I spent all my time not blogging and eating an unspeakable amount of food. I finished my summer semester successfully and I decided that I should celebrate by getting fat. My boyfriend and I barbequed a couple of steaks and kabobs which turned out pretty amazing. Adding tomatoes, green pepper, onions and bananas really added to the flavor. Barbequing is so much more entertaining than slaving away in front of the stove. Last night, I decided to try handling a couple of balls. That’s right, I made meatballs. I made the recipe from 1000 Best Recipes by Bay Books Publishing, a book that gets zero results on Google which is vaguely suspicious. Peparing the meatballs took some time but they cooked up within minutes and using spaghetti sauce out of the jar saved even more time.

Aside from stuffing my face, I’ve been preparing for the Fall semester and my upcoming Public Relations internship. My goal is to graduate in Spring 2007 with an English Degree and try to do something with it. I’ve spoken with an academic advisor who registered me for the rest of my core courses that I need in order to graduate. It seems impossible to juggle a twelve credit semester with a part-time internship, a part-time job and a semblence of a social life but somehow, I will make it all work. Despite what may be the most stressful part of my acadamic career, I’m really looking forward to the change of pace. I anticipate one of two outcomes: failure or total failure. Either way, if I succeed in becoming an adult it will be a pleasant surprise. I really like to shop for school supplies. I think my only regret about being a grown up is not having an excuse to buy markers, crayon boxes and Lisa Frank folders. Fortunately, CVS has adorable notebooks, notepads and folders in stock for the sophisticated and trendy student. Check out some of their designs at Notebound. I figure if I’m going to do some learning, I might as well be cute about it.

I’ve neglected my letter-writing just as much as I’ve ignored the blog and now that I’ve accumulated a sizeable stack of letters, I’m not sure where to begin or what to write about. I hope something exciting happens to me soon.

The penpal section is gone, not because I don’t write letters anymore but because I simply didn’t update the section. I’m sure you’re heartbroken. I also got rid of the progress indicators in the side bar because I wasn’t making any progress in anything and you pretty much don’t care. I’m still knitting but nothing worth telling you about.

I recently joined Yelp, the website community where members posts reviews to restaurants, bars, stores and other local establishments. I will most likely use it to complain about movies, music and bad food but check out my profile to help plan your next amazing vacation to Orlando, FL.

I should probably be denied access to money for the rest of my life and live soley off of the philanthropy of others and table scraps.

After reading through Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra and finishing up all possible notes I could write on their sadistic relationship, I thought I would take a break to gush over my latest stationary purchase. I should actually plow through the rest of my assignments but the stack of stationary from the Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York City was just asking to be mandhandled. I now have a serious credit card debt, all in the name of cuteness. Bills are now emerging out of the woodwork from stores that I can barely recall shopping at. Seriously, I now have to be restrained when it comes to any more irresistibly adorable purchases.

Each of these packets of cuteness are about seven bucks each and contain gems of wisdom within their perfectly design sheets. Take the stationary set Happy Drops, for example: “The dripping of happiness falls.” Surely this is in reference to a fluffy, candy summer cloud that rains happiness on pleasantly surprised citizens who discover that the happiness is, in fact, delightfully flavored gum drops. Shakespeare could only dream of writing this kind of poetry.

Consider, for a moment, the enigmatic words of the stationary set Pop dream which coos, “We are love and pop! Always so happy and funky!” Imagine being love and pop…simultaneously! But who is this mysterious presence “we” and why, pray tell, are they so happy and funky? Is this a vague reference to the secret to ultimate happiness? Or is this somehow a testament to Korea’s and Japan’s inability to hire a qualified english speaking expert (say, me, for example) to translate their stationary text? The world may never know.

But what exactly is the appeal of asian stationary that, in the end, are only brightly colored pieces of paper? Why do I shun the humble pages of college ruled notebook paper for Korean sheets that insist on personifying every possible inanimate object? What is the lure of smiling pancakes, elated jewelry and giggling candy that keeps me coming back for more? Surely there must be some kind of rational explanation but until I can come up with one, I will quote from the carefully crafted words of Skip Girl’s!: Girl loves cute and happy goods. They bring happy mind.

• In site news: I’ve edited the structure of the posts so that the author of the post is located at the bottom of every entry. This is in the event that I don’t write a post because I’ve added my boyfriend (Codename: amrdog) as a post contributer. In fact, you probably didn’t realize that he had written the previous entry but now that you know, you may freely comment on the superiority of my entries over his. I mean, like, he’s cute and everything but a girl has gotta look out for numero uno.

My boyfriend bought a gorgeous pearl white Vespa this weekend which has left me in a green fit of envy. At first, I took every opportunity to poke fun at what I thought was the most ridiclous purchase he had ever made, that is, until he filled his gas tank for 5 bucks while I shelled out a cool 30 for my tiny Nissan Sentra. Now I’m singing a different tune that goes a little something like this: I want one. Still, Orlando is the very last place one would want to drive a Vespa in. As Orlando continues to sprawl out in erratic and disorganized directions, its roads become increasingly dangerous every year. Road rage, speeding, cell phone use and general carelessness are turning Central Florida into one of the nation’s deadliest places to drive in. This isn’t exactly reassuring information when my boyfriend is driving around in a scooter while tired, overweight, red-faced soccer moms weave in between traffic in their excessively enormous SUVs (show me a stay-at-home parent who actually requires 4×4 off-road action in Florida’s sea level terrain and I will give you my left ovary).

Despite my crippling fear of losing a loved one to an automobile accident, I’m determined to buy a Vespa for its fuel efficiency and manuverability (I consider the condescending stares I’ll get from smug F150 douchbags a bonus!). In order to kick-start my purchase, I’m listing a few new and used items on ebay (one of which will include my Japanese Schoolgirl Outfit that I wore for Halloween). Mainly I want to list some items that have been hanging in my closet for some time and I’m pretty much tired of looking at them. I have really great taste in stuff, so do yourself a favor and check out my auctions you’ll be glad you did. In retrospect, I guess I shouldn’t have bought so much stationary….you can’t ride stationary around town. Bummer.