Enemy #1, according to Beck (of the Glenn sort, not the musical genius sort)

A long time ago...

I had this blog that I updated...

So a lot has happened since my last blog post.  I moved to Boston (Cambridge, actually, which is way cooler), I got a big girl job, and I'm starting tomorrow.  What a whirlwind!


So I'll be working for a research company full-time in the domestic health division.  Pretty excited about it.  I'm going to be an adult!  I am going to get regular paychecks! I am going to wake up before 7am five days a week!

Yeah, not really excited about that last one.  But this job legit fell in my lap and, knowing the number of college graduates who are out there begging for a job in their field of work, I was so lucky it found me.  The best part about it is moving back to Boston was not a mistake.  I love it when I make good decisions.  Plus, I'm pretty sure my parents are proud of me, and that's a really great feeling.  Second best part: getting a college education was not a mistake.  Taking out ridiculous loans to go to Wellesley was not a mistake.  Thank goodness.

But let's talk about my wonderful friends!  I had such a great time this weekend, and I'm so so glad (and so lucky) that I have wonderful, amazing ones who know me so well.  Another plus of having great friends is that they introduce you to their other great friends.  And I am loving it.  Seriously, I'm going to have these guys find me a husband.  Unless they try to put me on The Bachelorette.  Seriously, it's been discussed.  And vetoed.  Really, I think it's because they knew about my plan to have them arrange my marriage, and they didn't want all that work.  And because they would want to watch my awkward interactions on television. 

Welp, I don't know what to update about at this point, and it's definitely getting late and I have to get up SO early.  What am I going to wear?  Will they like me?  What am I going to pack for lunch?

It's like first-day-of-school-jitters. 

Oh, shout out to Peyton-- I got your wedding shirt in the mail, and seriously it is my new favorite thing in the whole wide world.  "EST. 2009"?  LOVE IT. 

Let's also have a throwback to the Johanna quizzes-- I had a great question and only one friend has gotten it so far (I knew she was a bosom friend!):  What is the only part of my body that I think is actually, legitimately fat? 

Also, do 401(k)s exist in the event that you are a horrible person and no one will love you or take care of you when you're old and you're going to live alone eating Chinese takeout on your bed every night until death takes you? Just wondering.

For your reading pleasure:

• Cambridge Finally Has Its Meaningless Mayor (bostonist.com)
• "Smartest" cities in the United States (medicineandtechnology.com)
• Cambridge Denies Ducks Their Due (bostonist.com)

A sample of my CLT escapades

Rather than just tell you the story, I'm posting a convo I had with one of my friends about it.  Enjoy. (Guys names have been changed, mostly for the hell of it.)

Johanna:

and i totally made out with a guy tuesday night but i didn't sleep with him

instead i was really awkward in his car for two hours... then went home. HAHA

Kristen: 

what guy??

Johanna

omg some random.

he was one of X's friends that i met when we went to X

so we all left the bar around two and jesse was super drunk, so this guy drove me back to my car

Kristen

hahahhhaah

was he hot?

Johanna

so i was awkwardly talking for like two hours and then before i got out of my car, i was like, FUCK IT and just started making out with him

oh yeah... he had a really nice jawline...

which i awkwardly told him while we were at the bar...

Kristen

jawline hahahhaha

omg that's hilarious

Johanna

hence my current status on facebook

and jesse's last comment on my wall was referring to that guy

because i also didn't really remember the next day if his name was X or Y,  ha, so we called him "allegedly X"

Kristen

i was wondering about that lol

Johanna

yeah...now you know. i'm completely ridiculous. and i was like, sober.

there is no excuse.

but whatever, he was a good kisser.

Kristen

hahahahaha, nice move!! does he live here?

Johanna

and i'm leaving town, so he can think i'm crazy if he wants to

Kristen

like are ya'll gonna hang out agian?

again*

oh dang i forgot you are leaving

ughh

Johanna

umm doubt it. i don't even have his number, though i think i gave him mine. he is a minor league baseball player

so he moves around a lot

which is like the PERFECT relationship for me

so i don't have some followmearoundlikeapuppydog stuck up my ass crack all the time

Kristen

ohhhh snap!! baseball player!!!

hahahahah

Johanna

yeah, he was pretty cute. i give myself props on that one lol

Mystery Solved, aka An Ode to Tanner Welsh

I have been honestly putting off this email because I don't even know where to begin with you, Tanner.  But too often I have fallen silent about the people I care about for the pure fact that I care SO MUCH that I don't even have the words to express it.  This will obviously be sent as an email to RG, too, but I thought it was only right that I should update my blog, too.

For those of you who don't know, I got this book in the mail a while back, and I had no idea where it came from or why.  It was called "We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion."  Without looking over the book, I was obviously taken aback, and slightly...confused.  What is someone trying to tell me by sending an almanac of human emotion?  "Here, robot, learn some!"  I wrote a blog about it, but no one came forward...

I emailed the company from whence the book came and got this email in return: "I have reviewed your order and it appears to have been sent to you and paid by Tanner Welsh."  Imagine my surprise!  As it turns out, the book is quite amazing.  It's based on the idea that journals have slowly become replaced by blogs as social networking became mainstream.  The authors created an algorithm to constantly filter through blogs for the phrase "I feel" or "I am feeling," and they started keeping track of self-reported emotions.  The book is this projected amalgamated by location, age, important dates, etc. since 2005.

How amazing.  Not only is this book really interesting for a blogger like me, but also for someone who is working in a project which aims to quantify emotions like engagement, motivation, empathy and confidence to understand social actions across location, project, and movement. 

Tanner, I don't know how you know me so well.  And I'm not really sure why you choose to continue knowing me, and continue to make some of my days the brightest I've had, just for pure fact that you're a part of them.  But you do.  I'm so grateful to have you in my life.  I really hope that I can do the same for you at some point.  And in case my words or actions don't come at the right time that you need them, just ask me when you do.  Because I love you so much, Tanner Welsh.  You spend so much of your time being a rock for other people, I really hope that you know that-- while I may not be well qualified or well-equipped-- I will be your pebble nonetheless.  And I think I speak for everyone in our group when I say that.  Us pebbles make a huge wall, so lean away. 

Thank you, Tanner.  You are such a bright, deep light.  I'm just lucky that I get some of those rays :) 

Related articles to check out:

• WeFeelFine.org - How Are People Feeling? (killerstartups.com)
• Study: Bloggers Are Happy (geeksaresexy.net)

Johanna Rae and the Mystery of the Amazon Book

A couple of days ago, a bubble-wrapped package showed up at my door.  Let me tell you, I love getting mail.  There's something so much more personal about a handwritten letter than an email, and I need not remind you of my stationary obsession.  So a personal package? YES.

I tore into it-- okay, I used scissors-- to find that I am the customer and the recipient.  Yet it was ordered on the day I was driving back from New York, and has not appeared on my credit cards.

I don't quite understand.  It's called, "We Feel Fine."  Intrigued?  So was I!  I haven't really looked in it, in case I should be sending it back, but it's called "an almanac of human emotion."  Even more intrigued?  Me too!  But, I'm also a little disturbed.

Is this supposed to be some sort of message?  Like, "Hey, Robot, here's a book of human emotions, LEARN SOME."  Or,  "Here's something to store in that icebox (where your heart used to be)."

Come on, people.  Gift message that shite! 

I wrote the company to make sure that no one has stolen my identity and opened up a credit card in my name and is going on crazy shopping sprees and ruining my credit.  And, ya know, sent me this book as a thank you.  And as a jumping point for when I'm speechless after finding out that I'm somehow $15,000 in credit card debt, and yet still miniature pig- and e-reader-less.  (Yes, that's right, if I was that far into debt, I would totally have my teacup pig and my B&N nook right now.  My needs are simple.)

Does anyone have any information about this mystery book?  Please let me know.  Though I do enjoy playing Nancy Drew (still missing 26 books of that 1940s collection, if my next mystery sender needs ideas).  I will pull out my titian-haired wig and pull on my green cotton, knee-length, wide-shoulder, empire-waist dress.  With nothing but my flashlight and my wits to protect me, I will solve the Mystery of the Amazon Book!

Look out, mystery sender, Johanna Rae is on your trail!

I had to clean my room

I had to clean my room today.  It looked like a mix between a frat house and the movie Signs. 

Let me explain.  I hate doing laundry.  I really like folding laundry.  But everything else-- separating clothes, putting them away-- kill me now.  So, to avoid this menial task, I tend to put off doing laundry for as long as possible.  I will buy more underwear and have stocked extra bedsheets for this very reason. 

In fact, just last week I thought I had beaten the system after not having done laundry in... well, I shouldn't tell you.  But I walked into Wild Wing and told Tonya smugly that I hadn't done laundry because I'd figured a way out.  She (slightly disgusted, I'm sure) asked, "how?"

"I unpacked my winter clothes."  Oh yes, I'm brilliant.

And even though, every time I do laundry, I end up donating two bags of clothes to GW or NKF, it doesn't matter.  It still piles up.  So after piling up clothes in my closet, I had to start piling it up on the side of my bed, and in trash bags, and... well, you get the idea.  Hence the frat house look.  The smell is debatable.  (Are you completely not wanting to be my friend anymore?  I don't blame you, I am a slob 33% of the time. Luckily for house/roommates, I keep it confined to my personal space.)

The reference to Signs is much simpler, and while you may think it's because the smell might attract aliens and the mess would give them good hiding places, it's really just because I'm obsessed with drinking water.  So there are half empty glasses, bottles, mason jars, etc. of water on every flat surface.  At least it's not beer bottles.   Then it really would be a frat house and would definitely smell like one.

So I'm cleaning.  The End.  You may throw up now.

A letter for you senator

Go to your senator's homepage. Hit "Contact us" or whatever, and type something akin to thi, please:

I am writing to push for you to support the health care reform bill, and to push other Senators in Congress to support the bill as well. I hope that you can utilize this letter as one example of many our your constituents who elected you to the Senate. We believed in your ability to support our causes, but also because we believed that you would stand up for these causes firmly, vocally, and without reprieve.

There are several reasons that I find this bill to be important. First, there needs to be reform for pre-existing conditions. I think we can agree there. But if insurance companies must cover individuals, individuals MUST have health insurance. If your religion (e.g. Christian Science) or your culture (e.g. Amish) prevent you from seeking medical care, fine-- that is a case in which the government has no right to interfere.

But, in cases like mine, a personal mandate is necessary. I'm 22 years old, I just graduated college, I'm working two part-time jobs, and I'm in good health. Without a personal mandate, and knowing that I cannot be denied for a pre-existing condition, I can wait to get health care. Until I am sick, until I am pregnant, etc. Until then, I will go about my life not worrying, because, should there be an emergency of some sort, I must be cared for, even if I don't have health insurance. And the insured will pay for me, a cost reflected in their premiums.

Lastly, I do not think that a public option would kill the private sector. I went to Wellesley College, a private college in Massachusetts, which "competes" with public universities-- the difference between the two is that they offer different things. I wanted smaller classes, high interactions with professors, and a reserved campus. I was also willing to pay for for these private college amenities. These I would not have found had I gone to Boston University, though I have many friends who did attend BU and loved it. The same can be said for school/town sports, the post office/ UPS, and others. The same it will be for the public vs. the private option in health care. What's the phrase? "Different strokes for different folks." The same can and should be offered in health insurance.

Thank you so much for reading this letter. I hope that you will understand my deepest concern for the future of health care, since I will be under its hand for a long time to come. I hope that you will become an advocate for the health care reform bill (I know the ins and outs, and what passing it would mean-- I'm okay with most of the extras tagged on, too, if it means passing the reform).

Sincerely,

Your name here

This is something I did really quickly, but you get the idea. We NEED to pass health care reform. So PLEASE do this. Don't make me email each of you personally. I'll do it. Stupid Lieberman is going to switch to the Republicans side for this? Making the debate filibuster-proof? NOT OKAY.