A Blogger's Resolution

Before I get on with a blogger's resolution, let me first say:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRONAGE!

A blogger really is but empty air blowing in a digital landscape without her subscribers, commentators, and readers! Thank you for a great almost-one year! I really enjoyed reading some of your comments and hope to do some more reader participation in the future. According to Google Analytics, with the exception of December 25th where only ONE dedicated person visited my blog, the year has been a good one. :) THANKS.

So my first resolution? You're reading it! I promise to dedicate more time to you!

My second resolution has been to read the news once a day. I subscribed to nytimes but filtered all of their emails into one folder that hasn't been checked in a while... so I'm going to read the Today's Paper over my Twining's Irish Breakfast tea and cereal every morning. The first headline for today was "G.O.P. Newcombers Set Out to Undo Obama Victories," by Jennifer Steinhauer and Robert Pear. The headline itself was sensational enough, but once they said, "Democrats, who in many cases looked on the law as a rabid beast best avoided in the fall elections, are reversing course," they lost me. Once Democrats are described as seeing laws as rabid beasts, I know that the end is near.

The third is to go running every morning during J-term. For those of you who aren't still at school in the middle of winter break and are instead at home like the sane person you are, it's J-term here. J-term is our snazzy two-syllable phrase for the 5 hour classes that meet daily. Of course those 5 hours don't include the time needed to do the homework and projects after class. The catchphrase on the website is

Intense. Rigorous. Focused. Unique. Engaging.

The font is a lot bigger here, but you get the gist. When you're doing J-term, expect to do nothing else. Happy winterbreak! Luckily I am not taking a J-term class, but merely being a J-term RA. Hence the time to be able to run.

Lastly, I plan on cooking a lot more. Dinner parties was a huge part of my social life last year, so I am going to revive them now. I also just discovered a food blogging site that has a massive following. The first article that I read was an interesting one, called "The Physiology of Foie: Why Foie Gras is Not Unethical." More term-paper-esque than whimsical blogging, this article surprised me with its solid writing, convincing points, and extensive research. The comments after this long article blew me away as well. Larikatz says, "Fascinating. You are right, people have to stop anthropomorphizing animals that we eat and take the time to learn how they work before they jump up and take causes. Thanks again."

Readers, the bar is set high.

Gleek

I just finished catching up with Glee... Oh high school.

Infinity Ball

Last night, my friends and I went to Infinity Ball. This is a formal dance for third years. Reminiscent of prom, where women got $30 manicures and squeezed into $100 dresses and then got down on the dance floor, Infinity Ball also brought out the shiniest dresses and killer heels for women.

Or you wore sandals like I did.

Truthfully, I had been wanting to buy a "little, black dress" for a long time, and thought that the Infinity Ball was a good excuse to invest $60 in a good dress. However, Fashion Square Mall was disappointing and even -gasp- depressing after three hours of shopping and finding no formal wear affordable for a college woman. My friend got nice shoes though.

On the way back, we bumped into a friend, KFly, who had sensibly gone grocery shopping. After helping her bring her groceries to her room, I was blessed (or pitied) by some higher being, because KFly had a gorgeous black dress that she could lend me. I felt a little too Cinderella-esque as I rushed back to my room with my dress and transformed into a chic twenty-year old fashionista. However, to spite whoever thought it was nice to set me up in a fairy-tale, I wore white sandals, no jacket, and rode a motorcycle to Alumni Hall. Well, maybe no motorcycle.

It was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. The live band was decently good and sang favorites like Kids (MGMT). Dean Groves emceed and there were canolis. I danced like a manic (think 7-year-olds dancing better than Beyonce). I promise you that I wore something better than they did.

Diversity Career Fair

The smell of crisply ironed suits and freshly printed brochures was pungent, but not as distinct as the fabulous smiles flashing after a firm handshake.

"Hi. I'm John White. Thanks for waiting in line so patiently," he said after each handshake.

Commence the thinly disguised adulation that poured forth from the poor, nervous soul in a pencil skirt. The line dutifully shifted forward a couple of steps and pretended not to overhear the conversation.

"Do you have a resume?" he inquired, and then upon receiving a sheet that was supposed to encompass the entirety of the person shaking in front of him, he asked, "Tell me about yourself."

Commence the 30-second elevator speech that the soul had practiced in the bathroom mirror the night before. The line restlessly shifted side to side in tune with the pen that he tapped against the resume.

John looked up, interested, when several key words were dropped: "self-taught," "HTML," "co-founded," "website design and development company."

"Digital," he declared, "It sounds like you'd be perfect for digital."

The soul abruptly shut up and timidly nodded her head, even though in the beginning she declared that she was interested in being a creative.

As John rattled off the process of applying for digital, his eyes slid behind and noticed the restlessness of the line snaking out behind and cutting off the poor Social Security woman from the foot traffic. Realizing that this was going to take forever, he looked up and smiled.

"Thank you for your time. Do you have any questions?"

However, John was already dog-earing her resume.

A quick note about this man's system. He either dog-ears your resume--- or doesn't. He either puts it in this pile horizontally--- or this pile vertically. All in front of the people in the line.

He dog-eared the resume and placed it horizontally in the bigger stack. The soul realized her time is up.

"Good luck," he said and gave her a firm handshake.

"Yes." A faint reply. "Good-bye."

Let's Conspire to Ignite [Muse]

I must be on a roll. For those of you not familiar with the excitement related to these first ringing notes, it's Muse! Muse is coming to Charlottesville this Wednesday at 7:30pm. I bought the tix last year, because I thought this would be my first official concert. What I didn't plan on was B.o.B, Ingrid Michaelson, and all those other summer visiting artists making up a series of my first concert experiences.

Over the summer, I made it one of my goals to experience the Charlottesville culinary scene as much as possible. One equally challenging and pleasurable goals should be to experience the Charlottesville music scene as much as possible. Charlottesville is surprising in that it attracts a lot of talented artists to its multiple music venues. Ingrid Michaelson was at the Jefferson, which is a fantastic, newly renovated music space. The Southern is supposed to be a great venue as well.

For large names though, such as Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, John Paul Jones Arena takes the cake. This is where Muse will be! Muse is an English rock band that has awesome rhythms. I'm such a groupie that I'll be there around five. Or maybe not, because my friend holds my tickets hostage as she has class that ends at 6:30...