My alarm will go off in six short hours, but I’m much too excited about the Harry Potter theme park-centered Spring Break road trip I’ve decided to go on to get any sleep.  As NPH pointed out, there will be many great hole-in-the-wall barbecue joints between here and Orlando.  I need to start breaking my paycheck down into Rent/ Booze/ Spring Break. Apparently I should also be saving heavily for life post-college,  but I don’t see much room for that in the aforementioned list.

Yes, this post is evidence that I did indeed survive my weekend of post-21st birthday celebrations in Las Vegas.  A grand time was had by all, save for perhaps our livers and wallets.  I gambled for the first time in my life, perhaps $4 total into penny slot machines, and made not a cent of it back.  Our flight from Omaha to Vegas on Thursday afternoon was delayed three hours due to a broken hydraulics system in the plane just before take-off. While we were less than thrilled, Southwest then provided free booze when we finally were airborne– not a bad deal at all.  Unfortunately we began to think we were slightly jinxed when our limo tour around town also went kaput (thankfully on an exit ramp) and a few other transportation-related annoyances that are now a bit hazy to recap.  Clearly we didn’t let any of that stop us and made it to IN-N-OUT BURGER, the super swank nightclub Tryst in the Wynn, Fremont Street, the hotel pool, THE HOFBRAUHAUS, and the Hard Rock Hotel bar a few more times than you might have thought possible.  One of my friends in my program while in Germany lives in Vegas and was able to meet us at the Hofbrauhaus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <–that’s how I excited I was.  We had the best time, and the menu was surprisingly authentic, though the music was not (“Sweet Home Alabama” isn’t exactly a crowd favorite in Deutschland.)  NPH loved the German beer and my favorite mustard so I guess I’ll keep him around for a while.  I’ve been trying not to think about how it’s only been a month since I’ve been back because it feels like a lifetime ago, and sometimes I have dreams where D-bag’s in ‘em or I’m speaking in German and I get very sad.

OVERALL, Vegas = giant success.  I’m both pants-pissing excited and a bit fearful of future roomie Lauren living there after graduation; I’ve been there three times in as many years and don’t see any reason to discontinue the trend.  Perhaps I’ll  branch out from getting sickeningly stuffed on Canter Deli’s turkey reuben every time I go (not likely) or stay at the Paris on my next visit so breakfast can come from their bakery case every morning (has to happen.)  Hopefully the bartenders at the Hard Rock don’t have that quick of a turn around rate since I’m now on first name basis with a few (shout-out to Greg and Joe, and yes, I’m name-dropping.)  While I’m still love love loving my internship, the next countdown is now set for Lollapalooza: I’ll be seeing Lady Gaga in exactly two months.  <There’s not a squeal loud enough to insert here.>

If I could scream and cry as loud as the infant I currently feel like, I would.  My sinuses are full of God-knows-what and under horrible pressure, causing the teeth on the right side of my mouth to HURT like nothing’s hurt before.  I imagine this is what growing teeth as a baby felt like– I’m in so much pain. Now that the unnecessary medical updates are out of the way…

I LOVE MY NEW JOB/INTERNSHIP.  ’Tis only my second day, but this stuff is the big leagues, baby.  It’s a little bit of everything– event planning, marketing, public relations. Apparently I became an adult at some point and have full-on events, responsibilities, projects, and deadlines without someone holding my hand the entire time.  Yesterday (after an annoyingly long commute in which I decided the only thing I hate more than traffic lights is morning radio shows) I rolled up and was not nervous.  You know I’d tell you if I was, but the feeling simply wasn’t there.  I kept waiting to get all anxiety-ridden and piss myself halfway through meeting the staff, but it never happened.  I suppose I’ll thank the whole Germany experience for this new addition of personal confidence.  Living at home is… getting better.  Someone wasn’t being very optimistic about it in the beginning, but it’s not too bad of a gig.  Knowing he’s only two hours down the road, I miss NPH possibly more than I did when we were separated by an ocean, but let’s not get into that crying jag via Skype on the public blog, mmmkay?

Yes, I realize this post was a mundane update on my less-than-blogworthy life, es tut mir leid (how many languages can YOU say “I’m sorry” in?)  Get excited for a MOVIE REVIEW tomorrow (Robert Downey, Jr. and kettle corn?  Um, yes please) and Vegas preparations because there are officially only two weeks until my 21st birthday and 16 days until my favorite, favorite, favorite (American) city.  And more importantly, In-n-Out Burger.

Happy birthday, Ben!

I’m watching Say Yes to the Dress, a show on TLC about this wedding dress shop and their many whacked-out patrons.  When I was younger, I was ob-SESS-ed with what my wedding dress would one day look like.  Now?  Meh.  I know one thing: it will not be a strapless white gown.  So overdone.  And I don’t look good in strapless things.  Even though I’ll be getting married in Vegas, I’m sure a wedding dress of some sort will still be involved.  The ladies on this show bring an army of their friends and family to give their input on which one they pick.  Um, no.  I suppose T-Bone will get invited along, perhaps Neil for a manly perspective and Kayla because she’s never had a problem telling me when I look fug as a bug in a rug. 

Mondays are the creation of Satan. 

Tomorrow is my half birthday!  Six months til the big two-one.  Weird… 21 is like adult.  I am nowhere near being an “adult.” 

The season premiere of Intervention is on tonight (this post makes it sound like I watch a bunch of TV.  This is not the case, it just seems I don’t have much going on this evening and I am in a POOP mood.  Harumph.)  Do they ever show interventions where the people don’t agree to go?  And then die?  I’d like to see that episode.

My life is not that stressful, yet I’m finding as I get older I deal with even slightly stressful situations really ridiculously.  Perhaps I should get some strong anti-anxiety medication.  And then get hooked on it so I can be featured on Intervention.  How’s that for a life goal?

My arm still hurts from giving double platelets last week.  The perils of being a rockin’ citizen…

Sometimes when I’ve been drinking classy spirits, I get extremely defensive of Slash.  One person saw the wallpaper on my phone (it’s of a Slash poster in my room) and we got into a discussion about it that ended with him saying, “Why would I like a band my parents liked?” and me having to walk away in utter disgust.  Last night, while celebrating my friend’s birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jordan, Andy, Emily, Angela, Kieran, Jennifer… see, I told you there were lots) a new acquaintance was asking someone’s opinion on Chinese Democracy (Guns n Roses newest album that blew the big one, for those of you who are out of the loop.)  So I HAD to jump in and we HAD to have a battle of wits over GNR as a whole. 

This person was unimpressed that I had met Slash.  That my RIGHT HAND had been on or near SLASH’S RIGHT HAND.  His retort was actually, “I’ve shaken Spencer Pratt’s hand.”  Oy vey.  This kid was batting zero all over the place.  I won’t bore you with our geek-out trivia session we had about the greatest band of all time, but it at least ended civilly with a fist bump and a friending on Facebook.

Do you know what is the coolest thing that’s ever going to happen to me?  My main bitch Lauren (sorry, Grandma, but that’s what she is.  It’s a term of endearment) will be student teaching in Vegas after graduation.  Like it’s already in stone.  Like she’s going to LIVE in Vegas.  Like, I’ll have a place to stay and an excuse to go to Vegas.  So, so, so excited.  She’s a vegetarian, but I feel I’ll eat enough In-n-Out Burger for her and all the other non-meat eaters in the whole world.

I woke up rilllll excited to go on PRSSA company tour in Des Moines tonight/tomorrow.  Shout-out to Natalie, the best planner EVER (she in no way told me to do this.  Ok, maybe just a little.  But she’s a loyal fan )

High-fives are my preferred method of greeting.  I high-five people a lot– when I’m excited, when I see them on the street, when I say something awesome and they’re like “Wow, Brittney, I’m glad I know you and hang out with you because you’re so awesome.”  Yeah, I know.  I’ll grace you with a high-five.

Pita chips for dinner= totally acceptable and completely awesome.

I am beyond exhausted– the wedding was beautiful, the raspberry/almond cake was outta this world, my waffle at Waffle House this morning was one of the best I’ve ever had.  I also had two scrambled eggs which were beyond yum– scrambled eggs are one of my top five favorite foods, did you know that?!?!

Also, I’ve officially decided that when that day comes for myself, I will be married in Vegas.  Not necessarily in some blacked out state at 3 am by an Elvis impersonator, but definitely in Vegas, definitely In-n-Out Burger as the reception food.  Feed each other french fries and a shake instead of cake, that kinda thing.

I just KNOW you’re wondering “But how was the rehearsal dinner barbecue, Brittney?!”  so I’ll TELL YOU.  Amazing.  Holy ribs and BBQ sauce.  My uncle can smoke some meeeeean ribs.  Also, Jack Stack’s  in KC makes some of the best baked beans I’ve ever had the privilege of inhaling– there’s pieces of brisket in the beans. 

The dryer was broken at home so the two baskets of dirty laundry I lugged home got lugged back untouched.  Thanks for the quarters though, Ma– now I just have to find the motivation to actually get ‘em in the washer. 

My friend finally got a headstone after only, oh.. eleven months– it’s really nice and its got a picture of him and says “Boner” on it and it made me very sad. 

Goodwill and Second Act were both closed by the time I got back, so I stopped at the specialty Halloween shop just to see what I could find.  SIXTY DOLLARS for a Halloween costume?!  No, thank you– I have booze groceries to buy.  Bestie and I are going to scrounge around for something to wear, anything… anything at all.  I brought home some dress-up clothes from home, but I’m not sure what we can make out of two pairs of suspenders, five pairs of ladies’ gloves and a can of temporary blonde hair color.

Oh, and in case you hadn’t heard… 8-0, FIRST TIME IN SCHOOL HISTORY.  Me being the Negative Nancy I am, thought we had zero chance at winning, and we barely did, but WAYTOGO Stanzi for those final two seconds.  I was getting minute-by-minute texts updating me on the score during the reception, and we’d all written us off until I got the “hawks win” text and I went be-serk.  The home game this weekend should be beyond insane.

I have now come to a crossroads in my life: 1.) take a nap, possibly (ohmygoodnes it’d be so amazing) just sleep til class tomorrow or 2.) do homework.  This homework will not be hard, I am in no way going to put in even what could remotely be mistaken for effort, yet it needs to get done.  I was following someone today with an license plate frame that said Alumni and I actually had a thought along the lines of “they did their time…” and then realized I was equating college to prison.  College is no way a prison– well, the classes are, they are absolutely mind-numbingly not awesome at all, so in some ways I absolutely do feel like I’m just biding my time til my four years are up.  The extracurriculars though (and not so much the leadership experience one puts on their resume) make me never, never wanna leave.