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this is why i love my job:
http://blog.nrcm.org/
last night there was a debate between someone from my office and a PR guru for plum creek. we packed the lecture hall at colby college w/an estimated 160-180 people in attendance. among them were nearly all of my favorite people that i've met since living in maine. i miss unity. i wish i had an excuse to keep organizing there.. aka.. hanging out w/all my friends.
my previous boss from green corps came to do a site visit yesterday with my roommates, liz and colin, that are still in the program. i was never more happy with my decision to leave.
now that i have a life outside of the campaign:
it's nothing but good food from scratch: (lucas' cinnamon rolls) not featured: yesterday's spring rolls and thai peanut tofu!!
and:
as of today - my job will be calling people all day, every day, talking about my favorite place... |
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"Posted by Karen Wickre, Google Blog team
Around Google we know firsthand the value that small changes, aggregated on a large scale, can bring to people everywhere. It's how our search engine and advertising system work: every click counts. Similar thinking — local action, global impact — is what made Cyan Ta'eed, her husband Collis Ta'eed, and Leo Babauta create Blog Action Day , a worldwide initiative to get blogs posting about a common cause: the environment. As Cyan has said of bloggers and readers around the world, "If they all make a very small change it could be very effective, and a small step but an important step" on the road to addressing climate change and other environmental challenges."
I spent my whole day meeting great maine, enviro blogs.
and posting this:
it might be cool if i leave this office before the sun is totally hidden, so i can ride the new wheels (bike) to the healthfood store. hmmmm |
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Some pretty emotional turn of events have left me in an out of funks lately. Not to mention, my first contact with the outside world this morning was my dad, calling to tell me that lil had drank water out of some ditch during a pit stop on a road trip. great. lil better still be alive by the time i'm done saving moosehead lake.
the 4 roomies of super sweet sixteen piled into liz's puke-mobile today in search of a pumpkin patch, apple orchard, library, and alpaca farm. we found... the library. liz's books were a week overdue. the sign we followed for the first pumpkin patch was actually just a pumpkin stand. at a dairy farm. hmm. at least we got apples that colin picked from a road side tree. the next pumpkin patch we made it to, 15 minutes before close, had no patch. just pumpkins. turns out "the pumpkins just didn't come this year. they flowered, but the honey bees just didn't come. so these pumpkins we shipped up from a different field."
WOW. for so long, i have been explaining to people the reasons why i am of the vegan variety that is still strict about honey. it is demeaning at times, because of course honey seems like such a great food. not as easily sworn off as the generally unhealthy meat and dairy products of the standard american diet. well anyway, i explain that as industry removes honey from bee hives, they replace it with high fructose corn syrup, because the bees still need food. one problem with this industry practice is that honey is medicinal to bees, on some levels that humans are only beginning to understand. because bees have co-evolved with this food source, taking it out of their life leaves them with weakened immunity to many problems bees face, such as mites. http://www.cnbc.com/id/17918439#
well anyway, i met someone today who's lively hood was obviously influenced by bee colony collapse. it was sad. and i didn't get to wander a pumpkin patch.
instead i went to the largest globe in the world.. except well.. the world, of course.
so did colin:
<3 thai dinner. fun times car ride with good company. i need to go find some bagels in a dumpster and sharpen some chopsticks into knitting needles.
i'm going to miss colin and liz next week, while they go back to boston for training. |
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is my 4-year-old-esque brain's reaction to distant gun shots during a hike.
here is a visual update to accommodate some of the last few entry's confusing words:
 we got new wheels.
 i love it outside.
 a boy made a pie.
 mushrooms are flowing like wine.
 even the really really big ones.
 this is what waiting for a sunny day after a rainy day is all about.
every day gets more and more fun and unbelievable.
i'm dipping vegan dark chocolate into a huge bucket of peanut butter with a cartoon bear on it. |
| » wedding bells |
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diano got married today.
it was in the top 2 wedding ceremonies i've ever been to.
it was a magical day of love for everyone involved.
i got colin the number of a hott babe who gave us some great dumpstering tips for portland, me. lucas and i nabbed 13 bagels from our fav augsta dumpster. hooray.
yesterday i scored some yarn from an outdoor thrift store, and hung out in the hallway. and i got drooled on, but did not puke.
i also made some bbq seitan, FINALLY, but it was not enough. then a BOY made a VEGAN apple pie. i probably scarfed half of it at diano's wedding. that's what happens when a vegan is around vegan pie. didn't you know?
i can't take this seriously. but today, two horses took ME seriously. they walked right on over to the fence, like i was going to take them to a store or a park or some place they wanted to go. but nope. i just looked at 'em.
then liz was all, "vica-liz"ed out.
colin is still at the office - it's freaking 2:12 am here. he's crazy beans fo sho.
umm i bought a map of maine. now i am unstoppable. as far as being navigator goes. if you have any navigator sun glasses for me, please send them to ____ (email me for my address because i dont want scary people to come to it). today i thought a scary person came to my house because the lights were on when i got home, even though i left them off when i left the house.
turned out it was only vicaliz.
when i read postsecret books, i try to figure out who wrote it. there was one today by someone who works on the kimberlyclark Kleercut campaign, but she used their freaking corporate chemical tampons. talk about a tampon. she should hook up the organics, or a keeper, or quit her job. what does she think this is, green corps!?
your means are important,
and i love my means today.
i can't wait to knit for my secret,
"you're going crazy girlfriend"
rachel m tybor
Oct. 8th, 2007 @ 02:07 am
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| » knit happens |
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i just wanted to take a second to document that i left the office for a couple hours yesterday to take a break. limiting the number of hours you work so that they actually correspond with the number on your paycheck is delightful. in between calling a bunch of people who wrote wonderful letters to the Land Use Regulation Commission about saving Moosehead in order to ask them to write a Letter to the Editor, and going to a NorthWoods team meeting, i walked home. at home i made veggie dogs and whittled a pair of straight knitting needles out of chop sticks that i got from the japanese restaurant next to the office.
after the second part of my day at the office, lucas and i made a "guru skillet hobo casserole for a king" bottom layer- the left over refried beans from our pre-dinner-snack, middle layer- left over veggies in homemade gravy that didn't fit in lucas' spinach pot pie from the previous night, top layer- my gushy mac n chreeze (now that we finally got our paws on some nutritional yeast). bake and enjoy. watch your stomach grow, right before your eyes!
Oct. 5th, 2007 @ 09:19 am
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| » life |
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we got a Lego catalog in the mail. all i want to do is play with better blocks. maybe some flexi bears, too, but those are apparently a little too nostalgic to have made it into the world of youtube.
it started getting cold here again, and all of my great hoodies live in a storage unit in champaign, il. poor planning. didn't i learn anything from green corps?
Sep. 30th, 2007 @ 01:14 pm
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| » time to eat my first bolete |
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well i quit my job. there was some talk about staying hired by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, but due to contract bullhunkey, that fell through. I was able to have made a good enough impression, however, for a different job opportunity to come out the whole ordeal. Meet a new private contractor for the Wilderness Society.
to celebrate, lucas and i crammed as many bean burritos as we could, and watched Dirty Work with Colin. i fell asleep, so i did something stupid and appropriate of my age for the first time in a long time - i drank coffee at night time. this gave me the energy to dumpster dive 8 bagels and a handful of donuts for the nonvegan roommates. i only took as much as i could carry, not wanting to deplete the precious resource for any other cool cats in augusta. for those of you that know me best, you can imagine what happens when i drink coffee at night, and chase it with pure adventure, good companionship, and a huge carb-ie bagel. i can't be sure how much i slept... a couple hours i'm sure. The games continued as i ate a bowl of PeanutButter Bumpers and watched the dailyshow at maybe... 4 or 5 AM. dang it feels good to have complete disregard for a sleeping schedule again. at least on the weekends, in honor of bonding with new friends and unemployment followed by employment.
today's highlights included talking to elisa pizza and going for a walk around the block to fight going stir crazy (i had to turn in my rental car yesterday, and we don't live in any sort of cultural center that most likely does not even exist anywhere in this city). the walk uncovered a hike-friendly trail through some woods. that's where i found my first big edible mushroom. i made a spore print to better ensure its identity while i made some cookies. then i followed my guide book's recommendation to only eat a little - but, MAN, was it AWESOME. i love finding food.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcini
and that is the story of the weekend i found food everywhere
for those of you keeping track:
adventures to moosehead (colin, me, moose friend):
coast to coast (goofs climb a small summit view of acadia after finding a sand bridge with low tide): 
rachel found a mushroom dance as performed by lucas:
all i can do is hope it's not poison:
"everything we say is funny"
tybor
Sep. 30th, 2007 @ 12:30 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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http://www.greencorps.org/current.asp?id2=31688
tim dorsey - they stole your photo!
Sep. 28th, 2007 @ 04:31 pm
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| » this is unemployment |
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today was the best day of my life.
after having resigned from my green corps year, i am waiting to discuss the potential of a few opportunities for work. in the mean time, lucas and i decided to make the most of our time in augusta.
we relaxed to the max. he cleaned the kitchen so i wasn't afraid to eat anymore. it had rained hard, so i insisted that we go mushroom hunting. we went out to my favorite place in town - Bagel Mainea for some Yummy Hummus sammiches, and to discuss our job options. in order not to poison ourselves, we were on a mission for a mushroom field guide. we checked out the library we hadn't been to yet, and it was determined that i would spoil myself with a nice book in honor of my emotional day of quitting yesterday. of course on the way to the book store, i had to check out the kitties up for adoption. when we finally got on a hike in search of some mycelium, we came across a stone bridge from the 1800s. after my foot slipped off a slick rock, and came to a splash in the fresh stream, i decided to get all the way in. jeans, knee socks, nosweat lowtops, t-shirt... for some reason i didn't even feel cold.
that's when i realized i've lost my mind.
Sep. 27th, 2007 @ 10:57 pm
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| » real world distrusta |
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my life got flipped upside down.
i never realized how i needed it to be, but for the first time, i think i have an idea.
Sep. 24th, 2007 @ 07:50 pm
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| » partake in a lunch break |
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that's what i made myself do in light of the fact that not only won't my "weekend" exist, but it will be the most important work i do yet. not to mention tonight's mandatory, "let's get serious now", phone bank.
this morning was absolutely great. i got to watch the workings of a presentation by the most important person on my side of the office to the Maine Tourism Association. laptops and projectors were forgotten in other vehicles, and we were preaching to a crowd full of some plum creek lovers, but it was a great learning experience and an excuse to wear a suit and heels. wow i sold out. (not entirely - my suit is second hand, as are my vegan heels - as for my shirt, can you say Rummage Sale?)...
if anyone makes it to the St. Bede Rummage Sale next month and sends me glorious - or not so glorious- finds, i will give you a hundred somethings. i havent decided what, yet. the point is that that would be a very cool way for you to impress me and strengthen our friendship.
as i finished my glass of orange juice, it hit me for the first time - i have male roommates, now. that explains everything.
back to work - but ps - i have received 3 humongous packages so far this week. an amazing one from elisa pizza full of stickers that made me homesick for my 21st state, and two from mama rit - i was saving one for after lunch.
package package package time!
<3
Sep. 19th, 2007 @ 01:06 pm
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| » i climbed a mountain |
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it's not every day that you get to climb a mountain, literally.
yesterday happened to be one of those days, however. It all started when i was the only one in Moose House to actually wake up on time (this is where i woke up, my master bedroom:  ), and i also happened to notice that it was pouring outside. The boys decided that we'd leave an hour later, but i fell fast asleep. When i woke, we hurriedly packed the little tomato (pictured in front of the vegan smoothie stand near the bridge to Maine in New Hampshire:  ), and were soon on our way up to Moosehead.
As you may remember, we traveled the few hours North to Moosehead a couple weeks ago, but the decision had been made to get dirty in the land either by hiking or paddling, so we could feel even more enthused about protecting the liquid heart of Maine's North Woods. Due to the rain, a muddy hike was in order. We were destined to conquer Little Moose Mountain.
 (colin tried to get into character)
 (i did it!! even though i almost wussed out multiple times)
I have the greatest roommates. and just in case either of them ever propose to me, i now have pictures to turn into the Save the Date refrigerator magnets for you to remember.
 last friday, lucas and i checked out Super Bad due to our undying love for arrested development after a long night at the office. george michael is my favorite, and i couldn't help but enjoy the cinematic escape. i also showed him Unity Pond after a failed event i planned to have on campus friday night, but having also been race night in Unity, ME, the tree-lined beach granted the pond superb acoustics for amplifying the sound of revving race car engines.
most importantly, i came across a sweet vintage knitting needle set at a yard sale in a hay tent out in some rural place on the way to Moosehead - and i picked up some yarn at a hunting outfitter/grocery store/gift shop. i'm bringing crafty back.
i was thinking - wouldn't it be great if professor coldheart and global warming duked it out?
if anyone has the skills to stop the hot, it's got to be him.
Sep. 16th, 2007 @ 03:30 pm
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| » To those near enough: |
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Who: People who want to stop Plum Creek from over developing Moosehead Lake
What: A Free! skills training with fun activities to teach us community outreach and advocacy about the issue
When: 6pm TONIGHT! (Friday the 14th)
Where: conference center, Unity College, Unity, ME
Why: Moosehead Lake is being threatened by the wrong type of development for those of us who want to continue appreciating its beauty and biodiversity on outings such as NOVA trips. The Plum Creek Corporation is driven by their profits, but in November we have a chance to stop them if we let the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) know that the general public wants to protect Moosehead. We have a chance to organize fair-goers at the Common Ground Fair who already care about the issue. Tonight’s skills workshop will help us reach out to those people next weekend and get them involved in the decision that could permanently change the character of Maine’s North Woods.
for the rest of you, i will begin the virtual tour of my recent life:
today's room of interest is the beloved 4-square room. Now that Liz is back home in Augusta from spending the week in Portland (in order to pull off her massive kick off meeting), we can hopefully get some rousing games together. Last night's sport of choice was Boggle.
Work has been wild.
I can't believe how much money we're up against. Corporations are so sneaky... but are they sneakier than me? stay tuned.
Sep. 14th, 2007 @ 10:23 am
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| » hi! this is rachel with the natural resources council of maine... |
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how are you doing tonight?
great!...
and that is how you confirm 50 people to come to your Kickoff meeting, in anticipation of half of them actually showing up.
For those of you finding yourself in or around Unity, ME tomorrow, please stop by campus room 1B2B for our huge kickoff meeting. I will be the guest speaker and present a power point presentation that I haven't learned yet. i will also hang a poster i made of a picture of a Moose that spans something like 30 sheets of computer paper.
lucas and i were practicing hooking up our laptops to the projectors from work and realized they make for a great cinematic experience of watching arrested development. we also ventured to the used book store in the next town over to force ourselves to take a break from the office in light of knowing we'd be slaves to our phone banks tonight. i phone banked ian, but my script did not convince him to leave illinois for the snacks that my volunteers got donated for tomorrows event. i wasn't too down, because some very nice photos surfaced, taken from random disposable cameras laying around at his sister's wedding.
i also had a conference call with 10 or so of my green corps family concerning our kick off meeting prep. it is so wild to think of all the campaigns and events we are coordinating all over the country. more than anyone in the GC class of 08, i'm really missing hillary. i wish she would visit maine, but i at least look forward to meeting up with her at the pick me up cafe in chicago after thanksgiving. here is us trying to survive the movement-wide training at the raddison, Boston MA:
in closing,
i am thinking of miss autumn haupt. what a wild ride she has been on.
<3
Sep. 11th, 2007 @ 10:58 pm
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| » laugh hard, it's a long ways to the bank |
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i'm wearing thin. the campaign and my volunteers inspire me. my roommates make me laugh (even when they don't try to - i have burst into spontaneous laughter approximately 5 gagillion times this weekend). this must be my soul's equivalent of a burst of adrenaline after the blood sugar drops, in response to no longer knowing where my heart lives.
last week, after a 16 hour work day - i started making myself take it easy. i had hit my goal of 200 volunteer cards, days in advance of my plan, so rather than commute up to Unity College to continue developing leaders, i worked out of the office on other top priorities, such as, upgrading my Microsoft Office to the varieties that are actually compatible with Vista. Luckily, my office made the donation, and i can finally make use of our organizing secret weapon: outlook, ho, ho, how i love my blind carbon copies.
Everyone in the office invited us to the Liberal Cup - the local pub with a great atmosphere that feels as though you're crawling into a knot in a tree, some place a squirrel would make home. Unfortunately, a meeting with NRCM's North Woods team and our general obsession with staying the office long past sun down, kept us from bonding with our amazing office mates. Us organizers (lucas, liz, colin, and myself) finally made it out to the liberal cup friday night. I wasn't the best at darts, but i wasn't the worst either. Overall, i took general delight in watching my roommates get a little more tipsy than usual. It's always endearing when people begin to act a fraction more inappropriate, like me. As the Designated Driver, i was easily persuaded to charter the "little tomato" (colin's red '95 VW Golf) into the depths of the countryside for a rural route worthy of star gazing. we all climbed on top of the car, efficiently dented the roof in beyond popping back, and absorbed the county air with the occasional shooting star. We reminisced about our many Green Corps class mates and talked heavy life decisions in the comfort of new found friends for life. Once we got home, i pulled another air mattress into my master bed room and invited everyone in for a slumber party - still getting over the loneliness factor of sleeping alone for the first time in 4 years. My room is now just about a twin size air mattress short of being one of those Jumpy Castles.
Speaking of jumpy castles, have i formally mentioned all of the activities available in our fun house? Well first of all, our wonderful land lords left us a half pipe in the back yard - but our only board is a suicide trap. we also have some sort of giant rope swing, that we're still trying to untangle from high up tree branches. When we first moved in there was a badminton net, and we were also using a rope for single-dutch? yesterday afternoon. Lucas and i wanted to ride bikes to work last week, so we found a few BMX bikes in the shed, and borrowed those. We also found a 4-square ball in a closet, and what do you know?- we have a beautiful room with no furniture in it that has the perfect 4square grid on the floor due to the pattern in the hardwood. There are also razor scooters to get from room to room. OH yes, and air mattress rides down the stairs into a giant pile of pillows and blankets. and the icing on the cake... is lucas' bedroom.. the murder room. creepiest vibes ever. we also tried to get on the roof, but it's too steep, and i was afraid after we took out the window in the attic that lucas was going to roll to his death right before my eyes. I wish someone had told me when i was a kid, that being an adult could be this fun. I think i wouldn't have been so depressed to see age 15 go (i remember autumn and i just cried and cried because we thought 15 was the perfect age) i've felt 15 ever since i made it to augusta. Veggie dogs are a bonus.
To balance out the diligent hours wasted away in front of excel grids and commuting to communities to organize, Augusta Real World decided to take a trip to the beach yesterday. The day's festivities were kicked off by lucas and i on garage sale runs in search of a couch.. or bed... or anything to fill our house that cost less than 8 bucks... make that 7 bucks after we bought a toy electric guitar. no dice. at that point we were in the mood for some craft supplies. we were greeted with the warm Maine hospitality that i have loved from day one at Michael's craft store - i got some felt to cut out moose shapes and sew onto the shirts we got at goodwill. he got some acrylic paints to entertain us for the next few months. We all eventually went to Reed's Beach and met up with Colin's school friend Nate and Anne. Vitamin D never felt so good. The water never felt so cold. In light of what happened when Ian, Guillum, and I swam in the North Sea in Holland, i decided not to risk freezing to death, and chilled in the sand until a thunderstorm took away my sunshine.
From the beach we were able to track down the Paul Baribeau show - thanks to ian. AND the best burrito stand in Portland, ME. Granny's. vegan specials er'day! Getting to the DIY show made me relax for the first time.. basically since i found the totally michael show in Boston. I can understand why some people go to church for a sense of community. I guess a good, peace loving, drug free, all ages show is MY sense of community. To see the kids with dreads dancing and smiling and people trying their hand at making music from the heart... simply the best. I couldn't help but miss ian like crazy. Then the cops came. Then we had a punkrock parade to a central location in the city and paulie b unleashed his bag of acoustic tricks. It was first time seeing him, and i feel like i can now cross off another escapade on the list of life goals.
Afterwards, we made the sleepy trek back to Disgusta, and my brain continued to disintegrate.
I need to figure some important things out, but some how Lucero makes it all feel alright. At least i have company for an adventure to go find snacks. At least my job is incredible - how many other people get to clock in to save the liquid heart of Maine's natural heritage that IS the North Woods.
<3 i love music
rachel
please respond with huge comments of the ins and outs of your current situations. i feel like by the time i leave the office, it's too late to call and catch up with any of you. it doesnt mean i dont think about you endlessly.
"we're goin to the sand, i'll show you who i am. we'll walk along the water holding hands... by the sand."
Sep. 9th, 2007 @ 10:30 am
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| » this is how i'm doing: |
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"Someone said they had talked with you for a bit listening in on a sort of speech you gave. They say your very determined and sound like you have your ducks in a row." - the he-said-she-said on Unity's campus according to an alumni via facebook.
Lucas adds that I'm "the diva on campus"
today I was invited to a veggie potluck at my unity-friend Dan's with some cool kids i tried to organizing that were bussing around in a two-tone vintage VW van. one of the girls, Jess gave me two heaping armloads of freshly harvested produce from the farm she works at, as a result of my explanation that i wouldn't be able to bring food to the potluck (meaning that my home was in augusta -an hour away- not that i didn't have food). i took the delicious veggies anyway.
the rates for tabling (collecting volunteer cards on campus) are roughly 6 per hour.. i managed to collect 85 in about 2 hours...
this job is so wild. it is so hard, and sucks every minute from my day, but when else would i be able to wander around Unity, ME and talk. talk talk talk.. i LOVE talking. especially about saving precious environments from amoral corporations.
i miss ian, though.
i talked to my aunt donna tonight - she is awesome.
i really miss lil. i just want to plop down on my air mattress and curl up next to her.
time to phone bank me some volunteers for tomorrow's club night event.
<3
rach
Sep. 4th, 2007 @ 08:31 pm
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| » air mattresses were made to slide down the mansion's steps |
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This is the first day I've relaxed since my Augusta arrival.
The plan was to sleep in, but some chumps prank phone called me between 4 and 5 am. Living in a large spooky house isolated from your 3 roommates by the sheer distance of the hallway is not the best place to be when this happens. I confused the caller with someone I had met while i was organizing and was fearful for both my safety and my reputation on the campus, which could make or break crucial elements of my campaign. Unfortunately for whoever pranked me, I got in touch with the appropriate authorities, due to the fact that I was uncertain at the time if it was a prank. ho hum.
The best part of the day was hanging with Lucas and Colin..
We even went to a fort. and practiced our auction skills.
Lucas and i made sure to also take as much from the children having a garage sale via the "free" piles.
anyway
let's save this:
colin ALMOSt BOUGHT skinny jeans
definate highlight
tybor
Sep. 1st, 2007 @ 11:18 pm
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