Oh What a Circus...

Oh what a show...this year has been so crazy that I thought that a nice "year in review" would be in order.

Major Events:

Sarah Palin!
God Bless Sarah Palin. This pitbull from Alaska won the hearts of a nation and became one of the most popular impersonations in SNL history thanks to Tina Fay. I'm not saying that everyone liked her politics, but gosh, she reintroduced "Alaskan" as a recognizable American dialect and made elections sexy again. Sarah Palin, if you ever read this: will you be my co-mother???


First Voting Experience!
So, I was probably the most giddy person on campus when I went to vote with one of my good friends from work, LN. When we came back from the polls, our manager said I looked as happy as Miss America. It was a really great day in my life because I have been waiting to vote for a long long time.

Halloween!
Oooh...Halloween was fun. After much confusion and anger about the new policies concerning limiting the numbers of people attending the festivities, it ended up being really awesome. Props to the Town of Chapel Hill for making it much less crowded/ more enjoyable. A bunch of us went as Sweeney Todd Characters and had a fantastic time, later returning to Newman to play/ sing the Sweeney Todd soundtrack.

Barack Obama!
Barack Obama won the 2008 election over John McCain! This was no surprise to conservatives around the nation seeing as, in most people's opinions, McCain's campaign was poorly run. After the victory, I joined my tolken liberal friend (yes, I am officially outting myself as a conservative on this blog) to Franklin Street to celebrate, fulfilling my end of the deal (if McCain had won, she would have joined me, if Obama won, I would join her). I have never seen anything like it- people were screaming and excited, but it was a sober excitement. This was an acomplishment that they had been apart of more than just watching it happen. I had a good time and remained cautiously optimistic about the future.

Thanksgiving!
Ah...once a year we gather together to stuff our faces and pretend that gluttony isn't a sin in the name of Thanksgiving. This year, the Motown Thanksgiving celebration was great and fun was had by all (I hope). This festivity also resulted in the most amazing live action reenactment of Potter Puppet Pals' "Mysterious Ticking Noise."

Cruxshadows Concert!
So, this very well could be the best concert I have ever been to. Thanks to CK and MP for bringing me along for this incredible adventure! Opening act Ayria also was fantastic. At the end, he pulled everyone up on stage and we all started singing and dancing along to Marilyn My Bitterness. Afterwords, Rogue (the lead singer) gave everyone hugs. It was amazing. It was the perfect study break during exams.


Jesus Crab!
Ahh...Jesus Crab...rest in peace, buddy. You lived for like, two weeks. I'm sorry I wasn't a better crab mother to you, but you didn't eat anything! I kept your crabitat in the room for the remainder of the year, but then donated it to Tar Heel Treasures because I don't want to carry around a dead crab's crabitat forever.

Inaugeration!
Okay, so I'm realizing that this year has been dominated by politics, but such is life when it's an election year. It snowed in Chapel Hill and people made "Snobamas," which were really adorable. A subevent of the Inaugeration:

Aretha Franklin's Hat!
OMFG this thing was amazing and quickly captured the nation's imagination. It is now the subject of many honorary facebook pages and appreciation societies. I joined a few.



ITS!
Okay, this wasn't a one-time thing, but it has to go somewhere. In a little over a year, my laptop has been in ITS' service center 13 times for a total of 54 days. Grrr. It would be difficult to express how much I abhor ITS without using profanity. I'm currently working with Lenovo and seeing if I can get a new laptop. Wish me luck!

Jesus Christ Superstar!
So, after a rather hellish midterm week, RT, CR and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar with Ted Neeley. I know I blogged obsessively about this, and I'm so happy we went because it really was rather fantastic! I love JCS. It is really my favorite musical of all time. Thank you, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for givng this to the world.

Ted Neeley

Amanda Palmer Concert!
Oh, AP- you are pretty fantastic. Amanda Palmer gave a very interesting concert in Carrboro that CK and I went to see. It wasn't like a normal concert with people dancing around, but we all kinda sat there and just absorbed it all. It was pretty cool. After the concert, I got my face painted by a cray-cray and Amanda Palmer signed my t-shirt and talked to AD for his birthday. It was so super wonderful. Thank you so much for that, Amanda!

Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

National Championship!
TARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
(Heels!)
We won the national championship! This led to mass hysteria and the frantic need to light things on fire and jump over them. The chaos was so astounding on Franklin Street that several members of the crowd, in order to confuse the masses, removed the street sign in an attempt to disorrient the mob and make them think that they were not, in fact, on Franklin Street. This attempt was to no avail. Our great victory was followed by a work shift from hell. I clocked in over 9 hours at student stores, starting at 5 am and interspersed between classes and meetings. They pay me so I can't complain too much.


This has been an exciting year for sure. I'm not sure how next year is going to compete...it surely cannot be as crazy as this, but we'll see. Have a great summer to everyone I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to yesterday and Wednesday!