Sisters, goals, and lameness.

So the summer before my sophomore of college, my sister started dating one of my friends from high school.  Now, this particular friend was not a close one, it was more that we had a mutual friend that we were both close to, but we hung out a lot anyway.  I thought it was weird.  But I tried to look past it.  That is, until my friends started inviting her over or calling her to go out to the movies and whatnot.  Once, memorably, my friend T called me to meet them at Coney Island, I get there and there is Nicole, sitting right between C and D.  

I told D that I didn't like it -- it didn't feel right to show up at a party and your 17-year-old sister is there, hanging out with your friends.  D basically told me I needed to get over it.  There was a huge fight and nothing has been the same since.  I don't go home very often anymore because my sister has taken my place in the old group of friends.

I guess I don't care all that much.  They're all still pretty much stuck in high school.  My hometown does that to people.  And honestly, after I turned 21 getting hammered has kind of lost its appeal to me.  Sure, I love my beer, I like going to bars, and I'm totally not against having fun once in a while, but I don't go to a hall party with a bunch of 16 year olds with the intention of getting falling-down-drunk anymore.  I did that, it was fun, I'm over it.

I have goals.  I know vaguely what I'm doing after college.  I'm going to England.  I'm going SOMEWHERE.  I honestly don't think the point of college is to hang out with the same people you have hung out with since you were 15, taking classes for no reason, bumming around your hometown hoping to score a good job at Best Buy or whatever.

I think that going to college is about meeting new people, trying new things, finding out what you love and what you hate.  Which I tried to do, even though I only went 20 minutes away from my hometown.  The only reason I didn't go farther away is because of my family.  I think I did a pretty good job of making new friends and meeting new people.

This is just a rant, I guess.  I don't want to come off as elitist or anything, it's just that it sucks that I'm excluded from a group of people who look like they're going nowhere.  They could surprise me--most of them are smart, they just lack motivation or "purpose" I guess.

The only line I disagree with from High School Musical 3:  "High school, goes on forEVER MORE!"

Weird Things that Ruin My Day

So besides the fact that I'm still pretty deathly ill, there are a few other things that ruined my day for the past two days.

Yesterday I had to wake up super early for work, but I chugged some DayQuil which made me functional for the hour and a half that I was needed for.  I came back at 9:30am and my boyfriend was still here (weird, because he usually leaves at like 7am because he is strange).  I talked to him for about 10 minutes before I realized that I NEEDED to go back to bed for awhile.  I set my phone alarm for 11am so I would not miss Gilmore Girls.  

I slept through Gilmore Girls!  I was so mad.  I woke up at 1:30pm and all that awaited me was laundry.  Definitely a day-ruiner.   It doesn't even matter that I have every episode on DVD.  That means nothing.

Actually, what ruined my day even more was the fact that HogwartsLive.com was down.  HogwartsLive is basically my #1 time waster and I love it.  It's a text-based RPG and you just go into the forest and kill creatures, get experience and defeat Voldemort.  Then you start all over again.  You chat with other players and whatnot.  My friends Katie, Matt and Adrianne are on it as well, it's extremely addicting.  So the fact that it has been down for 2 days is a total day ruiner.  Especially when I'm at work and I have nothing else to do.  It better work on Monday, because Monday is the boring shift where I'm alone for 2 1/2 hours.

Take it from me -- a killer sore throat, sleeping through Gilmore Girls and no HogwartsLive is a crappy day.

Sickness

Contrary to popular belief, I don't get sick very often.  Yes, I have allergies, and there are days when I feel under the weather, but when it comes to actual infections, I have a fairly healthy immune system.  My boyfriend says that because I wasn't breast-fed and I don't eat vegetables that I'm going to die young.  Ah, I love him.

Anyway, I woke up Monday morning with a killer sore throat.  The sinus plugging started later that day, and the body aches and chills kicked in Monday night.  I haven't slept in 3 nights, mainly because of my throat.  If you've ever read "Twilight", my throat feels like I'm a vampire who hasn't hunted in a year and has just smelled a human.

I also haven't eaten anything in two days besides a smoothie.  I'm just not hungry.  Which is probably the weirdest thing about being sick, because normally I'm ALWAYS hungry.  Maybe it's the cough drops that are coating my stomach, but food just makes me want to throw up right now.

My mother came out to school yesterday and gave me a strep test on my couch (she's a medical assistant).  Let me tell you, I would rather have a tetanus shot than a throat culture.  I have the worst gag reflex ever and my mom had to do TWO of them on me because she didn't get it the first time.  It came out negative, but my mom said my throat looks too bad to just be allergy-related.  She wants me to get a blood test for mono.

MONO!

I would be royally screwed if I had mono.

Freaks and Geeks

Yet another media-related post, but whatever!  It's my life and my blog!

My friend Danielle recently got me hooked on a show called "Freaks and Geeks".  It aired in 1999-2000 and was cancelled after only 18 episodes.  However, it is AMAZING!  It was created by Paul Feig, who 

a) writes/directs for "The Office"

b) starred in the first season of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"

c) starred in Heavyweights and 

d) grew up in Clinton Twp, MI!

It was also produced by Judd Apatow, who in case you live under a rock is basically a genius.  He has been involved in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, Pineapple Express, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Heavyweights, Anchorman, and a ton of other amazing projects.  Plus he works with what Danielle calls "The Inner Circle", which includes Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, James Franco, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Steve Carell, Will Ferell, Leslie Mann, and a ton of others that are just basically brilliant.

Anyway, the show is awesome because it takes place in fictional Chippewa, MI, in 1980.  Chippewa is based on Clinton Twp., which is about 5 miles from my house, and McKinley High School is based on Chippewa Valley High School, which I've lost to in softball many times.  It follows the life of Lindsay Weir, a girl who used to be a Mathlete but decides she wants to hang out with the "freaks", or the burnouts.  The other focus of the show is Lindsay's little brother Sam, who is a total geek and has two of the geekiest friends ever.

The thing that makes this show so awesome is that it's very real in the way that most teen shows/movies are not.  It deals with some heavy stuff, but not in an overly dramatic way.  For instance, the way Lindsay and Sam's parents handle situations is very believable--alternately dismissive and overbearing. The interactions between Lindsay and her old friends vs. her new friends are also very real-- one can easily imagine how difficult it would be to suddenly change groups of friends, and if, like me, you've gone through it before, you know EXACTLY how she's feeling.  The show doesn't stereotype the geeks, and it doesn't stereotype the freaks.  Both groups are outsiders in totally different ways, and it's very interesting to watch that.

I highly recommend this show to anyone who is a fan of comedy/dramas.  There are parts that are very funny and parts that are almost heartbreaking.  It's a real treat!  I'm probably going to buy the DVDs soon so if you need to borrow it hit me up!

Oscar awesomeness

Everything I write about on here has to do with movies or TV, it seems.  Oh well.  I'm over it.

I watched The Oscars tonight, which for me is more important than my birthday.  I don't know, it's just an awesome night for me.  I get so excited for people I don't even know.  

Basically, I was crying when Heath Ledger won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in The Dark Knight.  My relationship with Heath spans back to his work in a small little movie called 10 Things I Hate About You.  My friend Laura and I were totally obsessed with him.  We made pictures collages of him on our bedroom walls and watched A Knight's Tale and The Patriot every time we hung out, which was pretty much every weekend.  Heath holds a special place in my heart, and even though Laura is far away at Grand Valley I text messaged her tonight and we shared our mutual pain and elation.

I also was close to tears during the montage of Academy members who died this past year.  I was doing fine until Paul Newman came up.  My infatuation with Paul Newman began when my mom forced me to watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when I was 9 years old.  After the movie was over, legend has it that I turned to my mom and said, "Can I marry Butch Cassidy?"  I don't remember this, but my mother swears it happened.  Anyway, if anyone were to be cryogenically frozen, my vote would have gone for Paul Newman in 1969. That way he could be unfrozen when I am 30 or 40 and we could fall in love and get married.  It would totally happen!  I cried my eyes out when that montage fell to Paul Newman.

I was totally excited that Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens did a musical number with Hugh Jackman.  Okay, I LOVE HUGH JACKMAN.  But when the whole "songs-from-famous-musicals" medley -- even after Hugh and Beyonce sang Grease -- turned to Zac and Vanessa singing High School Musical 3 songs, I thought I would die from happiness.  Plus, for once in her life, Beyonce did not oversing.  She was fantastic, which is something I can't usually say without gagging.  Although I wish they would have given Zac and Vanessa, along with Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper, more singing time.  They mostly just stood there.

Since I'm such a sissy, I also cried when Kate Winslet won her Best Actress Oscar.  Truthfully, I would have been happy if any of them had won (besides the one I had never heard of -- Melissa Leo for Frozen River -- sorry, chica, I just don't know you).  I'm glad it was Kate, though.  She's long overdue, and I'm so over Meryl Streep.

I'm glad Sean Penn won for Milk for only one reason -- Lucas Grabeel from High School Musical and James Franco were in that movie.  I haven't seen it yet.

And as for Best Picture -- the only one I have seen that was nominated is Benjamin Button, which I thought was amazing.  But now I think I have to see Slumdog Millionaire!

Peace, love and movies!

Blood Drips Heavily on Newsies Square

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll scream, you'll laugh again, you'll think, "What the hell?".  That's the beauty of the cinematic masterpiece Blood Drips Heavily on Newsies Square.  

In 1991, a group of teenage boys thought they signed on for a drama centering on the newsboys strike in New York City in 1899.  However, soon the whole production was re-vamped into a musical called Newsies.  With only two--count 'em--two women in the cast, one of which was more than twice their age, these boys needed to find an outlet for their abundant energy.

Enter Michael Goorjian, Trey Parker, Ivan Dudynski and Max Casella, who play Skittery, Kid Blink, Dutchy and Racetrack respectively.  They decided that the best way to pass the long hours on the set was to make their own movie.  This movie was not going to be the clean-cut Disney fare they were filming for the masses.  No.  This movie was going to be a no-holds-barred, expletive-laced comedy/slaughterfest.  

Enter Mark David, who plays Specs and was a regular on the former Nickelodeon sketch series "Roundhouse".  This kid can do a killer Don Knotts impression.  Literally, killer.  

In Blood Drips Heavily on Newsies Square, Don Knotts auditions for a role in Newsies.  The director, Kenny Ortega (Hocus Pocus, High School Musical) tells him to get the **** out.  Don Knotts becomes so enraged that he begins to kill off the Newsies one by one.

The movie is shot on a camcorder with a tape deck next to the audio recorder.  It is crudely edited and brilliantly photographed.  I encourage all fans of Newsies, and even those who have never heard of it, to check out this masterpiece.  You'll be saying, "Fuggetabout Trey, where's my *****' chair?" for years to come. 

Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-T5omyH228

The other two parts are listed under "Related Videos".

Enjoy.

The Wonderful World of Dumbness

For any of my loyal readers that don't know, my family used to own a legendary bar in my hometown with the best corned beef sandwiches around.  Ask almost anyone in the East side suburbs, Grosse Pointe up to Mt. Clemens, and they would have heard of my bar.  I grew up there.  I was babysat there every Saturday morning from 7:30am-12pm and I helped with all the chores and, of course, snuck pickles out of the huge fridge.  

In 2006, my family decided to sell it.  My Aunt Carol, who ran it for years since my uncle Ed passed away, was getting too old and the rest of my family all had other jobs and obligations that they couldn't get out of.  So we sold it to the man my family now non-affectionately calls Scott the Jackass.  

A very long, very complicated, very angering story short, Scott didn't pay the taxes for about 2 years and the state seized it.  Everything inside was auctioned off to help cover the taxes -- all our memories, everything that my grandpa, grandma, aunts, uncles, dad and cousins worked so hard for 60+ years to achieve, sold away like they meant nothing.  My dad was almost in tears.  

We got the building and the land back, but not the liquor license.  We have to sell this empty shell of a building for enough money to cover all the taxes that lunatic didn't pay.  I hate that we are the only ones that have to pay for his awful business management.  He ran that legendary establishment into just an obsolete building.  I could cry.

The only plus side is that any beer that was past the sell-by date is ours.  So we are stocked.  Small comfort.

To the Motherland

I don't know if everyone that reads this knows yet, but I'm going to England this fall for Study Abroad.  Not only is my scholarship financing a huge chunk of this, but I'm pumped to visit the land that a good chunk of my ancestors hail from.  My Grandma Mayer's family is English and Welsh. In fact, my mom's grandma emigrated from England as a little girl.  I'll also get to visit Ireland, and even though the most Irish thing about me is my last name and I'm more German and Polish than anything, I still consider myself an Irish girl at heart--probably because I was basically raised in a pub.

I got an email from the principal of the school I'll be attending, as well as all the medical forms.  So it's pretty official, I'll be leaving at the end of August, and I couldn't be more excited/nervous/terrified.  I'm such a homebody that it's mildly disturbing, and my parents won't have enough money to visit me.  My goal in life is to save up enough money to send them to Ireland for two weeks.  It would mean so much to my dad, and he's worked his butt off at a job he hates for 35 years just for my sister and I.  It's because of them that I'll be going on this trip and I couldn't be more thankful -- plus I will probably cry my eyes out for the first two weeks because I will miss them so much.  I'm 21, for goodness' sake, you would think I could go 3 months without seeing my parents.  I think I made it a month without seeing them my sophomore year, but that was tough.

I might get some funding from the school to do a Quest project while I'm over there.  For real, I have enough on my plate without doing an extra project for absolutely no reason, but I have a feeling that the school is basically going to force me to do it.  Can you fail a Quest project?  I probably could.  If the Quest project was just a blog, I could do that.  But they told us that the schooling over in the U.K. is much harder than it is here, so I really won't feel like lugging equipment around Europe to do an additional project for my home school when I have hours of homework at my U.K. school.  Plus, I want some free time to stalk celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Paul McCartney.

Ha, I just read the description for the Quest program and you have to do 3 projects.  Forget that.  Not happening.  Once I get back from England it's all about the Internship search.  Then it's concentrating on graduating ASAP, and then it's all about grad school applications.  I feel like I have hit the fast-forward button on my life.

For now, I'm going to stop procrastinating my homework and say sayonara.

Return from Minnesooooota

Wow, I've been a total deadbeat about school lately.  It's not QUITE my fault, because this weekend sort of prevented any scholarly endeavors.  I had to miss Rhetoric (*tear*) and TV Writing for the long treacherous 11-hour drive to the Twin Cities of Minnesooota.  Be prepared for this LONG blog, and don't be surprised if you read some upper-Midwest vernacular here.  It was a weekend of cultural immersion.

My BFFF Katie's sister Christie got married on Saturday, which most of you know was Valentine's Day.  I LOVE the reason they picked Valentine's Day.  It's because Christie and her now-husband Jason hate the holiday and think it's overrated, so they decided to get married that day so they will forever have a reason to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Anywho, Katie, her boyfriend Matt and I made the long journey and arrived in Maplewood at about 12:30am their time, 1:30am our time.  We basically went right to bed, but the whole family stayed up to welcome us, and Christie and Jason even stayed over with their freaking CUTE beagle puppy Bella.  So we just went to bed and yeah, it was a divine night's sleep.

Friday we woke up pretty early and ate, then took off for errands.  If you love Target, you NEED to go to a Minnesota Target.  They are about 13 times better than any Michigan Target.  I could totally live in one.  They are so clean and bright and huge, they have food marts and everything.  Fantastic.  Then Katie and her family took off for the rehearsal, and Matt and I stayed home and set up the house for the rehearsal dinner.  If you know me and Matt, it was a very large feat for us to accomplish something together.  Though we are extremely good friends, we tend to bicker.  But we were successful.  Debbie (Katie's mom) and Annie (one of Katie's three sisters) are EXTREMELY good cooks and made a crazy Mexican fiesta dinner.  It was amazing.  Then we had a beer and of course went to bed.  We were all very lazy this weekend and once it hit 9pm we were all about bed.

Saturday morning was super lazy for me.  All the girls took off to get their hair and nails done bright and early, and all the boys went to set up the reception hall, so little ole' Janelle was left to hold down the fort all by herself.  It was kind of nice.  There are 3.5 baths and 5 bedrooms so there is plenty of space, but it was nice to just take a shower without asking anyone else if they needed it.  I did some Editing homework and called my parents and my boyfriend (poor kid was abandoned on Valentine's Day -- I don't think he minded much, haha).  Then I did my hair and got into my dress.  So I was totally ready by 1pm when everyone got back, and Christie and Debbie were ready to go the church so I went with them to help out.

Christie was so relaxed it was nuts.  I asked her how she was so calm, and she said, "Well, everything is basically done and I have so many helpers I don't need to do much.  And Jason and I are basically already married so I'm not nervous at all."

I was in awe.  Plus, she looked freakin' BEAUTIFUL in her $240 dress.  Honestly, who needs to spend more than that?  It was gorgeous and perfect for her.

Debbie left Christie and I there and went to get Grandma Oaky, and we kind of just sat there doing nothing.  Then all the bridal party showed up and Christie got into her dress, I was on some picture duty, I pinned some sashes and sprayed some hairspray, basically just assisted with whatever.  Then Matt and I disappeared into the church pews to watch them take their pictures.  Really, we watched 40 Year Old Virgin on Sarah's (the youngest of Katie's sisters) iPod.  

Then the wedding.  It was so pretty!  The pastor was this woman that had the THICKEST accent I have ever heard and I could not stop laughing.  "In the cooold Minnesoooota winter, we all have suuuuper thick ley-ers of clooothing on!"  I love it.  I caught myself saying "ah-some" (awesome) later that evening.  And I know I said "gooo" instead of just "go".

After the wedding I met my "date", Kenny.  Basically he's just Christie's friend from school that didn't bring a date so she said he was my date.  He looks like Michael Cera, no joke, and he knew what Anne of Green Gables was when Katie referenced it.  

We headed over to the reception hall which was so funny.  If you know Christie and Jason, they are basically classy hicks.  Jason is from the Green Bay, WI area and Christie is obviously from the Twin Cities.  So the reception was catered by Famous Daves on paper plates with plastic silverware and solo cups.  It was so amazing.  Katie said she never felt so classy eating ribs in her life, in her elegant black and green bridesmaid gown with fancy jewelry on.  Plus there was an open bar.  SCORE!  I sat with Matt, Kenny, Sarah's boyfriend Johnny, and Sarah's roommate Gina.  We were the fun table.

I danced with Scott (Katie's dad) for about 3 dances!  He said Debbie was too busy "chattin' it up"; however, she was all about dancing when "Baby Got Back" came on.  I also swing-danced with Katie's cousin Aaron who looks JUST LIKE JAKE GYLLENHAAL.  I have to friend him on Facebook and show you all a picture of him.  Identical twins, I swear it.  So I was at a wedding with Michael Cera and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Katie and I agreed that we got just the right amount of drunk.  Enough to be a little crazy on and dance floor, but not enough to prevent us from cleaning up and helping out.  I escaped with Sarah and Johnny and immediately went to bed.  I don't even think Katie was home -- I passed out and woke up in the morning and she was next to me.  

Next morning was the present opening party.  We just sat around, had cake and ribs for breakfast, and watched Christie and Jason open their presents.  I must say that she loved the Harry Potter books that Matt and I got her, and Jason appreciated the manly gift of a football.

Then it was just laziness.  We watched movies, then drank wine and played the world's HARDEST game of electronic Trivial Pursuit.  Christie swears she pressed "easy" but we were all very discouraged, so much so that Nick (Annie's fiance) suggested that the first team to get a question right would win.  The girls won.  Holla!

All in all it was a crazy, fun, yet unproductive weekend.  Now I have to plunge back into the swing of things and make up all the schoolwork I missed.

10 Things I Love About Dwight

Ok, so I know I've already done a post about The Office, but truthfully I'm suffering from a strange sort of writer's block, the kind where you don't have to write about anything in particular but you STILL can't figure out what to write about.

10 Things I Love About Dwight

10)  His fashion sense.  Mustard is the new black.

9)  His beet farm.  Frankly, it's encouraging that he and Mose can run a 60-acre beet farm all by themselves, and Dwight can STILL be top salesman at Dunder Mifflin, Inc.

8)  His bobblehead fascination.  Perhaps it's because his head is so abnormally large.

7)  His affinity for strange weapons.  He hides them all around the office.  My personal favorite was the bowstaff hidden under the sofa or the knife hidden in a file labeled "Mr. A. Knife."

6)  His volunteer sheriff's deputy job.  Which I'm pretty sure never existed.

5)  His relationship with Angela.  I laugh so hard every time they talk in the kitchen and don't look at each other.

4)  His rivalry with Andy.  They're two versions of the same person, which makes it utterly hilarious.

3)  His fascination with bears.  If I were to ever go camping at Yellowstone, I would want Dwight about five tents over.  No closer.

2)  His unflinching adoration of Michael Scott.  Possibly the only person who ever looks to Michael as a superior.

1)  His rivalry with Jim.  Probably the best part of the show is when Jim plays pranks on Dwight.  Plus I just love Jim.

I know that was a ginormous waste of time for all who are not fans of The Office, but I think everyone should be a fan of that masterpiece.  Hopefully my relentless chatter about it will convince someone else to love it as much as I do.  

My life goal is to spread cheer to the world, without actually having to be cheerful.

My Life Of Leisure

Most people say they would hate having a life of leisure.  They say, "ugh, I would get so bored, I would need to do something!"

And I think, LEISURE doesn't mean you just sit around and do nothing.  You can if you want, but you don't have to, because you are amazingly, filthily, disgustingly rich.

My life of leisure would never be boring.  I would sleep till 10 and stay up till 3 am.  I would take random classes in things like World War II and dance and Russian literature.  I would write a novel, a few dozen short stories, and absolutely no poetry.  I would make films about whatever I wanted to.  I would travel.  Anywhere and everywhere.  I would backpack across Europe and stay in hostels.  Hell, I would even become a superhero at night, provided I owned Wayne Enterprises and could kick people's ass.  I would read anything and everything.  I would spend entire days in bed and then make up for it by hiking up a mountain the next day.  I would babysit my cousins for free, just because I like to hang out with 6 yr olds.  I would spend months at a time in Northern Michigan swimming, boating, four-wheeling and canoeing.  I would have a bonfire every night, although I would make someone else build it because I don't like fire.

If I felt like I needed a structured activity, I would volunteer at Children's Hospital and do puppet shows for the sick kids.  Or I would let them play with outrageously expensive things like professional video equipment.  Or I would put on a play for them, or let them be in a play for the geriatric patients at Harper Hospital or something.

I would move my parents to Arizona or Hawaii.  I would pay them so they wouldn't have to work, but I wouldn't pay for landscaping or laundry service so they would have something to do.  I would buy my dad a dog and then look after it while they went on all the vacations I would pay for them to go on.

I would meet celebrities and tell them what they do right and what they do wrong.  I would be friends with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and babysit their kids.  I would date John Krasinski because I feel like we would have so much fun.  I would introduce all my friends to famous people so they could all date and we could have huge celebrity parties alllll the time.

And I would watch movies like it was my job.

Thursdays.

/startrant/

Thursdays = HELL.  

Plain and simple.  

It starts with me being super wired on Wednesday night so I can't sleep.  Then I wake up bright and early at 8am, take the fastest shower possible, pack a lunch and gulp down coffee before I proceed to work from 9am-3:30pm.

Sometimes the work part isn't so bad, when I don't have a major project to do and I can just answer the phone and make copies and run errands.  But when I'm working on a huge task--like the ones in which you have to MAKE a huge mess before you can clean UP the huge mess--it gets exhausting.

Then I have exactly 45 minutes to eat dinner and get in a few last licks of homework.  Which usually doesn't happen.  Then it's off to that mind-numbing argue fest known as Rhetoric, then there's a whopping 10 minutes (usually 2 minutes, because we always get out late) for me to make it over to TV Writing.  That class is actually fun, but it's at the worst time of the week.  I wish I had a sharper brain at that point.

Usually the painfulness ends there.  BUT NOT THIS WEEK!

THIS WEEK, I'm on duty for housing, which means staying up till 4am.  Oh, did I mention that the once-a-month BoardWALK that I have to plan is at 8am Friday morning?  Which means I have to wake up at 7am.  Do the math.

/endrant/

Sorry for complaining.  I had to get it out there.

The Great Circus Mystery

Teenager finally beats Sega game after 12 years

Nicole O'Hara will be the first to tell you: it's been a long and treacherous road.

It all started at the tender age of 6, when the now 18-year-old Nicole received a Sega Genesis for Christmas.

"It was our favorite Christmas present for many, many years afterward," Nicole says.  "We all had our favorite games: Dad had Mickey Mania, Mom had Wheel of Fortune, my sister had Toy Story . . . but for me, it was The Great Circus Mystery."

Nicole watched her older sister Janelle beat The Great Circus Mystery alone many times, and when the two small girls played it 2-player, Nicole got to experience the thrill of beating the game.  However, Nicole could never beat it alone.

"I can't even describe how hard I tried," Nicole sighs, choking up a little.  "Even when I broke my arm when I was 9, I asked the doctor: 'can I still play Sega?'  I tell you, I was obsessed.  Watching Janelle beat the game twice a day like it was a piece of cake really drove me nuts."

The Great Circus Mystery is a Mickey and Minnie Mouse game in which the protagonists travel through many worlds (jungle, caves, haunted house, ice world, the castle, etc.) in order to solve the mystery of the disappearing circus and defeat the villain, Baron Pete.

Periodically, throughout the tumultuous years of middle school and high school, Nicole would hole up in her room and try to focus her negative energy on destroying evil Baron Pete, to no avail.

"I think that if I would have beaten Baron Pete in middle school, I wouldn't have felt so much teen angst," she claims, though she's half-joking.  "We never had another gaming system, either.  We really aren't video game people, but Sega was a special part of our childhood."

And adulthood, apparently.  Over this past Christmas break, Janelle, now 21, brought Sega home from college.  After Nicole and Janelle successfully beat the game, Janelle challenged her sister to beat it by herself.

Nicole was up to the challenge.  "It was a big deal.  My parents sat down and watched it.  My sister popped popcorn.  I had a feeling that this was the day."

Ignoring the jeers of her father and sister, and feeling heartened by the continued support of her mother, Nicole triumphed over all the bosses and declared victory over evil Baron Pete.

"It was a great feeling!" Nicole exclaims, flashing a huge grin.  "I imagine that it feels something like when you get out of prison after 12 years.  Well, maybe not.  But I feel like I have finally busted out of my Sega-induced prison."

For the record, at the time of victory, Minnie Mouse had 2 out of 7 lives and 3 out of 7 hitpoints left.

Janelle is proud of her little sister.  "It got a little draining, watching her suck so bad for all those years," she says.  "It was as much a victory for us as it was for her."

Adventures in Babysitting

So I have always babysat for my twin cousins, Jake and Jenna, from the time they were around a year old.  They're sweet kids, and ridiculously funny, but best of all they LISTEN.  Too many kids these days are spoiled rotten and can't understand the word "No," which is why there are many members of my family tree I absolutely refuse to watch.

Jake and Jenna are different, though.  Their mom (my first cousin) is a preschool teacher, so she knows how to deal with kids, and she still takes parenting classes and things like that.  The best thing about them is that now that they are 6, they say the most adult things sometimes.  Not explicit, but, for instance, this came out of Jenna's mouth the other day:

"I don't understand why Uncle Vince's girlfriend has two teeth in front and then her other teeth are way in the back."

And this came from Jake, after I told him he had to go to bed when "Drake and Josh" was over:

"Janelle, I . . . I just want to be alone."

Yesterday was nothing new.  It was Superbowl Sunday and since their dad owns a banquet hall, the whole family was there for the party.  I went over there at 2pm and it was just me and Jenna all day until Jake got back from a bowling birthday party.  I brought over my Disney Charades game and I had a good four hours of laughter over Jenna pretending to be Ariel, Simba, Mickey Mouse, Meeko, and the like.  I made her watch "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" which she loved -- so much so that she whined every time a commercial came on and she cried when the Witch, ahem, "kills" Aslan on the Stone Table.  I brought over some old Magic School Bus books for Jake and he basically screamed with excitement and begged me to read them one for a bedtime story.

Rewind.  Since they got their Maltese puppy Sassy, "babysitting Jake and Jenna" has become "babysitting Sassy".  

Fast forward.  So we are on Jake's Detroit Tigers bed and Sassy is being super annoying, chewing my sweatshirt and barking, and we couldn't figure out why.  Lo and behold, Sassy plops down and takes a nice pee all over Jake's comforter.  Jenna freaks out and Jake promptly starts crying, a) "Are we going to be able to finish Magic School Bus?" and b) "Where am I going to sleep!?"

Like the awesome sitter I am, I definitely dropped a few not-very-nice words which made Jenna giggle.  I had to hunt down extra sheets and blankets for Jake's bed, and they ended up getting to bed a half hour late because I had to interrupt Ms. Frizzle and company's trip to the ocean floor with a load of pee-encrusted laundry.

I love babysitting.