hammjamm

4:31 pm on a Friday, dinner, nap, train to UES, Ship of Fools, six-pack, KB arrives, train to Park Slope, stuck at Smith-9, Union Hall, whiskey shots, KM, Porkchop, Colleen, SA Rawls, Mindy Mook, Thrilla, DANCE PARTY!, cab to Windsor Terrace, sleep at 5am, train to LES, brunch at Freeman's, conversation, train to Windsor Terrace, nap, train to UES, Brother Jimmy's, conversation, PBRs, Bama football, burritos, train to Williamsburg, SA Rawls, Mindy Mook, Thrilla, Bren, Alicia, Iceberg, Alan, Cowboy Dan, Vaughn, Robin, Francis, Baby Dottie, other assorted Athenians and ATLiens, STILL FLYIN'! (best show ever), taking a knee, sweating our asses off, dancing our asses off, procuring two CDs and my new favorite t-shirt (thanks, Mook), Greeenpoint Tavern, beer lattes, cab to UES, sleep at 5am, train to LES, brunch at Cafe Charbon, train to Windsor Terrace.

Zzzzz.

never gonna touch the ground

KB arrives today! We will all dance and eat Southern food and watch Southern football and hang at Southern bars and drink beer and vodka sodas and have a good ol' time.

Heading to the UES to meet up with Scarny around 10 PM tonight (after napping, naturellement) and then we'll jet to BK for a (free!) dance party that shall run 'til the break of dawn.

Can't wait to see the ex-Athenians of Still Flyin. Mookers, KB, and I haven't hung out together in a while -- seems like it's been ages since we were roommates and I suppose that's not far from the truth...

beyond jennifer and jason

Today at lunch, a co-worker divulged to me that she is pregnant. Exciting news. We got to talking about baby names and I found myself deliberately not mentioning my favorites, as these are the names that I have picked out for my children (though offspring in my future is certainly not a definite).

It was as if I didn't want her to steal these names.

Listen, I've been reading baby name books since I was 10 or 11 years old. I mean, I really dug them. Between baby name books, Childcraft, and the encyclopedia, I didn't have much free time to read anything else, save Judy Blume's entire catalog.

Anyhow.

I don't really want to tell anyone my names, in fact, lest they bestow these gems upon their children and drive them up to the top of the popularity list and one day, my kids will have to endure having three or four similarly-named classmates, as I did.

I just really didn't like being Jennifer D. throughout elementary school.

And apparently, I have way too much time on my hands.

slumber party

Couldn't go bowling (or to GYC) last night because I peeked my bank account balance, much to my horror. Need to save cash for KB's visit. Porkchop & Colleen, rain check!

Instead I got sucked into an episode of "Losing It: Tales from Fat Camp" and was asleep by 10:00 PM. I only squeezed in a mere hour of "The War" viewing time, but I'm sure it will be replayed ad nauseum, so I'm not worried.

Tonight I apply for a replacement Social Security card so that I may finally obtain a drivers licence in the state of New York. My Georgia license expired over six months ago but my Mom, who is stuck on the couch with a broken leg, still lets me drive when I visit: "Shhhh -- don't get into an accident and don't tell your stepfather. Now, go to Wal-Mart and pick me up a box of hair color!"

ego

My interest du jour is a study of the history of the conservative movement, beginning with the writings of Ayn Rand and moving through the Goldwater campaign of 1964 and into the rise of Reaganism.

I just finished "Anthem" on the train to work today and have been giving myself a history booster shot by re-listening to a few of Dr. Jennifer Burns' lectures from UC Berkeley.

Perhaps the impetus for this fascination lay in my viewing of the Alan Greenspan media blitz as of late?

If I can peel myself away from the television, I'll attempt to tackle "Atlas Shrugged" next.

(And yes, I still self-identify as a liberal.)

falling man

Note: If you decide to get all cultured with a dear friend and go to a reading of Don DeLillo, don't have two glasses of wine and a deliciously filling sushi dinner beforehand because you will have to fight yourself from dozing off.

And that's a shame.

'Cause Don DeLillo is great.

box elder

Life has been the antithesis of blog-worthy as of late. I highly ancticipate some quality hang time with KB, as he arrives in just a few days.

I mean, really: between the LSAT and the CDC deciding to become interested in me again, it seems I've got a lot of good things coming my way (and I'm afraid to say that you're not one of them) but they're all out there, in the future, somewhere.

lucidity

Last night I had a dream that I survived the sinking of a large ship, only to find myself in a lifeboat with no oars.

Analyze that.

the law of the pendulum

For someone who acknowledges that she tends to like the sound of her own voice and has kept a blog for over two years, I'm sure having a heckuva time writing about myself in this personal statement for law school.

Ugh, enough about that.

Drank beer and watched the Yankees game last night with Josh. Got an invite to the game on Wednesday. ("Suuuuuuure, I'll skip the gym!") While at Yankee Stadium, I'll eat a hot dog, drink a beer, and check off one of those things-to-do on The List.

Tonight brings Thai dinner with my brother, a person with whom I haven't spent any one-on-one time in ages. I miss him. We've contemplated interviewing each other for the StoryCorps project and then presenting the CD to our Mom for her upcoming 55th birthday. Of course, I'm not sure I could get through the process without crying. I'm kind of a baby like that sometimes.

(I know, I know, it's hard to believe.)

The weather in New York is absolutely gorgeous -- exactly how I like it: dry, brisk, sunny. Autumnal.

Um, that's about it.

plea for mercy

Well, now it's official-official:

I'm taking the LSAT on December 1, 2007.

Some of you already know this. Many of you don't. Either way, I finally paid the chunk o' change to register for the test and the LSDAS this morning. I signed up for my LSAT prep course a week ago and begin in a month or so. I am studying on my own between now and then.

I'm certainly not treading into this lightly. This is a very serious, labor- and time-intensive undertaking, but one that I've been thinking about for a long time. More so since March.

So, there it is: it's done, I've registered, I'm a bit lighter on cash, and I'm going to do it.

Wish me luck.

(And if you've been through it, which I know some of you have, privately email me with any advice. I'm like a sponge right now.)

that joke isn't funny anymore

I honestly think it's taking less potent alcohol (and less of it, in fact) to induce a hangover in me now. God bless my 30s!

Went out for Josh's homecoming get-together last night. GYC, naturellement. Josh was half-awake, having not slept in a couple of days. KM was beat and had to work in the morning. Me? Well, thanks to a little day we like to refer to as Rosh Hashanah around these parts, I have the day off!

After closing down GYC (which I've rarely done), the bartenders, my pals, and I moved it to Brooklyn Social and kept with the booze consumption. A lot of unsavory talk was had, I recall. Hey, we had about a month to catch up on.

So, Porkchop, what do you think?

Ugh, I need a Diet Coke.

PS: It's my 500th post! Somebody bake me a big cake.

au sujet de moi

I can eat the same thing for lunch for weeks on end.

I am often lulled to sleep by the sound of Charlie Rose's voice.

My Myers-Briggs Type is ENFP.

I have had DayGlo-painted toenails all summer long.

I was a peer counselor in high school -- at the same time I had a bad habit of skipping class.

I shop at Old Navy but wear Christian Dior perfume.

I haven't seen my Dad in over a year.

I have consumed a six-pack of Cherry Coke Zero in one day.

I jog to NPR podcasts.

I hate horror movies but can watch documentaries on even the most vile serial killers.

I'm not so sure I want to have children.

I like baking more than cooking because I can't seem to improvise.

I am fascinated by JFK assassination conspiracy theories.

I used to have eight holes pierced into one ear.

I wrote a letter to the ACLU when I was ten years old, asking them how I could someday be hired.

toxic

Okay, like, not to be a total girl or anything, but I was talking with someone this morning about the debacle that was Britney Spears' performance at the VMAs last night. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Britney makes me sad.
Other individual: She's fat now.

Um, wait.

Fat?

Is this really what constitutes fat now?

Apparently it is.

Sure, her dancing was sloppy, her lip-synching not synchronized in the slightest. She looked nervous, self-conscious, and even a bit hungover.

Sure, she doesn't have the abs she used to have.

But fat?

Oh, and to be completely fair to the aforementioned individual, s/he later amended the statement by remarking, "Well, I mean, she's not as skinny as she used to be."

Yeah. So what?

character studies

Did anyone else watch HBO's new Sunday night drama, "Tell Me You Love Me"? (Otherwise known as, "Holy Christ, are those actors actually fucking on screen?")

It was racy, yes, but a touch slow at times. The sexless couple interested me the most and there's great potential in the storyline between the therapist and her husband.

The other couples (one even including Penny of "Lost" fame), though? Eh, not so much. I mean, fertility drama, shmertility drama; I suppose I don't yet understand the anxiety that accompanies the ticking of the biological clock.

Oh, and "we're totally hot and we have amazing sex but we don't, um, really talk" kinda bores me now.

Still, it had its merits and I'll tune in next week, I'm sure.

(I will admit, however, that around the 15 minute mark, I thought to myself that I'm happy to still be single.)

jumping, jacking

Porkchop's comment has inspired me: instead of jogging to the sound of Terry Gross' voice, I downloaded some songs last night for my morning run.

I'm curious: if you run, walk, stair-climb, elliptical, bicycle, and/or weight-lift, do you have five favorite workout songs that you load onto your iPod (or other similar device)?

Five on my playlist today:

The Go! Team: "Huddle Formation" (yay!)
Kanye West: "Stronger"
Kook & the Gang: "Misled"
The Von Bondies: "C'mon C'mon"
The Knife: "Heartbeats" (for cool-down)

And I'm off!

fan mail

From: Jen
Date: Sep 8, 2007 10:20 AM

A question: who sings the song that is featured on the series preview of "Clark & Michael"? It's driving me mad.

From: Clark
Date: Sep 8, 2007 3:07 PM

I honestly don't know... sorry!

(Update: I did some detective work and discovered it is the Go! Team. Like, duh. I should have known that. Moreover, Clark should have known that.)

why don't you go solve a mystery?

If you're one of the three or four who haven't watched yet:

It makes me wanna live in LA and make a TV show.

baby, we got all the options.

I'm feeling slightly less bitter and pouty tonight than I did on Friday. I mean, man, am I a baby or what? It was just a stupid date. The dude is obviously a moron. That's that.

Weekend was decent: saw a couple o' flicks at the local cineplex (wait for Netflix when it comes to Julie Delpy's directorial debut, please), baked a chocolate and strawberry bundt cake for a party at KM's place, contemplated yet another career change, read the memoirs of an NYPD officer, had a big Mexican brunch with Scarny (two Bloodys!), walked around my borough for hours, went to church to quell my spiritual hunger, made pizza dough from scratch and topped it with pears, rosemary, and Gorgonzola cheese for a party at my bro's place, drew wrist tattoos onto strangers at Barcade after doing a shot of whiskey, reconnected with lost pals...

Spent more time alone, however, than I have in a while and it was nice, needed, necessary.