Forever young

The other night I wanted to watch a movie. It was a Friday night, and considering we all had to wake up at 6am on Saturdays for practice, we were all home. We searched through our movies and decided on Gladiator. If you haven't already seen Gladiator - I'm not sure what you are doing with your life. Words cannot describe the movie, so I won't even try. The main point of me telling you what movie we watched, is that Gladiator is a long movie. If you are tired or in a rush, don't start it. I didn't realize just how tired I was when the movie started, but about halfway through my eyes started to droop. It didn't help that I was laying down on our futon, wrapped in a blanket, and that the lights were off. I'm not even sure which part of the movie it happened, but the next thing I knew I was sound asleep. Tobe was trying to wake me up so that I could go to bed, but I didn't want to move. In fact, I was half delirious and refused to move. I'm not sure if it was out of affection and kindness of his heart, or rather, annoyance that I was taking up the entire futon he wanted to sit on that urged Tobe to do this, (my guess is probably the latter, but for the warmheartedness of the story, let's say the former) but the next thing I know I'm being carried off to bed. Now remember when you were little and you were tired and had fallen asleep in the car on the way home, or on the floor watching a movie in the living room and your daddy carried you off to your room and tucked you in? This was kind of like that - except without the daddy, and I'm 21. The point is as Tobe dropped me off in my bed and as he turned off the lights I heard him mutter "Don't expect this to become a habit," - and he shut the door making me feel like I was still a kid.

An addiction, an obsession.

I grew up a pretty big nerd. I was forced to get glasses by age seven and was put in enrichment classes. I thought reading was the coolest thing ever - to the point where if I was in trouble, my punishment was to have my books taken away. My dad's kind of a computer nerd and, therefore, the trait was passed on the me. I remember sitting on his lap as a little girl asking how to play "Rome Total War" or "Civilization." I was the girl in class who always volunteered to read first in class. Despite all this nerdy-ness, I never really picked up an affinity for video games.

In my house there are 5 televisions, two of which are in the living room. There is also an X-box 360, a Playstation 3, and a Nintendo 64. The guys' favorite game to play? Without doubt, Call of Duty Modern Warfare. My room is closest to the living room, and most nights I fall asleep to the sounds of guns firing, explosions, and "UAV online" or "We are losing B." I started off just watching Spencer play (since it's his game). I just kept thinking "How is this possibly fun and how can you play for so long?!" Then Dan got addicted. Watching them play I thought, "This is so easy! How could you stay entertained?!" Then I took a turn.

The game is a drug. It's more addicting than anything I've ever done before. The first time I played I only got 1 kill and died 28 times. I thought, "I can do better than this, just one more game." Now I can't get enough. It literally gets my adrenaline going, especially since I'm just naturally a competitive person. I started off just playing occasionally. If I'd come home in the middle of the day and one of the guys was playing I'd ask, "Hey can I jump in?" But now it's much worse. Spencer taught me how to load the game myself. Sunday I woke up, turned on the X-box, and started to play while everyone else was still asleep. I've even changed the game into a verb so that when someone asks me what I'm doing I say "CODing." So girls, never again question how your boyfriend can play a video game for so long and not get bored.

Dan and Spencer CODing.

the best friends in the world

I was raised on football. I grew up in Texas, where in the fall people didn't ask you what you were doing on a Friday night because the answer was obvious - going to see your high school football team play. Sundays were spent with families watching NFL games, and you lived and died with your team. My dad's from Wisconsin, so naturally I was raised a Cheesehead. The first jersey I ever owned was a Brett Favre one, and yes, I shed a few when he retired and again when I saw him in a Minnesota Vikings jersey. For those of you who don't follow football, the Green Bay Packers were recently eliminated from the playoffs after having an incredible 15-1 season. I watched the game at my house with the guys in full excitement.

It was clear before the game ended that the Packers were going to lose, but I watched the entire game. I watched my team drop pass after pass and make crucial turnovers that cost them the game. Let's just say I wasn't very happy the majority of the fourth quarter through the end of the game.

(Short side story: I don't know how to ride a bike. I just never wanted to learn as a kid. My dad tried to teach me, but I was never into it.) After the game finished, there was basically silence in the house. Even Spencer (who is a huge Chicago Bears fan) didn't rub it in my face. Finally, the silence was broken by this:


Tobe: "Angelica let's go teach you how to ride a bike."
Me: "I don't have a bike"
Tobe: "You can use mine"

I spent the next half house outside in the fresh air learning how to ride a bike and realized I have the best friends in the world.

Surfin' USA

We have this extremely comfy recliner chair in our living room that kind of rocks back and forth. I recently discovered that if you stand up on the chair, it moves back forth and makes you feel as if you're surfing. The other day, fueled by a sugar rush, I climbed on the chair and started surfing while singing the song "Surfin' USA." A couple things happened.

1. Did you know that the words are not "Everybody's gone surfin', surfin in the USA"?! Because I was under the impression my entire life that those were the lyrics. Because of this, I kept getting the tune of the song wrong, and my timing was all off. I kept trying to sing it the right way, but it just wasn't working. This caused my housemates to go absolutely insane. Finally, Spencer corrected my lyrics until I remembered.

2.  Now, I'm not tone deaf by any means, but let's just say I was having some difficulties this day. My housemates all hummed the tune for about ten minutes while I tried to sing until Tobe was forced to open up his computer and play the song. Even after I heard it it took me a couple of minutes to get it right.

Note: The entire time this is going on, I remain surfing on the recliner.

3. Finally, I get the chorus right - tune and all - only for the guys to discover that those are the only lyrics I know to the song, causing them to regret helping me at all since the rest of the night is filled with "Cause everybody's gone surfin', surfin USA!"


Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grj7sjQ0_p4

Learn To Lock Doors

I share a bathroom with Tobe and Dan. Usually there is no problem… except once. The problem actually wasn’t even with Dan or Tobe, but with Howie. When I moved into the house I was the only one here, the guys were all still home for Christmas break. I guess you could say I got use to the privacy. Once everyone was moved back in, I kind of forgot about boundaries….

It all started when someone was taking a shower in my bathroom, and I needed to shower and get somewhere fast. I asked Spencer if I could use his shower (he’s roommates with Howie and they have a bathroom in their room). Everyone is in the living room just watching TV and whatnot when I go to shower. It kind of slipped my mind that Howie wasn’t home and was out buying groceries. So I go into their room and undressed by the bathroom. Now here’s a little room geography. If you are standing at the entrance to the bedroom, you can see straight into the bathroom if the bathroom door isn’t closed. It just so happened, I didn’t close the door. Howie gets home - walks straight through the living room where I would expect Spencer to say something like “hey man, Angelica is taking a shower in our room,” but of course nothing is said - and heads straight for his room. All is hear is a slamming of the door and someone yelling “LOCK THE DOOR!! ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU LOCK DOORS!!”

Our conversation later -
Me: “so did you see..” Howie: “yes.”


So that happened.

Everyone Has A Story

I admit, my situation is unique. How exactly did I end up living with all guys? Well, here’s my story…
I am currently a coxswain for the men’s rowing team at my University. That’s right, a girl on the men’s team. If you do not know what a “coxswain” is - look it up! But in short I’m the small person who 1. steers the boat, 2. keeps pace/rhythm, 3. motivates and encourages. (Many men’s teams have female coxswains because we are small and weigh less.) This is important to know because it means I am constantly surrounded by the opposite sex. Now that’s not to say I don’t have girl friends. It just so turns out, those girl friends aren’t exactly accessible at the moment. Whitney is studying abroad. Sandy had to live on campus again (and trust me, I was ready to get out of the dorms) and Dani is living with her old roommate again. So when my fellow teammates were all deciding to live together - yes, everyone is my house rows - it was only logical that I move in with them. We found a house, the lease was signed, and that’s when my story became our story.

Meet the Guys.

From left to right: Spencer, Dan, Howie, and Tobe

New Girl

I’m not sure how many of y’all have seen or ever heard of the television show “New Girl.” It is a brand new series that stars Zooey Deschanel and is only nine episodes deep. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. The show revolves around Zooey’s character, Jess, who recently moved into an apartment with three men. Not too complicated of a plot right? I mean there are millions of comical directions the writers could take using that simple idea - which is exactly what happens. The show is filled with (in my opinion) funny/awkward situations. Add that to the quirkiness that surrounds Deschanel, and the show makes for a great laugh.

But enough about the series. I mean how realistic is anything on that show anyway? I mean sure, in this age it is socially acceptable for men and women to live together in a non-romantic way. But what are the odds that one quirky girl lives with all males? Here is where I raise my hand. I currently live with not three, but four boys! Of course I have a single bedroom, but other than that, the remainder of the house is shared. When I first heard of the show “New Girl,” I instantly thought of what my future living arrangements would be like - knowing I was moving in with all guys. I just moved into the house in January, and funny story, I often feel like my life involves tiny episodes of the series. So in some sense, I’m a real life new girl.