So, a lot has happened since I last updated and this is one of my last opportunities to update before hell comes in the form of law school. Don't get the impression that I'm not looking forward to school starting, I am. It's just that I have no illusions that I'll be able to breeze through it like I did college. I'm going to be a very busy girl very soon.Firstly, this picture I found in a gallery (sorry, I know this is probably some sort of copyright issue, but I show it only in admiration and would have totally bought it if it didn't cost $6000). I dedicate this to all the girls at Syracuse and at colleges around the country, begging them to stop wearing spandex. Nobody wins when people wear spandex, haha.
Anyway, back to what I've been up to since my last update... what has happened? I think the biggest thing is my trip to Las Vegas. That trip was certainly a mixed bag.
My first emotion in response to the trip was that it was a good trip, but it involved just a bit too much family togetherness time. I like my family, but prefer them in small doses. There are certain people in my family that I like in smaller doses than others. I think this is true of every family... right?? Anyway, basically on this front, what happened is what
happens every time, my brother is in a foul mood and decides he wants to attack me (verbally, not physically, no worries), anyway, he goes at me and at me until I react. Then, my parents will yell at me to stop because when I react my brother immediately acts like a victim, like he did nothing to provoke it. Or, he'll go at me and when I react my parents will yell at me to stop reacting like that and give him a break because he's tired or some shit. You'd think he's 5 or something, but he's really 19. Understandably, I think, I get a bit frustrated with these events. I'm really getting too old to spend any more than just assorted weekends or holidays with these people. I feel like I'm allowed to get upset or defend myself when I'm constantly being cut down and harrassed. Maybe I'm the only one who feels that way, but I feel like it's a legitimate request.Well, let's get back to the fun stuff. We got to Vegas after a really really early flight out of Boston. The first day was kind of chill. We checked into the hotel and walked around the strip and got dinner and saw the strip all lit up and then passed out. It was an exhausting day because of the early flight, but we saw a lot. The city is way better at night. It's kind of sketch during the day. It's
really hot and there's a lot of construction. Everything looks better under the mask of darkness, and that goes doubly for this city. The second day my brothers and I went off together and did the roller coaster at New York, New York and we saw a bunch of casinos and then did the Shark Reef Aquarium in Mandolay Bay. We had a lot of time to kill and couldn't gamble because Gregg is only 19. That was a huge detriment the whole week. Just the fact that whenever we had time to kill, we couldn't gamble unless we wanted to leave him in the lobby. It probably saved everybody a lot of money, but it did cause tension, especially when Gregg decided to defy Nevada state law a couple times and try to get away with being on the floor (my mother encouraged this and I don't know why... the best part being when he did get kicked off the floor in the Venetian and my mother preceded to be all pouty and miserable and vowing to never come back and not want to gamble "especially in this place" because she felt incredibly put out by the casino employee trying to enforce state law...). Anyway, that night we got dinner at Nove in the Palms. It's supposed to be Italian, but the Italian food was bad. The non-Italian stuff that we ordered was good, but my pasta was gross. We saw Penn & Teller at the Rio that night. They were really good and funny. That was a good show. We saw O the next night, that's a Cirque du Soleil show that is all in the water. That was amazing. Most of the cast are most likely former Olympians. They were all Canadian, American 
and some European swimmers, mostly divers and synchronized swimmers. They did such a good job. Our last night in the city we saw Blue Man Group. I would have to say that was the most disappointing show we saw, I really wish my mother had done more research and gotten a different show. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some spoiled brat, I had a great time and I love Blue Man Group and I really appreciate that I got a free trip. BUT, the Vegas Blue Man Group was almost identical to the Boston show. I just think that if we're going to go all the was to Las Vegas and pay almost $200 for tickets, we should see something that we can't see for half the price in the Charles Playhouse. I'm just saying... Most of our days were spent avoiding the heat as much as possible. It was very hot in Vegas. Granted, 110 in Vegas is not as bad as 110 in Boston because of the lack of humidity... it's still 110. Mostly, we were in air-conditioned casinos, where I froze my ass off.We ate amazing food (except for Nove) and saw great buildings, but I'd never want to live in Vegas. I'll probably go back, but I'm not really a gambler and Vegas has no soul. I don't mean that in a religio
us, "gambling is sinful" kind of way. I mean it in that, Vegas has no character. The city is made up of hotels and people visiting hotels. There is more than that, but essentially that's it. Boston has so much history and so much character. I mean, the airport is an $8 cab ride from the strip, and that's with the base fee and the airport fee.Our third day in Vegas we spent at Hoover Dam. That was my kind of trip. I enjoyed being at the dam and while the tour pretty much sucks, you wait in lines more than you actually see stuff, it was cool. Apparantly the tour was much more extensive and more independent (i.e. better) before September 11, but they've cracked down a lot since then, which is understandble, I guess. I don't read the intelligence reports, so I guess there could still be a threat. If the dam ruptures, it would not be good, so whatev. It was the second day in a row I remembered why I hate it when people who didn't go to Newhouse take pictures. I don't know why people have so much trouble taking a decent shot, and I'm not going off in a "I look fat in that picture" kind of way. I'm going off in a "why the hell can't you take a good picture" way. It always surprises me when I see a picture taken b a friend of family member where there's 10 feet of head space or someone's arm is cut off or the shot is crooked or whatever. I really don't think it's that hard to frame a shot--or take direction. I'm referring more specifically to my brother. First, I wanted a picture with Penn Jilette, because we saw his show
and he's famous, why not? He was getting one that I was taking for him, it's only fair, so his first reaction was that he was annoyed that I was getting one too... don't know where that came from, and then I told him specifically how I wanted the shot. And then he did the exact opposite. Instead of taking a tall shot or whatever you call it, where you turn the camera so you get a long vertical shot (I showed him exactly how to do it), he did the shot horizontally so there's tons of space on either side of us and you can't really see the difference in height. It's no big deal, the picture is above and you get the idea, but I showed him how I wanted it taken and he did the exact opposite. You can see the difference in my facebook album because I took the shot of him correctly. And then I asked him to get a picture of me on the Hoover Dam (also above) and he took such a tight shot! God forbid he take a step back! Anyway, this is a great example of me getting tired of the 24/7 quality time with the family. I just don't trust other people to get good pictures, only me and my Newhouse people. Hoover Dam is a great example of why they make postcards. It is nearly impossible to take a full shot of the whole dam. I resorted to taking as many shots from as many angles. The one above is of me, in the middle, looking down.Not to dis the trip, but one of my favorite moments of all was on the plane back to Boston from Atlanta. AirTran, our provider, has XM Radio on their planes and one of the stations has live play by play of MLB games. At the time we were flying, there was a Red Sox game. I was not listening at the time because I was doing homework (that's right, school hasn't even started yet and I'm already doing homework). All of a sudden, the plane breaks out in to applause in cheers. I look to my brother sitting next to me (not only did we have to hang out all week, but I was also stuck next to him on every single flight), who was listening to the game on the XM Radio and he smiles and says, "David Ortiz, grand slam, Red Sox up 6-5." Were we on a flight to Boston or what? I just thought that was great.
I move into Boston on Friday. I'm excited. I have to be there early to meet the Comcast guy and make sure we get cable and internet. My roommate says she's not bringing her TV and only wants basic cable. Hopefully that'll be ok, but I have to talk to the Comcast guy and see what channels I'll be losing. We only have extended basic cable at home and that's what Syracuse basically had, so extended is fine, but there are certain channels I'm attached to, so I might have to upgrade, even if I have to pay the difference myself. I've worked out some of the kinks (hopefully) in loan status and such and I've bought some books and I hope to have completed the work due in them before I buy the other books so I only have to worry about doing the work in those... Syracuse football starts the 31st on ESPN and I'll be watching and I'll be horribly sad that I'm not in my normal spot in the student section for the first time in 4 years. Hopefully we'll win, my brother says we're only 3 point underdogs, so that's good?
My life is getting ready to start up again. Hopefully it won't suck.
