*MMMmMmMM The Sense of Smelllllll*

The other day, I was having coffee with a friend. The definitive, delicious aroma of the drink made me sit back and think about my life thus far, I realize how many memories are tied into scent….

I have countless childood memories, both happy and sad. I find that certain smells give me flashbacks quite often. The smell of Lilacs reminds me of summers I spent outside in my front yard (near our lilac tree) playing games with my little sister…Chlorine reminds me of our pool and how many countless hours my sisters and I would spend in it. Every once and a while someone will be wearing a specific after shave that reminds me of my father and how he smelled just after he showered and before he left for work when he said goodbye to me for the day.

There are plenty of smells I love and plenty I hate…

One’s I Love
*The smell in the air right after it rains
*Fresh popped popcorn at a movie theater
*Coffee on a cold winter day
*Certain men’s cologne
*A freshly cut ice area
*Soap in the shower after a hard day at work
*Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
*New tennis balls
*Towels right out of the dryer
*My 1st boyfriend

One’s I Hate
*The smell in the bathroom after someone poops
*Spoiled milk
*Construction in humid heat
*Throw Up
*Body Odor
*Antiques (they smell musty and moldy yuck)
*Gin (toooo strong for my nostrils)
*Citrus floor cleaner, or the smell of orange stuck on my hands after I peel one
*Wet Dog
*Cabbage cooking (smells like burnt rubber)
*Icy Hot (too many sports injuries related to this nasty smell)
*Fish (which is incredibly ironic that I work at a seafood restaurant)

One thing is for sure, of all my senses, Smell defiantly gives me the most memories, both enjoyable, and dreaded!

$$$ TIME IS MONEY $$$

TIME IS MONEY…I have heard that phrase so many times in life, but today it became clear to me just how true that is…For one of the million assignments I have to do in the next few weeks, I have to create a campaign for the elections in France. Being that I am a perfectionist and like to create stuff, I figured a nice visual would aid in my campaign speech (which must be all in French! Egh)…

So I headed down to the local Kinko’s to make a few copies for a poster…little did I know I would be charged by the MINUTE to use a computer!! I can’t believe it. Then because I was rushing to save my money, I kept screwing up the copies, accidentally printing them on the wrong printer, in black & white instead of color, or cutting off half the picture…I not only wasted time fixing my errors, I wasted money re-printing the pictures. I am convinced they set it up to be confusing so they can rip me off for more money…that or I am completely computer illiterate, but I am pretty sure it’s a scam.
Sticking on the subject of spending money on a non-existent item (like time)…I also do not understand who ever told cell phone companies they could own AIR SPACE? How can you charge for air…I have never and will never be okay with that concept. Are they going to start charging for breathing pretty soon??? I better start saving up….

college life vs real life......hmm..

Three more hectic/crazy/chaotic weeks and its all over!!!..for a few months at least.....I have always loved summer break, but this year will be appreciated more than ever. I am very good at keeping up with my schoolwork and working forty hours a week on top of that, but lately it is certainly catching up to me. It seems like every week I do my work and as soon as a I feel I am near catching up, I get five more assignments. I am both frustrated and aggravated by this. I feel like I can never catch up, and I don’t like the thought of falling behind. I like to push and challenge myself, but I know that when school is over it will be a great sigh of relief.

Sleeping in, enjoying the sun and making some money will be my top enjoyments and priorities this summer….in that order ;). I cannot wait to not have any assignments due and to be able to pick up a book/ magazine and just read it for FUN…Also I cannot stand this horrendous weather we are having!? April is supposed to be nice and warm and almost summer. It seems like we are going to jump right from winter to summer this year…and I have never anticipated pulling out the shorts and tank tops like now!! Lately I have been thinking I should have gone to a 2-year school so I could be done now. But when I sit back and re-evaluate I know sticking it through will pay off. These next two years should fly by, and then I get the pleasure of living in the “real” world with real bills and a real job...yikes…that’s scary.

*Pet Peeves*

I feel the need to vent my frustrations of several pet peeves that people can easily fix, yet chose to annoy me with instead. I tend to be passive aggressive, so I am sure most of the time people have no idea they are driving me nuts, but the following are three things the that really irritate me :

*Long Nails on Men-I can’t stand when guys don’t trim their nails…it takes less than two minutes to clip them up. Nice hands are so refreshing to see, yet a lot of guys just let ‘em grow…this holds truth to toenails as well, it is so unattractive if they are haven’t been clipped (YUCK)….

*Sloppiness- I have come to the realization I may have an obsessive-compulsive problem with cleaning and organizing things. I have all my clothing color coordinated and all my movies alphabetized. I don’t expect this degree of organization from other people, but I do not, and will never understand how people can just throw things all over the floor in random piles. It takes maybe four seconds longer to fold up a shirt and put it in the right place, or to neatly place something on a counter instead of throwing crap everywhere…

*Laziness- I have found everywhere I work; there are a handful of annoyingly lazy people. They sit there and spend all their time complaining about what they have to do, instead of just gettttting it done. I hate that. It takes twice as long, and only further irritates you when you spend so much time and effort trying to find a way out of doing a task. You are getting paid for working…so work…
This is just a quick list of things that are very easily fixed; yet tend to be very prominent in the people I get stuck around!!!!

*Paper Four...A Possible Career*

This week our assignment for our final “paper” was to create a public relations event that would promote the product of another student in class. I was very excited to hear about this and I immediately had an idea.

I found a student that had “women’s clothing” because that is a product. I am very familiar with. I was planning to do a runway show for whatever product my “client”/student had selected. I lucked out big time because my partner selected bras from Victoria’s Secret.

I knew this would be my favorite assignment for this class because I want to do this as my career hopefully. I spent hours upon hours searching for actual contact numbers and addresses, putting together a guest list, and detailing out the promotional event. Although I began to frustrate myself greatly, I could not tear myself away from the project. I spent 12 hours at my desk putting everything together, only taking a break for class.

I have the attention span of an eight year old and I can neverrrrr sit still, the fact that I actually managed to keep myself focused and interested for so long on one thing is shocking and exciting for me. I am really happy with the outcome of this project. I am confident that this is what I really want to do and this assignment was key in convincing me I have selected the right career field …only two more years before real life begins!

**Sarcasm**

After reading the short excerpt “Just Do It” by Augusten Burroughs, I am both amused and impressed. I myself tend to be extremely sarcastic by nature…yet I have never been able to master the art of sarcasm in writing. It seems to be a great characteristic to posses to have the talent to incorporate and be so cynical and sardonic on paper.

I am huge fan of movies, and I have found that I somehow developed a small obsession with buying DVD’s off of amazon.com…Unfortunately with my busy schedule I haven’t been able to watch many movies lately. Burroughs was the creator of the recent box-office hit “Running With Scissors”. It is on the top of my list of movies to see, and after reading the article I am more intrigued to see the film.

Burroughs talks about how he looks up to his friend, an undertaker. It is so interesting to me because I have always aspired to have a career in advertising and marketing. Because of my interest and desire to be in the P.R./ communications field, it is both strange and comical to me that a highly paid, successful advertising agent would find a “janitor like” job to be superior.
Burroughs also explained how, in his line of business, that he must manipulate people into “parting with their money” and doing them a disservice. I never really thought about advertising in that kind of negative light. Burroughs seems to be a talented and very comical person, so I look forward now much more than before to seeing “Running With Scissors”…

*Education vs Frustration*

Manhattanville has many pros and cons. I often find myself calculating its cons and wondering whether it is where I want to be. I do enjoy the education I receive, and I believe it is wonderful to have smaller classes where the professors get to know their students. In general the staff is excellent and take time to help students whenever needed, yet there are many things that frustrate me tremendously about the school.

My most recent frustration stems from the lack of plowing in the student parking lots. I returned from spring break only to get stuck in a completely untouched parking lot. I spent an hour and a half trying to dig myself out of my parking space, was late to work and ruined the transmission in my car! My car was weak and barely functioning so I could not park in the snow filled parking lot. After circling the campus, I could find no cleared space to park my car, and put it in a fire lane (the only cleared area)…I was then given a double ticket which resulted in a 70 dollar fine…Then just two days after I got stuck and strained the engine struggling to get out of my spot, my car’s electrical system broke, as well as my transmission L… The tuition for this school is so high, and they can’t come up with the money to pay someone to plow the lots?

The list of cons are seemingly endless, from our closet size rooms, the no-guest policy at all our parties, and food which seems to be the same day after day….I have to at times sit and wonder why I chose Manhattanville!? I just have to keep in mind that the education is most important and all the little frustrations wil

pay off…