I guess we could call this a "Thanksgiving Entry"

Ok. so. The election update was getting a little stale. I appologize for my sizeable lag in updates. But I have a good excuse! My life has erupted into chaos. Yes. That is my excuse. Cryptic and vague? Yes. But making good use of action verbs. ("Erupted" Use it. ) I shall now elaborate.

Ok. For shock value, I shall give it to you in the simplest words possible.

I am leaving Wake Forest on Dec. 7th and not coming back until graduation.

I am moving to California.

I have a job.

I saw Jude Law again.


Ok. So. There we have it.

Now, onto the details. I promise to be dilligent in providing as much detail as I can, because outside of my family and a small circle of friends, most of you probably have no clue what the hell I am talking about.

First of all, I am leaving Wake. This is by no means a statement about the quality of people I have around me right now. Sara typing away at her desk that sits parallel with mine across the hall, Shannon squealing with delight or squeaking in disgust every other minute, Stephanie clomping down the hall only to stop a few feet shy of my open door so that I can't see her checking out her own ass in the hall mirror (that's right. i can hear you.), and Katie who is out to save the youth of the world, one cheesy t-shirt at a time.... I don't know what I would have done without these girls. Believe me when I say that every time I hear their voices in the hallway it makes me re-think my decision, but I will get to that later. First, in the honor of thanksgiving, I have some more people to thank....

Thank you suite 206, for being the best home a girl could hope for. Doors open, arms open, hearts open... this is what dorm life looks like in the movies. Minus the naked people and the drinking and the guys building half-pipes in the hallway. Ok so maybe our suite is nothing like dorm life in the movies. But is certainly one of the only things that kept me sane this year. You girls have been my saviors. I could not be happier that my final memories of living at Wake Forest will be memories of living with each of you.

Thank you Innuendo. You have been my secret life force for almost three years. Sometimes I want to kill all of you. Or bound and gag you and make you listen to voice parts played over and over and over again until you can sing them in your sleep without even hearing the starting note played. But that is very rare. Most of the time I want to wrap you all up in a box and tote you with me where ever I go... so that every time I sing in the car I have the most talented voices singing along with me, and whenever I get super dorky and start gushing about how we dominated UGA, you will be there to back me up. And so that when ever I get stressed out or lonely or frightened, you would be there to support me, to hug me, to make me laugh, and to say things like "Make good choices." "Scarves for everyone." "Wolf Smack" "Man hut" "CLAP. CLAP. SMACK!" "These diva's better take a temporary reprieve" or just to make the sounds that warm my heart. Sounds like doo, dah, dum, and the occasional bah. I will be back in time for the spring concert... and it would take three armed gaurds and a rabid goat (the scariest thing i could think of at this particular moment) to keep me off that stage. So please, rather than hiring the goat for the day, just let me sing one or two songs with you. That would be enough.

I am thankful for my parents... who didn't look at me like I was crazy when I told them about my plan to move back to LA, take a class in Malibu, and get some amazing job that would be totally worthwhile. Instead they just said , "Make it happen."

So I did.

As of December 9th, 2004 , I am an employee of Variety Magazine. Located in Beverly Hills California, Variety is the number one magazine that celebrities subscribe to. We know your show is tanking even before you do. I am pretty sure that is not our official tagline, but it works for me. And according to Lee Norris, it is accurate.

And speaking of Lee...

I am so very thankful that when I decided to follow my whim and my dreams across the country, that there was a whole group of amazing people waiting on the other end to help me along. Lee and Ethan... two friends I thought I had said goodbye to last May are now going to be back in my life on a regular basis. Their friendships were already of infinite importance to me, and now I will get to make all new memories with them. .. Memories sure to be made even more memorable due to the comedic stylings of one Brian White, and the cast of characters that seem to travel around with him, entourage-style. Plus, these guys all have one very important distinction about them.... they are the first friends of mine to integrate into this entirely new part of my life... the part that includes Joe.

Joe. The man. The myth. The most incredible thing that has happened to me in a long time. And he isn't alone. He comes with two Steve's, a Tom, and Aaron, and even an Evelina. It was like the gods were hosting a special deal . For one day only, you get get the love of your life and recieve 5 extra friends for no extra cost to you! And these are no cut-rate friends. These are genuine, good-hearted, witty, good-looking, talented, loving people who have allowed me to come into their lives so easily, and have added to mine in more ways than they will ever know.
And Joe, who has listened patiently on the other end of the phone as I have gone through stages of obsessive planning , worrying, freaking out, changing my mind, crying in frustration, and celebrating each step that I had to take to get to where I am. I know that on the days when I miss my friends back home so bad that I feel like can't stand it anymore... he will be there to keep me from hypervenilating, and he will hold me tightly in his arms while I call each and everyone of the people I miss and carry on conversations and toss around inside jokes that he won't get. And he won't mind at all. And on that first day when I see my name in print in Hollywood's most prestigious magazine... those same arms will hold me while my squeals are muffled by soft cotton of his Cubs shirt. And for that... I could not be more thankful.

And finally, for the news you have all been waiting for......

Yes. Once again my life's path crossed with that of Jude Law. I shared a movie theater with People's Sexiest Man of the Year . Natalie Portman (actually Natalie Hershlag for those of you who like that sort of trivia) was there as well, much to Joe's delight. It was the world premiere of Closer. I highly recommend the movie. It's dark, but the performances are strong. And I was at the premiere, so I am predisposed to think that it was a pretty freaking awesome movie, even if it wasn't. Because it will go down in history (hopefully) as the first of many premieres that I will go to. Speaking of which.... if you had told me, chronic E! online junkie, IMDB.com addict, and closet Entertainment Tonight watcher that I would have THIS job and be spending the second half of my senior year getting quotes from stars to put into articles that will be published on deadline for the next day's issue of Variety magazine?!??!!!... well. let's just say, I wouldn't have believed it.
I am thankful for my good fortune, and for all the people who have made it possible for me to take advantage of these oppertunties.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

I promise I will do my best to make you proud... or at least I will do my best to take pictures of myself elbow rubbing with the stars and email them to you to inspire jealousy. mwah ha ha ha.

But for serious. Come visit. I can't promise any celeb spotting (outside of Lee of course, but that is pretty cool all on it's own.), but I can promise you lots of hugs and a really good time.

One more time....
Thank you.

This is a democracy. And this is how it works. We should feel lucky that it works this well. Our electoral system may be a little bit terrible and completely without logical function but its what we have. You make your own future. A man in a little oval office doesnt decide it for you. I understand that some of you fear that irreperable damage could be done in the next four years, but putting up annoying away messages isnt going to change that and there is no telling if another president would have changed that either.
There were record turn outs at the poles..coming from someone who is writing a paper on voter turnout at the moment, you should understand what a great accomplishment for our country this is.

The way I see it, I don't live in communist Russia. I am not fighting for my right to live without a shroud and veil. I am not being beaten to a pulp by officers of the government because of my religious beliefs. I got to vote. So did everyone else. And this is how it worked out. Our country was divided.. as they have a right to be. And yes, sometimes I think it is frustrating and sad that we don't ever get more than two options... more chances to find someone who truly represents all of our beliefs instead of just our fiscal beliefs or some of our social beliefs or a vague combination of the two. But I think it is imporatantt to understand that for every Kerry voter that felt passionate and desperate there was a Bush voter that felt passionate and desperate too.

This election was an imporant one. And whether you are currently celebrating or concocting a plan to move to France ... at least take a single second to stop and think that no matter what the outcome... this process was very American.

It is my job to make Catch27 catch on....

OK. Let's talk about Facebook Weirdness. You know when you get some random guy who you had a class project with asking you to be his friend? What do you do? I mean.. he will probably never know if you reject his friendship offer... but actually clicking on "decline" just seems so harsh. I mean you don't REALLY know the guy, but still, it's just the facebook... does it really matter if you accept or decline? And once he is on your friends list, will people actually look at him and his crappy music collection and wonder how on earth he got to be your friend? Let's face it. This is all pretty shallow and meaningless. But we like it anyway. So why not take it to the next level. What if you could accept him as your friend for now.... and then TRADE him for some hot chick or a far superior male specimen? Well starting next week.... you can. Catch27.com hits wake on Thursday Nov.11th. You guys will hear a lot about this from me... because I just got hired to be the head marketing manager for their first ever collegiate marketing campaign. Yeah , that's right, I have a real job. And I am terrified. So at the very least... all of you guys have to sign up... You are the hottest people I know. so check it out... www.catch27.com The site isnt fully operational yet... and so far it has only been launched in LA and NYC... so me and my Wake Forest team are the first people to try it out on a college campus... and if it works... well the implications are endless. I could end up on Conan. And thus fullfill one of my life long dreams. Get ready to give me all the moral support you can muster. I'm gonna need it.

Some quick thoughts...

I should be headed to class right now. But since I have already decided to dress as if i just rolled out of bed ( i am even wearing a baseball cap. for some of you, this might seem like a sign of the apocalypse... but i promise it is not), i might as well be a little late to class.

Instead I want to share a few random thoughts that I have collected since yesterday:

1) the only thing more disgusting than the food at Golden Corral is the fact that they have a display case in the middle of the mall with a plate of PLASTIC FOOD designed to look like their already DISEASED AND REPULSIVE items that they actually serve. I walked by the case and wanted to hurl. Plastic Grade F steak, plastic corn that looks like it has been pre-vomited up for you to save you the trouble, and I didnt even get a look at the other things in the case because I seriously felt my stomach lurch. Ew. Double ew.

2)The only thing cuter than a guy playing with a dog is a guy playing with a kid. Yesterday was Project Pumpkin... Wake Forest's annual "Lets have all these rich white kids do something nice for the not so rich not so white kids in the community" event. Despite my horrible descriptor tag, it is actually a very sweet and well run effort. And the best part about it is the grown men in costumes holding hands with small children who look up to him like he is the coolest guy they have ever met. I saw a guy dressed as superman carrying a little kid on his shoulders yesterday. I almost got down on my knee and proposed. To him and the kid. Then I remembered I have a boyfriend. Then i started thinking about my boyfriend with a kid on his shoulders. Then i blacked out from the overwhelming cuteness of such a thought. I am such a girl!

3)My brother is going to college next year. This is not a new thought. But i have to keep repeating it until i understand that it is true. It hasn't worked yet.

4)the Snooze button is the best thing that man ever created. Everytime i push it i get this overwhleming since of self gratification... its the ability to give yourself a little gift every morning. And if you are in a particularily gluttonous mood you can give yourself lots of gifts like you did this morning. You can also actually design the process such that you get to give yourself the gift AND still get up on time (just set it earlier than you actually need to be up) This is the only way to trick oneself that i have ever come across. You aren't awake enough to remember that you set it earlier than you needed to... so you get to press snooze, feel the swell of victory and power of personal choice... and you still get up with enough time to work on your physics lab. Or write a pointless on line post and watch dawsons creek . Whatever your pleasure.

5) I dont know if i really have a fifth one but it would really bother me to stop at 4. And i am willing to bet that it would bother you more than you are willing to admit. Just like when prices are like $2.49 or the fact that stamps are $.37. anything that involves me giving or recieving pennies as part of the transaction is no good. Round the damn thing up and take my nickle.

Ok. That is enough for now. If i leave now i won't be late for class. Better stop by the post office just to put it over the edge. Somehow I will probably still arrive there early. I have like chronic dorkosis. No matter how hard i try to slack and be late I am always the first freaking person there like some sort of hard core nerdmonger.
Ill let you know how it goes.

lata.

For the record I still despise the word "Blog".

But I am writing one anyway. I will probably continue to call it an "online journal"... because that is a little less Techy Talk sounding and it allows me to keep my integrity somewhat intact and not die of shame for actually having a "blog". But it was time. It was time to move away from the limited means of livejournal.com and really run with the big dogs.
Hmmm.. always wondered if I could use the phrase "run with the big dogs" and get away with it in a sarcastic sense. Perhaps I would have gotten away with it this time if I wasn't yammering on about it. Still yammering. Hmm.. kind of hate that word too. Yammering. I am yammering on in my blog. And I'm wearing panties. And the side of my Fresca can is moist. Might as well use all the words I detest all in one big hunk. Oooooo now that could be interesting. An entire entry that is made up just of words I hate and phrases I hate and puncuation I hate (yes. you read that correctly. i think the semi-colon sucks.). How bout it... if you read this... and you have a particular word, phrase, or mark of punctuation that really frosts your cookies (look another one already!), you drop me a little line and let me know. I will work it in. Look at me! Audience participation already! And its only my first blog.

Alright now. On to the less seemingly-drug-induced portions of this entry... a small commentary on my life at this point in my EPIC senior year of COLLEGE.

I am part time. I am a part time senior taking two classes. One of those classes has a disproportiate amount of football players in it. You would think that with specs like that... my senior year would be easy peasy lemon squeazy (there's another one. but you probably havent heard it. its British) (how pretentious of me. catch phrase snob.. that's what i am).
But as it turns out, I am not the sort of gal that uses her part-time status to earn her status as a "regular" at any liqour-licensed establishment. Turns out that even when I am of legal age and have less homework to do than I have in years past, and have two days off each week in which potentially I could sleep all day.... I still get up before 9 and I still prefer "movie night" to " Dollar Pitcher Night". And my desk is still covered in a rainbow of post-it notes proclaiming my many obligations. But I mean, come on... you have to have a little more free time, right? Yeah. I mean. I guess I do. I am not really sure what I do with it. Oh wait. Yes I do. You are looking at it. And if it's not crap like this... it is crap involving espn.com, eonline.com, or clicking the "Get Messages" button on my email.

Alright. So i'm not THAT pathetic. I have clicked "Get Messages" more than any human person should in the span of an hour... but I have good reason! I am waiting to hear back from a slew (hate slew too) of internships that I have applied myself to for the near and distant future. Because you see, the benefit of being Part-time is that you are available to apply yourself to the FULL TIME job of trying to FIND A JOB. I started flipping out about that oh... on about August 1st. By September 10th my career services counsler had actually emailed me to express his concern that I might want to "calm down a little bit." That can't be a good sign. But I mean.. what do they want me to do? If you are a Wake Forest senior who desires a career in consulting or banking there are actually employers who will come to campus and throw themselves down on the sidewalk in front of you as you are walking to class. If you want to be a writer? Yeah... well lets look at the fact that they relegated the journalism minors to a dark hallway in the basement of Tribble Hall years ago.(Yes, those stairs actually lead to somewhere... it is where they send the future struggling writers of America to die. That way they don't have to average our sure-to-be miniscule salaries into their "Average Entry Level Salary for a Wake Forest Alumni" figure. Us "journalistic types" are just not up to snuff (there is another one)). Basically, if you want to use your liberal arts degree to do anything having to do with "the arts" you better be willing to pave your own way (there is another one)... Either that or you better be willing to settle for that kick ass job at Abercrombie that your mom wouldn't let you get when you were 16 (Even though the cute recruiter guy standing at the front had asked you like, four times if you were interested in working there..Gosh mom).

Anyway. back to me not being pathetic. I do have a life. I have fantastic suite mates who get their kicks out of putting dead mink's into other people's beds. Strange but true. I also still reap the harmonic joys of Innuendo Co-ed A cappella twice a week. I also took some pictures of trees this week. So that was .... well ya know.... leafy.
Yeah so other than that I ... um... (Jesus Christo Jennifer think of something. You are supposed to keep people interested, not inspire them to raise a glass to give a solomn toast to the death of your social life.) Well. I am in charge of the English Department newsletter...? ( Dearly Departed... Clink clink clink).

Ok . So. Maybe I should have waited till I acutally had something to report before I started a blog... hmm... Hindsight is 20/20. No use crying over spilt milk. Just the word "spilt" alone is bad enough.

Guess it is time to move on to Jenn's Gripes for this Week:
- Dammit Panthers, get in the endzone.
- Dammit Deacons, get in the endzone.
- Dammit California. Stop being so far away.
- Dammit left eyelid. Stop twitching.
- Seriously. The twitching is distracting. I blame my lack of interesting commentary on the twitching.

Ok. There is a World Series to be attended to here... and possibly some suitemates to torture.
But for now I promise you this... I will be back. With exciting and worthwhile things to say. And plenty more awful words and phrases for your gagging pleasure.

Thanks for reading. I'm feeling more like a real writer already.
Ok. so maybe not. But I do appreciate that fact that you just read all that.