Bethany, CT

So I really need to be writing a cover letter and fixing my resume for the Rocky Hill job, but I wanted to blog quickly about yesterday before I totally forgot.

For the last official class of metalworking, Ann decided to take us on a field trip of sorts. We all met at the CAW as usual, and then piled into three cars and drove out to Bethany, CT. It was about a fifteen minute drive. On the way I saw a bizarre billboard that said "Diabetes is one of the leading causes of amputations." I don't know if it was a diabetes warning, or an ad for a prosthetics place.

The first place we went was a fabricator. The guy who runs it had to be gone, so he had given Ann the key ahead of time. It was basically a big open workspace, with an office and tools scattered around the periphery. There were two pieces by Tim Burton they were working on (one was a chrome end table and the other were a pair of chairs). They were super cool. There was also a piece by Donald Judd and one other person I can't remember. They also had pictures of some of their work pasted on their office door, and apparently they did one of the instillation of the entrance gallery at the Tate Modern. It made me too happy.

Next we went to the barn/studio of a guy named Erwin Hauer who Ann is apparently good friends with. The barn his studio is in is apparently condemned and he's supposed to move everything to his new location. He sculpts some figures and birds, but mainly he does these "screens," which are essentially walls with clever holes in them. They were pretty cool. He talked to us forever about his method of "lateral thinking" (in his german or russian accent- I couldn't tell which at the time). Basically, he meant that he would take one idea and try to take it in a new or different direction over and over. He said that you don't need a lot of good ideas, just a few good ones that you can use over and over. All his stuff was pretty cool though. He actually does have a wikipedia page, mostly since his stuff is in hotels and other public places all over. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Hauer 

Last, we went to Ann's house which was not far away at all. She has five horses and a dog named Tonto who was super excited the whole time we were there. Her house reminded me of the bloomsbury group house because so much of it was made/decorated by her. She gave us pie which was delicious. On the way back, the car I was in got totally turned around and it took us longer to get back than it should have, but it was fine cause none of us had anywhere we needed to be.

I finally also watched Coco avant Chanel last night. It was really good I thought. Alden fell asleep about half way through. Made me really want to not get up this morning, but I made myself since it was my last lecture at Yale EVER. Also got through my first final today. It wasn't horrible. I suspect I'll get somewhere in the neighborhood of a B-, which is totally fine since I'm taking it credit/d.

Okay- time to try and get a job now.

New Jersey

This weekend me and Mike came to New Jersey, because one of his cousins on his mother's side was having an engagement party, and it was a good chance for me to meet some of the extended family I hadn't yet. We've had lots of driving adventures more than anything though. Mike swung through New Haven to pick me up after my extra Old English class (which was ridiculous and an hour longer than it was supposed to). Somehow right around New York though, night construction got us turned around and we ended up crossing the Bronx Whitestone Bridge on accident. We had to stop at a gas station and get directions. we finally got over the George Washington Bridge and continued without further incident.

Then yesterday, we slept in, then headed for the part around 4:30pm. The way there was fairly uneventful, though the gps decided that we should go on less populated roads than the way that Mike's dad had suggested. The way back though was a DISASTER. Sarah's boyfriend was the one driving, and the empty light went on just as we got to the party. So when we left the party around 9:30pm, we headed for the nearest gas station. It and about the 10 others we found in the area were closed though. After stopping and asking for directions to the nearest open gas station TWICE, we finally found one. We were really afraid we were going to run out and have to call AAA. By the time we finally found gas though, we'd wandered pretty far out of our way, and the drive that took us an hour and a half on the way there, took us two and a half, including the time we wandered around looking for gas. It was ridiculous.

Moral of the story- driving in New Jersey sucks, and get gas in rural New Jersey before it gets dark.

Fellows Dinner

So Alden and Bobby convinced me to go to the JE Fellows Dinner tonight and I'm really glad they did. Fellows Dinners are a couple times a month I think, and each time a few seniors are allowed to attend. It a bit better food than the dining hall, with drinks, and great desserts. The cheese they had with drinks was superb. I mostly just talked to Alden and her dad. During dessert, Penny had any newcomers introduce themselves, which included me. Alden made sure I told them ALL about the wedding. We talked to Penny and a pre-frosh for a little bit. Near the end, we talked to Will and two fellows, one of whom was an older Australian gentleman who knew a lot about alcohol. He asked me all sorts of questions, and thought it was "very sensible" of me to be having the wedding in the morning for financial reasons. He even told his wife and she thought is was "very sensible" too, and said it boded well for my fiance. I can't explain really why it was so fun, but it was. Totally worth missing Bones for. It's one of those very "Yale" experiences that I'm trying to get my fill of before I have to leave.

Weddings and Arcadia

Wedding first- I finally ordered my invites today!!! So exciting. I also have a prospective cake person and a prospective suit place. I didn't think I cared about the cake, but I have been watching to much wedding porn and I've started to care a bit. I found a great place though that seems reasonably priced and will give me a simple, but elegant cake. The photographer and flower lady have been confirmed. Now I just need to work out what flowers I want. :) Two of my four bridesmaids have their dresses and they fit (Alden and Lilly). Biggest order of business is to find an officiant. Now if I could only be this productive in job hunting...

Which reminds me- Mike's mom told me about an opening at her school in the drama and english departments. Don't really know any details, but it's definitely intriguing. Certainly would pay more than any internship I could get.

Finally, the reason I actually wanted to write today, is that I saw the Dramat's production of Arcadia. I was actually pleasantly surprised. Some of the accents were a bit dismal **cough** miles **cough**, but overall it was nice. I mean, it's such a great show that it's pretty hard to screw up. Set wise it was fairly standard for Arcadia, though the very American doors, and atrocious green accent paint bothered me a bit. For the last moment though, they imbeded some "stars" (they were christmas lights poked through holes) into the walls to complete the image with the star drop in the back, which was very pretty. One thing they didn't do which I had really liked from the London production, was that they didn't keep only one copy of the various books and papers that are central. They had two of everything which was kinda odd. I much preffered the one that ingeniously changed hands when it needed to. The music was a bit too loud for my taste, and I wish there had been more variety in their accents (cause they were pretty much all just posh Londonish ones). But like I said, it was certainly enjoyable and I'm glad I made myself go.

Crate and Barrel

So this morning, Mike and I went to a "Wedding Party" at the Crate and Barrel in the Providence Place Mall. It was before the store is normally open, so it was just couples who were going to register there. They had orange juice, mimosas, coffee, and some pastries. One of the ladies gave us a long talk about creating our registy, and then they gave us one of those gun scanner thingies. It was supper fun! We picked out lots of fun, random things, like our pots (Calphlon!), water glasses (they're like nice pint glasses), and a super awesome knife. On top of it just being super fun, they gave us a really nice pair of kitchen scissors and a set of heart shaped champagne flutes as a thank you gift. It was so much fun, cause the whole experience was like shopping, but without the guilt of spending money. It's really motivated me to finish my JC Penny registry now, which is good, because I should be sending out my invitations soon.

Now I just have to get motivated to do everything else in my life that needs doing....

Happy Easter!

It is a GORGEOUS Easter Sunday. I got up this morning (after very little sleep) and met Alden, Alessia, and Will so we could go to Alden's parents for brunch. They had quite a spread. Scones, coffee cake, pizzelles strawberries, pinapple, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, egg cups (more about those in a second), lox and bagels, ham, and i'm sure a few other things I'm forgetting. It was all amazingly delicious. The egg cups were super cool. What she did was put thin slices of ham in a muffin tin almost like they were the papers, and then cracked eggs into them and baked it til the eggs were just a little past runny. It was almost like a poached egg in ham. It was SO good. I'd never had pizzelles before and they were quite delicious too, especially with the strawberries.

I was just commenting to Alden that it is a little absurd to be writing an entire blog about brunch, but we're both secretly fatties. I will start exercising more now that tech is over.

We're going to go sit outside in the glorious sun now though. I may try to take a nap. Oren wants me to come help with tech, and I may come later when the sun has gone down. I really don't want to waste the nice weather while it's here. Also, goal is to get lots of job and wedding stuff done tonight.

Jack!

So I royally suck at blogging while I'm in tech. You can blame Gary. I really shouldn't even be blogging now, seeing as it is 4:12am and I'm supposed to be up and ready to go at 10:30am for Easter brunch with Alden's family. But I'm kinda hyped up from strike and our mini party.

Also, I apparently have some tolerance for alcohol. I ate a sandwich with Gary, and then had two shots of jack and a glass of champagne over two hours and feel NOTHING. My face was a little flushed at one point, but I think that was just because I was hot.

I will be better. I promise.

Lovely weather we've been having.