Fictional Characters

People who have watched TV and even some movies, know that I get really into it, especially if it happens to be one of my favorites. Lately, I've developed major "crushes" on the awesome boyfriends. They number one boy on my list is Ryan Atwood. He is so amazing even after all the shit Marissa put in through. Besides the fact that he's four years younger than and me just graduated high school(the character, not the actor, I've haven't strayed that far from reality), I still want to date him.

One of my favorite shows as a kid (and I still happen to love) was Full House. Uncle Jesse was always one of my favorite characters. I've always had a "crush" on him, but lately it's been rediculous. I realized why when I saw an episode about his birthday. He turned 26 (It was season 2). So that explains why I more of a crush on him now--he's actually my age. It's really weird how when the show originally aired, I coul related most to michelle because she was my age, and now 2 decades later, I want her uncle.

It's a damn shame that these guys aren't real, oh well c'est la vie.

Stupid Things

1st Stupid Thing on this list is my mom...

On Tuesday, she called me at work around 9:30 AM; this is how the convo went:

Mom: What is the strongest liquor in the house?

Jackie: I think the strongest is 80 proof, which is everything, why?

M: I'm sick again, I want to take a shot to kill everything, so what do you recommend taking?

J: I guess Scotch, that's pretty strong.

I called her and hour later to see if she was drunk (because she's such a light weight).

J: Drunk yet?

M: No, I didn't do a shot. I decided to put rubbing alcohol on my arms instead.

what the fuck??? Do I really have half her DNA??

My dad conference called me with her on the line around 4PM that day:

Dad: She's drunk

M (slurring her speech): I made myself a strong drink.

D: You had an oz and 1/2 of liquor

M: No! There were 2 1/2 , no 3 oz.

D: The amount went up from what you told me five minutes ago.

Later during the week, she called me to tell me about the bras she bought from the VS Semi-annual sale. She's going on an on about the bras for like five minutes, and then says, "Oh and then I bought a PC." Twenty-five dollar bras get a detailed description, but a $3,000 computer gets an "oh by the way..."

Stupid thing #2--Drivers

This is a constant complaint: dumbass drivers improperly using turn signals. Some people don't use one. Others forget to turn it off, so people behind them think they are turning at every corner or trying to switch lanes. But the ones that piss me off even more are those that put it on when they are halfway through the turn. By that point I know they are fucking turning. Sometimes I really wonder why turn signals are a standard feature in cars.

Stupid thing #3--Ticket agencies

This occurred today when I was looking up prices to the Dashboard Confessional concert in August. I've ordered from ticketmaster before, so I knew there was a "convenience" fee as well as a delivery fee. Since I obviously don't want to pay extra money, I decided to check out the Tweeter Center website. The convenience fee is more expensive, but standard and e-mail delivery is free. When I went back to TicketMaster to look at the delivery fees, this is what I found: E-mail (recommended)--$2.50; Standard mail (delivered no later than 48 hours of event)--$0.00. When they actually have to mail you something (and does cost them some money), they don't charge you, but to send a freakin' email, you have pay--CRAP, I tell ya, crap. The only logic I could come up with is that some people wouldn't want to worry about waiting until possibly 2 days before the concert to get their tickets, so they would rather pay the extra $2.50.

After my 1st plan failed to save me money, I went to option #2: picking up the tickets at the box office (I probably wouldn't drive to Jersey just to save $2.50, but I was still curious). Although it's cheaper, there is still a convenience fee. FOR WHAT? If there is no way to avoid paying a fee to buy tickets, how the hell is that charging for "convenience"?? Is the only way I can tickets without paying an additional is by winning them from Y100 or getting them from C hris (the lead singer)?? hmmm...Plan A is out of the question since Y100 is gone, and I don't think it would save me any money to go find Chris.

In addition to the fees already mentioned, there is a "processing fee" for the entire order. So, if you one $30 ticket, you actually have to pay about $42 (30 + $7.45 convenience + $4.60 processing). I've decided to go with option #3 to see if I can save any money. That's going to Boscov's and getting the tickets there. I'm pretty sure that I can at least avoid the shipping fee and maybe the processing fee.

Puerto Rico--Domingo y Lunes

Sunday was the official end to the Alumni Convention; only about a third were staying longer (I was lucky enough to be in the minority).

After breakfast, we went to the beach. Because the only place I've ever gotten sunburn was in Florida, I figured I had a good chance of getting burnt when I was even closer to the equator, so I loaded up on sunscreen--twice. At lunch, I was thrilled to see that I had a great tan. That excitement wore off later when I was burnt to a crisp and my shoulders were killing me, but still I wouldn't trade in the weekend.

Swimming and goofing around in the ocean made us hungry, so Kate, Becky, and I went for a $51 lunch. They each spent $13 for wraps. I was too cheap for that, so I got the $7 loaded fries. Even though it was expensive, it's not like I can have lunch on the beach of San Juan every day.

When we got back from lunch, more people had come to the beach. Kate had a water camera, so we took a pic with girls on the guys' shoulders. This gave us the idea to have a chicken fight (girls fighting each other while on guys' shoulders). I was on Gabe's shoulders and Becky M was on Jeremy's. It was a lot of fun and I think we went down at the same time.

Fun in the sun can be tiring, so Becky and I took a nap before meeting everyone at "six" (translation: 6-ish) for drinks. We decided to go to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. It was really weird to read the menu in Italian and be in an Italian setting and then hear the waiter say "gracias" and speak with a Spanish accent. Dinner was amazing: great food, great setting, great company. It was going to be about $30+ per person, but it was worth it. When the check came, Karen (Kate's mom) paid for the whole the table, we were all in shock. She had been cool all weekend, but this was just so unexpected and generous.

Since it was a Sunday night, one of the only bars opened was the Oyster Bar (were we had lunch on Friday), so we there. We saw some Salsa dancing and Becky and Kate even participated. When we got bored with that, some people went back to the Wet Bar, but Becky and I headed back to the hotel and watched TV/wallowed in our pain (from the sun) with our roomies.

Monday, as usual, we had some breakfast with the group. Becky and I shopped for souvenirs for bit, then met up with Finn and Gabe at the Casino. I tried the slots at first since my grandmother loved them, but I just found them boring. I decided to cash out before I lost all my money on something I wasn't even enjoying. Luckily, I had only lost $9.

I went and played blackjack with the guys. Not surprisingly, I lost all of the $20 I played, but I had fun. It was only a $3 minimum bet, so the money didn't go too fast, and I actually did win some hands.

By the time our money was gone (well mine and Becky's, the other two won some) and we finished packing, it was time to head to the airport :( Four of us had the same flight, so we all went together. Even though there isn't a customs check for PR, we didn't have to go through a USDA checkpoint before we left the island (it's a safety issue to bring fruits, vegetables, plants, etc. back the continental US...speaking of safety issues, you can't bring 151 proof alcohol onto a plane because it's too flammable).

Luckily our flight home left on time and was pretty uneventful. Especially since we had to drive two hours after we landed in Newark to get home.

Such an amazing weekend...I realized that if I were rich, I'd fly to Puerto Rico at least one weekend a month.

Puerto Rico--Sabado

Saturday, I had breakfast with Brothers. The food was actually pretty good, and even cooked to order (eggs, omelets, pancakes). I laid out by the pool with Becky before meeting up with everyone else for the tour of the Bacardi factory. The best part was the free drinks we got.

We had to wait for our tour to start, so we went shopping in the Bacardi store. I bought 2 bottles of light rum, 1 bottle of coconut rum, 1 bottle of Rum Island Ice Tea, 10 single serving bottles of light run, 2 small bottles of big apple rum, two glasses, a pack of shot glasses, and a bat-shaped pourer. All that only cost me about $70 (think about it, it really is cheap--the regular size bottles were only $8.25; around here, they are closer to $15).

The cool stuff I learned from the tour:

• The bat is the symbol of Bacardi because there were bats in the first factory (in Havana, Cuba)
• A classic daiquiri consists of: ice, lime juice, and light rum
• A true mojito consists of: ice, crushed mint leaves, Bacardi Superior, lime, and sugar
• A rum and coke is also known as a Cuba Libre ("free Cuba")

Before the banquet, I hung out with and played a few games of pitch with some bros that I've known awhile, and some that I just recently met. The banquet was pretty nice, but dinner was still mooing (translation: it was pretty pink and Gabe had a pool of blood on his plate).

After the banquet, most of us decided to go to the bar where we could ride a mechanical bull. I actually did pretty well. It was great seeing everyone try it, especially "Mom," Odie, Josh, Suzanne, and Jeremy. After everyone had a ride on the bull and we got sick of the bar, we headed over to the Wet Bar, which was a roof-top bar with an amazing view of the beach. There was even a giant bed (made of vinyl) on one side of the bar.

We hung out in the hotel for awhile, then around 3am, Gabe, Jay and I went to the El San Juan hotel (a couple blocks away) so Gabe could play craps. It was fun, especially since I didn't lose any of my own money. Gabe let me roll a couple times and Jay gave me some chips to play roulette. The casino closed at 4am, so we were forced to head back to our hotel and go to bed.

Puerto Rico--Viernes

Quick note before I continue with my weekend: This was a fraternity event, so everyone I mention is a Brother (unless otherwise noted).

I think I'm going to break this weekend down by day, so that I can be just like Señor Drew...Oh wait, apparently the sun has started to affect my sanity...

Anywho, after dropping our crap (aka luggage) in our room, we (a group of 10) headed out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. The food was pretty good, but it took a long time to arrive. The good thing about this was that our open bar in the hotel began as soon as we got back. After happy hour (because we clearly wouldn't do anything before it was over), we had our little meet and greet with the other alumni. Because the Salsa lessons didn't work out, most of us headed to Old San Juan to see some authentic dancing.

Guys tend to dislike when girls aren't drinking, so they offer to buy something for the chicks. When I suggested an alcohol to Jay, Becky suggested a shot, which turned into a double shot. I told them that my stomach hurt and I wouldn't be able to do, but they insisted I could. Yea...It didn't stay down for more than a minute.

After I recovered, I joined the group on the dance floor. Gabe thought it'd be funny to force me to dance with an old guy (grandfather old). It was going fine until the guy pulled me closer and said, "I could stay like this all night." Luckily, that was about the time a bunch of us decided to leave and go to Señor Frogs.

After asking for directions multiple times and almost going into another club (we decided not to when they tried to charge the guys $10), we finally made it to our destination. It was a lot of fun. Kate ended up on stage for a couple different contests and did pretty well.

I ended up calling it a night before 2, so I would actually be able to drag my ass out of bed to get breakfast before 10am...

Long Weekend :)

It's awesome when your weekend is as long as your week--taking off Friday and Monday to go to Puerto Rico was a great idea.

My Weekend started on Thursday when Becky W. And I decided to go to Finnigan's Wake with Brad and Gabe since we were spending the night at their place. The plan was to leave early, so we could get some sleep before leaving around 5am to catch our flight in Newark. A few beers and two jello shots later, we didn't get home until after 2. Getting less than three hours of sleep and our airport/plane experience was nowhere near as fun as the rest of the weekend.

When we got in the airport, we had to go down an escalator to check-in and get our boarding passes. We were then directed back upstairs. We we got to the escalator, an airport employee checked our ticket and told us we had to go to the left. We didn't really think so, but we followed his directions. We asked another employee who directed us back to the escalator. The douchebag still wouldn't let us go up, so we had to push past him and use the stairs. Gabe told him that he was nuts.

As soon as we were on board, a flight attendant went around passing out headphones to everyone. A few minutes later, another go went walking up and down the aisles making sure everyone had a set. The people behind us asked if he could throw something out for them. He got agitated and said, "Do you have headphones?" When they assured him they did, he walked away. Apparently, his feeble little brain can only handle headphones.

After sitting on the plane (on the runway) for about 20 minutes, the pilot announced that we had to wait for eight other planes to take off before we could. Then about another 10 minutes later, he announced that it was actually 13 planes. We finally took off an hour after we were supposed, which meant we landed an hour late.

When we got to the hotel, we had a welcoming committee: Finn, Ayana, Odie, and Robbie.