Pack Rat, River Rat, lately I'm both

It's been awhile since I've updated this. That's because I have been so busy lately! Friday, I'll be heading up and moving out to Knoxville. I've spent the last week packing. Here's my question, how in just 25 years did I accumulate so much stuff?! It's ridiculous! I knew it was bad when the guy giving me a quote on moving expenses, thought I had roommates moving out as well. Anyway, I put off packing this weekend to go rafting down the Spring River in Arkansas. Yup, yours truly went camping. It was a lot of fun! But, now it's back to reality. Luckily, I've pretty much gotten everything wrapped up and am getting ready to roll. I have a Memphis "Bucket List" of things to do before I leave town. Last night was BBQ, tonight is Grisanti's (my fave Italian) and tomorrow is Beale Street. I'm so excited for UT, but I am going to miss Memphis. I've always loved it here. Guess I'll just have to move back after school's done, right?

Psychologically deconstructed?

That was the phrase used by Katie Holmes (aka Joey Potter) on Dawson's Creek. Now, you're probably all wondering what I was doing watching Dawson's Creek. Well, I couldn't sleep this morning and apparently that's what is on at 4 in the morning. Anyway, back to this phrase "psychologically deconstructed." I never really watched the show, but I know it's about a group of high school kids living in a small town in Massachusetts. Well! They must have one heck of a school system there! No one I went to high school with ever spoke like that. I mean, seriously! I wish for once they'd come up with a show that was a little more realistic. No one in high school talks like that, right? Or maybe I went to school full of dumb kids and other schools across the nation were the basis of Dawson's Creek. Nah!

Ah! The life!

I'm house-sitting for my good friends the Candys. I'm spending the week (when I'm not packing) laying in their pool, sipping iced beverages and listening to all my favorite tunes. Life's pretty rough, huh?

Jen's pool lounging tunes:

All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow

Baby Hold On, Eddie Money

Big Girls Don't Cry, Frankie Vallie and the 4 Seasons

Sherry, FV and the 4S

California Girls, Beach Boys

California Sun, Rivieras

Changes in Latitudes, Jimmy Buffet

Ignition, R. Kelly

Escape (The Pina Colada Song), Ruper Holmes

Hollywood Nights, Bob Seger

Hot Child in the City, Nick Gilder and Time Machine

Hurts So Good, John Mellancamp

Into the Mystic, Van Morrison

Jack and Diana, Mellancamp

Janey Don't You Lose Heart, Springsteen

Let's Hang On, FV and the 4S

God Only Knows, Beach Boys

Make it Big, ""

Wouldn't It Be Nice, ""

Fun Fun Fun, ""

*I mean what's a pool without the Beach Boys?

The Long Run, The Eagles

Peaceful Easy Feeling, ""

Radio Nowhere, Springsteen

Random, but if you know me, you know that's how roll!

On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again

Actually, I am over being on the road. I really don't want to see the inside of a car for a really long time. Friday, Mom and I got up and headed east. We drove to Columbia, Misouri. Got up, took a side trip to Quincy, Illinois and saw my grandma then continued on to Memphis. Then, Sunday we (including my friend, Rachel) drove to Knoxville. By the way, Libby was with us the whole time. If anyone hates the car as much as we do at this point, it's her.

So... after 2 days (and about 1000 apartment complexes), I found an apartment. It's really cute! It's 10 minutes from campus, so it's not in walking distance but that's probably for the better. I think I'd get tired of being around a bunch of 18-year-old, first time college students, getting ready for their keggers. We also learned that there are cheap apartments that are really crappy, or new, nice apartments that are really pricey. But, fortunately for me, mine isn't too expensive. Poor Libby, had to ride in the car through out all of the apartment search. We didn't leave her in the car for too long, but she's never been a fan of the car ride. Not, your typical dog. We would try to walk her as much as possible and eat out on the patios of places so she could be with us. She always attracts a lot of attention wherever she goes.

So, that's it. I found me and Kyle an apartment and will be saying so long to Memphis on August 1.

You can't start a fire without a spark..

This gun's for hire (c'mon! everybody!) even if we're just dancin' in the dark.

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks and I have yet to comment on seeing Bruce in Paris. Well let me just say, it was FAN-TAS-TIC. I've never seen an audience with so much energy, and his matched ours. He sang for almost three hours and didn't stop once. He sang my favorite song, Atlantic City, which made me extremely happy. For those of you who don't know this, Bruce wrote Blinded by the Light, which is sung by Manfred Mann. Well, in the show he sang Because the Night. I instantly recognized it, but I knew it was sang by a girl. I figured it must be like Blinded by the Light. Sure enough, that's the case. It was a nice surprise and added to the long list of great songs he has written. Anyway, it was unbelievable and really hard to put into words.

A funny thing happened on the way back to the hotel. We were sitting on the Metro, when an announcement came over the speaker in French and everyone got off the train. Unlike, America they don't repeat the announcement in English. So, we get off the train not having any idea what we're doing. We hear some guy and mom goes "Hey! You speak English!" He replies,"Unfortunately I don't speak French." Well, it turns out we just had to get on the train on the other side of the platform. Anyway, we continue talking to the guy and his wife who are from Phoenix. I joked and said I had to go all the way to Paris because Springsteen never comes any where near Memphis. He said, "Well you know he's coming to Nashville in August, right?" "WHAT?!" The tickets went on sale the next day at 10am eastern time. We were going to be on a train from Paris to London. What's a (wannabe) Jersey girl to do? Well, when I get back from Europe I have an e-mail from my friend Bryan. "In case you didn't know The Boss is coming to Nashville and I have floor seats. Want to accompany me?" AAHHH! So, excited!!! Probably the sweetest thing anyone's done for me. So, on August 21 (my dad's birthday) I am seeing The Boss in the Music City.

I'm an oldie!!!

Tonight my dad and I went on our nightly Starbucks run. As my dad was flipping through the stations "Glory Days" catches my ears. "That's a good song," I say and surprisingly he leaves it on. I say surprisingly because to me the distinctive, raspy, Jersey-accented voice singing about the good ol' days of high school baseball while brilliantly strumming the guitar sounds like a little piece of Heaven on earth to me. I know to my dad's ears it's just another liberal, war-protester* and it doesn't matter how talented the person is, if he doesn't agree with him, he's not going to listen to them. ANYWAY, I was surprised he left it on. Maybe her secretly likes "The Boss," or maybe he was just being nice. I'm pretty sure it was the latter. As I'm mentally singing along about going down to the well and drinking til I get my fill I notice something. No, it cannot be. The radio says 105.1 But wait, that's the OLDIES STATION!!! That's the station that plays The Supremes and the Beatles and the Beach Boys. That's the station that plays music from my parents' generation. Sure, the music from their childhoods should be considered "oldies." It's all at least 30 years old! But, not from MY generation! I'm not old! I went home and did my homework, and sure enough "Glory Days" came out in 1984, I was 2 years old. I'm only 25 now. How can this be?! So, that's it. I'm an oldie now. Apparently, 80's music is now classified as oldies right along with Martha and the Vandellas and Elvis. Great...

*Please note that I am not a liberal nor a war-protester, nor do I agree with them. However, I am a little bit better at distinguishing between the artist and the idiot celeb** who didn't even finish high school, yet somehow knows more than me about this stuff. The exception to this is Tom Cruise. He is a pinhead and I will not give him a penny of my money.
**Please also note, that I am not solely referring to Bruce. I think most celebs are idiots.

Pay Toilets and $5 Cokes (fried and unfried)

Well, I am back from my grand tour of Europe. I have a new found appreciation for this great country we call home. Don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful time on my trip and we'll never forget it. But, I am so thankful to be an American citizen. So, now I am back in "Greality." I'll be here another week before going home to Memphis. Then I am packing up and moving further east to Knoxville. I believe I am still jet lagged. I actually believe it's not so much the jet lag that's catching up with me as much as the getting up every day at 5:30 and being on the go til midnight for two weeks is. You have to pay to use public toilets over there. Granted, they're a lot cleaner than the ones here, but it's kind of a pain.



So, tonight my parents and I went to the Greeley Stampede. This is the big rodeo/concerts/carnival that comes to Greeley every year. We went just to eat junk for dinner. I had a fried Snickers for dinner. It's actually pretty good. Then, I saw the sign for fried Coke. No, you're not hallucinating, it did say fried Coke. Of course, I had to check this out. What it was, was these fried donut things that had Coke in them. Then, they put them in a cup, pour a little Coke on them and top with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and whipped cream. I won't lie, it was pretty good. Of course I didn't finish it because that would be gross. Not that eating that in the first place after eating a fried candy bar isn't. Oh well, what can you do?

Tomorrow is the 4th. I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday. Let us remember what the holiday really stands for. For those of you who aren't sure, let me remind you: We're celebrating the birth of our country and the glorious freedoms we have. It's not just a day to get drunk and eat hotdogs.