little miss priss.

Peter told us to take this quiz so I did. And since I have nothing to blog about, I'm going to tell you to take it. It was kind of long and annoying, but the questions were easy to answer and interesting so I trucked on. The quiz results told me my dating persona and now I realize why I am probably completely screwed when it comes to dating. My dating persona is...The Priss. Wow. And it's probably true. How boring do I sound? Mature. Responsible. Artistocratic. Excuse me. The Priss. Right, excuse me while I go and get just a little bit more bored by myself. Yawn. I guess my mom was right in calling me "little miss priss;" I still hate it when she says that. But at least I'm smart and unfake...and "excellent at redirecting internal negative energy." Still, priss is not a pretty word to me.

Not to mention, they tell me to consider dating The Manchild. Um, first of all that just sounds scary. Second of all, I clicked on his profile and they basically tell The Manchild to stop dating because he sucks at life. And wait, I think I've already dated a few of those so I'm all set, thank you very much.

Granted, I'm not really taking this test too seriously since it's from OKCupid. Which actually looks like an entertaining website. Minus the fact that it's sketchy as hell.

But take it. And if you're a Manchild, then by all means.

I really need to clean my room tomorrow. I can't concentrate in clutter. And I've got clutter everywhere. Oh, and as far as I could tell, they didn't shut the water off at all today. Good thing I got up after getting 4 hours of sleep so I could shower and use some water for the day. That was fun. So now I must sleep.

i should be sleeping.

After chatting with Jessi tonight, I went directly to the Paradise Rock Club's website (or the Dise as some apparently refer to it...which has been the cause of some confusion.) to see about getting tickets for the Hotel Cafe Tour (with Ingrid Michaelson, Joshua Radin, Meiko, Carey Brothers, etc.). And that's when I realized, why don't I ever pay attention to the bands playing in Boston??? If I went to see every band I'm a fan of at the Paradise alone, I would be busy for quite a while. Matt Costa is going to be there on Friday. Gavin DeGraw and Landon Pigg are going to be there on Saturday. Sia is going to be there next Wednesday. A Fine Frenzy on the 19th, Drive By Truckers on the 22nd, Jens Lekman on April 4th, Minus the Bear on the 6th, AND rounding off my April picks are Tristan Prettyman on the 9th, Nada Surf on the 10th, and Rogue Wave on the 11th. And really, that's not all...those are just the top ones. And that's at one little rock club!

Sometimes I think I forget I live in Boston and there are constantly opportunities to see awesome bands. I need to start paying more attention/making more money/finding more friends who share my musical tastes, so I can go to all these shows. In other news, who knew The Presidents of the United States of America were still playing?? And The Breeders?? Wow, The Breeders had some good stuff. The Presidents? All I can think of are "Peaches" and "Lump" Ha. (OK, I just looked them up and they have a new CD coming out in a couple weeks. And have actually had albums come out in 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2004. Who knew? Not I).

In other news, what did everyone think of Quarterlife? I'm partly disturbed by it and partly intrigued. I hate that it came from Myspace, but I watched anyway and was admittedly entertained. The whole blogging aspect was pretty interesting, though I question the quote, "Why do we blog? We blog to exist, therefore we are...idiots." Oh well, maybe it's true.

The whole show was altogether very melodramatic. "I often cry for no reason, and then later it turns out that there was a huge reason that I was completely unaware of, which scares the crap out of me." I think I'm pretty melodramatic myself, so I could get into it. But then when I sat back and thought about it, it made me gag a little. Which my own thoughts quite often make me do.

Anyway, I was supposed to get to bed early tonight, but that clearly did not happen. It just might not be physically possible for me to go to sleep before 4 a.m. In any event, I've got to get up early since the water in my apartment building is going to be shut off from 9-5 and I'd really like to get a shower in, or at least use some water. Totally not fair for those of us who work at home, but whatever. I'm just hoping they really turn it off at 9 and not at 8:40 when I have shampoo fully lathered in my hair...oh wait, you mean like last time? Right.

on my way to joining the academy.

I know I've talked about this before, but I'll say it again: I am not a movie-watcher at all. In fact, I've missed some of the most important movies of my day (seriously, read here to see how horrible I am). Usually, going to see movies is the last thing I care to do and I rarely ever go. Maybe once or twice a year you'll find me in a movie theater. I have a really bad attention span, made worse by this day and age. There's too much to do at all times and I have a difficult time sitting and being entertained by a movie. It's almost kind of sad. I don't even watch much TV anymore; sometimes I have it on, but I never really pay attention. My brain just doesn't let me. And if I'm with other people, forget it. I talk way too much. However, my aunt and uncle have pretty much every movie channel ever made at their house. And so, this weekend, I basically sat in their house with the pups on my lap and watched movies while I did work. And I really, really enjoyed it. What I watched:

Music and Lyrics- I am a huge Hugh Grant fan and he played one of his typical characters in this movie. Obviously not the best movie ever made, but I thought it was cute and like I said, if Hugh Grant is there, I'll watch it.

Because I said So- Mandy Moore is one of my favorite actresses/people ever and she is adorable in this movie. Plus, I could totally relate to the mother/daughter relationship...granted, my mom and I don't discus orgasms, we do have a close relationship and I can definitely see her trying way hard to set me up with some guy and pushing him on me to the point where I start hating him. This was just a feel-good movie...and it made me a bit emotional.

So I heard it was kind of lame, but I really think I need to see American Dreamz, because hi, Mandy Moore and Hugh Grant? Basically a dream come true.

Thin- Another documentary that my "cousin" made about anorexia. Really powerful. Nina and I watched it and then went back to our apartment and pigged out on junk food. I think we were just triple-checking that we are not anorexic. We might have to check again tomorrow. And the next day.

The 3rd season of Weeds- This is a seriously good show. When I first heard about it, I thought, "ehhh a show about weed??" and pretty much decided I would never watch it. But it's actually really, really good. I'm pretty sure it's coming back for a 4th season, but I kind of like the way the 3rd one ended, so I'm not sure where they're really gonna go with another season. It will be interesting to see.

I feel like I'm really actually starting to like movies, which is huge for me. Maybe next year I'll try to see all of the Oscar-nominated movies. And then, eventually, I will become an Academy member. Sounds like a plan.

Sadly, my "cousin" did not with the Oscar, but I still think she's awesome. And she looked beautiful, despite the fact that they totally pronounced her name wrong!

It was a bad idea to have the little Oscar-watching party at my apartment. Because left behind were: lots of chips, lemon squares, brownies, peanut butter cookies, popcorn, hot chocolate, etc. I am going to have to get out of the apartment for a while tomorrow because I cannot sit here surrounded by all of this food. And as we have already determined, I am not anorexic. If I was, having all this food here would be an awesome show of strength. Oh well.

movies and dogs.

I don't usually get all excited about the Oscar's or any of those award shows because, a) I usually have never have seen any of the movies that are nominated and b) I get bored easily and the shows are sooo long.

This year, the only major Oscar-contending movie I've seen is Juno, and while I loved it and thought it was fabulous, I don't really see it bringing home any Oscars.

But this year I will be watching...because my cousin is up for an award! I use the term cousin loosely as we're not really related and I've only even met her a handful of times. But she's up for an Oscar and I'm calling her my cousin. Really, she's my "uncle's" daughter. I use quotes around uncle, because he's not really my uncle. I do, however, refer to them as my aunt and uncle because I've been super close to them since I was a baby and I'm closer to them than many of my actual relatives. And while they are off gallivanting around LA, mingling with the stars, I will be staying in their house, spending the weekend with their beautiful little pups. You know they love me when they trust me enough to take care of their babies.

Anyway, we're all really proud and excited that her film was nominated. Check it out You can also read a little interview from her. if you'd like. And when you're watching on Sun. night, cross your fingers for her! Even if she doesn't win, it's still a totally huge and amazing honor (obvi) and one that she truly deserves!

In the meantime, this is what I'm enjoying:

They're really hard to take pictures of....and we got about a million inches of snow in Boston today. Which made my walk over here quite interesting. And now I sit in bed with two little pups lying right on me (and every single movie channel in the world and about 100 bottles of wine). Ooh yay.

37 years later.

Last night's record release was tons of fun and Shanghai Thrills was fabulous. The show was at a bar in Allston called Great Scott; a bar I had never been to before, but always wanted to go to for a couple reasons. 1) It's named after the great F. Scott Fitzgerald who wrote one of my favorite books in the world. And 2) Back in the 70s before it was Great Scott, it was the bar at which my parents met. Pretty much about 37 years ago.

Adorable right? I have no idea what's changed. Slash if they tore the entire building down and rebuilt. But even if they did, I still think it's cute. I have this weird problem where I have a really difficult time thinking of my parents at my age. Hanging out at a bar. Walking around Comm Ave. But they did. Obviously. Or I wouldn't be here today.

I made sure to get a picture of the bar, though my parents are most likely going to say, "Ummm, it looks like any other bar," which it does. But I can't help it; I'm nostalgic. Even for things I wasn't there for. But hey, I figure my parents meeting is a pretty important event in my own life. Though I've heard stories that my dad first tried to hit on my mom's roommate. Then he tried to buy my mom a drink but she didn't need one because a guy had already bought her one (this is her version of the story, but my dad doesn't work too hard to deny anything). In any event, they ended up dating on and off for 6 years (again, my mom's story. She claims she was dating other people much of the time...keeping her options open. I say she was hopelessly in love with my dad from the start) before getting married and having 2 lovely daughters. So yes, this bar is very significant to me.

By the way, we have no clue who the man standing behind me and Nina is. We had no idea he was actually behind us at the time. I hate when people ruin perfectly good pictures. Actually, now that I think about it, last night would have been a whole lot cuter if I had met my future husband there too. But I'm pretty sure that didn't happen. Probably because men like the one standing behind us are not really my type of men. I hope my dad was better behaved 37 years ago!

amazing. beautiful. love.

OK so, this is a couple years old, but I had never actually seen it until now, when someone posted the videos on YouTube. Best thing ever. It's the CMT show Crossroads, featuring Elton John and Ryan Adams. I am seriouslyyyy in heaven. These men are two of my favorite musicians in the entire world and seeing them together is probably (slash definitely) the best thing ever. They make a great team as they're both a bit quirky (ok, maybe more than a bit) and they are amazing songwriters and singers, musicians, etc., etc., etc. Maybe I'm getting a little too excited about this, but clearly music really touches me and means a lot in my life and when you see two of your all-time favorite musicians together, it really does something to you.

Some of my favorite childhood memories include dancing around to "Bennie and the Jets" with sunglasses on and being obsessed with the fact that my name was in "Crocodile Rock:" Me and Susie had so much fun. The other day, my mom told me she was about to buy us tickets to see Elton John and then chose to wait...then came back and they were sold out (um, obviously. Who "waits" to buy Elton John tickets???) I was a bit upset as I think my life would be complete if I ever saw Elton in concert. I would proably die, or at least cry a lot (much like Sas did when seeing Celine Dion!). The ex and I were also very obsessed with him and would always have him playing while we cruised around in his car. I even got "this one's for you" inscribed on the back of the ipod I gave him (ironically, the ipod completely died right before the break-up of our relationship). Thankfully, that didn't ruin Elton's music for me. But then, probably nothing would.

And Ryan? Oh Ryan. I can't even talk about that boy without getting giddy. Let's just say, if you're not already listening to him, you need to be. His lyrics. His voice. His harmonica. Everything about his music makes me happy, even when it's so incredibly sad. If I could only listen to one singer for the rest of my life, it would be Ryan Adams, without a second of hesitation. Usually, I'd probably be annoyed to hear someone else singing Elton's music, but Ryan Adams totally does it justice. I didn't want it to end.

Apparently, after Ryan Adams' first album, Heartbreaker, came out, Elton was so moved by it, he basically stalked Ryan down. Imagine?? Imagine having Elton John stalk you, find you, gush about your first ever album, and say, "that album changed my life" about your music? Yup, I'd die (quite literally, considering I don't make music and if I did, it would probably be horrendous and Elton would probably get as far away from me as he could possibly get). The first credit on Elton John's 2001 album, Songs from the West Coast says, "Thank you Ryan Adams for making me do better." My God.

When asked why they are such good friends, Ryan says, "We get along on a lot of different levels. I feel like he has my back. I know I have his." They look SO happy to be playing this show together and are constantly looking over at each other and smiling and laughing.

Watch it. And then watch the other parts (there are 5 in total). "Daniel" is so beautiful. "Firecracker" sounds amazing. "Oh My Sweet Carolina," yess. "Tiny Dancer," duh. And the last song, "Rocket Man," wow. Just everything.



On that note, I am off to listen to more great music at the Shanghai Thrills record release party tonight. So, you should listen to them too.

"I just kind of...care about people who write great music" -Elton John

I hear ya, Elton.

it was a good year.

Another way I know I'm getting older: While at my parents' this weekend, I went to throw on an old sweatshirt and once I had it on, I realized it said "AHS Field Hockey 1997" 1997?!?! I was in high school in 1997?? 11 years ago?? That made me feel extremely old.

Doesn't 1997 feel like ages ago? I was busy being a freshman in high school and decorating my field hockey stick with pictures of Ricky Martin (I know...wtf), purchasing as much lip gloss as possible, and stalking my crushes by hangng out after school in the field house. But what else was going on in 1997?

• The Notorious BIG was killed
• The first Harry Potter book was published
• Tony Blair became Prime Minister of the UK
• Louise Woodward was found guilty of baby-shaking (in Newton, MA)
• First color photograph on the front page of the NYT appeared
• Princess Diana passed away
• Tara Lipinski became the world's youngest womens figure skating champion
• Madeleine Albright becomes the first female Secretary of State
• Ellen DeGeneres came out
• South Park debuts
• The English Patient won the Oscar for best picture
• Eric Clapton's "Change the World" won the Grammy for record of the year
• Celine Dion's Falling Into You won the Grammy for album of the year
• The biggest hit singles were "I'll be Missing You" by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans, "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John, "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, "Don't Speak" by No Doubt, and "Mmmbop" by Hanson

Now I feel even older.

What were you doing in 1997?

you were concerned about my underwear?

Has anyone else been seeing these commercials non-stop lately?



Sometimes I feel like they're speaking directly to me. Trying to use the scare tactic on me, right? Then, everything I want to write about I start to think about. Then I start to over-think it. And then I just say screw it. No, I don't really want the ticket man at the movie theater to be asking what color underwear I'm wearing. Nor do I want the busboy at the restaurant to ask me when I'll posting next. But really? Everyone in this commercial looks so damn nice. Why didn't they make them look a little scarier? A little creepier? I just don't understand why they have to make all serious public service announcements so humorous. It's really not good when a commercial like this makes me laugh. Because I do realize it's serious stuff.

Sometimes I'll be walking down the street and I'll think to myself that I could be walking by someone who reads my blog. I mean, with 125+ daily readers, I don't know who a majority of them are. What if they recognize me? It's a little creepy, and maybe I believe a little too much in the good of the world. But, I also believe that the Internet is a huge part of life these days, and if you're not participating in it, you're missing out on a lot. I probably over-share in my blog sometimes, but I guess with every good thing comes risks. I mean, think about online dating, right? You're giving men your e-mail address and then your phone number and then meeting them out. To me, that's scarier than writing a little blog.

And being a writer is a public thing. And if you can't handle that, you will never have the privilege of people reading your writing (obviously I'm ignoring the fact that for some, writing is a private therapy, and not necessarily a career choice). We do need to be careful, but at the same time, we need to take advantage of the medium and not be scared of it.

I also think it's funny when people I know all of the sudden reveal that they read my blog. Or I'll be telling a story and they'll smile sheepishly and say, "Yeahh, I read it in your blog." Who knows who's reading this. Old classmates? Relatives? Old boyfriends? I might never know. Just like most authors never know everyone reading their books. You should say hi though; I enjoy having readers.

But I do really hope the men at the local movie theater are not reading my blog. And wondering what color underwear I'm wearing. Oh, and to the busboy: don't worry, I think I'm pretty much back on my regular blogging schedule. Thank you for your concern :)

getting away from it all. and re-organizing.

Sometimes I feel like I need to just get away. It's usually after particularly tough weeks, where I feel overwhelmed with my work, life, and pretty much just everything. I love my apartment, my friends, and all that, but sometimes I get major cabin fever and I just feel like I'm going crazy. Then it becomes impossible for me to get any work done and I just sit and stare off into space (True story. This happens when I get overwhelmed).

So when my mom asked me if I wanted to out to brunch, I immediately said "YES" (hi, The Fireplace, only one of my favorite brunch spots everrr). And when I complained about the amount of laundry I had to do, she told me to throw it in the car and I could do it at home. And then I got here and realized I really wasn't in the mood to go back to Boston.

I mean, I'm incredibly lucky to have the parents I do. I have the luxury of coming home, having meals made for me, and just relaxing with people who love me. And I think that might be something that's been missing in my life lately. I highly enjoy my life right now (minus the fact I still desperately need a job), but sometimes I feel like there aren't many people who care about me all that much. I mean, I know that's not true; I know people care about me. But everyone is so consumed with themselves and everyone is constantly talking crap and getting annoyed with everyone else. I know this because I'm guilty of it too. Sometimes I miss the kind of unconditional love I know my parents have for me.

Call it a quarter life crisis maybe, but things just feel a little overwhelming right now. I think my problem is that I want to do way too much. And I don't know how or when and I have trouble prioritizing and keeping myself organized.

After brunch today, my mom wanted to go to one of her favorite gift shops because they were allegedly having a big clearance sale. I whined about it because I wasn't in the mood to go and we had just been there a couple weeks ago. Like most clearance sales, I was pretty sure it would be just the junk on sale. And some of it was. But I also found the steal of the year. And I know some of you will really appreciate this (where are my personal planner obsessed friends at??). I found a pretty little $95 Filofax for...$4.99! Seriously! Granted it was for the year 2007. That just meant I had to purchase the 2008 Calendar insert for $11, so basically my $95 Filofax was $16. Can't beat that. I was hoping and praying that the Kate Spade planner I wanted was on sale, but obviously it was still $95. Sigh.

Seriously heaven.

$4.99 suckassss. I'm an amazing shopper.

Look, kids, there's a place for everything. I can even keep track of my expenses. Woot.

Oh come on, we all know I will I will not be organizing my expenses, but at least I can pretend (whatever makes me feel good, right). I mean, there's a slight chance this will help organize my life a bit. But more likely, I will use it for 2 weeks and then completely forget about it. Really, let's hope that doesn't happen.

I will now spend the rest of my time at home a) eating food that my parents lovingly cook me, b) sitting in the kitchen getting tons of work done, c) organizing myself, d) NOT being in my apartment, and e) chatting it up with my parents. I am so going to feel refreshed after this weekend. Thank youuu.

Oh and I kind of wish I was in Chicago right now. Not kind of, but really. That would have probably made me feel a lot better too. Sigh.

so, you think you can sing.

My apartment building is generally pretty peaceful. It seems to be filled with mostly couples owning large dogs. And apart from the boys who lived here the first year I was here (hmmm that was fun), it seems like everyone is a bit older than me and my roomie. So, when we heard all kinds of noise coming from upstairs, we couldn't figure out what was going on. Insanely loud music. And singing. In fact, on one Monday, the residents spent the entire day playing "Say it Ain't So" by Weezer over and over and over. "Wow," we thought. "They must be SO incredibly depressed the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and this is their way of mourning." It seemed fitting at least. But that didn't make it any better. The boy who was singing was NOT good. In fact, it was more of a pathetic wailing than a singing. I started to become even more dismayed by the Patriots loss; it was going to affect me much more than I originally thought.

It quieted down for a few days, but then last Sunday it got bad again. Non-stop music and horrible singing. "Did they start a band?" we wondered. But, no. We heard no drums, or amps, and it just wasn't possible that boy could think he was good enough to be in a band. It had to be some sort of karaoke or something though, since it was obvious he was singing into a microphone. Finally I decided to go upstairs and investigate.

Sure enough, the racket was coming from the apartment directly above mine. We stood by the door listening. Awful awful singing. And now we could hear drums. Well, drumsticks anyway. Drumsticks making pathetic drum sounds. There was definitely some sort of guitar too. And that's when we realized. These boys were in possession of the video game Rock Band. A game you really should not be allowed to have if you are not at all musically-inclined.

We stood outside the door and considered knocking. Telling them to shut up. Or maybe asking if we could play too. But we didn't. Because they sounded annoying. You know how you can tell just from someone's voice what kind of people they are? Well, we decided they sounded annoying and not-cute. So we ran down the stairs when we heard them leaving (I know. We're so mature). Now I kind of regret it, though. What if they happen to be cute? The first year I was in Boston, I lived in this building for 8 months before I realized there was a cute boy upstairs. And by the time we met, he was getting ready to move out. It would be a shame if that happened again. Wouldn't it? But then I remember. His voice. His horrible dying animal, wailing voice. I think it will be better if we never meet.

i suck.

Sorry I've been abandoning my blog so much lately (in addition to not reading all your blogs and not responding to e-mails...um, I get easily overwhelmed. And GoogleReader is out. of. control). But I've been working on some exciting stuff over at We are not Martha so definitely check it out. And leave your comments, of course!

Now, hopefully back to my regularly scheduled life!

wine is good for you.

And last night I got the best night sleep of my life. I forgot what it was like to go to bed before 3:00 a.m. (oh, and 3:00 is early for me). But my head hit the pillow a little after 1:00 a.m. and I woke up at 8:15 feeling refreshed and awesome. And then I had a fabulously productive day in which I got tons done. Maybe I should try this whole going to bed on the early side a bit more. But that might require lots of alcohol every night and I'm not sure if I can handle that.

Anyway, last night I went out to dinner with my sister, mom, and aunt. We went to Mistral...you can read my little review of it here. It was fabulous food, and delicious alcohol. Yes, I drank a dirty martini, 2.5 glasses of wine, and sambuca on the rocks. As my mom was driving me home, she looked at me and said, "I have never seen you drink that much, ever...are you OK?" I was fine, but when I got into my apartment, I just sat at my desk and couldn't do a thing. Finally, I drank a few glasses of water, blasted Sia on my iPod (if you haven't listened to her yet, YOU MUST), and crawled into bed. Was out like a light and woke up feeling fresh and fabulous. If that's not a good enough reason to have a couple glasses of wine every night, I don't know what is.

i can handle it.

1 dirty martini, 2.5 glasses of malbec, 1 sambuca on the rocks, and one "I've never seen you drink that much ever," from mom, and I'm off to bed, earlier than ever before. More tomorrow.

join my band.

For lack of anything better to do, I decided to make my own music album. Woot. Follow the instructions on how to do so and make your own:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random: The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3: The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/: The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result as a comment in this post.

Here's mine:


Prettyyy. Now I have to learn to play an instrument. Or sing or something. I mean, at least I have the album designed. That's the tough part, right? Right?

don't mention it.

So, hi. What do you want to talk about? We could talk about how the Patriots had the perfect regular season and then lost it all in the Super Bowl. We could, really. But why would we want to? After the game ended, we promptly turned to a channel that had nothing to do with football and tried not to mention it for the rest of the evening. I feel like most of Boston did the same thing. If anyone tried to bring the game up, the other person would say, "can we please not talk about this??" So we didn't. And we're still not. And really, what's to talk about? We lost and it's sad, horrible, and depressing, but we are Boston. These are the things we go through. The things that make us stronger as a city and community. It almost wouldn't be right if we had won. I mean, God forbid we win the World Series AND Super Bowl. So, let's just not talk about it.

Instead, let's talk about how I played Wii for my first time last night. And how my arms seriously hurt today. And how pathetic and sad that is. After my first fitness test, they told me I was 59 years old. When I did it a second time, I managed to get down to 39. Seriously sad. However, I still argue that your success in bowling should not have anything to do with determining your age. And just because I'm not strong enough to hit 10 home runs, doesn't mean I'm out of shape (I am). This has made me realize how badly I need to get in shape. Bowling anyone? I feel like Wii is one of the few things that would actually get my lazy butt into shape. Which is also quite sad.

This is just a sad post in general. But there are many, many things that are making me happy right now. Sports just aren't one of them.

free school. woot.

Did someone say free school in my bedroom? Yesss. I've been in school pretty much since I was 5 until age 25. This is the first time in my life I'm not taking some sort of class and I'm basically going crazy. As soon as I get a stable job, I'm signing up for a bunch of classes, but until then, I have to keep myself ultra-occupied. That's why I'm doing things like cooking all the time and reading tons and teaching myself Japanese. And now I just found the best thing in the world. MIT offers 1,800 free courses online. Um yes, have I ever been this excited? Nope. Sad, but true. I'm planning on learning everything. Legit. But I'm starting with the Japanese courses, thinking they'll be a great supplement to my learning. Psyched. The site is basically class notes from each course and some have quizzes, audio, video, and project examples. Obviously this isn't like taking a real class but it's still a good basis for learning. And it makes me excited. And OK, my life is kind of lame. But I really don't care. Because soon I'm going to know everything an MIT student who majored in everything knows. Ha.