Monday, June 30, 2008

The M-I-Ayo So Hot

I'm on the plane heading home, leaving Miami for good (or at least until alumni weekend). I'm so sad to be leaving because this has been such a fun year. I can't imagine my life without the Grove on Thursday nights. Nor can I imagine it without those little chipmunks. I'm going to miss palm trees and nice weather and all that stuff that goes with it, like a year round tan from the sun as opposed to the tanning salon. Despite all this, I am very excited to go home because I think this is going to actually be a really great summer. I know I say that every year but I really think this time is for real.

AB is living on Staten Island so I'm quite sure she & I will be spending most every waking moment together. We're already making plans for going to SI Yankee games & by this I obviously mean stalking them to find out where they go after the game. I love baseball boys, what can I say? Sam is also in the city so that will be more incentive for me to go there, especially since I won't have to wait around for the 4:30 ferry & not get home until 6 in the morning. That will be lovely. Lauren has a beach house in Belmar so that'll be another fun thing to do on weekends. Katy is in Brooklyn so that'll be just one more of my best friends to hang out with. So many people have been saying they will be in the city too so it should be an endless pit of fun. Timmy Tommy is there this week so it'll already be a little Miami reunion in NYC.

I'll be interning three days a week & at Holly Hill for two, so that'll give me some money in my pocket & a couple days off a week. I think at my internship I might even be able to work at Yankee games. Fingers crossed!

Summer plans for me? Get back in shape. I plan to go running/walking with Maggie at least once a week on the boardwalk. And I will work out more because I actually have incentive now. I'm considering taking a dance class too. Things to look forward to in July? Sarah's & Lizzie's graduation parties, Bill coming home & of course one of my top 10 favorite days of the year...the All-Star Game! Anyone reading this with any pull getting tickets I'd be willing to give you my first born. I'm trying to head out to the West Coast in September so hopefully that'll work out.  A two week vacation sounds fantastic to me: a week in Cali & a week in Hawaii. Then in October is Marist's Alumni Weekend first and then Miami Alumni weekend & since I am an alum of both, I obviously will be attending. That'll be the first A-Team reunion to take place. So let the countdown begin.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Here's to the A-Team


I was just heading to bed when I happened to see Natalie's heartfelt away message & it inspired me to blog. I'll probably be crying while typing this one up but that's okay. Now, I'm not one of those people that expresses their emotions very well but I think in this case it's something so necessary.
I came out to Miami not knowing a single person. I met Katy within the first 10 minutes of moving in at Marist, so I thought there was no way it'd be that easy again. I was proved so incredibly wrong. Walking in late to the first day of orientation, I sat down in a room full of strangers. There weren't many people in my program so I'd be really lucky to find even one person to hang out with. Turns out the girl to my right and the one directly behind me would become two people that I can no longer imagine my life without. The D-1 athlete, the girl from L.A. & the girl from Staten Island very quickly became better known as the A-Team.
How that name came about I still don't quite know but what I do know is that fate was what brought us together. Even though I made an early exit on our first night out, I had no doubt there would be plenty of chances to make more memories with them. That was the first of many, many Sandbar nights & where all of the absurdity began. Football games & tailgates only brought the 3 of us sports junkies closer. No words can describe the insanity that ensued there. We have now evolved into the coolest people on campus & you can ask anybody because everyone knows it's true.
We have leaned on each other throughout all that has happened over this past year. I would never have been able to get through it without them, this I know for sure. Who would have thought the amount of jokes, laughs, tears and memories that could have accumulated in this short time. I find it unbelievable I have only known these girls since August, since clearly they have expanded my bridal party even further. As we each get ready to go our separate ways, I'm not worried. Yes, I'm going to miss them probably every day but friends like these are forever. "Side by side or miles apart, best friends stay close to the heart." I love you, you cunts.

Monday, June 16, 2008

BALLIN'!


I have re-discovered the greatest game in the world...KICKBALL! Several of my friends were on the team in the spring & it sounded so fun so when we were asked to substitute 1 game we did & we couldn't shut up about how much we loved it. Not only do you play a game of kickball, you also go to the bar that sponsors it after & get drink specials & play flip cup. What an amazing idea someone had with this W.A.K.A. league.

Now, we are on the summer league team & I am a co-captain (although because we are leaving in less then 2 weeks, we don't get to enjoy the whole season). Friday was our first game & our team is so good...totally winning the kickball championship. Go Team That's What She Said! Not only did we dominate on the field, we also continued our domination at the bar. We first played against the team we beat in kickball & obviously beat them again. Then we were challenged by the trash talking blue team who thought they were God's gift to flip cup. Well, they were certainly no match for the orange team. I think the sore-loser boy that was across from me was even about to cry after we embarrassed them like that. Did I mention that they put their best 5 players against the only 5 of us that were there?  Oh no? Well yes, that's true too. Now, I don't like to toot my own horn but uh, BEEP BEEP.

I think the best part of this whole league is that you go to the bar in your shorts, t-shirt & sneakers. You wear no makeup & you look disgusting, but so does everyone else so it doesn't matter. It's great! The dance moves that we came up with were unlike any you have ever seen, just because you feel so free in your sneakers. Next week is college night so since it's our last A-Team kickball game, we're going ALL OUT. I wish there was a W.A.K.A. league on Staten Island because I want to play more then just 3 games!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

O.C.D.

So some of you may know this but most of you do not & what this is, is that I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. After reading this, you may find me weirder than you ever did before & I can't really say that I blame you. These are the things that I need: things to be in order, even, centered & 5 is my number. But let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).

When I was little, I'd put things in order just for fun. Now keep in mind my brothers are 6 & 8 years older then me so I was often my only playmate, so that could be where my weirdness comes from. But when I say put things in order, I mean I loved rolling the coins. I also used to take out all the crayons from that huge box just to put them in color order (you know, red, orange, yellow, green, blue purple, pink, red, etc, etc.) Whenever anyone would come over and we would color, I'd not only get mad if they didn't color inside the lines but I would hate if they put the crayon back in the wrong spot. And let's not start with my POGs (remember those). I would take out my 3 tubes worth & put them in size, shape, and color order. I've kind of grown out of that but only to an extent.

I have very particular ways of doing things. When I eat, I have to make sure I chew evenly on both sides. One bite goes to the right side & the next bite goes to the left side. When I eat fruit snacks I have to make sure they are even in color so I start out with the color that has the most. If a color has 3 fruit snacks, I choose the most deformed one of the three first so that way all the perfect ones are saved for the end when I have one of every color. I had to even make sure this blog was equal in both columns (hence why I added pictures to the other column).

Those pictures also have another purpose. Notice there are 10 pictures & 5 azuzephres (I love those BTW). This is probably my oddest trait. I need things done in fives. Let me explain further. I put on 5 swipes of deodorant for each arm. I feed my turtle 5 pellets of each kind of food. The volume on my television must be in an increment of 5. If I'm at someone's house & I notice the volume is not on an increment of 5, I usually wait until they leave the room & change it so it is. This used to drive my housemates crazy because 15 was not loud enough and 20 was too loud (I settled on 17 or 18 sometimes, just as long as it wasn't touching the 5 or the 0.)

I don't know why I am this way. I am apparently not alone though & I won't name names so not to incriminate them. But I have one friend who shares my affinity for colors. Two of my friends might even be weirder then I am with all the things they need to do. One needs everything to be an even number so our volume must always be 20 or 30 because she cannot accept 15 or 25. So think what you like, but I guess I tend to surround myself with those who make me more comfortable with who I am or who are just as bizarre as me. End of paragraph #5.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Miami Baseball

OK so this definitely calls for a post. Miami Baseball, I LOVE YOU! As if being the number 1 team in the country wasn't enough, several of the players will now be future Major League stars (well hopefully). I love this team. I feel bad if I miss even one game because it's always exciting & who am I to have something better to do then go to a baseball game? We always win so it's almost guaranteed to make me happy.
Today was the draft & it only added to my happiness. My favorite player on the team is Yonder Alonso, who also happens to be the same boy that I did a story on, who gave me a very prized possession & worked out with Alex in the off-season. He was the #7 pick over-all & will be playing alongside Griffey on the Reds in no time. Jemile Weeks, who has the best walk-up song of anyone was the #12 overall pick. Our closer Carlos Gutierrez (who I have also interviewed) was the final Hurricane picked in the 1st round. How crazy is that!? Three of the players on my team were drafted in the first round. My God we are amazing!
Let's not forget the 3 others who have also been drafted already.   I'm sure there will also be others.   Pretty much anyone who is draft eligible deserves to be drafted because this is such a talented group of guys.  The only thing I'm disappointed about is that the Yankees weren't smart enough to get any of them.  If we don't win the College World Series this year I'm going to be seriously upset because nobody deserves it more.  There is no other team that even comes close.  We lost 1 series this entire year, that's it!  ONE!  And it was the last series of the season against the #2 team in the country.   We lost 8 games all season.  That's compared to 50 wins. Come on, that's just ridiculous.  Yonder, Jemile & Chris Hernandez were all 1st-team All-Americans.   Hernandez is only a freshman!   So even though they may be losing a lot of their most talented, they will still be a contender again next year because the rest of the lineup is nothing to ignore.  Trust me, I know these things.