Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Imagine a poor college graduate in this day and age. The uncertainty. The broke-ness. As a generation, mine is completely FUCKED. As kids and teens, we were all told that the only way to achieve professional (and therein financial) success was to go to college.
So we went to college. We spent thousands of dollars, took out loans, lived like animals for four years in cramped, cinderblock dorms, with various strangers who slept three feet away from us (and always seemed to either snore, get drunk, or fuck when all we really wanted was to eat Ramen noodles and fall asleep on our wiry, metal futons). At the end of it all, we got the most expensive piece of paper in the world. Four years of our lives, summed up in a fucking piece of paper. Meanwhile, our friends who didn't go to college wracked up years of professional experience, learning trades or what have you.
We graduated, our hearts full of dreams, and our heads full of delusions of grandeur. I was supposed to be a famous film director. A classmate of mine was going to be a self-made millionaire by the age of 30. At least, that was the plan . . . Some of us flocked to cities, got cheap apartments in New York, or (for the daring) L.A. But those never seemed to last too long. Eventually, we all made the long march back to our parents houses. The party was over, our pockets were empty, and our profound ambitions had been trampled. We ended up taking the minimum wage jobs that were offered, our heads down in disgust and shame.
All the while, our friends who didn't go to college were actually doing something of worth with their lives. Some had joined the military, others had worked their way up the corporate ladder, others learning trades and joining unions. And they were making BANK. Or at least more than $8.00 an hour.
So the question is really, is it better to go to college? Or to get experience? I'm beginning to think it's the latter. You need experience to get a job, but you can't get experience without one. It's the Catch-22 of my generation. It's extremely hard these days to follow your dreams. At least if you ever want to make any money and get out of your parents' basement. I wish I had an answer. If I did, I'd probably be living my dreams instead of in my parents' house.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Whoo-wee. It's been awhile since I've blogged. Even longer since I admitted I had a blog. Since I'm stranded in my hometown, car-less, mostly friend-less, and trying to shake the dreams from last night that may or may not be indicative of the future (car crashes, having sex with rivers cuomo), I figured I might as well throw some bullshit out there onto the internet. Ya know. Because there's really not enough.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Kal Penn - WTF?
Friday, April 03, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009

New Rock of Love Bus tonight!!!
No biggie, I'm all for the JC and being a good person. But it was a bit misleading considering the link was titled I hate my life. Thanks facebuddy. I wish I could unfriend myself . . .
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Something very startling occurred in my life this past week. I found myself not only watching, but ENJOYING an episode of The Real World. In particular this scene with Chet and Ryan:
Thursday, January 15, 2009

Students returning from winter break to UMass will be thrilled to find . . .
More red signs! That's right, now nearly every building has a giant red and white sign. They're not in the way or anything. Oh yeah, and the new rec center . . . forgedda'boudit. Yes, indeed, UMass is forging ahead in giving itself a new makeover after being pretty much unceremoniously dumped by the state when they cut millions of dollars in funding. Like a desperate woman, trying to convince herself that she is in fact worthwhile after her good-for-nothing loser boyfriend ran off with some other chick, UMass is painting itself up like a whore, ignoring the various weakness within its infastructure. But ya, know. We got big red signs at least.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Fate caught me again during the night when I was out with a friend and started mentioning the Oasis song "Wonderwall" in humorous context (it was really very funny I swear), and then the SONG STARTED PLAYING. Now I could chalk it up to someone overhearing my impeckable music choice and relaying it to the jukebox. But I refuse. This was an act of fate people, and only two of us were there to witness it. I know no one reads this, but if so, leave your fateful moments in the comments.
Friday, December 26, 2008
&
gentry
Test Your Dating Compatibility
gentry: she never cut ties with me because she likes the attention
probably did the same thing with him
You left the chat by logging out or being disconnected.
me: hmmm
you should have sex with a relative of hers
gentry:so here's what i liked about it...we were both autonomous
completely
me: do you ever wonder about my love life
gentry:haha i was actually thinking of you yesterday yes
me: i think ive been rendered completely incapable of loving another person
gentry:i think that's sort of where ashley might possibly be at
she seems to love being loved, but wont love anyone back
at least not completely
i think legit she went back with her ex because it was comfortable and convenient
me: holy shit
i just saw a ghost
gentry: hahahaa what?
sure it wasnt that cat/
me: cats dont float
gentry: lol
me: oh wait it was the cat
hang on a second, she's crying
gentry: i just dont understand how u can have such ridiculous chemistry with someone and run away to an ex?
me: okay back
sorry about that
cat was upset . . . some shit about her ex boyfriend, she's cool now though
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
5) The first time I blacked out: This was not by any means one of my favorite experiences, but it was important in my history of alcoholism nonetheless. I was but a mere child of sixteen, foolish and free, coming off of an ill-advised straight edge phase. In attempts to impress an older boy in a ska band (Dear God, what WAS I thinking????) I arrived with him at a college drop-out's house and began emptying shots of spiced rum down my virgin throat. Cut to the next morning. I am in the basement, lying on the cement, with two slices of wheat bread and a glass of water beside me. Ska boy made out with my friend Becca when I was passed out in the bath tub, after puking my small intestine up all over the bathroom.
4) When I met my friend Christina: My freshman year of college was filled with a lot of irresponsible-at-best rendezvous with underage drinking. But this one was relatively harmless and both entertaining and beneficial towards the rest of my college career. Freshman Jenn is not very happy with college; her roommates are vapid bitches, her dorm is full of bleach-blonde sluts, and every boy that she talks to seems to think she wants to have sex with him. And none of them are cute. Sitting outside, smoking a Marlboro Light outside of her Pierpont dormitory, she strikes up a conversation with a girl she overhears trash-talking the residents of the building. This is Christina.
Christina: They're just all catty sluts and whores. I really can't stand it. Like we're in college now, we're not supposed to act like middle school bitches to each other.
Jenn: You're a bitch.
Christina looks at Jenn, eyes wide, taken aback by her assessment.
Jenn: I love it.
The two then traverse into the building flanked by two random guys that latched on to Christina when they saw the 30 rack that she was carrying around like a friggin' purse. Inside, the rack is emptied, then subsequently made into a bull-shaped pinata and filled with gummy bears.
3) The time I broke my wrist: While the splint was annoying, the story was hilarious. At least to me. Alana, Allison, and I got tickets to see a concert at the Mullins Center, a large venue on my school's campus. As college students, we felt obligated to get shitfaced prior to the show, and ended up downing homemade apple schnapps and Wild Turkey with visiting Kate in the room of some boys we were friends with upstairs. We got sufficiently drunk, then headed out, leaving Kate in the trusted hands of our friends and their alcohol. Kristen worked at the Mullins Center, and scored us wristbands so that we could get down to the floor instead of being confined to our balcony seats. Unfortunately, the floor crowd was a little too rowdy for my drunken state and I got pushed down, landing hard on my wrist. All 100 pounds of Allison sailed through the air at the assailant, punching the 15-year-old high schooler as hard as she could. I only realized my wrist hurt when my adrenaline died down and I sobered up a bit. I then called my roommate insisting that she come get me because I couldn't walk back to the dorm with my wrist injured (???). She was a chump, so she obliged and came and got us. Back at the dorm, we ventured upstairs to find Kate belligerently drunk, the Wild Turkey gone, and our friends very annoyed. One of the boys played rugby so I asked him to wrap my rapidly-swelling forearm, as he was used to caring for injuries. He must have done this three or four times that night, because each time he did, Kate decided I was fine and removed the bandage and yanked my wrist around. Two days later I finally went to the hospital and yeah, it was broken.
There are two linch pins that make this story funny. One is that as we arrived back at the dorm we told my roommate she could park in a lot nearer the building than her usual one. We promised she wouldn't get a ticket. She got a ticket. We promised we'd pay. We didn't. She sucked. The other is that I broke my wrist at a Taking Back Sunday concert.
2) Brush with the law: Junior year I dated a boy named Bryan from Northeastern who didn't drink at all. However, I still did. One of the weekends he came up to visit me, I took him to a big house party. The entire way there Bryan was nervous, certain that the cops were gonna come and we would all be arrested. His assumptions wavered on the side of reasonable seeing as the owner of the house had been arrested earlier that day for underage possession of alcohol. But he got bailed out, so we though it was cool. When we got there, the house was packed, and Bryan got even more freaked out. The whole time I assured him that the cops wouldn't come. The cops came. Perhaps in part due to the fact that my friend Brandon ordered chicken wings to the house the party was at. So, like mature, integrity-filled college students, we ran like hell. Brandon managed to intercept his chicken wings en route to the house, and none of us got arrested. Alana through up mid-step while walking back to her dorm. It was awesome.
1) Kristen's 20th Birthday: Kristen turned 20 our sophomore year on a Friday. So, we obviously began drinking after class, which was at around ten in the morning. The drinking continued at the dining hall, and was punctuated only by naps throughout the rest of the day. The girl was nearly moved to tears when we presented her with her touching gift: a cigarette disposal container Klaiber and I had stolen and had all of our friends draw on. Night fell, and for some reason the entire dorm seemed to have spilled out on the lawn outside. It was there that we noticed SOMEONE HAD STOLEN OUR PICNIC TABLE. Our eyes all immediately flashed to Butterfield, the freshman dorm at the top of the hill. Alana and I headed up to retrieve it. Unfortunately it was very heavy. We sat on the table, kicking and hissing as the freshmen encircled us. But luck was with us that night. A horde of boys from our dorm came to our rescue and helped us carry the table back down the hill, during which I ate shit a few times. The night only ended when the lighting sky reminded us it was nearly morning.
So that's it. The most memorable (or unable to be remembered) experiences of my time as an underage drinker. There were many things I could have included, like the time a boy chased me out of a party shoeless, or when I woke up in protective custody after being spotted drunk upon my first step out of a club. But these 5 are the ones that I cherish, that I wish I had pictures of. So, kiddies, enjoy your time as an underage drinker. You'll feel a lot less badass when it's gone.
