4 years later...

and a total of 18 roommates, 4 colleges, 3.5 years of school,  3 different cities, 2 degrees, 2 summers of summer school, 1 missing semester, and i'm a college graduate.

maybe i'll give graduate school a shot, and keep the transfer rate to a lower number.

a beer, a bite, and a book.

when i venture on over to the boardwalk, it's usually for 3 things. a beer, a bite, and a book. all 3 if i'm feeling lucky and my wallet is feeling heavy. the latter hasn't been the case lately either.
while we're at it, let's be honest and say that those 3 things fall under the category of: "if i don't have these things included in my week, my week is incomplete" list. and the "if i don't have these things in my city, i'm not moving there" list.
and really, there are only 3 places worth visiting on the boardwalk in kansas city. chipotle, borders, and houlihans. those beautiful establishments being so near and close to me have further chalked another line on reasons for why i love the midwest and why i'm spoiled (to be living in a great city).

however, not every city has these features. columbia does. & where i live now does too. however, some do not.

thus, i've come up with a small list of reasons why i'm not living *there*.

1. if there isn't a chipotle in my city, i'm not living there.


2. if there isn't a place where i can get cheap books or a place where i can get a 30% off coupon every week to buy a book, i don't want to live there either. (excluding the library).


3. if there isn't a place where i can get a cheap drink that doesn't just feature crappy domestics and actually has a locally brewed craft beer on tap even though it's a craft beer, then i don't want to move there.

i was spoiled in my time in columbia with their businesses in the district. i had literally all three of those locations in the same 5 block radius and the majority of them on the same street. given, it was a college town. ragtag (hipster dive bar + cafe + bistro + indie flicks) & addisons (great food, great drinks, and great people). a chipotle just off of campus was great too. & this cute little used book shop on 9th street called get lost! books. maybe i'm just being nostalgic or just getting really excited to visit there on monday. probably both.

in my former days (aka 2 months ago) i was dwelling in middlebush hall for hours hearing lectures about theories and themes then waltzing over to the district to grab a beer, a bite, or a book. now, after laying out at the pool & brainstorming ideas for my resume, i, the middle-class suburban white college grad living back at home have to drive 5 minutes west to the boardwalk to satisfy my beer, bite, and book itch.

thrift store finds 5/29/10

I've been on the search for a dossier, a man clutch, or would you say, organizer. I found one tonight, however, when I came home tonight & tried to slip my Moleskine XL planner into, it wouldn't snap close. Oh well. It's still great, leather, and was like 2 bucks. Here is my inspiration.



Here is what I found:

So, do I buy a new $18 Moleskine planner for it to fit into my 2 dollar dossier? haha.
I also snagged a pair of Havaianas, which were at Cargo Largo with the URBANOUTFITTERS tag on it marked down to 9.99 and almost bought them. However, at the thrift  they were 3.99 for a brand new pair with the original tags still on them. Holla.

I'm not sure where this place is, but it's real wood and was only a buck. I hung it up on my growing wall.

This photograph of my room is poor quality and angle. Uh, and to think, I wanted to be a photographer at one point. Whatever.

As you can see, I've collected various frames, photos, and items and nail them to my wall in attempts to create art. We'll see where it's at in a couple of months. It's a process yanno, and I've only been a recent jobless, college grad for a bout 2 weeks.

i know what you want

"Wait, you got a degree in what?"

"Women's & Gender Studies," I reply.

"Well, what are you going to do with that?"

And here is where I craft or reuse something sarcastic, or truthful, or sarcastically truthful.

"Well," I say, "Have you ever seen that one movie with Mel Gibson where he can read women's mind. Yanno, the one where he can read Helen Hunt's mind and stuff."

"Oh yeah, What Women Want! I love that movie."

"Yeah, I can do that."

party alcove

The "alcove" or "Party Alcove" or "the Cove" made my last week at Mizzou very memorable.

Imagine a study room where anything goes, except putting your feet on the table and sitting atop the ledge overlooking a 2 story drop into the lobby. All your favorite people are there studying/procrastinating/napping together. Copious amounts of coffee and junk food. Comfy computer chairs stolen from the computer desk. Sounds kind of like a commune. I know, right? We held down this area for about a week and a half. We took shifts rotating between holding it down and probably everyone stayed there for at least 12 hours once. We, as in 12-15 of my friends, all kept this alcove on lock down and had it reserved. We even made fake signs for when the fort could not be held down stating this alcove was "reserved." Man, I miss that place.

One day, we came to the alcove and found this in the morning:

Awesome.

wwfsmd

From the stalls of Middlebush at Mizzou...

Q:What does WWFSMD mean?
A: What Would Flying Spaghetti Monster Do?

middlebush stall tales

Most of the time you find a lot of racially charged phrases etched on the bathroom stall walls of Middlebush, to which I would attribute to all of the sociology classes in that building. Not that sociology majors are racist, but sociology brings to surface a lot of ignorance.
I, however, found a little inspiration in Middlebush, my second office.

Middlebush building on Mizzou's campus, 3rd stall on the left. 2nd floor men's bathroom.