Wednesday, August 13, 2008

My Summer 2008

I wasn't sure which picture should accompany this post because I have taken more pictures this summer than any other summer. But, the one here is of the bracelets that Doug, Tommy, Lauren, and Jen gave to me and C'Anna as parting gifts when we were in San Remo. I had realized then that I hadn't been given something so simple yet so meaningful in my life. I still wear mine along with a rainbow bracelet that will keep me with my uncle who passed away in 2007. His daughter, my cousin in the recently posted video said she saw him in a rainbow in her dreams the day after he passed away.

This summer was ridiculous. I've never been through such a roller coaster of physical and mental peaks and valleys before. But, I guess that's what it's all about isn't it? We all sort of hope that we live these types of lives, and I have to say I have been absolutely blessed with the things that have happened to me this summer.

I won my first singles tournament in the beginning, which really kick-started it all. It's not a huge deal, but considering I nearly withdrew after the first round because of my disappointing practices, I would like to call it an achievement.

Then of course, I flew away to Italy. I found out literally 3 weeks before I left that I would be going. It was on a whim, and if we're being completely honest, I had been out drinking and sent the e-mail to be considered when I got back at approximately 4a.m. 3 weeks later I was on a plane to Italy where my life would change dramatically in a matter of 4 weeks.

This summer I met so many amazing people that will forever change the way I look at human beings. They've made me realize that there is more to the world than where I am in the moment. As Abi said, "Right now you are in a bubble, and you will soon pop it and see the world a lot more differently." She couldn't be more right.

San Remo will forever be a week in my life that will hold the record for most exciting, happy, beautiful, energetic, soulful, gorgeous memory of my life. I have outlined this before, but meeting Tommy, Doug, Lauren and Jen was not only amazing when it happened, but it has turned out to develop in to something that's truly ineffable. I can say now with much certainty that they will always be huge parts of my life, and I can't wait to see what the next step is.

I plan on writing full length posts about each of them just so people realize how beautiful they are and what kind of impact they have made on my life. I'm addicted to them. It's probably weird by now how much I talk about them but it's true.

My 2 weeks in Rome felt like I never left home. By the middle of the first week, it had felt like I had lived there my whole life. When I get back home in the States and look back at pictures, journals and anecdotes, it almost feels like I should be back there, doing what I need to do. I became so comfortable with my surroundings that I had no problem there. If I could tackle the language barrier, I would consider living there. Sam was a great guy, and I am really glad to have met him. I became particularly close to Rafael...my husband as I like to call him. I don't think he appreciates it as much as he says, but he can deal with it or he gets mace in the face.

Oh, Milan. So, the last week of June, I was in Milan for fun. I don't really know what to say about it except it made me realize how beautiful people can actually be. Sitting around a penthouse with my best friend, and 10 or so other people that I have known for less than a month and being in complete comfort, camaraderie, and trust is a feeling that is unmatched anywhere. Five days, and a few particularly close relationships later, and I'm walking to my bus stop to fly home bawling my eyes out. Hugging Abi goodbye was the hardest part of my trip. I'll never forget walking over and seeing her sleeping on the rooftop with the sun just coming up, and looking just like an angel. I didn't want to wake her because I knew it would soon be something so much different. Seeing her cry made me never want to leave. I'll never forget that.

Home was like getting hit by a ton of bricks - make that 20 tons of bricks. Not only was I depressed about being away from the people that helped change my life, but I had so much to deal with in preparation for school. It was just one thing after the other. Why couldn't I just be sitting on that rooftop again? Why couldn't I be laughing my ass off at people reacting to C'Anna threatening to spray them with mace? Why couldn't I be staring in to brown eyes? Why couldn't I get that child-like giddy feeling of seeing my favorite people again on a daily basis? I'll never know why I live here and put myself through this misery known as school, but I assure you there are big changes coming this May. I don't care if I have 1 credit left to graduate in May. I'm finished.

Canada was an experience. I got to take these 4 figments of my imagination, and put them in real life settings, with real-life families, and real-life living situations, and real-life problems. I think that's part of why I am struggling with being home...I don't get to be a part of these daily routines, and it bothers me tremendously. I was just telling someone recently about how I want to go to where I am happy. I want to be around things that make me happy. Who doesn't? I have an ipportunity ahead of me to be where I am happy and I think I'm going to take advantage of it. May can't come soon enough.

So another fall semester is about to begin. How many is this now? I don't even want to think about it. But what I am going to think about is making it my last couple of months here before I start something new - something else life changing.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Canada: My New Favorite Country

So, I have been to a few other countries in my life. Most notably Italy, where I have worked and lived for 2 months of my life. Italy is my favorite country in that it's very mysterious, but only because I can't speak fluent Italian, yet I somehow manage to fall in love with every aspect of it when I am there.

Well, there has been a changing of the guard. Canada is my new favorite country. I don't want to sound like such a foreigner here, but it's really true. I went to visit Doug, Tommy, Lauren, and Jen...my four obsessions from when I was working in Italy this year. I got to hang out with them for a few days, and partied, and got really upset and poured my heart out to all the wrong people, had in depth heart-to-hearts that needed to happen, and most importantly, I ate moose. Okay that last part isn't true at all, but I was real pissed that I didn't see a moose. Actually, if I saw a moose I would probably spray it's ass with mace and run away.

Anyway, I sat by the pool most of the first day and got a real sick sun burn. Then the next couple of days it rained like 40 days and 40 nights, and I was FREEEEEZING. They kept telling me how cold it was in Celsius and I would be like, "I have no idea what that means." For you Americans, it was a good 40-50 degrees. It was sooo cold. Autumn is just around the corner and it's scaring me. Stop it Autumn.

There was this girl in high school named Autumn Smith and she would sing her damn throat out. She had short hair and then she joined Queen City Funk and Soul. She's also very pretty. Check her out.

Anyway, after a couple of days with my favorites, I went on and met up with Tanya in Hamilton. We went to breakfast, then we went on to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were BEAUTIFUL! Then we went to lunch at a really nice artsy fartsy place. It reminded me of a softer Pittsburgh or something.

Anyway, Canada was AMAZING! I had such a blast, and I have the best friends in the world. Literally. It was so much fun to get there and see how they live after meeting them half way across the planet. It's so surreal how my life is introducing people like this to me. It's almost hard to believe, like it's out of a movie or something. I am so grateful and am constantly thanking God for letting me in on some of these peoples' lives.

You guys are a dream come true.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Firefox 200!


So last night I was watching some of Walt Mossberg's online video reviews of some products. I came across one that was a review of Firefox 3. He went on about how awesome it was and I was like, "I mean mine is good but it's not this good." Then I checked to see which version I was running, because I was sure all of my software was up to date, and it was definitely Firefox 2.0. I was kind of pissed. Turns out it updated while I was in Italy.

Anyway, I finally downloaded Firefox 3.0 and I have to say it is substantially faster and more user friendly than not only Firefox 2.0, but Safari 3 and IE7. Why are we even talking about IE7?

My favorite feature is the live URL bar which predicts the website as you are typing it. This isn't really that useful for me because all of the sites that I go to are on my Bookmark Toolbar, but it's interesting nonetheless. Bookmarks Toolbar is a lot easier to manage, though I wish you had the option to drag off of the toolbar for a delete like Safari. This is something that makes managing the toolbar very frustrating and tedious. If you're like me, you like to have some new websites to see every once in a while rather than just the same old stuff, so you're constantly adding and deleting things from your bookmarks. Hopefully, once they change this feature I can give it a 10/10.

I can't get over how fast it is. It makes this horrible (nearly dial-up) connection back home look super fast by the way the browser loads the content. I can't wait to try it on a faster network. Anyway, check out Walt Mossberg's review down below. He is a contributing reporter for the Wall Street Journal, so if you are going to Google him, keep this in mind. As far as I know he doesn't have his own YouTube channel; his stuff is just uploaded to the Wall Street Journal's channel.

Hope everyone has enjoyed this blog. I've had it for 4 years and this post is my 200th official post! Maybe I'll come up with something special for it! Happy weekend!


Friday, August 01, 2008

New and Improved

So I added some new features to my blog. Blogger.com has really upped the ability to customize your blog, so I took advantage of it. I added a new header, renamed the blog, added a picture, added a poll, and added some links that are my bookmarks on my browser.

So, yeah check it out and leave me some feedback! If you're on Facebook, click "View original post."

Love your faces.

J