I have to say, my mom gave me the best high school graduation present ever -- she collected advice from a ton of people, including current college students, about leaving home/living with roommates/being in college. I think she asked people I was close to, but also people she knew would be funny. She compiled it all, and got a calligrapher friend to make the cover, but you could just do it on a computer. That was a fabulous present. A pain in the ass to do, but not a lot of money.

Some favorite bits: If you don't have enough money for drinks and dinner, get a bloody mary. The drink + celery + bar nuts is practically a meal! Also, second hand from someone's dad: Tell your date you only drink Chivas, and you won't get drunk and taken advantage of. You won't like the taste, and he won't want to pay for much of it!

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That reminds me: my brother is a poor grad student with a family (though well paid for a grad student.) He's found a good way to get free lunches. Seminars. Being a MAJOR Neurosciences university, it gets the supercatered type seminars nearly daily. He only hesitates when he enters the hall and everyone is wearing doctor's coats. Otherwise, he doesn't hesitate to fake it.

Sometimes, he even finds it relevent to his work (some alzheimers, but now I think he's more towards cancer.)

And yes, he sneaks leftoevers out.

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This is the problem with my school: we have brown bag seminars. Hmph.

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Sorry, Gud, we did kind of geek out on you there didn't we.

Don't be sorry, I didn't mean to sound like it was a problem. I had fun meeting you guys. Nothing wrong with a little theater talk, it's just I don't have much to contribute unless I start making things up.

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It's all about the funding. UAB gets so much that when they accept a grad student in this program, the tuition is covered and the student gets a $20+K stipend. It's a sweet deal. And the only way my brother could do it.

OK, I'm watching what seems to be a SuperNanny reunion special. Why? I don't know. But I'm unnerved. I guess I had good parents (who were educators) and all my babysitting and nannying experience informs me, but so freaking much seems like Duh! Of course, I'm not a parent. But jeez, the behavior that is tolerated! And the fact that some of these parents seem so adrift and passive. Oy. It seems common sense to me. t /judgy

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And the gay people put up with this?

Okay. So this is a weird thing that used to happen to me all the time in college. A huge pool of my friends were gay men. A lot of them expressed desire to have sex with me, or make out with me.

"Allyson, you're just so pretty. I would sleep with you, if you wanted me to. Do you want to?"

What the fuck was that all about? I sort of made up my mind that because it was early in the college years, and they were just coming out of the closet, the dudes I knew were just unsure of how to express affection without it being sexual in nature. But i could be wrong, often am.

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I don't have much to contribute unless I start making things up.

That would work.

I'm watching something on PBS about the movie The Misfits.

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Huh. I just watched a commercial for Maxwell House coffee. A company of firefighters filking "Our House." I'm amused and a little weirded out. Something about music that takes me to freshman year in college makes me go, "Huh," when I hear it in a commercial. Like, a couple of years ago, "Forever Young," by Alphaville was used for a car commercial. (I wish I still had a copy of that album)

t /random

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Oh great. Triple shooting in West B'more. Where am I touring real estate on Sat? West B'more.

I like my city, I really do. It is just such a patchwork. Million dollar properties a block away from crack hell.

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it's just I don't have much to contribute unless I start making things up.

I do that every so often when matt and his friends are talking about guitars

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