"No Golf For You!"

I have golfed on several occasions in the past, but I wouldn't consider myself a golfer. However, for the first time ever, I decided that maybe I'd take advantage of the low, $2 student price at the golf course and play nine holes with a friend. So after work Friday afternoon, my friend and I set out for the Vassar Golf Course, expecting to play a casual game and have fun. Well, having fun was poor anticipation on my part. As soon as we walked into the clubhouse to arrange a tee time, I knew that Friday was not my day for golf. "Excuse me?" the club manager retorted in disgust after I said that we were there to play golf. "Well, then you will need to change. I'd prefer that you wear a collared shirt, and no cut-offs," he said, pointing at my khaki shorts, which were quite clearly not cutoffs. I could hardly believe my ears. I've heard of golf courses having dress codes, but for a college course, especially Vassar, it seemed really strict. I definitely didn't see that one coming. Dress codes go against everything Vassar stands for, such as creativity and self-expression. In fact, compared to many of my classmates, I'd say that I dress pretty conservatively; and there was the club manager, staring at me as if I were naked. At that point, I decided that the Vassar Golf Course was no longer worth my time or my $2, and my friend and I left in a huff, certain that mini-golf was a better idea.

Considering my lack of golf skills, I'd consider myself a pretty skilled putter. After being denied a tee-time at the Vassar Golf Course, we went to a pretty large course on Route 9 in Wappinger Falls called "Fun Central," and it was at that point when I realized what normal Poughkeepsie families do on the weekends, and the answer is not "putt-putt." In fact, I think I discovered the key to child obesity when I noticed the huge number of kids inside playing video games as opposed to the few outside playing putt-putt. At one point, a little girl walked outside onto the mini-golf course and indicated to her father that she wanted to play. "No, you don't want to play that," he said, "Come back inside and play video games!" At that moment I felt like an undercover sociologist studying American family dynamics in relation to physical health. Spending a majority of four years of your life reading sociological texts will do that to you.

In order to end the day more successfully than it had started, an evening movie screening seemed like a safe bet. The great thing about Vassar is the ease with which you can hold your own private film screening. My friend and I went to Rockefeller Hall, and, finding Rocky 200 (one of few lecture halls on campus) unoccupied, we closed the shades, turned on the DVD projector, and brought "Some Like It Hot" back to the big-screen. Of course, my description makes it sound a lot easier than it actually was. At one point I was so frustrated that I called my boyfriend and asked him how the projector worked, and he replied, "How do you expect me to help you from 1000 miles away?!" But lo and behold, I eventually figured it out. While I was denied the ability to play golf on the Vassar course, it all seemed to even out after I figured out how to get both the sound and the picture to play at the same time.

As an end note, today marks exactly one month until classes start, three weeks until students come to campus, and two weeks until I get to move into my TA. Hold tight! A packing list is on the way....

Cruisin For Quarters

Last Thursday I saw my family for the first time since April. Considering my parents and youngest brother live in Ohio, I usually only see them once every few months (just the way I like it). Usually it's not very exciting to see them, but when they offered to take me on a cruise at their expense, how could I say no? 3 days off of work.... food everywhere (and you know I love food).... spas.... unlimited gym and party time.... It was definitely worth my while.

Between Thursday and Monday, I cruised with my parents, youngest brother, aunt, uncle, and my eleven year old cousin from New York City to Saint John, New Brunswick. In theory, the idea of being locked up on a ship with only my family and a bunch of random people I don't know is pretty scary, but after experiencing it, it's not really that bad. You can do pretty much whatever you want. Me? I ate, I sat in the hot tub, I ate, I sat in the hot tub, I ate..... You get the picture. By the time I got back to campus, I was in desperate need to adjust my diet and visit a gym, but four whole days of gluttony and sloth was worth a little too much cholesterol and possibly putting on an extra pound.

Now, I'd been on a cruise before, but this particular cruise was pretty unusual. For one thing, out of the 3500 passengers on the ship, over 700 were Indian. It was really bizarre. Of course I realized it was strange that there were so many Indian passengers, but I just sort of assumed it was just a really big family reunion.... with 700+ attendees. Hey, some people have huge families. It was only when I got back to New York when I found out that the group had come from a special program called Masala Cruises featuring famous Bollywood entertainment on board. If only I would have known....

When I got back from the cruise, I took my car (that's right, my parents finally pulled through and brought me an old Volvo!) and visited the supermarket to fill up my empty refrigerator. I'm assuming you've seen the shopping carts that make you deposit a quarter in order to use it? Well, you know your life is sad when you run around the parking lot collecting stray carts and taking the quarter deposits out of them in order to pay for your groceries. I was actually thinking about going out all day Saturday and making a side job out of it.

While at the supermarket I made sure to get all the deals. I bought a few 30 cent cans of beans on the reduced rack, but wheeled my cart away when I realized that Stop and Shop was trying to sell a half eaten box of cereal for $1.50. Are they serious? How can they think they are going to sell that? Sometimes I think that half the stuff that goes on over there is a joke.

After checking out with my Stop and Shop card, I also got a coupon for 10 cents off each gallon of gas next time I use the Stop and Shop gas pumps. Now that's what I call a deal.

Unfortunately, my latest horoscope mentioned "financial upheavals" and wouldn't you know it, the Vassar Post Office put my paycheck in someone else's P.O. Box and the payroll office still hasn't gotten me direct deposit even though I signed up for it in May. The horoscope also mentioned that things are bound to get worse after the full moon on the 29th, so as far as I know, those happenings are omens. If things over here get any worse, I just might become an Astrology believer.....

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part I

One of the things that I decided to do this summer to combat my boredom is to learn an instrument. Earlier this summer I decided it would be really cool to play the Ukulele, then went ahead and purchased one online. Now I'll admit it, sometimes I'm a pretty impulsive buyer, but my decision to get the ukulele was one of the better impulsive purchases I'd ever made. Since receiving the ukulele, I've been playing it nearly everyday in my room, intensely struggling to wrap my fingers around the frets to form notes. And it hasn't been easy, that's for sure. I took piano lessons as a child, so I can read music and understand some music theory, but unlike a lot of students here, I've never played a string instrument before and learning is no picnic, or piece of cake, for that matter. (Mmmm... cake.) But over the past two weeks I've managed to learn six chords and one song, which is definitely better than I had expected.

But of course, my decision to learn an instrument wasn't made completely on a whim. Learning an instrument serves several purposes for me: first of all, it's just fun. I can just pick it up after work and poorly strum away my sorrows (I have a thing for being melodramatic). Second, it gives me a goal. Learning, of course. Third, every time I meet one of my boyfriend's friends or relatives, they ask me which instrument I play. Apparently because I'm going out with a musician who happens to come from a very musically talented family, I must play some sort of instrument myself. Helloooooo, just because he's a musician doesn't mean he has to be dating one! But I still remember the look of disappointment his grandmother had on her face when I said, "Umm, I don't play an instrument. Sorry."

A few of my friends on campus play in a campus band called Molasses Wave Disaster, which is named after the Boston Molasses Disaster that occurred in 1919. They call themselves a mix of Radiohead and The Police and they play shows around campus during the year. Personally, I think they're awesome, but I'm also pretty biased. You can check out their stuff at myspace.com/molasseswavedisaster. My friends Chel, Natalie, and Xanna are all in the group and formed their own side project-a chick band called The Pantyliners and Chel said that if I learn how to play the ukulele, I can join! I always wanted to be in a band, but I suppose learning an instrument helps.....

Sunday I went outside to practice my ukulele-I tried learning the song "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part I" by the Flaming Lips with a headphone in one ear, so that I could strum while listening to the music. For the most part, it was a disaster and I couldn't move my fingers fast enough, and then I got rained out, but I'm sure I looked pretty cool, which is exactly what I was going for. Maybe I'll do that again sometime.

HARRY POTTER V!

So last night I most definitely sacrificed my health and well being (aka sleep) for the opportunity to see the premiere of the movie "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix." There are less than two weeks left until the seventh book comes out and because I've read all of the books only once, the movies are a good way to reinforce what's going on. Unfortunately some of the things in the movie were slightly altered for the big screen, but I knew that the changes were inevitable. What's more important is that I saw it at the first showing, which makes me either totally cool or even more of a nerd, depending on your perspective. At least I didn't dress up (although I won't pretend I didn't consider it....).

My friends and I got there around 10:00 for the first showing (at midnight, of course) and there was already a pretty good -sized line. We got into the theatre at 10:30 (thank god considering how hot it was! 85 degrees! 85 degrees at 10 at night!) then discussed the best way to set 90's music to a musical about minutemen along the Mexican border. But don't go stealing that idea- you know as well as I that it would be a big money maker (and after getting Vassar degrees we’ll need to pay off a few loans....).

A surprisingly large number of other Vassar summer students made the pilgrimage, but I'm not saying that this was a Vassar packed crowd by any means. While watching a 25-30 year old-heavyweight with a giant tattoo of skulls dancing around his arm stand next to a 12 year old girl in an "I *Heart* Harry" shirt, I had to ask myself, "Who doesn't like Harry Potter?"

While the movie wasn't the most outstanding piece of cinema I'd ever seen, it was still pretty good and made a good attempt to stay true to the book while keeping it under 5 hours long. My personal opinion is that $8.75 is too much to pay for just a movie, but it's a steal for a 12:01am Harry Potter cult fan-fest.

Train-> Bus-> Plane

And within the blink of an eye, I'm back on Vassar campus.

Recently I became obsessively aware of time and ever since it seems like the hours are just speeding by. Maybe I should forget about it. My life was better when four days seemed like an eternity. Actually, finals week still seems to cover an eternity to the point where afterwards I like to refer to it as "the lost days of my life." What was really shocking was afterwards, when my corporate power professor actually called my final paper "good." Hah. It was pretty hard for me to accept such a compliment, much less the B+ I was rewarded for it (you learn not to expect too much around here.... or at least I did when I was a freshman).

Anyways, I spent most of last week in Madison, Wisconsin (between Tuesday night and Saturday evening) visiting my boyfriend and his family, and just so you know, they're all very nice people. Both my boyfriend Patrick '08 and his sister, Beth '05, share with me Vassar as their choice of college. In fact, Beth is the one who first taught me how to get from Vassar to LaGuardia airport in Queens. While I was a freshman the quest seemed really intimidating, but now as a senior I can practically sleep through it. Just break it down into a simple three-step process: 1. train-> 2. bus-> 3. plane.

1. The first thing you do is find a way to get to the Poughkeepsie train station. Manhattan is the most common destination for anyone leaving from Poughkeepsie, so it's really easy to figure out which train to take. Trains leave on the half hour (8:30, 9:30, 10:30, etc.) and arrive at Grand Central station, located on 42nd Street, where you will find……

2. The bus! There are two options for buses to take once you've arrived at Grand Central: the $2.00 city bus or the $12 airport bus. In my opinion, paying the extra $10 for the airport bus is a deal. The buses leave right from Grand Central every half hour and visit the three New York City airports: LaGuardia, Newark, and JFK (always ask the driver which one is going to your destination!). But even though these buses cost more and are filled with other like-minded travelers, don't expect the bus drivers themselves to be completely sane. In fact, the last driver I had was downright nutty. He kept mumbling to himself about how mad he was while checking our tickets and uncontrollably raising and lowering his voice. I felt like I was on candid camera. I was pretty scared of him, but I ended up at LaGuardia alive, which was good. He probably won't last too long at that job.

3. The airport. I'm actually kind of ticked about my trip to LaGuardia last week. Since 9/11-ish, people are being advised to arrive at the airport some ridiculous amount of hours prior to their flight to ensure they have enough time to get through security. That's a lie. Considering it took me less than 2 minutes to get through security at LaGuardia, I have no idea what they are talking about. I kind of wish it had taken me an hour to get through security because I was so bored afterwards I didn't know what to do with myself while I waited to board. Honestly, I wouldn't get there any earlier than an hour and a half before a flight because even if you're running a little late, airport workers will help you get you to your gate in time. Take my word for it-I worked at an airport last summer.

And on the trip back? Just repeat the cycle in reverse. But beware-here are some snags I ran into on the way:

1. Due to the whole liquid ban, every liquid or cream in your carry on must be in a zip-lock bag. But being the environmentally conscious Vassar student I am, it didn't seem necessary for me to put my one tiny tube of wasabi in a plastic bag, thereby wasting a bag on only one small item. But I guess I was wrong; airport security guards cannot tell the difference in size between a sandwich sized zip-lock bag and a two-inch long tube of wasabi unless the wasabi is actually in the plastic bag. Silly me.

2. If you get hit on by a teenager at the airport, lie about your age. Faking 24 years old is a lot easier than watching an 18 year old try to impress you with his Air Jordans.

3. The sketchy cabs at Poughkeepsie Station aren't as sketchy as they seem. And they're surprisingly cheap. If you're still afraid to ride them, talk on your cell phone while in the cab. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to Poughkeepsie Station- you'll find out.)

In total, the trip (both ways) cost me a little over $50-train tickets (both ways) cost $25, the airport bus costs $21 when buying round trip tickets, and the sketchy cab was $6. Here are some money-saving tips:

1. Always buy round trip train tickets and make sure to purchase them at the train station. Tickets always cost more when purchased separately and an additional fee applies if purchased on the train. If you frequent New York City, look into getting a 10 pass. A 10 pass costs $100, but it lets you ride the train for only $10 each way. If you don't go too often, share it with a friend.

2. The same philosophy goes for bus tickets-it would have cost me $12 each way if I had not purchased the round trip tickets for $21. However, bear in mind that bus tickets have a 30 day expiration date unlike train tickets, which makes them worthless if you plan on using your extra ticket after summer break.

3. Most likely under a time constraint while getting to the airport, you might not want to ride the city buses. But if you aren't afraid of them, feel free to take the M60 city bus to Harlem Station on your way home. Harlem Station is on the Poughkeepsie line, which is great because the city bus only costs $2 and still gets you where you need to go.

4. Try to convince a friend to drive you to the train station. It saves you money that would have been spent on either parking or calling a cab. Trust me, you'll want that extra $5 when you get to Grand Central and need lunch....



I should be allowed to teach a course on this; I could use a supplemental income.

The Kitchen Is Clean?

Recently, my typical dinner fare has consisted of hummus, wheat bread, and some sort of side dish (and by side dish I mean goldfish, triscuits, or soup). This meal has been effective for two reasons, with the first being that the dorm is now (like always) terribly hot, and second that the kitchen is usually filthy and cooking anything that requires an oven or a burner involves effort. But last Friday it was surprisingly cool in the dorm, which made me reconsider my ban on cooking. After all, rice is easy to make and can be stored and eaten with instant Indian food (which is quickly becoming another staple in my diet) at a later date. So Friday evening I gathered up my storage containers as well as a pot, bag of rice, and curry, and set off on a crusade to make dinner(s) for the weekend.

When I arrived at the kitchen, I expected it to look as if a tornado had hit, mimicking its usual state of disrepair. But somehow, the kitchen was clean. In fact, it was suspiciously clean, to the point where I didn't cringe as I set my black bag of supplies down on the kitchen counter. Still in a state of shock as I washed and prepared my rice for cooking, I suddenly heard a girl shrieking. I knew it had been a trap. If the kitchen was clean, something else had to be wrong. But what turned out to be wrong was that the broken burner on the stove was actually working, which freaked out the shrieking girl. Hey, it would have freaked me out too. That burner had been broken ever since I moved into Main. With this in mind, I gladly took advantage of the clean, recently repaired kitchen and cooked rice to last for the next three days. Why? Because the state of Main kitchen one day is always as unpredictable as the next.

What was also strange about the kitchen on Friday was the ease at which it had been repaired. Construction around here takes months, often, years to complete. Or at least what feels like years (considering I've only been here for three....). For example, there was scaffolding surrounding Swift for so long that common consensus decided it was a permanent addition. I was practically in mourning the day it was taken down because I felt like they were taking away an historical part of the building. But lately it seems like Vassar hasn't been taking it's sweet time with repairs-my TA (Terrace Apartment) for next year went from being in ruin to looking miraculous in only a few days times (suspicious?) and it seems as if the Main kitchen avoided the phase of "under construction" completely.

But, rather than ponder over Vassar's mysterious construction issues, I have a trip to plan. Back in May, I caught my boss on a good day and she gave me Thursday and Friday of this week off so that I could go visit my boyfriend in Madison, Wisconsin. Because Wednesday is a holiday, I'll only miss two days of work.

With this trip in mind, I've been trying to use up the food I purchased the last couple times I went to the grocery store in order to avoid spoilage so that it won't suffer the same fate as the 12 eggs currently in the back of my refrigerator (why would I want to cook eggs if the kitchen is a disaster?). I should throw those out.

Last night I was forced to eat a package of Ramen in order to follow my plan because I had nothing else that could be prepared using only a ceramic bowl and a hot pot. The Ramen I ate was from a half eaten package that was started, most likely, last March. I swear I saw half a shrimp fall out of the "Shrimp Flavor" packet, but it was probably just the hardened remnants of "spices," who knows how old they actually are? I'm sure they're filled with enough preservatives it doesn't matter.

This will be the first time I've left the Hudson Valley since Spring Break, which took place between March 8-25, so quite frankly I need a serious change of scenery. Some people around here have never left New York and I don't understand them. I can proudly say I've crossed the borders of three continents and that Istanbul is probably one of my favorite cities-forget New York.

Should I be expecting hate mail?