an introduction to my life

a friend suggested I post some of the stories that I have had the pleasure to experience in my life on here. all of these are comical. my family is really not normal. unfortunately this is the only story I can think of at the moment worth mentioning!

specifically one story that always entertains people is when I went tubing on the Delaware river last summer. it all started on a hot summer day, my grandma picked my brother and I up in her car. we were then on our way to pick up her friend Darlene who was going to tag along. she had that "Tom Tom" portable GPS car navigation system newly installed in her car so she was using that to direct us to the tubing place. she kept calling it the "girl in the box" and when it said "turn left" for example she would turn the opposite direction and state that the "girl in the box" was wrong. also, when it wouldn't talk she would say "HELLO girl in the box!" and tap on it. many times we kept going in circles or passing the street we were supposed to go down. when we finally got to the place we walked to where the bus and tubes were. this man is handing all these tubes out down a line and ensuring everyone is getting a tube before we get on this bus to take us up the river. well, this older perverted looking man points to me and says "does he need a tube?"... another man said "he? he is a she!". I was insulted, but keep in mind I had the worst and most unflattering attire on I think anyone could ever wear. I wore a very large t shirt, shorts, old shoes, and a hat that my hair was tucked into, I also had shades on. the only reason I tucked my hair in was because I was afraid the sun would fade my hair dye. in retrospect, I looked like a total dike. when I finally got my tube (I was the last to receive one) we all got on the bus that would take us up the river. the old perverted looking man sat across from us and I stared at him the whole time due to the fact that I was pissed at him. I also swear this man had a boner the whole time, I am not kidding. when we got off the bus we got in the river and started our descent down. the water was really cold and shallow at first and there was also barely a current. we floated on for what seemed like forever in the hot sun. I kept putting sun screen on every 15 minutes or so and my grandma kept saying "stop putting so much on! you'll get poisoned! you know Bonnie put too much sunscreen on once and she got really sick!". that never happened to Bonnie (my grandma's friend). that's something I love about my grandma she makes up stories to scare us so we will stop doing something that she feels will potentially harm us. she then snatched the sunscreen away but I managed to regain it about 10 minutes later. at one point as we were floating down the river my grandma suggested we bungee ourselves together so we wouldn't get lost. at that point my brother and I paddled father away from her. my brother got really far ahead and my grandma kept yelling "DOM! DOM! DOMINIC!!! I'M COMING!" as she thought something would happen to him. I'd say about 20 minutes later from that my grandma's friend Darlene fell asleep face down on her float. Darlene literally looked like a corpse floating along the river. there was a point at the river where it would split two ways, we had to wake her up so she wouldn't go the wrong way. a little while after that we seen the god damn food boat, it whisked past us as we were floating for fucking ever in the hot sun. we then floated for what seemed like two hours before we got to the "island" which was just a bunch of rocks/gravel with tables to eat at where the boat was parked. there was also a hippy on the boat who had the longest hair I had ever seen so it was like a fucking red cape going by. before we actually got to this "island" though (when it was in sight) a man got out of his tube and started walking over to it. I thought "oh fuck this, I'm tired of floating I can just get out and walk to the food boat like that guy is!"... it was such a bad idea. although the water was super shallow the current was crazy, so as soon as I got out I fell. my grandma almost died at this point. she panicked and rushed over screaming "JAC! JAC! GET BACK IN YOUR FLOAT! JAC!!!!". how embarrassing. so I managed to get back in my float and made it to the "island" eventually. the food boat luckily had veggie patties but they had to get another boat to bring it to the food boat. apparently veggie patties are special orders and also cost about $5 more. after we ate we got back in out floats and went down the river until we got to the point to where the bus would pick us up again to take us back. we then got back on the bus and were on our way back to where the car was parked. I wanted to get changed because I was NOT going to ride home in wet clothes. there was no where to get changed so I went inside this smelly tent thing where a bunch of flies happened to be. my worst nightmare. the tent seriously reeked of shit. I held my breath and got dressed as fast as I could. then we were on our way home.

I will post more crazy stories like this as soon as they pop into my mind!
Mallory happened to remind me of this one (since I explained the whole thing to her when it happened)... so I just had to explain it to everyone else:D.

the mess that bestows me

so today I venture into my bedroom to clean. not a small mess, a HUGE mess. I'm not talking about trash, old clothes, or a good dusting... I'm talking about the mess my guinea pig made! she gets food and bedding everywhere and behind virtually everything in sight and in some places I can't reach when I clean. so you might be thinking, "so what? just clean it up!" but it's far harder than that. due to those tricky cleaning spots that probably have guinea pig food lodged in them I believe I have a bug problem. I can literally hear them crawling around at night, at least last night I did. I had to sleep with a mountain of blankets over me just to fall asleep. bugs really do freak me out, I have a fear of them crawling on me for some reason. right now I am rubber gloveless and seriously NEED gloves to do this whole operation. I prepped my room for this mass moving of objects and furniture. I have three trash bags awaiting this monstrosity that lays upon me. I am before hand also making sure my vacuum is clean and ready to go. wish me luck.

Letting Go

R.I.P. Spencer 1996-2009


Today I had to put my dog, my friend, Spencer to sleep. It was heart breaking because he was only 12 and a half years old, but he had medical problems. He had diabetes and was just getting sicker as time went on. He was going to the bathroom in our house, sleeping all day, and drinking all the time, spite the medicine we provided. Besides the fact of his poor health, he was just getting too exspensive to care for, and who knows if he was suffering, dogs hide their pain. Spencer was actually in the age range where Shetland's are supposed to pass away, he was old. My family did what we thought was best.

We toook him to the ASPCA to be put down. We picked him up and put him in the car, on the way there I didn't want the drive to end. Spencer was just his usual self sitting in the car panting due to the hot weather, also getting up and stumbling around the car when we stopped and started to move again (he was always quite a klutz). When we got there I took him out of the car and my father and brother followed into the building. There were so many people there today, mostly for adoptions. We waited about 20 minutes before anyone got to us, that kind of made it worse because we were standing there with a shaking/scared dog trying not to cry. A woman named Karen (who didn't work there) came up and asked us about our dog, she went behind the front desk and asked if someone would come out to get our dog so we could say goodbye. About 5 minutes later a man came out, who was responsible for putting the animals to sleep, got our dog. My brother and I said goodbye and he was whisked away. My dad was filling out paperwork at the time so when he turned around he said "I didn't get to say goodbye!". They brought Spencer out one last time and we said goodbye again. Then they once again took our dog away. What was probably the worst is that as my dad and I were looking at our dog walking and being taken into the back room he (my dad) started to cry. I've only seen my dad cry one other time before today, and that was when my great grandmother passed away. We left in tears and the car ride home wasn't really any better. My brother was practically speechless the whole ride. When we got home after a little while we all finally felt better. It's just so sad, it's like we lost a family member. I hate goodbyes. R.I.P. buddy!

The Big Apple

today I traveled to New York City and it was AMAZING. I have never been there before.
it is incredibly huge compared to Philadelphia, it makes Philly look like an ant in comparison!


I woke up at about 4:30am to get ready, and left the house at around 5:30am to go down town (Philadelphia) to wait for the Bolt bus that would take us (myself, my mom, my brother, and my grandma) down to New York City. we arrived at the bus stop really early and were one of the first people to show up. the bus was actually late to pick us up, but only by a few minutes. we all got on the bus and were on our way. the bus drive to New York was 2hrs long!

after we were officially arrived in New York City we had to take the subway to get to where our tour bus was, we all wanted to go sight seeing. at first we actually got on the wrong subway train, it was going the opposite direction of where we had to go, so we had to get off and get on the right subway train. after fixing that dilemma we finally made it to where the tour bus was parked, and we made it early. the tour then started about a half an hour later and lasted about 4 hours in total.

we first stopped at The Dakota building, where John Lennon was shot.


we then went to Central Park where John Lennon's memorial is.


we then also saw various sights such as:
The Flat Iron Building:


The Empire State Building:


SOHO CAFE:


The Brooklyn Bridge:



we then took a ferry ride to see The Statue Of Liberty!




after all of this, we got off the ferry and met our bus at the New York Plaza, where we then saw other sights such as:
Trinity Church:


NYSE, New York Stock Exchange:


Ground Zero:

to me, Ground Zero was absolutely amazing. as our tour group was looking out at what once was the World Trade Center, there was nothing but silence. it was truly just a touching experience, I think partly because it looks as if it could have happened last week. they haven't built anything there yet, so it's still essentially left naked and seemingly untouched as it has been for the past (almost) 8 years now.


the tour then ended, leaving us where we had started, so my family and I wandered down near Times Square.


well look what I found in New York City...
okay, so this was amazing to me, I don't have a Jamba Juice around where I live (at least I'm pretty sure), and I know they make awesome drinks, so I HAD to stop in.



I ordered a "Strawberry Surf Rider" drink. it was so tasty! mmmm.


happily trotting along with my juice, my family and I then where walking directly down Times Square.










we then took the subway back up to where our Bolt bus was going to pick us up, which was right in front of a diner called "Tick Tock Diner". we had time to spare so we went in and had dinner.




I ordered a roasted veggie wrap, yummy.


we then got back on the Bolt bus which took us home, it was another 2hr drive, but my ipod was there to help ease the length of time.

my day then ended with a nice/delicious chai latte from Starbucks!

so the show I was supposed to go to on the 9th was actually horrific. my brother wasn't bad at all, but the whole set up and timing and just everything else was a complete disaster. the weather was horrible, there were a million mosquitos in the driveway where the "show" was. and after being there for 4 hours I voyaged home, alone... with out my friend Tim who I had originally gone with. my other two friends Var and Rachel couldn't make it. why? because Rachel had forgotten about the whole thing, yeah. what also was horrible is that I was hungry, since I hadn't had lunch, so I walked down to the super market that was around the corner and I bought myself a delicious looking mixed fruit cup. well, the fruit cup was 2 months expired! and what's even worse, I had finished it by the time I noticed the date. but it tasted fine otherwise and I am here right now typing this so I didn't die...

what I am really excited about is I'm going to New York on Monday! I also have a trip planned to go to stay with Rachel at her aunt's beach house, Var is also going. it should be fun but I hope it's not around the 29th, I have a doctor's appointment then so I would then not be able to make it:P

busy busy bee!

today should be fun, spite all of the rain...
there was a HUGE thunderstorm and it woke me up at about 8am. I thought it would never end:P

I'm supposed to be going to a show today, it's a local show with local bands, nothing big. it all starts at 4pm, but my friends and I are all leaving early.
I'm going with Tim, Rachel, and Var. there supposed to come to my house a little before 2pm, since that's when we're leaving. one band dropped out of the show, so there's really going to only be three bands playing. who knows if we'll even get to see the bands, someone might call the cops for all the noise.

so Friday I went to see UP with my family and it was so funny! it's well worth going to see!

this weekend I will be so busy! I have two birthday parties to attend back to back, and then Monday I will be voyaging to New York:D. we're going sight seeing and going on what my grandma calls a "tour bus"... I'm sure it's just a regular shuttle bus taking us down there. we will probably be eating lunch down there also. we're leaving really early in the morning and I have no idea when we're getting back. all I know is that it will be a long day! I'm bringing sunscreen, I'm so white that if there is a lot of sun I know for a fact I'll burn:O. but if it rains, an umbrella will be my best friend.

in July I'm going down to Wildwood, July 6th to the 10th. it's always really awesome down there, but it's a shame this year my Aunt Jenni, Dave, and cousins can't make it down, it was fun with them last year! but my uncle is still going, my grandma is coming down too. we always stop at this little diner which has good food, I always order waffles because there's really nothing else I can actually eat, the rest is some form of meat related product:P. we always call that diner our half way point because it technically is the half way point.

There's def more plans for this summer, although they have yet to be made:D

school is officially out! I couldn't be happier! IT'S OVER! Err... until next year that is. I didn't do as horrible on my French final as I had anticipated, I got an 88% on it. I took my art major final today, which was awesome, yes, I thought the test was awesome. it was so easy and I got to draw with colored pencils for my final still life drawing (fun!). I handed my drawing in which I took an hour and a half to do. I had the time since I had finished the question part and essay part of the exam early. when I handed my final composition in my art teacher said, and I quote, "Jackie this is awesome, you rock" it kinda made me laugh, and I was flattered, but at the same time I have never heard someone over 45 tell me that I rocked:). I also took my health final today, which was a joke... it was so easy!
I can't wait for all the things I have planned this summer, particuraly traveling. I'm supposed to go to New York in about a week, maybe in a little more than a week. it will be a fun/interesting trip because I have never been there! I'm def bringing my camera:). Hopefully I can make it to South Carolina this summer, and Wildwood again. I was supposed to be going over Var's with Rachel this Saturday for a sleep over but it has been canceled... maybe we can plan something else for this weekend.

xJackie