To Celebrate, Remember, and Honor

North Carolina
Originally uploaded by Pookah.

In celebration of one year of dating bliss, here is the post that those of you from college have been begging for: a picture of Anthony. Granted, you can't see much of him with my big old schnoz blocking the view, but you can at least tell that he's taller than me (6'4") and is blond.

Oh, and that's the Blue Mountains of North Carolina behind us. (The picture is from my first trip to NC last July.)

Long Time A Comin'

Okay, so I haven't written in a while, and Vince recently asked me, "Now that you've moved, are you going to start posting to your Blog again?" Gosh, I didn't realize how much you guys cared! OF COURSE I will!

I really don't know where I left off though. Somewhere around Wendy's, but long after I canceled DSL in my Philadelphia apartment.

Since then, I moved to lovely Massachusetts, where I will remain jobless, shriftless, and thriftless for as long as humanly possible.

Actually, that's not true. My mom claims that I owe her $3,000 a month for rent and I spent all day yesterday trying to up the ante on Monster.com. Would you believe that there are more available Editorial Assistant jobs in the state of Massachusetts than I could ever find when I was looking in NYC???! Well, THERE IS. Although nearly all of them are in healthcare. So if I really take a liking to the the mitochondria and nucleus of cells, I could really have something going here.

What I've discovered however is that I can never again try for a job whereby I have to lift heavy, semi-heavy, or even light-as-a-feather objects, as I have now spent the last month with chronic back pain. Sometimes the pain even rushes down the sciatic nerve in my leg at the most inconvenient times - like when I'm trying to sleep at night. It's been a real pleasure knowing that this was coming - both my mom and uncle have had surgery for herniated disks in their lower lumbar region- and it is ever more so now that it is here.

This morning, for instance, I woke up, brushed my teeth, and started to wash my face. When I tried to bend over the sink to wash the soap off my face so that suds and baking powder (don't ask) wouldn't run all down the front of my pajamas and on the floor, I realized that I couldn't move forward. Honest.

So now I'm without health insurance and about to make an appointment with the doctor. There's nothing more fun than being 26 (well, almost) and having your body give out on you. Dr. Claves (she's my Philadelphia doctor) is always mentioning that someone my age shouldn't have a file as large as mine. I was thinking that it's been nearly a year since I last added something good to it, so here we go to the doctor's again!

I have also realized that if this back bullshit continues that I'm going to have to sink $2,000 into a mattress. My mom has a Temperpedic mattress and it is HEAVEN to lay in. In fact, we spent about an hour today just lying on it. It's like floating on a marshmallow cloud.

What that really means is that my back likes the Temperpedic so I like the Temperpedic. Enough said.

Wendy's Showdown

Yesterday I stopped at the local Wendy's to pick up a quick lunch and my twenty minute wait in line ended with an order of crispy chicken nuggets and an HBO-worthy girlfight. Yes, my friends, within minutes of me walking into this fine establishment, a Wendy's employee and another girl started pulling at each other's weaves. There was fake hair flying everywhere, lonely little braids littered the floor, they tackled each other onto a table full of children eating their mid-day meal, a stanchion was in the air at one point, and I just stood by the register the whole time, saying, "Um, excuse me, can I get an order of crispy chicken nuggets from your value menu?"

It made my day.

Depression

I can't help but post this. Both Anthony and a listserv I'm on brought this to my attention:

Which towns stand in the face of depression
By: Sara Vigneri

Maybe it was all those years of futility for the Phillies. Or the shadows cast by New York City to the north and Washington, D.C., to the south. Whatever the reasons, Philadelphia has earned the melancholy distinction of being America's most depressed city, followed closely by Detroit and St. Petersburg, Florida. Men's Health compiled this list based on antidepressant sales, courtesy of NDC Health; suicide rates, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and the number of days inhabitants reported being depressed, based on the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, accessed through bestplaces.net.

Where can you find happiness? Texas, that's where. Three of its cities placed in the top four: number one, Laredo; number two, El Paso; and number four, Corpus Christi.

The 20 Happiest Cities
1. Laredo, TX: A+
2. El Paso, TX: A+
3. Jersey City, NJ: A+
4. Corpus Christi, TX: A+
5. Baton Rouge, LA: A
6. Honolulu, HI: A-
7. Fresno, CA: A-
8. San Jose, CA: A-
9. Lincoln, NE: B+
10. Bakersfield, CA: B+
11. Buffalo, NY: B+
12. Anchorage, AK: B+
13. Stockton, CA: B+
14. Shreveport, LA: B+
15. (3-way tie) Madison, WI: B, Montgomery, AL: B, and Des Moines, IA: B
18. Wichita, KS: B
19. (tie) Sacramento, CA: B and Omaha, NE: B

The 20 Most Depressed Cities
1. Philadelphia, PA: F
2. Detroit, MI: F
3. St. Petersburg, FL: F
4. St. Louis, MO: F
5. Tampa, FL: F
6. Indianapolis, IN: F
7. (3-way tie) Mesa, AZ: F, Phoenix, AZ: F, and Scottsdale, AZ: F
10. Cleveland, OH: F
11. New York, NY: D-
12. Salt Lake City, UT: D-
13. Atlanta, GA: D
14. (3-way tie) Yonkers, NY: D, Pittsburgh, PA: D, and Kansas City, MO: D
17. (3-way tie) Long Beach, CA: D, Los Angeles, CA: D, Nashville, TN" D
20. Portland, OR: D

America's Next Top Model

So, I've been watching this show on UPN religiously, and I am now prepared to make my selections known (not that many of you care, but really, it's the only television show I watch - other than the Simpson's while I cook dinner to catch up on years of quality programming that I missed thoughout my childhood):

1. Kahlen
2. Brittany
3. Naima

Naima has been getting the audience favorite vote week after week, since this season began, but it's all a trick of editing. In the last few seasons the same thing happened - the girl that was least on camera, and had the least personality invested in the show (or absolutely NO bad moments), was the audience favorite. Again it is so with Naima. I don't feel like she brings much to the program other than a pretty face. I just reviewed all the portfolios up to this point and her pictures aren't even that strong.

As for Kahlen and Brittany, I think it's almost a toss-up, but I'm rooting for Kahlen. Brittany certainly has the more bubbly personality but sometimes her presence can feel like an assault and her pictures aren't always consistent. Kahlen, on the other hand, constantly takes beautiful pictures and is a master of disguise, but has a much quieter personality.

We'll see. I'll be tuning in every Wednesday at 8...

How Time Flies

I can't even begin to explain how quickly time disappears when you're busy and not having all that much fun. I can't go into all the details of what's going on in my life in such a public format as my Blog at the current time, but I am sure I will get around to it at some point.

Otherwise, I want to update you all (you know who you are) on a few of the things going on in my life.

First is the Publishing Course at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism this summer. Last Thursday I got a really thin letter in the mail from them - and we all know what that means: I didn't get in. Somehow there were more qualified applicants than me (yeah, I know! I couldn't understand it either!). Lucky for you, only Anthony had to deal with my whining and crying.

In regards to the Foreign Service exam, administered by the U.S. Department of State, I took the written half of the exam in DC this past Saturday. After nearly seven hours with the TEST NAZI, during which time we weren't allowed to eat or drink (not even water!) and were lucky if we were able to score a bathroom break, I don't even get to find out how I fared until the end of July.

The test seemed to go really smoothly for me, but it is now out of my hands. If the stars are aligned correctly, then I will pass this phase and move on to the next level of examination: the oral. Now, contrary to popular opinion, "oral" is not always a dirty word. It will not be something you see on skinimax, but rather I will be admistered a Model UN type of interview for about 8 hours.

Other than that, I am leaving Philadelphia (for the last time, I hope) at the end of May. It looks like the City of Brotherly Love will be without me once again, but my mom will be the beneficiary of my company for the next three months. Yes, kids, your dear old Ryan will be taking a break from the weary world and trying to take it easy this summer. With any luck, I will work some easygoing job for three months to pay off my student loans and such, but mostly I will relax. Yaaaaaaaaaay!

Film Festivus

Another weekend devoted to the film festival gods, another two days of sun-drenched bliss, another Saturday and Sunday devoted to doing absolutely nothing with the greatest man on the planet, my Anthony...

This time around, the only things that went wrong during my shift at Festivus (a.k.a. Philadelphia Film Festival) is that I had no co-manager for the Ritz East and managed two theatres on my own on Saturday, and that a not-so-great manager showed up several hours early on Sunday, methinks just to piss me off.

Other than that, it was a really easy ride, with great volunteers, great friends, great movies (although I heard that some were not-so-great, but I'm going with a theme here), and great Anthony to bring me Starbuck's capuccino (my newest addiction - I'm even fiending right now!) and lunches.

Okay, I've decided that I am now STARVING and need lunch, but I am waiting for Anthony to call me back on my work phone (I just discovered that our cell phones have been turned off because we are late on our bill - oopsie). Which means that the hunger has eaten away at my brain cells and I no longer have anything else to say. Grrr....