Starting a New Chapter

If someone were to write a book about my life, everything that took place up until now would be the first, and smallest section. It would include cute anecdotes about my childhood and high school and leaving for university and many tales of debauchery from Shippensburg. But that’s pretty much it. There would be mentions of getting through hard times; issues with my brother, run-ins with the police (not my own, I assure you), several deaths in the family and things of that nature. Things that we had to get through as a family, with my mom and dad and Jennifer most of the time.

But here is where the story turns, this is section two. Now I will be depending more on my friends and peers for support than my parents. Now is the time that I will be deciding which friends to take with me into adulthood and which friends will become acquaintances from my youth.

This will be a time of renewal, of replenishment and hopefully, growth. It is also a time of great uncertainty for me. I don’t have a job, I have no idea what I’m going to do about that or where to go or even what to think about it. I haven’t completed my senior thesis and haven’t even truly started it, I don’t yet even have a place to live when I move out on Thursday, and even with all of these things going hard against me, I am comforted with the knowledge that I will be taken care of, that there is a higher power out there that will guide me through these wary times. Now I suppose is the time for me to put my faith in that power and jump off of that cliff, hoping to land safely.

There is a fantastic quote from a television show, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” We all invent our futures, we do so with the actions and inactions of today.

Time only will tell if what I’ve invented was right. That will have to be section three.

Farewell, February.

It's been an eventful month, let's review, shall we?

2nd: I didn't get to make it to Punxsutawney this year but I watched it on the news, and darn if that Phil wasn't dead on with his prediction of six more weeks of winter. I made up for my absence in Punxsey by watching Groundhog Day three times, and once with commentary. (Punxsa-SHIPPENSBURG!)

11th: Thought Jenn was gonna have the baby today, Brianna didn't feel like it. WAY too cold I guess. This was my Aunt Nancy's birthday. She would have been 44.

14th: My Mommy's birthday!! She turned [deleted due to paradoxical age gap]. Also, Valentine's Day! I normally dislike V Day, but I saw the monologues and renewed my Feminist flame.

15-16th: TWO FEET OF SNOW

19th: Went mall-walking with Grandparents, mom, and Jenn to try and walk the baby out. Found out more about my grandparent's sex life than I ever, EVER needed to know.

23rd: Jennifer Finally had the baby!! 5 days late, but she's here now! The 23rd was actually Aunt Nancy's due date, she was early, but her granddaughter was late to the party.

28th: Brandon starts his week stay on our couch. he didn't bring a change of clothes, pajamas, a toothbrush, pillow, or anything actually. This should be interesting.

Well, there you have it. Goodbye February, it was fun while it lasted. We got record snowfall for the month, I watched a record amount of West Wing, and I got me a niece. Can not wait for Spring!!! Vernal Equinox, bring it on!

Jenn's Baby

So, Jennifer went into labor again last night (this time it's real). It's been four false alarms but now this seems to be it. They went to the hospital at 6:30pm and her labor had started a bit before that. It's now 6pm the next day and they've decided to give her a c-section. After 24 hours she was still only 6 centimeters dilated, and that was after the balloon-thing that they put up her vag to help with the dilation. They also had to break her water. Damn that kid really does not want to come out. We think it's because she knows it's cold out.

Jenn's really upset about that because she wanted a vaginal birth, but oh well. The important thing is getting Brianna out safely. Einstein hospital only allows 2 people in the delivery room, so it's Dolly and Mike (the dad) and Dolly was really emotional  when I talked to her. I hope she's not making it harder for J!

I'll be doing blog-updates throughout the night so I guess we'll see how it goes!

**UPDATE**

I have a niece! Finally! Brianna Naomi Curcio, 7:14pm, Feb 23, 2010. 7lb 12oz, 19 inches! Mazel Tov Jennifer and Michael!

Yeah, I'm Still in College.

Well, I figured I should do some updates about School, seeing as how we're 5 weeks into the semester already. I have three classes, African American Politics (with the Rev. Dr. Ronnie B. Tucker), 300 Advanced American Government and Public policy (boo it sucks), and um... Oh yeah, macroeconomics.

It's all interesting... at least in African American Politics, advanced american kind of blows, but at least it's not super difficult. I think I'm rocking a solid B right now, after 5 quizzes and one test. I got my first test back for macro and I got a 94% so I'm really excited about that.

I'm still working on my senior thesis. We'll see how that goes.

Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Yet Another, Hopefully the Last.

Today was the first day of my last semester of Undergrad. I don't really know what I think about that. On one hand I feel like it's finally within reach!! but on the other... what am I supposed to do after this? I have been a student (not always a good one) for about twenty years now. What else is there?

I suppose that remains to be seen....

Yet Another for neice Brianna.

Well, I left all of my yarn in Shippensburg when I came home for the holiday... so... time for a new plan. I bought this great wool-ease yarn by Lion Brand, I've been using a lot of simply Soft lately, but I saw the wool-ease and decided to just go for it. I needed something quick to get ready for the baby shower that is fast approaching.

I got 2 skeins each of raspberry and fisherman, an off-white. My Great-Aunt Carol gave me this fab old houndstooth pattern from a book she got about 40 years ago. I had to cut the pattern in half because of the thickness of the yarn, but Oh! let me tell you. I love it. it's going quickly and it's heavy and thick and warm (good for a winter baby!) but it's still really soft. One thing I never understood is why people make baby blankets out of worsted wool, no parent in their right mind is going to let a baby's soft skin near that blanket. The only problem is that I way underestimated my yarn usage because I am about a third of the way through and already done with my first skeins. So, off to Michaels I go to get 1 more of each.

I'll put up the pattern and pictures and such when it's finished. I didn't exactly follow the pattern (well, that was predictable, right??) but I like how it's turning out. Hopefully Brianna likes it too!!

I'm thinking about Quilts for the twins Jack and Sarah (my mom and Joe's grandbabies). I found a cute pattern that will translate easily to boy's and girl's colors. I missed Christmas and their birthday (they turned two on October 22) but I don't really think it matters. It'll probably take me until their next birthday to finish them anyway!!

Blanket for Brianna

So... my little cousin is having a baby. She's having a girl, and the dad is my step-brother. That's complicated, and clearly a conversation for another day. Don't worry folks, we're not moving to West Virginia yet.

I didn't want to get her a Christmas present because you don't get rewarded for stupidity, but it's not the kid's fault so I'm making her a baby blanket for her pre-first-Christmas. (She's due in February). I found this pattern for a triangle-square-ish patterned blanket. And I am changing it to have a slit halfway up the middle to fit nicely in the car seat without falling onto the ground. I'm kind of making the pattern up as I go (as I often do), so we'll see what happens!

Here is a link to the pattern on the Carron Site
Accra Tri-Colored Baby Blanket- designed by K.J.Hay

Washington DC Trip!!

Friday I was able to go down to Washington with my Political Satire class. We stayed at the fabulous Marriot Metro Center we had to write that on a card and pin it to our jackets. Well, not really, but we had to repeat that a few times as a group. Dr. D really didn't want us to forget. Maybe she shoulda just had us fill out permission slips. I can picture it: the next week, “Hey, Dr. D, did Jane ever come back from that field trip?” [She hugs her stack of permission slips and smells them like they are stack of hundreds] “Why, no. No she didn't. But she did sign this permission slip.”

That's The Capitol at the end of the street and the FBI building in street bottom left.

Anyway, we went to the Old Post Office with it's amazing views of the city (see above), got some Fab pictures and wandered around the city for a bit. Apparently there was a fancy party at the White House because we saw a huge long line of people dressed all pretty going in. We went to the Mall and saw the National Christmas Tree, did you know that they have little toy train towns set up around the tree? And there are normal-sized trees surrounding the super-huge tree representing each state. It was so pretty!!

Afterwards, we went to see the Capitol Steps (!) and met with their producer, and one of their writers, Elaine Newport, who was absolutely awesome. She answered our questions and gave us all a copy of their Obama Mia! Cd, which I already have but now I have 2! The Show was amazing, it was clever and hilarious and just great. After the show we did a group picture with them.

Then we had dinner and bed. Some of the group went out, but I just crashed. In the morning it was Off to the Metro! And home to Ship, just in time to drive through the first snow. Good times. God, I love college field trips.

Really, America?

First of all- PROPS to William for posting "UBL" on my friend Amanda's Facebook. FINALLY! Someone gets the guy's friggin name right. This is one of my pet peeves. (Of which I have several.) The man is Usama bin Laden. You may know him as Osama bin Laden. You would be wrong. The FBI and the State Department have ALWAYS called him Usama, or UBL. For no apparent reason after September 11th, 2001, the American Media changed his name. Maybe it's because they (I mean "They") didn't want a terrorist who took more American lives than anyone ever before to have a name that begins with USAma, or maybe some intern at a news office messed it up by accident and they just ran with it. Who knows? Either way, its Usama bin Laden. End of story. Don't believe me? Just ask the FBI. Go to the FBI website, and on the middle right-hand side there's a link that says "Most Wanted Terrorists" click it, He's numero uno. Look, I'll even provide you with a link. THE FBI

MOVING ON.

Something I would like to say: you can't let the world get you down and I'll tell you why. Did Bartlet let conflict between India and Pakistan get him down? No. he immediately got the ambassadors in the white house and tried to dissipate the situation. One man. and the guy has MS. 

What did Josh and Toby do when they met Matt Kelly at that little bar? Did they despair at the poor conditions of the economy? Or did they do something about it? No one thought that they could, not even the President of the United States, but they had an idea and they ran with it. That, my friend, is going to be you (or us?!) some years from now.

Just remember from 20 Hours in America, part 2:

JOSH: Campaigns aren't about the candidates.

TOBY: No?

JOSH: They're about the voters. How-how are we going to create jobs? how-how are we going to get healthcare? How are we going to make the lights go on? How are we going to protect ourselves?

The point is that it's not about the state of affairs, it's not about what has, could, or will happen, it's about YOU. It's about the future of politics. It's what we are going to do to fix the world. And you can't lose hope for change, because Faith that you can change it is the only thing that will ever change the world. And a little bit of cynicism can be good. It's what allows us to not simply accept the status quo, but to effect change. To demand change. The key is to stay just critical enough to force a change, but not too much that you lose the faith that you can.

JOSH: Learn things. Be good to each other. Read the newspapers, go the movies, go to a party. Read a book. In the meantime, remember pluralism. You want to get these people? I mean, you really want to reach in and kill them where they live? Keep accepting more than one idea. Makes 'em absolutely crazy.

Josh then, of course, reminds the students to refrain from stealing anything before they leave :) I leave you with that my dear. That and the promise to send you a special present!! 

Coffee, papers, class, library, sleep, repeat

It has come to my attention that there are only five more weeks until finals. How did that happen? It seems that I just finished all of my midterm papers last week. Weekends and evenings are now entirely devoted to the library and papers.

I have at least one full book a week for Satire- lets say about 300 pages. Pearls, Politics and Power for Women in Politics, at the same time as the The Handmaid's Tale- 224 and 324 pages, respectively. Not to mention the papers and questions related to the books. Also articles read and reviewed for Comparative Politics, and that isn't even touching upon the senior thesis for the Capstone. And I'm only taking four classes!

I hardly have time to breathe, let alone sleep or hang out with friends.

And then- there's the Swine Flu. This virus has been around campus with a fury as of yet unseen by our generation. More friends than I can count are “out with the oink” as they say. So now we have to deal with epidemic influenza, regular seasonal influenza, colds, weather (we do live in the Wind Tunnel of Shippensburg), family obligations, relationships, working (gotta pay the rent), and more papers than I have time to write let alone do the readings for. It's all a little overwhelming.

Why do professors think that the only things we have to do in a week concern their class?

I just keep telling myself: Just finish the semester, that's all you have to do. Just pass these four classes, then it's all over. It will be so much better once you finish this semester. But then I think of the classes for next semester, and what I am going to do after graduation, and how am I going to find the time for all of this- and now I don't know what to do.

I need more coffee. Sigh.