The testy toilet in ADK A

When I lived on campus, we had a toilet in our bathroom that really did not act like toilets are supposed to.  Instead of taking waste down, it would just bring other waste up.  The only saving grace was that it did not overflow.  We happened to notice this in early October, the same weekend one of my room mates was having a friend from home stay the weekend.

We went to the RA's office to see what could happen.  The poor kid was a transfer and was filling in because he was an RA in the Mohawk dorms, and we lived in Adirondack.  He had never seen anything like it, and with it being 8PM on a Friday, he really could not contact anyone to deal with our situation.  He did leave a note for the RD to see if something could be done Monday.  (Although he did not fix our problem, it did not stop the four of us girls fighting each other to look out the door peephole because he was quite hot.  What makes it even funnier is he later started to date one of our good friends that lived off campus.)

This is a major problem on SUNYIT's campus because the way the dorms are set up, the four people share the bathroom in the suite.   In the  mean time, we had to walk to the Adirondack lounge to use the bathroom there.  So, since our one and only toilet was not the best, we sort of had to warn people about the testy toilet.  I created this sign, with help from my Dominican room mate, so that we would have a nice warning for our friends, whether they speak English or Spanish.

They never actually fixed the problem.  It would work fine for a while, but then one fateful day we would get a nice surprise.  Since I moved off campus after that year, and my room mates moved to different suites, I'm not even sure if they actually did fix the problem.  I should see who lives there now and offer them the sign if the toilet is still giving people problems.

Valentine's Day Snowdays

What's the best thing a high school senior can hear?  The words "snow day."  What's even better than that?  Three snow days in a row.  Could it get better than that?  Yes, when it coincides with your winter break, turning your week off into a week and a half with no homework.

That is exactly what happened when a Nor'Easter came through on Valentine's Day in 2007.  I was just hoping that the storm that they were actually predicting was going to actually happen.  We had not used any of the five snow days that my school set aside and other predicted snow storms never produced enough snow to close school.

It started later in the day on the 13th, and I awoke to a winter wonderland.  Since everything was closed, including the roads, we did not bother to clean out our driveway or sidewalks since it was going to keep snowing.  When we went to clean it out the next day, during a lull before it started to snow again, we were all pleasantly surprised at just how much snow actually fell.

Although not as much snow fell Thursday night into Friday, the wind was so bad that it was making it still too dangerous for the buses to travel, meaning I just got three extra days added to my winter break, with no homework.  This never had happened before, and to get them around my senior year winter break was something for the record books.

What Happens in Comic-Con, Stays at Comic-Con

In October of 2010, the opportunity presented itself for me to go to the New York City Comic Book Convention (or Comic Con).  The convention’s date was actually pushed back to around Columbus Day weekend, which is when SUNYIT has a 4-day weekend (and I had a five-day weekend since I did not have any Friday classes that semester). 

One of my brother’s friends from law school had gone to previous Comic Cons in New York City and was anxious to go with others.  Since both my brother and I are pretty nerdy, we jumped on his offer to stay at his apartment at Stamford for free and train in and out of New York. 

This was actually my first time going to New York City, the closest I ever got was my brother’s apartment in White Plains where he was going to law school.  I definitely had to learn the city ways quite quickly (don’t make eye contact, the pedestrian crossing sign is flashing because you have 10 seconds to cross the road, and you’ll be walking everywhere). 

Honestly, when I started to walk around the convention center, I realized just how little I actually knew about comic books.  I definitely saw the need to improve my knowledge if I were ever to go again. 

The title of this blog post was actually a sign at Comic Con that stated this.  I do not know who originally said this adaptation of the Las Vegas quote, but I saw just a bunch of cool things at Comic Con.  My first thought after getting into Comic Con (after waiting for my pass for more than an hour outside) is everyone here is a person that was most likely made fun of in high school for what they like.  As a person that walked passed me said, “This is Comic Con!  You can’t judge me like that!” 

I think that is what was so great about walking around at Comic Con (well, until they accepted too many people into the place and I was groped by at least 50 people).  People were dressed in costumes ranging from Final Fantasy characters, comic book heroes and villains, to one of the 19,340,782,459 Pokémons (which I saw on the train I took from where I was staying to Grand Central Terminal;  I knew I was on the right train.)  Someone even dressed up as the Old Spice Guy!  No one questioned why he or she spends so much on his or her costumes.  Most people, including myself, wanted pictures of their masterpieces.  I saw people playing The Legend of Zelda music on ocarinas, people trading their different game cards, and even two people holding a sign asking to borrow someone’s DS so they could Pokémon battle!  In high school, these people would have had the crap beaten out of them.  At Comic Con, they are accepted.

The exhibitors offered many great and diverse things to see and buy.  Many of the exhibitors were comic book resellers.  I saw an original X-Men comic, which when it came out only cost 12 cents (the person was willing to sell it for $350).  I actually bought my first comic book of a collection of Alice In Wonderland comic books, because I loved the original Disney movie and really liked the artist’s interpretation of the illustrations.  (This falls under the Comic Con “don’t judge me,” rule because I know a lot of you are yelling at me that I would even consider that a comic book!)  I also picked up a lot of “swag” for free.  I have so many posters and not enough space!

It definitely was a great experience, when I was not being groped 50 times an hour when they allowed too many people into the convention center than was allowed.  I probably would have been happy with just seeing Grand Central Terminal (based off my transportation nerdiness I acquired from a general elective class I had taken on transportation in the community).  If I ever do go to Comic Con again, I definitely need to study more comic books, as well as bring a big bottle of Purel, if they are going to go back the convention center again.

(Can you tell Final Fantasy is my favorite video game series?)

Our special door

During my freshman year of college, I actually lived on campus at SUNYIT before some issues with the heads of the res-life at SUNYIT made me choose to move back home and commute for my last three years.  I still talk to my room mates even though we are now scattered around the US. 

One thing that we used to do in our dorm was decorate our closet door in the common area.  It started when a flyer was placed on our door promoting a Frisbee RA event on campus.  One of my room mates hated it being on our main door, and just put it on the closet door.  And that’s how it started.

Once the advertised activities were done, we used to take the flyers down around campus and hang them up on our door.  We were courteous enough to leave them to promote the event, but as soon as the day passed, it was free for the taking.  It actually got to the point were we started to line our hallway walls with them as well.  It started to fill up with other different odds and ends, like pictures or cards we received.

We also added the edition of a “Quote” wall.  When we or any of our friends or teachers would say something profound and/or stupid, it would end up on a sticky note and posted on our wall. 

We did not pass our second safety inspection.  I tried to convince the fire marshall that it actually was not a fire hazard because the wall was already made out of fireproof stuff (being a dorm), but we still had to take stuff off the wall.  We ended up using our craft skills and made a little scrapbook of sorts with our quotes from the quote wall.  It was enough to pass inspection!

It’s funny to look back at this picture and to think about how much fun it was to live in the dorm with my room mates and do stuff like this.  It makes me wish I would have appreciated it more in the moment.

Present Stacking Competition

I’m sure you’re wondering, “Mary, why are your Christmas gifts stacked like that?”  Well, there is a good reason why they are stacked like that:  sibling rivalry.

Two Christmas Eve’s ago, I saw my brother stacking his gifts in a nice pyramid.  I obviously could not be shown up.  I go to a tech school and have many engineering friends, I could not be shown up like this!  How would it look if I lost to a lawyer who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science?  I would look insanely terrible!!!

I told him that we should have a gift stacking contest, whoever has the taller stack and/or does not fall down (without intentional knocking) is the winner of this challenge.  With my brother being older, he obviously took the challenge quite quickly. 

I waited until he left the room later that night, so there was less of a chance of destruction of passers-by.  I meticulously placed each piece and even got up and did an “earthquake” test every so often to know that what I was building higher was still on stable footing. 

When I woke up on Christmas day and went to our living room, I took this picture because I was the winner.  My brother’s pile was not as high and one part of it fell.  I made my engineering friends proud.  

The year of the concerts

Rarely do I go to concerts.  First of all, most artists I want to see have outrageous ticket prices that I refuse to pay.  Secondly, I live in the middle of nowhere.  When you live around the corner from Hicks Road, you know you are definitely way off the beaten path.  Most of the places where semi-big acts actually come to are at least 40 minutes away.  If you want to see the extreme A-listers, we have to travel to either Albany or Syracuse, which is about an hour and a half away to either place.  During the winters, it is usually not the best idea to drop money on tickets when you are not sure you will be able to travel with weather conditions.

But in 2011, I went against all my rules for deciding whether or not to go to a concert.  Although not a major feat for others, I set a record by going to two different concerts in the same year!  There were artists I liked enough to pay for the concert.  They even turned into a family event, since my parents and brother liked the artists as well.

The first one we went to was in March at MVCC to see The Band Perry.  What an amazing concert it was!  They played almost an hour and a half straight.  They would switch off from rockier covers like “Fat Bottomed Girls” (which I will probably never ever see the guitar solo played perfectly on a violin again), to a very stripped down version of Amazing Grace.  Of course, they played their hits like “If I Die Young,” “Hip to My Heart,” and “You Lie.”  

After the concert, they even met as many people that were willing to wait.  We were at the end of the line, and it took an hour and a half, but they did stay and sign autographs and take pictures with everyone.  This was literally the week before Lauren Alaina performed their hit “If I Die Young” on American Idol that pushed them from trying to break in, to country stars.  There is no way they will ever come back to a place like MVCC for the price we paid.  Although I want to see them again, I know I will not have the same experience that I had at MVCC.

The second concert I saw was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, again my family and I went to the concert together.  It was to see Gloriana at the Turning Stone Casino Showroom.  Again, the price was definitely worth seeing the group, especially since two of the band members are from New Hartford, and this was their first concert “home” since making it big.  Once again, we were blown away by the great music, and we were even treated to hearing quite a few songs on their upcoming CD that is going to be released.  

One new song included the "Soldier Song" that they wrote about their time when they did a USO tour in Iraq.  They even brought some people on stage that they knew were stationed at the neighboring Fort Drum, which was great.  They did sign autographs after the show, but they were only going to stay for a bit because they had to be at the next city.  We decided when we looked at our spot in the line that it was not worth the wait.

So far, I have yet to find a concert worth the money, but I am definitely hopeful that I find opportunities like I did last year.

Maybe I was supposed to be born Hawaiian?

Over the years, I have gotten quite a few Hawaiian leis.  One would assume, at some point, I must have gone to Hawaii, but I have not.

The first lei I ever got was from when I went to Disney World.  We stayed at the Polynesian Resort, and because it is a Hawaiian themed resort, each member of my family got a lei when we checked in.  It was cool, since I figured it would be (and still will be) a while before I ever go to Hawaii.  Some of the housekeepers actually made decorative art pieces (like a hammock or a boat) with our leis and bath towels with some of the Disney stuffed animals we bought, which was always a nice surprise when we came back to our room. 

The next one I received was at my school's 8^th grade banquet, which is our form of middle school graduation before starting high school.  For this, the theme was Hawaiian Delight!  So again, I got a lei, but it was the kind just made out of the cheap plastic (I came from the poor school).  Still, it is a reminder of that night and all the dancing! 

Thankfully, Hawaii was not the theme of my prom, although that did not go without its problems.   Our original theme was “A Night in Paris” but then Paris Hilton’s sex tape with the same name was leaked on the Internet, so our theme just became “Paris.”

Moving on to my sophomore year of college, I started to get into the activities on campus.  At the end of the year, SUNYIT has a semi-formal awards banquet for the clubs and organizations.  So, for the first awards banquet I went to, its theme was….HAWAIIAN PARADISE!!  Which meant I got another plastic lei. 

Now at this point, I’m thinking, there is no other way that I will run into another Hawaiian themed party for a while.  Well, I was wrong.  I got a pink plastic lei at the first annual Wildcat Friday my senior year.  Again, it was a tropical theme, although I think they were just using up everything from the semi-formal in storage. 

So as you can see, I have quite the collection of different types of leis.  I hope to not have a party with the Hawaiian theme for a while, but knowing my luck, I’ll probably be at one within the next year or so.