MLK weekend or: Will BU be me?

So after my Freelancers seminar at CUNY ended on Friday, Rick and I hightailed it up to Boston for some family, friends, and potential schooling action. The drive was pleasant, with the obligatory stop over in Sandy Hook for some Subway. I had a information session at BU at 3:30 and although the weather was bitter cold, we told Kippy on a walk downtown to Lexington, and then took a nice nap until it was time to go.


So here's the pros with BU's journalism program:

More right for me than Mario Lopez in a speedo
It's highly respected and academically rigourous. Rick thinks I would become the best writer at BU, and although I would probably agree, there is no way to know that. It's very large, and the college of communications has lots of different programs, so the ability to work together across a range of disciplines is there. The alumnai network is very large. Boston is pretty fly and we would enjoy living and working there.

Ok, sounds peachy right? Let's get to the cons, several of them major.
As unappealing as eating out an underage Chinese gymnast
BU is expensive as FUCK. It's $18,500 tuition per semester. For three semesters thats $55,500. So, if I go to CUNY instead of BU I would be saving $43,500. That's pretty much an entire year's worth of work. Thats a major consideration. Secondly, they do not have an arts/culture/entertainment track, which is what I want to focus on. Hmmm. I asked about it, and they said students can easily focus on it, they just have to put their own program together. Fun. Those are really the only two major cons, but how major they are.

So what to do? I'm going to apply, and see what happens. I obviously hope to get into all my schools, to be able to play them off each other, but I see BU as a long shot, even if I get in.

After the info session, we went home and Kasim came over for dinner at 41 Woodland rd. It was really a fun night, with lots of wine and laughs. We stayed up late playing hearts and then Rick went to bed and somehow we figured it would be a good idea to go to 7-11 and buy cigarettes. I was pretty shitwreacked at the time, and it was really fun. We drove down to Fiske, our spot, and I chain smoked, (Kasim had a couple) and we shot the shit for a while. Finally Kasim took me home and headed back to Lowel.

I was a mess the next morning and in a terrible mood. We had breakfast and bid my parents adieu. We had forgotten that the rental place across the street from us closed at 3 on Saturdays so I had to drive the car into Manhattan to drop it off just as my hangover was hitting it's peak. Rick and I got into a huge fight about it and it was just an unpleasant day all around. We did make up though, and we've spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out, watching football and the Austrailian Open, and taking Kippy for a fun dog park visit in the snow.

Until next time, my delicious fruit tarts,
JB

J-School for JRB

My delicate snowflakes, now is when I talk about Grad School. It's about time. I've been struggling with what to do with my life for a while now. Maybe struggling is the wrong word. Perhaps "wrasslin'" is more apt. After the fun and excitement of getting promoted to manager at Rico wore thin, I became a bit complacent. The gig was pretty good. It was 4 blocks from my apartment, a decent salary, and I was the boss. But I wasn't doing anything that I loved. I wrassled with other occupations briefly: A vet! No, too much studying and being a doctor. Plus the pay sucked for the effort put in. A model! Well, I'm getting a bit old and I don't think my delicate ego could withstand being beautiful dirty rich. I think I kept putting of writing because it's fucking hard and you have to expose yourself to the world. Even worse than being a model. People are judging you on your intelligence rather than your looks. I can always look in the mirror and convince myself that I'm rediculously good looking, but sometimes I have crisis of confidence in my intelectual ability. I know one of my biggest challenges will be overcoming this fear and having confidence in abilities.

So, I stopped denying the ineveitable and began looking at J-Schools. My initial list was large and ambitious: Columbia. NYU. Berkeley. Northwestern. Emerson. BU. Temple. Northeastern. CUNY. Ok, so the list isn't enormous, but it is fairly ambitious. Consequently, I've eleminated all of the top schools off the list. I am fairly confident that I can't get into Columbia, NYU, Northewestern or Berkeley. These are the best J-Schools in the country. Not to say that I'm not one of the most promising writers in the country, but my records don't show it. Also, several of these school want established journalists as students and I just don't have the killer resume to show them. I'm still not sure if it was the best decision, but I'm happy with my new list, and it saves me considerable application fees.

So, my final list includes the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Emerson, Boston University, and The University of British Columbia. I still might apply to Northeastern, but I haven't decided yet.

So my top choice is CUNY. We complete each other. The reasons are pretty simple: It's in New York. It's extremely affordable. It has an Arts & Culture track. It's extremely affordable. It has a "New Media" tract. It's extremely affordable. They have lots of usefull classes that teach in demand skills. It's extremely affordable. It focus on getting you a job when you graduate. This all breaks down to CUNY being a GREAT VALUE. I'm talking $12,000 TOTAL for 16 months of schooling and a Master's degree. Plus there is a large chance I will be awarded a $7000 grant as a gay journalist. So, I look at that and wonder if anything BU is going to offer me will be worth $35,000. Highly doubtful. So yeah CUNY and I are down with each other. However, it's the only school I've visited, so things could change.


After CUNY comes That would be the University of British Columbia. In Vancouver. Um whoa, eh? It's beautiful: Ok I've never been out there but everyone I've ever talked to in my life seems to think Vancouver is the greatest place ever. However, most of these people have never been out there either. Vancouver benefits from really positive, overrated word of mouth. Now, I'm sure Vtown is pretty fly, but I'm sure it's not "the most beautiful place in the known world" and "so cool I'm writing an opus dedicated to its spendor." As far as I know no one has ever actually said these quotes, but this is the type of response I get when I mention I might move to BC. Still the prospect of moving out there is pretty exciting for me. It seems so exotic and idyllic and affordable and Kippy would just adore it. More pros: The Olymipcs are going to be there is 2010. Vancouver is a hotspot for movie and television production, (3rd in North America after LA and New York) areas I want to write about. BC is a center for video game production, another area I want to write about. You'll notice that everything I've mentioned is about the city and not the school. That's becuase I don't know too much about it. I know its a well respected school, and "the only graduate school of Journalism in Western Canada." So, I'm hoping I get in and Rick and I can go out there to explore this spring.

My last three schools I group into my Boston Group. The truth is I don't know too much about them except that they are expensive. Emerson, BU, and Northeastern. I'm going up to Boston this weekend to see Mom n' Pop, hang with the K-mas and go to an info session at BU this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have a better idea about that school after tomorrow. Right now I'm off to a Freelancer's Seminar at CUNY. Peace out kids have a good weekend!!

xoxo
JB

Mara made me do it. . .

Dammit Mara, I'm only doing this cause you're pregnant! Just kidding, you're wrong, I love doing self indulgent lists like this. And I haven't done this kinda shit since like Freshman year of highschool. I'm in a really weird mood right now and it's 2:45 in the morning, so this should be interesting. . .

Oh and Rachel Rose. . .you're my only other blogger friend - so I'm paying it forward to you. . .although you're blog is a bit more professional. . .

I AM. . .restless

I WANT. . .to be sitting down for Showgirls in Provincetown and ordering a drink

I HAVE. . .a beautiful husband and dog 

I KEEP. . .playing World of Warcraft incessantly

I WISH I COULD. . .be more witty

I HATE. . .slow people, but not as much as Rick

I FEAR. . .armageddon, seeing the world go to shit

I HEAR. . .the refrigerator running, and Lady Gaga very soon

I DON'T THINK. . .I should play Warcraft tomorrow. . .but I will anyway

I REGRET. . .buying so much expensive furniture

I LOVE. . .dancing

I AM NOT. . .heterosexual. . .by any streach 

I DANCE. . .as often as I can. . .and hopefully tomorrow?!

I SING. . .badly, very badly

I NEVER. . .do enough housework

I RARELY. . .get up before 11!

I CRY WHEN I WATCH. . .just about anything "heartwarming." That includes The Incredibles

I AM NOT ALWAYS. . .ready to party

I HATE THAT. . .I'm not more productive

I'M CONFUSED ABOUT. . .Isreal/Palistine. . .

I NEED. . .nothing more than what I have

I SHOULD. . .really go to bed soon. . .

The Holidays Part Tres - Skiddie Time!

After getting back from the Berkshire, Rick and I had a few days to relax and then - Mello! Lojo came to town! Inspired by her NYC visit, our long lost roomate Noa, who has been getting her doctorate in Southern Florida since college ended, came to Brooklyn for some shenanigans. Noa and Lojo arrived in Brooklyn at around the same time at my apartment, and we took a walk down to the Promenade and into DUMBO. It was a wonderful winter day, and we had a lot of laughs and silly times just walking around and hanging out. We returned to my apartment and played some Guitar Hero until it was time to meet Marky in the hood for some yummy thai food. It was so nice seeing Noa and I wish her luck on all her medical interviews in the near future.

For New Year's Eve, Marky and Matt threw a fabulous party at their apartment! We were so close to getting all five former roomates together, and although we only got 4 (me, Mark, Devon, and Lojo), it was super fun. Everyone was kind of a mess getting ready for New Year Eve, especially me. Whoever made me gay clearly forgot to give me that fashion gene all gay men are supposed to get and I've realized I'm kind of a

 fasion disaster. I tried on about 10 different outfits and all of them were terrible. I wasn't happy with what I settled on, but we basically had to leave and I had run out of options so c'est la vie. The party was a big ole Skiddy Reunion with us Gay Catherine St. roomies, Meera, Markland, Kenne, and Dorothy. We missed you Nat and Mikey O!
Some highlights: Rick imitating Drew Barrymore's "big results!" line from Body Fuzion and knocking over his drink, me hiding from this girl behind Dorothy because I couldn't remember her name, Keene introducing "my girlfriend WHO I FUCK ALL THE TIME," question of the night "how old is the oldest person you've ever slept with?" - Aron won that door prize and was the proud new owner of the naked Tony Danza picture, an entire group of people, including Laura thinking Rick said "Laura coudn't get a date to save her life, although right now she's probably getting plowed by some butch dyke" and of course, me rocking out with my Hello Kitty microphone.
Did anyone else watch the "countdown" on CNN? Becuase there was no clock on the screen. We were watching it muted on closed captioning and we were counting down by the script for deaf people that everyone knows has like a 5 second delay. While the screen was showing "Five. . .four. . ." a graphic came up on the screen that said "Happy New Year!" but everyone pretended they didn't see it and just kept couting. It was pretty ghetto but silly and fun. Everyone loves a good countdown. Plus, I really do love those first few minutes after New Years where you go around and hug everyone and kiss them and wish them Happy New Year. Everyone is always so happy and full of warmth; I really do think a New Year bring about feelings of hope and renewal.
After the countdown I got down with my aforementioned badass Hello Kitty microphone, and shoke my grove thing like it was 1999! Everyone was really in a good mood and it was overall just a fun party. While certainly can't say that it was a sober occasion, I was a bit more in control that usual and although I seem to have blacked out right after I jumped on the hood of this ambulence, I definately remember staying up until four in the morning watching Britney videos with Lojo until Nina called. She hooted like a barn owl ("hoot, hoot") when she was off the phone with her, but I was way passed out by then.

Lojo had to leave the next day, so we took a nice walk with her down to the bagel shop and saw her off on the subway. Tear. It was a nice visit, and a fantastic holiday season. Here's to a fabulous 2009!!

Xmas II

So I know you are all dying to find out how my holidays ended, so, I'll tell you. On the 26th we flew from Wisco back to NYC and rented a car right from the airport to drive up to the Berkshires. Apart from a brief squabble while leaving the airport area, things went swimingingly. Now let me preface this post by describing a little bit what a trip out to Tunxis (our Hyannisport, dahling) is like. Its basically hanging out with my parents and playing games interspersed by my mother cooking delicious meals with us. We start drinking heavily around 6 and don't stop until an unreasonalbe time (when my mother starts getting emotional or a log falls out of the fireplace). So, by all accounts its usually a pretty great and unhealthy time. I enjoy it as well because Kippy goes apeshit and has the time of his life up there, so I feel less guilty keeping him in our appartment for 23 hours a day at home.

After a jubilant reunion with Kippy at Tim & Paul's we arrive at the TRout House in the evening to do Le Noel Bathaser with my parents. My mom does 95% (if not 100%) of the Xmas shopping and she still likes to treat me, and now Rick, as if we were 7 years old. This means a stocking stuffed with gum, toothbrushes, candy, socks, and the like as well as about 10 presents for each of us. She went nuts at Tommy Hilfiger and got us all kinds of undwear, jackets, shirts, ect. which I'll actually wear. Probably the most exciting Jesus Day moment was when I sucessfully predicted getting The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo out of the blue. I had never asked my mom for it, and I really wanted it because it was on Stephen King's top ten books of 2008, so it was really cool she got it for me, and even cooler that I guessed it. She also got me a subscription to The Paris Review which I am very excited about as well as nice gloves, an amaryllis (which I definitely had to look up how to spell) and toffee. So we both got a pretty nice haul overall.

A spectacular sunset on the way home from Tim & Paul's place

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to playing ping-pong and getting drunk at cocktail parties. Seriously. The second night we were there my parents organized a cocktail party for the Caldwells (our next door neighbors) and after that I conviced all of us to go over the the Lawler's for his cocktail party. These parties are sometimes a bit stressful for me because I grew up with all these people and I'm expected to remember all of their names. Well, maybe not expected, because I spent alot of summers away in Provincetown and I am just now starting to reconnect to the Berkshires. Often someone will come up to me and say "you may not remember me, but I'm. . ." but also some people say "Jonathan Balthaser! I haven't seen you in 5 years! How are you!" and I have to pretend like I know who they are. This is easier with liquor. There are really alot of fascinating people who live around the lake and it was nice drunkenly talking with them. Rick is starting to get a clear view of the members. Anyway, apparently we were popular as my mother has told us several times since that we "were the hit of the party." I really don't think that we are that fascinating, but when I think about it, a married twenty year old couple is probably a giant gust of fresh air to these 60 year olds who are used to seeing only each other all year at these cocktail parties.

The last party was thrown by Ron Ronald, my father's best friend from his Denison days. He is related to our neighbors the Caldwells, and likes to throw a large family holiday party that he invites our family to as well. He owns a restaurant in Hartford, so he brought in his head chef to prepare a meal at the Clubhouse. Now, because Ron is best friends with my father, there is even more anxiety about remember who everyone is in his family. He seems to have around 6 daughters, and I can never remember who is who and what they all do. This night I made a concious effort to start to remember some of them and I made some real progress. The meal was nice and I sat next to Ron's sister who was quite interesting to talk to. One of the Caldwell's daughter's, Amelie, got into Denison, so everyone was all excited about that. Rick correctly guessed all the children's grades, and they all guessed he was 26 years old. The evening ended with a heated ping-pong game between Rick and Amelie, my mother and myself. So, 10 pounds heavier and with our livers ravaged, we headed back to NYC for some Skiddie New Year's Even fun. . .until next time!

My Xmas in Wisconsin

Well it's been a while and as I've said before, I hate when bloggers talk about how long it's been since their last post so moving on. . .

The Holidays were pretty fantastic. I almost had a anxiety attack when Tim came to pick up Kippy to take care of him for the three days we would be away in Wisconsin. Seriously, I almost lost my shit. I was getting all choked up and felt like I was going to cry and wanted to hold him close and not let him go. I was afraid that Kippy would be afraid in their small New York apartment and miserable having to deal with their two pugs. However after talking with Tim, it seems like he barely missed us. He dealt with the apartment fine, and once he got up to the Berkshire AKA Dog Heaven, we were but mere remnants of a memory, replaced by the joy of frolicking in snow. Basically he had a fantastic time while Rick and I were pining away for our little Reno.

Wisconsin was a hoot - we drank a lot (Harvey Walbangers and Tom and Jerrys - only in the Midwest) and I was subjected to more forced gambling at cards and pool. It's interesting how Rick's father seems to always clean up. Rick's farther WAS in a jolly old mood though, and although I wouldn't say we did anything on the level of bonding, he was less than his gruff usual self. He also told me kinda out of the blue after we played pool that I could be a great pool player if I played in a league. So that was sweet.
Lori plays Santa during Xmas eve present opening

The was a ton of snow as expected, but none really fell while we were there, and it wasn't unbearably cold. It was my first Christmas outside my own family and it was a very nice experience. On Christmas Eve, the Smetanas like to play cards, drink and then open all their presents. Basically everything I got was a game which was pretty amazing. I got Pass the Pigs (vintage), Guitar Hero III, our third copy of Cranium, Pictureka and a great new dice game called Farkle. On Christmas day we went over to Rick's aunt Linda's house, started drinking around noon, and opened more presents (I only got one gift there). It was nice knowing most of the people there and for the first time I began to really feel comfortable around Rick's family. I got an ear full of gossip as well, and learned a lot about DUIs, school expulsions, failed marriages, and more of the usual family drama. Rick's cousin, who is kind of hot, pulled out a bag of weed while a group of us were playing Farkle and began to roll a joint before his step-mom told him to put it away. So we went out into his car and lit up there. Nice.

We went back to the Smetana household around 8 and played 31 (and I lost more money for quite some time.) Rick's farther was very animated and I drank an entire bottle of wine by myself. It was a lovely way to end a pleasant Christmas. The next morning, we just got up, ate a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes, watched an episode of Cash Cab and rolled on out of there to the airport. Done and done. Back to New York and then immediately up to the Berkshires for Christmas Round 2 with the Balthasers.

The fabulous life of the unemployed

Well its been a while. I hate when people ramble on about not updating their blogs so I'm not going to. I even feel guilty mentioning it, but whatever, I'm done with it.

So, I'm unemployed and loving it. Here's how my typical day usually pans out. I get up anytime between 9 and 12. Ok, so I've never gotten up at 9. I guess the average get up time is about 10 o'clock. (Mind you I have already gotten up around 7 to take Kipper for a walk) I take Kipper for another walk, and usually get a coffee at Starbucks in my neighb. After that, I make myself a protein shake for "breakfast" or rarely scramble some egg whites - you see, I'm working on that killer body so I can become a rich and famous model. I'll let everyone know when that happens. 

With my tummy full and my pup taken care of, I plop myself down on the computer to work on shaping my future. I could do any number of things, and right now there is no rhyme and reason to what goes on. Foremost on my mind right now is getting solid applications out to my graduate journalism school, so I've been working on the personal statement, corresponding with my recommenders to make sure they get their rec in, ordering transcripts, sending GRE scores, reviewing writing samples and all kinds of other thrilling tasks that go into successfully applying to schools.  

Sometimes I'll look for jobs. This includes contacting friends, colleagues, and acquaintances and asking them for contacts or job leads. This includes trolling Craigslist along with millions of other people in NYC looking for a plum job, or even just a bartending or modeling gig. This includes. This includes emailing my work advisor who is "working" on getting me temp work - and I say working because so far she has done jack shit for me; not that I blame her, I can imagine she's got dozens and dozens of better qualified, needier applicants she can place for the scant temp jobs that are available. Still, the bitch could return an email. This includes applying for internships and emailing random editors telling them why they should hire me. It's often surprising where jobs can come from. But here's the catch. I don't really want a job. I'm on unemployment and its not so bad. $405 a week. That's $1620 a month for all you who haven't been keep up with your multiplication tables. Now, it's not like I'm going to be planning any Carribean vacations on this money, but it can certainly get me through the month. And I'm married now so I have my husband to support me if need be. Plus, Rick and I live pretty modestly. It's basically rent, gym, bills, and food. We hardly go out anymore, so the major bar tabs are a hazy memory. I've blown my wad on fab furniture over the past year so the apartment is nice and pleasant to be in. New clothes and gorgeous little things dahling would be nice, but I can live without. Going out to eat is nice, and we can still do that time to time. Thankfully, we are both healthy and I am covered under Rick's health insurance. Luckily, there is no compulsion to keep up with any Jones' so I'm living a pretty satisfying life. Trouble is, it clearly won't last. As lazy a person as I naturally am, I will want a job sooner than later. Once my applications are finished, I'll have nothing important to occupy my time and I'm going to feel like a giant waste of space. 

Ok back to the schedule. Working on the computer all day get monotonous so I'll take breaks from time to time to time. If it's not to cold out, I'll take lil Kippy Reno out for a run to the dog park. It's a new routine I've developed and I really love it. I run along the Brooklyn Heights promenade, which always affords an impressive view of  downtown Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. I feel like Rocky training, and I can tell Kipper is so happy, with his eyes wild and alert, ears flopping in the wind. We go to the dog park which is about 1 mile, and although there are not as many dogs running around now that it's so wintery, usually there are one or two that Kippy gets to frolic with for a half hour or so. Other things I'll do to break up the monotony is surf the web, make some food, play fetch with the Kipster, watch CNN, chat online with friends, clean and do chores, play video games, stare at hot guys working out at the YMCA across the street from us, and yes, yank one out from time to time. Sometimes at the same time. Ah, the glory of masterbating mid-afternoon! Is it any wonder I'm loving being unemployed? 

Now, many of you have probably noticed my allusions to my burgeoning modeling career. I like to try and talk about it tongue and cheek because it's kind of ridiculous, although I have made good money on it before, and I have been successful at it, so I think it really could be viable option to get me through the next several months until school starts. And certainly I could defer for year if they want me to be the new face of Calvin Klein Underware. Just saying. So, in pursuit of some gigs and or A CONTRACT, I've been doing several headshot shoots with my friend and wedding photographer Sara Wight. We got some really good ones and I am working on putting a comp card together soon.

Eventually Rick comes home around 4:00 and we usually chat and he showers, takes Kippy out and sometimes takes a nap at which point I go back to doing some more work. Now we are back to the point in the day when I was employed: Rick wakes up, we watch tv then go to the gym or the reverse of that, eat and do nighttime activities, which range from having sex to making tea. 

Thanks for reading!! If you have any job leads or words or kindness, please let me know!

XO

JB