Day 1 in CO: "How, in the name of Zeus's butthole, did you get out of your cell?"

Tuesday, 4/28/2015

I did it! I went through ATL airport by myself. If you remember from a previous post, Rosh was supposed to accompany me, but she bailed. Because med students are just the worst. Anyway, to begin the day, I woke up to Smells smacking me because my alarm was going off. 1am. I took a shower and then we began our trek to ATL. The drive to Atlanta is almost familiar to me now because we had just gone there on Saturday to see Walk the Moon. Its familiarity does not remove its suckyness. The traffic was minimal. The only frustration was finding the frontier departures sign. Thank baby jesus that I met up with KG's mom the day before and she told me about that. It's funny what people remember about the experience they have at the airport. I had asked most people I came in contact with about airport tips and there were a lot of overlap, but each person had at least one unique thing to say. It's very interesting what people find worth mentioning. So back to the frontier departures sign, Smells stopped by person that was in uniform and I hopped out and asked the grumpy airport worker where the illusive sign was. I made it to the frontier desk and talked to this nice, but uncompromising lady with glitter green eye shadow. She asked me if I was checking a bag and I said yes and placed it on the metal thing. She put a sticker on my luggage and then whisked it away. Then I went through security. I didn't have to take my shoes off and I didn't have to take my laptop out, but I did accidentally leave my cell phone in my pocket and held up the line. Despite my blunder, people were super nice. At this point I'm confused about my liquids. I didn't even have to do anything with my liquids... Later, KG tells me that they care significantly less about checked luggage than they do about carry-ons. I could've packed so much more liquid. I went to my gate and I was there crazy early. I watched the sunrise. I bought and ate a delicious bagel. I'll be posting about my food from this trip in one big post at the end so you'll hear about the bagel again. 

OOTD: Airport Bathroom Edition

I wore this outfit to the airport because there's no belt involved and there's slip on shoes. I also didn't want to look like a slob. I was told that airplanes would be chilly so I wore a jacket. That was not the case with the airplane I was on. I was too warm the whole time. 

Stereotypical window of airplane shot. I loved take off. It was absolutely the best part. The actual flying part was boring. I was also extremely sleepy, having woken up at 1am so I drifted in and out of sleep most of the flight. I remember waking up when the food cart came by and a stewardess asked if I wanted to purchase a beverage or food. (I didn't.) Then I woke up to the fasten seat belt ding because there was a teensy bit of turbulence. I fastened my seat belt back up (I had it unbuckled because it was way more comfortable to sleep.) and I resumed my nap. Next thing I remember is one of the flight attendant saying that we would land soon, but they were very preemptive because it was like 30 minutes later before we landed. One thing I wish people told me was where the seat numbers were located on the plane because I looked like a right idiot when I couldn't figure out where my seat was. I should've just stopped and asked the flight attendant from the beginning, but nobody else was so I thought it would be obvious. I walked way too far into the plane and I had to turn around and ask the lady behind me. She was a little judgy of my ignorance. I then had to hold up the line so that I could get to my seat at the front of the plane. The people I sat next to were Hispanic and we interacted only twice. Once when they had to get up and let me into my seat and again when I was sitting on the lady's seat belt. The seats were more than I expected. I was uncomfortable, sure. It just wasn't as bad as everybody made them seem.

This is the picture I posted on facebook to tell our family that I found KG. Aren't we just sooo cute?

One of my friends from college messaged me right before we were about to eat and asked me what my grade for GD history was. I didn't even know grades were out yet, but I checked anyway. I keep waiting for the grades to change or I'll get an email saying "JK, we pressed the wrong key. you actually got all B's!" Which would be fine. But I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw all those A's. I really did not deserve 3/4 of them. But hey, that's the beauty of JSU. I need to call my grandmother and tell her.

We didn't go to this museum, but I really like the boldness of this billboard. "THE ART WORLD WAS HIS ENEMY"

I have discovered very quickly that Colorado sucks all the moisture from your body. A stop at target for chapstick and water was necessary. The targets in Colorado look just like targets in Alabama. 

We also played trivia & it was super fun. We had a great lead for a while except the sports round totally obliterated us. Every good trivia team needs a sports guy. Now I must watch all the Nick Cage movies. I didn't take any pictures because my phone was very dead and I had forgotten the magical charger that Keith let me borrow. Now that I'm thinking about it though, I should've asked KG to let me use her phone to take some... I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

How to stay up all night

A few short months ago, I was the person that was appalled when someone hadn't slept in 36+ hours. I loved sleep too much to fathom why anyone would take that beautiful non-awake time for granted. Now everything's changed. This semester has been my favorite semester. I've actually made friends and I've tried way harder this semester than I have any other semester.  Since I'm the kind of person that works up until the last second, no matter when I start, and since I'm slower than molasses, I have perfected* the art of staying up late.

• Listen to "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" on repeat and connect to it on a level that you never have before.
• Run mostly on adrenaline. I don't particularly like coffee and energy drinks don't seem to work. (I tried to use sugar-free redbull to keep me awake during film class last Friday and I still slept through almost all of Macbeth.)
• Avoid driving as much as possible, but when you do have to drive somewhere, sing along to everything. It doesn't matter if you've never heard this song and you have no idea what the words are; sing along. Because for some reason, singing and talking helps you stay awake.
• Don't nap. If you do fall asleep just know that you will be asleep for a while because your body has no alarm clock and you will sleep through everything important. Napping also uses up valuable work time. 
• Try not to be concerned about how weird your body feels. Remember that you will eventually sleep and you will feel normal again.
• Laugh at your lack of restraint when you are speaking. You might become a huge smart aleck when you haven't slept in a while. I know I do.
• It's okay that all your days blend together into one long one. The differentiation of days is not that important.
• Consign yourself to the notion that you smell like BO. For some reason, sleeplessness affects antiperspirant effectiveness and so when you hit the 24 hour mark and onward, you will be stinky. Plan accordingly. Use plenty of extra deodorant and add in some body spray for good measure. 
• Have a ton of things lined up that you have to do. Make sure that only a minute of mediation is all you have time for because you're so busy getting things done.
• Remember that your emotions are elevated because of lack of sleep. Everything will make you cry. Good things. Bad things. Doesn't matter. Crying will happen.
• No matter what happens, time will still move forward. Sometimes it's comforting to know that this too shall pass.
• Realize and think about how you're not alone. You're not the only person to ever pull an all nighter. It'll be okay.

*I use the word perfected loosely.

my babies!!!!!!1!!!!!

Okay so when I started loving Walk the Moon, they had already reached a certain level of fame because they had been picked up by Sirius/XM radio station, Alt Nation. Of course, alt nation boasts it's new music radar and I'm pretty sure Walk the Moon was picked up on the radar with "Anna Sun." But still satellite radio denotes a certain level of fame.
At that point, I'm telling people how great WTM is and they have no idea what in the world that is. So they hadn't hit top 40 fame. But they were Vevo on youtube famous.
The first concert that I attended was so cute and good and happy and we showed up late and were still on the fourth or fifth row of people. The concert was abundant with teenage waif-type hipster girls.
At the latest concert I went to, I was kind of astonished at the variety of folks in the crowd. Lots of factors go into who is at a concert, but I felt like this meant something.
A couple of days ago, I was staying late in the GD lab and a class mate, who most of the time hums recognizable tunes, suddenly starts with a hmmm-mm humhum mmwith meee. And my head shot up. "Are you humming Walk the Moon?" "Um... no, I don't think so." "Are you humming 'Shut Up And Dance'?" "Yes!" "That's Walk The Moon! They're my favorite band!" "Oh yeah, I like them, too!"
I mean, what are the chances of that? That she would hum my favorite band in the presence of me! Probably pretty high because they are becoming way more well known.
Today, my phone started ringing in class (ringtone is "Shut up and dance" of course) and people started singing along! That means fame! Top 40 fame!
In the new Vlogbrothers' video, Hank uses part of SUAD in a weird part of the video! That is another different kind of fame! It's cool!
Edit: Okay youtube made Hank take out that part of the video, but I promise it was in there and it was great.

I passed a car today that was blasting Shut Up and Dance and I cheered.
My friend posted a snapchat story that involved him listening to Shut Up and Dance in his car and I had to send him a snap and tell him that they're my favorite.

I want everybody to love Walk the Moon just as much as I do.

3 things I totally endorse this week

Even though I make a laughable(as in, 'ha ha that number is so small') amount of money at my part-time job, I still purchase lots of frivolous things. I really don't have that much that I have to pay for and I don't save any (I know I should, shut up) so I just spend it on stuff I want. Sometimes it's a waste, but sometimes not. Here's a list of things that are completely worthy of foolish spending.


1. I may have a water bottle infatuation.
I talked about a glass bottle in this post that I got and I'll give you an updated review. It's still very pretty. It's still very hefty. The fact that it's so tall and skinny makes it very precarious and easy to tip over. I rarely use it now. The rubber near where the lip of the bottle is smells very mildew-y. I know that there's no mildew there because I've washed it so many times. I think that the water here in Alabama just has a weird smell when it lingers on an item for any amount of time and I've just always associated that with mildew. I can't stand it. I have such an aversion to that smell. So now I've stopped using that water bottle. I hate to say this, but this happens to a lot of my water bottles. I feel like they're not clean or they start smelling weird and I have to stop using them. But I love them so much so I keep searching for the perfect one.
Recently, I gave into my desires and bought a water bottle from target. Target is pretty much where I spend all of my paychecks. They just sell the things that have the look that I want to surround myself with. So they had a bazillion water bottles, presumably because it's spring and I guess spring means drink more water from portable receptacles? Sure. I looked at every single one and picked out my favorite. It looks like this...

It's from a company called contigo. I love that it's 'with you' in Spanish. It opens up in two places so it's hella easy to clean. And there's no rubber near the drinking part so hopefully it won't smell. It's short and fat and cute. Just so's you know, they have way better colors in target than contigo has on their website. I was debating between this color and another color called 'watermelon' because girl, I love me some colors that are also names of food. I ultimately picked this one because it's turquoise and a couple weeks ago a friend of mine said the word turquoise and pronounced it "turkwoise" and it cracked me up. The little loop on the top is cool. I didn't realize until weeks after I had bought it that it's not perfectly straight. I looked at it one day and was like, shit I bent it, but then I was like, wait. It's really supposed to be like that. It's very ergonomic. As of right now, A+.

2. Sunglasses. 

I love cheap sunglasses. I've never seen the appeal of paying $200 for a pair when you can get a really cool pair for less than $20. I guess you might also be paying for legitimate eye protection when you pay that much, but come on, who cares. So I had seen these sunglasses on a fashion blog and I have had them in my amazon wishlist for a month or two. 

I love the gruesome nature of the seemingly innocent phrase we used to say as children. And it really calls attention to the gruesomeness when the phrase is so close to the eyeball. I love it. I love them. I'm so scared I'll lose them so I might buy a few more pairs in all of the colors available. 

3. I'M GOING TO COLORADO!

My lovely cousin lives in Colorado and I have talked about visiting her ever since she moved out there. You know how I am though, I hate doing things by myself. At least, I hate doing new things by myself. It makes me very anxious and I hate it. I just need someone there to give me confidence and I'm fine. I decided Rosh needed to be the person to come with me because I love her and we love Kaia and basically, it just all makes sense. We have been talking about it forever. We always do that, because I think that's just what friends do. You talk about doing something over and over and sometimes it never actually happens. BUT THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN. We have the plane tickets. Only 23 more days! I have already began packing. Right when Rosh messaged me and told me that she was free, and asked if I was free, and suggested that we make a trip, I bought these cute little contact solutions. 

We had not even confirmed with Kaia if we could stay or not at that point, but that might tell you how excited I am. I AM SO EXCITED. I think it's silly to have a restriction on liquids on planes, but I love the excuse to have these tiny little things! I bought two different brands because I couldn't remember which one was my regular brand that I use. I figured they were probably both okay and that I probably picked one that is the one I usually use. (I was correct; I usually use the one on the right.) I couldn't remember because I don't buy it that often since it comes in, like, gallon jug size in a twin pack. Anyway, cute, right?

My favorite class

I have waited and watched enough to warrant a whole post about it. If you can believe it, I've seen all these and I'm still 12 behind, plus 6 more that I'm not behind, but still have to watch. I've got 2 weeks and if I'm very diligent, I think I can finish before the final.

Moving Images Update:
Mulholland Drive, Lynch, 2001 - So so so strange. My professor explained the movie to us afterward and I liked it a little more after that. I love when things have reasons, but I also love when they don't. This movie could work both ways. I can't say I loved it, but I appreciate it.
Easy Rider, Hopper, 1969 - Great soundtrack and young Jack Nicholson was great. I didn't really connect to the plot, but I guess that's okay because it seemed to mostly be about drugs and motorcycles.
Shock Corridor, Fuller, 1964 - People keep telling me to fake it 'til you make it, and I would say this movie is a great example of pretending to be something until it's true.
Satan’s Brew, Fassbinder, 1976 - I just watched this yesterday with a group of friends from class. We weren't even paying full attention to the movie and it was still rough. It's in German with subtitles. It's so weird and not the good kind. I don't want to ever watch it again.
Who are you Polly Maggoo, Klien, 1966 - It's french so everything is pretty. I liked the commentary on discerning what's real and what's fake in this life of ours.
Kind Hearts and Coronets, Hamer, 1949 - Funniest voice over. Lots of murder. It was a fun time.
Frasier: Season 5 - I had seen a few episodes of Frasier, but it must've been from a later season. I can totally see why Dr. J loves this show.
Doctor Who (reboot), Seasons 1-2 - Of course, I had already seen these. I re-watched most of them though. I had forgotten about the episode Love & Monsters and it's one of my favorites. It's sad and absurd and funny and beautiful, which are all of the reasons I love the show. Me and about 80% of my class did a response project on Doctor Who. Here's mine.

Barrow, The Doctor Goes To The Doctor, 2015

The Night of the Hunter, Laughton, 1955 - I loved this movie. It really spoke to me for some reason. I loved the hilarious little girl, the weirdly beautiful dead body, the creepy preacher that used religion for evil, the hard-nosed lady that used religion for good, the fact that it's pretty much a fairy tale. It was just good.
Lord of the Flies, Brook, 1963 - It's fucked up that humans would reduce to this, and the way the movie was shot made it feel so documentary-like and realistic. I kind of want to read the book now.
Sisters, De Palam, 1974 - I described this to a friend in class as, "It's about conjoined twins... kind of." and my professor was like, "wtf, really?" but I stand by my statement.
Watership Down, Rosen, 1978 - I've seen this movie three times now and I still don't understand the beginning. I love the animation though. I think I'm going to do my final response project on it because I also love that it's animated movie, which are usually for children, that is so violent.
Macbeth, Polanski, 1971 - I slept on and off during this whole movie. When I wasn't sleeping, I was focusing on trying not to fall asleep. My sleeping has nothing to do with the quality of the movie, I just hadn't slept in about 24 hours so a dark room with people speaking Shakespearean English was a dangerous combination. I did fully wake up at the end when Macbeth's head was sliced off. That was exciting. I'll have to re-watch because I don't know that much about Macbeth, except for the witches and the fact it's called "The Scottish Play".
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Cassavetes, 1976 - It felt very 70's and I just wasn't that into it.
The Honeymoon Killers, Kastle, 1969 - Featuring Mobile, AL. The main lady really gave southern women a bad name and I hate that, but I guess real southern ladies give southern women a bad name so I suppose it's realistic. She was just a whiny brat and I wanted to slap her.
Eating Raoul, Bartel, 1982 - Very funny. Lots of irony and I freaking love irony. Super farce-y. It was also very eighties and I love that. I kind of half-watched while I was working on some stuff for school and I'll have to re-watch over the summer when I have some more time.