You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too!

I've recently been investigating the phenomenon where men and women differ on the issue of birthdays. To me, and most of my female friends, birthdays are HUGE! They're fun, we throw parties, and get all silly. Even if you don't want to celebrate getting older, your friends find a way to cajole you into celebrating and having fun. Men, on the other hand, seem to have no use for birthdays. They're "just another day," as I've heard put so many times.

Now, I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, who absolutely does everything within his power to hide his birthday from EVERYONE. The first year I knew him I was told it was his birthday, and...being a girl...I got all excited and planned some silliness with my co-workers involving us singing to him as he drove us around backstage Epcot. He was so mad he didn't speak to me for TWO WEEKS. You'd think this would deter me, but it didn't. I've made sure to find a way to recognize his birthday every year since...and here's why (for all you men who don't get why women love birthdays so much):

Birthdays, to me, are the day to celebrate the day you were born. It's not about getting older, it's about getting excited that you got the chance to come into this world and live the life you're living. And to me, because you were born on that day, and your life has unfolded as it has, we've gotten to be friends. So I'm really thankful for your birthday, because I'm really happy we're friends. What it comes down to is this:

YOUR BIRTHDAY IS A BIG DEAL TO ME BECAUSE YOU ARE A BIG DEAL TO ME.

To me, your birthday is a great day to take time and really celebrate YOU, celebrate all you are, all you're going to be, and all that you've brought to my life thus far. I'm sorry if you don't like that you're a big deal to me. That's how it is...I'm a girl...and I'm going to continue to pester you about your birthday. Learn to love it or at least get over it.

=)

Anyway, all you male-folk...there it is: my reason for being all "girly" about birthdays and making a big deal out of them. Do with it what you will. And, may I say, the above explanation was not directed at any particular "you"....fear not, oh friend who hates and hides his birthday....it was directed at the vast number of "yous" in my life who still don't understand why birthdays are a big deal. And it's all meant in good fun, OK?

In the meantime, I'll take this time to say Happy Birthday to any and all friends I have who might have a birthday today (yes, there's more than one). Oh! And the ones who have a birthday tomorrow (just one), since it's almost midnight. Happy Birthday!

And now I'll return to my constant schedule of taking sinus meds, coughing fits, ODing on cough drops, and drinking tons of water. Ah, spring. I whined and whined for it to come, and now it's here and I have bug bites and sinus issues. The grass is always greener...eh? Well, at least right now the grass is certainly greener than it has been; and that's something to be happy about. That, and the wonderful birthdays of some phenomenal friends. =)

Two more days until I'm done with all the grad school crap!

music: Indigo Girls medley from all their albums put on one playlist on random on my Itunes.

Win some, lose some....

OK. So I didn't win pope. On the plus side, I got a free apple-y-ever-after ice cream cone from Ben and Jerry's free cone day yesterday...and in my mind the two kind of equal out. Besides, they're talking about this guy as a "transitional" pope...I mean, let's be real: the man's 78. Not a lot of mileage left on that pope, let me tell YOU. Maybe they're just waiting for me to finish grad school. Fear not, O Catholics! I graduate May 13!

In the meantime, the new issue should be my pope name. Apparently you have to change your name. I've been perusing a list of papal names already used, and I've got some ideas. First of all, besides John Paul I in 1978 (who, might I add, lasted less than a year), we haven't had a "Pope I" since the 121st pope - Pope Lando from 913-14. I gotta say, we haven't had a Lando since, and it's a damn fine name. Reminds me of Lando Calrisian in Star Wars. How can you go wrong with a pope who pays homage to Star Wars? So maybe I'll choose something new, especially since I'll be the first girl, I should probably have a completely new name.

Second, it seems some of the popes get the word "Blessed" before their name (e.g. Blessed Urban V, 1362-70). I'm wondering if this is a chosen thing, or if it's added posthumously. Because if you get to choose, then I'd like some sort of modifier before my pope name. Like, Funny. Because I'm funny. And since I'm a co-founder of the We Know We're Funny Club, perhaps I should acknowledge this talent in my papal name.

So there you have it...Pope Funny Krashworth I. Note that I used the "I" to indicate that I expect future popes to love my name so much and respect my papacy so much that they pay homage to my legacy and use my name, creating a need for the I versus all the others. Well, it's working title at least. I may change my mind. But it's a start!

Life is easing up, so hopefully the blogs will be more frequent. I may go through a period of laziness, where I take some long-overdue time to just relax, but I'll try to be mindful about this. In the meantime, hope all is well with you out there in Kristy-for-Pope land! Keep up the support!

I have funny friends.

Weird friends, mind you, but funny friends nonetheless.

There's a group of folks up here I like to hang out with when I have free time (read: once every few months - although hopefully that will increase soon as I transition from the student world to the world of paying off student debt, a.k.a. the job world). How I met these people is neither here nor there, really, just know that they're all wicked smaht and a lot of fun.

They like to throw random parties and send out random emails here and there, and since I don't have time for a real blog post (yup, still hosed) I thought I'd get a laugh for you from their sordid history.

Follow the link at the end of this paragraph (I promise it's not porn). Read the whole thing, then come back and hear the story. OK, go.

So, these boys were throwing a party. In all reality, it was just a party for them and their friends...nothing special, and NO THEME. So they sent out an email, the transcript of which is in the above link. Now, these are silly boys, keep in mind, so they like to make things interesting, which is why the party invite is so bizarre. But it was all just for laughs.

However, they also decided to try something that I find a fascinating experiment. They put the website of the above link on a dozen eggs, and then went into several grocery stores and replaced one normal egg in a few cartons with an egg marked with the invite website.

Here's what's great: people showed up from the eggs. I mean, I guess I would expect it...the world's a crazy place, but if I found a website on my egg, I'd probably check it out, and then throw out the egg, but not go to the party. Anyway, random people showed up, a fair number (more than the number of strategically-placed eggs; indicating that the egg-folk passed the website along), and the best part is this: they expected a gay sex party. Which, I guess...seeing as how the webvite denies that it is a gay sex party so many times that it might seem like it really was...the whole "methinks the lady doth protest too much" sort of thing....but still.....

Anyway, I'm usually laughing too hard at the fact that not only did my friends think this up, but they carried it out and it worked to listen to what they did with all their random egg-folk. Most likely they kindly explained the joke and invited them in for beer, but no gay sex. In any case, these people are just one of the many reasons I want to stay here in Boston. Yes, people are crazy here, but somehow that makes me feel normal. I fit in. (insert ear-to-ear grin here)

If you've got crazy friends too (and you probably do, since most of my readers are already my friends)...and have crazy stories to share...send 'em in the comments, and then readers can enjoy them too while I continue my pseudo-sabbatical.

In the meantime, I'm headed to a Sox game tomorrow night. Fenway franks and overpriced beer, HERE I COME!

Adam Aaronson is a Pinnacle of Manliness

Hey folks.

The good news is: the long-overdue post is here!

The bad news is: it's gonna be short and probably not very sweet. Sorry....

A few things:

• title of this blog brought to you by Adam, who was sweet enough to write me and let me know he still checks this and has noticed my slack in posting (thus earning the right to a lovely tribute in the title). He may not have necessarily enjoyed my blog and instead needed something to do to kill time at his mind-numbing job, but it's nice to know people notice when you go away. =)

• I've been MIA thanks to the demon from the lowest ring of hell known as grad school. I'm just hella busy, y'all. Those of you who know me know that I'm always busy. You know how I roll. It's just been exponentially bad as of late, with impending graduation, final projects, presenting at a conference, and the job search. I've all but given up on being a good friend, replying to emails, or blogging (clearly). I'll be back, though. Don't you worry your pretty little heads. Just, for now, I'm going to need a little more patience.

• In the meantime, if you'd like something snarky, leftist, and funny to read, check out this blog. I read it daily if I can, and it cracks me up every time.
  

• GO SOX. (Yeah, I know, they've lost the first two. I don't care. Well, I do, but the point is, I still love them and root for them, and you should too.)

And that's all I got for ya, folks. Or, that's all the time I have for you at least. Gotta get back to the crazy list o' stuff to do. Keep it real....