Study break

Aussie word of the day: bird = nickname for a girl/ chick. "My boyfriend watched a movie with a bloke and some bird the other night."

I've just spent the last two and a half days with my ass glued to my desk chair, staring intently at my computer screen as I typed away on an essay about a communication theorist (who isn't really one if you ask me). The essay was actually due last week - oops! Last Friday was my friend Debbie's birthday party and one of the girls at the party is in the same class with me. When the girl asked me if I turned the essay in the response went something like this: "What essay?" Then "Shit! Was that due today!?!?" Yeah! Big uh-oh, so typical of me. I wish I was better organized. Only 5 more weeks.. that's right, 5.. then I don't have to worry about this crap anymore. So after I hit the send button on my student email account today that officially submitted this quasi-masterpiece to my lecturer, I hit up the video store for some oldie but goodie movies and a bag of 'mixed' M&M's (my fave) to get me through this rainy weekend. On my ecclectic list of movies to watch are The Flamingo Kid, Thelma & Louise, Capote, Blow, and Shattered Glass - a recommendation by a fellow journalism student, it is a movie about... wait for it... journalism. I know you're just thrilled, but it can't be all fun and games. I still have to act like I'm studying, even if it's only watching a movie about the subject I am studying.

The Flamingo Kid is an 80's flick staring a very young and very hot Matt Dillon. The movie takes place at a swanky beach club on Long Island in the summer of '63 where Dillon works as a cabana boy - can't get any hotter than that! But wait, all those songs from the 60's that they played in the movie made me a little nostalgic of my younger years when my parents and I would listen to the same oldies tunes on the car radio. It took me back to a time when I was in pigtails, wearing Strawberry Shortcake t-shirts and thick gum-soled shoes - mom claims they were the height of fashion. I wasn't a child of the 60's, but they were probably some of the most volatile years in American history and of which probably carry a few important memories for my parents inlcuding their marriage in 1967. Whatever sentimental importance the 60's held for my parents they certainly imposed on us kids by exposing us to the music of 'their day'. I know most of you are not as far from home as I am, but does it ever make you want to go running home to mom and dads place when you hear an old familiar song on a movie, TV or radio?

Other things that are making me a little homesick right now are more of my friends are getting married. Besides the wedding I was in this past July, my cousin and three other friends have or are tying the matrimonial knot. In about six weeks one of my best friends from college is marrying a guy I introduced her to (on my birthday) and Gina and her husband, whose wedding I was in in July just bought their first house together *squeal*! Soon they might be giving a housewarming party and then at Christmas a sweater party - so fun! and I will miss all of these things. If I was there, I wouldn't miss them for the world.

Life moves quickly, but seems to stand still at the same time. These are big developments and changes in our lives, but once they happen things slow down and when you visit with your friends or talk on the phone, it seems like nothing has changed at all. Maybe there's a few extra little people crawling around at their feet or your friend is suddenly starting to sport a baby bump. Maybe it's a marriage, a new house, job, or a move across the ocean that changes us, changes our lives. Despite the changes and the distance that comes between you and your friends and family both physically and emotionally, the ties are probably the strongest that they'll ever be. The ability to stay in touch and maintain your relationships throughout life's major changes is the truest test of the strength in those bonds.