yeah...

I kind of suck.

June 27, 2010.

I haven't written a post in over two months.
And I was doing so well before, semi-regularly. ugh.
L.I.F.E. just gets in the way.

so here's what's been going on

*May 1 weekend
-- moved from the Shawshack to Frenchie (so now we call it Shawshack Redeemed).
-- worked White House Correspondence Pre-Dinner Cocktail Reception, saw some great celebrities like the JoBros, Demi Lovato, Bradley Cooper, Kim Kardashian, Chevy Chase, Jessica Alba ... you know, because they are all SO involved with Washington Politics and Journalism.

...phone interviews to jobs I didn't get.

*May 26 - June 1
-- flew home to Chicago for my cousin's wedding. (first time I was back in Chicago since January).
-- saw friends and family,
oh here's some drama, and please tell me if I'm in the wrong here, because I feel pretty strongly that I did nothing wrong.
--> a friend, lets call her Kara, put a lot of pressure on me to come out to her birthday party, which she planned the same night as my cousin's wedding/reception.
Just to set the tone, and yes I'm being biased but that's what's great about having my own blog to do so.
Here's our convo from May 12th (yes I saved them because, well they're on gchat and automatically saved, plus I was so shocked) guilt-tripping me into her birthday:

Allison

oh and hey i talked to my parentals last night

the wedding is at 3 and the reception starts at 6ish or something -- it's all west-side of chicago somewhere by united center

and it's dinner/drinks/dancing etc.

so if i came out it wouldn't be until 11ish

KAra

thats cool - do you think you can meet earlier or you probably cant get out of it any earlier than 11?

Allison

not sure - it'll just depend, but 11 is still early. and if you guys are in chicago someplace - i can try to meet you at a bar

Sent at 10:32 AM on Wednesday

KAra

well i'd love if you could come earlier - like maybe 9ish, so that way we'll still be drinking for a bit before going to a bar. that way you'd still be at the reception for like 3 hours

Sent at 11:06 AM on Wednesday

Allison

well i'll be drinking at the reception

but it depends on where you guys will be drinking at and just how accepting my parents will be if i left

because i've been kind of flanking on this side of my family, and it's going to be a really fun wedding

but make your plans and bar arrangements and i'll just have to wait and see

Sent at 11:27 AM on Wednesday

KAra

okay i hate to get all dramatic over gchat and i'm trying not to be 5 years old about this but - last year, you were the only person in the country of greece that knew it was my birthday and the only thing you did was say "happy birthday" to me when we woke up in the morning. actually, i paid for your dinner, which you paid me back for later, because you had no euros on you. and my 21st birthday? you went back to iowa city for some other girl's birthday bar crawl who you weren't even that close to. and you knew rosato was in wisonsin taking summer school classes and we weren't that close to nora and kelly. my 21st bday was spent with hilary and then her and her dad when he bought me a drink at the glen so i get the wedding thing, but i'd really appreciate if you'd make a substantial effort to come to this at a decent time. it would be one thing if i could celebrate my birthday at school but i've never been with my friends from school on my birthday because they're all out of state and its weird to have them all come in and us sleep in morton grove. just as one of your oldest and closest friends, i'd really like it if you were there, and like made an effort. i'm not even asking you to plan something, i know thats not your style. just to show up at a normal hour thats not like 5 hours after the reception starts

Sent at 11:35 AM on Wednesday

Allison

I don't know what I can say besides I'll be there if and when I can.

KAra

its okay, im not trying to get all emo - its just that i'd really like it if you were there for the fun and i wouldn't be like the last thing on your list, once you finished doing stuff for everyone else

Allison

yeah, ok thanks. I get it.

So that was before.
Then Memorial Day weekend, when I was home, she got mad at me because I didn't leave my cousin's wedding reception to go to a bar in downtown Chicago to celebrate her birthday.
I told her previously that I would try, depending on the situation, but I basically just meant that in a nice way, knowing I probably wasn't go to leave the wedding, it's my cousin, and this side of my family and I are very close, we all get along great, and I knew it was going to be an amazing time, and unless the reception ended early, I wasn't going to ditch it. So I sent Kara a text message when I finally had a moment to find my purse/phone, but this was around 11:30pm and I told her "sorry I can't leave the reception and make it to the bar, have a great time!" Not to mention I had received text messages from another friend, lets call her Kristine, who was complaining on how drunk Kara was, and how she was ignoring the girls she invited for her "girls night bday celebration" to hang all over her boyfriend.
So I never got a text back from Kara, and I knew she was mad at me. I saw her briefly on her birthday to pass along a present Kristine and I had gotten her, she was very stiff and tense with me, and wanted the encounter to be as short as possible, which it was.
When I got back to DC I was on gchat at work and decided to bite the bullet and sent Kara an IM Here's our convo:

Allison

were you really mad at me this weekend?

KAra

i was just pretty shocked that you pulled that and sent me such a nonchalant text after i told you that this was important to me - like, i dont think i've ever told you i was upset about something with you and we've been friends for 7 years

i mean, i appreciate the gift on monday from you and rosato, it was very cute but still... its really bizarre that you did that on saturday

Allison

kAra i was at a family wedding

i don't know how you aren't more understanding of this. the wedding was the only reason i was home, and it happened to be on your birthday weekend.

i realize it meant a lot to you, but i couldn't be in two places at once

Sent at 11:13 AM on Wednesday

KAra

i had a lot i was going to say but just forget it - this argument is useless

Allison

might as well get it off your chest.

and it's not useless if it's how you feel and how i feel

i mean i don't want this to be a huge fight, but it's better to bring it up than keeping it inside

Sent at 11:22 AM on Wednesday

KAra

alli, i dont even know what to say - this is gchat and im at work

its weird

Allison

so you can attack me on gchat, and guilt trip me about your birthday - which you did a few weeks ago, but I can't do the same to you or we can't get emotional when it effects you?

KAra

lets just chalk it up to the fact that i was bummed about saturday, but i dont want to have this conversation later - sometimes talking things out can make a situation better and sometimes it can make it worse - i dont think talking this out will necessarily be a good thing - it might just make things more awkward

Sent at 11:58 AM on Wednesday

Allison

i don't know when it's not going to be awkward then

Sent at 12:08 PM on Wednesday

KAra

well its just going to take a little time - no big - its not like we're going to stop being friends over this, that would be a pretty lame reason. its just something to get over and have it be water under the bridge or whatever

Sent at 12:10 PM on Wednesday

....Thoughts?
because we are still barely speaking, even though I've made substantial amount of effort, calling her while I'm walking home from work, sending her text messages saying random things or asking how her Wednesday is -- are her response is either none or delayed by a day or two.


so that's that.

June 4 -- Shawshack redeemed had a house party "There Will be Cheese" (because we live on French Street, so we had assorted cheeses, lots of wine, and lots of beer), here's the invitation:

You are cordially invited

to a housewarming at

920 French Street, N.W.

Friday, June 4 at 9:30 p.m.

There will be beer, wine, and...

Feel free to bring friends!

Yeah, we're cool like that.

Here were some of our behind the curtain talks about the invitation:

from Jen to Matt, Sam, Corinne, me

May 24

hahaha thats so darling! his little tubby belly! and great photoshop work--i wish your boss were gone ALL the time. my only question is 9:30? will i be able to be in bed by 10?

from Corinne to Jen, Matt, Sam, me

May 24

i approve! except we can't put "there will be cheese" in the subject because that is a SPOILER ALERT

from Sam to Corinne, Jen, Matt, me

May 24

I think we should just all-in on the spoiler theme and have a SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE, GUYS-themed party.

haha these are my room mates.

but yeah, that party was a SUCCESS. everyone had a bomb-diggity time.

Since then I've been working like CRAZY at my internship, which for all the other interns finished Friday, June 25 -- but I get to stick around a little longer -- maybe just a week, but who knows, at least that means I'm still getting paid so that's fine with me.

OH yeah, I went to NYC last weekend !! that was fun. Didn't do anything real touristy or trendy, but just being in the city -- figuring out the CRAZY subway system was exciting. I need to go back and do all the touristy things though...
But lounging in Central Park was a highlight.

ok I've written a novel or short stories I guess, of my life so far.

I'll try and do better about updating -- I'll set a reminder to my phone.

PEACe.