Paper Project

This year, I’m spending my spring break in the city. That way, I get to continue working and also do some fun stuff: a friend’s birthday brunch, a play, dinner out, etc. But even with those things, I still have a lot of time to kill without any classes, especially because I’m kind of a homebody. Luckily, I love doing projects. Case in point:

I was a little bored the other night. My roommate was out and I decided to construct something to surprise my suitemates.

One of my suitemates, Starr, had a birthday in September and I had made her a sign. It was still up. Time to change that.

 

I took some of the letters off and made some new ones… 

See that box of Chips Ahoy? Just to let you know, it is absolutely imperative that you eat cookies and drink milk whilst you do this project.

 

You must also watch Tyler Perry movies. Yeah, I know. I’m classy.

 

When all of my letters were cut out, I went to the wall in front of our bathroom door and put them up.

Backwards. No, I didn’t make a mistake, and no, I didn’t flip this picture. See, our bathroom door has a mirror on it…

 

My suitemates loved it, and I think it gives everyone a little pick-me-up.

I hope everyone’s having a great spring break!

-K.M.

Busy bee

Lately, I feel like I’ve been working 4 jobs. They are:

1)      Student: obviously the most important.

2)      Student Communications Worker: This is the only one I actually get paid for, unfortunately.

3)      Operations Manager: I’m still a DJ at WMMC Griffin Radio but now I’m also the operations manager. That means I keep track of scheduling, train DJs, handle technical issues as they arise, keep the station orderly, and much, much more.

4)      Carpenter: This semester I’m taking Stagecraft, which is a requirement for all Theatre majors (yes, I got in! Stage management, baby). I know why some people aren’t fond of it, but I love it. As part of the class requirements, I work in the scene shop and help make the scenery for MMC’s productions (the next, Time and the Conways, starts March 9^th- come check it out!).

Somehow they combined my love of tools with my love of organization. 

 

   Working in the scene shop has definitely re-ignited my love for learning. Every second I’m there, I learn how to do something new: use a miter saw, fake a cornice, take out a splinter, etc. I show up at my job covered in sawdust, but it definitely makes me happy.

   My new job at the radio station has also left me in awe of how funny, cool, and creative the students at this school are. Just listening to the station for a couple of hours makes me glad that I took a chance last semester and joined a club I knew next to nothing about. I’m in the process of making the station cozier for my DJs. Any suggestions on how I should decorate the place?

Unfortunately, no one but me likes this idea. Even though screwguns are gorgeous.

 

     Sure, I usually leave the house at 8:30 and don’t get back until about 6-7:30, but I’m almost always enjoying myself, and avoiding boredom. I’m convinced that when I’m bored, my brain must be dying.

Now, it’s about time for me to leave school and embark on my relaxing, but very boring weekend. I hope you have a great one and I’ll update you later.

-K.M.

Moving back in- Excitement! Drama! Nah, not really, just a lot of T.P.

I’m not going to lie: moving back into the dorm is a huge pain in the butt. Fortunately, the first day is the worst, and it only gets better from there. I decided to do a little photo diary of my first day back. (Sorry if the quality of the pictures is kind of low. I had to use my cell phone as my camera was—where else?—packed.)

 

This is the gigantic bag that I brought back with me. If you’ll notice, it’s as high as the seat of the chair. It took me about eight hours to unpack. Not because I had so much to take out (well, that might be part of it) but because I kept getting distracted. There was so much New York food to eat, so many stories to tell to my suitemates.

Also, I was a little freaked out about this sight. I had been staying at my Dad’s house in Westchester County throughout January, but I was not relishing walking to school in the snow. Pro Tip: Buy some boots with traction. My Timberlands have saved my life many a morning.

 

Not my room, but my suitemate’s (I forgot to take a picture of mine while it was wrecked). If you’re a clean person, you’re pretty much going to have to get over that your first day back. Your room is going to be demolished for at least a weekend while you adjust your space.

 

Break is a good time to stock up on essentials. Above is our gigantic stock of paper towels before and below is after. I decided to be a class act and not take a picture of the toilet paper supply, but rest assured, if I were a suburban teenager on Halloween, I would be ready to wreak havoc.

 

Finally, after a long day of unpacking, we braved the cold and headed for MMC fave, the Plaza Diner. If you have a craving for chicken tenders at two in the morning (or any other time) it’s the place to go.

 

I’m a whole week into the semester and I have a lot to talk about (Radio! Stagecraft! Scheduling drama! Reading!) but I’ll leave that until next week.

Until then, enjoy your already unpacked room and eat some chicken at a reasonable hour.

-K.M.

End of the semester's here, shed a tear.

I don’t have any classes today. This is good because I’m practically nodding off at work right now. Luckily, Marymount is pretty sleepy at the moment. Everyone has gone home. When I went shopping for last minute Christmas gifts last night, the excuse my suitemate Starr and I used for everything was, “It’s our last night in the city.” Gigantic plate of fried chicken and fries from Plaza Diner ? Last night in the city. Ice cream? Last night in the city.

Of course, it’s not really. We’re going to be back next month; in fact, since my Dad lives in Westchester county I’ll probably be back within a week or so. It’s different when you’ve been living here though. You get used to the sound of horns and your noisy suitemates. In the suburbs, the silence is deafening and eerie.

I was hoping to continue my job at MMC during the break, but with the cost of Metro-North tickets and subway fare, I couldn’t make it worthwhile. I still have plans for my January break— writing my novel, visiting friends and family in Florida, and researching summer internships come to mind—but I’m raring to come back to MMC. I got into the theatre program for the production and management concentration and I want to start my stagecraft class today. 

(above: me in about six weeks, but with glasses and long hair)

Instead, I’ll have to settle for wandering down to Times Square before tonight and picking up a “Stage Manager” star.

I hope you have a wonderful January. I’ll see you when the spring semester starts.

-K.M.

Time Management

Tick Tock. Tick. Tock. Do you hear that? Of course you don’t. All of your clocks are digital by now. But it’s the sound of your life passing you by. Under the pile of papers due, your stress from your job and extracurriculars, you can sense it.

I’ll admit, that’s me. This post is far too late for me to have any good excuse. Rather, I have several, but they all revolve around: busy, busy, busy.  Since starting at Marymount in August, I’ve been juggling:

·    Writing and editing my submission to the Marymount Manhattan Review

·    My radio show and other related responsibilities (I worked the Senior Soiree with another Griffin Radio DJ)

·    Preparing for my stage management interview. Cross your finger for me!

·    My work-study job in the Office of College Relations and Advancement. I get to write articles for the website and also stuff paper into envelopes. Guess which one I enjoy more.

·    Writing for MMC’s paper, The Monitor. I have a regular humor column called “Random Thoughts.”

·    Family obligations. It’s nice to live closer to family, but then they want you to visit and actually do things with them. Selfish!

·    Domestic stuff. Think showers, laundry, dishes. All of that icky stuff.

·    Oh yeah, and classes.

A big part of why I am so busy has to do with how often I get distracted by trivial things. So today, kiddos, I’m going to give you a short lesson on how to focus in college. 

1)   Ban Facebook. When you have a paper due, Facebook is the bane of your existence. It doesn’t exist. Turn off the notifications that go to your phone and e-mail. Or, better yet…

2)   Turn your phone on silent, or even just off. If you’re the type who has friends texting you every five minutes, it would be especially wise to do this. Every time your phone goes off it takes you out of whatever it is you’re doing (reading, writing a paper, creating a playlist for your radio show) and it’ll take longer to get done.

3)   Don’t multi-task. Especially if you’re multi-tasking a school assignment with a fun thing to do. Multi-tasking actually shortens the amount of time you’re able to focus on one thing. The only things you can do at once are my favorite combination: folding laundry and watching TV.

4)   Take advantage of downtime. Right now, I’m at work. I don’t really have a lot to do today, so instead of reading about the Queens of England on Wikipedia for fun (I wish to God I was kidding about this) I’m doing my blog post, because I know that when I get home I’ll be exhausted and not want to do it. 

Hey, does her necklace remind you of the one Ugly Betty wears?

Do any of my fellow bloggers or readers have some tips? Leave them in the comments and I’ll be sure to add them in.

Much love,

K.M.

First post in 3...2...HONK. You'll get used to cabs interrupting my train of thought.

Hey. I’m Katie or Meade, depending on how many Katies you already know.

Sorry for the spooky webcam picture. My roommate is asleep. I’m a bit nocturnal, so it’s great living in “The City That Never Sleeps” (I can already feel readers leaving. I promise: clichés will be kept to a minimum from now on). For one thing, there’s a 24/7 bagel joint less than 2 blocks away from the dorms. 

 (Basically the reason why I get up in the morning...and at 2 a.m.)

            I could never find good bagels in Florida. I was born on Long Island but moved to Jacksonville, which is famous for a navy base and the Superbowl we hosted a few years ago. In high school— I went to a performing arts school for Creative Writing— one of my teachers gave me the nickname “New York” because I was always going back to visit my Dad and family. 

   (If you'll notice, it's a bit different than my profile picture)

    After I graduated from high school, my mom moved to Texas. So while I miss Florida, it looks like I’ll be here for a while.

            Now that I’m actually living in Manhattan (Midtown East, at the Marymount dorms), I can honestly say that I know next to nothing. But that’s great. I love to learn. I’m an English major (so fair warning: I will totally correct the grammar in your comments) and am trying to get into the Theatre department on the stage management track. 

            But majors don’t tell you too much. If you read this, expect to hear a lot about organizing (The Container Store is my weakness and now there’s one four blocks away!), flea markets, music (I’m the host of “Punk Rock Happy Hour” on WMCC Griffin Radio. You can listen in 5-6 EST on Mondays at http://www.griffinradio.net/and even request a song), exploring, ridiculousness, and beauty. I’ll even try to fit in a fact or two, but I wouldn’t count on it.