Die Katze aus dem Zimmer werfen

Is it July 1st already?!

2009-07-01T19:16:00.014-04:00

Wow, is it really July 1st already?!

I promised myself I would start up the ol' blogging again when the summer started, but somehow summer is already half over! Time really flies when you're....working... all... the... time....?

That's not entirely true — while I have been working a lot, I've also had time to do a few fun things so far....

Summer started off with a nice but brief visit to the Chuck! I had to come back to the city in time for SVA graduation... and BU graduation... and Columbia graduation... all within a six day period! While I, myself, didn't graduate, I feel quite prepared for when it's my turn (whenever that may be, hah just kidding!) as I am now a graduation expert! Here I am with all the graduates!

With Steve at SVA's graduation

With Aryn and her boyfriend Tom at BU's graduation

With Reem, Marya, and Awni at Columbia's graduation!

I will tell you the great thing about being invited to so many graduations is all the free food and free booze! It was totally worth it sitting through all of those ceremonies! ;-)

The day after Columbia's graduation, I started working at the editing lab again where I worked last summer and all throughout the school year. It hasn't been super busy since there aren't very many classes during the summer, however there was one week where we were completely bombarded by Italians! Every summer, SVA switches off hosting duties with an Italian film school for three weeks: the first week, students write; the second week they shoot; and the third week they edit. The group consisted of about 30 students and so they were supposed to have been broken into two separate sections with different teachers. They were separated for the writing and filming portions of the program, but when it came down to editing, for some reason it was decided that they didn't need two different teachers. This meant that all 30 Italian students with a limited English vocabulary were running around the lab. There were 5 teams working on their respective projects, so that meant 5 opinions on how 1 film would be edited. On top of that, they had zero familiarity with the editing program. Luckily my boss, Martin, had two T.A.'s working that week, because otherwise I don't think I could handle it all myself. We did a pretty good job overall, but the worst part was at the end when we had to convert all of the films to the European standard film format. I won't get too into it, but essentially, the U.S. standard film format is NTSC video, whereas the European format is PAL. Regardless, we survived, and I ended up getting paid $10/hr instead of my usual $9. So smiles all around!

That's all the boring stuff, though! You want to hear about all the fun stuff! So because I work such strange hours during the week and don't get a lot of time to do the things that I want to do, I try to at least do one fun thing in the city each weekend. So, here's a just series of mini-adventures from the summer so far...

On a lone adventure, I trekked to the Upper West Side to go to the Natural History Museum...

The great blue whale!

A giant prehistoric sloth!

Mark Bachman came to visit before he went off to India for the summer, and we visited the Bronx Botanical Gardens!

I don't know what this flower is called...

They told me to listen to the plants, so I'm listening...

One weekend that Steve came into the city, we went to Central Park and got our sun tan on! (which has now faded after the June monsoon that stole the sun for the whole month)

Sun-worshipping

And finally, this past weekend when we got just an ounce of sun, Steve and I went to the Bronx Zoo!

Two black panthers sleeping in a tree...

I was convinced that the Zoo paid the animals to entertain its guests... otherwise, for what reason would this peacock fan its feathers at just the right moment...

Measuring up to a tiger...

Very fierce!

Another reason I thought they paid the animals... why would this tiger just decide to fall asleep right next to the glass... Me petting the tiger!

Pulling his tail!

OH! DID I MENTION THE LAKERS WON THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIPS?!?!! DEFINITELY one of the highlights of my summer so far!! I was absolutely ecstatic!! Here's a little DFISH I'd like to share...

WOOO!!!!

I will be working for the rest of July, but I do have a few more adventures planned for the month...

This weekend is the 4th of July! Our plans are to BBQ on a friend's roof in Brooklyn and watch the fireworks go off throughout the city! Exactly what I did last year, but it was probably the best 4th I've ever had, so I'm not complaining!

My friend Sarah is coming into town two weekends from now, and then Mom and Kel will be visiting the weekend after that! Not entirely sure what we are going to do just yet, but we are going to see the Broadway show In the Heights, which won the Tony award for Best Musical last year!

The first week of August, Steve, his twin brother Jon and I are going to an Incubus concert! (an alt-rock group I've loved since high school!) And the day after that, we will be driving down to CHUCKTOWN for a few days and then will drive on to Sarasota, FL, where their parents have a house and will spend a week there! Also, fingers crossed, we are planning to drive up to DISNEY WORLD(!!) for a day or so! Super pumped about that!

So that's my summer so far! Hope that caught everyone up, and I promise I will update more throughout the rest of the summer! Hope all is well!

Peace,

Britt

"If I had the chance, I'd ask the world to dance!"

~Billy Idol

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES!

2008-08-19T21:28:00.013-04:00

Hey y'all!

I posted Africa pictures on Kodakgallery.com, the sign in is: BrittLB102187@aol.com and the password is: natgeo.

There are about a thousand pictures but they're all pretty exciting if I do say so myself! I had a really incredible time and I was so sad to leave! I would go back in a heartbeat and stay for months and months! I could write a novel about the entire trip and it was only two weeks long!

I'll try to give you a gist, though, of where we traveled and some high points: We started out with a weekend trip to Amsterdam because we had a stop-over there and, man, am I glad we stopped for a few days as opposed to flying straight through because the trip back was rough! Amsterdam was beautiful, although it was relatively cold (about low 60's), a little rainy, and didn't get dark until about 11pm! We got in early Saturday morning and then left for Africa on Monday afternoon. We didn't arrive in Arusha until about 10:30pm and didn't get to our lodge until nearly midnight. The first place we stayed (for only 1 night) was the Serena Mountain Village just outside of Arusha. From there, we moved onto Lake Manyara for 1 night, the Ngorogoro Crater for 2 nights, visited the Olduvai Gorge on our way to the Serengeti where we stayed for 1 night, then finished our safari on mainland Tanzania at the Serena Kirawera tents in the western Serengeti. The tents were my favorite place we stayed on the mainland! From the mainland, we flew to the gorgeous island of Zanzibar where we stayed for 3 nights: 1 night in Stone Town which looks very similar to downtown Charleston with tiny narrow streets and lots of shops and markets, and then 2 nights at the Ocean Paradise Resort where we swam in the Indian Ocean and got (strange but very cheap) massages and tried to soak up as much of Africa as we could in our last few days! Our three guides- David, Erasto, and Alayne- were fabulous! David and Alayne are both British but have lived and worked in Africa off and on for most of their adult lives, and Erasto is a member of the Masai tribe who became formally educated and has since been leading tours around eastern Africa and learning as many things and meeting as many different people as he possibly can! David has written and illustrated his own books on wildlife and Alayne studies lion-human conflict in northern Kenya. They have all lead romantically extraordinary lives that most people can only dream of and they're still going strong!

Me with a red colobus monkey!

Animals we saw were: Elephants, lions, giraffes, spotted hyena, hippos, rhinos, warthogs, baboons, blue monkeys, black-faced vervet monkeys, red colobus monkeys, jackals, zebra, tarpei, heartabeests, wildebeests, buffalo, genet cats, a bush baby (I spotted it!), impala, Thompson's gazelles, crocodiles, secretary birds, kory/black-bellied bustards, ostriches, shrikes, starlings, hornbills, geckos, dikdiks, army ants, and dung beetles!

The trip home was approximately 40 hours long... too long... but it was more than worth it! Can't wait to go back!

Since then, I have been working and trying to enjoy the last few weeks of my summer! The week before last, I went to the Bronx Zoo with my roommate, Angela, and her boyfriend, Matt, and then this past weekend I went to visit Aryn in Boston! Well, I should say rather the Northeast, because we ended up in 2 other states aside from Massachusetts! I got in late Thursday night and the next day we drove up to New Hampshire to a water park called Water Country, which was a lot of fun, then drove back and went to the Cheesecake Factory (my favorite!). Saturday, we drove down to Middletown, Rhode Island to go SKYDIVING!!! And guess what, I'm still alive! It was an absolutely incredible experience — we were right on the coast and it was near sunset! We were worried because the forecast called for thunderstorms but there was hardly a cloud in the sky! I went with Aryn, her boyfriend Tom, our friend from home Ashley (who also goes to BU), Aryn's roommate Stephanie, and Tom's friend from home Brian. Aryn went skydiving last summer, but no one else had been before. I wasn't very scared at first, I felt pretty calm, in fact! I was excited but not very nervous... yet... We could only go two at a time in the planes because they were teeny tiny (along with our tandem jumpers, of course, we did NOT dive by ourselves!), so I went with Aryn and I wanted to go before everyone else so that I wouldn't have to see anyone jump before me! Even though the plane was very small, I really wasn't that scared until the second they flung open the door at 10,000 ft.... I was TERRIFIED!!! Once we got our feet out the door, the instructor would count to three and then ask if I was ready, but I'm pretty sure that I didn't even wait for him to count, I just kept shouting "GO!!!!" because I was afraid of what I might have said otherwise! The scariest part was the initial dive right out of the plane, but once we were in the air, I was ok! Well, more than ok, but I can't really think of the right words to describe it! It didn't even seem real because the goggles we wore made it seem as if I was watching it on an IMAX screen or something! What made it feel real, though was how incredible cold it was! We were even wearing jumpsuits, but my face, fingers, and ankles were numb! The free fall lasted about 40 seconds, but it only felt like 3. I was not ready for the parachute, which is probably a good reason to go with someone else your first several times! The parachute ride down was about 6 minutes, but only felt like 2. I felt very safe because my harness was digging into me whenever we would change directions. There wasn't a single moment where I felt unsafe. The only thing I worried about was my mouth because I probably swallowed a few bugs on the way down. My instructor had me practice the landing position several times before we reached the ground... legs into my chest and then straight out in front of me. Well, I am going to blame the harness (but the truth is that I'm not very flexible) because I could get my legs up maybe 10 degrees, it was just pathetic! Come time to land, though, I was ready for the most part, and as my instructor landed on his feet, I slid very gently on my tush. As soon as the instructor unhooked the harness, I was ready to go back up again, but unfortunately I had to let the others have their chances. We topped off the day with a belly full of Taco Bell!

Suited up!

Prepare for landing!

But that's not the end of my extreme weekend! The next day we drove up to Gloucester, Mass to go boating and fishing with one of Tom's friends from home. We caught blue fish and lobsters and a rock crab (hanging out in the lobster trap)! I let my fish go and didn't eat any of the other seafood that was caught.

Kissing my blue fish!

Pictures from this past weekend are also on kodakgallery.com.

All in all, the end of my summer has been quite exhilarating — a nice reward for the hard work I put in at the beginning of the summer! School starts two weeks from yesterday, so I will be mentally preparing myself until then. Dad and Maggie are coming to visit this weekend and we're going to see Young Frankenstein on Broadway! Should be as hysterical as the movie! Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of their summers!

Peace,

Britt

"Archaism is a dusty road leading us back to nowhere

If we're the ones to blame then the fruit

It shouldn't taste so good

We were used

To thinking we got nothing to lose

We're losing everything but the truth

'Cause walking straight into a road block, ending

Left here bending

Your point of view is chosen by the serpent's rules"

-Jack Johnson

Happy (early) 4th!

2008-07-03T19:22:00.008-04:00

I have a nice day off from work and I thought since I'll be quite busy tomorrow that I'd go ahead and wish everyone a Happy 4th a day early! And maybe give you a quick update...

So I got my hair cut on Tuesday... it's a little shorter than I'd like, at least in the back... I like it from the front... but my hair grows relatively fast so it'll be fine in no time! I basically just wanted the hair off the back of my neck for Africa. Here's a few pics...

I'm not very good at smiling when I should so this is the best I could do...

Like I said, the back is a bit short, but as I learned today as I was walking to Forever 21 to buy a dress for tomorrow, it's quite breezy!

I should have known that it was going to be a bad day for pampering when I went to get a pedicure and the polish that I thought was a sophisticated-looking deep purple turned out looking black. In my defense, the title was a little ambiguous: "Lincoln Park After Dark," how am I supposed to know what Lincoln Park looks like after dark?! My second sign should have been when my stylist asked if I had ever thought about going blonde... been there, done that, went through that awkward phase... normally I trust her but I think she was a little too scissor-happy that day.

In terms of 4th of July plans, I have quite a day planned! First, I am waking up at 8am (I'll pause to let you re-read that, yes I'm waking up at 8am...) to go to the beach with my friends Kim and Jordana! I recently learned that, apparently, there's a secluded part of this particular beach that is clothing optional, however, DO NOT FEAR! I am definitely steering away from that area... I just found it amusing that there were nude beaches around here! After the beach, we're going to a concert/BBQ for a band called Japanther (whom I've never heard of but apparently they rock), and then after a friend who lives in Brooklyn is having a party on the rooftop of his apartment building! Fireworks aren't legal here to purchase by the public but we'll have an incredible view of all the big fireworks shows put on by the city! I'll definitely post pictures!

I hope that all you have equally as exciting plans for tomorrow and that no one sets any forests on fire.... be safe!

Happy 4th!

Peace,

Britt

"There is nothing with which it is so dangerous to take liberties as liberty."

-André Breton

Furnished Apt Pics as Promised....

2008-06-27T14:42:00.011-04:00

Helloooo....

Here are some pictures of our finally furnished living room and my bedroom, although I haven't gotten around to putting my posters up yet.....

the couch is a futon...

dining area...

my room! messy as usual... but sunny!

my desk...

So our next task is getting the bookcase to split up Alicia's and my room, but we aren't going to worry about that until she moves in at the end of the summer.

Speaking of summer... I've been super busy and haven't had alot of time to really enjoy the city. I work in the lab 30 hours a week and recently I've become a part-time personal assistant for a lawyer who lives in a beautiful townhouse in Chelsea. It's been a bit like The Devil Wears Prada, if you've seen the movie. It's a little overwhelming since she's in Switzerland and I'm taking care of her business here in the States! I've also been taking that sound production class, like I said, which I've enjoyed. Last week our class got to see our teacher in action at a shoot for a commercial for the SciFi channel! I'm not exactly sure what it had to do with scifi but it was sort of a spoof on the Home Shopping Network... a man and his "wife" were selling biodegradable diapers, which is, well... blegh... so they had a baby on set and a dog, too, and while the baby kept screaming and crying every time they started rolling, the dog was perfect and did everything it was told! Also, the male actor was definitely channeling Billy Mays because he was practically shouting every word! My favorite part was DEFINITELY kraft services, i.e. the food! Even though we didn't do anything but sit there and watch, we were allowed to sneak back and hit up the breakfast buffet! Best damn ham and cheese omelet I've ever had in my life! It was definitely an experience!! The class is a large part of my week though and, with this upcoming Tuesday being the last class, I'll be glad when it's over. I hardly have time for laundry or grocery shopping, let alone getting a haircut...My head looks like a shaggy dog! I need a vacation from this vacation!! Africa is T-14 days! Oh and 4th of July is coming up as well and I don't even have plans yet! Luckily, though, this weekend I'm going to Jersey to stay with Alicia and it will be some quality relaxing and beach time! Maybe I'll post one more time before Africa and then, of course, after!

Until then...

Peace,

Britt

"One day our generation

Is gonna rule the population

So we keep waiting

Waiting on the world to change"

~John Mayer

Changing Zip Codes... i.e. Moving 10 Blocks Away in Manhattan-speak....

2008-06-06T11:52:00.020-04:00

So. I am finally moved in to my new apartment! (For the most part...) We're still waiting on a bookcase wall to separate my side of the room from Alicia's. And I have yet to christen my walls with my many movie posters (I also just ordered the "Why So Serious" Joker poster for the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight"!! The greatest movie poster of ALL time! So psyched about that...)

Ang tells me I'm going to get nightmares... I told her I was going to put it on my ceiling right above my bed so that I can stare at it every night before I go to bed. Nightmares, pfft! Heath Ledger doesn't scare me! Now Jack Nicholson on the other hand.......

Anyways, I thought I would post pics of the move-in process back in May when we were initially switching apartments. And by that I mean we piled Alicia's dad's car to the absolute limit... three times... squeezed two people into the front seat, and then tossed everything onto our floors. Alicia's mom, God bless her, was the fire under my butt while I was packing everything up for the move. She lovingly accused me of being a pack rat (which is 100% true). When we were finished, I dove into giant pile of clothes like they were leaves. Too bad there's no picture of that. Anyways, over the next few days we unpacked, organized, and then packed up again to go home for the next few weeks. Oooo, also my friend Tristan gave me his old bike for free! Although it can only stay on one gear and the chains fall off sometimes mid-ride, it's still good for a nice, leisurely (and cautious) ride around town. (I'll post pics of the bike at a later date possibly... if it lasts...) So. Here's Alicia's and my room right after we tossed all of our crap on the floor...

Next is Angela's room and the kitchen...

And finally... a more organized bedroom...

Upon returning, Kel and Mom ever so kindly helped me officially move in for the summer and put my Ikea furniture together! I don't have any pictures quite yet because it is not a finished product yet, but I will post them very soon! For the time being, I will post a pic from dinner at Tavern on the Green with Mom and Kel!

Love those lanterns!

Anyways, since the fam left I'm back in action — taking a Sound Production class twice a week for six hours/class... it's really interesting actually (although my AP Physics class from high school is biting me in the ass right now because we're learning how sound works and I sorta remember learning that then but...now I'm relearning it... the joke's on me, Mr. Martin...), and also working in the Final Cut lab again... 30 hours a week! My weekdays are pretty intense so I'm living for the weekends right now! Africa is 5 weeks away and when I come back from that I'm going SKYDIVING with Aryn in Maine!!! This summer is definitely going to be a work hard/play hard kinda thing!

Oh, and we finally have cable/internet (and a DVR so I can record episodes of Law and Order:SVU and CI that I may miss...), so the apartment is finally becoming real! I will post more apartment pics soon, when we get our couch and Ang gets her wall, etc.

Go Lakers!!

Peace,

Britt

Oh, and a few of these since I can't pick just one :-)

"I want to turn the whole thing upside down

I'll find the things they say just can't be found

I'll share this love I find with everyone

We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs

I don't want this feeling to go away"

~Jack Johnson

Fancy Meeting You Here...

2008-04-24T23:26:00.014-04:00

So...
I'm not entirely sure why I started this blog — supposedly to update people on my life/musings/rants/etc... I'm bored out of my mind at work right now at 1am on a Thursday night(er, Friday morning...) when I suppose I should be out celebrating my week left of school... one whole school year without changing schools or wanting to... hahaha, I guess you could call that a successful year for me! Either way, I'm stuck in the lab 'til 4am because of the stupid seniors with their thesis films due tomorrow... grrrr.... oh well, atleast I'm getting paid double haha!

Anyways, the summer is about to start... I'm going to be heading home for about two weeks to enjoy Charleston before it gets unbearably, scorching hot — which involves walking the bridge and taking pics on the beach with Aryn, catching up with good people, and of course, getting lots of delicious Chucktown eats! After that it's back to the city for most of the rest of the summer! My roommates, Alicia and Angela, and I very recently signed a lease for an apartment in beautiful Stuyvesant Town (at about 1st Ave and 16th St.) and will be moving in May 1st! (Mucho mucho thanks to the rents!) So far, I have been checking out Ikea furniture, and we plan on getting a sweet red futon-type couch from Urban for our living room:

Our rooms are pretty small — 12' x 7.5' (mine's the middle room with the closet) — but believe me, they're SO much bigger than the other ones we looked at. One apartment had two rooms that were practically walk-in closets, and the other one which was decent-sized had NO windows!! Creepy!! So Stuy-town is legit: it has 89 buildings, elevators, security, and 80-acres of parks! Yay! (And we spotted Julia Stiles jogging in the complex the other day, maybe she lives there too?!) Sounds like a blast right?

It won't be all play, of course, I will definitely have a job working at the editing lab at SVA, possibly up to 35 hours a week, and then maybe another job on top of that, it depends right now. But either way, I will be making that cash money. :-P I'll also be taking a sound production class during the month of June.

Alicia will be in and out of the city, and Ang will be here for pretty much the whole summer with me! So I suppose I will also use this blog to chronicle our antics during our first summer away from home! I feel like such an adult, signing a lease and getting renter's insurance, it's sort of good and bad I suppose... I'm not quite ready to grow up completely yet... I have a little time left......

Oh and from July 11th-26th, Mom, Kel and I will be in AFRICA!!! Tanzania and Zanzibar to be exact! I have too much to say about that and I'm sure I'll have more to say about that afterwards anyways so I won't say any more right now.

ANYWHO... I will leave you with this... a very hysterical Facebook "bumper sticker" I found that I felt I needed to share with everyone! Enjoy ;-)

Peace,

Britt

"So afraid of getting older

I'm only good at being young

So I play the numbers game to find a way to say

that life has just begun"

~John Mayer