my three witches (minus one)

Ella and Milena trick-or-treating at my house before I have to dash to class (on Halloween?! stinks!)

Little Willa had to stay home sick

the thing with microwave popcorn is

I always get greedy I know it's going to burn but every pop I think "there's another one I woudn't have gotten if I'd stopped by now" and then I end up with a full bag of inedible popcorn

(this is a picture of breakfast, I'm not sure why)

good behavior bangs & bad behavior bangs

charles

Head of the charles was fun. Lots of venders with chowder and cider and also a band playing (rowapalooza) all set to the back drop of rowers streaming by down the charles river. You almost feel bad for partying while people are working so hard. rebecca (the landlord) asked if I rowed, I told her that I didn't have the upper strength (curse you Busco) The best band was Nada Surf (0f KOHS "Teenage Guide to Popularity" fame). They were good

The weather was also good--which was a kind of luck because the night before we had torrential rain. I've been waiting for that rain ever since Paul (the other landlord) pulled down my storm windows; I've been waiting for a chance for him to say "good thing I pulled down the storm windows"

Today the regatta continues and some friends and I are going to picnic along the river this afternoon. they are cheering for some bear

mad weird

I cut some mad weird bangs while Mandy was here. Actually we went under together at a very shady SuperCuts where all the magazines, posters and customers were men. She had to re-talk me into it twice. I'll try and post lots of pics in the coming days so you can see them properly...they don't always look this guinea-piggish
Tommorrow and Sunday is the head of the charles regatta--lots of JCrew fans rowing down the river. one of those beantown traditions I got the nannying job with the Kittermans (kittermen) only their old nanny doesn't really leave until early November I am also starting the taxicab driver study this week--got my first installment of Dunkin' Donut gift cards to hand out. Woooo I'm sure that will give me lots to say

Happy Halloween (say it like the tape)

last week was a black rain cloud that wouldn't rain, but tomorrow Mandy is coming for my birthday visit and now everything is sunshine and sea dogs

the concert

Do you know what I'm doing? I have this big tub of fluff (it's like marshmellow guts) and I threw a handful of teddy grams in it and then I'm digging them back out one by one with chopsticks so I can eat them for dinner. These are things you can't do when you grow up and become responsible. Tonite was the mixfest concert with: Augustana, Natasha Bedingfield, KT Tungstall, Meatloaf (!), Rihanna and James Blunt. Call it a party for my secret pop addiction. It was good. I think Natasha Bedingfield was my favorite. Her songs kill me. KT Tungstall, though I don't love her kind of bluesy music, was really neat. She did most of her back up vocals while on stage (using one of those foot pedals that record something and then can play it over and over). Very cool. Meatloaf was crazy. Oh my gosh, it was such a weird classic rock extravaganza while he was on stage but I couldn't join in--everyone was singing along but none of it was making any sense to me. His music just confuses me. Someone from the appropriate generation please explain. James Blunt was the last singer. Whoa! First time I've ever gone to a concert and then wished I hadn't found out what the singer looks like up close. He has crazy eyes. Every time he sang lyrics like "I'm out of my mind" and "where is my mind" I was like "yes, you are nuts! Please put on more of the nice pop singers." No, I liked seeing him, he just had this look! like his face was about to explode and all he could do about it was keep singing and try and warn us with his eyes! ha ha
Tomorrow I will babysit for the Kittermens for the first time. I'm ridiculously excited--only because I crave interacting with little kids like I crave beans. I am going to play till the cow comes jumping over the moon with milk in his belly and burl ives on his back! Ha that's another one of those things in English you aren't supposed to do. Aren't blogs great? I can do whatever I want. Buenas noches.
meeeeeeeeeeeeErin

Sleeping on the Job

Hey! What!
I don't know why lately I have this obsession with gangster talk. I can't stop thinking it's funny. Last night we went visiting teaching for the first time and I gave them each this card with our phone numbers and stuff that said "VT's in the house! Word!" in big letters on the top and I thought it was so funny. They were just both like "uh, thanks".
Well, ha ha, it's been quite the hiatus and I am guessing that cost me about 75% of my readership (of four), but that's okay. I'm doing it for me! Yeah.
Do you ever find yourself losing the battle and laughing uncontrollably at really innappropriate (ah! I was rejected as a copy editor for a reason) times? This happened to me (it's been happening a lot lately, actually--"it's the brain drain. His brain is draining." Anyone besides Andrew that can place that quote wins something amazing) yesterday when we had a guest speaker from India in our International Health class. About half a minute into his speech I realized he didn't really speak English. [It took me half a minute because at first I thought I was either hallucinating (it's been a weird past couple of weeks) or else that I had forgotten English, but then I realized that about every third word was either a) not English or b) incoherent] Anyway, that in and of itself wasn't that funny, but then he wrote the word "additing" on the board and then kept pointing at it and underlining it and I was just sitting there wondering what on earth he was trying to say. Then I remembered that time in Africa where we sat in on an English class as the special American gueststars (wooo!) and the (african) teacher was writing these sentences up on the board for his students to copy, but they actually didn't make any kind of sense and all of us couldn't stop laughing even though it was really innappropriate. Then I started laughing at "additing" and I felt like I would never stop. Well, that's my story for you.
Erin

MUGAR (myou' gar)

ha ha ha I am writing this from the Mugar, BU's undergrad library. I like to say Mugar as much as possible in a day. I feel kind of renegade posting from another computer than my laptop--woooo, it's exhilarating. I just watched Akeela and the Bee (Mandy!) and now I am very spelling paranoid. But I am a graduate of the English language and that gives me more than certain privaliges ha ha ha
Today was a bust kind of a day, so I thought I'd better at least make something of the night and come out exploring Big BU to find a good place to watch the Survivor season premier--you know, doing something with my life and all that. I found kind of a Cougareat of sorts with tvs, but no sound really coming from them, so I ran around looking for something else and ended up walking on the treadmill for the hour just so I could watch Survivor on their tv. I guess it's a good comprismise: waste an hour of my life watching tv, but get an hour of, albeit minimal, exercise. It's funny because I use their treadmills a lot, but usually for running, so tonite I felt like I was breaking the law or something and like everyone there was going to know my true motivation had nothing to do with working out. I kept swinging my arms really big and taking deep sighs so no one would catch on.
Well friends, let me tell you a little bit about my floormate, Firas (fee-ross). He is Lebanese/French and he is an economics (why?!!) undergrad at BU. I don't know how old he is because we only ever talk to eachother in these short weird little spurts (ME acting weird around a guy, I know it's really hard to imagine) about things like how much cereal we are eating and how our landlords kind of freak us out. He is a good looking kid--I'll take his picture sometime. He's also nice, smiles a lot, leaves the toilet seat up (ha ha ha or sometimes doesn't and then I know he was pooping and it's even worse) and sometimes randomly microwaves things at 4 in the morning--like last night. I asked him about it and he said he couldn't sleep so he decided to microwave something. I guess that's the story of Firas. Not a lot to say.
There is also a random Taiwanese man (married) living downstairs who uses our fridge, etc. too and then I guess this weekend the long awaited third floormate from India is supposed to arrive. I'm in such an international hot spot, huh? Good thing I am trained well
Well I'm going to walk the Mugar. Good night peeps. Sweet dreams

Okay peeps...

I'm turning the comments back on, but don't think for a second I can't just turn them right back off...So hey! I know a lot of you like to call me and I don't like to answer my phone...ha ha ha. It's my little joke. Am I busy? I don't know--I'm never around, but I'm not sure what I am accomplishing. We, the unemployed, have made an art of spending time without results. But it's not the same as wasting time--I am a student of the world.
Here is my basic schedule:
Mon 11-12 swim class/3:30-5 public health law/6-8 biostatistics
Tues 9:30-12 social & behavioral sciences in int health/6-8:45 comparative health systems
Wed 11-12 swim class/6-8 epidemiology
Th
Fri
Sat
Sun 10-1 church
Fill in the blanks with lots of time: riding the shuttle bus, running, eating donuts (an east coast obsession), going to med school seminars where they offer free food (Mom, ask me about the one I just sat in on about perimenopausal breast cancer), getting lost on my bike in the streets of Boston, reading long dry public health stuff, doing kind of vague mysterious stuff that unemployed people do.
Ha ha...(nervous Mary Elizabeth laughter)...I'm kind of freaking out about finding a job, but no worries...ha ha ha...something will pop UP
in the mean time I'm rubbing pennies
-erin

Hey! Yo!

You know who talks like that? The Koolaid guy.
Well, there are just two (or maybe three) great things that happened today and I wanted to share it:

1. I went to free swim today and after an hour of self concocted drills I ended up with a pretty decent freestyle. I think that no one but me can really appreciate this, but believe me the difference is BIG. Now I know why newborn babies cry so much: they have to learn how to deal with air. I can relate now, having come from the opposite side. Anyway, when I freestyle now I keep my head in the water (versus my previous weird awkward doggy paddling) and then turn it to the side like a whale coming up for air, you should see it-I am so cute! Ha ha that's funny, but my swimsuit is reversable and that is kind of cute.

2. I just got back from "interviewing" with a family that I might nanny for twice a week. Their three girls are 2,4,6 (kind of like my kitties only fastforwarded a year) and they are really cute. The youngest one kept running around with no pants on (because she's potty training) and reaking havoc while we were trying to talk and when they asked the 4 year old if she had any questions for me she said "what's 8 plus 8?" It was so cute my face exploded off my head and I had to run away to catch it. Hopefully things will work out with them, but they'll let me know after the camping trip.

3. I am going camping for the weekend to Camp Joseph Sharon, VT. Wooo! I've never been to Vermont before and I am pretty excited yeah.

4. That's it really. See you next week.

PS
This foot belongs to Brooklyn.I love you--erin

Kicked Out: the story of swim class

Part One: Ready for my second day of classes, starting with Swim class

As a grad student I can take BU undergrad classes for free, so I decide to take "fitness swimming" to learn how to really do my strokes right (Tye/Mel did they teach us that at PHS? I think we must have been playing with the jukebox...or was that in bowling...).

Part Two: The alien getup

At BU's pool you have to wear a swim cap and sometimes (like in my case) that makes you look like an alien. My class is challenging--although I am not very graceful I am excited that I'm able to complete all the lap drills in okay time. My biggest problem: breathing like a swimmer (i.e. through your mouth and not very often) and not like a runner (i.e. lots of water up your nose).

Part Three: Disaster Strikes

After class my teacher pulls me aside and tells me that I swim like a retard. She recommends that I join a beginners swim class so that I don't injure myself or others. I'm crushed.

Part Four/Conclusion: Making peace

After nursing my pride back to reasonable health I stick around for an hour and then sit in on the "stroke improvement" class. Yes! More semi-retards like me and lots more attention to detail and technique. I am home. I declare a peace treaty between me and the teacher who kicked me out.

The End

Next time: adventures in Biostatistics

My First Day of School

I made it

After yesterday's nuts BUSPH orientation (which took the WHOLE DAY) it was really nice to devote this day to finding a bike route to the temple and enjoying the afternoon there.

There were only 3 patrons at the temple (it was a Friday afternoon on labor day weekend...), so all of the old ladies working there were hovering around me like I was a new bride, asking me about BYU and Boston and everything. They couldn't get over the fact that I had riden my bike up from Brookline ("oh my goodness! You're so athletic!"--and how, let me tell you) and one of the Sisters about kicked me out at the end of the session because she didn't want me riding home in the dark.

The Boston temple is very simple and beautiful. It was kind of a miracle to find something so familiar here in a place I have never been to before and it brought some comfort to my nagging homesickness.
Tomorrow the landlords are back from vacation (I've spent this week pretty much entirely alone) so I am excited to have other people in the house again. My new floor mates should be moving in soon too(!). I guess that means no more dancing around the house in my swimming suit....at least not after tonite....I love you -erin

True Love

I was warned that Boston is full of beautiful distractions.

When I told people where I was going to grad school they would inevitably go off on how attractive everybody is out here and how I was going to find some moody rockstar harvard poet physicist that would finally do me in.
No, I would tell them, I am going to Boston as a student. I am going to study.
Well, class hasn't started yet and I'm afraid I have already fallen victim to not one, but 2 (TWO!) beautiful Bostonians. It happened yesterday when all my plans to bike up to the temple and get pretty much anything done were foiled by lots and lots of rain. So, after more than half the day stuck inside I decided to run (I don't have an umbrella yet) to the thrift store down my street and check it out. It is a really great thrift store because it is Jewish but you don't have to be Jewish to shop there (you just have to wear a yamacca) and they have lots of crazy junk, just how I like it.
Anyway, I was doing fine--I avoided eye contact with the beautiful black man with dreds (long beautiful ones) who works there and I thought I was in the clear when suddenly I saw one of them. He was just kind of hanging out in the electronics department (to use the term loosely--mostly remote controls and old hair dryers) with this look like he had no one in the world. It broke my heart and when I saw his cute little rainbow stripe I fell in love. A couple seconds after the big blow I realized that he wasn't alone--he had a brown friend, equally lonely and equally beautiful. I totally lost it. What can I say...I am human? I knew I had to make them mine. The good news, I guess, is that they were only 5 bucks a piece, cheaper than the collection I left in Provo. And since all of this crazy business of love is taken care of early, now I can really focus on the important stuff.

like school.
-meErin

My Beauty

!!!!!I did it! Today I found Boston U medical campus and the beautiful Public Health building. When I saw it I almost started to cry--I think after the loooong process of applying/waiting to be accepted/working out housing and financial aid/waiting for the end of August, etc., that I forgot that eventually I would get to actually go to the school.
I didn't cry, but I did start prancing around the courtyard like a crazy mule and probably scared a lot of my future classmates. Oh well, "CELEBRATE WE WILL!"
Actually, speaking of Boston and public displays of insanity, one thing I already love about this city is that no one is really surprised by anything (and there is a lot of anything here). Like at the MJ sing-a-long a few nights ago (which, by the way, was incredible--they even showed Captain EO!!!), there were so many crazy mofes--new age punks, couples of questionable gender, crazy Eastern Europeans wearing one white glove--and it didn't matter. We were there for the music man! or the fedoras or something.
Church was great-more about that later...tomorrow I am going to find a bike route to the temple if this seaside rain ever lets up...meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeErin

Day 3

Well, yesterday I ended up spending most of my time (and the night) with my Boston cousins, Ray and Andrea. Before Andrea picked me up I did get a little exploring in and found (among other things):
* a mini Gap, Staples, Trader Joe's and Borders all within 5 minutes of my house (in case I suddenly become rich instead of in debt)
* lots of Jewish stuff (Kristia would be proud)--apparently this is a pretty Kosher area and in fact my landlord's daughter is converting to Judaism
* JFK's birthplace (right around my corner actually)
* an independent movie house--this week's specials: Lawrence of Arabia and a Michael Jackson sing-a-long tomorrow night (!! it's like they knew I was coming)
* 3 sushi places (I applied to waitress at one, but I think I wasn't Asian enough--they just looked at me funny and then told me to leave my number)
Tonite I am eating chicken and stars soup with a fork and watching the slideshow of Mandy and me a little excessively...Little White Duck just gets better and better with repetition... tommorrow's plans:
Find a thriftstore (and a spoon)
Go on a run despite my stupid knees
Make a friend to take to the MJ sing-a-long
Time a walk to BU medical campus (where I'll be taking my classes)
Find a library (free DVDs are free friends when you're lonely)
Figure out how to cross streets like a Bostonian
-erin

Blah-gg

Umm...is this working? This is my first blahg from Boston! Yeah man! I want to dedicate this to my two most favorite people in the whole world..Patrick and this big peanut guy!
I would also like to give a shout out to:
moflo
burl
smelly
tye-marie-to-a-tree
A-Bob
Angela Mae
Mer
Iroal
Big H & little l
rmml
moses
Ash
lili
rori
say csar
pitty-pat
tanga (!)
captain no
bunsai
summy-buddy
fifi hipper-skopper
anak
nay
my kitties
Nee coli
J Dawg
Yo, yo! Sup! your nicknames turned me into a gangster.

Boston is already the coolest place alive--driving through it felt like London (not Ontario TP...), but with a new kind of humidity that curled my hair and made me stuffy. The only part I have really explored so far is this 1890's Victorian house--some of my favorite features: exxtra (double x) wide front door (that my landlords had me "practice" shutting correctly several times before they would give me a key), 2 windy staircases (yes, both lead to the same place), original stained glass windows and a basement full of half fixed bikes (!!). Downstairs is a crazy eclectic mess of books and antiques; upstairs is white walls screaming for Brooklyn art.
Tomorrow I take on the outdoors.

-meeeeErin