(Alternate title for this post: Coming Out the Other End. But then I realized that could be taken far differently than intended.)

I MADE IT. Through my midterm and my giant, hours-long class project with nary a physical injury and only minimal emotional scarring. Not only did I survive the midterm, I rocked it. Scores won’t be posted until next week, but there was only one short answer question I was slightly unsure of. Needless to say, MUCH better than last time. Our class event not only is over with, it was a big success with over 200 people showing up over four hours. Amazingly I don’t have class on Wednesdays, so sleeping in til 11:00 was in order.

I realize there’s still a few days left in October, but really– who cares about Halloween? Not I. Mark it on your calendars– 12:08 pm on October 27, I revved up my Christmas station on Pandora. I’m SO EXCITED for Thanksgiving/Christmas. This is the time of year when I wish I could end school a month early and just hang out at my Grandma’s house decorating and making Christmas food. My friends have already informed me they’re giving Fergus far more Christmas presents than I can expect from them, figures. Ohhhhmygoodness we’ll have to get him his own stocking. 713 doesn’t have a fireplace, but we can improvise. Speaking of the ever-growing pup, here’s a photo or two to tide over those who have asked for more:

Basset ears

NPH likes to make sure he's extra cozy

I don’t really have anything I want for Christmas besides a job after graduation, though I’m a huge fan of gift cards (if you’d like a list of places I frequent in the greater Iowa City area, boy howdy do I have one ready.) I realize those aren’t the most exciting, but Lord knows I don’t need food, would rather pick out my own clothes at this stage of my life, and have no idea where I’ll be living in six months. Oooh cash is always good. Especially cash for our roommate trip to Vegas for Spring Break. I found $10 on the ground on Saturday. Best day ever.

“Ich liebe dich, Kaffee!”

I was overhead speaking German directly to my morning coffee by Roomie Rachael today. She and I have class together on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so the getting ready process is always a bit more livened up than my usual ritual of waiting until the last possible moment to make myself look halfway decent.

“Ohhh, to live in your mind, Brittney,” she laughed. She later tweeted about how entertaining the exchange apparently was. In addition to bilingual conversations with my caffeine, I often play morning YouTube DJ– mostly Gaga, a lot of boy bands, and of course, my favorite song of the moment, “One Night in Bangkok.” Today I even introduced the apartment to “Disco Pogo,” the most ridiculous song in the history of time, and one that Germans go ca-RAY-zay over at 4 a.m. when packed on each other like sweaty, beer-soaked sardines under seizure-inducing strobe lights on a Saturday night. It’s damn catchy, beware.

Around 9:00, when Rachael’s aesthetically put together and patiently waiting at the front door while I scramble about to throw some concealer on my zits and shove errant notebooks and folders into my bag, we leave– usually with a “WAAAIIIT!!” while I run back into the apartment to grab my forgotten cell phone– and walk to class. Our conversations range from inappropriate to offensive, though never dull, and stop right as we enter the journalism building because we need all available lung capacity to climb the six flights of stairs to the top. Ok, so it’s really like three long flights and two little connecting ones– either way, we’re horribly out of shape and arrive for two hours of news release writing all sweaty and winded. No wonder nobody talks to us.

Blogging from NPH’s kitchen– his mother made homemade blueberry muffins with streusel topping, add her to the list of things I love. Chicago is an absolute madhouse this weekend, not only because of Lollapalooza but because the weather is gorgeous AND Obama was in town the past couple of days. We didn’t see him, but every member of the Chicago police department seemed to be lining Michigan Avenue. As you may know, I am an avid reader of Perez Hilton’s blog– I don’t care if you judge me or hate him, he is one faboosh flaming former fatty. Anyway, he puts together “One Night In…” concerts when he’s in a city, and last night was a One Night in Chicago show to informally kick off Lolla. GUESS WHO WON TWO TICKETS?!?! Judging from the amount of capital letters in that last sentence, I hope you guessed ME! I invited the ol’ boyfriend to be my plus one, and we headed to the Hard Rock Hotel yesterday afternoon to get our wristbands. Doors were supposed to open at 8:00, we got in line behind about 20 or 30 people at 7:30 and were finally let in a little after 8:30. That hour of standing of people watching along the Magnificent Mile was both hilarious and slightly depressing in that I will never be that thin, have that big of a wardrobe budget, and be able to walk that far in that high of heels on a Thursday night while living my swank entry-level PR job in a major metropolitan area. Not that I really want to. We got inside, found a bar, ordered two drinks (specialty ones named like “Blogger Bomber” and other Perez-related stuff) then found out… wait for it… it was an open bar. That’s right ladies and gentlemen of my readership– FREE BOOZE. All night. UV Vodka was one of the sponsors– needless to say, we were pumped. Don’t think I went all balls to the wall, though (because one, there was no beer anywhere) but two, I needed to say alert and pumped for the Jump Smokers DJ Set, Nneka, J Brazil, Lissie, Kid Sister, and B.o.B. Now the only one in that line-up I’d even heard of was B.o.B. (damn that “Airplanes” is catchy) but I can honestly say they were all AMAZING. I won’t go into detail on each, but I was honestly impressed– Perez can pick some musicians. I ran into a fellow Hawkeye I was in PRSSA with who confirmed that Lady Gaga was indeed supposed to make an appearance (I KNEW it) but cancelled. Bummer. But not that big of a bummer because I’ll be seeing her tonight at Lolla, granted probably hundreds of yards away instead of literally ten feet. Oooh– we’re catching the train back into Chicago now. The train reminds me of Germany, sad; the buildings remind me I could never live in this giant of a place.

Today I learned an important lesson: do not buy the cheapest thing on Amazon. It will come with poorly translated directions and generally frustrate the hell out of your already exhausted self who only needs this music player to get her through her very early run tomorrow morning. Yes, I’m officially on a training plan for the half marathon and it feels AMAZING and I have renewed faith in both the heavens and my shoddy left knee. While I’ve been suffering through with just my thoughts (RIP iPod, you went above and beyond the many years I asked of you) now that I’m going 5+ miles, some heavy dance beats do wonders for my morale. In Iowa City this weekend I did my first “long” run with the help of NPH’s iPod (which he gave me, then TOOK BACK when his newer one broke. Goddamn Indian Giver. Is that a racist term? If it is, I apologize. That’s just literally the only term I know for someone who gives you something then takes it back. Other than Giant Butthead.) I move into my apartment THIS WEEKEND and am beyond excited to have my name on an apartment in IC again after eight months of separation and/or couch-surfing at 713. I’m also looking forward to resuming a somewhat normal blogging schedule since perhaps life around my peers will inspire me more than life working for the man (albeit a very fun, exciting “Man” who has been an amazing experience) does. Back to individually converting MP4 files to MP3 to go on this new piece of shit contraption even though I’m sure there’s ten other easier ways to do this AND I should be in bed if not staying up to watch the season two premiere of Jersey Shore. How I got into this show (just recently! Over the weekend!) is a tale for another post. Or maybe never because I’m very, very ashamed I know what “GTL” stands for.

There are four weeks of school until finals week.  I only have one final, so really, only four weeks of school til this semester is DONE-ZO.  <Insert hyperventilation-like breathing here.>

Have roomie & I found someone to be a second subleaser on our apartment yet?  NO.

I have I opened my legal & ethical textbook since the first test?  NO.

Have I gotten my topic proposal for the term paper due next week approved yet?  NO.

Have I written detailed love notes and collated beautiful scrapbooks of our time together for every single one of my friends and acquaintances should I succomb to some sort of premature freak death while abroad?!  NO.

Do you know what I have done?

Bought tickets to see Adam Richman from Man vs. Food when he comes to town next week?  YES.  Love him.

Put off grocery shopping for so long that the ONLY things in my kitchen are: oatmeal, one Lean Cuisine (lunch tomorrow!), a bag of gross mixed nuts and dried fruit from Costco, two eggs, vodka, and chocolate chips?  YES.  And I will not be going to the store until after I go home this weekend, where I expect to be loaded up with enough food to avoid the store until after Thanksgiving break.

Spent way too much time pondering why half of the people I know were born this week?  YES. 

Been really proud of myself for figuring out the answer to the above question?  YES– 9 months before now was Valentine’s Day.  You know what that means.  S-E-X.

I’ve also pitched my first post ideas to this place on the ol’ Internet where I will be a contributing writer and I’m REALLY EXCITED for it because although it’s unpaid, it’s like, up and coming mannn, and they will be totally awesome clips for my portfolio, mannn (<– I have no idea what that was.  Me channeling Jeff Spicoli, I guess.)

Fact about me that none of you knew until RIGHT NOW: my favorite channel on Pandora (besides the Christmas one, obviously, which I’ve tired of) is the string quartet channel.  I really love Franz Liszt.  Currently “String Quartet No. 7 in A Major” by Franz Josph Haydn is playing.  Hmmm… maybe I’ll meet a Franz in Germany and he can play me sexy string music.