2011: Hopkins Freshman Blog

Sentimental Heart

It’s all over!  Freshman year is done and so I thought I’d provide some perspective to all of you about to embark on the same journey.

Last year at this time, I was full of mixed emotions. You can see some of how I passed the time by reading my blog entry that was one of four chosen in a contest run by Hopkins Interactive last summer.  (Strangely enough, 3 of the 4 winners of the contest are also on Hopkins Interactive and from NJ – Lauren and Jessica are the others.) 

But anyway…I was feeling anxious and excited to move on to college, but I was sad to leave high school.  Not that I particularly enjoyed high school so much that I didn’t want to get out, but more that it was a huge step of my life that was over.  Its just that feeling that comes over you after you look forward to something for so long and then it’s finally over.  It all happened too quickly. 

I remember sitting around watching the lacrosse final four games realizing that next year I’d actually be attending the school I was so adamantly rooting for.

The entire summer was a huge build up to go away to college.  The last few weeks were filled with goodbyes (or “see you laters” as I liked to call them since we’d all be back in a few months).  Everyone’s experience is a little different, but it’s mostly the same.  I think it’s one of the most incredible times. 

And then you finally get to Hopkins. I was going to get sentimental and walk you through my year, but I’ve decided to turn it into a sort of Survival Guide on how to get the most out of Freshman year. 

Step 1: Orientation.  Participate in as much as you can and be open to everything.  You will meet so many amazing people. 

Step 2: Get used to it.  You must learn to deal with being away from home, taking on lots of new responsibilities (everything from grocery shopping to dealing with the cable company to taking care of yourself when you are sick), getting used to the workload and how to manage your time, and learning how to live with other people.  It’s a lot of new freedom and responsibility that is much needed after so many years of being at home. 

Step 3: Explore. After you establish a group of friends and explore, you will begin to feel more comfortable and want to explore Baltimore…more.  Make sure to a) stay out of bad neighborhoods at night and b) find all the cool places in Charm City.

Step 4: Participate.  Get involved in stuff on campus.  And no, this isn’t like high school where you get involved in 50 different groups to put on a resume or application.  Do stuff you actually enjoy.  There are so many things I wanted to and did get involved with.  Make sure you have enough time to do the things you commit to, and try new things.  Go to the first few meetings of a club to see if you are interested.  You can always drop out if it’s not for you, but you still get to meet people and find out more about what you like and don’t.  And if you like blogging and feeling smarter than people by answering their questions, try applying for admissions groups like SAAB or Blue Key…or both.

Step 5: Work hard.  Yes Hopkins is hard.  But if you learn how to manage your time, it gets easier.  I never thought I’d be able to do it, but I did.  I even made Dean’s List second semester.  It’s ok to bitch a little about it, but don’t complain too much or people will start to get annoyed.  Especially if you complain about getting an A- instead of an A on something. 

Step 6: Enjoy.  Don’t get too caught up in things.  The days go by slowly, but the weeks go by so quickly.  Make sure to take it all in and enjoy every minute of it.

Freshman year is an exciting time.  It was one of the best year’s I’ve ever had and I’m sad that it’s over.  I’m hoping it just gets better from here, but another stage of my life is over.  Hopefully you all can feel these mixed emotions a year from now.  I can’t wait to go back.

On that note, here is a little music video I made of some brief footage I took the last few days of school and when I got home.  I was going to make it into something longer, but I just got caught up in moving out so this is the best I could do.  Hope you enjoy! (and if you can play it in high quality on YouTube go for it because it was shot in HD and looks amazing)

(I've Had) The Time of My Life

So this is that time of year we all start to get sentimental on you.  Those of you who are Class of 2012ers are all graduating and getting ready to head off to Hopkins.  This blog is basically my freshman year in a nutshell.  A little slice of life (at least the stuff I can - and want to - publish on the internet for all to read).  Trust me.  Freshman year is all it is cracked up to be.  You'll have to work hard, you'll have fun, you'll meet amazing people, and you'll probably end up beginning the age old college process of finding yourself (which just shows you that Hopkins hasn't changed me from a humanities student to pre-med even with a whole year under my belt).  So here is my Freshman year: Revisited!

The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most
The one about who I am (or at least who I was way back then).  Move in.  Heat.  Fall Fest. Dashboard concert.

This Charming Man
The one with Fall Break. Getting Home. Seeing my family again. First Hopkins midterms. Rushmore.

The Devil's Workday (All Those People That You Know...)
The one with the first Open House.  Halloween.  Entering Wolman for the first time.  All of my wonderful friends. Apples to Apples: Jewish Edition.

Do You Believe In Magic?
The one with Parents Weekend.  Good food at FFC.  Academic Advisor meeting. First serious trip to the library.  Steve Scifidi.  Figuring out the Wolman turnstiles.  David Blaine Street Magic parody videos.

Friday I'm In Love
The one with The Cure motif.  Broken Social Scene concert.  Second round of midterms.  Walking from Penn Station to Grand Central with luggage.   Thanksgiving.

Positive Tension
The one with Chrismakkuh.  Interruption for Facebook and Message Boards. First snow.  End of first semester.  Fornicating snowmen.  Slippery walkways.  Creed's Blog on The Office.  Finals approaching quickly.

Me and My Friends
The one with the beginning of Winter break.   EDers  get in.  Christmas.  Old friends.  My gingerbread house.  The Pleo.  My Shamless plug.   

Sleep All Damn Day
The one with Intersession at home.  The Parent's Blog.  Visiting my Hopkins friends in NYC.  Lots of movies.  Freaks and Geeks.  Kevin Devine concert.

If Work Permits...
The one with the return to Hopkins.  The new schedule.  My new sleep schedule.  Towson and the Melting Pot.  David Blaine Pt. 3.

Where You'll Find Me Now...
The one with the beginning of Blue Key training.  Barack.  Awesome movie recommendations (all of which are still very highly recommended to you).

JHU_Josh: My Favorite Things.
The one with the favorites.  Bittersweet Symphony.  Wes Anderson.  Fran Drescher.

Where is My Mind?
The one with Spring Break.  Bogged down by work.  New computer.  Birthday.  Officially in Blue Key.  Declaring my major.  Oscars.  More movie recs.

Hopkins CRIBS: AMR II, Lazear House (The Men Who Live Upstairs)
The one with Cribs.  Sesame Street on the TV.  Wall of Randomness.  The fan.  The courtyard.  Sneaking in more movie recs.

How Soon Is Now?
The one with Homecoming.  The Film Fest.  The hospital.  Start of Open House season.  Praise You music video.  More movie recs (I sense a theme).

Memories on a Deck, Pt. 1
The one with Spring Fair.  My first film.  The Alpha Phi formal with my gal.  My sentimental side.  The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

So that's the year in review.  Looking back on it all, everything flew by.  The hours of the day went by so slowly, but I wish I had some back now because the weeks and months and year went by so quickly.  I hope that all you future Hopkins students enjoy Freshman year as much as I did and make sure you take it all in!

Memories on a Deck, Pt. 1

It’s that time of year again…Finals week!  Somehow I’ve managed to keep myself destressed and sleeping well.  With tons of work still to do, I thought I would look back on some stuff I’ve done recently, my freshman year as a whole, and what is to come…

Some of the best things I’ve done all year have come in these past few weeks.  First, I got to experience the amazing weekend of Spring Fair for the first time!  The freshman quad was filled with (somewhat overpriced, but still soooo delicious) food vendors ranging from Thai food to BBQ to Maryland Crab Cakes to smoothies to (everyone’s personal favorite) Funnel Cakes. Greek organizations among others were fundraising.  The Beach was buzzing with activities and music.  The upper quad had local vendors selling lots of random things.  There was a wing eating contest, break dancing, and a Vocal Chords performance on Saturday night.  The weather was amazing so it worked out well.  (Picture is of me and my friend Andrew playing around in the Kiddie Area)

The next thing that was really amazing was that I filmed my final project for film.  I’m still in the process of editing it together, but it should turn out really great.  I’m really pleased with what I shot.  (I have to thank my friends Nathaniel and Alyssa for acting in it) 

The final exciting thing was the Alpha Phi formal.  Lauren (read her blog here) invited me as her date to my first sorority formal.  We got all dressed up and took our promish pictures.  It was an amazing time.  One of the pictures I was hoping to include was one stolen from Julia who took a picture of all the SAABers that were at the formal (Rob, Stephanie,  Jackie, Julia, Lauren, and Me – also Adam was there, but he is no longer an active SAAB member), but she didn't put them up in time so I urge you to check out their blogs about it to see the whole gang.  The others are stolen from other people via Facebook.   

Looking back on Freshman year, I can’t believe how quickly it passed.  Every week seemed to take forever, but the closer and closer it got to the end, I just wanted to go back.  Although I want to obviously grow up and move on, I don’t want to lose one of the best years of my life.  So for all those out there who are getting excited about going to college, prepare yourselves to enjoy it.  Get involved, meet tons of new people, learn some stuff, and have fun while doing it. 

This is my last official blog as a Freshman blogger before I become a sophomore and head off to guest blogging (since it’s hard enough for me to keep up with my responsibility with this one…as you can see with this blog being posted half a week late)  Hopefully everyone enjoyed following along with my freshman experience.  (I know my mom sure did -thanks mom -, but I’m hoping others enjoyed too)  I remember way back when in October when my first blog went up and I never thought this day in May would come so soon.  I may be doing some blogging for the film department next year reviewing films and whatnot depending on what they want me to do so I’ll definitely plug that in the future if I get the gig.  Good luck with everything, keep reading my blog over the summer, and if you are one of the chosen few coming to Hopkins next year, maybe I’ll see you around.

As always I have to leave you with my movie recommendations and a YouTube video to enjoy.
Best Films I’ve Seen Recently:
El Topo (very violent and strange)
Hamilton (I got a free DVD of my Intro to Film Production professor’s first feature length film that is actually really visually pleasing)
Cloverfield (one of the few monster movies that I actually like, filmed in a really interesting way)
And finally…
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (probably the best film I’ve seen in years)

Here’s the video (thought this one would be appropriate):

How Soon Is Now?

Since the last time I blogged things have been pretty hectic. 

Where to start…Last Friday, I made my first film!  The Friday before break my Intro to Film Production class went out around campus to create a short story by filming a bunch of different shots and then editing them together.  We finally learned how to make cuts and edit using a linear format which literally involves cutting the film (no digital editing).  Soon I’ll be putting together a short up to 3 min for the final project which will be screened along with many of the other film production classes offered this semester. 

Last Saturday at the lacrosse game, Bill Bellichick was roaming the sidelines. I think he is the reason we lost big to UNC.  But after a tough loss to Duke, the Homecoming game will hopefully turn us around.  We finally won big against Maryland which was the catalyst to last year’s turn around too.

Thursday, unfortunately, was a crazy day spent in the hospital and in bed because of an injury.  Fortunately enough, Union Memorial Hospital is only 2 blocks away from campus so I was in good hands. 

Friday was movie night. My friends sympathized with my situation and we had a night in just watching really bad movies and TV.

This past week started Open House season…one of my favorite times of the year.  Strangely enough, I actually like answering questions about Hopkins (as you can tell if you are part of either of the Facebook groups), even if it is the same question over and over or a crazy parent asks about how easy it is to get into med school.  If you come to the Open House say hi at the Ask A Student table and pick up one of the Insider’s Guides we worked so hard on to give you a students perspective of Hopkins sans admissions censorship (for the most part).

Finally (and sorry for this stream of consciousness type blog but it’s 2 days late and I’m in a hurry to enjoy more Homecoming festivities), here is something to note for prospective Film and Media Studies majors/minors.  There is a pre-registration day to make sure people in the department get into the small upper level classes.  This is awesome because it is a week before rising sophomores register for classes and I already know that I am in 2 classes that I want to take (Intermediate Production and a new screenwriting class taught by my current Production professor who is awesome).  The film department is on the rise with our new Provost hopefully and it is finally getting offices in Gilman after the renovation is completed.  I am looking forward to the next 3 years of being in the most incredible department at Hopkins! 

And if any of you are in the area April 17-20, the Hopkins Film Festival is going on.  Check out hopkinsfilmfest.com for more details

And I can’t leave you without my latest movie viewing list:
-    Rear Window (better than Disturbia)
-    Charlie Bartlett (not worth seeing in theaters)
-    The Squid and the Whale (really good indie flick)
-    Paranoid Park (new Van Sant film)
And more…

Here’s this week’s YouTube video I picked out for you all…

Hopkins CRIBS: AMR II, Lazear House (The Men Who Live Upstairs)

So we are taking the time now to show off our Cribs so you all can get a better picture of what you might be moving into soon, but i definitely couldn't leave you without a song title in the name. 

I live in AMR (Alumni Memorial Residence) II Lazear House.  The AMRs (there are 2 of them) house a majority of the freshman in traditional dorm style living.  It’s basically you and your roommate (unless you get a single).  There is a common bathroom usually not too far from your room.  AMR II has a main building that houses the mail room for the AMRs and Buildings A and B along with a lounge area (that used to have a place to buy food, and they may bring it back next year) that has vending machines, a TV, and couches.  Downstairs, there is a laundry room, a lounge, a kitchen, the BSU room, and some other secret nooks.  It is organized into houses.  In AMR II there are no physical division between the houses except for fire doors so you can move freely about. 

Now for my room...
First is my Cribs video, and then for a better feel of what it's like read my written tour below.



We have a typical setup for a room that we kept from when we moved in.  My roommate and I are separated at our desks by the dresser with the drawers next to them. This provides for a nice little changing area when you open the doors. You have to learn how to use space efficiently in the AMRs so we have lots of shared things on the middle drawers. We share a printer, a TV, and I have shelves where I keep my books and things.

Shelves are a good storage idea.  I keep some food in there, some notebooks, and then textbooks and such along with all my DVDs (a collection that is slowly growing and taking over where books once were). 

Each person gets a small mirror hung by the door.  On the back of the door are 2 towel bars to hang towels.  We also have a MicroFridge rented through the school that stores some small perishable food items and is good for heating up soup or Easy Mac.  My roommate created a little nightstand by putting a little top on crates that he uses to store stuff. 

I don’t have my bed lofted at all.  You can get it quarter, half, or fully lofted if you want.  Or for those who get intense acrophobia, I guess you could just move your mattress to the floor.  Under bed storage is a good investment.  There is lots of room and getting things that help you stay organized is crucial.  There is lots of room to store stuff in the back part of the bed while keeping necessary items towards the front. 

In order to stop people from peeling paint off the walls, in AMR II there are 2 walls with cork covering.  This way you can hang up posters and pictures with thumbtacks.  Definitely bring stuff to hang.  You will accumulate more things as the year goes on, but you don’t want your wall to be blank and bland. (One of my favorite things up right now is my countdown until George W. Bush is out of office calendar that my mom got me.  As of today only 298 more days!)

The desk is a place where you will spend a lot of time.  I like to work in my room because I get distracted easily when there is no noise like in the library.  Me and my roommate are always playing music while studying.  The drawers are filled with dishes, utensils, and cleaning supplies in one, cables, cords, and electronic necessities in another, and papers in the top on.  The top drawer is actually one of those pull out laptop trays so there are no sides on it although most people use it to just store stuff.  The small drawer on the desk is a good place for school supplies.  The rest of it has become a place where random things accumulate although I try to clean it up and organize as much as possible.

Where is My Mind?

The title of this blog is a direct reference to my state of mind right now. As the spring semester slowly creeps along (with spring break as the only break in the schedule), things can get a little hectic. Midterms, school work, lots of stuff going on with the groups I'm involved in, and spring fever are all starting to get the best of me.

Now on spring break (with my birthday only a few days away) I’m finally typing this on my new laptop. So when I haven’t been seeing a few of my friends that are home from school, I’ve been playing around with it. It’s my first Mac and my friend says that in a short while, it will change my life and I will become one of those people who couldn’t imagine life without a Mac.

But back to some Hopkins topics:

One of the most exciting things about the past few weeks has been training to be a tour guide for Blue Key Society. (Only a solo tour evaluation left!) I love working in Admissions and talking about my school to others because it’s fun to get others really excited about coming to a place that you love. The only problem is now I have the urge to throw out the random facts I now possess in common conversation like how the Homewood House has the first coed outhouse in America.

More things on the agenda that are interesting to me (and probably only me):

* The Wednesday after break, I get to declare my major if I want to or I can wait up until the end of sophomore year. I will probably declare though as a Film and Media Studies major. The film studies program here is actually really awesome so if you are interested at all you can even consider minoring in it.

* I’m definitely going to hold off on deciding my minor. It has switched from Writing Sems to Entrepreneurship and Management even to French for a little, but now I’m leaning towards a Psych minor because I love the classes here, the are interesting, and I only need a few more classes to complete the minor.

Now that I blabbed on about my life it’s time to wrap things up with random stuff:

* First off, congrats to all the Oscar winners (especially the Coen Brothers, Javier Bardem, and Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova…”Once” should have been nominated for more than just best song, but it was 100% the best original song of the year).

* Secondly, here are the latest films I saw that I would recommend: Tout va Bien (a brilliant French film by Jean Luc Godard that has quickly become one my all time favorites), Weekend (another Godard film that is trippy and awesome), The Darjeeling Limited (not the best Wes Anderson film, but definitely worth checking out), and Grindhouse (both part of the Tarantino/Rodriguez double feature are worth the time spent)

Finally, here is a video that will make you smile (hopefully). Until next time…

JHU_Josh: My Favorite Things.

This week, the students of Hopkins Interactive have decided to change things up a bit and all present a common blog topic.  Through the blogs and the message board we really enjoy providing you with a glimpse of our lives at Hopkins while helping reveal to you what might lie in store for you if you decide to become a Hopkins student as well.  In addition to detailing life here at Hopkins, we also all enjoy getting to talk about the totally random things that we love.  Just like we’ve done with the Off-Topic Discussions on the message boards, we’re taking a break from Hopkins to talk about our favorite things.

Caution – Random Stuff Alert:

Who is your favorite author?: I do enjoy Hemingway.  I like his minimalist style.  Also Bret Easton Ellis is good.  Most of his books are now movies. William Carlos Williams is one of my favorite poets.  Plus he was a character on an episode of Arthur.

What is your favorite website?: Facebook.  I’m completely addicted.  Also, Wikipedia and IMDB are runners up.  I’m usually on one of them at all times.

What is your favorite item in your bedroom?: Here it is probably my guitar.  At home it’s a tie between my guitar and my big comfortable bed.

What, in your opinion, has been the greatest invention of your time?: The internet is a pretty big one, but I’m going to have to go with the iPod.  No more having to carry Walkmen and CDs. 

What is your favorite news source?: CNN.com because it pops up on my home page with the days top stories.

What is your favorite movie series?: Would say the Godfather, but 3 ruins that all.  And I don’t want to give a typical answer with an actual good series, so I’ll give 2 guilty pleasures.  Saw I-IV (with 2 more coming out the next 2 years) and Men In Black/MIB II because Will Smith is my idol.

What is your favorite time of day and why?: I like late in the afternoon.  I’m a night owl so it is like my mid-day.  Plus it means I still have time to put off work for later.

Who is your favorite one-hit wonder?: The Verve’s hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony” is a good choice.  So many to choose from.  It’s sad that every time it plays the Rolling Stones make money.

Which famous person, living or dead, would you like to have a cup of tea with?: Well I’m not much of a tea drinker, but it would be cool to sit down with someone like Martin Luther King, Jr.  I would also love to sit down with Wes Anderson and talk because he is my favorite filmmaker.

What is your favorite quote?: “Gentleman, you can’t fight in here.  This is the War Room!”  I have a better one from Annie Hall, but it is a little too racy for me to put up here.

Are you a dog/cat/other person? why?: Definitely a dog person.  They’re man’s best friend and cats are just creepy.

What is your favorite game?: Monopoly because there are never any winners.  The game just ends with someone quitting and throwing game pieces everywhere. (Click here for Dane Cook's explanation)

Who is your favorite TV villain?: Maybe Ari on Entourage, but he isn’t really a villain. 

Where is the one place in the world you would want to visit?: I really want to go to Australia to see what it’s like down under.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?: Any trash TV on VH1, E!, or MTV.

To finish this survey, we will be stealing questions used at the end of every broadcast of Inside the Actor’s Studio.  James Lipton, the host, always finishes each interview with a questionnaire invented by the great Bernard Pebo. 

- What is your favorite word?: Spatula.  It has an interesting combination of sounds.
- What is your least favorite word?: Barf.  It’s just gross.
- What turns you on (creatively, spiritually, or emotionally)?: Music. 
- What turns you off?: People who aren’t themselves.
- What sound or noise do you love?: A movie camera rolling.
- What sound or noise do you hate? Fran Drescher’s voice/laugh.

- What profession would you like to attempt?: If I were good at math, I would have liked to be an architect.  A college professor actually sounds like a good gig too.  But an airline pilot seems like such a cool job.  I love to travel and even like hanging out in airports (although not on a regular basis – usually just when waiting for a flight).   
- What profession would you absolutely not like to attempt?: Shark fisherman or garbage man seem to be jobs I’m not really looking to ever attempt.
- Finally, if Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?: “I didn’t think you were gunna make it.” or sing some kind of “Welcome to Heaven” theme song.

To comment or debate any of my answers, or just to share your views and continue the discussion with me, be sure to head over to my personal message board thread.  I look forward to hearing from you all.  As always if you have nay Hopkins-related questions, don’t hesitate to ask them there as well.

Where You'll Find Me Now...

I hate to bore you, but not too much has happened since my last blog.

It’s been more trips to Towson, a failed attempt at going down to D.C., hearing stories from friends about seeing Kal Penn (who came to campus to speak for Barack Obama) and Obama himself (who spoke in downtown Baltimore the day before the primary). I also missed an opportunity to see one of my favorite politicians (and Hopkins alum) Michael Bloomberg who was apparently on campus Wednesday morning. 

Thursday marked my second day of Blue Key Society training.  Blue Key is the group that runs the campus tours.  Now my head is filled with random facts about the school like:

#1 – Hopkins is now the number one employer in the state of Maryland.

#2 – Johns Hopkins University was founded because of incest.  Johns Hopkins  was in love with his cousin, but because of his strict Quaker beliefs was unable to marry her and have children.  He had to do something with all that money.

#3 – Princeton is the reason we have different athletic and academic colors.
I don’t want to give away too many in case you are on one of my tours in the future, but I think those are some cool ones.

Since I have no major updates, I’ll leave you with some movie recommendations of films I’ve seen in the past 2 weeks (some not for first time, but they are fresh in my mind):

• The 400 Blows
• Mulholland Drive
• Once (I’ve watched it like 4 times already)
• Science of Sleep
• Rules of the Game
• Two Days in Paris (DO NOT CONFUSE THIS WITH “One Night in Paris”)
• Manhattan

Signing off until next time…

If Work Permits...

Being back at Hopkins is a relief.  Home was getting lame with all my friends going back off to school (or for those still in high school, having school during the week).  I got back here and found myself watching lots of movies as some of my friends finished up intersession and others made their way back to campus.  I mean what else would a film major do?

The new schedule took shape and I’m just about to wrap up my first week of classes in my second semester at Hopkins.  Now we have classes on a more traditional Monday-Wednesday-Friday, Tuesday-Thursday schedule.  This semester I’ve got Social Psych (with Dr. Stephen Drigotas who is possibly my favorite professor here so far – I had him 1st semester for Intro to Psych), IFP II (one of the last classes to have class in the Gilman belltower during renovations and possibly forever), Film Theory (which seems absolutely miserable, but required for my major), Freshman Seminar: The Concept of Natural and Man-Made Humans or something like that (it seems interesting although I’m unsure about the 2 ½ hr class), and Intro to Film Production (which is an amazing class with only 10 people, but I am very lucky to be in it and I must thank Prof. DeLibero for helping me out with that one…a reason to get to know your professors).

I am liking the not having to get up early part of my schedule.  Somehow I managed to work it out so I have class MWF at 11 at the earliest and TTh at 10:30.  I only have 2 classes a day except for Thursday when I have one which I think is pretty sweet. 

But it’s about time I get some shut eye because I have a big weekend ahead of me.  After going to Towson with 2 of my friends on Thursday night, we discovered a) the Melting Pot and b) that there is life in Towson after dark.  Some catching up on studying, but lots of partying is getting underway with another visit to Towson late tomorrow night.  TTFN

P.S. The third installment of my favorite YouTube series has been up for a few weeks now.  Check out David Blaine Street Magic Pt. 3

Sleep All Damn Day

So for those of you that read this that haven’t been living with me for the past 5 or so weeks, you might be wondering what I’ve been up to.

Well first off I’ve been getting some much needed rest in a warm comfortable bed.  I’ve been eating well (and by well I mean lots of take out).  There has been a lot of checking facebook (and if you are an ED admit you know I check the incoming freshman group religiously because I have a serious addiction – but the first step is admitting you have a problem right?) 

In other news, as embarrassing as it is my mom recently wrote a blog on the “Blue Jay Buffet” blog.  Also, I’m very jealous that it snowed a lot in Baltimore because I love the snow.  I got the news from my friends back at Hopkins for Intersession and immediately checked the weather forecast.  And now I’m somewhat worried about my plans to head back to school because my grandparents are driving me back (and apparently buying me enough snacks to last me for the final 7 semesters at Hopkins) and don’t want to drive in the snow.  So we’ll see in the next few days what happens. 

Other than what’s been mentioned, I’ve been playing music, watching TV, hanging out with friends (even a trip to see Hopkins people in NYC), going to see some of my favorite bands play, and “studying” which as a film major means going to the movies and catching up greatly on my Netflix queue which has soley belonged to my brother before I came home and commandeered it the past few months. 

Here are some of the highlights:
Atonement, I Am Legend, Juno, Annie Hall, Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia, Reign Over Me, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, Reservoir Dogs, Barry Lyndon, The Science of Sleep, The Bourne Ultimatum, Schindler’s List, American Psycho, The Rules of Attraction, The Jacket, My Private Idaho, Flakes, For Your Consideration, and all 6 Freaks and Geeks DVDs -  plus all the movies that I watched over for the 2nd, 3rd, 100th times.  I wish my Netflix plan could have sent me more than 3 movies, but I’ll watch more over the summer and I recommend all of the films mentioned. 

I’ll leave you with some footage of one of the musicians I saw over break, Kevin Devine who is one of my top 3 or 4 favorite artists.  He’s an amazing songwriter so check him out in the video, on others on YouTube, and on iTunes! 

I’ll also leave you all with two quotes from one of the movies above (you’ll have to research which one though) that hopefully will console those of you going through the application process:

“Hey, Harvard makes mistakes too! Kissinger taught there!”

“Sun is bad for you. Everything our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat... college.”

TTFN.