We'll take a cup of kindness yet for Auld Lang Syne...

I haven't posted in nearly a month. Poor form. I won't review everything I've done over the last few weeks, because that would be long and boring for most people. Just suffice to say my holiday was probably a lot like your holiday, unless, of course, you don't celebrate holidays, in which case you probably had an awesome time catching up on all those old episodes of House.

I rang in 2009 by clinking glasses with a bunch of Upstate New Yorkers in a cozy apartment in Astoria. I feel like my New Year's festivities ended up being really symbolic of my year as a whole. I managed to spend New Year's Eve in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, mostly with my backpack on. It was highly nomadic which, if you've been following along, just fits. Also, I managed in one month (and mostly in the 3 to 4 days leading up to midnight '09) to see every single one of my best friends from high school, college (minus Kathleen, geez!) and best of all, kindergarten. I've been particularly privileged this year to build a lot of new friendships, and to those people I'm very thankful. But I'm also truly thankful for the friendships from home and almost-home that I have had for 5 years, ten years, some for over 15 years. A lot of the people I call my best friends now are the same best friends I had in elementary school. If you want a way to stay grounded, that's it. So yes, New Year's was freezing cold and it involved sleeping on floors and a bit too much Carson Daly, but it was a fitting end to an amazing year.

New Year's 2009 made me laugh, mostly because it was so different from NYE '08. If we could step in the Way Back Machine for a moment, let's take a step back to 2007. What a God awful year. Friends moved, loved ones passed away, people cheated, money disappeared, diagnoses were made, Bush was still president with little end in sight, and all of it was an utter, rotting pile of crap. Of my close friends, I can only think of one or two people that didn't experience something life-changing and fantastically depressing. In the days leading up to January 1, "good riddance" and "f*ck 2007" were probably the words I heard most often. I spent New Year's Eve skiing with Austin and going to a big bonfire downtown. At the end of the countdown we both looked at each other, said "Well...thank God that's over," and then went to Ernest's house to eat flan.

True, my first meal of 2008 was flan, but I didn't let that get me down. Fast forward 12 months, and here I am in a little apartment in Queens, toasting with friends and feeling a little remorseful because - I admit it - I wasn't totally down with 2008 ending. Personally, I had wonderful year, complete with major accomplishments, travel, and much time spent with friends and family. I laughed a lot in 2008. I had a lot of odd jobs, and I said yes more often, which is always an adventure. So I'll be honest: I was sad to see it go. But hey - what a fabulous turnaround, 2008. What a great hope for the future.

A new government's coming in, a fresh slew of New Year's Resolutions are already being forgotten, and to date, no one has tricked me into eating flan this year. Hopefully the trend continues. Have a happier, healthier 2009. Nobody deserves it more than you.

Winding Down

This is my last week in DC. Tear! Currently, I'm still on the job hunt, but with a few bright spots on the horizon. I've had interviews at 2 different places that I'm waiting to hear from, and have 3 more interviews coming up. I've applied to several jobs in DC because I love the city and would love to continue to grow the social network I have here. In the name of adventure, however, I've applied all over the country - and by "country" I mean "the East Coast and New Orleans". We'll see.

I'm going home on Dec 20th, and all of my Bing friends will be home, however briefly, for Christmas & the Sparkle Party, so that's very exciting. I'm torn about what to do for New Year's this year. The people I usually celebrate with will be in Wisconsin and NYC, respectively, and I've also been invited down to DC to do...something. Details are unclear. Ideally, I think New Year's would be best spent playing Rock Band in somebody's basement, but people can never be that chill on New Year's.

But more exciting things are happening! For the first time in my life, my birthday will not be spent in Binghamton, NY because on January 11th I will be....

in Ireland!

I'm super psyched. I'm going to visit Ernest from January 9th - January 18th in Limerick, and wherever else we decide to journey - very possibly to Dublin because - OMG - Laura and Sofi might be coming to Dublin from Sweden January 16th - 18th!!! Ernest doesn't know that yet...but I guess he'll find out here. Don't worry Ernest, if it works out that way, they are very cool chicks, I swear.

So, then I return to the great state of New York for about oh, 12 hours, before battling my way back to DC for the inauguration on the 20th. I can't believe after 8 God awful years that it's only 5 weeks away. Should be a romping good time.

And then, hopefully, I start my new job. In DC. Or, you know, wherever.

Because one of the only things dorkier than politics is Star Wars

So, the other night Emily called me and left the following message:

"Hello Katie, this is Barack Obama. I was just calling at the request of my secretary, Shmi, she thought you would be an excellent candidate for Top Jedi in my cabinet. So, if you could just give me a call back sometime, I'll probably be up for a while or else we can talk tomorrow night or the next night, just get me back. This is urgent. I need someone who is very handy with a light saber and I think that you would do just the trick. Goodbye, and I salute you."

I salute you. I called her back, and left this message:

"Hi President Obama, this is Katie getting back to you about the position of Top Jedi. I just wanted to say that I think it would be totally bitchin'. I'm going to need somewhere to dock my transport unit, but I figure you probably already have one of those on the roof of the White House. So, yeah, gimme a call back, B-Rock."

So she called me back, and left this message:

"Yo, this is B-rock, not to be confused Brian from the Backstreet Boys. Actually this is your President-elect. And I know that our term in office together is going to be as... epic as this game of phone tag. So if give me a call back I will tell you all about how I've one upped your offer. I actually have a sweet pod fitted with huge like bass speakers, a little handy light saber power-up and also, um...... cool lights that cut through the fog. So, if you want to see that, if you want to take a little joy ride around DC, just hit me back up on my cell. Peace out!"


My favorite part is the sweet fog lights incentive.

Tis the Season

This last week has been spent in Binghamton, baking and filling out job applications in between Rock Band sessions at Rachel's house. I've finally moved up to *medium* on guitar. Take that, actual musicians!

In the name of the season, I thought I'd tick off a few things that I am thankful for.

1. My friends and family. I love my friends, and my family is the most supportive, silly, wonderful family a person could ask for, and I'm glad once again that I got to spend the holiday with them.

2. DC & the last few months. I've loved living in DC, even at the Nunnery. I've gotten to do a ton of news things, I got to work for several political campaigns (most of which won!), I got to be in Washington on the night it exploded with Obama-flavored joy. I've also found that it's been pretty easy for me to meet new people in DC, and while many of them have been absolutely ridiculous, some of them are wonderful friends that I'm so glad I got the opportunity to meet. I have been unofficially invited to friends' weddings in Sweden and Barbados too, so really moving to DC was well worth it.

3. Upcoming adventures. After Dec 20th, I don't know what I'll be doing, but I'm sure it's going to be interesting. Plus, I still have several friends I want to visit in Wisconsin, Ireland, Sweden, NYC, and, you know, Ithaca.

So, now I'm thinking of Christmas gifts, but I'll be skipping out on Black Friday this year, unless shopping at the Philadelphia airport counts. Happy Holidays everyone - it's officially the Sparkle Season.

Update!

I'd first like to acknowledge that yesterday was my friend Rachel's 22nd birthday, so happy birthday Rachel!

And now the news from Washington. Things are a bit melancholy tonight. My good friend Laura is flying home to Sweden tomorrow, and we don't know when we will see each other again. I'm getting job hunt fatigue from trying to figure out the future (soon to be present...). My friend Juliana is moving next weekend to Virginia which, at least when compared to Sweden, isn't really all that far away.

On a happier note, the Prop 8 & Frienemies protest in DC was awesome. Somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 people were there with some of the most creative protest signs I've seen. We started out in front of the Capitol Building, where I got an incriminating picture taking. I was climbing up a lamp post to try and spot my friend in the crowd when some freelancer took my picture. I'm sure it's floating out there on the internet with the caption "CRAZY GAY PROTESTERS ATTACK PUBLIC PROPERTY!!"

From the Capitol Building, we hit the Washington Monument and eventually the White House. It felt very surreal, after all the MLK references with Obama, to be protesting (at least for a short period of time) in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I suppose it's fitting. We've made a lot of great strides - particularly this month - but there's still all sorts of injustice. Separate is still not equal.

It was interesting to hear people's reasons for coming to the protest. One man spoke about his friend, who was denied bereavement time to go to his domestic partner's funeral in Florida. His domestic partner was his girlfriend. Obviously laws like Prop 8 and the rest are wrong because of the basic rights they deny to LGBTQ people. But the story is very telling about how when you mess with the laws to hurt one group, you risk hurting everybody.

Pictures to come, because they don't seem to be loading properly.

Greetings from New York!

As David Letterman calls it, the greatest city in the world.

I'm in New York City visiting friends and reveling in the glory that is High School Musical 3: Senior Year. My friend Renee and I love the High School Musical series. When we found out the end of the trilogy would be released in theaters, we agreed to see it together rather than dragging people kicking and screaming to see it. It was absolutely amazing. The boys are back. Sharpay was ridiculous. Ryan was adorable. Troy was full of angst. Oh, and don't worry - I'm not judging you just because you haven't seen it yet.

Here's a few things that are different between DC and NYC:

1. DC is shorter. Manhattan is the home of the skyscraper, while DC is "the American Paris" with a sprawl of low buildings. There's several reasons for Washington's midget status. The short story is that it is illegal to build a building taller than the Capitol Building (289 ft). The longer story is here.

2. The Metro is cleaner. That's just a fact. That said, the subway has far better hours so you generally *don't* end up stranded the way you can in DC.

3. How to cross the street is a regional thing. At Cornell, it is the cultural expectation that pedestrians will prance out into the road at will, without looking - ever - and that cars will stop. It's death defying, but it almost always works well. In NYC, "waiting to cross" involves getting about halfway out into the first lane and eyeballing the traffic in a tough guy sort of way. No cars? Continue. Cars? Stand still - they'll miss you. This is not the case in DC: stepping too far off the sidewalk ends with people staring at you. This includes DRIVERS, who may actually stop their cars and wait for you to get back in your place. I've had this happen at least twice. In DC, it's best to stand on the sidewalk and mind your place until it's time to cross. More or less.

4. The words. In Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert talks about how everything ultimately has one word that describes it better than anything else. DC's word is Power. The city vibrates with it and spits it out all across the country and the world stage. At the same time, DC residents and representatives are struggling to get the same power as their 50 state counterparts.

I don't know what New York's word is. I always want to say Culture, but that's not it. What name goes to the city that consciously effects the lives of billions? Washington's got the power to change every life on Earth, but people generally don't pay it *that* much attention to it. But everyone pays attention to NYC. To the culture, the cool, the style, the entertainment. Most people want to be a part of NYC in some way, even if only as a tourist. So what do you call that? Synthesis? Popular? Pull?