Last Wednesday was yet another day at the office. I can't remember now if I did anything exciting, so I probably didn't. After work I met Alex on the train again and we went to a Scandinavian restaurant called Aquavit. It was interesting, but didn't exactly suit my taste. The whole evening, Alex and I talked about fantasies and that was fun. When we got to my house, we frolicked and he went home.

Thursday was great because it was my last day at work. I actually had a lot to do. I wrote a recommendation for myself and a reflection thing. I spent a part of the day helping Jocelyn organize her papers and stuff. At 3:30, I was surprised with a cake, flowers, and certificate for my service. That was nice, of course. I didn't expect to get any sort of going away thing, but I did and I was happy. After work, I dragged all my crap to Morris's house because we were going upstate early together. We smoked at his house and watched TV and then left to the Port Authority to get on the bus. We had to wait for Max who was really close to missing the bus. Thankfully, everything worked out eventhough I had to run around the fucking terminal looking for him. Morris was really upset that night because he couldn't get the trees he wanted and was basically tree-less. At one point he almost depended on Max, but Max pulled through with shrooms. That night, I donated the weed that Alex got for me to Morris's hippie flip. Three stems and one hippie flip later, everyone was freaking out. Weird night. At one point, Ben kept shinning the flashlight from behind me so I thought my huge shadow was attacking me. Scary shit.

Friday was a boring day. Everyone was kinda waiting for the night. I showed Morris my apple bong and later ate it. Hmm.. what else? Sandi, Gela, Stacey, and Max went to get weed from P, our black dealer. Eventhough he wasn't very generous, P provided us with quality stuff. In fact, I had a really crazy high. We spent the night on the lake and chilled out for a few hours. Sandi and I lay down on the hill to look at the stars, which was really cool. There were shooting stars that made everything great. Just good times, all in all. I went to sleep very relaxed and happy.

Saturday was far more eventful. It was the last party of the summer, so we had to do everything we could to make it awesome. In the morning after breakfast, I went driving with my dad. When I came back I played tennis with my mom. Afterwards, we went to get prepared for the night. There was the stop at Subway and Shoprite, as usual. We also stopped at a liquor store to get Jose Cuervo. Finally, Yan came and provided us with really high quality weed. The night began at around 10 at the lake where we all took shots and smoked blunts dolo. One blunt and 5 shots later, I was fucked up. Sandi made a few memorable speeches: It's the last night and everyone's having a conversation! I went to bed at 1:30, which was stupid because I was still drunk and awake until 4 in the morning. Besides, I missed the 3 o'clock McDonalds delivery that Gela and Yan made. Anywho, it was a crazy, wonderful night, and I didn't throw up. Cheers for high tolerance!

Sunday was a lazy day. Gela, Sandi, Yan, and Max left in the afternoon and everyone else was nowhere to be found. Morris, Ben, and I spent a large part of the day sitting around Morris's bungalow or going behind the trailor to smoke his parent's trees. Toward the evening, we went on a boat on a lake where we smoked for the last time. I have no idea how we got back to the shore, though. At one point we got stuck between these two poles and that scared us. Anyway, when we came back up, the parents gave us a sort of hot sangria. I was a sort of punch cooked with rum. Soon enough, I was high and drunk, but in good measure. It was nice. I smoked a cigarette that Morris stole and it was actually very nice and relaxing. I was in a great mood, which was good because Morris, Ben, Ilya, Paul, and I made our way to Ben's house to watch Family Guy and American Dad. Afterward, we played poker until 12. I was actually doing very well throughout the whole game and was very proud of myself. When poker was over, we all walked over to Sonny's bungalow where the drunk parents made a fire in the 40 degree night air. We sat there for a while and went in at 1 or so.

I tried to sleep in on Monday but my parents forced me up because we were leaving. After a large, communal breakfast, I helped my mom pack and we left the colony at around 2:30. We got home at 5:45, which was good because we didn't hit any Labor Day traffic. When I got home, I was welcomed by my new learner's permit. I took a shower, got dressed, and went to meet Alex on the train again. It was his last day of work but he was very tired. We went to Washington Square Park where we waited for Morris. After some time, he came and we went to meet Sandi and Max at the Comedy Cellar. In the club, Morris, Alex and I were seated in a completely different place from Sandi and Max but still enjoyed the show. Most of the comics were good, but Colin Quinn sucked balls. No, really. He was drunk and stupid. He was so cocky that it wasn't even interesting listening to him. I know he's a witty comedian but he was just so drunk and stupid that I hated him. After the show, we had some pizza and then went our separate ways. Alex and I waited for the train forever and got to my house really late. He lay around with me and then left. I missed him.

Today was a lot of fun. I woke up to Alex's voice and went to sleep to Alex's voice. In the morning, I took two trains and a bus to get to his house. I ended up meeting him in the supermarket where he, Oleg, and Marina were buying food for an end-of-summer barbeque. I came home with him and after a tearful moment, helped cut up the vegetables and stuff for the barbeque. After all the work was done, Alex treated me to some frolicking. Oleg came and we stuffed all the food and shit into a cart. We walked over to Marine Park and began the barbeque. Throughout the day there were many people: Marina, Melly, Oleg, Steph, Tanya, some Asian kid, Jacob, Matt, Mary, another girl, Eugene, Dima, Anna, Lena, and Jein. I took photos all day while we cooked the meat and stuff. Toward the evening, we played charades. I was actually doing very well and ended up getting most of my teamate's phrases. Memorable phrases, you ask? Let's see.. Unbreakable hymen, rimjob menu, blasphemous porno freak, supercilious yuppie intellectual, etc. Good stuff. We played until it got really cold and dark and then we walked over to little Bedford park. Marina, Steph, Olga, Anna, Jane, Lena, Dima, Oleg, and I sat around for a while until everyone dispersed. I went with Alex back to his house, talked to his mom, and then went to lie around with him. We talked a little, I gave him a massage with a happy ending, and watched him fall asleep. I left at around 11:45 and spent 15 minutes with a guy the size of a whale who was flirting with me with all his might.

Yeh.

This summer was really fucking awesome. I had fun every single weekend and I got to do what I liked in between. Upstate was really fun. Memories? Smoking. Listening to Pink Floyd. Subway. Gela driving us around. Clayton/Cletus. Backgammon. Val. Hanging out behind the trailors. Funyunns. Mike's homosexual comments. Milwaukee's Best. Alex's crazy snacks. Stealing trees/liquor from the parents. Rolling in the laundry room. Playing lotto. High gas prices. Learning to drive. Jesse shitting in the lake. Sublime. Gangsta.

Saturday kicked ass. I got up, took a shower, and had breakfast. That already seemed like a great achievement. After breakfast, I went driving with my dad. I drove the car the whole time, my dad didn’t take the wheel once. I left the parking lot, drove to the mall, drove around in 8s in reverse in the parking lot, practiced parking, drove down a street to practice stopping at traffic lights and such, and drove all the way back to the colony and parked. It was awesome. The day went by slowly. Everyone wanted to watch the Family Guy Movie, so we did. Gela and Sandi experienced a grave family tragedy, and I send out my love and condolences to them. Because of that incident, everyone was pretty much sulky, but Gela ended up driving me, Morris, Ben, and Stacey to Shop Rite. Mike and Ilya went, too, only they stopped at Wal-Mart first. Regardless, Gela and Stacey went to shop for food and Morris, Ben, and I went to get trees for the evening. We waited around fro Mike and Ilya. Gela bought their alcohol and then we all left. Back upstate, Morris, Ben, and I went into Ben’s house to smoke a bug and watch TV. We sat around watching Seinfeld and thought about the time when we had two blunts and how nicely that went in a three-person cipher. Then we thought about how we had three blunts for the night and how it would be hard to pass them around since we’d be switching hands and such. After a few minutes, it hit me that we wouldn’t need to cipher three blunts between three people because we would each have our own. We laughed for a good 10 minutes. Before continuing the evening’s festivities, we stopped by the barbeque. In the laundry room, Gela and Stacey helped roll three blunt which Morris, Ben, and I proceeded to smoke down by the lake. Everyone was smoking, drinking, and chilling. Good times.

Sunday was really shitty because it rained all day. I got up late and at 3:15, my mother drove me and Morris to the movies to watch Brothers Grimm. The film had a cool idea and an ok plot, but what was terrible was that you couldn’t understand 75% of the dialogue. I couldn’t believe it! Most of the time I was making up my own shit. That’s what ruing it for me. Morris just plain hated it. After the movie, while we were waiting for my mom, Morris had to leave a rather intimidating message on some kid’s voicemail. He began with, “Listen to be you little shit!” Just as he said that, a little old lady was walking by and she turned around with such frightened eyes! I couldn’t hold my laughter. It was so fucking funny! She was just staring at Morris, scared shitless…Ah, good times. Afterward, we got some pizza and walked over to the Dollar Den to get something sweet for him, but it was closed. We stood around and I started peeling off the D from the word Den. I eventually took the whole thing off and put it at the end of the word, so now the door says DOLLAR END. Good stuff. My mom picked us up and we stopped at Wal-Mart for what seemed like forever. When we got back upstate, Ben was going nuts and begged to smoke. Then, Morris got his laptop and we watched George Carlin’s comedy act from a while ago. He looks very young. Anyway, it was fucking hilarious. The Rice Crispies skit is by far the funniest act I’ve ever seen. I’ll download it and post it sometime soon. After the comedy, I went over to my bungalow to prepare for our departure. Ben and Morris went in to watch Family Guy and I carried shit back and forth. We eventually left, but I slept in the car the whole way.

That’s about it for my weekend. I just came to realize how terrible it is that school is just about to begin. I don’t want it to start just yet, I’ve been having so much fun…Oh, well. This week should be good and the weekend even better. Keep it gangsta.

Thursday was a kick ass day. Work was boring, again. I don’t remember what I did other than clips and internet browsing. Phooey. I left early, at 4, in order to make it in time to the DMV to get my permit. I got to the DMV at 4:40 and stood in one line then in another line then went back to my first line and then back again to the second line. I was just in time to take the last written test for the day. I had my application ready and my proof of identity and all that. There was this one area on the application that had to be signed, but I thought that if you’re 17, you don’t need parental permission to get a permit. I was standing on line deliberating whether or not I should sign it for my mom, but decided against it. I don’t know why. In any case, by the time I got my number and my number was called, the woman who I came up to told me I couldn’t get a permit without the signature. I asked if I could take the test anyway and bring my mother in to sign the paper, and she reluctantly agreed. Every employee in the DMV is black, which means they feel absolutely fine being mean to little white girls. I took the test, which was really easy. If anyone is yet to take the written test for the permit, study the manual on line and take the quizzes that are given after every chapter. I took the quizzes three times, which was overkill for the test, but it helped because every question on the test was in the quizzes. I knew all the questions by heart and got 20/20. I called my mom and she rushed to the DMV. I was freaking out that she wouldn’t find parking in time for 6 when the DMV closes, but she did and she signed and everything was good. I got my photo taken and then waited again for my number to be called so I could pay. My mom waited with me and we talked. I paid and got my temporary permit. My real permit is coming in two weeks. Hurray! I feel like I got something off my chest and it’s wonderful. Anywho, my mom drove me home, I changed, and left to meet Alex on the F. We went to Union Square to watch 40-Year-Old Virgin, since Alex didn’t get to see it last weekend. It turned out that I liked it the second time as much, or perhaps even more, than I liked it the first time. This has happened to me in ages. I realized that the characters are really believable, really real, or, in movie lingo, three dimensional. Andy’s girlfriend Trish is a very realistic character and Andy is very well played. It’s a great comedy and it’s great acting. I love it. After the movies we went to eat at my favorite pizzeria. I had my onion and tomato slice, which was scrumptious. Alex and I talked about things, got into a huge argument, stormed out of the pizzeria, kept arguing all the way into the train station, and finally resolved things on the train. We got home late and Alex lay around with me for some time. We frolicked and he soon left. I also got to play piano for him, although badly.

One thing I hate in the office is that Marty’s speech writer, Eric, butchers my writing. When I write a release, I usually get to keep most of my writing if Joselyn edits. With Eric, though, not one sentence is left untouched. I’m not exaggerating. I did a release on this block party and the first time he edited it, I got to keep one (1) original sentence. By the second edit, that sentence was changed, too. It angers me because he might as well write it himself. Does he think I’m such a terrible writer? He rewrote everything, so there was no point for me to write it in the first place. I know that I should take criticism, and I do, but this is overboard. I guess I should learn from it: maybe I have problems with style or whatever else, but it just seems too harsh. I have the feeling that since I’m the 17-year-old intern, he doesn’t respect me as much. Oh, well. When I’m work at the New York Times, I’ll write about him.

I was looking through old blog entries and stumble over number 17 date May 15, 2003. Here’s what part of it read:

How long should your first time last? Sure, a virgin guy might not last any longer than half an hour, but did you think of the girl? Don't be so selfish. Women have needs that can't be fulfilled in a fifteen-minute fuck.

Oh, how naive I was. Fifteen-minute fucks are where it's at. And a virgin guy never last as long as a half hour for his first time, or rarely even on his 50th time. Now I just feel stupid.

Some fun stuff:

I thought those were pretty funny. Well, that’s it for now. Weekend is upon us, so get ready to read. Later dudes.

Another boring day at the office. Clips in the morning, clips in the evening, clips at supper time...I did a photo release and some other random bullshit. I'm getting more and more tired of doing the same thing and it's pissing me off. I hate the fact that the air conditioner used for the whole office is situated right behind my desk. I get so fucking cold that I have to go out into the hall and warm myself up. Phooey.

Anyway, I spent the whole day waiting for work to end. When it finally did, I went to the city and met up with Lena. While I was waiting for her, a bird pooped on me, which sucked, but I had good luck for the rest of the day. So after standing under the scaffolding for a few minutes, Lena finally came to where I was waiting for her. We made our way to FIT to go into the museum, which I had made sure was open and cheap to get into, but apparently it was closed until September 8th. Foiled again. I offered to go to a park and Lena agreed, saying first that she wanted to get a notepad and pencil to do some sketches in the park. We walked down 6th Avenue and talked about movies. We finally found a Rite Aid and walked around forever looking for notepads and then discussed why 6 pencils and a case of lead cost as much as three pencils with softer gripping cushions. On our way, we saw a huge, black Great Dane. I've never seen a dog that big. Lena properly described it as a Great Dane crossbred with a horse. The thing must have come up to my boobs. Oof. After some time, we got to Washington Square Park and sat down on the benches along the long walks. Lena started drawing and I was listening to these street jazz performers. The bassist was pretty good, as was the trump-ist (?). We talked about all kinds of nonesense, Gaza for one thing and college for another. It's always a pleasure spending time with Lena because the conversations never get boring. She drew a lady, a dude who kept moving around, a building, a message, a tree, and a watch. As she drew, I watched the dogs walk by with their owners. 99% of the dogs were puppies and that was pretty wierd because all I kept seeing were small dogs. After some time, Alex called and said he'd come to the park. When he got to the city, our conversation went something like this:

Me: Where are you?
Alex: I see a church.
Me: Ok...Where are you?
Alex: I'm standing next to a Starbucks.
Me: Where are you?!
Alex: Sixth Avenue.
Me: Sixth Avenue and what?!
Alex: Wa..wever..I can't read the sign.
Me: Ugh. Just walk to 4th Street.

Comic genius. After sitting around watching Lena draw some more, we went to Hummus, that place that serves hummus for 3 out of 5 of its dishes. We each got a different dish of hummus and I had the lemonade, which was really yummy. Lena liked the little eatery, and that made me happy. We stopped by Bob's Records for a few minutes and Alex browsed the vinyls. Then, we walked over to Broadway to get on the train. We talked about sense of humor and on the train we talked about parenting. I had some wonderful discussions today with Lena and I feel so accomplished. I feel like I exercised some brain muscle or learned something new. In any case, I had a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again.

So, uh, heard of Victoria Gotti? The mob wife with three sons, a column in Star magazine, and loveable character on Growing Up Gotti? Anyway, last week she announced that she had breast cancer and yesterday she announced that she didn't. What a stupid, lying whore. Is there no decency? People actually die from that disease and sh goes around using it for a pity party. Fucking whore. No wonder her publicist left.

Permit tomorrow! Hurray! Plus, I have a date with Alex and that is always wonderful.

The neighborhood where I work - South Brooklyn (althought I'll never understand that because it's actually in the northern part of Brooklyn) - has a lot of blacks, hispanics, ghetto people, and mexicans. Every day I get a comment about how wonderful I look today and how I'm doing and such. The thing that always confuses me is that I can't understand if they're making fun or are seriously considering talking to me and getting me into bed. Because I'll tell you what. If they're not just making fun of me, I'll take it as a compliment. I won't act on the compliment, but I'll sure as hell take it as one.

So today was pretty much ok. I did clips in the morning, went to a press conference, had lunch, and bumed around for 2 hrs before I could leave. I went to music after work, my mom picked me up, and I waited for Alex at home. I got so worked up, then I got turned down, but then I got worked up again. In any case, keep saying something, it does wonders.

Friday was a mushy day. I have no idea what I mean by that. My grandfather picked me up after work and we came upstate at around 7:45. As soon as I came, we all left to eat at Subway and buy weed. Subway was closed and the guy we wanted to buy from was in Long Island. Everyone got bumed out. Eventually, Yan, Gela’s close friend, stopped these two high black guys and we ended up getting weed from them. While everyone waited for the delivery, everyone being Morris, Ben, Yan, Gela, Stacy, and Max, Sandi and I walked over to McDonalds and waited fro them there. While we were waiting on line, these two guys with blood shot eyes came in and ordered three (3) McChicken sandwiches each. It then came to me that there cannot possibly be anything more entertaining to do in Monticello than smoke and forget that you’re there. Everyone eventually came and we went to Wendy’s. Back in the colony, we had to get something started so we got at least 100 lbs worth of logs to bring down to the other side of the lake to make a fire. Paul and I carried 50 lbs of wood on my blanket and my hands almost started bleeding. Everyone eventually assembled. It was me, Morris, Ben, Mike, Paul, Ilya, Nic, Gela, Yan, Stacey, and eventually Sandi and Max. We rolled 2 blunts and ciphered until it was just Morris, Ben, and me left. We had two roaches between three people and it turned out that every time you would blow out your hit, another blunt was coming your way. It was nuts. We sat by the fire and just laughed at everything. Morris was playing around with the flashlight, shining it at people and making music to its movements. It was fun. Sandi threw in one of those huge batteries that come in plastic boxes into the fire. I thought we were going to die. I was getting so scared, but nothing happened. Eventually, we all sauntered back up and went to bed.

Saturday was eventful. I woke up at 11:45, ate breakfast at 12, and went driving at 12:30. My dad and I went back to the plaza parking lot and I drove around in squares in reverse, which was a bitch. I did some parking and such. Eventually, I got to drive all the way back to the colony. On the way home, I was attacked by a retarded dog who wanted to lick the car wheels and a dumfounded deer. I loved driving. I also got to park. For some time, everyone sat around Stacy’s bungalow and talked until Yan and Max left. Gela, Sandi, Morris, Ben, Mike, Ilya, Stacy, and I left at around 5 or something like that to Subway. We ate and got weed from the guy who works at the movie theater. I then got a call from Alex telling me that he still hadn’t gotten onto the train at 6 o’clock when the bus that was taking him upstate left at 6:30. I was so upset because I thought he wouldn’t make it. I already felt my weekend going to waste. It turned out that he ran to the Port Authority and indeed made it onto the bus without weed but with munchie provisions. Back in the colony, Sandi and I walked around. She rolled a blunt which she then sold to Ben and we left with Gela to pick Alex up. After picking him up we went back to the movies to get more weed for me and Alex. Fast forward. At around 10, we all went down to the other side of the lake to begin our night. We had four 20s, 24 Milwaukee’s Best, 6 Coronas, 6 Miller Highlifes, and 6 Smirnoff Ices. We rolled two blunts again and smoked and drank the night away. edit: I forgot about what stupid shit Alex did. He threw in a can of beer into the fire. I warned him that it would eventually explode and shoot boiling beer on someone's leg, but he threw it in anyway. But he got his end. The beer ended up shootin in his direction and hitting him in the face. These are some photos from Sunday courtesy of Mike and his Sidekick:

We somehow all dispersed on the way back up, but Morris, Alex, and I sat in my car and listened to music for about 30 minutes before we all started falling asleep. Alex had to move from one house to another because the sleeping arrangements were constantly changing.

Sunday was a bitch. I work up at 12, took a shower, ate breakfast with Alex, and then head about Paul’s sister’s, Renee’s, birthday party. We woke Morris up and he and Ben went to smoke before going to the party. We sat around looking at science magazines and stuff. I was so tired the whole day so everything was going really slowly, dully, and boringly. edit: At one point, a yellow jacket flew up Alex's pant leg and stung him in his leg twice because he started kicking it around. I healed him though. Someone got the idea of smoking and going to watch 40-Year Old Virgin, so Gela drove me, Morris, Ben, Sandi, and Alex to the movie theater. We smoked behind all the stores and went to try and get tickets but they wouldn’t sell to us. We left early and everyone was pissed. The rest of the day we kinda sat around talking in front of Morris’s bungalow and playing backgammon. I left with Alex and my parents at 10 and we got home pretty late. It was a tiring weekend.

Today was boring. Clips and photo release. Tomorrow I get to go to a press conference.

I watched the Family Guy movie, which was pretty funny. There’s a movie inside the movie where Megan gets a sex change and calls herself Ron in the future. I finally realized that no one on the show and none of the creators like Meg. I always thought she’d eventually grow up and prove everybody wrong about her. Another disappointment.

Speaking of disappointment, I read this article in the Post about the Palestinian view of what’s really going on in Gaza and it really pissed me off. For instance: Most viewers in Cairo watching the Israeli vs. Israeli confrontation on Al Jazeera and other Arab television outlets saw the withdrawal as a scheme aimed at solidifying Israel's hold on its West Bank settlements. A scheme?! Oh no! The Jews are at it again! They’re giving us back the land that we fairly lost in war, and it’s all a scheme! "The whole thing is one big setup," said a Cairo-based graphic designer. "Ultimately, it's aimed at Israeli consolidation of the West Bank and Jerusalem." Well that makes sense. The footage isn’t even real. Every settler in Gaza is in on the setup. It’s not real pain these people are feeling; those aren’t real tears. They’re in on the setup to trick the Palestinians into thinking that they really want the land they live on. Ihab Hamdy, managing director of a private, Cairo-based business research company, was no less dubious. "It's good that the Israelis have left some Palestinian territory, but I fear the Gaza Strip will be Tel Aviv's final concession, and that they'll never withdraw from the West Bank," he said. "Most people suspect this." Well, Ihab, I suspect that you’re an ungrateful son of a bitch. I suspect that the West Bank doesn’t belong to you. I suspect that you don’t have a hint of compassion for the hundreds of settlers being stripped away from the homes that they built and the land that they cultivated so that Arabs like you can go ahead and bully a nation that has stood up against everything you’ve thrown at it since day one. I hate those mother-fucking Arabs. It makes me so angry. You know what? Good. Israel will keep the West Bank and Jerusalem. At the rate things are going, no Arab deserves to step foot on that land. They can all go kiss the fattest part of my ass.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Today was more eventful, however. I woke up late but made it to work on time anyway. I did the clips but I spent quite some time doing them. I played Su Doku at one point, looked at restaurants and did all sorts of reservation-related things, and read articles online from the Village Voice. I went to lunch and then returned to do more nonesense, only I was given a press release to do about a luncheon that took place at Borough Hall to announce the Great Irish Fair. I left early, came home, and played piano. At 6:45 I left to meet Alex on the F to go to the city with him. We went to this fancy bar/restaurant called Opia to take advantage of Restaurant Week again. I made a reservation to this really nice Scandinavian restaurant that's really hard to get a reservation at for next week. Anywho, I had shrimp with mango and papaya, chicken breast with really yummy vegetables, and passion fruit creme brulee, which was heavenly. Alex? Potato and leek soup, grilled salmon with a kasha-type side, and assorted sorbet. We had a nice time talking and eating and I enjoyed myself. On the way home, I got a huge stomach ache. I thought I was going to poop myself, which is not a good feeling at all. I made it home safely, but I had to say good night to Alex abruptly because he decided to go hom via MTA and I wasn't aware of such a decision. So, so much for that.

Tomorrow is Friday so I'm leaving upstate after work and Alex will be joining me upstate on Saturday. It'll be great fun. I can't wait.

Oh, another photo release is up here and another photo release was used in a local paper. This job is fucking awesome.

After the movie, we got on the train, which was doing us the enormous favor of going local all the way through Manhattan and Brooklyn. I guess that’s what happens when you take the train at 12 AM. When we got home, Alex was dead tired, so he asked his mother to stay over and she agreed. Then my mother agreed. We were the two happiest people in the world. I got to sleep with my love without being pestered with thoughts of hiding from and lying to my parents. In the middle of the night, Alex pounced on me and we frolicked, which was so wonderful because of its spontaneity. I loved sleeping with him because he was always so warm and nice to lie next to. (I sat about 5 minutes thinking about last night before continuing with this entry.) At 8 we got up because I had to go to work. Alex left to get on the train at 8:15 and I left at 8:30, but he was still standing there waiting.

On to different issues. Heard about the Gaza pullout lately? Well, since I get to do the clips every day, I get to read about it every day. It’s terrible that this is happening. It’s Jew against Jew. The Israeli soldiers are being forced to pull out reluctant settles and all the newspapers have huge photos of people crying and not wanting to leave their homes. It just really hit me and I started crying. Israel won the Gaza strip, and now it’s being the bigger man to increase peace with Palestine by pulling its settlers out. It stupid that it’s actually taking place, but now there’s not much to be done. It’s just terrible what’s going on.

In other news, size really doesn’t matter. Guys a small penis expands more than a big one during erection. A woman's most sexually sensitive parts are in and around the outer third of the vagina. A big penis is not necessarily needed to satisfy a woman.

Speaking of news, you can find my press releases here. The one about the City buying the Coney Island carousel is called “Brooklyn Grabs the Brass Ring.” Check it out. More will be up soon as I become a professional communications intern here at the Press Office. Did you know where the name Coney Island came from? “Coney” is a Dutch word for rabbit. When the Dutch came here, Brooklyn was infested with rabbits so they called it Rabbit Island. Cool, no?

Final work-related news: one of my photo releases was used in the August 16th issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Hurrah for me.

Alex might come upstate this weekend. I’m super excited. I’ve been looking forward to the weekends because I get so tired during the week. So that’s about all the news for today. Ta-ta.

Last Monday night. Came upstate. Listened to Pink Floyd in the dark with Morris.

Tuesday. I got up relatively early – 11:00 – which sucked because I was hoping to sleep later, but couldn’t. My mother announced that we were going to Middletown so I woke Morris up and we left. We ended up getting lost, but made it ok. First, we watched Bad News Bears, which was ok, but for a kid’s movie, there was a crap load of cursing. Billy Bob Thorton said “shit” in every other sentence. After the movie, Morris and I walked around looking for cool t-shirts. I hate Hot Topic with a passion. A passion. Why do the guys get awesome shirts like “Everyone has a porpoise” with a dolphin drawn on it and girls get shitty ones with fairies and horsies?! Plus, all the really cool Beatles shirts, like the ones with the Blue Meanies, were sized XXL and XXXL. ARGH! After walking around, we met my mother and my sister and ate at the food court and then went home. Morris, Ben, and I stayed up for some time. Watched some Family Guy. Tried watching The Cube. The night kinda sucked.

Wednesday. Early wake-up again. This time most of the day was wasted in Wal-Mart and Shop Rite. Nothing exciting or special. The night was pretty boring, too. We watched some Family Guy and then Morris and I watched Half Baked.

Thursday was more exciting. My mom, Morris, and I went to Woodbury Commons while my sister stayed in the colony. Morris and I went around stores and I got myself a bunch of stuff and Morris got himself Hendrix jeans and pants. We met my mother, ate, shopped a little more, and left. When we came back up state, Sandi came. The much awaited weed did not come. Ben got so angry that he was pissed for the rest of the night, and nothing, absolutely nothing, could cheer him up. Sandi got desperate. She started looking through my prescription pills and we were even considering smoking blackberry leaves. It was that sad.

Friday. Can’t remember what happened Friday…Oh, that’s right. On Friday we were preparing for Saturday, my father’s birthday. For some time I was doing this puzzle with my Mom and Morris and Maya and Gela. Then, while Gela was helping prepare vegetables for salads, I wrote a poem for my dad. Then it was back to the puzzle. Gela and I finished it together, but it was so difficult. Anyway, Ben’s friends came. At night, we all went down to the lake to smoke a 30 piece of regs in two blunts, three joints, and a myriad of bowls. Oh, and then there was that bottle of Smirnoff. All gone. In short, everyone was fucked up.

Saturday was nuts. My dad bought huge bottles of sake and my uncle came to drink in the morning. Morris, my grandmother, and I went with my uncle to his colony for about a half an hour. Morris and I played a minute of tennis, 5 minutes of badminton, and 10 minutes on the swings. When we came back, Gela was helping set up for this kid Phil’s 10th birthday. I went down to the other side of the lake to practice with my dad, but he was coming up and didn’t wait for me. I got really frustrated. Then I saw Paul for the first time since last summer. I was really frustrated and ended up telling my dad that I didn’t want to sing at all. Eventually, my dad’s party started. He had a lot of his friends there and everyone was drinking sake. I even got some sake, but chugged it because it was really nasty. After Gela, Sandi, Mike, Ilya, and Max came back from Stewart’s with beer, we went down to the lake and started smoking and drinking. Crazy night. We found this hand-held fan that flashed lights as it spun. That was fucking amazing. However, the night ended kinda quickly because everyone was either high or drunk. Everyone ended up going in by 12. Except for Paul who was tapping Inessa and Anna.

Sunday. Woke up early. Ate ice cream. Directed Max on how to play backgammon. Left at 3:30 with Tanya and Slava. Came home at 6:00. Played the Harry Potter computer game until 8:15. Went to Alex’s house. Frolicked on the couch in the living room in the dim light with jazz music. We frolicked very, very, very passionately because we hadn’t seen each other for a week. My uncle picked me up at 10:40. I love his apartment. I get my own room, my own TV, my own computer, and my own big bed. Yummy.

Monday was my first day on my internship. I was supposed to wake up at 7 and leave the apartment at 8. I woke up at 7:58 and got really scared. I ended up rushing and making it to the train at 8:20 when I expected to get there 8:30. I was so awesome. Anyway, the first day at work was ok. The whole day I was doing clips, which are newspaper articles that have to do with Brooklyn and Marty Markowitz. I had to look through all the New York newspapers, read the articles, find the relevant ones, photocopy them, and paste them on sheets with headings. That was a lot of work, but I guess it has to be done. I was really tired when I got home. Very tired. I played some Harry Potter and went to my grandmother’s house. I watched TV and enjoyed myself.

Tuesday was so much fun! It was only my second day on the job and I got to go to a press conference with Mayor Bloomberg, Marty Markowitz, and Councilmember Dominic Recchia and write a 300-word photo release for a photo that I took of the event. The press conference was really interesting because I got to see reporters come early and get information and prepare themselves for the conference. There were camera crews, radio reporters, news reporters, reporters from AP and the Post...It was so much fun! I got to meet a lot of important people whose names I don't remember and who probably won't remember me, but it was exciting, nonetheless. My job was to take pictures of Marty speaking or standing next to Bloomberg, so I took dozens of photos. Back at Borough Hall, I was given the assignment to write a photo release for event, which was fun to do. The photo release will be going out to local papers, but it's still a great opportunity to get published. It came pretty easily to me and it was fun to do. I’m really glad I get to get experience in what I like to do. I ended up staying and hour and 15 minutes later than I was supposed to. I got home, took a shower, and played Harry Potter until Alex came. I had weed from the weekend so we got comfortable in the living room, smoked, and watched Wizard of Oz synched with Dark Side of the Moon. It was so crazy! Oh my god. I was so shocking! I think it’s coincidence but Alex thinks it was done on purpose. Who knows? It was really cool, though. I was so stoned and my whole body was numb. We frolicked and it was wonderful. I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling. The Chinese food we had was heavenly and so were the Oreos I bought. I watched TV and my grandmother’s house and fell asleep at 1-ish. I kept waking up at night though because my stomach really hurt and that sucked.

Wednesday I woke up and my stomach still hurt. I had to drink hot water and Tylenol. I left an hour later to work. When I got there, I was given an assignment where I had to call people who were involved in youth employment and the interns. I was doing some interviewing and practicing my phone skills. It was fun. Eventually I’m going to go to these places where the interns work to take photos. I’m going to write an article about the interesting things that the interns do and stuff. This stuff is awesome. My stomach ache lasted all day. I couldn’t and didn’t eat anything, not even the really expensive chocolate cake that this other intern got for her going away party. Oh, well. I got home and played Harry Potter. I hate that game, but I can’t stop playing. Then I went to my grandmother’s house and watched Trailer Fabulous and The Surreal Life.

Thursday. Stomach ache continues. Arg. I got to work early, got the clips done, and then a major stomach spasm happens. I almost fainted onto the desk. I called my mom and she told me to go to the pharmacy during lunch. Before lunch, I had to write up a recorded speech by Marty Markowitz. I listened to one 2 second part about 50 times. That sucked. With lunch came pills, relief, and a delicious bagel with mozzarella cheese. Back at the office, I did some of the work for my volunteering, lazed about, and talked to my mom. I left early, picked up pills, played Harry Potter, entertained Alex, and came to my grandmother’s.

Friday and the stomach ache is disappearing. Didn’t do much of anything exciting at work. Clips, as usual. A little later during the day I went down to watch the raising of the Pakistani flag for Pakistani Independence Day. That was silly. At 4:30, my grandparents picked me up and we went upstate. The night was spent wonderfully. Sandi found a connect upstate by the name of Clayton, who we lovingly call Cletus. Apparently, Cletus can easily supply us with crack. This should be fun.

Saturday I woke up early and pissed. Sandi dragged me outside after my shower to go to Subway. Morris, Gela, her friend Eugene, Sandi, and I went to Subway. I had already eaten breakfast so I just sat around falling asleep. When we came back, Morris, Sandi, and I decided to go swimming. It would’ve been fun if it weren’t for all those pesky kids and their dog! But seriously, it was getting pretty bad. I went up, changed, and waited for my father. I went driving again, this time with more concentration on reverse driving. That shit is hard. After driving, I came back upstate and we all left to the movies to watch Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalow. Everyone was stoned, but the movie was terrible anyway. We came back in the evening and began our evening celebrations. We went to the other side of the lake but it started raining so we ran back to the laundry room. After some time, we all went in. I had the biggest headache.

I woke up at 2 on Sunday. Then, Morris and I watched Mystery Men, which was ok. We walked around, found Mike, Ilya, Paul, and Nic and played cards. That is, of course, after I picked out the poker chips AND 3 decks of cards from the garbage can in the laundry room. Herby got pissed that we let everything lie around on the table, so he dumped it. I had dirty hands. Eventually, the rain came again, and that always sucks. The day kinda slipped away. Morris andI wandered around at 7 and found Paul and Nic in Paul’s car watching Harold and Kumar. I saw the last 2 minutes. We then sat around talking about shit, like how it was a bad year for porn and how we knew Dumbledore would die. I left upstate at around 9:45 and came home at 1:15. I was pissed and tired.

Today was ok. Woke up early and so tired. Did clips in the morning. Then I did a photo release for the Pakistani Independence Day. Then, I went down to a conference where Marty Markowitz was honoring an Egyptian cab driver for returning a suitcase full of diamond rings to its Hasidic Jewish owners who left them in the cab on their way to Montreal. Then I did a press release for that. I transposed the cab driver’s heart-warming speech with all his grammatical errors. That’s about it. After work I went to music where I wanted to shoot myself out of embarrassment at how badly I was playing. My mom picked me up. I played Harry Potter, ate dinner, and watched The Aviator with my mom. That movie is so long! 2:43 I was watching it for. Argh. Oh well.

I’m done for now.

Friday was really exciting. At 11:30 I went on an interview for an internship at Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's press office. I was asked a few questions, shown around, introduced, etc. Everything went really well and I was really confident. I went to meet my father for lunch and I met him, Mazur, and Benya and we went to eat. While I was eating I got a call from the press office and they told me I got the internship and that I start on the 8th. I'm so excited because I'll be talking to reporters and writing stuff. It's going to be great. After lunch, my dad tried to make me a debit card at Chase, but I don't have a good ID so I was screwed. Afterwards, I walked over to 42nd and sat in Starbucks reading and waiting for Morris. I met him and we got on the Shortline Bus to Monticello. When we got there, there wasn't much to do. Everything was laid back as usual. The funniest thing to say to someone when they're high after just smoking a blunt is, "Let me be blunt with you." It sucks being aruond Morris and Ben when they're high because they have their own world and they keep making me shut up and go away.

Saturday was great, too. I woke up at 11:30 and at 1 it was Masha's (Stacy's sister's) 10th birthday. I ate and thenI went with my dad to the huge parking lot in front of Apollo Plaza. I got to drive for my first time. I turned and went backward and parked and pulled out and that was fun. Then we went to see my uncle at the little colony he was at. Then, when we got back to our colony, I went with my dad to practice singing across the lake. The day went by slowly. Sandi's friends came and we went across the lake to make a fire. It was really great except for the fact that Ilya got drunk off of 3, maybe 4 (but I doubt it), cans of beer. He started leaning on me and doing shit that was quite uncomfortable. In any case, we went up and sat around a bit and then went to bed.

I woke up on Sunday and got on the bus to New York. At 4:15 I got to Marine Park where Alex was having his birthday picnic. When I got there, Alan was filming Dima and Lena and Eddie and Anna doing a three-legged race to reach Alex. Oleg was scrounging around. We sat around and ate and played guitar. Then I went on a 20 minute walk to the bathroom which was SO far away. We sat around and talked some more and then we started playing charades. My first word was "throbbing member," which was impossible to do. Let's see if I remember the good ones. "Flaming tortoise," "brontosaurus rape," "green jello," etc. If anyone remembers, let me know. Anyway, eventually Alex's parents came and picked up the food so we left as well. We tried to find a bathroom and then we bought ice cream and walked over to Little Bedford. We called Olga and Marina outside and sat around in the park. Everyone eventually dispersed and Alex, Olga, Marina, and I went to Alex's house where he fed Marina and Olga. They left and I lay around with Alex. He got Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl. He also got the Village People on vinyl and that was pretty funny. Anyway, he called car service, gave me food and money, and kissed me goodbye. My driver was drunk, which wasn't very pleasant.

Well, I'm free this week. I decided to go upstate since everyone is busy during the day here. I guess I'll read and try to write something. That's about everything. Have a wonderful week everyone and give me a call if you love me! (845 794 9228 and ask for Margaret, Bungalo 18). PEACE!

Saturday night. I got on the bus and went to Alex's house. He, his mother, and I left to the Metropolitan Opera to see Khachituran's ballet Spartacus. I really liked the ballet, the music, and everything. It was performed by Balshoi Ballet, a Russian ballet company, which is possibly the best one in the world. It was real quality stuff. There were so many Russian people there that after they made an announcement about turning off cellphones and cameras, they made the same announcement in Russian. Many people laughed and started clapping because we felt so represented, like a big family, because after all, the Balshoi Ballet is something everyone in Russia knows about. Of course, as soon as the lights went off, some Russian man started yelling and people around him yelled at him. It's something you expect from a very solid Russian crowd. Anyway, the performance ended at around 12 and we go on the train. I had sobered up by the third act so I was awake and talkative. I ended up going to Alex's house because my parents didn't want me sleeping alone in my house. When I got to his house, we had a midnight snack and then I went to sleep in Alex's bed while he slept on the sofa. We talked for some time and then I went to sleep, only to wake up to Alex squeezing himself into the bed and kissing me. That was wondeful. We lay around, took a shower, and left, Alex to work and me to my house. I got home at around 10 but decided not to go to sleep so I just did random shit during the day. I wrote a report for the kid that I write shit for. That was easy, and I learned a lot about hurricanes. I spent most of the day reading Harry Potter 6, though. Overall a dark and somber book. Nothing special and I had the feeling that Dumbeldore was going to die all along. But I have to say, Rowling is really creative. Of course she added puberty nonesense, like Ron making out with girls and Harry going out with Ginny, too.

Monday was Alex's birthday. So I'll take a moment to say happy birthday to the guy who has made my everyday feel like a new, wonderful, promising year. I wish you all the happiness and luck and love you deserve. And don't do anything stupid. Now then, during the day we had two speakers. One woman was Jennifer 8 Lee. The 8 is not a typo, it's part of her name. She is currently a reporter at the New York Times (we seem to be getting a lot of those) and she did some cool stories. The mother of one girl from the workshop came to speak to us, too, because she is a staff photographer for the New York Times and she's been working there for 27 years. Her name is Marilynn K. Lee and you can see her photos in the paper almost every day. She brought some examples of her work, her three enormous cameras, and a chain with passes for every place she's been to, which weighs about 5 pounds, without exaggeration. She is a superb photographer and she has some really stunning work. Her photos of the '93 bombing of the WTC were nominated for a Pulitzer. She's amazing. After the speakers we went to do a little more proofreading for the newspaper and then we walked over to Nowy Dzienik, the Polish Daily News. It was really small and the air conditioners weren't working. We got a small tour, but nothing exciting. Actually, the whole thing was pretty boring and I couldn't wait to leave. Mai and I had serious blisters from walking 5 avenues and 15 blocks so we went into Duane Reade and I stole bandages. I was so slick. Believe me, though, the act was justified. I don't think we could have walked another block without taking off our shoes and walking barefoot on 7th Avenue. I ended up rushing home because I had to change and meet Alex and his family to go to dinner to celebrate his birthday. When I got home, I planned out what I wanted to wear, but it turned out my shirt was dirty. I spent an hour going through all my clothes and I got so frustrated that I almost started crying. I hate when you get that frustrated, it makes no sense to cry but you feel so helpless, all you can do is cry, or maybe that's all I can do. Anywho, I finally picked out an outfit, got on the bus, and got to Alex's house. Alex, his mom, Misha, Dolya and I all went to some Greek restaurant on Sheepshad, next door to Baku Palace. We had octopus and all sort of stuff and really good champagne. It was nice and quiet, but I had the feeling Alex wanted something bigger condsidering it was his first time after many years having his birthday in New York.

Today was really fun. In the morning, Nina Chaudry came to speak to us. She's a producer at Wide Angle, a documentary show on PBS. She showed us some tapes of the Wide Angle features. She talked to us but she bored me. Afterwards we all walked down to the Village Voice, which is a block south of Cooper Union. It had a great atmosphere and the people were nice. We got stuck in the elevator but survived. We got to meet Don Force, the Editor in Chief of the Voice, and we got free bottle openers as souvenirs, which was nice. Don Force reminded me of Martin Short, the guy who plays Glick. He was really cool and asked us a bunch of questions. After the tour we walked back to Baruch to eat and then we were off to Bloomber News on Lexington and 59th. I needed my MetroCard rides, so instead of taking the bus, I walked 35 blocks. I was walking really fast and since I get red very easily, those people who came by bus thought I was dying when I got there. The lobby was really cool because it had these wooden pod things. It was a unique sculpture. We got our passes and went up. We weren't allowed to take photos, but I did anyway. We saw the place where they film the news and the floors where the journalists are. They each have a four-screen Bloomberg computer, which is awesome. We sat in the conference room and talked about the Bloomberg machine and stuff. The building itself was very impressive. After the tour, I had to rush to music lessons. I ended up getting there a half an hour early so I stopped in the library to borrow Anna Karenina, which I must read for AP English. After music, I got home and watched Play it Again, Sam, a great Woody Allen film.

That's about it, I suppose. We get to go to MTV studios tomorrow, so that's going to be awesome. Later.

Tuesday was fun, too. In the morning, Chau Lam, a journalist for Newsday, came to talk to us. She wrote an article that I forgot to read, so I didn’t understand what she was talking about for about half the time. She was nice and fluent and very well spoken. I wonder if I’ll ever make it to the heights that some of these journalists have reached. The rest of the day we spent writing and editing our articles and that was pretty boring. Alex’s gift came. After the workshop, Mai, her cousin Christine, Lena, and I went to the movie theater to watch 40 Year Old Virgin. We waited for two hours or so. I got to talk to Lena about all kinds of stuff and we had an awesome time. The movie was pretty good, too. After it was over, Lena and I made our way to the train station. I tried plantain chips. We got on the train and went home. We talked about our lives and thoughts and I realized I really like talking to her. When I got home, I tested out Alex’s gift and it didn’t work too well. I freaked out, and got him another gift on eBay. It was so impulsive of me. Oh, well. I went to sleep late again.

Today, a bunch of people who had already been in this workshop came and talked to us. A few had internships in big places, like Teen People and People. I would love to get an internship like that, considering it pays really well, too. The chief of staff that I talked to for my article said that I could get an internship at the press office in Borough Hall. That should be awesome, so I’ll have to fix up and send my resume. After workshop I went to music and after music Alex came over. Everything was really nice and relieving.

I guess I’m off now.

I guess Fourth of July weekend gets a fast overview. The whole weekend was all about smoking. Every day. On Friday, after everyone got high, we went and sat in Sandi’s car. On Saturday, Morris, Ben, and I went down to the over side of the lake. We hid inside this little clearing off the road and the smoking began. The second Morris light up, we heard the hicks turn on Live8 and Pink Floyd was playing. While smoking, Pink Floyd played “Comfortably Numb” and “Wish You Were Here,” and other songs. It was perfect timing. On Sunday, everyone smoked by the lake after the fireworks. Ben got super high and super drunk and threw up everywhere. I don’t remember what day we did it, but Ben found an old boom box that was going into the garbage and brought out his bat. We walked behind the trailers and pulled an Office Space. We beat that boom box into little shards with the bat and it was so relieving. It was so great to beat the shit out of something. Monday was just a really bumy day, sitting around and doing nothing until the rest of the fireworks came out at around 8 o’clock. I left with my mother at around 10:30 and got home really late. I was really pissed and tired.

Last Tuesday was the first day of my Journalism Workshop at Baruch. It was pretty cool. In the morning this journalist from the New York Times, who used to work at Newsweek and Daily News, Jim Dwyer, came to talk to us. He was pretty cool. He told us about how he got into journalism and how he went with the troops during the first invasion in Iraq. I volunteered to write about him as our speaker so I had to take notes and ask questions. After the workshop was over, I went to music. Then, when I came home, Alex came to visit me. We frolicked a bit. I missed him over the long weekend.

On Wednesday, my partner, Sabrina, and I went to Bryant Park to do interviewing for the newspaper. We had to go around asking people what it meant to them to be a New Yorker. It was pretty ironic because most of the people we talked to weren’t from New York. They were commuters from Long Island and New Jersey; others were tourists. There was one 23 year-old guy who was born and raised in Brooklyn. He babbled to us for half an hour, and I’m saying this absolutely without exaggeration. He complained about everything possible about America and our society. It seemed like this guy had so many things to say, so many things to get off his chest, but he had no one to talk to. Once we started listening, it was as if a damn broke. We finally disentangled ourselves, which was a relief. We then went back to Baruch and talked about our interviews. We had a freelance journalist come talk to us. He’s from India and he’s a movie critic for Baliwood, the Indian Hollywood. He was interesting but not too interesting. After the workshop, I went to meet Morris and Sandi downtown. Morris came around 4:30 and we stood for a half an hour in Starbucks so I could pee. We waited for Sandi but she said she wasn’t coming until 6. So Morris and I went to eat at Soup and Burger. I had pancakes. We walked over to the Avenue of Americas and West 4 to wait for Sandi. While we were waiting, there was this crazy guy who was babbling and screaming because he was drunk. He was cursing at black people and shit and telling foreigners to go back where they came from. He started talking to Morris while I took photos of people walking by. Apparently this dude is a Harley’s Angel who followed the motto “KKK all the way. White is right!” It soon started pouring so we ran into the train station. It was already far past 6 but Sandi was still on her way to the city. After the rain, Morris and I walked into Bob’s Records and looked at records. Then we went back to wait for Sandi. She came around 7:15 and we went into Fantasy Parties, a sex store. They kicked us out, so we went to the one next door. I studied the vibrators and bought myself one. That was fun. We went into Subway because Sandi was hungry. I put the vibrator on the table and watched it bounce around. That was hilarious. After Sandi ate, we walked down Macdougal and then turned on Bleecker and walked to the Starbucks in the Barnes & Noble on Broadway and 8th. We sat around and Sandi told us many drug related stories. At around 9:30, I went home.

Thursday was a little calmer. We spent most of the workshop writing our articles, calling people, and researching. We got to talk to a photojournalist who is now an editor for Associated Press. It was a lot of fun to see her show us some of the photos that she chose as newspaper-worthy. It was really interesting. I think its something Alex should go into because it’s a pretty interesting job. After the workshop was over, I went home, and at 8, I got on the bus with Alex at McDonald Ave. We lay around at his house. It was really nice because I missed him. His mother made me a really pretty (fake) pearl necklace. Anyway, my mother picked me up around 11:30 and I went home.

Friday was great. The article I’m writing is about the renovation in Red Hook for the arrival of Carnival Cruise Lines. I had to go interview people who live in Red Hook, but Alex was extremely against it because it’s a dangerous neighborhood. So, Alex invited me to go with him to work since he works in Red Hook. I met him on the train in the morning and we went together to his rec center. I spent about half and hour to forty-five minutes interviewing people in the rec center. I got some good interviews. Since it was raining all day, the lifeguards sat inside and played cards and played video games. I sat around and we talk and stuff. At 3, Alex took me back to the train station. He bought me a sandwich and I went to my volunteer place. I had to do some mindless bullshit and went home. My parents and I left upstate at around 8:30. We got upstate late but I walked around with Sandi, her boyfriend Max, and Ben. They smoked and I watched. I got to play God and talk about sex techniques. They all went to bed, but I waited up for Morris. We decided to watch Almost Famous, which was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, the battery in his laptop ran out before it finished. I went to sleep at 3.

I woke up late on Saturday, which was a relief. I spent most of the day writing my article or whatever. Morris and I finished watching Almost Famous. The rest of the day was pretty lazy, just sitting around and stuff. In the evening, Sandi’s friends came up to camp on the other side of the lake. They brought a crap of beer and everyone was getting crunked (drunk and high). I stayed sober, but I was so tired. Anyway, we helped set up tents and then stayed up by the fire. At one point, when Val went up back to the colony, she told all the parents that we were getting drunk. Everyone got mad at her because it was real bullshit for her to do that to us. I spent about an hour and a half talking to Alex because I had good service down there. I went to sleep relatively early, around 2, I think.

I slept late on Sunday, too. I spent the whole day writing my article, taking small breaks to take a walk with Val, go to Wendy’s with Ben and Morris, and teach Max how to play backgammon. The day went by pretty slowly, but we left around 9:15. I made it home late.

Monday was tiring. We spent most of the day writing our articles and editing and stuff. This teacher from Baruch, Josh Mills, came to talk to us. He’s a business journalist and he used to write for the New York Times. He told us about how its interesting to write about people affected by the economy. For instance, there are some small towns where 80% of the townspeople work in a power plant. When that plant closes, there’s a huge rise in unemployment and schools start closing down and people start moving away. That’s pretty sad. After the workshop, I went home. I called up Laney and at 7; we went biking along Caesar’s Bay. We talked about lots of stuff, there and back. We turned around kind of early because some guy got into an accident. He was lying on the ground and there was a river of blood flowing from his head. Laney got really upset, so we turned around. We ended up going to my house. It was funny because when we came back, my parents were trying to find a dead mouse in our kitchen. There was crap everywhere, so we crawled over all the crap and into my room. We sat around playing cards, doodling, and talking. Laney left at round 10:30. It was pretty cool hanging out with her. I had a lot of fun and the time went by quickly. That’s always nice.

Tuesday was really exciting. The workshop met up at CBS studios on 57th between 10th Ave and 11th Ave. We met Dan Dubno, who’s an editor, I think. He first took us to the evening news set and showed us the chair where Dan Rather used to sit. We met the producer of the news programs and Bob Scheiffer, who I hear is a anchorman. We got to see the newsroom where all the people were sitting at computers and getting information. Afterwards, Dan took us to this little interviewing room and then showed us some cool programs on his computer. He then took us to the sound room where the people take all the sounds coming from wherever there is a camera or microphone. Then he took us into the room where the news programs are put together. We went to this meeting room and he talked to us about his experiences in journalism. That was interesting. We then broke for lunch. During lunch, I got a call from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s Chief of Staff’s secretary. She told me that although I couldn’t get an interview Markowitz, I could get an interview with the Chief of Staff, Gregory Atkins, who knows more about government affairs than Markowitz, who’s more like a figurehead. It was a great opportunity because he was important government official and I could talk to him about my article. After lunch, everyone at the workshop went to CBS Newsradio 880 and got to hear a live broadcast. I went to the interview, which was at 2:30. I got there a half an hour early and got accustomed to the setting. When I went in for the interview, I was really comfortable and so everything went really well. I got my answers and my quotes, so everything turned out excellently. After the interview, I went to music and then home. Alex came over and I fed him. Then we frolicked and lay around and talked. It was wonderful.

Wednesday was laid back. We had a speaker, Nina Bernstein, a immigration reporter for the New York Times. She had written an article about the two girls in Queens, one of whom was deported because she was named an “imminent threat to national security,” which was ridiculous because there was no stable evidence against her. It really bothered me because I heard about the government spying on people and abducting them out of nowhere in like Russia, but I didn’t think something like that would happen in America. After I watched this movie The Front where people were named communists without any evidence against them but hearsay and after I read this article, I realized that this goes on in the U.S. It totally freaked me out, because I never thought something like that would go on like in America. It was disturbing. Anyway, we spent the rest of the day writing and editing. After the workshop, Mai and I went to Barnes and Noble on 18th. Alex met us there because he ended work early. I bought SATII books and then we walked to Virgin where Mai wanted to get DVDs. Afterwards, Mai went home and Alex and I went to Café Habana. I was so happy to go out with him because we haven’t done so in ages. After we ate, we walked over to the theater on 2nd Ave and 12th and got tickets to The Talent Given Us. We sat around it Starbucks and talked about how the article affected me. We then went to the movie. It was pretty interesting. The people in the movie were all real people playing themselves and their own lives. It was like watching a home movie. I’ll talk about it later, when I write a review for it. After the movie, Alex and I went home. It was such a great date because I love being with Alex in the city and I missed it so much.

Thursday was absolutely crazy. The workshop met up in ABC studios. While we waited in the lobby for everyone to show up, Regis Philbin came and was signing autographs. I got a bunch of photos. We then met the woman who was giving us the tour. She took us to see the newsroom where all the people were getting info for the afternoon news and stuff. We watched one of the anchormen do a live teaser thing, the thing that comes on about 15 minutes before the actual show. Then the lady took us to the place where the eitor and director were putting together the show. It was all live. It was so exciting. The producer was like “I got an 18 second sound bite! I go the chopper!” and the director was like “Fit this in here. Cue camera 3!” It was awesome. Then we got to go onto the live set on the afternoon news program. The anchors were talking to us during the commercials. We got to see the weatherman do the weather with his green screen and everything. That was really cool, too. After that, the woman anchorman, Michelle someone, talked to us about journalism and how she got into it and everything. After that, we went back to Baruch and worked on our articles. I went home after the program and met Alex on the bus again. I got more necklaces from his mother, which are gorgeous. I got photos, old ones and news ones, from Alex. First we sat around and Alex played guitar for me. Then we ate fish that Misha caught, which was really, really yummy. After diner, Alex and I sat around on his bed and watched a little bit of Life Aquatic. My mother picked me up afterwards.

Friday was pretty cool, too. I slept in. I was supposed to do volunteering, but Susan told me that I couldn’t come in. I eBayed for my first time. I won a bid on a gift I’m giving Alex for his birthday. I know he’ll love it. I watched Celebrity, a film written and directed by Woody Allen. Bam Margera has a cameo there as a friend of Leonardo DiCaprio. I couldn’t believe it was him, but it was. At around 4, I got on the F train and made my way to Prospect Park. Every summer, there’s a Celebrate Brooklyn music/film festival, which is free. I decided to report about it for the newspaper. I met up with Jojo, who volunteers there, and he hooked me up with some interviews. I talked to some volunteering people and people who came to see the show, and that worked out nicely. I left at 7 and met Alex at his F train station. He got his first paycheck today, and let me tell you that it was a tidy amount of money. He wanted to get himself a Fedora from Cheap Jack’s, but by the time we cashed the check and walked to the thrift store, it was closed. Instead, we walked down to Bob’s Records and I helped Alex pick out David Bowie’s “Honky Dory” and The Doors’s “Morrison Hotel.” After that, we went to this little restaurant called Hummus on Macdougal. It was really good and cheap. We then walked to Broadway and Lafayette because my parents had to pick me up to go upstate. We stood around and talked and laughed and kissed and it was wonderful. When my parents came, we talked about the vinyls Alex got and just other random stuff. Then we left and I blew Alex a kiss goodbye.

The weekend was good. On Saturday, we spent most of the day sitting around and waiting for Ben’s sister to come so that she could get us alcohol. In the morning, I went with my dad to practice singing “In My Life” on the other side of the lake. During the way we played cards and argued and talked and watched Sandi and Diana smoke their cigarettes while Aaron spied on us and followed us around. I got my mother to buy me a six pack of Smirnoff Ice. Toward the evening, we snuck some alcohol from Diana’s parents and drank my Smirnoff Ice. We snuck some more vodka from the barbeque because all the parents went to play music in the pool. I got drunk. I sniffed a line of sugar, drank tea mixed with beer and sugar, and took a bite out of the bottom of a poppy seed cake. Then Morris, Ben, and I went to watch TV at Ben’s house. We watched some soft-core porn and left because I had gotten sober. Ben’s sister finally came at around 2 so Morris, Ben, Gela, and I went with her to Shoprite where Gela and I got a six pack of Smirnoff Ice (Ben and Morris got two 22s of beer each) and got out blood pressure taken. I’m a healthy 121/75. When we got back to the colony, we went into the laundry room and tried to do a power hour, which is when you take a shot of beer every minute for an hour. I got tired of looking at my watch every 10 seconds. A bat started flying around the laundry room, and being that we were all a little buzzed, we ran out like little bitches. Oh, speaking of bitches, I finally got to watch the Rick James skit from the Chappelle Show. Anyway, I was the only one with enough balls to go back in and get our beers out. We sat around by the pool, but I was getting the tired kind of drunk so at 3:30, we went to sleep. I woke up late on Sunday. I tried to write my articles for the workshop, but failed. I went to Wendy’s with Gela and Sandi and their dad. When I got back, my mother, my sister, Ben, Morris, Gela, her friend Eugene, and I all went to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which Ben and I renamed Johnny Depp and the Chocolate Factory, for reasons I no longer remember, but it’s still funny. I liked it at first, particularly the colors and stuff, but I didn’t like the new Oompa-loompa songs or the “my father didn’t love me” undercurrent. When we came back, it started raining and I started writing. Then I stopped writing and went to find Morris and Ben watching Farenheit 9/11 at Ben’s house. Ben got the new Harry Potter book so I read the first few pages. Eh. After they finished watching the movie, we went outside and walked around on the mushy, wet ground. I left with my parents at 10:30. I got home at 1:30. I found out that I got a 5 on my AP Psych test. Woohoo!

I got really lucky this past week that I got to see Alex so often. I miss him like crazy, and I simply can’t get my fill. The weeks are flying by, but it’s nice. I still have a shitload of things to do for the school year, like study for SATIIs and do my AP English assignments. Oof. I guess I have to finish the workshop first and then everything else will come easier. Speaking of workshop, we’re going to go have a tour of MTV during the last week, so that’s going to be fucking awesome. I’m still waiting for my AP grades to come in. I got my yearbook photos and I came out really nice in the photos from which we have to choose, so I ‘m really happy about that.

Saturday marked our first day upstate. My parents, my sister, and I left in the morning. First, we stopped by my great-grandmother's house. It's nice to see that she's doing well. They also got a new dog, a terrier, I think. It was so cute. We then left on our trip upstate. We got there around 4 or something and unpacked. It was so hard to believe that we were upstate and that summer had begun, but it was so relieving. I walked around with Gela until she found Stacey. Then Sandi, her boyfriend, Max, Ben, and I sat around and talked. Then Morris came. Anyway, it was a slow evening. We ate ravenously at night during the barbeque and then went off. Morris brought a crap-load of weed. So we all took advantage of it. I smoked for my first time. Sandi made two joints and Sandi, Max, Ben, Morris and I went down the road to smoke. It was so fun. First, I laughed without stopping for a good five minutes. Then, they put me in the box and it was so freaky because they were waving their hands and mouthing words. I felt like I was in a dream. Then I woke myself up from the dream and immediately regretted it because I thought the weed wore off. But it didn't. For some 20 minutes, I kept feeling like there was no past, like the only thing that existed was the present, the second in which we mere moving and breathing. It was nuts. We walked up the road and everytime a car went by, I got scared. We eventually made our way to the laundry room. For some 20 minutes we sat around talking and dreaming of Morri's Onion Rings. Never had something sounded so heavenly. We sat and just wondered what it would be like to have them at the moment. Soon, Aaron, a little kid, came and we laughed at him. He brought us Oreos and BBQ and we were so fucking happy. Then, Herby, the colony's Super, came in to pick up his laundry. He came up to me to say high and I tried to look normal, but I clearly didn't because I could hardly keep my eyes open. I wanted to laugh so hard. After we spent maybe an hour in the laundry room (I wouldn't know for sure because time goes so slow when you're high), we ventured to Morris's bungalo and had the Onion Rings. Then Sandi took a sleeping bag out of her mom's car and welay down next to the red swings and ate her mom's jelly bean candy. After a few minutes, Morris, Ben, and I went to sit next to Sonny's bungalo and Ben made up ideas for movies that I can't remember. Aaron's mom came over to yell at us for making Aaron bring us Oreo's but she decided not to because Aaron was standing around. I was happy she left because I wouldn't been completely apathetic and I would have acted like a complete jackass.

Through 5 o'clock on Sunday, I was seriously burnt. I was so lazy and tired and I didn't want to do anything. I was completely out of it, out of all my surroundings. I was so slow and crappy-feeling. When my mom went to buy groceries, Morris, Sandi, Max, and I went with her to the plaza and ate at Subway. We sat around and talked and enjoyed the air conditioning. When we came back, we sat around some more. Then, Morris, Ben, and I sat around Ben's bungalo and just talked. Morris kept making up stories about people who died. Like, he'd say, "You know who died this year? Elton John," and shit like that. We walked around and stuff, but eventually ended back at Ben's bungalo. At around 9, my parents and I left back to the city. I told them about my first time smoking and they congratulated me and then warned me about memory loss. So it goes.

Monday was a nice day. I woke up early, took a shower, and went to music. Then, after music, I went to Court Street to South Brooklyn Legal Services and served as a translator between a client and a lawyer regarding a divorce case. It was harder than I thought it would be, but maybe it was because I was nervous. Nevertheless, I got through with it and I had fun. I want to do more of it, and I'll get a chance to do so because I'm going to volunteer there during the summer. After the translation, I met Alex in the city. We met at Union Square and had some pizza. We sat around throwing insults at each other. Then we ate some of the cherries Alex bought me from the Union Square Farmer's Market. He kissed me in the rain and then we went to Petco. It was fun looking at all the hamsters and gerbils and fish and lizards and birds and mice. After Petco, we sat in Starbucks for a little bit and talked about nonesense. Then we went home. I was so happy to see him. Apparently, he has to work seven days a week from 11 to 7 in Red Hook without any days off. I don't know if that's even legal, but it's not my business.

Tuesday was the last last day of school. We got our report cards and Regents grades and I did so fucking well. Then I went around to ask teachers for recommendations and such. Oh, how well did I do? Lets see.

English: 97
Math: 96
American: 100
Physics: 100
AP Psychology: 99
Film and Lit: 95
Gym: 93
Music: 99
Math Regents: 94
Physics Regents: 96
English Regents: 99

I'm so fucking happy. It's unexplainable. I put so much work into this year and I'm so glad I did so well. Whew. Ok, so after school, I went over to Alex's house. We ate and then frolicked and then lay around. At 2, we got dressed and went our separate ways. I had to go back to school to take my yearbook photos and Alex had to go to work for his second shift. When I got to school, I was the last one to had my photos taken. There were no other students there. The photographers were cleaning up and I was sent to the very last guy. He was really nice and I got my photos done in no time. We had one photo taken with a feather boa which was absolutely retarded. I can't wait to see how I look. After I had my photos taken, I went home. On the way I read the Post. At home, I watched Farenheit 9/11 and National Treasure. Farenheit 9/11 was interesting about halfway through. Then it got intensely boring. I still haven't chosen a side on any issues. Some of the stuff the Moore shows to make you hate Bush and his administration is just something that's done, such as having make up put on before a broadcast or laughing. But then again, some things are shocking to find out. It makes you wonder.

I woke up today at 1:40. It was crazy. I don't remember waking up so late in a really long time. I took a shower and then went to the city to meet up with Morris. We met on 42nd and went to Loews to watch War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise was funny and Tim Robbins was good. The graphics were cool, but the concept freaked me out. I got scared thinking about if that really happened. It's disturbing and unsettling. After the movie, we went to eat. There's this billboard hanging above Sabarro that covers the windows of an apartment building. A part of the billboard is cut open for one window and on the billboard it says "60 days of sunlight for apartment 6F." The billboard is an add for an Irish beer. I thought it was funny, since the billboard is trying to show how one window got lucky. It was cool. We ate and talked a little bit. After eating, Morris and I went to Virgin and then stopped by Toys R Us. After walking around, playing with everything, we bought ice cream at Coldstone and ate it in Starbucks. At around 9:20, I made my way home. I just finished backing up my files on CDs and copying my movies onto CDs. Now I have a huge collection of good movies. Hazzah.

Sunday was really tiring, too. I woke up pretty late again to my father's announcement that he changed Father's Day into Sister's Day. At about 2, my parents sent me and my sister off to the city with a credit card. First we went to St. Marks and did some karaoke. That was fun. We sang all the songs my sister likes, some oldies and some new crap. At least she had fun, otherwise I would have killed myself. After that, we went to 42nd street to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. That was really awesome. Most of the wax people looked really real, but others, like The Beatles and Woody Allen and Selma Hayek, looked really crappy. I took lots of photos, because everything looked so cool. I got one of my sister standin between Fidel Castro and Yasser Arafat because she's our own little terrorist. After walking around, looking at all the cool people, we went to get a quick bite to eat. We made our way to the Bronx where our parents picked us up. We went to Maya's and Arkasha's house and kinda relaxed there for a really long time. We got home pretty late and then Alex and I stayed up arguing about how to not let people step all over you and take advantage of you. That was a horrible night.

Monday. Let's see...Oh, yes. On Monday I went to music in the morning and then visited Val in the afternoon. We ate, talked, and walked around a little bit. Val said some things that really began cutting into me and I got scared and defensive. I felt so uncomfortable. After an hour of Boy Meets World, I walked with Val to Dunkin Donuts so that she could get a muffin, and I went home. On the way home, after being completely ostracized from hanging out with Alex's friends, I got really sad and unwanted, so I went to my grandmother's house. Things are always better at a grandmother's house, because everything melts away a little. You grandmother ALWAYS wants you and ALWAYS needs you and ALWAYS wants to see you. She always wants to make things nice for you. I stayed there for about five hours because I didn't want to go into the outside world. I felt like shit the whole day. The actions of the my boyfriend on that day and the previous day really got to me and I started feeling terrible. Those were the worst two days in a really long time.

By Tuesday, I had slept off the pain and uncomfort. It usually takes me one day, but this time it took two. Alex came over around 12:30. For the first time, I felt uncomfortable around him. There was something there that really held me back. Eventually, I warned up to him, and things went smoothly. We frolicked along three new roads, which was fun. After about 3 hours, we ordered Chinese food and Alex helped me study for the Physics Regents. After I picked up my sister, Alex and I went to Union Square to watch Batman Begins. It was ok, but you get a sort of Keanu Reaves vibe. Then we went home.

Wednesday was the Physics Regents. I thought it was much easier than the old ones and I think I did pretty well. I was really worried that I'd do terribly, but everything went smoothly. After the test, Alex went on the train with me. He went home and I went home. I forgot what I did. I think I watched Family Guy and Seinfeld. Yeh, that's it. I went over properties of circles for the Math B Regents and went to sleep.

Thursday, yesterday, we took the Math B Regents in the morning. I thought I did well, but there were a few questions that I think I clearly fucked up on. Oh, I was glad I went over circles because there was a circle question worth six points on the test. I was so relieved. I finished the test really early and waited for Alex outside. I talked to Sabrina, then to Steven, then to Margie and Damien. We got the Horizons book from Geegee and Kaelen. I got published twice, one poem and one prose piece. Then I stood around talking to Sabrina, Alina, Harold, and Florian about Family Guy and marriage. So after two hours of waiting, Alex finally emerged from the school and we went to the city. We ate pizza on Union Square and then he walked me to Baruch where I had to go for an orientation for the Journalism Workshop I'm going to during the summer. We sat around together and then he went to get his lifeguarding papers and stuff and I went to the orientation. I saw Rosita, Vivian, Zoya, Mai, and Julianne. We listened to people talking and then Mai and I went to find Julianne's tour group since we were the only ones not part of the College Now program. The tour was boring and then we ended up waiting in line to get an ID for about 45 minutes. I came out terrible, as usual. After that, I walked Mai to the train station and met Alex on the 42nd street station. He took the train with me and then I went home. I spent the evening cleaning out the papers in my binder and on my desk. I rewatched Anchorman and watched Soul Plane, which was an intensely retarded movie. At around 12, my computer crashed. My father and I stayed up until 3 fixing it. That was a bitch. Apparently, he says he doesn't know for how much longer my System Disk is going to hold out, so if I disappear, you know what happened.

I woke up today at 2. I haven't slept that late in a really long time. Today is Alex's first time in the pool that he'll be working at. I'm excited for him and I'm crossing my fingers he'll call like he promised. Anyway, that's about it. Regents are over so school is over. We get our report cards on Tuesday and then we're free! Wow, another year gone. Senior year is going to be great.

So what's the verdict? I got it done yesterday after the first part of the English Regents. Then I spent half the evening crying and watching Family Guy. It went well.

Today was super fun. After part two of the English Regents, Alex and I went to the city. We had a shitload of time to kill. First, we went to the Museum of Natural History. Neither of us had been there in a really long time, so it was really fun looking at all the fake animals and stuff. We walked around all four floors and then went into the planetarium, which is connected to the museum. We worked our way around the "scale" where the huge sphere is compared to other things. It's hard to explain, but I ended up feeling so small. We walked through a timeline since the Big Bang and it made my existence feel like a speck of dust on that whole damn timeline. Oh, well. I loved looking at all the animals in Natural History and I got to learn a lot of things about them from Alex, who is well verse in animal facts. It was pretty awesome. We walked around for about 3 to 4 hours. I had such a great time. We hadn't been in a museum in some time and I realized that's where we get the most rowdy. Oh, we also saw all the dinosaurs. There were some pretty ugly ones, like the one that had a shovel for a lower jaw. It's two teeth in the front of the bottom jaw added up to 18 inches in width. It was ridiculous. There were some really awesome dinosaurs. The T-Rex looks so funny because it has such tiny arms, and many of the other dinosaurs were cool, too. We saw a wing of a pterodactyl. It was ginormous. The sizes of the dinosaurs on display were humongous but they were really cool. We kinda did the evolution and extinction of dinosaurs backwards, but that didn't matter because we had an awesome time doing it. After the museum, we took the train down to 50th and 9th Ave where Alex chose a nice Mexican restaurant. I was really yummy there, and we found a neighborhood with lots of eateries, so that was cool. When we finished eating, we went down to the AMC on 42nd to watch Crash. Despite the theme of racism, I like the film. Alex had some doubts, so we talked about it and he opened me to some insight about a question I had regarding Matt Dilon's character. See, he's a real racist prick cop and when he purposely pulls over a black couple and searches them, he feels up the woman, almost all the way. Later in the movie, he saves the same woman from a burning car that flipped over, where she was stuck. My question was whether the saving redeemed him. Did the fact that he saved this woman clear him from his sexual assault? Well, Alex said it was his job as a policeman to save her, so that answered my question. In any case, after the film, Alex and I went to Coldstone. The line wasn't crazily long. The people that make the ice cream were all black and they sang at least 15 different songs for all sorts of occasions, birthday, getting a tip, some song about Coldstone. They talk to you while they make your ice cream and stuff. We had a cookie dough ice cream and it was yummy. We ate it in the train station. We got home at around 10:30 and after falling asleep on each other, Alex went home around 12. Well, that's all folks.

Last Wednesday I went with Alex to the city after school to return books. I took out Graham Greene's The End of the Affair, which I have to read for AP English over the summer. I'm really enjoying it. I'll be talking about it a little more later. So after the library we went to 34th street, waited for Alex's mom to give him money, and went to a salad bar place. We ate outside and the wind blew all our garbage all over the place. That was annoying. We sat for a little while talking and then went home. Thursday was nice. I came over Alex's house by bike. I was wearing a skirt and it flew up over my knees everytime there was a gust of wind. That was funny. Anyway, so we lay around a bit, frolicked a little bit, ate falafel and salad, and watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I really liked it and Jack Nicholson did an amazing job. After the movie we lay around a little more, Alex played guitar for me, and then I left again on my bike.

Friday was fun. After school we went to Cafe Habana to eat and had a nice time talking and everything. I love it there because the food is awesome and cheap, a bargain almost. After eating we went to Sunshine and watched Caterina in the Big City, this Italian film. It was nice, too. It was about this girl who moves to Rome from some random rural town and tries to fit in between the preppies and the punks. The preppy girls there were not unlike our favorite OTBs and Staten Islanders, so I could definitely relate to Caterina. The tricky thing is, when you're with a preppy group and act like them, you feel pretty and popular and cool. But when you're not, you have the greatest sense of resentment and hate for them and thank God you're not one of them. I've been on both sides of the spectrum, and it's really strange to reflect on. Anyway, after the movie, we walked to 2nd Ave Deli where we had matzoh ball soup, an argument, and tea. Then we walked to the train station and went home. It had been a while since we went out, so it was really nice to stay out late and all.

Saturday was pretty laid back. I went shopping with my mom in T.J. Maxx and the Gap. I got a bunch of new clothes and shoes that I adore. It was some pretty successful shopping. I love the Gap. Everything fits me there and everything looks good. I spent the evening watching twelve episodes of "Sex and the City," season four. That's six hours worth of magic. Then I went to sleep and had "Sex and the City" dreams.

Sunday was alright. I woke up really late, around 12:30 and left the house around 2 to go to Victoria's Secret on Prince. I got two bras (black and white) and then went to Old Navy and bought one of those wonderful white, linen skirts. I look so nice in it! I met up with Alex, who was fresh out of lifeguarding class, and we went to have lunch in Miro's Cafe. I had a really great salad. Alex didn't look too happy being there, so for some time I felt kind of uncomfortable. There are days when he's really into being with me and there are days when he's annoying and purposelly provoking me and being stupid. That day was kinda like the latter. After we ate, he went on the N with me. We had another argument that stemmed from his discussion of where he wants to make his birthday. Then I went home. I tried to study that night for finals but go a huge headache and couldn't concentrate on my American notes. I was half asleep when Alex called me and woke me up, so then I couldn't fall asleep again for an hour. Oh, well.

So Monday were the hard finals. I had physics, math, and American. I think I did well on those. The other finals on Tuesday and today were pretty good. I'm glad it's done.

I had fun today. After finals, I met Alex and we waited for Dima near the train station to go with him, Eddie, and Boris someplace. On the train I got a terrible cramp and so Alex decided to take me home. On the way to Bay Parkway on the N, we got to sit with about 40 Dominican teenagers, yelling, dancing, screaming, and listening to loud music. That was a bitch. When we got to my place, I took a pill and then Alex left to Dima's house. After the pain went away, I called up Renata and met up with her to watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith. That film had so much action in it. But it was cool, I liked it. After the movie we ate and then sat around talking for an hour. Then we walked along 3rd Ave and talked some more, with a stop in Starbucks. At around 7, Renata walked me to the station and I went home. Although the weather during the past week has been unbearable, climbing to "feels like 104," today was really cool and breezy. At one point I was actually cold, especially in the theater. So, what's left? Four days of Regents and report cards. Hazzah!

At 4, I met up with Luba, Renata, Julia, Svetlana, Darlene, and Joanna on 8th Street in the city to celebrate Luba's birthday. We walked to St. Marks and went into a Karaoke place. For about an hour, we sang all sorts of songs, from "If You Wanna Be My Lover" to "Baby Got Back" to "L-O-V-E" to "Dacing Queen." It was fun. Wehad two mics and we were all singing in this tiny room. It was my first time at karaoke, so it was a pretty cool experience. After an hour, we met Tiffany outside and went all together to the pizzeria. We ordered a pie and Luba opened gifts and we took pictures. We talked while we ate and it was pretty fun. I was really up and talkative so I enjoyed myself. Then, Luba took our the Juniors cheesecake. It was so hard to cut, so I was give the job of distribution. All the slices were lopsided and uneven, but no one cared. My hands were covered in cheesecake and strawberries and my elbow got some, too. We toasted to Luba and talked a little bit over cheesecake. At around 6:30, it was time for me to leave. Everyone walked me to the train station and I said goodbye and went home. I got home really fast, at around 7:30. For Luba's birthday party photos, click here.

8 o'clock triggered the second half of my evening. Alex came over and hung around with me for a few hours, helping get dressed for the next birthday party. At around 10:15, we left my house and went to Lena's house where she, Dima, Eddie, Anna, Jein, Greg, Xena, and Mila were waiting for us. We were going to celebrate Lena's 17th birthday and Dima's 18th birthday. We left her house at around 10:45 and got on the N. We went to Dangerfield's Comedy Club thing on 1st Ave and 61st Street and waited for a few minutes. During our wait, we were left by Mila and joined by Marina. The place was pretty cool inside, with these nifty red lamps and crap. At around 12:30, the show started. The host was pretty funny and the comics were pretty good. Ranked in order, it would have to be the fist guy, the last guy, the third guy, and the second guy. I felt really bad for the second guy because he totally bombed. The whole crowd behind us was yelling out, "You suck!" and all kinds of other shit. He was trying to keep cool and keep it together, but I can imagine how tough it is. He had to bribe the audience with a free drink to complete his skit. This guy's specialty is sound effects. He was pretty awesome at that, but I don't think I laughed at all. He was trying to do a rendition of the 6 Star Wars movies in a condensed version, but it all seemed like a bunch of shooting and hand motions. In other words, it sucked. Poor guy. Oh, well. The other three comics were really great though, and I got to laugh heartily. The show ended at around 2:45. Lena wanted to take us to a Hooka Bar, which I was really excited to go to, but it was closing at 3:30 and we wouldn't have made it. We were hungry but we didn't know what to do or where to go, so after dropping Jein off at the train station, we walked to 42nd. It sucked. There was nothing open for us and we were hungry. We ended up deciding upon going to Dima's house. While waiting for the train, we started drinking the little alcohol we had to at least stay awake. On the train we played word games to keep ourselves entertained, and it worked, so that was nice. Marina and Xena left on Ave. M, so it was just me, Alex, Dima, Eddie, Greg, and Lena left. We all made our way to Dima's house. It was 5:15 when we got there and the sun was rising. We finished the alcohol, toasted to the birthday people, and had some soda and chips. Greg wanted hoes, Alex wanted Eddie to stick his finger in his bum, and I wanted to sleep, but I couldn't. I sat on the bed while Dima and Lena were "curling up". Alex joined me on the bed but kept falling asleep. At 6, when Dima and Lena had fallen asleep, me, Alex, Eddie, and Greg left. Eddie went his own way, and the three of us took the B82. There were a bunch of people on the bus and I was wondering where the hell they were all going at 6:30 on a Sunday. Greg got off at West 4th and Alex and I got off at West 7th. We walked to my house and when we got there, I turned on the air conditioner and we went to sleep. We got up around 12 and had breakfast and tea. Alex left at 1 and I'm feeling like shit. I'm in the middle of sleepiness and laziness and nothingness all at the same time. I had an awesome time this weekend, though. For Lena's/Dima's birthday photos, click here.

I hope everyone who took the SAT on Saturday did well and feels confident! Ah, four days until finals. I'm so screwed. Oh, well. At least it's really close to the end. This summer should be awesome. Alrighty, I'm signing off before my head falls on the keyboard. Lots of love to Lena and Dima on their birthdays. Etc. etc.

Last week, as you know, was that wonderful three-day weekend. I guess I spent it kinda calmly. On Saturday, my mother and I went to play tennis and then in the evening, Alex came over after lifeguarding. He had a wonderful time frolicking while my parents and my sister were watching George Lucas's latest escapade. Sunday was pretty much relaxed, too. My whole family went barbequing in Staten Island and I took my camera with me and took some fancy photos. Check this out. I really liked how it came out, and Alex liked it, too, which is a really good thing. On Sunday, after watching Il Postino, I met Alex in the city after his lifeguarding lesson. We walked around Central Park, which was really nice. I love walking with him. However, I had a terrible headache because of the weather, so I wasn't as entertaining, in a sense. After walking around, we went and had pizza. Manhattan pizza is always the best, so it was very yummy and filling. After that, we stopped by Dylan's and bought candy. Then we made our way home.

So, once again, I have been screwed over by an acquaintance. This person was telling me all kinds of things that turned out not to be true, and my worrying and tears turned out to be for nothing. I guess I couldn't expect any less of that person, I really couldn't. In fact, such a low, nasty deed is exactly what this person does well. On top of that, the same person attempted to guilt trip me about their disappointment over my lack of birthday gift. I con