My Haunted Dorm

This post is dedicated to Henry who apparently is the ghost who haunts my new dorm Converse Hall. After moving in on Sunday, I went over to 308 and I checked out this book that Ashley has called Haunted Burlington. Guess what building is on the cover? Yep, you guessed it...Converse Hall. Of course. So apparently there was this kid named Henry who went to UVM back in the 1920s. He was a very insecure kid who got so stressed out by college stuff (who doesn't) that he hung himself in the attic of the building.

Yeah, it's pretty creepy as this picture shows...even though I love it.

Flash-forward to the present, or move in day to be exact when Megan, Ashley, and I took a trip up to the top floor (right above my floor) where the kitchen is located. The place looks like it used to be a children's playroom basically because there's a mural of the campus on the wall that looks like it was painted by a six year old. That place is sketchy. Then, that night, my mirror fell off the wall where I had taped it, and my Rent poster also flew off the wall. (I tacked those events on the scorching hell-heat we've had the past week and poor tape quality.) Then today, as I walked into the creepy kitchen to wash my dishes, I heard something that sounded like the floor squeaking with footsteps right outside the door. I hurried and ran down the stairs. Needless to say, my dorm is creepy. I still love it though. I love the privacy, how quiet it is at nighttime, having my own space, and being so close to everything on campus. I'm not leaving any time soon.

Peace out!

Move In Day 2010

My cat wanted to be packed into the car last night too. Unfortunetely, I couldn't bring her.

After helping each other load in our respective crap into our respective cars, Megan and I headed out at 7 o'clock this morning for the amazing Burly World to begin another year of college adventures. Ashley meanwhile arrived at 308 at eight in the morning and had to fight with public safety to get into the dorm. Megan arrived at 308 shortly afterward and I arrived at my giant castle of a dorm at UVM. The move was a daunting task seeing how my single was located on the fifth floor of said castle. And my boxes were heavy.

It took over an hour and a half to drag all of my heavy boxes, a mini fridge, a microwave, a TV, and a trunk up those flights of stairs. I thought my poor mother was going to pass out. And of course today had to be the hottest day EVER. Once we had moved some of the stuff into the room, we decided to try to loft the bed because the room was amazingly tiny, and I was nervous about my crap not fitting into the closet that is my room. That was not the smartest thing to try. The space was so small that there was no way to maneuver the bed into a position to even attempt to pull the metal beams apart to loft the pesky thing. Basically the result was a lot of sweat and myself being pinned up against the wall. It was fun.

Anyway, everything finally made its way into my room, including my books. I was not, however, able to get into the theater to sign up for an interview time for this work study job in the box office I'm working on getting my hands on. After we were done, my mom and I drove over to 308 to meet Megan, her gram, her mom, Ashley, and her mom so we could all caravan our way to Olive Garden for lunch. AMAZING. If I made a top 10 of my favorite restaurants, Olive Garden would definitely be near the top. It was absolutely necessary after the pain of move in day.

The rest of the day was filled with unpacking, getting Joe his stuff that he left at my house during the summer, saying goodbye, laying around 308 snacking on leftover Olive Garden and watermelon, and more unpacking.

All in all, it was a good day and I finally conquered my room. Everything is put away and unpacked. And hey, this closet of a room is growing on me. I think it kind of shocked me at first seeing how tiny it really was, but now I see the good in it. This is going to be an awesome year, so let's get the ball rolling! I'm off to bed, first day of class tomorrow! Have a good night, everyone.

Peace out!

Top 10

It's almost time. College is approaching super fast (two more days to be exact), and my packing is all done. On Wednesday, Megan and I took a trip to Plymouth, NH and went to the Walmart Supercenter to finish college shopping and getting some last minute items. We also visited Eden at her new job at Cicero's Cafe in downtown Plymouth. We had an amazing time trekking around town and getting the complete tour of campus. We also went to PHOP (Plymouth House of Pizza) to get some awesome buffalo chicken calzone. It was great to see Eden's place and be able to reference back to something Eden tells us. It was a fantastic visit. Thanks Eden for an amazing time!

So in the spirit of fun and the intensity of move-in day approaching, I want to post something that I've been saving for a rainy day to post. (I guess this works, it's been raining for the past four days.) Here are my top 5 top 10 favorite things, enjoy!

Top 10 Favorite Songs:
1. Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
2. All You Need Is Love - The Beatles
3. Glitter in the Air - P!nk
4. Life and Death - from Lost Michael Giacchino
5. Electricity - from Billy Elliot Elton John
6. Man In The Mirror - Michael Jackson
7. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship
8. Poker Face - Lady Gaga (both versions)
9. Single Ladies - Beyonce
10. Power of Love - Huey Lewis and the News

Top 10 Favorite Movies:
1. Shout It Out (duh)
2. Mrs. Doubtfire
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Sister Act
5. Finding Nemo
6. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
7. Back to the Future
8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
9. Forrest Gump
10. Singin' In The Rain
(I just have to add to this list The Wizard of Oz, Donnie Darko, Pan's Labyrinth, Some Like It Hot, The Lion King, Thelma and Louise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Pirates of the Caribbean. I love movies.)

Top 10 Favorite Cities:
1. New York, NY
2. Burlington, VT
3. New Orleans, LA
4. San Antonio, TX
5. Orlando, FL (who doesn't)
6. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Venice, FL (not really a CITY, but still awesome)
9. Montpelier, VT
10. Woods Hole, MA (once again, not really a CITY...)

Top 10 Favorite Broadway Shows:
1. Rent
2. Billy Elliot
3. The Lion King
4. Avenue Q
5. My Fair Lady
6. Little Shop of Horrors
7. Curtains
8. Wicked
9. Sweeney Todd
10. Godspell

Top 10 Favorite Books:
1. Catcher in the Rye
2. To Kill A Mockingbird
3. Harry Potter (all of them...duh)
4. War of the Worlds
5. Eragon
6. Hatchet
7. The Bible
8. The Great Gatsby
9. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
10. The Tempest

Anyway I just thought it would be fun to list everything. The next post will be from move in day so get ready to start this year's college adventures!

Peace out!

Iris Eva Howland

The show ended with a bang! Curtains ended its run on Saturday night with an amazing weekend. Megan loved the show and enjoyed herself ushering as you can tell from her blog, Erin was astounded by the show, and Mrs. Fields even showed up to join the fun! I seriously think it was the most fun I've ever had with a show. Thank you once again to the entire cast and crew (and of course, Lynn) for an epic summer, it has been a joy. But now, I am in a week of transition. College is so close that I can literally taste it, and it tastes pretty damn good. My to-do list is shrinking however along with my three page checklist. Megan helped me pack on Monday which was much obliged. Of course, with the two of us you know there are going to be some hilarious shenanigans going down. Megan served as a very good coat rack as I pulled shirt after shirt after (my favorite vest) shirt from my closet and hung them on her hands. Then I went to grab my ghetto Space Bag (I say that because it's a cheap knock-off on the real deal) and the whole bottom blew off, sending all of my bedding stuff I had packed in there flying. Then when I went to deflate it again once we picked everything up, the bottom literally exploded.

Needless to say, packing has been a daunting task, but it's almost done! Just some last minute things to pick up and then it should be basically finished. Also, one of this week's goals is to finish certain appointments. Monday was a haircut, and today was an eye exam complete with a new pair of glasses.

I like them. I think they add a cool, urban, and professional look. Duh, obviously.

Also, another awesome piece of news is that at 12:30 this morning, my sister-in-law finally had her baby! We have been waiting for this baby to arrive all summer. So on Sunday (a week past the due date) my brother and his wife decided it was time. And now we have our beautiful Iris Eva Howland, my first niece.

Unfortunetely, we also recieved some bad news today as well. One of my very good friend's father passed away last night. I just want to give a shout out to her if she is reading this and let her know that we are all totally here to support you and to give you anything you need, even if that is as simple as a hug or someone to just listen. We love you, and I'm deeply sorry for your loss.

In a way, it goes to show that things sometimes have a way of working out. One life begins, and another ends. So in this period of transition, I wish everyone the best of luck and the strength to make it through.

Peace out!

It's Over

Yesterday I walked out of McDonald's with my head held high and with a smile on my face. It was my last day for the summer. Giddy does not entirely describe how felt. This summer has gone by so fast, and now it seems almost impossible that it is ending. Eden is already back in Plymouth and has started her new job in a fantastic coffee shop downtown. Megan gets done at Kinney Drugs in the middle of this week. My boss even made me a cake for my last day which was really nice.

Curtains is also finishing its run this weekend. Tonight is our second opening night and we round out the show tomorrow night. Megan is coming to usher closing night and Erin with her new husband Jason are coming from Montpelier to make a guest appearance in the audience on closing night. We have had a fantastic run, and I have been so proud to work on this show. Susan-Lynn (the assistant director) told the cast at our opening night party at Hoagie's that this show was the best QNEK had ever produced. I am so proud to have been a part of this wonderful show and to have met these amazing people. On Wednesday I went to the Orleans Fair with Kat, Lissy (Lynn's stepdaughter), and Chase (Also in the show. He owns his own theater company! Check it out here.) and we had such a good time. Thank you once again for welcoming me to QNEK everyone and thank you making it such a fantastic summer! To check out the pictures taken by Kingdom Wedding Photography, click here.

And now, in this next coming week, I have so much to do. I have several appointments to attend, including finding a new pair glasses which should be fun. I also have a three page college checklist to pack up, and a massive to-do list which includes cleaning my room. Yeah, that's going to happen. Somehow...

Another sign of the end of summer is that I only have two more opportunities to go to the Lyndonville Farmer's Market which has surprisingly grown during the summer and has become very impressive. Congrats Lville! I'm enjoying my last few days in the NEK because pretty soon I'll be leaving it. No more quite Lville nights, this Farmer's Market, 95.7 NEK independant radio, QNEK, McD's, family, and cats. It will be a sad goodbye, but I'm so excited for new adventures in another year of college. Thank you for sharing this amazing summer with me. Go out and enjoy the last few days of summer!

Peace out!

Peeing Dogs, Five Pound Burritos, and Other Disgusting Things

Sorry I haven't blogged in, like, forever. Life has been absolutely crazy especially because at work everyone is on vacation, so I've inherited everyone's forgotten hours. Not that I don't love the money that's coming in, but it's getting to the point of ridiculous. On top of that, the QNEK show Curtains is opening tonight so rehearsals have been intense and long to say the least. Jake also started coming to rehearsals because he is going to be the assistant lighting god for the show. Kate Ruggles and Ashley Audette (two amazing friends from LI theater) are also starting to come because they are going to be working on the tech for the show. It's really starting to piece together, and I couldn't be more excited, but I also couldn't be more exhausted. Anyway, as a token of my return to the blogosphere, here is a journal of gross/interesting things that have happened to me in the past couple of weeks:

Saturday, July 31st, 2010: About three weeks before this date I promised my neighbor that I would take care of their two dogs and two cats for the night before their real house sitter arrived for the week. Cool. Extra money. Also on this day, Kat and I had planned to put on a Very Potter Musical Party in celebration of the sequel release. (If you do not yet know the amazingness of A Very Potter Musical, click here) Also that night, Lynn was having us perform at the Westmore Community Center at a variety show to advertise for Curtains. So, at two o'clock I rushed out of work, threw the dogs outside to pee, ran around doing stuff around the house, had a five minute shower, threw on clothes, rushed the dogs into their kennels while two terrified cats watched from a distance and ran out of the house to pick up four people and go to the party. Once at the party, I received my missing costume pieces for my Professor Quirrel costume (it was a costume party). This involved me strapping a dummy to my back.

The party was very fun even though Carol, Lissy (Lynn's stepdaughter who is also in the show), and I had to leave fairly early. Carol made butterbeer though which was out of this world amazing. Anyway, this entire time during the party, the performance, the ride to and from; I was nervous about the dogs peeing in their cages because my neighbor told me they can only last about five hours. It was borderline six. I don't think I've sped so much in my life on the way home. I raced into the house only to find that my mom had come to let the dogs out. Okay. So I changed and started watching Grease 2 on ABC Family (worse movie ever, but there's always entertainment value in laughing at it) when one of the dogs decides it's cool to come over and start humping my arm. Awesome. No thanks, I don't roll that way. Anyway, it was an eventful night to be sure.

Friday, August 6, 2010: During a full 40 hour work week which included cleaning up a giant grease spill which night crew decided wasn't important enough to take care of, some of my friends and I decided to go to this Mexican restaurant in Littleton, NH to get 5 pound burritos. No joke. It was one of those eating contests like Man vs. Food kind of deals. These things were massive.

In the end, I only ate half of the burrito which was entirely enough. It was full of beans which caused some unpleasantness towards morning. That night was fine, I even ate a Reeses about half an hour after the fact, but that morning at work was awful. I almost threw up. Well, that's enough of that.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010: Eden's Birthday! I had to go with the techies early to rehearsal this day so they could do a tech run through. Later, I was asked to go make a group order at the Derby McDonald's. 20 minutes later, I was leaving with a massive, almost 60 dollar group order that consisted of four large bags and nine drinks. I think the employees were very pleased with me.

Thursday, August 12, 2010: Last night. Final dress rehearsal. During the rehearsal, the resident bat that likes to make its home in the fly space of the Haskell decided to descend upon us while we were running through the show. After one scene, it vanished. An hour later when rehearsal was over the director, Susan-Lynn, asked me to carry a box of muslin down to her car. I rode the elevator down to the bottom floor, got off, and found the bat. The creature flew out of nowhere right near my face. I shrieked and dropped the box in an effort to defend myself against the vile thing. Meanwhile, Kat is grabbing a butterfly net to catch it.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this account. I hope to see you all at Curtains!

Peace out!