New Restaurant

My mom came to visit me this past weekend. On Saturday we walked up one side of Main St (this one street with shops and many many restaurants) and down the other side. For lunch, we stopped at The New England Emporium Eatery.

What you do, is go up to the counter, order, then go pick a place to sit. Before you leave the counter, the cashier hands you a little number on a stick. Cautiously, my mother and I adventured into the eating area. We chose a two seater all the way to the street side of the place. The area reminded me of a stage, it was like we were sitting on a stage backed by a huge window. I do enjoy a little people watching while I enjoy a meal and good company. As we waited for our food, I became increasingly aware of the fact the, no doubt, completely capable workers may never see our stick number perched in the middle of our table due to a perfectly placed pole in the possible line of sigh. I moved the number stick toward my mother.... then I moved it to the other side of my mother and toward the cashiers counter... at that point I was satisfied.

My mom ordered falafel. I ordered a turkey sandwich with cranberry relish and stuffing. The cranberry relish was a little too sweet, so I had to scoop some of it out of my sandwich. Following the relish extraction, my sandwich was pretty darn good. My mom seemed to enjoy her lunch too. I'd say it was a success.


My Updated List!

New State! *Wisconsin*

I just spent the last two weeks in Wisconsin. My job sent me to this strange land to learn how houses are built so that I can better understand my job. I can say that I was on information overload the whole two weeks and a good amount of that overload, has poured over for good-but I think the training will help.

I thought that Wisconsin would be barren, cold, and boring. It was actually none of these things. The weather was actually more pleasant than that of the great New England. While I was in Wisconsin, New England was battered with snow and cold. It was definitely cold in Wisconsin, but it really didn't snow that much.

I was also able to adventure out a little bit. We, my training class and I, went on a Brewery tour the Saturday we were in Wisconsin. Our tour guide was immensely funny, and the tour was very entertaining and interesting. They give us each four wooden chips with our $7 entrance fee. With each of these chips, you can get a beer. And they don't make you wait until the tour is over to indulge. While it was fun, by the end of the tour I had to pee so bad my eyeballs were literally floating. Lakefront Brewery.

The day after the brewery tour I went to adventure with just one of my training mates. We went to a local science museum and then to a history museum. Both were very small, but still fun. The history museum featured a Houdini exhibit. The two of us learned how he completed his 'tricks' and learned that he called Appleton, WI his home. Only interesting because, again, I was previously sure that there was nothing to Wisconsin except cheese. I was very wrong, and I openly admit that. The only downside to the day was lunch. The two of us sat at the table unhappy with our water because it tasted bad. We asked the waitress for something else to drink and it honestly seemed as if she was angry at this request. At the end of our meal she didn't even bring us our change, the manager/owner did. The girl I was with mentioned that he had been looking at us strangely, this made me uncomfortable because this just made no sense. Did it have anything to do with us, or me? Or was it just us simply over analyzing the situation...

Anyway, little Megan traveled off the east coast for the first time. On the way there I stopped in Detroit, and on the way back Chicago. So, I've technically been in three new states, but I have decided not to count airport time. I still love my east coast, but I hope to explore more of the US in the very near future.


In jail at the Houdini exhibit.

Five Guys Burgers

Today I went to 5 Guys Burgers. I've never been to this place before, so I was overwhelmed when I walked in. I ordered a bacon cheese burger with BBQ sauce, mushrooms and onions. Oh, yeah, and fries. I didn't know what I had gotten myself into.

My plan was to sit and eat in there, but as I stood there waiting for my burger, one of the cooks stood across from me staring. I grew more and more uncomfortable. By the time I got my burger, I was so uncomfortable and hot, I had to leave. As I exited that building, the cool outside air graced my body. This burger... was two patties, too much cheese, and way to much bacon. I ate about half of it before disgust took me over and I had to dispose of my failure. I'm not bashing Five Guys, because the burger was good-it was just too much for me. And my body will remember that burger for at least a week. Maybe it will force me to eat healthier for a while.


My List:
http://twenty-s.blogspot.com/2011/01/101-things-in-1001-days.html

101 Things in 1001 Days

So, I've made a list of 101 things I would like to do in the next 1001 days... There are rules, and explaination that goes along with this, but here's the link: http://dayzeroproject.tumblr.com/

Here is it:

101 things in 1001 days

Art/Entertainment/Media
1. Listen to a live jazz band
2.Don’t go on facebook for a week
3.Don’t watch TV for a week
4. Paint 10 paintings (10/10)
5.Go to an art museum
6.Learn a full song on the piano
7.Re-start piano lessons (DONE!)
8.Go to a concert
9.Go to a play on Broadway
10.See 2 plays off Broadway (0/2)
11.Go to a local high school or college play performance
12.See two comedians (0/2)

Literature
13. Read 10 more books off the Modern Library's top 100 Novels (0/10)
14. Ask 10 friends to suggest one book, and read them all (3/10)
15. Write 10 new poems (0/10)
16. Write 5 new short stories (0/5)
17.Submit a short story for publication
18.Read a book in a day
19.Learn a poem by heart
20.Spend an afternoon reading in a park
21.Read everyday for a month

Education
22.Re-take the GRE DONE! Can't say my scores much improved...
23.Apply to 4 grad schools (0/4)
24.Take a painting class DONE!
25.Take an acting class
26.Go to a wine tasting DONE!
27.Learn to Rock-Climb
28.Visit a brewery DONE!
29.Take a cooking class

Health/Fitness
30.Lose 20 lbs
31.Run five 5k races for charity (1/5)
32.Run a 10k race
33.Run a half marathon
34.Run 365 miles (19/365)
35.Run a mile in under 10 min.
36.Run a 5k in under 30 min.
37.Join Weight Watchers (and complete 17wk program)
38.Go without alcohol for a month
39.Take a belly dancing fitness class
40.Drink nothing but water and decaf tea for two weeks
41.Do a 30 day detox
42.Do 50 'real' push-ups

Others
43. Send flowers anonymously to a friend
44. Visit an old teacher
45.Write 5 letters to 5 people who changed my life (0/5)
46.Write to a Death Row inmate
47.Donate blood - which scares the shit out of me
48.Write a letter to someone I admire
49.Volunteer at a soup kitchen
50.Volunteer at an animal shelter
51.Write inspirational quotes in my apartment's parking lot one night for people to see in the morning.
52.Send 20 letters to my Marine cousin (1/20)
53.Leave 10 operation beautiful messages in random places (0/10)
54.Send a soldier a care package
55.Give 10 “I saw this and thought of you” gifts (2/10)
56.Visit my best friend in Kansas DONE!

Random
57. Plant a window box herb garden
58. Go swimming in the ocean at night
59.Write a detailed zombie apocalypse plan
60. Write a message in a public bathroom
61.Get a massage
62.Write a fan letter
63.Watch the sun set on the beach I say a sunrise counts!
64.Submit a secret to Postsecret.
65.Shoot a gun.
66.Send a postcard through Post Crossing
67.Send a message in a bottle
68.Complete a 500 piece puzzle
69.Buy a disposable camera and take pictures. no re-dos!

Personal Enrichment
70..Write a list of things that I like about myself
71.Write a list of 20 things that make me happy
72.Write a personal mission statement
73. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
74.Write all my bad memories on paper, burn this paper afterwards
75.Sell something i made.
76.Jump into a body of water fully clothed
77.All my pictures need a place to go! Scrapbook/Photo Albums/Collages/Photo Frames
78.‘Unplug’ for one whole weekend – no cell phone, no Internet, no TV, no computer.
79.Look great naked
80.Create a self-portrait
81.Dance in the rain

Relationships
82.Kiss in the rain
83.Write a list of what is important to me in a relationship
84.Write a love letter
85.Take a chance on someone.
86.Take myself out on a fancy date
87.Adopt a kitty DONE!
88.Flirt with a bartender DONE!

Travel
89.Visit 2 new states (2/2) DONE!
90.Spend a weekend on the Cape-by myself.
91.Go camping.
92.Go on a road trip without a pre-set destination
93.Stay in a Bed and Breakfast

Good Eats!
94.Try 30 new receipes (3/30)
95. Eat at 6 restaurants in Middletown, CT (6/6) DONE!
96.Eat an apple a day for a month DONE!
97.Be a vegetarian for a month DONE!
98.Make something from a Food Network show
99.Don’t eat fast food for a month
100.Have a picnic
101.Get a blender to make healthy smoothies.


Todays date is: Monday, January 17, 2011.
I think after 1001 days it will be Sunday September 29, 2013.

All the Ways

Of all the ways one can love, I know the best way is completely and passionatly.

Love with your last breath; with your whole body - mind and heart; with a pure connection of faith and truth.

Sometimes you have to let go, but do so with grace. You never know; it could come back around.

My mother always SAID

Mother: "You can't be happy with someone else until you are happy with yourself."

My mother seems to often be right with all life's questions that do not involve math problems, so, I am sure listening to her makes the most logical sense. I mean, after all, she also says I'm pretty.

How to be happy?

According to my mother, I should run and/or [insert any and all different workout routines, clubs, classes ...]. According to me, I should sit on the couch and drink hot chocolate [with schnapps]. According to my mother, sitting on the couch and doing nothing will result in a BMI of 35. I have this sneaking and sinking suspicion she's right.

Does that mean I will work out more?

Maybe. In the past few weeks, my motivation has increased slowly. Enough to run a half-marathon anytime soon? Probably not. Sometime in the future? Very possible. Do I enjoy running? NOT AT ALL.

I want to be able to run. I have the desire. I want to be able to do something with my mother that she wants to do. I went to heat yoga with her once. I almost died. Not literally, but almost. I saw sparkly spots and had to fold myself into child's pose for a few minutes. Yoga is almost fun. Running is not almost fun. It's on a different playing field than fun. It's more of a deranged ambition people have to be faster and more efficient. Is this totally incorrect, Mother?

So, let's start slow. To achieve knowledge and self-enlightenment, I must be happy. One way to be happy is most certainly to be healthy. Possibly the lasting romantic love of another human being may soon follow. Not to mention-a kick ass body? I can live with this.

Literature

What makes for good literature? I always find that if I can't bring myself to remove my eyes from a written work - it must be good... Or if I feel so much it brings me to tears, something of worth is happening. Right? I mean, I read the Twilight series - the first three books in three days, took me a while (the rest of the week) to finish the last one - and I don't think they were spectacularly written... but my world became one where vampires and warewolves existed. So did Stephanie Meyer create something beautiful? Excepting, of course, that last book...

I just read a piece by a fellow BSC student and I cried. I had to stop reading because my vision was so clouded I could no longer see the words written down in front of me. Has this person created something that needs to be shared with the world? I believe so. I think, if I were to read that piece again (which I will) I will cry again. Maybe that's where the beauty lies... in it's ability to make it's reader feel the same emotion as if it were happening for the first time? I watch movies over and over again, each time I feel what I felt the first time. I laugh, and sigh at the same points. I can't claim that most of this is worth anyone's true devotion - but undeniably someone has created something worth sharing. What is a movie but written word acted out for an audience?

The world presented to me within a book quickly engulfs me - if it doesn't, I put the book down and forget about it. This, of course, is excepting the times when I am forced to put down a good book to be force-fed another book by a professor. In my defiance against authority I am then forced to deny any trace of enjoyment from that book. Mostly because I say to myself that when I actually have time I'll read the book in its entirety and for now I will only read enough to get enough quotes to write an A-worthy paper... Remarkably for me, that usually doesn't entail much.

I find my happiest of days are the ones I spend reading. It's something I have lost touch with. Good literature excites me. I bought a book today and I can't wait to bury myself in it - of course, I have to wait 'til I have the appropriate time to do so.

So, good literature? Who knows. We all enjoy different things. In school we are told what's good... but I think the trick is to spend too long in a bookstore reading back covers and first chapters, working to find something new.