Friends are cool.

Yesterday was one of those days where I couldn't bring myself to do anything productive. It was a long week. On Friday night, I partied it up in celebration of Christina's and Ian's birthday. I have cool friends.

Saturday contained the falling action as I read, aimlessly searched the internet, ran, headed to the Corner Coffee Shop, and hung out in Altoona. I attempted to get some work done today.

I'm not even sure if I'm fully recovered from last weekend. Alaina and I had a lot of fun exploring Pittsburgh. First, we headed to AMC Theaters to watch The King's Speech. It was a great middle-of-the day movie. The cast was particularly awesome. I loved watching Helena Bonham Carter in an actual serious role, and Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush deserve Oscars. Overall, it was a great movie. Although, I'm not sure I'll be in a hurry to watch it again. The Social Network remains my favorite of the year.


In between films we headed to Ikea which is the equivalent of Disneyland. I walked through the store in utter awe. I look forward to the day when I can travel to Ikea with a real purpose - like furnishing my house.


As night settled in, we headed to an extremely creepy theater to see Blue Valentine. Blue Valentine really wasn't depressing like I thought it would be, it was just sort of unhappy - not in a bad way. The movie was painfully, yet beautifully real. We watched the two characters falling out of love interwoven with the story how they fell in love. Some parts of the movie were so real and private that it was hard to watch. However, I felt like I walked away with something - a really important message about life. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams were great as expected. The best part of the movie was the ending - the climaxes of the falling-in-love story and the-falling-out-of-love story met in the middle. The cuts were heartbreaking and devastating.


Finally, Alaina and I ended the night by dining at Mallorca (the Cheesecake Factory was overflowing). We made friends with the hostess and ate a delicious Spanish dinner.

Mallorca!

March is already approaching. It kind of scares me. Focusing on college has made this year fly by. I'm having a blast, and I have a lot of things I want to accomplish before the fall. I guess I would have to say that I've settled into a kind of peace or contentment with whatever happens. It feels weird typing this, but I just feel a sense of hope lingering in the distance.

Alaina, Christina, and I discussed Radiohead over the weekend. I never really got into them, but Alaina was right. This one is good.

Tough Yet True Love

Track conditioning has started right when musical is heating up. The school year has reached that limbo period when winter activities blend with spring activities in order to create a month without sleep.

In the midst of the excitement, I hope to still find time to blog on the weekends. Tonight, I am staying up late in order to accomplish a few things - one of which is quite daring.

I am currently uploading a photo album of embarrassing Ryan pictures to Facebook. You see, as much as I love Adam and Ryan, they've been acting like two gossiping bitter old women lately. In addition, Ryan has initiated a number of small attacks on me throughout the year. I've warned him countless times that I was going to get my revenge.

The day has come. Although really, I don't believe in revenge, and I don't see this action as such. In reality, I simply find the pictures hilarious and believe that they need to be shared with the world. It's about time everyone met the real, not-so-innocent Ryan.

I'm sorry Ryan, but it had to be done. You will gain more fans in the long run thanks to this. And although we often fight and lunge at each others' throats, we will always love each other. I might actually miss you in college... just a little bit.

In other parts of the world, Alaina and I had a wonderful Pittsburgh trip on Saturday. I'm looking forward to another fun weekend because our good friend Christina is coming to Johnstown from Philadelphia. Her birthday is tomorrow. Happy birthday EM! We're in for an extravaganza.

I'll write about that as well as Pittsburgh soon.

One last thing, thank you to Alaina for introducing me to this song.

My Best Friend

So the waiting game is over. Last Friday, I received an email from the Chapman Cross Country coach. She wanted to congratulate me on my acceptance to Chapman University. She didn't realize that she was letting the news slip before I received the official notification.

My package came in the mail on Tuesday. Getting accepted to both LMU and Chapman means that I'm most likely headed to school somewhere in California. Unfortunately in the midst of my excitement, Alaina and I finally had to face the unspeakable truth: we're going to be separated.

Alaina and I are best friends, but we're also so much more than that. After a few hours of crying and math homework at Starbucks, I can't say that we have anything figured out. But I know that things will play out the way they're supposed to.

I'm super excited for our Valentine adventure this weekend. Instead of wasting money on dumb gifts, we're headed to Pittsburgh (and the surrounding area) on Saturday to see Blue Valentine, The King's Speech, trek through Ikea, and possibly dine at The Cheesecake Factory.

Sneaky Sunday

I can't believe it's Sunday. At the start of break, a week off felt like an eternity. Now, it's coming to an end.

When Alaina and I arrived in Pittsburgh, we spent a grand total of 45 minutes in the South Side. I've always liked Pittsburgh, and the South Side was fun. However, H & M had very few suit jackets and none that I liked.

Alaina and I then headed to Urban Outfitters - our hipster store of choice. Alaina purchased two shirts and a hat. Plus she bought me a cozy blue sweater for Christmas.

After a fun drive home, we hung at out my uncle's house with the family and neighbors. We also chilled at our friend Matt's house. Plus, we set off fireworks with Alaina's family. It was a fun way to bring in the new year. I crashed in my warm bed around three.

Anyway, in the course of the night, I made a shocking realization. Girls substitute baby powder for shampoo and water. You read that right.

Whenever chicks can't find the time to shower or decide to go on a sleepover spree, they pour baby powder in their hair to eliminate the grease or something. Alaina's hair looked good on Friday, but she kept pouring baby powder in her hair. And whenever I ran my fingers through her brown locks, my hands were left with a strange feeling - like when you eat some chicken wings and can't wash the grease off. Oh goodness! Not trying to insult you Alaina! I'm sure guys have weird secrets too.


Blah. I don't want to return to school tomorrow. I have to get cracking on scholarship essays and other projects. But it was all fun while it lasted. May the force be with all of you as you return to school tomorrow.

Suit Shopping Adventure

After much arguing and reasoning with my parents, Alaina and I set out for Greensburg, PA yesterday. The drive was super easy and a little under an hour. We shopped around the Westmoreland Mall which was overflowing with bitchy white women and their gift cards.

I discovered the reason I am faced with such difficulty when trying to find a nice-fitting suit: my arms are freakishly long whereas my torso is short. So finding a slim, short suit with long arms is difficult.

However, we discovered a dark gray suit at Macy's. A very busy and flustered cashier kindly helped us pick out the right size and pin it up. I have to pick up the altered jacket in two weeks.

We decided that we still wanted to check out Pittsburgh and H & M just in case a better deal existed. On the way out of the mall, we quickly stopped at Chick-fil-A. Believe it or not, but after eighteen years of living in Western Pennsylvania, I had not eaten at the favored fast food restaurant. We ate our chicken and waffle fries in the car, and I finally understood the delicious awesomeness.

Anyway, Alaina wanted to drive to Pittsburgh. Driving with her is always interesting. We were guided by a TomTom GPS that we borrowed from Adam. Whenever it spoke a direction, Alaina and I would both jump out of our skin. Furthermore, Alaina believed that every direction had to be carried out immediately. The TomTom would say, "Merge left in three miles." Alaina would shriek something along the lines of "Holy ****! Move *******!" Suddenly, every car around us turned into one of Ramona's seven evil exes who would do everything in their power to stop us from turning left.

The route from Greensburg also involved the turnpike. Dun. Dun. Dun.

As we approached the turnpike entrance, we realized that we were too far away from the ticket dispenser. This meant that Alaina would have to open her car door in order to reach out and grab the ticket.

It was sort of like those Visa commercials when someone pays with cash. Alaina was the dude paying with cash.

As she reached out for the ticket, someone shouted "Whoa! Whoa!" Alaina quickly sped off, and I felt like we had just robbed a bank.

Entering the main road, Alaina remarked, "I feel like I'm on a ride at Disney World." Then the evil guy who was behind us - probably the "Whoa!" dude, almost hit us as he impatiently tried to merge from behind us. He was a pedophile in a pickup truck with a bunch of suits. Why? I ask. We should have hijacked the suits.

Seriously, when Alaina opened her door to grab the ticket, what did he think we were going to do? Let's look at the possibilities. This brings me to...

Things to do at a Turnpike Entrance other than Simply Taking a Stupid Ticket:

• Steal all of the tickets so that no one else can enter the turnpike. Suckers!
• Hold all three turnpike workers at gunpoint.
• Rob all of the quarters.
• Sit and have a two-hour conversation about the meaning of Inception.
• Eat the Ramen noodles that you've been storing in a thermos.
• Make love.
  
• Go for a walk.
  
• Commence to ballroom dance.

I'm sure there are many others, but I'm getting sick of typing. I want to talk more about the trip, New Year's Eve, and a shocking revelation about girls, hair, and baby powder, but all that will have to wait until tomorrow. Stay tuned. Happy 2011!