January: Fort Belvoir

-Me to fye: You can’t ban unaccompanied under-15s from the store.
-Cedric?! Why… why aren’t you moving? And lying on the bottom of the tank…?
-LOL my boss set the dumpster on fire with his cigarette
-Holy shit, it’s Vicky!
-The Youngest Candidate viewing at GWU = win!
-Whoa! Slumdog Millionaire is… whoa!
-Vicky, Alexandria is a big place. Where exactly do you need to go?
-Okay, it’s “Fort Belvoir” not “Fort Belvick”. And Fort Belvoir is not in Alexandria.
-Obama! Obama! Obama!
-Screw work, let’s all just watch the inauguration.
-Uh, oh, acetonitrile shortage! If we run out, we’re screwed!
-ZOMG! Case Closed on Funimation channel!!!
-Yeah, great, ski lift, try to rip my arm off!

February: Cookies ‘n’ Cream

-I need to right a two-year-old wrong…
-WHO WANTS COOKIES???
-I just can’t come away from Alex’s Superbowl party without a new meme!
-#24: Mr. Brightside!!!
-WHO WANTS COOKIES???
-For my polyamorist friends.
-With some Cool Whip for the cookies.
-Oh my! I got Cool Whip on my lip. This like totally looks wrong!… *crickets* Meh.
-I want marzipan!
-Maybe this year for Lent, instead of giving something up, I’ll commit to doing something inspiring or worthwhile.
-Wow, the county sure has a lot of parks!
-Good, I have lots of choices for Lent walks.
-I’ll start with Lake Needwood.
-OMG! We got more acetonitrile! We’re saved!!!
-Yay, Baltimore Aquarium! And adorable stuffed seal!

March: Pane

-Brookside Gardens in ice: winter wonderland!
-Moar marzipan!
-Following wintry icy weekend is a 70 degree weekend.
-Smithsonian Museum of Natural History = epic win
-Bah! Closed right as I was entering room with rocks.
-Smithsonian National Gallery of Art = epic win
-Whoa, winding maze of identical Renaissance paintings is winding!
-These painters seemed to really enjoy painting naked children.
-So us board members are supposed to pool our money for Facebook ads done by Alex and Jason, who seem to not know a damn thing about running ads? Hell no.
-Meadowside: OMG! It’s a tree that is four trees!
-Smithsonian Museum of American History: LOL there’s an exhibit for the Pill! Win!
-Natural History Museum giant amethysts demand a lower drinking age!
-Seneca Greenway: Uh, this big dog seems to be following me… is now racing toward me… and the second he got to me, turned around and ran the other direction! Whoa!
-Cross has had its run. Think I want something else around my neck.
-Perfect! A little fluorite kitty from the Natural History Museum, with a little smile as if to say “Yes, I just stole a fish off your plate, what of it?”
-Okay, Jason, enough badgering, I’ll get on Twitter.
-I wonder if Alex and/or Jason are ever planning on saying what became of those Facebook ads we pooled money for… or if any board members will say anything at all for that matter.
-I’m thinking Secular Humanism is more up my alley.
-Mmmm, seafood buffet at Phillips Flagship

April: Hit It with a Big Rock

-Annoying silent board needs to look at my kingdom, I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel-Air!
-A conspicuously absent from my Lenten activities God is tired of me ignoring him and finally reveals the meaning of life during my walk at Blue Mash.
-Holy week walks seem to agree.
-Weird activity for Holy Saturday/my Palestinian mom’s birthday: Visiting the US Holocaust Museum!
-Eh, I’m not going to church on Easter Sunday. I think a blooming spring time visit to Brookside Gardens will represent the day much better!
-Doesn’t it make more sense and perhaps one truly more godly to enjoy the pleasurable fruits of life instead of inflicting shame about them?
-Drastically lower donations = NYRA doesn’t have long to live?

May: In Vain

-Ugh, why is my birthday Teen Pregnancy Prevention Day?
-Yay, my birthday is a day for wishing I, having been born to a 19-year-old mother, did not exist!
-Alright, I’m 26, why the hell haven’t I been to Europe yet?
-Paris looks nice! Not sure my French is good enough for the language barrier.
-Okay, I’ll do London then. London looks nice too!
-I’d better get a passport at some point.
-Game Day: WTF?! They hit their son?!
-Not sure I can go back.
-Justin proposes NYRA take position against corporal punishment in school, but fails because Alex abstains and too many others are absent.
-Canoeing: LOL, some other people capsized.
-Gettysburg: Historically relevant rocks are historically relevant!
-Mmmm, yummy delicious dumplings.

June: Woyaya

-Youth Blog Tuesday!
-Up!!!
-Smile! It’s a passport photo!
-WTF?! A tiny bunny keeps jumping at my sliding glass door and bumping his little head!
-Think I’ll visit the Washington Ethical Society… neat!
-Justin proposes corporal punishment amendment again: Alex still abstains like a douche, and we wait several hours for Chip to show up and vote, thus at long last approving it.
-Eric and Jacqueline? Fuck them. Let’s vote them out for attendance violation.
-Jeff and Steve >>>> Eric and Jacqueline
-I think I’ll go to WES again.
-Stefan: “We’ve decided to hire a development director. Need lots of money to do it but would save NYRA.”
-Okay, this WES thing seems to be shaking NYRA up!
-NYRA-SEFL vs. West Palm Beach: It’s ON!
-Savana Redding wins!!!
-ZOMG, Mission to Marzipan!!!

July: The Allergy Test

-Alex’s birthday present: A fuckload of donations for the new dev director.
-I got my passport!
-Kickball!!!
-Damn it, dentist, stop bugging me about the wisdom teeth!
-Mmmm, sushi with brown rice.
-Ow, that fucking dog bit me!
-Oh, shit, do I need a rabies shot?
-Nah, there he is again, still alive and thus not rabid.
-w00t, Half Blood Prince
-STP!!!
-Tubing on the river with WES… owww, sunburn!!!
-Salad.

August: Skeleton in the Closet

-ZOMG!!! Annual meeting!
-I have to feed everybody!
-LOL flip cams
-I has another summer cold!
-LOL I’m NYRA Secretary again.
-I… reserved it.
-Am I really seeing the Turtles live performing “Happy Together”? Why, yes I do believe that is what I’m seeing here.
-NYRA-DC revival!
-Yay, Collective Soul concert for the 4th time!
-And now the Killers!

September: Cockfosters

-Middle Eastern Bazaar is a veritable smorgasbord-orgasbord-orgasbord.
-Ugh, nasty NYRA chats are nasty
-OMG, almost time!
-LONDON!!!!
-I’m in the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere at the same time!!!
-Customs is rather painless actually.
-#25: Speed of Sound!!!
-No, Redskins, you’d better fucking NOT lose to the Lions!
-Okay, Redskins, you are so dead to me now. -_-
-Yet another concert: U2!!!
-Mom: “YOU WENT TO LONDON?! No, no, you did NOT go to London!”
-Me: “I totally went to London!”

October: The Alchemist

-To fix the nasty algae problem in my fish tank… got me a little algae eater named Stripe!
-Drinking age fails so let’s try student rights for the Giving Challenge.
-Alex: “Or, fuck you, I’m the executive director and I want to do drinking age, and if you complain, I’ll remove you from the board.”
-NYRA-DC meeting: Alex to Scott: “Why is Katrina not talking to me?”
-Go CAFETY!
-Invited to a play? Sure, okay.
-ZOMG! Cute trick-or-treaters!

November: Pure Potato Pleasure

-Heather: “Fuck the school adminstrators! I’m having a student party at my house anyway.”
-CROATAN
-If the spotlight beam is within my reach, I’ll stick my hand into it for teh lulz.
-I don’t care if you are Don Henley, I’m still screwing with your spotlight beam!
-Met with awesome new NYRA dev director. Holy crap, our org has a future!
-Another meeting at Heather’s house. I brought pizza!
-Ordered NYRA holiday cards finally! Five hundred of them!
-Think I’ll stuff myself with Indian food day before Thanksgiving.
-Bad idea was bad. I threw up on myself in the car.
-After having it 11 months, finally started playing Kingdom Hearts.
-And don’t seem to be stopping any time soon!

December: 1000 #9 Envelopes

-I really need to start sending holiday cards.
-Ooh, we have to work on winning the Chase contest.
-Yet I’m more interested in Kingdom Hearts.
-Okay, put that way, send out first bunch of cards and wait for rest of addresses from board.
-Did I really just have to ship two empty boxes to Canada?
-Jeffrey Nadel = extremely awesome, since even with working very hard for us to win Chase contest, still found time to supply me with card recipients!
-Sent first 300 cards.
-Oh no! Out of envelopes!
-Send me more, printer! I’m missing 200.
-Okay, the email says they’re sending 500.
-Okay, I opened the box, and there’s actually 1000!
-Weezer got in car accident so I don’t get to see them as last concert of the year.
-It’s okay. That night I went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra instead!
-Alright, Chase contest is over. Now we wait…
-NYRA WON $25,000!!!
-Except they screwed over SSDP. Still, though…
-NYRA WON $25,000!!!
-Finishing off last bit of holiday cards.
-Done with holiday cards!
-Alex, you gave me addresses too late! Sorry!
-Holy shit, two feet of snow!
-I totally wrote another Christmas NYRA Tale.
-Yay, got Christmas Eve off!
-Christmas Day chat!
-Fucking hell, I forgot to pay my car insurance.
-Okay, seems even though it was late, they accepted it as if on time. Lucky?
-Finished Kingdom Hearts… WTF?
-Ah, Rule 34.
-I have an old story I have to restart.
-WTF? My coworker’s wife died?!
-Go for New Year’s Eve skiing again even though it’s raining?
-Yeah, I totally did.
-Got totally wet.
-And with 12 minutes to spare, recapped the year, making it yet another December in which I posted every day!

So farewell, 2009! You gave the lulz that was expected, and killed a fuckton of celebrities in the process. Best of all, you brought not just the lulz but potential for lulz to be created. Lulz and win we made ourselves!

Alright, 2010, I see you sitting up there in Times Square. On TV. Bring it on!

I find it interesting that this being the fourth year in a row that I’ve done this whole entry-a-day in December thing, having started that the same December I sent NYRA’s first holiday cards, this is the only time I’ve really specifically mentioned them on here, save for the bit last year about the sentient post office machine and a blurb in the 2007 and 2008 recaps.

It began in 2006, an idea I had that year that I just thought would be a neat networking idea. Found a place to have them made and picked out a nice design with some trees. It said “Season’s Greetings! From all of us at the National Youth Rights Association!” On the back was a short message and the names of the board members. The board of directors liked the idea… except they really did not seem to understand what holiday cards are for! They seemed to think they were basically fancy flyers. They wanted to send to all politicians. They pulled every which way how they thought it should be done. No matter what they said, though, they were DOING IT WRONG! I told them these are GREETINGS, not ADS! They are for people who already know us and/or support youth rights at least a little bit. Then Alex Hull-Richter wanted me to find a union printer… Okay, this was getting delayed from a LOT of bullshit! It was already mid-December. I almost scrapped it. But when I said I was going to scrap and would try again the following year, they all whined and said I should still do it. Okay. Got together a meager list of HR’s California Democrat contacts, plus some donors Alex wanted to send to, plus a few others. So I went to place the order for 100 cards, about what would be necessary… only to discover that, when you order custom holiday cards on December 15, you really can’t wait around for the cheaper shipping. So I had to pay out the ASS for rush shipping! Grrr. Received the cards three days later, only for the board members, so insistent that the cards get sent and be done their way, to drag their asses when it came to actually providing addresses for all these people they wanted to send to. Sigh. After lots of hassle, the final recipient count was 90, and they were all sent out on, I think, December 18, so three years ago today. Didn’t have my car yet, so had all 90 in my little tote bag and walked all the way up to the Rockville post office from the metro station to get them stamped and sent off. Off they went! The very first sending of the NYRA Holiday Cards!

So that had a lot of issues, but expected for a first run. The following year I was determined to make the second sending even better, and to actually get everything done earlier. I went through the printer’s site, looking for a suitable design. Then a thought occurred to me… why stick to one of these stock designs that who knows how many other people are also using? I considered finding one of our artistic members to create our holiday card design, but decided against it because, well, one thing I’ve learned when dealing with this organization is to avoid situations where you have to wait around for other people if at all possible. So decided to use a stock design again but this time one where I could insert a photo. Then came the next issue: what photo? I mentioned this to the board in early November, and we squabbled and squabbled until Alex put together a collage. Fine. Used it. The rest of the design was a snowy forested field with a snowman. Said “Happy Holidays”. As for recipients, was ready to snatch addresses for people missed the previous year, as well as including more actual NYRA members! So ordered 250 cards, the next up number after 100 I could get. Filled up the list with the previous year’s recipients and lots of NYRA members, whether from the forums or chapters, past and present. Got them around Thanksgiving. Start sending in early December, but had only just crossed 200 on the list and had room for more. And then some board members, after I asked over and over and over, only then started to provided some contacts for the list, in mid-December when it’s already late. Shit! Alright, squeezed them in, but just majorly inconsiderate. Sent a total of 235.

Then came last year. The card design was easy, seeing as we had the cake picture from the annual meeting. Found a nice design on a dark green background with a tree next to it, said Happy Holidays from all of us at NYRA. That part was easy for once! Yay! But, after the frustration in 2007 with board members’ unwillingness to cooperate, I demanded that they get their addresses in soon, or I’d send without them. The other issue I had was that I knew the recipient list would go over 250, but the next up number to get is 500, and that’d be WAY too many. So got the 250 and ordered another 50 soon after, since 300 seemed about right. Continued to urge the board to help out, but was met only with silence or getting scolded for annoying them. Managed to bring the list up near 300, then ordered another 20, then realized I miscounted and it was actually at 270 and was pissed I ordered more cards unnecessarily, then managed to build the list up some more and ended up sending a total of 302. Started sending December 5, finished on December 11, with a few extras a little after. Timing was excellent! Unlike the board.

And now this year! Once again, design was simple, as we had another awesome annual meeting picture, one in which I had the foresight to decide it would be the holiday card picture, and by amazing coincidence, some of our paper plates at the meeting had Christmas trees on them, so that’s why I’m holding one in the picture, along with one of the new NYRA pens I’d just had made. Then it took forever to finally get the picture from Jason, got it in late October. Then had a time trying to figure out how many cards to get. Looked like I’d need 350 at least, but at that point, getting the 500 would be about the same price. So after some assurances from the board and dev director that they’d have lots of recipients, I went ahead and ordered the 500 cards, the design being the annual meeting picture with a snowflake on the side with a red panel where it says “Season’s Greetings! From all of us at the National Youth Rights Association!” Ordered it a little before Thanksgiving and got them the following week. Sent the first batch on December 8. It was hard getting more recipients being right in the thick of the Chase contest, as all of our attention was on that. Nonetheless, Jeff Nadel proved his awesomeness in being amazing help in the Chase contest and still managing to provide a bunch of recipients. Dave Moss brought in a lot too. Steve Ross and Jackie Ferro were also very helpful. But… Alex seemed rather silent. Then around December 11, a week ago, after sending 300, I realized the printer didn’t send me enough envelopes, so I contact them to send the missing 200, and to have it to me by Monday. They said they couldn’t get them to me before Wednesday. Sigh. So I went out looking for similar enough envelopes. The card envelopes are the #9 style envelopes, just a teensy bit smaller than the standard #10. I found those at Office Depot and Staples but they only sold them in expensive packs of 500. Too many and too expensive. So I just got the #10 ones in smaller packs. Whatever. This past Tuesday sent out some more, up to 360 sent. Had a lot left over. Alex was being silent still, not giving any indication if he even had any. Shame. He usually has a lot. Wednesday, I receive a big box from the printer. They sent me some more envelopes anyway. I got an email saying they were not sending me 200, but 500 envelopes! Wow, way more than I need. At least they were free. I received the box, and in looking through, I realized they did not send me 500 envelopes… they sent me ONE THOUSAND envelopes!!! Jesus! So yesterday, figuring I’d get no more recipients from the board members save for some Hal had been adding, went ahead and padded the list with some random people from our member database. Aren’t they lucky! Sent out 82, not 90 because I ran out of stamps, as had the stamp machine at my post office. This is why I don’t like sending cards so late. Also had FedExed 20 cards off to Dave Moss at his request. And then today, went to send the final batch, the missing ones from yesterday plus some last minute ones from Keith and finally Alex. Last 18 cards were sent today, after standing in line at the post office for half an hour just to buy the 18 stamps. Brought the total sent up to 480, and the 4th Annual NYRA Holiday Cards, after a drawn out week and a half, were finally all sent!

Only for me to get home and NOW see that Alex had at 6pm added more recipients finally, a bunch of ones I’d wanted to send to. When it was too fucking late. Goddamn him.

So it’s been four years of NYRA holiday cards, off to people awesome enough to get them, plus some people who were lucky enough to be filler, minus some people who deserved them but certain executive directors didn’t give info in time. Lots of fun aside from the board members having a little contest to see how hard they can absolutely FAIL with them. I’m the one who does all the work; they just need to hand over contact info. Except for Jeff Nadel. He’s awesome.

Can’t wait until next year!

Here’s to You!!!!

So I raise my glass and say, “Here’s to you, NYRA!”

For today, after several weeks of toiling and bugging the crap out of everyone for votes in some Facebook contest sponsored by Chase bank, NYRA has met with success. Amazing, breathtaking, miraculous success on this December 16, 2009, nine days before Christmas and 6th night of Chanukah…

NYRA has won $25,000.

For so long, we’ve been a small-budgeted organization, weak next to bigger stronger organizations who can run big ass campaigns and hire staff who aren’t starving to death. For so long, we’ve had members who wanted to help out but didn’t know how and we didn’t know what to have them do. We’ve always been great at keeping ourselves afloat during adversity like a cork in the bath tub, but we’ve still been seemingly without direction and without a future.

Perhaps God showed us mercy. What is known is that all our people had to do was vote for us. What with it not costing anything and being very straight forward instructions, it had a recipe for success. What is known is that, somehow or another, we built our miracle at last, through Keith’s incessant calling of members, through Alex’s exhausting tabling, and the invaluable efforts of our other members, who all came together, believing that this could be done.

We built this Christmas miracle. Or Chanukah miracle, as Hal suggested, seeing as it is Chanukah right now and a lot of our members are Jewish. It wasn’t just handed to us. Well, the opportunity arose, but it took us, all of us, our determination and efforts, and we made it happen. We waited all day today for the results to get posted, biting our nails nervously, worrying it may all have been for naught. And then, around 6pm, Alex got the e-mail. And then, we found the miracle we had been building up had happened, had shown bright before us. Shining bright the future of the youth rights movement that merely six months ago we thought may just be a pipe dream. Shining bright for us to walk into and build it up together.

DAY
100

Ah, another crazy ass summer full of the usual mixture of lulz and fail. Let’s review.

Got off to a slow start. On Day 7, for the hell of it, drove up to Gettysburg and drove around the battlefield a bit, and climbed on some historically significant rocks.

Day 8 I ate some awesome dumplings.

Day 10, trying to empower and embiggen (yup) the youth rights blogosphere so I started Youth Blog Tuesday on the forums. (I’ll see you in the September 1 installment!)

Day 14, went to the movies and saw Up. Movie about an old widower who somehow makes his house airborne with BALLOONS and flies to Venezuela to visit some waterfall, only for him and the stow-away eight-year-old to get back to the US at the end somehow, though never any mention how he got off the charges of reckless endangerment, crossing international borders illegally, transporting a child across international borders, etc. Cute movie.

Day 20, with the form filled out and my birth certificate, went over to the post office, got my picture taken, and was told my passport should be mailed to me in a few weeks. Win!

Day 21, woke up to some thumping on the sliding glass door. It was a bunny that kept leaping at the door and bumping its little head. Hahahaha.

Day 22, checked out the Washington Ethical Society after having read up on them a couple months earlier, like church but without all the God and thou-shalt-not crap, just the whole doing-good-things part. Seems nice. Then hopped on metro to Smithsonian American History Museum, because I went last March and meant to go back to see stuff I didn’t see before it closed then. Then went home because last board meeting of the year was that evening, when we were to vote on Justin’s position paper amendment so NYRA would officially oppose corporal punishment in school. Alex abstained because he has some problem with us even having position papers, but not enough board members were in attendance for it to go anywhere, so we waited several hours for Chip to get off the airplane and join us, and Eric and Jackie never showed up. Chip eventually showed up, voted, and the amendment passed in time to get on the ballot, and we promptly removed Eric and Jackie from the board for attendance violation and appointed Jeff and Steve. Haha, what a twist!

Day 28, spoiled sauteed mushrooms are spoiled. FAIL!

Day 29, went to WES again and afterwards had lunch with their Young at WES group. Nice people. Then hung out at Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring, which is a pretty park full of lots of plants. Then I got home to get a call from Stefan that we decided to advance NYRA by hiring a development director to do all the fundraising stuff that Alex has been failing at. Whoa! Maybe I should continue with this WES thing since it seems to be causing things to happen with NYRA!

Day 31, ZOMG, NYRA-SEFL has filed their lawsuit against West Palm Beach! They rock sooo hard!

Day 32, ZOMG, Savana Redding won her Supreme Court case 8-1!!! She rocks sooo hard!

Day 33, ZOMG, Jason Pollock’s pro-youth film “The Youngest Candidate” premiered at the LA Film Festival!!! He rocks sooo hard! (w00t! Youth rights awesomeness hat trick!)

Day 37, NYRA board conference call interview with potential development director who sounds like Ben Stein, while eating Ben and Jerry’s “Mission to Marzipan” which is OMGWTFBBQ delicious!!!

Day 42, on Independence Day, I became the proud holder of a US Passport! I can go anywhere!!!

Day 43, outdoor gathering with the WES people, played kickball, played too hard and was unable to walk well for the following week. And LOL at trying to explain Facebook to old people.

Day 44, dentist, got told to get my wisdom teeth out though I don’t want to. Told them I might kind of think about it. Fail unnecessary surgery is fail.

Day 47, oooh, sushi made with brown rice is yummy, and so much more yummy being cheap because it’s happy hour.

Day 49, looked at potential new phones, got some Dairy Queen, wandering around neighborhood, oh look some old guy walking a dog… OUCH!! Fucking dog bit me! Bit me on the back of the leg. WTF?! Oh, shit, jerk didn’t give me any info, bite is bleeding.

Day 50, well, lovely way to spend the goddamn Fifty-Fifty! Had to go to a walkin clinic to get bite checked out and got a tetanus shot (FAIL!) and prescribed some antibiotics I had to take for the following ten days. Oh, and there’s the teeny tiny risk of rabies maybe?

Day 51, oh shit, did that dog have rabies?!

Day 52, oh shit, did that dog have rabies?!

Day 53, oh shit, did that dog have rabies?!

Day 54, oh shit, did that dog have rabies?!

Day 55, oh shit, did that motherfucking dog have rabies?!

Day 56, wait, domestic dogs in this country don’t have rabies, and there’s that dog being walked again, if he were rabid when he bit me, he’d have been dead by now.

Day 57, went to see Half Blood Prince. WTF?! Harry never flirts with some diner chick and the Death Eaters never burn down the Burrow! Whatever, that night went to see Stone Temple Pilots! Win!

Day 59, started reading Deathly Hallows for the second time, coincidentally two years to the day from when it came out and thus the first time I started reading it!

Day 63, went tubing on the Potomac with the WES folks, and got epic sunburn, gaaahhh!!!

Day 68, chop chop chop, making salad!

Day 69, sizzle sizzle sizzle, sauteing mushrooms. Then later that night, off to Alex’s house and saw Ralph and Ivy, then came Jason, Alex, Justin, and Lindsay, and we all played Apples to Apples!

Day 70, NYRA ANNUAL MEETING!!! ZOMG, we’ve got the NYRA-SEFL guys and Steve Ross and Julian and Pablo and an assload of other awesome people! Flip cams galore! Jeff gave opening remarks, then Heather spoke, then Steve spoke, then Youth Venture guy, then we went to Chipotle, then the War on Kids movie, then Alex reads the annual report (and you know what that included ), and we headed back to Alex’s house while awaiting election results, where we ate hot dogs and my salad and mushrooms. Then results were announced and I was reelected, and we gained Brian Lombrowski and Jackie Ferro, but lost Chip. Oh, well, evening was fun. And I had to make four trips to the Twinbrook station picking up and dropping off people, hehe.

Day 71, second day of awesome annual meeting: CAFETY guys Brian and Eric talked about how gulag schools are bad mmmkay, Lindsay said the drinking age is bad mmmkay, two SSDP girls talked about chapter formation, and some way through that Justin and I ducked out to go pick up pizzas from Bertucci’s, since I offered to take care of the pizzas because I felt we should do better than Dominos. Came back with pizzas only to be met with mobs from Students for Liberty and Students for Democratic Society, who ate all our pizza and left barely any for the actual NYRAnians. And they didn’t even stick around after the debate to find out more about NYRA or anything. Oh, yeah, there was a debate, between those two groups. It was all hyped up, and even though Students for Liberty was the clear winner, they both sort of failed. It’s okay, because the sheer awesomeness we know as NYRA of Southeast Florida did their presentation next, all about their epic curfew battle and lawsuit. Then so sadly, Steve Ross gave the final remarks and it was all over. Another awesome annual meeting had gone by. A bunch of the group went off to explore the city, but I went back to Alex’s house with some of the others, and spent the rest of the day hanging out there with Alex, Jason, and Brian.

Day 72, I had a lot my salad left over from the meeting so ate the whole thing for lunch! Hehe.

Day 73, I don’t feel too good.

Day 74, aww, damn it, another summer cold! Why have my last three colds been during the 100 Days of Summer?

Day 77, had to accompany my mom and little brother to the zoo because she’s an epic metro n00b and would wind up in Virginia somehow.

Day 79, after lots of delays and making sure of stuff and finding a way to make it so much cheaper, I finally booked my vacation for September. Ow, my aching checkbook!

Day 80, went to Wolf Trap and saw a bunch of bands that were popular in the 60’s. Fun.

Day 83, since my camera stopped working back at the annual meeting, I needed a new one, so I got a new one at Best Buy, a Kodak EasyShare like my old one, but five years newer. And red.

Day 84, yay, NYRA-DC meeting! Baja Fresh in Dupont Circle, it was me and Alex along with Eric Goldstein, Usi Scott, and Heather Voke. Win. We passed around ideas for outreach. That evening I made a NYRA-DC Facebook group.

Day 85, first board meeting of the year. Lots of officer elections! I’m secretary again. Lulz.

Day 88, I also made a NYRA-DC Twitter.

Day 90, eep! Leaky kitchen window at work! All that rain. Window always leaks.

Day 96, went to see Collective Soul at the 9:30 Club. Awesome! Except they didn’t play Precious Declaration. Meh. At least The World I Know and Listen were played!

Day 98, first went to the Capital Area Food Bank to join WES with some volunteering there, and then off to the NYRA-DC BBQ that Heather was so awesomely hosting for us. I picked up Scott from the metro easily, then drove in circles a bit in Takoma Park looking for Hal, and finally off to Heather’s house, where a missed turn in her neighborhood got me lost for a little bit, and we finally got there over an hour late, but at least Conor and Eric and others had already arrived. Then I had to go back out and get Usi. But we were all there, minus the KP because he was in New Hampshire because he hates us. Had an impressive EIGHT people (yeah, that’s impressive, DC chapter rarely goes over three) and we chatted about local youth rights stuff we want to do and ate some great fajitas. Then I took everyone back to the metro in the pouring rain. Good times.

Day 99, meh, pretty much watched TV all day. Haha. One of those days that things kept coming on that I wanted to watch!

And finally…

Day 100, ate a yummy meatball sub for lunch, and this evening headed out to Merriweather Post Pavilion for the fourth of four concerts during this summer, this time to see The Killers. Wow, lights and pyrotechnics! And epic traffic leaving the place afterward. Eek!

And that’s about it. As these 100 Days of Summer draw to a close, I’m growing increasingly aware that, even though there will be situations well out of my control that will occur from time to time, for the most part, if I want the win and the awesome, I’ve got to seek it out and grab it. Life has infinite options, though with vastly varying difficulty of attaining, but we still must take the options ourselves and work out how to use them, for the good of ourselves and/or others.

So farewell to another 100 Days of Summer! Shall return next May for Round Ten in 2010. Goodnight!

This has been Day 100 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 9.

Here’s to You!!!!

So I raise my glass and say, “Here’s to you, NYRA of Southeast Florida!”

They’re a chapter so nice I’ve said “Here’s to you!” to them twice! You may recall the first was last September for their super awesome voting age ad that we had aired on Comedy Central in DC in October. Oh, I’m so happy to say that was only the beginning of their sheer untainted awesomeness.

Because just yesterday, NYRA-SEFL filed a lawsuit against the city of West Palm Beach to get their curfew law struck down. They tried reasoning with the city. They tried protesting. City still wanted to be ridiculous and ageist, so NYRA got litigious. So Jeffrey Nadel and company, with the help of attorney Barry Silver, have filed a lawsuit that the curfew violates a host of constitutional rights. They have videos. They have docs. They have Twitter. West Palm Beach, and all curfew cities for that matter, can consider itself owned.

Here’s the news article about it, too. Go vote Yes in the poll and leave supportive comments. Youth rights supporters shall not be silent!

This has been Day 32 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 9.

-Started Facebook group “End Discrimination Against Young Shoppers”
-Grandma went to hospital for mysterious illness 2007 ended with
-NYRA prepared for second Facebook Moneybomb, but again unsuccessful (though the forums users who didn’t pay up were blocked off from all but one forum for a while!)
-Buying music online rules!
-Grandma’s leg is dead and need to be amputated
-Grandma still didn’t get better and died on the 24th :bored:
-Coworker is back from India and engaged! Wait, she’s never even mentioned the guy before…
-There’s a broom in Grandma’s grave, LOL

February: Leap!

-Very late company holiday dinner!
-LOL, Superbowl upset, Pats = pwned
-Spent Superbowl taking down Christmas tree
-Saw Vista Minesweeper and shat brix
-Primary election day, was sleeting!
-Supervisor announced she was resigning
-Alex and I tabled at JSA, and he spent much of the time at the second one on the phone for a CAFETY board meeting
-Family fighting over shit about Grandma’s estate, and I much more seriously pursuing getting the fuck out
-A 29th day?! OMGWTFBBQ!!!11!!

March: Ping Chi

-Screw work, I’m going to the NYRA meeting in New York!
-Goddamn it, I got on I-95 north by mistake!
-Bought fuckton of Easter candy
-Had routine car maintenance, and while there walked over to my dentist to schedule appointment
-Had dentist appointment and discovered a lot of shit I needed to have done. Lame.
-Went to a friend’s birthday party, at a steakhouse and then a bowling alley.

April: Malleable

-Got dental work done, making me unable to chew on the right side of my mouth for a while. Fail.
-NYRA got lots of drinking age coverage, including a prime time Fox News appearance, and a witch hunt appearance on the Mike and Juliet Show (coughretardscough).
-MADD founder’s dumbass anti-military comment caught on video prompted us all to Digg it to raise awareness, getting NYRAnians on Digg, and there I found an amusing Cracked.com post, prompting NYRAnians into Cracked. Domino effect, ftw!
-My sister crashed Grandma’s car. Barely a week later, a mirror in her room collapsed and sliced up her wrist. She’s just having a bad time!
-Had lunch with Alex at one point, but then he left the lunch rather abruptly like he had something important to get to immediately after. I don’t know what, but it’s my guess that’s when he first met Sara.
-Was supposed to have my dental work finished, but the inlay piece wasn’t finished yet so I had to delay the appointment. Blah.
-Gave up apartment search for the much less expensive option of a shared house, so starting searching for that.

May: Mai’s Space

-Went back to dentist to have work finished, only for lidocaine to NOT WORK so I was in horrible pain!
-Friend’s mother-in-law had a Tupperware party. Haha.
-Then came my 25th birthday, where not a whole lot happened except my stressed out sister attacking me!
-Put up some NYRA flyers at various bus stops. A lot of them! Some stayed up a while. Wonder how many people read them.
-Visited a house where they needed a housemate, little ground floor room with private bathroom, decent location. Sure! So a week later signed the lease!
-Got pulled over for speeding while taking dad to airport. LOL
-Spent several days moving shit out and into new place! Yay! I escaped!

June: Red Eye at Night

-Friend’s game night is kind of rowdy.
-PENIS!
-Coworker’s rather lulzy bridal shower with yummy Indian food.
-More setting up new place
-Electricity goes out all over place after big ass thunderstorm, causing ruckus at work!
-Alright, smoke detector, I don’t like you and you don’t like me, but if I can just cook something and you stay quiet, we’ll be cool
-Housemate set smoke detector off a few days later when she turned the oven on too high or something.
-NYRA tabling at Takoma Park, pretty boring, except I had to lug heavy crap back to my car.
-NYRA-DC meeting the following weekend, with just me, Alex, and the intern, and I very nervously first met Sara.
-Engaged coworker traveled back to India for her wedding
-Local water gets possibly contaminated after water main break, causing carnage and lulz
-Local FedEx facility has divide by zero error when I try to drop off a dry ice shipment
-NYRA board rips each other up over NYRA brochure: Alex and Chip liked the gay ass stock photo, Stefan and I said NO WAI! We were, of course, ignored.

July: DO IT RITE

-Despondent over the brochure fiasco and some other crap, I began to think of anything cool I could to do cheer myself up. A visit to Delaware worked!
-Then, I don’t know, bunch of crap already mentioned in the 100 Days recap.

August: Hopefully Nothing

-Annual meeting!!!
-Alright, got reelected to board.
-WTF? What do you mean Jessica wasn’t reelected?!
-LOL, paper plates
-LOL, Smash Brothers
-LOL, drunk Pam
-Yay, concert!
-WTF?! What do you mean you took down the name?!
-No, you idiots, don’t vote to leave the name off, are you nuts?
-That’s it! Dear Soldier’s Mother…
-Board: “Oh no she didn’t!”
-Me: “Oh yes I did!”
-”Vote the bitch out!”
-Motion fails
-Shit more or less fixes itself

September: A Well-Oiled Machine

-Work: “Stop phailing at your job or GTFO!”
-Me: “Shit, better fix that!”
-Keith: “Donate for the NYRA ad!”
-Me: “Jesus Christ Monkeyballs, that NYRA ad rules!”
-o snap, Middle Eastern bazaar! *drools*
-Party store: “No one under 14 allowed in without adult.”
-Me: “Bitch, age discrimination is illegal in Maryland.”
-To me, from Dell… laptop!
-Alex: “Lulz, can you go to some Mobilize conference thing and talk about how kewl lowering the voting age is?”
-Me: “Yeah, probably would be nice for someone other than you to be at these things for a change.”
-Mobilize: “Lowering the voting age? O RLY?”
-Me: “YA RLY! A lower voting age would be like kewl and stuff. Just check out this ad.”
-Mobilize: *shat brix* “Well, we’ll give you a couple cameras.”
-ZOMG! I met Adam King!

October: Basement Monster

-Like, OMG, NYRA voting age ad is airing soon!
-LOL, Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden
-Ah, it’s fun making fried potatoes.
-Goddamn it, smoke detector, STFU!!!
-You know, NYRA sucks, think I’ll take a break… A Link to the Past seems much more interesting.
-Oh, fuck, do I have appendicitis?!
-No, no, just random stomach ache.
-All these Snopes articles about Disney World deaths are making me want to go!

November: Radio Free Florida

-Come on, Obama… Come on, Obama…
-OBAMA WINS!!!
-Okay, I’d better reserve this Disney trip if I really want to go.
-Oh no, newly married coworker is moving to England!
-What do you mean I’ve been randomly selected?!
-ZOMG! Disney World!
-Fuck, Orlando is cold!
-What do you mean I’ve been randomly selected AGAIN?!
-Alright, time for NYRA tabling at SSDP conference!
-Goddamn it, why is there no parking on the College Park campus?!
-Mmmm, turkey
-Awww, Bolt!

December: Nine Seconds

-Stupid NYRA board is again being useless with holiday cards.
-Oh, good, Alex is helping!
-No, bad Alex, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!
-Okay, I think I have 302 address now, I’ll order another 20 cards
-D’oh! I miscounted and only have 270!
-Wait, I can make this work… yes, I’ve made it work!
-Hooray, third annual NYRA holiday cards sent!
-I’d better go Christmas shopping. Think I’ll go to the mall.
-Goddamn it, the fye in the mall has an ageist policy. Now I have to do something about it!
-Alright, my kinky polyamorous friends are having another game night.
-ZOMG orgy!
-How come this YouTube video for Collective Soul’s “The World I Know” has nine seconds missing from the song?
-Oh, wait, was just that one clip of it, this other one isn’t missing nine seconds.
-I have to work on Christmas Eve?! Shit!
-Good, we were let out at like 11:30.
-Aw, crap, but I still have to stay and wait for FedEx package.
-Or, no, screw FedEx package. It’s Christmas Eve. Way too much other crap to do!
-Yay, Greek food!
-Hey, for once I didn’t get all teary when the church sings Silent Night! Awesome.
-Yay, Christmas Day!
-Shit, I think Cedric has dropsy!
-Alright, got some pills for the fish tank, hope it helps.
-Okay, he seems better. Good!
-For New Year’s Eve, I think I’ll go skiing.
-Awesome.
-Once again, I have made an entry every day in December! Bitchin’.

So farewell, 2008. Despite some bad shit happening, you were very interesting and I call that good. It’s almost 2009, in just 20 minutes or so.

*looks off into eerie unknown mysterious new year*

Here’s to You!!!

So I raise my glass and say, “Here’s to you, Sara!”

Sara is the girlfriend of fearless NYRA executive director, Alex Koroknay-Palicz. I’ve mentioned her before in the 100 Days recap. Now I’ve handed out a lot of kudos in these occasional “Here’s to You” bits, but for this, she’s definitely among the most deserving. I mean, to have the role in Alex’s life that she does, it is far from enviable and indicates she must be either just that resilient, just that brave, or just that desperate. Maybe some combination thereof.

Four years ago, on the NYRA forums, there Alex was always whining that he wanted a girlfriend, and I always yelled at him to STFU and quit whining. Then in early 2005, he got a girlfriend, so he did STFU for a while. Then that went to hell that summer, and he was all whiny and bitter again. Then 2006 and 2007 went by… *trails off into some mumbling* …and then in April 2008 he met Sara and has been with her since. Yay! Happy Alex is win, after three years of loneliness and being an annoying prick.

Admittedly, I’ve only met Sara twice and know very little about her, and Alex never really says anything about her, so she remains a bit of an enigma. But I think I can piece it together.

Maybe she’s a sleepwalker. That in her own real waking world, she doesn’t know Alex at all. Only her sleepwalking self interacts with him. When she wakes up for real, she finds the faint scent of paprika in her home to be unusual but doesn’t think much of it.

Or maybe I should consider the possibility that she is in fact dating Alex in her normal, waking, semi-sane state, of her own free will. It’s a puzzling thought to think of. She seems perfectly nice. Why degrade herself?

Wait. Maybe she’s a plant. No, I don’t mean like someone specifically sent her to Alex for some devious purpose. I mean she’s an actual potted plant that just really, really seems human.

Or maybe she is that other kind of plant. MADD or some other anti-youth rights entity sent her to get close to Alex, gain his trust and love, only to break his heart and probably kill him, with the goal of toppling the youth rights movement. Eek!

Then again, maybe it’s not that unusual a girl might genuinely like Alex. Even though I only marginally at best really consider him a friend anymore, I admit he’s tolerable and even somewhat enjoyable in small doses. But “small doses” is the key here. The “annoying prick” factor comes to play quite often. I mean, I can see some people who like to drink straight vinegar. Others like to douse their food in hot sauce until their tongues melt. Some like to eat the fat and gristle from their steak. But, seriously, Sara, what in the world is your issue?! For eight months and counting!

Suspicions aside, watching that relationship develop is like you’re watching a vase that was just placed on a tall shaky pedestal. You stand there just hoping it’ll come stable and not fall down and shatter into a zillion pieces. Careful where you step on the floor whenever you have to enter the room, for fear a rogue floor board might attack the pedestal. Not that a spectator like that really has any influence whatsoever on the fate of the vase, but the concern is there. Because you’ve seen the shattered vase before. And it’s SAD!

Nonetheless, despite well wishes for the vase, can’t help the feeling that those jerkoffs on Fear Factor don’t have shit on Sara.

Here’s to You!

So I raise my glass and say, “Here’s to you, NYRA-Southeast Florida!”

Now watch this video.

Just TRY and say that’s not made of awesome! I dare you.

That there is NYRA’s Southeast Florida chapter. Two of them were at our annual meeting (the guy who said “I am 16″ and the girl who said “a say”). We’re proud of them! They’re like the new NYRA-Berkeley. They’re making waves and stirring up trouble because they dare to push for lowering the voting age. They’ve been met with ridicule and insults, but they push on. They rock.

Let me tell you, in late October, when I see that ad on TV, I’m totally going to squeal with delight, and I’m so not the type of person who squeals.

Oh, yeah, didn’t you know? That video will be NYRA’s first TV ad and will be on some DC-area cable channels around October 20 or so. Our awesome young chapter created this ad because, well, they’re awesome, and now we’re going to be putting it on TV. Hey, those of you thinking about the election! Don’t forget the people who’d love to vote but can’t because of some dumbass age limit!

That is just what it is. The voting age being 18 is a dumbass age limit. Not just because it’s an age limit in general, but because the line is drawn at a really stupid point. As things are, people get to vote for the first time when they’ve gone off to college or are otherwise in a very transitional phase. Often involves moving out of state and needing to register and perhaps get an absentee ballot. Yay, making things super complicated for first time voters. That’ll keep them interested.

Or, maybe, could start voting at 16, before all the transition and when you’re still in the same place you’ve been and known and get to vote rather easily. Perhaps starting so young, you’ll keep the habit. Hey, people are always whining that if you smoke or drink when so young you’ll just develop a lifelong bad habit. Let’s throw a good one in there!

Perhaps then we’ll have a much higher voter turnout, among youth and eventually everyone, and wouldn’t be the laughing stock we are now with only like half of all eligible citizens actually getting off their asses and voting.

Alright, what moronic thing do you have to say about it? You think teens don’t know enough about politics or that they aren’t mature enough to vote? Interesting little “concerns” there and we could go round and round about how mature or knowledgeable teens are, or, better yet, we could just cut to the chase. Since when do maturity or political knowledge have a damn thing to do with voting eligibility? Do shallow, cliquey adult women still get the vote? Oh, yes they do! Do unemployed 33-year-olds who live in their parents’ basements and watch Star Trek reruns all day and think Hillary Clinton is the current vice president still have their right to vote? Oh, yes they do! No amount of maturity or political knowledge in a 17-year-old will grant her the right to vote, but rest assured her drunken abusive father can still cast his ballot. Isn’t our system just peachy?

Cut the crap, folks. Lower the damn voting age before I kick your ass.

Scarce on the entries this time around. Lame. In any case, it hardly means it’s been uneventful. Quite the contrary. Remember last year when I was all amazed at how turbulent it was? Well, after rereading last year’s entry, honestly, I kind of want to smack myself for being a whiny loser. LOL. Then again, we’ll see how I’ll feel about this a year from today. Anyway, on with it!

Day 1, the days kicked off on May 24 with my driving my dad out to Dulles so he could fly to Las Vegas to bring back my mom and little brother. I was speeding along as usual, but dad kept warning me that the Dulles access road is full of cops with radars. I slowed down but ended up speeding back up a few times. Sure enough, as we’re getting to the airport, my heart sank when I saw a police cruiser coming up fast behind me, then the lights got flashing. Eep! I got my license out of my pocket and fumbled through my glove compartment for the car papers to find registration, having to ask my dad which it was. Cop came to window and asked for the stuff and then asked who was flying out. So he let me drive on ahead to drop my dad off at the terminal. I did, and my dad was like “relax, just do as he says” while he got his bags out of the car and scurried off into the airport. Cop came back and gave me a whole guilt trip about how people get killed driving as fast as I was (72 in a 45!) and, very luckily, just let me off with a warning, though mentioning if I had gotten a ticket I would have a $700 fine, several points, and be banned from driving in Virginia for several months. Okay then.

Day 2, I went to IKEA to buy my bed. That’s the only place I could find that had the kind of bed I was looking for. It’s a loft bed! Loft beds are like bunk beds without a lower bunk, and are great for more efficient utilization of bedroom space. Anyway, I went to their self-serve furniture section to get the boxes for the twin size one, while wondering if that would ever fit into my car. I went to the cafe and had some Swedish meatballs, pondering. I decided to give it a try, so I slid the three boxes onto the flat cart and went a couple aisles down to grab the foam mattress I chose to go with it, and wheeled it all to the checkout, and then out to my car. Ah, I like puzzles! If all else failed, I figured I could go back and have it delivered somehow, but I didn’t want to resort to that. I’d fit it into my little car somehow, damn it! I got the two long pieces in there fine after putting down the backseats, but the big square piece, not unlike in Tetris, was the one giving me trouble. After a lot of fumbling around, trying any way I could to get it into any opening leading to the inside of my car, finally managed to get it through the front passenger side door and up over the seats to the back. Yay! I did it! Squeezed the rolled up mattress in and I was all done. The drive home was rather dangerous, since my seat was so far forward that if I had an accident, the airbag would have surely killed me! Got back to the house and resumed packing other stuff.

Day 3, I had off work for Memorial Day, and transported the bed pieces to the new place and left them on the floor, not ready to build yet. Then I went to Target and bought an assload of stuff, among which was a small white cabinet I intended to put my fish tank on. Took it back to the new place and built it. Then back to grandma’s house to pack up more and get more stuff ready. It was taking longer than I anticipated, but I was getting there slowly.

Day 4, had work again so that got in the way, but did some transporting at lunch time. Very carefully brought the fish tank to the new place, and the computer, table, dresser, and TV, and other little things. At this point, had to pick up the pace, as parents would be returning the next day!

Day 5, more rushed clearing out the old room, throwing things away, grabbing things I wanted, looking around for things. Parents would be there soon. Well, until they called to say they hit a deer in Pennsylvania and the car got messed up. Damn. That night, finally actually spent a night in the new place, having slept on the new mattress on the floor.

Day 6, last few things over to the new place, and that night parents and little brother returned.

Day 7, finally a relaxing Friday evening in the new place, though with still much to do.

Day 8, was my coworker’s bridal shower. Lots of yummy Indian hors d’oevres. Mmmm.

Day 9, was my friend’s game day. Living on my own now, I felt freer to stay there later than usual. Good thing. Party got crazy. I was like the only one who stayed fully clothed, hehehe.

Day 10, finally got around to building my bed. Wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do it by myself seeing as the pieces were big and it was five feet off the ground. After lots of struggling and nearly injuring myself, I got it all together. Except it was wobbly and I questioned its strength. After tightening all the screws and everything and making sure it was all done right, figured nothing to worry about.

Day 12, we had a raging thunderstorm that knocked out our electricity at work and just about the whole area. Our refrigerators and incubators went off, and we hoped they wouldn’t be off too long or we’d lose a lot. Since power wasn’t coming back on, we were free to go on home. On the way home, I bought a bean bag chair! For the space under my bed, where my computer also is.

Day 13, I headed back to work, seeing many traffic lights were still out, and got there to shout “what the hell?!” The building was still without power! So we were told to go on home since nothing could even be done. Driving through the streets with no traffic lights and all the confusion, so surreal and apocalyptic. Then around 11am or so, boss called to say power was back. So back to normal. Yay!

Day 19, went to an R.E.M. concert at Merriwether Post Pavilion! Rush hour driving on the Beltway to get there was surprisingly not that bad, but the real backup was getting into the place. Saw them nine years ago at the same place. I think I even stood at the same spot! Good set. At one point Michael Stipe was talking about something and he pulled something out of his pocket that I couldn’t see but everyone started screaming bloody murder about it, though excited screams. The screen finally focused on what he had: an Obama for President button. Hahahaha.

Day 23, tabled for NYRA at Takoma Park Jazz Fest. Saw Alex briefly, since he had to leave right after I got there, but met our intern Shanita. We tabled for a few hours before she had to leave, and I was there by myself for a little bit before it was time to pack up. Table, chairs, and merch: it was heavy! Took a while to get it all the way back to my car, but managed it. Though my arms were killing me. That evening was the last NYRA board meeting of the year. Stefan, Chip, Alex, and Yonaton all gave their awesome officer reports, while my secretary report was rather lame comparatively, just about the jazz fest and some forums stuff. Hmmm.

Day 27, I went to drop off the jazz fest stuff at Alex’s house that evening. On the way, had another scare when I saw a police car coming up fast behind me with siren going. Uh oh. He was right behind me. So I went to the right lane to pull over. Only for the cop to speed on past me once I was out of the way. Whoa!

Day 29, was another attempt at a DC chapter meeting. Was just me, Alex, and Shanita. We sat at the MLK library chatting for a while and when it was obvious nobody else was coming, we left to go get lunch. Seemed a fourth person was going to join us for lunch, Alex’s new girlfriend Sara. We waited a little while for her to come join us, while I very nervously considered pretending to get a call on my cell phone that was urgent and required me to rush home right away. No, no, I told myself. Get a grip and meet her. After a little bit, Alex finally said “there she is” and a very Irish-looking girl came on up to us and hugged him and greeted me and Shanita. I nervously said hi and we went on into the restaurant and got in line and ordered our sandwiches, as I was still entertaining thoughts of racing out of there. No, no. I just sat there at the table with them in spite of myself. So I asked her a bunch of questions, and pulled no punches telling her stuff about Alex, including how, last year, I kept stealing his hat at the Nats-Tigers game. He was getting mad at me saying “no, it was not funny” so I told her “see, he’s a stick in the mud”. When the idea of him being a stick in the mud seemed to turn her on, I facepalmed and lamented my choice of words. Soon lunch was over and Shanita left and Alex went with Sara back to her condo, so I got back on the metro by myself and headed home, pondering.

Day 30, was another game day at my friend’s house. It consisted mostly of watching YouTube videos on their Wii, while there was some nudity like last time. Hehehe.

Meanwhile, the NYRA board had been squabbling for a while over a brochure we’d been planning for many months. Alex pitched us an idea for what it’d say, and we all worked on altering it and fixing that up, while his friend Kris was to work on the design. Pretty soon, we finally saw the design. Oh, dear God! The front was this horrible stock photo of screaming summer campers on a bus. I quickly told them to lose the horrible picture, but got ignored, as Alex and Chip were quite set on using it and wouldn’t hear a word otherwise. Whatever.

Day 39, the brochure was to be sent off to the printer to be done by the end of the following week. I searched and searched through our NYRA photos for any picture that would work well, but came up short, but even if I found anything, I was quite sure the search was pointless. They wouldn’t not use the stupid bus picture.

Day 40, was Alex’s 27th birthday and had some fun with his birthday thread by making a lot of image macros of him. Lulz. Trouble is, was trying to help him that evening with getting the election stuff for the site ready, and gathering bylaw information for the previous year. Couldn’t do anything. Tired, hadn’t eaten, and couldn’t concentrate. Sigh.

Day 42, wanted to see some fireworks. Walked outside my house that evening to the little park and from the soccer field, was able to see two different nearby fireworks displays. Win. Yay, America!

Day 43, was a Saturday night and I was bored. Headed to Barnes and Noble and browsed some books to pass the time. I found one particularly interesting book. Read it until the store closed. Got me thinking.

Day 47, I got an amazing idea.

Day 48, I considered the idea some more, realizing it was crazy but nonetheless I wanted to do it.

Day 49, I went to Dairy Queen for a brownie earthquake, and planned my idea well.

Day 50, I got in my car and set out. What was I doing to celebrate this Fifty-Fifty, this high noon of the 100 Days of Summer? I headed toward the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and got in lots of beach traffic. Crossed the bridge and was on the Eastern shore for the first time in a few years. Kept driving and was soon into Delaware. Eventually reached the shore. What was I doing there? I drove around the area a bit. I’d never been to this particular town, nor was it all that interesting really, but I had to go to it. Reluctantly, I drove into a neighborhood, though muttering “I shouldn’t be here, I shouldn’t be here”. Soon, I found the house. Drove by a few times, thinking. I knew it was the right house. For there on the driveway, there it was parked… The car behind which I made my famous goodbye six years ago. After I went off to do something else, I drove by there again. I didn’t see anybody. Soon I went on back home, pondering. Stopped at a seafood restaurant along the way. Got back home and went to Barnes and Noble again to read some more of that book before they closed.

Day 61, got a call that my mom thought she was having a heart attack or something, that her doctor told her to go to the hospital. So I was like “then go to the hospital!” but she was all scared and crying and not doing anything. I offered to go get her and take her, but she refused. So I told her to stop talking to me and call 911. I got a call later from my dad that he had gotten home from work and she still hadn’t gone to the hospital. So finally he took her and I went and watched my little brother for the evening. Boy’s crazy but what fun, haha. Mom was fine, wasn’t having a heart attack after they ran some tests but said she should get checked out some more after a while. Her father died of a heart attack in 1976. Her oldest brother had one in the early 90’s. Her sister is going through severe heart issues now, has been for many years. Yeah, not very heart healthy, that side of the family. I suppose I’d better watch out.

Day 62, I made moussaka. Sort of. It’s a Greek casserole type dish with layers of eggplant and ground beef simmered with tomatoes and spices and stuff. I’d looked up the recipe and thought it looked awesome so figured I’d give it a try. Now, when I cook, I rarely go by the recipe. More like I just get the gist of it but actually do it my own way. Hehe. It’s supposed to have a cheesy bechamel sauce on top, but I hate cheese and didn’t feel like worrying with more prep than it had already so I left that part out. Instead I cut up a potato and put it on top along with some bread crumbs. Ghetto, but whatever. After three hours of preparation and finally about 30 to 45 minutes of cooking, it was finally done. Delicious! Except way too oily because those eggplant pieces were sure soaking that olive oil right up. I was quite satisfied with it! Yay cooking!

Day 67, I went to Barnes and Noble after work and finished that book, having gone every Saturday evening since I started. It really got me thinking about how I deal with stuff. Perhaps being a timid doormat is no way to live life. Just causes depression and resentment. Need another approach.

Day 70, I left work all excited because it was the start of the greatest weekend of the year. NYRA Annual Meeting 2008!!! Went home, showered, and got prepared. Alex said everyone was at his house, so I zoomed over there like a bat out of hell. Awesome, everyone was there! Alex, of course. Chip! Pam! Ana! Jason! Julian! Ivy! Probably others I’m forgetting. They were playing Super Smash Bros. We hung out for a while until it was getting kind of late, so I headed back to my house for bed.

Day 71, woke up bright and early, cleared out my car, gathered my stuff, and drove to the metro station. Trains were delayed as usual so I got there later than I wanted to, though technically on time still. Got there to see Justin and Jessica had arrived, since we weren’t sure what had happened to them as they were supposed to have arrived the night before. Alex pulled me aside and told me to give him my laser pointer, and I promptly insisted I didn’t have it. Hahaha! Pam opened the meeting with an awesome speech, and then Chip gave another awesome speech. Then we heard from the ACLU, as well as a rather cool presentation by Julian and Justin, who afterwards started fighting with chairs. Lunch was followed by CAFETY and Youth Venture, and at last was Alex’s reading of the annual report. It was strange when he suddenly looked over at me at one point and whispered “NO!” and I just shrugged all like “what?” and he was again like “NO!” Odd. Wonder what that was about. Anyway, another point of win, the top search phrase for NYRA in the month of June, resulting from a SnipeMe prank, was “Alex sucks cock NYRA”. It’s true! It’s right there in the annual report! Soon after, we all made our way back to Alex’s house for the barbecue. And then he announced the winners of the NYRA board election. Upon reading the first three names (Justin, Jason, and Eric), we realized we’d lost an incumbent. It was Jessica, sitting there right with us. What a pity! But then we had NYRA cake and gathered for a picture around it. Best picture ever. Then plenty of people (coughPamcough) got drunk, and others played in the Super Smash Bros tournament we had. We also all got paper plate awards (I’m hardest working moderator!) and then had a NYRA trivia game (I knew all the answers!). It was so sad the day had to end. But at least we still had the next day! At one point, Alex turned to me and said “so what do you think, Katrina? best annual meeting ever!” and I agreed.

Day 72, after very little sleep once again, I decided against taking metro and drove into DC and parked on the street outside the office, hoping it was okay to park where I was. I got there before the rest and waited since I couldn’t get in. The two members from Boca Raton got there, as well as Oren (who’d had a hell of a time getting there!), and they waited with me until someone was coming out of the building and we went in behind him. Then we found our meeting room was locked! But the others arrived only a couple minutes later, and we got in. And the second day began! Chip gave an awesome presentation, and then Mobilize did, then lunch, then it was time for Charles Thomas and his non-coercive parenting talk. Before that one, Sara came to the meeting. She mentioned to me that Alex had specifically asked her to come to the parenting talk. Finding that strange, I then said “heh, what’s he implying?” and she was like “hopefully nothing!” Sigh. Alex, you idiot. So the parenting talk was kind of cool, though seemed all theoretical with little evidence. At last, Yonaton gave his talk on dealing with the media. Then, as we were sad to hear, Alex declared the annual meeting over. But many of us went back to his house anyway. Justin was driving his van and I was following behind him (very proud to see my own youth rights bumper stickers right in front of me the whole time!). Bastard kept running yellow lights when I was trying to follow, causing me to run red lights! Third time it happened, I just stayed behind. Screw them. But by the time it was green again, I could still see them and no one had gotten between us, so wasn’t that hard catching up. We got back to Alex’s house and tried to play Spiderman Monopoly like we did last year, but lost interest in the game a little while into it. Soon the only ones left were me, Justin, Julian, and Jessica, while Alex was hovering around though mostly ignoring us. Julian then informed me I was banned from the forums since he’d gotten into Alex’s account, haha. Around midnight or so, I finally said goodbye and left. So sad it was, that the greatest annual meeting ever had come to a close.

Day 74, made up for some frustration from last year. I headed to Baltimore to go to a concert at the Pier Six Pavilion at the inner harbor. This time I didn’t get there horribly late, though parking was expensive as hell. Bought my ticket and went on in. Blues Traveler was on. And after that came Collective Soul! I made it this time! Epic win!!! After that was Live. I’ve seen all three of them before. Good show.

Day 88, in a NYRA chat, I learned from Galen and Stefan that some woman had demanded us to remove her son’s name from our under-21 war casualty list. For some reason, Stefan complied. Appalled that our organization just allowed itself to be bullied, I expressed my outrage to the board.

Day 89, my outrage was met only with dismissal from Alex and Stefan, while other board members suggested just putting the son’s initials on the list. I tried again to explain we should not have done anything, as cowering to the woman’s empty threats cost us our dignity. This second message never got any replies. The rest of the day, I pondered what to do about this, unable to believe I was the only board member who saw a problem with this. Nag the board some more? Get more people involved to express disapproval at this decision? Email the woman myself… That’s it! Light bulb came on above my head. I could email the woman myself!

Day 90, was the day of the first board meeting. I reconsidered the email idea, thinking it was probably over the line. Then again, was I really doing anything wrong technically? That afternoon I typed up the email and saved it, just in case I decided to do it. First I’d see how the meeting went. So that evening was the meeting and we did our usual reports and officer elections, in which I was picked to continue on as secretary. Then came the imminent bitchfest over the list. And that’s what it was. Fifteen people talking at once, nobody listening to anyone. I stated my case and got told I was being hysterical and insulting. A motion was made to put the name back on the list as his initials, which took a while for everyone to vote on due to all the cacophony. I asked about this, since we don’t tend to wait around as much as we were for everyone to show up again and vote, to which I was flatly told that it was to keep me from “whining” that we didn’t wait for everyone. Gee wiz, am I supposed to feel all flattered now? Well, that did it anyway. I amended the email a bit so it was truthful to what we decided, stating that I was sorry for her loss and all but we reversed our decision to remove the name and that it would be put back up as initials. Really it was very nice and all. Nothing wrong with it, nothing dishonest. So I sent it to her, CC’ing the board. Then I sat back and watched. The aftermath was almost immediate. Pam called. Justin laughed. Later Chip called, begging me to send a follow up email to quell any bad feelings the first might have caused.

Day 91, I was quite satisfied with the situation now. I’d made my point. The board email list was eerily quiet about it. Good.

Day 92, because I felt like being an ornery bitch, I posted about the soldier whose name was removed on here.

Day 93, felt like being an ornery bitch again, so I posted about Alex and Stefan being cowards in the paid members forum on NYRA. Deciding that was enough trolling, I went to my friend’s game day. That evening, while still at my friend’s house, I got a call from Pam, saying we needed to talk. Wasn’t free to talk at the moment, so said I’d call her back. Short while later, I went on home and tried to call her back but phone wasn’t working right. Anyway, went to the forums to see what was new. How about that now! I was banned! I LOL’d. Whatever, so I went over to SnipeMe and announced my ban there, where I was arguing with Chip about the situation some. I also got an email from Jason, who had banned me, saying I was banned until the board had a special meeting to decide what to do about me. Oh, the plot thickens! Jason IM’d me later, furious at me, only to become more furious when I was unapologetic.

Day 94, I was unbanned from the forums, after the ban elicited a backlash over the justification for it, but I didn’t feel like going back yet. That evening, Stefan talked to me. Now of all the board members, he was the one who had most reason to be offended as he was the one most undermined in this. Nonetheless, he was reasonable, and I explained my case.

Day 95, I was informed the special meeting would be the following Thursday, just one week after the last meeting. I returned to the NYRA forums to see my trollish post had turned into a three-page shitfest. I replied with a mere popcorn smilie.

Day 96, it seemed like I was getting a cold. Yup, I was definitely getting a cold. Lame.

Day 97, went to work even though obvious cold was obvious. Sat there at my desk with my used tissues and Tylenol Cold. That evening was the fateful special meeting (during which I was totally high on Tylenol Cold, lulz). The meeting began when Alex and Stefan sprung on us that they, 2/3 of the executive committee, had overturned the board’s resolution to put the soldier’s initials back on the list, for fear of an awkward correspondance with the mother after my email, a move that angered Chip, the other 1/3 of the exec committee. So the situation with me was briefly gone over, and I gave a truthful testament to my side of things. Yonaton said if I only got a “slap on the wrist”, he would resign. Then they went into a closed session to talk amongst themselves, while I sat here twiddling my thumbs. After a while, I was back in the chat, as it was time to vote on many motions. Eep! First, they moved to suspend access to my email account. I abstained, everyone else passed it. Blah. Okay. Next, they moved to remove me from the board. Uh oh! Jason and Yonaton voted aye right away, Alex and I abstained, and the rest nayed. Motion fails. Whew! Then they moved to remove me as secretary. Aye from Jason, Yonaton, Alex, and Stefan. Nay from Keith, Justin, and Chip. I abstained. Thought it was a 2/3 vote, in which case the motion would have failed. Nope. It passed. I screwed myself by abstaining, hahaha. Oh, well. Then Yonaton left the chat, and later he announced his resignation from the board. Sigh. Other that that, things seemed peaceful again. Barely an hour after the meeting, Jason, who had voted against me on everything and spent much of the meeting going on and on about how horrible I am, was talking to me about awesome opportunities coming up for the organization, a friendly productive chat like nothing had happened. I love NYRA!

Day 99, with the board still charged from all this activity and needing to fill a vacant board spot as well as two officer positions, everyone was getting excited about our prospects. With the huge media attention being given to the drinking age and our organization having just overcome an internal obstacle, spirits were up. I’d say that might be well worth sacrificing my email and my officer position. I went out for some Mexican food that evening, as my cold was pretty much gone and could eat something substantial again.

And, finally…

Day 100. Actually, not a whole lot happened. Hearing the sounds of one of my housemates packing up since she’s about to move out. In the evening, I went to go pick up my sister from work at our favorite sushi restaurant, and after dropping her off and coming back here, I’m reminiscing about these 100 Days and enjoying my sushi.

As these 100 Days of Summer draw to a close, in a year that has proven to not hold anything back, a year that has shown that just about anything imaginable could happen, I see four questionable months ahead. What will become of NYRA? Who will take my departing housemate’s place? Will my family kill each other? What crazy scheme will I think of next? What old friends might I reconnect with? What yummy delicious meal will I cook next? What will become of this crazy ass election? Only time will tell.

So farewell to these 100 Days of Summer, having now gone eight of them at the end of this eighth month in the eighth summer of the new millennium. Might be another eight in there. Oh, and this is the 300th entry of Sure, Why Not?. Yay! Shall return on May 24, 2009 for the ninth round, whatever form the world shall be in then!

This has been Day 100 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 8.

Good ride up I-95. Got to around Baltimore, following my Google Maps directions. At first thought I was going the wrong way since I’ve been by Baltimore zillions of times but the road seemed different. Well, I was still on course anyway, just got caught in a small backup. Went under Fort McHenry tunnel and paid a toll. Five dollars! Grrr.

Drove and drove, almost an hour from home at this point, and soon crossed the Susquehanna River. Sweet. Almost to Delaware! Into Cecil County for a short while, and at last crossed into the First State. Took the first exit into Newark, DE. There was something I just had to see.

I pulled into Corporate Boulevard, and a short way in, there it was! The Delmar Thermo Fisher Scientific distribution center! You see, at work, my main job is ordering lab supplies, and most supplies come from the gigantic distributor of lab stuff known as Fisher. After nearly two years at this job and seeing so many orders shipped to us from the local warehouse in Newark, DE, I just had to see this place! Basically, a couple of enormous buildings. I just took a couple pictures to show my coworkers later, but I wonder what kind of strange looks I’d have gotten if I had gone inside all excited about seeing the place and asked for a tour or something. Hehe. *imagines Willy Wonka-esque adventure* Everlasting cell culture flask, ZOMG!

Er, Corning makes those actually, Fisher just sells them. Meh.

So I got back onto 95 and continued on my way, and it was about 12:30pm at this point. Went to I-295 and crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge into New Jersey. Turnpike! Got the gay little ticket. Then pretty much rocketed north at like 85 mph, hahaha. Worried about a NJ state trooper stopping me or something, but I was slow compared to everyone else. Sweet.

Oh, have I mentioned I hate trucks? So many of them and they’re so big and scary to drive near. They block your view of important signs. They drive along all like “hey, look at me, I’m a truck, I’m like big and stuff and bearing signs saying America would stop without me, I’m so cool!” Fail.

Reached Exit 13 after lots of zooming along, then got stuck in a little backup getting onto the Goethals Bridge (how the HELL is that pronounced?!). Paid expensive toll and got onto bridge and onto Staten Island and into New York City!

Although, Staten Island looks more like “New Jersey Continued” than NYC, but whatever.

Sped along that to the Verrazano Bridge, playing Collective Soul’s “The World I Know” on a loop from my CD player, and then got into Brooklyn and caught in a little construction backup on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Exit 24 came finally, I drove down some streets according to my printed directions, and at last I reached the place I visited six months ago, the home of Jason, Ana, Rob, and Pam.

Parked on a nearby street, went up to their place, and Alex arrived like a minute later (I totally bragged that I got there first, me > Alex). Watched semi-creepy Obama video and then a demonstration of 20th century wars featuring food, and then we headed out and went to Manhattan.

Went into the Whole Foods on Bowery and claimed ourselves a table and a lot of cubes to hold the meeting. For me, it kind of sucked because I had a really bad “headache” so I just wasn’t with it. Worried me since I hated to be so out of commission for the NYRA meeting! Finally, I was given an aspirin so kindly, so things became fine again slowly, heh.

And I felt stupid since everyone else was wearing a black or otherwise dark shirt while I was wearing my stupid little light blue sweater thingy, heh.

Met a few new people, like Ben and Oren, and saw some I’d seen before. We sat there for like three hours debating and chatting and eating fries. Awesome. Totally worth the long drive and taking off work.

After that, Jason, Ana, Rob, Pam, Alex, and I all walked around in the cold until we reached a Turkish restaurant where Rob works, and we ate some Turkish food. Mmmm. Sitting with five awesome NYRA people in NYC and eating Mediterranean food. I’m still puzzled as to why I wasn’t like leaping for joy!

Food was lots of stuff I’ve had before, or at least had similar versions of before. Lamb was amazing!

Got done with dinner around 11pm and returned to their place near midnight. Crap! I still had to drive home! Oy. I already knew I was going to get home late, but shit! No matter. I didn’t mind because the time was very enjoyable.

The others were playing the new Smash Bros. game on the Wii went I decided it was time to go, around 12:15am, and I hated to leave! Wanted to stay and have fun! Oh, well.

Went back out to my car, carefully got out of the parallel parking spot, and went to a nearby gas station for some gas to get me all the way home. Following the Google Map instructions again, worked my way out of Brooklyn slowly.

Misunderstood one direction which took me from some circle onto Ocean Parkway, when I was supposed to take Fort Hamilton. Okay, ended up having to turn around and go back around the circle and get on Fort Hamilton that time. Ate up some time, but whatever. Now, going down Fort Hamilton, needed like 78th street. What was I on? Like 36th or something. Sigh.

Finally got to the end of that and up to the Verrazano Bridge and onto the Staten Island Expressway. Yay! Moving along! Might get home before 4am! Got through Staten Island and across the Goethals Bridge and went to get another gay little ticket for the New Jersey Turnpike. And here’s where everything went horribly wrong!

Past the ticket plaza, there were two signs ahead of me, one for I-95 North and one for I-95 South. I couldn’t see much beyond the signs. Very dark. Well, the South sign was toward the right so I moved toward the right. As I drove by, I noticed an exit I was passing on my right which I didn’t see at all until I was already by it. Uh oh.

I got off the ramp onto I-95. That was Exit 13 so next, if I’m going south, should be Exit 12. Went a few miles before I saw another sign for the next exit.

Exit 14! Aw, crap! I’m going the wrong way! So I got off there so I could find some way to turn around. I was at Newark Airport. I got to the toll plaza where I had to turn in the ticket I just got and pay the toll, which was only like a dollar since it was one exit from where I got it, heh. I asked the woman in the booth how I get back to I-95 South. She pointed me to a sign ahead for South 1 9 or something, and to follow that until I got to another ticket plaza to get back onto I-95, and to take the exit for South. Okay, simple enough.

I followed the 1 9 South thing for a little bit until a fork in the dark road, neither way really indicating which continues 1 9 or gets to I-95. Well, whichever one it was, I took the other one.

Not sure WHERE the hell I was now! Looked like I was heading toward a town. Elizabeth perhaps? Meh, who knows. On the road there, I turned around and went back the way I came, whichever way that was.

I ended up going into Newark Airport. Okay, fine, I’ll drive through its roads and find the exit from there, which should surely point me back to I-95. After a lot of driving through little airport roads, it did. Sort of. A sign pointed to 95, so I went. Soon I was to another ticket plaza. Great! Now let’s try this again! Can’t even describe the frustration I was feeling. Tired and frazzled and almost in tears, and this all had taken like half hour to 45 minutes!

Got my gay little turnpike ticket, and ahead me like before were two signs for I-95. I wasn’t sure if this was the same ticket plaza as before or not. In retrospect, probably not, but it was almost 2am so everything looked the same. The two signs for I-95 in front of me? Each pointed a different direction, but with NO indication of which was for North and which was for South! Oy.

So I assumed it would be the one on the right, so I stayed to the right, watching for any exits hidden in the dark. There was one… it was closed! WTF?! So now I was following some ramp that was probably about to lead me in circles. I was so ready to stab someone in the face!

I was back on I-95 but couldn’t tell which way I was going. That late everything looks the same so couldn’t tell if it looked like earlier when I got on North by mistake to begin with. After a while, some signs for the next exit appeared.

Exit 12.

YES! I’m on I-95! Oh, thank you, God! I’m going the right way finally!

Crap, might not get home until like 5am. Going to be SO tired at work!

Forget work. I was tired now! Stupid NJ turnpike looks so austere at night, so monotonous. Just me and a lot of stupid trucks driving at like 85mph at 2:30am. In retrospect, kind of cool, but at the time was too frazzled to appreciate it. Too bad I was getting increasingly worried I’d fall asleep at the wheel! Just tried to interest myself in what I was seeing around me to keep myself alert.

At last, reached the end of the turnpike and time to pay the toll. Wow, tolls rule! The act of gathering the money and paying it is a breaking the monotony of driving on endless dark road and woke me up a bit. So the concern of whether I’d make it home without having to pull off or anything subsided. Was back in Delaware! Soon was back in Maryland!

The rest of the way was pretty uneventful. Lots of dodging around big trucks and late night construction work. Passed Baltimore and through the Fort McHenry tunnel okay, and on to the Capital Beltway. Except I was starting to get drowsy again, and it was about 4:30am at this point. Ugh.

Almost there. Capital Beltway. I-270. Win!

Pulled up to my house, left everything in the car, went in, petted my very excited dog, and went upstairs and straight into bed. It was 4:45am.

That was early this morning, and I woke up for work like three hours later. I am SO tired. Hehehe.