jen. hopefully we are going to end up somwhere close to where we are now, but we have to be out by July 1, so the rush is on. add to that the fact that i am gone away the next two weekends, so trying to schedule job interviews and apartment viewings has become pretty crazy.

however, i did want to take the time to share my new song and promote the new Dixie Chicks album that it is from (the CD is great. and that's coming from a non-country music girl). the CD is called "Taking the Long Way," and the title track (actually called "The Long Way Around") is my new theme song. you can listen to a clip here ( and while you're there, check out "Lullaby", i am in LOVE with that song too). i'm also going to type the lyrics out. those of you who also graduated in '04 will appreciate verse four. i think we're all finally getting there in our lives, or at least one stage of whatever "there" is. whether it's marriage, jobs, degrees, moving to a better place, etc, none of us are taking the easy way. where would be the fun in that?

good luck to those of you who are going to be settling down soon and godspeed to those of you, who, like me, need (or will have) some more years of wandering.

don't worry loves. we will all make it.


The Long Way Around by the Dixie Chicks

My friends from high school
Married their high school boyfriends
Moved into houses in the same ZIP codes
Where their parents live

But I, I could never follow
No I, I could never follow

I hit the highway in a pink RV with stars on the ceiling
Lived like a gypsy
Six strong hands on the steering wheel

I've been a long time gone now
Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down
But I've always found my way somehow

By taking the long way
Taking the long way around
Taking the long way
Taking the long way around

I met the queen of whatever
Drank with the Irish and smoked with the hippies
Moved with the shakers
Wouldn't kiss all the asses that they told me to

No I, I could never follow
No I, I could never follow

It's been two long years now
Since the top of the world came crashing down
And I'm getting it back on the road now

But I'm taking the long way
Taking the long way around
I'm taking the long way
Taking the long way around
The long
The long way around

Well, I fought with a stranger and I met myself
I opened my mouth and I heard myself
It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself
Guess I could have made it easier on myself

But I, I could never follow
No I, I could never follow

Well, I never seem to do it like anybody else
Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down
If you ever want to find me I can still be found

Taking the long way
Taking the long way around
Taking the long way
Taking the long way around

call me stupid

it has been raining in boston for almost a week straight now. towns in the area are flooded about a foot higher than the "flood line," schools, businesses and roads are closed, people are losing everything in their houses. luckily, brighton has not been one of these areas and the most we have had to worry about is a little water in the basement and getting from the apartment to the car without looking like you just took a long shower with all your clothes on. yesterday the rain subsided by a lot and the only concern of anyone here was avoiding the puddles; something that i apparently did not do successfully enough.

my dumb-ass instead procedes to drop my cell phone in a giant puddle. yes, the same cell phone that has almost reached the 2 year point where I can get a new one. the operative word here is ALMOST. after dropping the phone in the puddle and drying it off, nothing was working. i tried to turn it on and all it was doing was turning on the red light and staying on, but no screen action. so i left it off for a little while and a few hours later i was happy to find that the whole phone turned on and looked like it was going to be okay! and then i tried to use the keypad. currently i can dial the numbers 1,4,7 and *. also the End button and the upper selection pad is working. so, for the next 2 months, if you happen to have the number 1-444-7747 you are my new friend. however, i still won't be able to actually call you because the Send button isn't working. sorry.

luckily my phone has voice activation and i can say things like "Call Caryn!" and the computer lady says:
"Did you say....Call Erin!'?"
"No"
"Did you say 'Call Carrie!'?"
"NO!"
"Did you say 'Call Becky!'?"
"NOOOOOOO!!!! 'Becky' doesn't even sound like 'Caryn'!!"
"Thank you. Calling 'Home'"
"AHHHHHHHH!"

so, if you don't hear from me in a while it's because the lady in my cell phone hates me.


oh, and don't even try to text me unless you want to get back words that only have ghi and pqrs in them. like "rig his ships high" or "rip high sprigs", or my favorite, "his pigs sip piss".

if you're reading this and it's friday, may 12th, it's already too late

kelly, jen and i went to the gym this morning as (somewhat) usual. we did the treadmill and then the bike before some crunches and pilates work. a pretty normal workout. then at some point we took a wrong turn and things went down hill. i won't get into specifics, but in the end we walked out of Bally's an hour and a half later with appointments for personal training sessions with a marine.

so this is my announcement to you all that i will be dead on friday may 12, 2006 at 11am due to complications of being out of shape. my epitaph will read: "here lies allison, all she wanted to do was lose 40 pounds, but instead she died."

if ya can't beat 'em...........eat 'em?

nothing better than an obscure holiday. especially one that Hallmark can capitalize on so easily.

April 21st, Alfred G. Packer Day - recognizes one of the few men to be convicted of cannibalism in the U.S. He ate his other prospector companions after they got lost in the Colorado Rockies. Packer claimed they died of natural causes before he ate them, but modern forensics has proved that at least some of them had been murdered.

In the Colorado Rockies
Where the snow is deep and cold
And a man afoot can starve to death
Unless he's brave and bold.

Oh, Alfred Packer
You'll surely go to hell
While all the others starved to death
You dined a bit too well.

---from The Ballad of Alfred Packer

gotta love the stuff i dig up in the Crime Library.

lent update #3: i suck at doing lent updates

so, lent is almost over and i've only posted twice about my goal of giving up junk food. some of you may think this is because i failed. you would be wrong. i think instead it's just become part of my life so i haven't really had anything interesting to say about it. now that easter is upon me, i have started thinking about eating junk food more. i just know that if i want to have it in a couple of days, i can. this thought also scares me. i am worried that once i start eating it again, things will get bad. it's hard, because i really haven't lost as much weight from doing it as i though i should have, and things like that fuck with my brain. the true test, however, will be getting on my mom's official electric weight watchers scale, because i bought a cheap manual one that i don't trust. i was home a few weekends ago and weighed myself then, so i will have something to compare it to when i go home again tomorrow.

also, i haven't worked out in a long time because the past two weeks i was too busy getting down with the sickness. i'm pretty sure Bally's doesn't really appreciate their members coughing and snotting all over their eliptical machines. when i get back from easter weekend, though, i've got to get my ass back in gear because there are weddings and graduations and shows and beach weather to think about. if that doesn't motivate me, nothing will. so i may have succeeded at my short term goal, but i now have to use it to help me achieve what i want for the long term.


"just take a breath, jump over the side"

a little Coldplay and a lotta cold

blaaaa. i have been sick all week and it sucks. BUT, luckily it didn't hit fully until AFTER Coldplay. not like it would have detered me from going. i would have gotten there with a wheelchair and an IV in my arm if i had to, and it would have been absolutely worth it. just an amazing concert. everything worked out perfect too. alicia and i met each other in the parking garage and had a great dinner and then got to the arena in time to watch some of Richard Ashcroft and actually hear "Bittersweet Symphony" in person, so cool.

before we got there i was so worried about the seats because they were "side view" which could have meant we were looking at speakers or something, but instead it just meant we were on the side but still really close. i definitely made the right choice between those and the other available seats - straight on view but in the nose-bleed section. i'll let you decide for yourself though, because here are some of my pics. enjoy! =)


opening song: Square One

encore songs: Swallowed in the Sea, In My Place, Fix You

best songs: Fix You, The Scientist and Yellow (they dropped huge yellow balloons from the ceiling that sprayed sparkly gold confetti when they popped and Chris Martin popped the last one on the stage by doing a belly flop on it, then he finished the song)

special song: Ring of Fire (played right after Kingdom Come)

best non-music parts: Chris Martin's interpretive dances, getting waved at by Chris Martin, and the whole band coming to the edge of the stage to take pictures of the audience.

alicia and i were so taken with how fan-friendly this band is. they didn't talk much in between the songs, which meant more music time, and when they did talk it was to thank us for being amazing, tell us how much they love New England and ask how everyone was doing (like that was even a question!).

beautiful music made by nice boys, what else could a girl want?

a man in uniform

in honor of the opening day of baseball, i've posting a link to my favorite player ("not a bad piece of ash, huh? the bat. talking about the bat").

one thing (of many) my mom taught me was that there's just something about a man in uniform.

play b**l!!
(oh, crap. the fcc caught up with me.)

the fcc can derelicte my BALLS

comedy central just bleeped out the word "balls" from Zoolander, but in the past week i've been the unwilling witness to the slow-motion loogie hawk from "Flavor of Love" about a zillion times on every entertainment clip show. and don't even get me started on the 50 ads i just had to sit through for girls and guys gone wild (a topic that needs a post all its own). i think we have bigger problems here than hearing about someone's cohones.

bottom line: i am confused by the fcc.






bottom, bottom line: there's more to life than being really really really good looking.

what the dooce?!

i admit it, i am a daily blog reader. besides the few friend blogs i read (shameless plug here for becky, sara and steph), , i also read industry blogs (like this one for movie marketing), celebrity blogs (hello zach braff) and blogs of people i do not know at all. however, the blog that actually started it all, and the one i check almost every day is dooce. you can see that i first talk about this blog here (are you getting sick of the links yet?).

for most of you who won't follow that link and see what i already wrote about dooce, basically it is written by a woman named heather from utah who is a suburban-living stay at home mom (SAHM) or, as she says, a slutty ass ho motherfucker. just from that you can tell she's a housemom with an edge, and that's the reason why even as a young, non-married, non-mother i have still managed to get sucked into her life. it also helps that her husband is geeky-cute, her daughter is precious and her dog is adorable. but that's where the sweetness ends. the rest of the blog is real life. it's about being depressed, or constipated, it's about disappointing parents with your religious and political affiliations, and it's sometimes about being sick of your family and even your own kid. what it almost always is, is funny. it's the humor found in everyday life and crises that keeps me coming back and what, most likely, has made dooce an extremely popular and profitable blog.

i find myself looking up to this woman and thinking i'd kinda want to be her someday. she might be considered a strange role-model to have because she did get fired for writing inappropriate stuff about co-workers on her blog. but since you need to have a job to be fired from one, i think i'll be okay. plus, i'm not much for writing insulting remarks about people; i much rather bitch to a live audience (it's more interactive and there's no paper trail). anyway, what does make me admire her is that she has made her mistakes and not only learned but profited from them. she is a full time blogger who is able to support her family by writing about and taking pictures of her everyday life. that is amazing.

i've always said i want to do freelance work from home once i have kids (i don't imagine my income will come from blogging), but some people look down on this and think that it means giving up a part of your life and who you are, and rolling back years of women's lib. work. however, what i think the best thing that women's lib. has given us is the right to choose what's best for us. if that means climbing the corporate ladder for some, great. if it also means i get to someday work in my pajamas, watch sesame street and smell like peanut butter and jelly every day, that's perfect too, because i know there are people like heather out there who have proven that you can be a stay at home mom (or a slutty ass ho motherfucker), and still be funny, sarcastic, potty-mouthed, a kick-ass graphic designer, and lead an interesting, crazy, fun, fulfilling life.

and speaking of crazy, check out her latest post . HIlarious. behold, the power of photoshop to corrupt even the most innocent of things. =)

why i love heather gould

because she IMs me things that make me cry, like what i got today:

Heather0735: This is for you, I cut the original out of the paper on the day it was printed 5.29.04
Heather0735: I've been meaning to send it to you ever since
Heather0735: but I suck
Heather0735: so here it is


Heather0735: hugs and love to you always!

hugs and love to you too, and all my north stars.

*

it's a beautiful day

today i would like to mark an accomplishment for myself. spring is just around the corner and i am proud to announce that i made it through winter with hardly ANY problems (if you are unsure about what problems i'm referencing and why this is a big deal you should see my first post on this blog). i think this is an even bigger deal because i did it while being mainly unemployed and practically confined to my apartment AND i went to the gym. what's up now bitches?! haha.

i don't think weather-wise this winter was as bad as last year's in the fact that it didn't snow that much and it wasn't quite as bitter cold. however, it was still fucking gray and that is usually what does me in. not anymore. everything is mind over matter and what i've realized is that some situations can become better just by looking at them differently. and although she doesn't realize it, one of those attitude changes came about after a visit with my friend jess. she put something into perspective for me that helped me to get over the emotional roadblock i was stuck at regarding a part of my life and the people in it. i am grateful to her and to everyone else whose caring actions or words have inadvertently made me step back, take a look around and remember how lucky i am.

the sun is shining today and the temperature is getting warmer and the change of seasons has me so excited for all the things happening in the upcoming months. some things i am looking forward to that will most likely end up on this blog in some form or another are:

Coldplay concert
Wicked
Becky's wedding shower
Alicia's wedding shower
EC graduation
Becky's wedding
Imagine Tap (Kelly's tap show in Chicago)
Alicia's wedding

Also in the works, a new job, a new apartment and trips to Portland to see various peeps.

I may not be in L.A. this summer or out looking for America, but things will be great nonetheless.

lent update #2: minimize me

the other day i watched the anti-mcdonalds, pro-health documentary Supersize Me. i had added it to my netflicks list far before i decided to give up junk food for lent, but it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. it's not that i really eat mcdonald's or any similar fast food that much. however, watching the film has definitely reinforced the idea that i should NEVER be eating mcdonalds, and that processed foods in general are unhealthy. it has me thinking that the extra expense to shop for food at whole foods markets may be worth it. kelly bought some stuff from there recently and when i looked at the ingredients on the cereal i could read and spell everything. no artificial flavors, preservatives or multi-syllabic chemical additives to be found. there is no contesting the idea that this must be better for us to eat.

it is the 19th day of lent and i have not eaten junk food. i have twice turned down "taco bell sunday" (erin's favorite day), ordered steamed chicken and broccoli and white rice for chinese and refused kelly's offers of fruitsnacks. i constantly drink water and have tried to up my exercise regimen, which can be the most difficult for me. unfortunately, i have not lost any weight. none. i have also not gained any, which i suppose is good, but i hope that my body has just been readjusting and i will soon see the results in the drop of the needle. if anything, i can say for sure that i FEEL better, and that, of course, is the most important thing and what will hopefully keep me going.


p.s. if you rent Super Size Me you have to watch one of the bonus features called "The Smoking Fry", you will never want to put McDonald's french fries in your body again.

hey baby, what's your sign?

for shits and giggles i went to www.astrology.com to look up my horoscope for the day, week, year, whatever, and i ended up getting an astrology reading. of course you only get a partial reading for free, but there was enough there to surprise me about how accurate some if it was. very interesting. however, that being said, why am i going to pay $19.99 to get told stuff i already know about myself? hmmm. well, anyway. here is part of my reading. i think it pegged me pretty well. what do you think?


The Inner You: Your Real Motivation
Quiet, deep, emotionally complex and intensely private, you are not a person who is easy to get to know and understand. You are extremely sensitive but disinclined to show it, and you allow only a special few into your inner world. Like a wary animal, you are cautious and mistrustful of those you do not know until you "sniff them out". You are very, very instinctive and intuitive. You usually have a strong, immediate gut reaction to people, even though you may be unable to clearly articulate why you feel as you do. Your feelings and perceptions go deeper than words.

Lent update #1

it has been 6 days since i gave up junk food and i am happy to report that i am succeeding so far. i don't think i've even looked twice at the bucket (yes, bucket) of lindt truffles in the kitchen since friday. well, not twice in a row anyway. i realize that i do have this compulsion to reach for the junk and i find myself looking at it to eat, but now instead of just grabbing it without thinking, i glance at it once, the thought runs through my mind, but i stay away. i am an extremely determined person when it comes to setting my mind to accomplish something that i want, however, thus far that determination has never successfully been tapped into when it comes to food. there has always been too much temptation and not enough motivation. i want to hope that this new self-control i am experiencing through this goal i have set for myself will lead to a lifetime of better eating habits, not just 90 days. when i used to go to weight watchers, the people who were most successful always talked about how they had to see their "diet" as a life-long change and not just a period of time when they would stop eating bad foods. only then did things click into place for them and they were able to lead healthier lives, indefinitely. i want to believe that i am working towards making that change. i hope i am. i really do.

selective memory

last night i forgot how old i was. no, not in an "i did something really immature" kind of forgetting, i actually forgot. how. old. i. was. (the excessive punctuation is for emphasis of how. stupid. i. am.). someone on TV said how old they were or something about age and i could not remember whether i am 23 or 24. and since no one was around to ask, i literally had to think to myself "ok, i turned 21 during junior year, so i was 22 senior year, 23 last year, so now i'm 24." it seems like forgetting your age is something older people do, or like to do, but forgetting it in your 20s kind of scares me. well, not really. it's just the strangest feeling ever.

i guess all these years feel kind of the same. there's no more exciting birthdays like sweet 16, cigarettes and porn 18 and drunken 21. and if the next "milestone" birthday is 30, bring on the amnesia! cause you can shove that birthday right up your ass. have i mentioned i'm going to New Orleans for that one? nothing says "i'm not 30!" like drinking cheap beer from a plastic cup on the street. at the very least, by 9pm i won't even remember my name, never mind my age.

fat tuesday

more like fat everyday. ok, i know. "don't be so hard on yourself." blah blah blah. yea, it's time i started being harder on myself. i am definitely 20 lbs heavier than i was when i graduated college and 40 lbs heavier than i want to be. "if you lose 40 pounds you won't even be there anymore!" oh trust me, i will be. i'll probably still even wear a double digit dress size. no kidding. so, in honor of the season of lent, i am giving up ALL junk food. i'm not even catholic. but i did it during my senior year of high school and succeeded, so i sure as hell should be able to do it now that i am a much more mature version of myself. that is why, in mature adult fashion, i am posting it on my blog so that the possible embarrassment of failing this endeavor publicly will keep me away from the junk.

when i told erin, my roommate, of my plan, she wanted me to define what i meant by "junkfood", since everyone probably has a different definition. hers only includes candy and chips, that skinny bitch. (loooove you.)
however, mine will be a bit more strict and also includes:
- any snacky food with no nutritional value - cheez its, fruit snacks, granola bars with gooey stuff in them
- fast food (excluding the healthy options at subway and quiznos)
- anything fried
- nachos
- ice cream
- sweets - cookies, candy, regular soda (which i don't really drink anyway)
- mac and cheese
- chocolate
- super buttered popcorn
- chinese food except white rice and things with vegetables

I will allow myself pizza on occassion, fat-free chocolate pudding, light popcorn, diet soda, and sugar free, fat free vanilla ice cream (mostly because I have a lot left in the freezer).

so, mostly this is a diet, but i guess i'd rather see it as a goal to make it through without these things, and maybe by the end i won't want even really want them anymore. unlike sr. year of high school when lent ended while i was in spain and nicole had brought half a suitcase full of easter candy with her. when dinner is the slab of meat you just saw hanging in the window by a hook, sugared marshmallow birds look damn tasty. (p.s. isn't the Peep inside the chocolate egg such a good idea?!)

lastly, on a more serious note, i want to try to make this time not ALL about losing weight, but partially about what Lenten is for, traditionaly (and i'm not really referring to all the religious ideaology). therefore, i will also be working on feeling better about the way i look no matter what. i realize that even with weight gone it may not mean i will like myself any more.

well, wish me luck in all respects. i will keep you updated on my progress and any possible setbacks.
wow, aren't you excited?! haha.

i never promised this blog would be interesting, and my plan to keep that non-promise is going splendidly.



coming soon: "orange you happy to see me?: test-running my new self-tanner"

i'd like some fries with that macnerd

clicking on the link above will prove to you how much of a computer/advertising dork my grad school friends and i are, because we find something like that to be funny. pretty damn funny actually. so funny that we share it with each other and say "take a look at this, it's really funny!" but if you don't know the difference between Mac and Microsoft products, you won't get it, and if you don't know how the companies package and advertise their products, it won't be funny, and if you like Microsoft more than Mac it won't be ammusing to you at all. so, don't say i didn't warn you.

you may procede.

a new level of bored

i just took one of those stupid Quizilla tests that people make up. this one was called "What kick-ass t-shirt saying are you?" or something like that, and i have to say this test result was surprisingly accurate (see below). so, rock on Quizilla t-shirt saying survey maker. thank you for sharing your adeptness at pinpointing people's personalities on fake t-shirts through questions like "Are you crazy?". next stop, the CIA.




Which Kick Ass Shirt Saying Are You??
brought to you by Quizilla

tempus fugit

i cannot believe it has been almost a month since my last post. the passing of time just escapes me lately as i spend most of my days in my apartment, on my computer. and though i am being paid to sit in my bed and do work on said computer (so i should not complain), working from home does little for good human contact and gives me nothing interesting to write about. at this rate, i just need a couple kids and a husband and i'd be a desperate housewife.

think i'd prefer a boyfriend and a puppy.

i just thank god for a gym membership, roommates who alternate being home, and weekend visits that keep me sane. and someday soon, when i am getting up at 6am to put on business attire and take the T into the office, i will look back on this time and be envious of my sweatpant wardrobe and working-from-bed days. truly, i can't say that it's altogether a bad deal.

things i miss, and always will

as i feel like i'm transitioning into a new part of my life and moving farther away in time from many of the great moments i've had, i'd like to stop and take note of the things that were so amazing and impacted me so much that i still miss them when they pass through my mind. some of these things are fairly recent, while many go back even before high school. some are purely happy memories, while others are bitter-sweet in a way that their rememberence brings about a kind of sadness for their ending. all have the distinction of being tucked away in my heart forever, along with the people who are a part of them. if that is you, i hope you also remember and miss them too.

- monday night company class
- saturday night dinners
- hour long hugs
- movies and friendlys after work
- waynelovich cookouts
- stupid home-made radio shows like 13.4 AFNF
- choreographing dances in the basement
- 80s dance parties in the dorm room
- Checkers
- rainy car rides to nowhere
- maple syruping
- the final bow
- "Our next category is Senior Large Group Lyrical, please welcome studio code D, "Heal the Suffering." and "and the award is....an Ultimate Gold!"
- the smell of my Caboodle
- new X-Files fridays (and then sundays)
- christmas as a child (i.e. less shopping, no stress, lots of gifts, more magic)
- going to every meal at the dining hall as a huge group
- new school clothes shopping with mom
- "David Duchovny why won't you love me!?!! Why won't you love me?!?! Why won't you love me?!?!"........"lo siento."
- late nights/early mornings with the damn chirping birds
- secret car meeting
- tech rehearsals
- playing charades in the instrument room
- school crushes
- the bottom of the ocean in the Great Barrier Reef
- Nintendo world championships (in my basement of course)
- people watching/outfit critiques at the holyoke mall
- "Would you still be my friend if I looked like this?!"
- lake winnepesaki (still can't spell it)
- long talks about nothing and everything
- being naive enough to think things won't change (but knowing deep down they always do)