Proud to be a mutt

I am a mutt. Not in the genetic sense, seeing as my parents are both white-as-the-part-of-the-Israeli-flag-that-isn't-blue Jews, but in the sense that I am half Uber Responsible and On Top of Her Shit Goody Two Shoes, and half It's Five O'clock Somewhere Get Me a Ketel One Dirty Martini Extra Dirty Please Party Animal.

Look at the facts: I've always gotten good grades. I wore a suit every day to work for 3 years. I pay my credit card bill in full every month and have been doing my own taxes for years. I don't have a tattoo and don't want one. I don't even have second holes pierced in my ears. On the other hand, I can think of only 2 people in the world who are less likely to turn down a night of boozing than I am. I like to go out, meet new people, and make the occasional bad decision (my responsible half ensures the "occasional" part). This side of me is to blame for doing things like funneling beers at 5 AM the night before Thanksgiving or dancing on bars in Cancun.

Finding a balance between the two is delicate art. Because more often than not, partying comes at a price. Literally. And it pains me to the depths of my soul when my responsible half makes me turn down trips to Vegas (June 09) or the Dominican (August 09) or spring break (ALL FOUR YEARS OF COLLEGE) because it knows I can't pay for it. It sucked this past semester knowing that my classmates were all out partying and I was stuck passing hors d'oeuvres (I just double checked my spelling of that and for the first time ever I GOT IT RIGHT. BOOYAH) at some fancy function making way too little per hour because yo, I need that cash money.

Sometimes, even my responsible side acknowledges that there is going to come a day when my party side has to be put away. When it will no longer be socially acceptable to act the drunken fool in public. And though I'm only 26 and thus that time is NOWHERE NEAR, I can't deny that it's approaching. I need to get it all out of my system so that when the time comes for my better but less fun half to take over full-time, I can hold a proper funeral for the vodka-guzzling half, knowing that it led a full life and that I can always remember it with pictures and stories.

And so I had an internal debate today.
Smart half: "You may have some leftover cash from working last semester, but you'll soon have to start paying back your student loans. DUN DUN DUUUUUN!"
Crazy half: "But...but...vacations! Fun ones!"
Smart half: "But nothing!"
Crazy half: "Come on, I can't do this without you. Even YOU like to have a little fun."
Smart half: "Oh, you're right. I'll pack the patron and the low-cut shirts."

And that, my friends, is how and why I booked my plane tickets to go to NEW ORLEANS FOR MARDI GRAS. THE MECCA OF RIDICULOUSNESS AND FUN.

For 4 days I will do nothing but drink hand grenades and hurricanes while stuffing my face with beignets and po'boys and pralines. And then some more hand grenades.

DID I MENTION THAT I'M GOING TO NEW ORLEANS FOR MARDI GRAS?

I can feel my liver gearing itself up already. This is one excited mutt.

Harry Potter Festathon, Day 2

As if one day wasn't enough, it's time for the less intense but equally awesome day 2 of Harry Potter Festathon!

SUNDAY, JANUARY 3RD
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
10:18 AM: The movie is starting. Lacey didn't even bother to get out of her pajamas. Though I'm wearing yesterday's tanktop and yoga pants, so I'm equally bumtastic.
10:24 AM: It's very nice of Dave to make us breakfast, but WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE SO LOUD?!? Jeez.
10:25 AM: Uncle Vernon is mad gray! He's getting old, yo.
10:40 AM: We have paused the movie to listen to a friend's embarrassing story over the phone and to get breakfast.
11:02 AM: Dolores Umbridge makes me want to punch things.
11:36 AM: Harry and Cho are so cute! I kind of like them better than Harry and Ginny.
12:00 PM: Snape seems to be the only person who didn't get some kind of haircut over the course of the movies.
12:24 PM: Arielle, about one of the Death Eaters: "Who is that?" Lacey: "Um, Carrow...McGruber..." Arielle: "Dude there's no one named McGruber."
12:38 PM: These movies always end on a note of severe cheesiness and "friendship and love can save the world!"

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
12:41 PM: LAST MOVIE!
12:55 PM: I think I've seen this movie 4 or 5 times in the 6 months since it came out. Oy.
1:26 PM: YESSSS I got Lacey to do the Tim Tam Slam! Booyah.
1:35 PM: I want some butterbeer. I bet it's delicious.
2:00 PM: Ron is a cockblocker.
2:03 PM: No one ever wishes anyone else a Happy Chanukah in these movies. Are there no Jewish wizards?
2:10 PM: There is a Twitter debate going on about the possibility of Hermione being Jewish. I say nay.
2:59 PM: Things I want in my life: Felix Felicis, a Room of Requirement, and a Dumbledore-esque mentor.
3:08 PM: IT'S OVER!!!

That was pretty much the best thing I've ever done in life. Win win win.

Harry Potter Festathon, Day 1

The Setting: Da Bronx
The Nerds: Arielle and Lacey
The Task: Watch all 6 Harry Potter movies in 1 2 days
The Props: Wands, Harry Potter glasses, Slanket-robe, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a Marauder's Map, Sorting Hat, Golden Snitches, and much more
The Twitter Hashtag: harrypotterfestathon

Lacey's Day 1 liveblog is here. Pictures will be on Facebook in a few days.

Saturday, January 2nd
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
12:08 PM: LET THE GAMES BEGIN
12:10 PM: Old Dumbledore sucks. I mean, I'm sorry he died but I like the new guy better
12:17 PM: Daniel Radcliffe is so tiny! He doesn't look like the kind of guy who would grow up to show people his...other...wand. Mhmm.
12:21 PM: Lacey: "How big do you think what's his name (Hagrid) is in real life?" IMDB says: 6'1".
12:33 PM: Harry is wand shopping. We have wands too! Lacey's wand: Balsam wood with a hamster hair core. My wand: California Redwood with emu feather core.
12:45 PM: BABY RON IS SO CUTE! I want to hug him.
12:50 PM: Does anyone know what Draco Malfoy's real hair color is? No? Okay.
12:58 PM: I look over and Lacey is sitting with wand at the ready. "I'm ready to swish and flick."
1:02 PM: I LOVE TIM TAMS! Lacey refuses to do the Tim Tam Slam with her coffee.
1:13 PM: "It's leviOsa, not levioSA." Smartass.
1:26 PM: First Quidditch game! Lacey: "Should I throw the snitch across the room so it flies?" Arielle: "I was just about to do that."
2:18 PM: How awesome would it be to be able to put your hands on someone and have them collapse into a ball of dust and rocks? I can think of a few people I'd like to do that to.
2:25 PM: At the awarding of the House Cup, long after Lacey and I have determined that she would be in Hufflepuff and I would be in Ravenclaw. Lacey: "Hufflepuff kind of sucks."

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2:32 PM: On to the next!
2:50 PM: Lacey is still drinking the same coffee. It is definitely not hot anymore. Gross.
3:00 PM: My attention to HP2 wanes slightly for a few minutes as I try unsuccessfully to solve a puzzle on the back of a box of Nerds.
3:07 PM: Pulling mandrakes! We totally did this at the Harry Potter exhibit.
3:35 PM: Dobby is sort of like the Burger King king guy in that they both just kind of creepily show up in random places. Dislike.
4:18 PM: It's okay Ron, I wouldn't want to follow the spiders either. *shudder*
4:22 PM: This is why I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor. If I were surrounded by spiders I would explode and die.
4:33 PM: Lacey is reading the wikipedia entry on Hogwarts staff and reciting to me random facts.
4:37 PM: Gilderoy Lockhart is a douche.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
5:10 PM: Third movie, 5 hours in, still going strong.
5:34 PM: Lupin is pushing that chocolate on Harry like he gets a cut of the profits or something
5:48 PM: I think Draco Malfoy just called Buckbeak a chicken. Heh. Heheh.
5:52 PM: My bogart would take the shape of a butterfly. I hate butterflies. Lacey is unclear as to what her bogart would be.
6:04 PM: Draco's eyebrow raise move that he does sometimes is kind of sexy.
6:59 PM: How pimp would it be to have a time turner? I would do so much awesome shit.

7:20 PM: Break to order dinner and shmooze with Dave, who pretty much just got here but is leaving ASAP so as to escape the house of Nerd.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
7:43 PM: Aaaand we're back. With Chinese food on the way. Delicious.
7:48 PM: OMG ITS RPATTZ AHHHH. Cedric Diggory 4EVA! This is a Twilight-free event, friends.
8:06 PM: Food is here! Food that isn't Tostitos! Or Nerds! Or Tim Tams! Hooray!
8:36 PM: I feel good now that I'm a little less full of sugar and a little more full of MSG.
8:51 PM: We just paused the movie to watch a youtube video of a song called Pensieve Diggory. WHAT THE FUCK. People like this make me feel better about my level of nerdiness.
9:23 PM: I would so suck ass at the Triwizard Tournament.
9:28 PM: Dude these mermaids are MEAN. I promise you, we are not all angry kidnappers.
10:10 PM: Barty Crouch Jr.'s reptilian tongue flick is creepy. Is he part lizard? The world will never know.

10:21 PM: End of Day 1.