Hallo! Hmm... Where do I even start? Alissa told you all about our trip to New Hope and Peddler's Village, unless you don't read Aliss'a blog, in which case, I went shopping over the weekend in two fun, cute towns full of expensive, beautiful things that I will not be able to afford, at least for a long time, and not while I am working five jobs that pay varing amounts in unsteady internvals. Sigh.... But Alissa feels confident that she can make many things we saw, as she is a very talented crafty lady. Imaginary Store here we come. :)

I also did an assignment for one of the places where I work- the big place where I really really want to work someday- (sorry for the vagueness, but it occurred to me that a search of my name and the name of that news organization will cause this site to pop up (which leads me to ask, actually, Gwen, if/when I get on leafygreen.org, can we have that stop happening? :) Anyway, the assignment was to photograph a big donation sale in Strasburg, PA. It was a really fun, visually appealing assignment, and I was excited to do it. Except... the whole point of having these donation sales is that many, many, many Amish people come there to sell quilts, farm equipment and other assorted things like rusty milk cans, etc., and therefore rich antique collectors and shabby chic designers come from all over the country to buy quilts and stuff. The paper that requested this story wants to do a travel piece on Lancaster County, the Amish, etc. Which means they wanted a lot of pictures of the Amish.

Sigh.... The Amish religion forbids the taking of photographs. I grew up here knowing this. I know how disrespectful it is, and how much the Amish hate tourists exploiting them. But.... I did it anyway. I did it for hours. I am not proud of that. The pictures came out very well. I think i am going to put some in my portfolio, which means i will continue to profit from the exploitation. I am selling out; I am selling out. Blarg.

Anyway, I substitute taught for the first time yesterday. I taught elementary art. It was cool. I had an awesome third grade class. The first graders were a little zooey at the end of the day, but I survived. It was fine. Kids are so funny- and I don't entirely mean ha ha funny. I sort of forgot how their minds work differently and process things differently. It's tough to be a kid.

But today.... oh goddess, I sometimes can't believe this is my life.... TODAY I taught photography at my old high school. Yup. It was okay. It really was. I was very worried about it, about running into old teachers and who i would eat lunch with in the faculty dining room. I ate with Mrs. Wetzel. She's wonderful, so it was okay. For all of you out there who went to school with me- they have a "D" lunch now. What's up with that??

But it was fine. I took in some samples of my work and stuff and talked to them about how I shot it and how they can use the same techniques. I talked to them about covering tense and painful situations and the first ammendment and the zone system (darkroom printing theory/technique). I sat on top of the desk and I was really loud. You know sometimes I shout, "I LIKE TO SHOUT!!"? (Thanks, Jo!) Yeah. I did that today. I was trying to shout over them to get their attention, and then I just yelled "I LIKE TO SHOUT." :) It got their attention. They responded well to me, which was good.

And tonight, I am shooting a basketball game for the paper in York and it's a semifinal game which means that game is held at neither of the opposing schools since they don't want anyone to have home court advantage, right? And guess what? The game is at... my old high school... yeah... which means I have to go back. Like, in two hours. :)

Goin' to eat dinner now.

Hey, everyone, Craig has his own blog now! :)

And here are some more big words for you, Craigberto- efficacious, superfluous, serendipitious, neopilification. :) Just kidding, bebe. It's good to know you're out there.

So, what fun and exciting things can I tell all of you out there in Cyberland today?

First of all, I am getting tired of the Olympics, I gotta say. I miss my TV lineup. No Friends, no Scrubs (excellent, hilarious, pee your pants laughing kind of show, by the way, if you have not yet discovered the fun), no West Wing, no Will and Grace, no ER. How sad is my life here in Beautiful Lancaster County that I get sad when my favorite TV shows aren't on? It's moments like these that Grad School (for what, though? Women's Studies? Spanish Ed? Photo/Web Design/Graphics?) starts to seem like a good idea.

Seriously, though, if I have to see those Smiling Canadian Skaters for one more nightly broadcast, I think I am going to scream and chuck something at the screen. On the other hand, I am sort of excited for the Ladies' Long Program Figure Skating tomorrow night. I feel like I am sort of friends with Michelle Kwan now. I know NBC wants me to feel that way. I am so easily manipulated by their scholtky five minute biographical packages right before they skate. Sigh...

In other news, Nanny is at long last out of the hospital. She has moved temporarily to a convalescence home, which is good, because she needs round the clock care from professionals, even though she is on the road to recovery. She has been somewhat discouraged by her frustrating stay in the hospital, and she was very unenthusiastic about doing physical therapy. I think she will work harder if she has the goal of getting home. However, she has to wear sweatpants and sneakers to therapy, which is a shock for her. Seriously, in all of her 84 years, she has never, ever, not a single day in her life, worn anything but dresses, pantyhose and dress shoes. I can't even imagine. So my mom and I have had fun shopping for her and taking different outfits to try on. So that's good news.

What else can I tell you so that some people :) who have access to the Internet all day long have something to do? Oh yes. Well, I have UNOFFICIALLY heard (it won't be official until I get The Letter) that I am going to be assigned for my internship to the bureau in ........ (drumroll, please).... Miami, Florida! Yup. Miami. Ya'll can sing me the "Benvenido a Miami" song. Lots of people have already. :) I am psyched, though. I'll have the opportunity to work with some really amazing Pulitizer Prize winning photographers (the Elian-Gonzalez-Being-Taken-Out-Of-The-Closet-At-Gunpoint guy, for one), and it's very busy bureau with lots of national news happening. Plus, finding a picture story really shouldn't be all that hard- I have tons of ideas that I am beginning to research. And I really, really, really, REALLY hope that this experience opens doors for me because if I have to come back here next fall, I think I am going to die.

Nah. I won't die. Especially if Kelly and Jason are both here, and we can all walk our dogs together and be like Scary Adults. :)

And this will really solidify my Spanish. I am practicing. I am reading the first Harry Potter book in Spanish. It's pretty funny, actually. For you fans out there, Nearly Headless Nick is Nick Casi Decapitado, the Sorting Hat is Sombrero Seleccionador and the Fat Lady is Dama Gorda. I am actually picking up all kinds of details (to add to my already obsessive knowledge of Harry Potter Trivia) and clues about Harry's past, etc. because I am having to literally translate and think about each word. But I am having fun. :)

Well, I should go do some research for a picture story that I want to do in PA before I leave this spring, and you guys should go back to work. Have a bee-yoo-tif-ul day!

Hmmmm... Just got back from a Very Fun Weekend in New York. Stephen and I had a ball. I forget how extremely funny he is until I see him in person again. I love that we can spend an hour in a giant Toys R Us, (which by the way, held a parade to honor its grand opening, and Erika was hired to play Miss Spider in the parade which necessitated her wearing a giant spider costume, which I think I will regret not seeing until my dying day) play on the see-saw in Central Park, take in truly amazing theater (thanks to all who suggested Proof- it was really, really great-- I didn't want it to end! :), wander around the city aimlessly, go see a fabulous Artemisia and Orazio Gentilleschi exhibit and have an insightful conversation about it in which we both learn things, and have a good sense of humor about the fact that we are staying at the HoJo Express and have to wait in line (for a good five minutes) to check in behind a woman who is arguing with the desk clerk about wanting to rent a room by the hour. Hello, lady...What do YOU do for a living?

We also saw a really... er... interesting surrealism exhibit at the Met. There was one painting titled Bread by Magritte that quite literally looked like a pickle with a condom on it. Is it a loaf of bread? Is it a penis? Is it a pickle with a condom on it? Although, as Stephen put it, "Why choose?"

And we hung out with Luke, my fabulously talented friend from college also known as Best Boy Photo Friend, who appreciates the value of spending thousands of dollars on camera gear, and stopping whatever you're doing to take a black and white cityscape picture of Stephen in a trench coat walking through a flock of pigeons at a slow shutter speed. :) It was great to see him. There's something very comforting and poignant about not realizing how much you missed someone until you are with them again.

Well, I am all alone out here in our blogger community- well it's me and Alissa :)- as no one else has seen fit to write anything since like the 5th of February. Not that my life is terribly interesting. I took a wonderful three-hour nap today. I will miss the ability to set my own Nap Schedule when I am no longer self-employed.

I bought new stationery and stamps, so many of you can expect fun letters soon. :) I went grocery-shopping and cooked a very healthy dinner (Jillian, if you are out there- I made couscous and chicken stir-fry and it made me think of you :) I watched the Olympics while talking to Gwen. I love watching TV with her while on the phone. We started doing that way back in like, '92, and mostly we make inane comments about a figure skater's eyes being too close together, for example.

Which reminds me, Gwen, we need to watch the Real World together. This new cast is completely annoying. They are all totally buff, but they had to take a swimming test to be lifeguards (just MTV's excuse to show them half-naked more frequently, I think), and first of all, none of the girls owned a suit that wasn't a bikini and second of all, they were all exhausted after swimming like, one length of the pool. I don't understand that. They are all- ALL- so very, very muscular and in shape. What's up with that? I am sort of embarrassed to admit that I watch it. Living in a town with nothing to do and no friends around and no money leads to a lot of TV watching and long distance phone calling.

Hmmm.... Bedtime for Bonzo

Just returned from Fabulous Bonding Weekend with Best College Friend Jo. :) We had a ball.

We went shopping for three hours in Mondo DC Mall for three-inch heels (She needs them for work, actually. She is starting rehearsals for a new show tomorrow, a Greek tragedy in which she is inthe chorus playing a daughter of Ocean- hmmm...- and they all have to be peroxide blondes and wear three-inch heels) and in the third hour, (after going into many stores and being alternately ignored or reprimanded by various store personnel) I threw myself across a padded shoe store bench and vowed I could no longer go on. Happily, this action was followed quickly by the discovery of the Perfect Shoes for Jo. Really, they are "smashing" (in the spirit of the shoes belonging to High School '97 Friend Becky who, upon meeting Dame Judi Dench in London, was told (by Judi) that she was wearing "Smashing Shoes, Darling!"). Spurred on by the joy of the new shoes, Jo and I downed a McDonald's parfait (really, they're yummy!) and a box of fries and shopped some more.

And of course, no trip to Fairfax, VA., would be complete for me without a trip to Blockbuster and Giant for a movie and gummy worms. We made mosaics and watched Drop Dead Gorgeous (hilarious movie- offensive, but totally hilarious) and drank a little wine and basically tried to pack a semester's amount of fun into two days. And we did well! We ended up knitting and watched the best two tapes of Pride and Prejudice (#4 and #5- it was like 19th Century House for us- 19th Century house is England's version of Reality TV: a family elected to live for 6 months or something as if they were in the 19th century; clothing, food, rags for sanitary pads, big front wheel bicycles yadda yadda yadda) and amused each other by alternately making ridiculous faces and rude noises and saying Jane Austen-y things like "Insufferable Presumption!" and "MIS-ter Darcy!" (MMMMMMMmmmmm....) to one another.

We also went to the Newseum in Arlington, which I loved. They have a big sphere composed of triangles, and each leg of the triangle has the name of a newspaper written on it. It was a real kick, actually, pointing out the names of all the papers that have rejected me since I began hunting for photo internships in 1999. :) They also have a very powerful September 11th exhibit and a great Women Photographers exhibit (But they are closing for three years starting in this coming March 3rd, so go! All of You! Go now!) which is why I wanted to go there in the first place.

AND THEN- we discovered the joy of Chipotle. It was this awesome Mexican cafeteria-style food place that had incredible food. (Hey, Succulent Friend of Mine who works next door to this restaurant, have you discovered this place yet? :) Go there for lunch today!) It was soooo good. Are there other Chipotle restaurants in DC? Or elsewhere? Does everyone else already know about this?

And also, I remembered just how wonderful, supportive and purely KIND Jo is. Every now and then, I take her kindness- well, definitely not for granted, but I file it away in the place in your mind where you keep treasured knowledge about Old Friends- and then I spend some uninterrupted time with her, and I am astounded again by her sheer, uncritical, unwavering kindness. (Thanks, bebe!:))

And, especially in light of all the shopping, I came to the very sort of sad ("sell your dreams for stock and cut your hair" moment- thank you, Dar) that I am no longer a Marxist. One can simply not be a Marxist and be excited about getting new curtains at the J.C. Penney Home Sale. I am growing up, I think.

ARRRRG. I just played ten games of Furious Freecell- playing Freecell while angry about things that violate one's bullshit-free zone, including, not limited to, traffic laws and doctors who tell you NOTHING- NOTHING- about test results or future surgeries or the health of a beloved woman who has done nothing but devote her life to loving her family. Yeah. I am frustrated and angry.

WHAT IS MY LIFE? WHAT. IS. MY. LIFE?

How do I even begin to describe my day? HOW?

As a little teaser, I will tell you up front that this story ends with my having to go to Traffic School. Or at least take a special test or something.

Anyway, I guess I will start by telling you that I booked a hotel for Romantic Valentine's Day Weekend... As a part of the Grand Starving Artist Package, Stephen and I are staying at the Howard Johnson Express on 34th Street. I know. It's sad. I am spending Valentine's Day at the Manhattan HoJo.

I hate Valentine's Day. I do. It makes everyone greedy and competitive and/or unhappy and lonely. I hate that. Even though this is going to be my fourth Valentine's Day with SuperBoyfriend, I have ended up either being forced to work in a fast food restaurant by a guy named Lloyd, practically putting a tourniquet on aforementioned Boyfriend, getting into a fight with people I really love (although not Boyfriend), or nearly having a nervous breakdown in the Olive Garden and having to chug 2 Ativan with a glass of wine before leaving in a sluggish synergistic haze of tears and alfredo sauce.

That was meant to be funny. You laugh now.

Anyway, then I went to Wal-Mart with my Grandma (not Nanny, she is still in hospital- it's fun to say it the British way- Hi Jo!) to buy old lady things like wreath rings, hemming measure-thingys (don't ask), insoles, ear wax remover kits (ew. ew. ew.) and potatoes because "Angie, they have the most beautiful potatoes at Wal-Mart." Hey, if you say so. So I gotta say that just being in Wal-mart in Hanover, Pa, (Population: 320. Percentage of Population involved in local chapter of KKK: 65%) is a cultural experience unto itself. Sigh... And Grandma gets her hair cut there by a really Interesting Person named Antonella, at least since the lady next door who styled it once a week since 1948 officially went blind last year. Right. So we get to Wal-Mart at 1:15. Antonella doesn't get there until 2. No problem. We sign up for her 2:00 spot and begin to shop.

At precisely 1:55 Grandma finishes her shopping, but she doesn't have time to check out, so I keep the cart, throwing in a few things that we need, including a Dr. Pepper. Then, I check out, explaining to the Very Bored Wal-Mart Cashier that half of these things are my grandmother's, and I only want to pay for my items at this time, and is it okay if I push the cart through with the remaining unpaid items to sit at the bench near the Wal-Mart Family Hair Salon to wait for her? Yup, he definitely doesn't care. So I sit, and wait, and knit, (I am really into this knitting thing, can you tell?) and make phone calls using my cell phone and ear bud (Thank you, Heather!). I schedule a dentist appointment, try to get in touch with Wetzel (a friend from high school to whom I haven't spoken in a few months) and place an order for a dozen Famous Hot Weiners with Everything from the Famous Hot Weiner Shop (My mom and dad LOVE these really gnarly chili and onion hot dogs. They buy a bunch and freeze them. I enjoy them from time to time as well, actually. Shame on me.)

And then I REALIZE that I look like the Scary Wal-Mart Lady, sitting on a bench with half of her items in bags, half not, knitting, drinking Dr. Pepper and (since cell phones are still unheard of in Hanover; let alone those newfangled ear buds) talking to herself. Wal-Mart employees take turns approaching me- Are you okay, ma'am? Did you want to pay for those things, ma'am? Is someone meeting you? Then I realize how funny this is and start to laugh. AND THEN- I spill my Dr. Pepper EVERYWHERE.... Seriously,this is Classic Angie. This is at least as good as the "GOOGLY GOOGLY" Squirrel Story (best saved for another time, I think). Sigh....

Then I take my Grandma home, deal with the eccentricities of my extended family (best explored in a different forum), and get on the road. I am driving down the back country roads when I get pulled over for speeding. I wasn't really going that fast, actually, but it's my third ticket in 8 months (although the police officer let me off without any points for the first one). I have accumulated 8 points. I suck. I have to take a special test. Has anyone out there in CyberLand had to take this test? Is it hard?

Hence, this begs the opening question- WHAT IS MY LIFE?

By the way, donations to the "Angie Has to Pay Traffic Fines and Is Already So Poor She Has To Spend Valentine's Day at the HoJo Express" Fund will be gratefully accepted.

Just kidding. :)

Bleeeh. Am ridiculous slug with zero energy. I go to the hospital, I come home, I knit, I make long distance phone calls. We got more bad news about Nanny. She has a psuedo anorhysm in her leg. I don;t know what the difference between an actual anorhysm and a pseudo one is. Perhaps the anorhysm is pretending to be a man when it's actually named Nellie Bly? :) That's a psuedonym. Har, har, I am funny.

The only good thing about this new diagnosis is that Nanny got moved to a private room. Which is good, because her old roommate was this very interesting Mennonite woman named Elizabeth who would have- I kid you not- 15 visitors at once, 7 of them children, and they would all stand around the bed and sing about being "washed from the Sin by the blood of the lamb." Huh. And then the kids would get antsy and start peeking under the curtain and stuff. Which is fine, I guess, but there were like 18 other annoying things that I won't bother to recount, like the Mennonite lady's husband opening the window like, a foot and a half in the beginning of February, etc, etc. But she's in her own room now, so that's good.

I really, really want you all to remind me that I had this Lazy Time when I am running around like a mad woman doing my internship this summer. The summer I was in Allentown I worked so hard for such long, ridiculous hours that it was all I could do to drag myself up my three-story walk up and microwave a bowl of Spaghettios before passing out while watching Seinfeld re-runs. I feel like I already wrote about this. Forgive me if I am repeating myself.

Well, I just don;t have much to say. Will write more soon.

Hmmm.... Okay, some bad news. Nanny is back in the hospital. Boo. She had a weird reaction to one of her medications, so they are keeping her in tthe hospital for observation for a few days. On one hand, it doesn't sound too serious, but these problems could be indicative of larger problems, so.... Sigh. I am trying not to worry too much. She is still very, very worried that "her hair looks like hell," which I am taking as a good sign. I am going into the hospital in a little while with some hot rollers to try and do her hair. I am quite sure that it isn't going to look right, because she was a hairdresser for 60 years and she knows how she likes it, but I will do my best.

In other bad news, Susan B. Anthony (my goldfish) was sucked into "the Patriarchy" yesterday. ("The Patriarchy" is the filter; I have begun calling it the patriarchy upon Jo's very funny suggestion.) Unlike Andrea Dworkin, she was not sucked the whole way in. Her little lifeless fish carcass was just plugging up the hole. It was terrifying. Also, with my dad living at Nanny's and/or being at the hospital, I am "in charge" of the house. Mostly meaning that I clean it once a week in exchange for not paying rent, but it sometimes means that I am also in charge of dealing with things that would otherwise be Dad's Job- like dead goldfish. Ew.

I finished my first knitting project. I finished my rainbow scarf. I am very proud of it, thank you very much. Like all things I love, I will probably misplace it in a matter of weeks, but I will try and enjoy it until that happens. Next, I am going to attempt to knit a blanket for Project Linus.

What else did I want to tell you? Oh yes. It's soooo nice to know where I am going to be jobwise in a couple of months. (Still waiting to hear about location, however) I have this online routine. Check email, check friends' websites, check National Press Photographers Assoc job board, check JournalismJobs.com, write in my blog, check hotmail, sign off. Now it's just friends' sites and email and voila! Done! I no longer check the NPPA job board and get depressed about the fact that there are no new listings and/or the only listings are in Fargo, ND. And then I would become all conflicted about whether or not I WANTED to apply for a job in Fargo and I would have this whole debate with myself about whether or not I was too desperate for a job to have standards and/or be choosy, etc. Well, no more! Take that, Fargo!

Last night I had a dream that I was friends with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. We were running around their huge apartment in New York. Brad Pitt started to cry because this guy I sort of knew in college whom everyone called John O. was stalking him and following him around. Then, I told Jennifer Aniston that if she wanted to give me an extra one of her millions of dollars I would not be opposed to that. Hmmm....

Well, must get dressed and go to hospital and have productive day. :)