Steve Carell wants you to drink responsibly

It took me a while to find this clip after it was yanked off of youtube. One of my favorite moments from The Daily Show. You can tell by Stephen Colbert's reactions that Steve Carell really did get drunk. As great an actor as he is I would bet a large sum of money that this is all real.

My Declaration

It's kind of pathetic how few times I've posted this year. I'm averaging just over once a month. Not cool. I remember when I started this blog for my class last year by posting a short story. Back then I would look forward to my weekly postings, and sometimes even post more than my assigned amounts. I just had to write. Had to get my word out to the world. Even if nobody was reading. I think it's obvious to everybody who knows me that I've lost myself this past year. Due to this huge hole in my heart so many of the important things that make me who I am have suffered, most notably my art. I don't really know what to write and I just haven't felt the inspiration to draw or paint. I've done some small crafts. More shoebox collages, knitting scarves in the middle of 90 degree weather. Shopping. Shopping is sort of an art... it's definitely a craft. Anyways I'm setting out to change things little by little. My "Summer of George" isn't just about being lazy. It's about enjoying myself. And in order to enjoy myself fully it's time to go back to the fundamentals of who and what is Maggie.

Here I am talking about returning to myself yet again. This seems to be a bit of a cycle. I guess as we experience more of life and get older we grow farther away from certain aspects of ourself. I think it's time to make sure that I don't lose that person entirely, because let's face it, she knew how to have a good time! So from here on I will start writing weekly blog posts (if not more, hopefully, but let's not push it) and maybe my creative juices will start flowing again.

Still Takin' It Easy

I saw the Eagles last night at the new Prudential Center in Newark and it was incredible! They played for three hours, and never once seemed tired out at all. These guys are around their 60's and they've still got such an enormous stage presence and energy, it's amazing. Their talent has yet to waver.

Here's the set list:

• How Long
• Too Busy Being Fabulous
• I Don't Want To Hear Anymore
• Guilt of the Crime
• Hotel California
• Peaceful Easy Feeling
• I Can't Tell You Why
• Witchy Woman
• Lyin Eyes
• Boys of Summer
• In The City
• Long Run

intermission

• No More Walks In the Woods
• Waiting in the Weeds
• No More Cloudy Days
• Love Will Keep Us Alive
• Take It To the Limit
• Long Road Out of Eden
• Somebody
• Walk Away
• One of These Nights
• Life's Been Good
• Dirty Laundry
• Funk 49
• Heartache Tonight
• Life in the Fast Lane

1st encore

• Rocky Mountain Way
• All She Wants to Do is Dance

2nd encore

• Take It Easy
• Desperado

Our seats were pretty great. Not nearly as incredible as Hell Freezes Over (it's hard to top floor, 9th row center). We were in the first set of stadium seats- if it was a hockey game we'd be mere rows behind the players benches. I got up to dance a few times, mostly when the people in front of me were standing. Of course I danced during "All She Wants to do is Dance" mostly for my mom. I cried during "Desperado", her favorite song. Don Henley was incredible, he held that last note longer than you could imagine. I know she was there with us in spirit (in fact I'm convinced she's finally living her dream of following the Eagles on their tour), but it was still hard to experience the concert without her. Don played the drums a good part of the night (I love it when he does that), Joe Walsh is a guitar God (Glenn Frey was pretty damn good too when he had his guitar solos), the new guitarist fits in like he's been playing with the band for years (although it's still weird not to see Don Felder), and Glenn Frey made the audience feel special (as usual).

I may get to see them again on Wednesday at MSG. I'm pushing my Uncle Barry to get us backstage passes to make up for him causing us to be late in '94 and us not getting to use our backstage passes then. I'm still convinced we could have partied with the band backstage.

All in all, it's been a really wonderful weekend. I got in some beach time with Sam, and I spent today at Chez Guerra poolside. I don't think I want to go back to work this summer. I want to lounge around alllll day every day in the sun. We'll see how that works out.

Hmmm...

I lost my job. Last week. At first all I wanted to do was cry and yet a few minutes later this intense relief swept over me. That's how I've been feeling the past few days. I wake up early when I want to and I go to the gym rather than the mall. I have had no need for coffee. I can go out on the weekends and socialize now. There's a part of me that's still bummed about the job, but overall the only thing that I can really see is the enormous opportunity in front of me. I know I've been blathering on for nearly a year about running away to France and finding myself. Well, I don't think I have the money or presence of mind to run away to France, but maybe I can find the parts of me that felt so alive in France and try to let those parts live and run free here. We'll see. I've been feeling that creative push the last few days and it's time for me to channel my energy before the muse leaves me.

Here are some things I'd like to do vs. some things I need to do. A few of them match up, therefore maybe they should be my first priorities(?).

Need to do:

• Finish school
• Clean my room
• Make appointments with every single doctor before my health insurance runs out
• Find out how long health insurance lasts for
• Find new job (hopefully part time so I can enjoy my summer)
• Unpack house

Like to do:

• Clean my room
• Finish school
• Paint
• Pick up craft
• Become better acquainted with fashion by reading WWD and Nylon as much as humanly possible
• Have a relaxed summer
  

Comical

I should be working on my Monet paper, or even packing. Instead I'm posting this, because it reminds me very much of my dear kitties- who are currently not available at the moment to distract me from my paper writing like they usually do. Last night Sammy practically sat on my keyboard (so that explains all the cat hair I found under the keys during the last clean-up), and when I read books Gracie is usually there to sit on it before I get a paragraph in. Alas, Gracie is in Millburn, I'm still in Randolph. And Ryne is sound asleep. I guess maybe I should attempt to write this paper since, you know, my grade for the summer depends on it...

Remember when "a total Baldwin" meant cute?

I've had a crush on Paul Rudd since Clueless, so that was a definite positive to seeing Knocked Up tonight. And getting out of the house. My mom's angry with me for leaving the sunroof open last night on her car. Oops! At least it didn't rain (trust me, did that once with my car, it was not a good idea)!

The movie was great. I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned recently that I've been following Judd Apatow since discovering the late, great "Undeclared" (quite possibly the best and most realistic college show...ever). He didn't fail to disappoint tonight. The cast was stellar, and the writing pretty hilarious. There was one gory moment I could have gone without, and I was relieved that my brother and I were unable to sit next to each other, major awkwardness avoided.

Another interesting moment came at the end of the movie. Joanna Kerns, who most of my generation probably knows best for being Maggie Seaver on "Growing Pains" had a brief role as the lead character's mother in the film. At the end of the movie they showed a cast and crew "baby book" with their own baby pictures and pictures of them with their children. I haven't seen "Growing Pains" for a VERY long time, and yet I immediately recognized the picture of Joanna Kerns with her child from the opening credits of "Growing Pains". I wonder how many other 80's/90's kids recognized that same picture?

I've got work at 9:30am, this will be day #6 (out of 12 I believe) without a break, since I decided to work at school fairs on my two days off. It's not really that big of a deal. It's not nearly as crazy as when I was working at Oilily AND Kent Place last summer. I believe I went a month or more without more than one or two days off. That was not fun. This is momentary business, which will very soon die down when I take my week off to prepare for France. And then France itself! I need to go to the library and start writing my book report on Monet. Last night I couldn't sleep, so at 4am I read Linnea in Monet's Garden to reacquaint myself with Monet in the most simplest terms. It really is an adorable book. I might have to break out the sequel tonight if I can't sleep. Who am I kidding? I'm exhausted.

Bon soir mes amies.

A Very Busy Weekend Part Un

What a busy weekend! It pretty much started Thursday evening when I went to McMurphy's with the ladies (Cobb, Kath, Sam, Katy, Lauren H). On our way there we were talking about the "free cash Thursdays" a raffle McMurphy's has been doing since Spring Break. I suggested that if one of us won we buy the rest of the group a round of drinks. Sure enough, Katy won! I screamed. It was pretty exciting. Katy was supposed to win $30 but they accidentally gave her $40. The night was pretty much amazing all around.

The next day I managed to roll out of bed and off to my 11:15 discussion on time. At noon I had my second meeting for my trip to France. I'm SO ridiculously excited for this trip. It's going to be absolutely incredible. We picked out the rooming for the trip, as well. I had the choice of a single, double, or one triple. The triple is the biggest room in the villa we're staying in. It's got a giant balcony (as you can see in the picture) and is the room that everybody wants to come hang out in. I made friends with the two girls who were asking to be put in the triple, and am now going to be living with them this summer! I'm not worried at all about living in a triple, I've lived in mutliple triples at Alpha Chi and even a FIVE and loved it. I think this will be a blast. And the balcony is GORGEOUS. I cannot wait to live there! This summer is going to be amazing. I think I've said that a number of times, but the level of my excitement is through the roof. I'm going to be a wreck at the airport, I'll probably be bouncing off the walls. Just the fact that the trip is a little over a month away makes me squeal. I can't even write this entry without grinning!

Friday night we (Kate, Lauren H, Katy, Sam, Kath, Cobb) decided to get our dance on, and broke out of our McMurphy's comfort bubble and went to the Pub. For some reason there was no cover fee (nice!) and the dance floor was open. It's become quite obvious that guys seem to ignore my friends and I when we stand in a circle, so we attempted to spread out into groups of two or three. It was quite successful. There were some cute guys who came over to dance with all of us. I was mostly excited about the rockstar look I had, thanks to my dance instructor, Katy doing double duty and styling my hair. It looked so cool! We had a great time. Unfortunately, we had also decided to attend sigep's final frat party for old time's sake. It was pretty lame, and even weirder that most of the younger brothers didn't recognize us. All in all lots of awkwardness. What are you gonna do? We ended up leaving on the earlier side, not before making fun of skanky freshman girls of course. If you're looking to find the fakest baked, short skirt wearing, thong-hanging out, dancing on table (sometimes without underwear) whores then a frat party is the place to go. It's kind of like watching a train wreck. You're disgusted and try looking away, but part of you is just so fascinated you have to turn and watch.

Saturday I went to the mall with Cobb and Lauren H on a mission to get a striped cotton dress from Victoria's Secret Pink and maybe some shorts. I couldn't find the dress in my size, but I did stumble upon some really cute AF shorts on sale. They're perfect for France!!! We had to race back to Amherst because my cousin Austin texted me that his train was actually running on time (not late as he had previously told me). I picked him up at the station and hung out at the house for a little while until we joined the gang for Chili's.

Austin was here for the weekend to check out UMass/party with me. He's 17 but definitely a lot wilder than myself. My family had bets going on which one of us would corrupt the other more this weekend. Being the good cousin I am, I purchased two forties for him and let him mix me some drinks while I found a party for us to attend. Mindy's friend was having a party on Kellog St, just around the corner from the center of town. The party was a little empty at first, but picked up rather quickly, to the point where the rooms were bursting with people. I lost Austin a few times, and was a little nervous. My friend Jen told me I looked like the girl in "Can't Hardly Wait" looking for her friend the whole night. I was making sure he wasn't wandering off, getting lost, or stealing stuff (like the rice cake seen in that picture). Still, even with all my worrying it was a great time. Austin and I bonded, caught up on family back home, and even won a game of beruit. I bumped into a fellow blogger, and an old high school classmate. And people say UMass is huge. PSssshhh! Austin and I walked over to Antonio's at about 1:45, got some pizza, and rejoined the party. Unfortunately, he was pretty exhausted so shortly after we walked back to my house. As I was heading into Sam's room to recap her and Kathleen on the night, Austin wandered past me and went into my friend's room, thinking it was mine. OOPS! Yeah, I guess he was pretty drunk at that point. He woke up a very sleep deprived Dubs, who was not as amused as the rest of my friends. I sent Austin to the correct room while I spoke with my friends. Kathleen decided that she wants to marry Austin- he's "gorgeous". He's also 5 1/2 years younger than her, so I found it pretty amusing.

Oh my, this blog is SO LONG! I'll have to recap the second half of the weekend (which was a little more relaxed) in my next entry. I don't want this to look TOO convoluted!

Superbad!

Who's coming to see this with me this summer? Let's list the reasons why there's no way I cannot love this movie:

• Stars Michael Cera, aka George Michael
• co-written by Seth Rogan and produced by Judd Apatow of "40 Year Old Virgin" and of course one of my favorite cancelled TV shows, "Undeclared"
• The fact that the trailer already had me laughing pretty hard, especially with what's sure to be one of my favorite quotable lines this summer: "We can be that mistake!"
  

"We can be that mistake!"