Since graduating from Champlain College in May I have paid little to no attention to my blog. I started this blog during my senior year as part of a Contemporary Media class. I enjoyed blogging through out the class about different topics in the media and wanted to continue the blog even after the class had ended. Unfortunately I have been negligent. But why? Lack of time? Surely I could dedicated some of the several hours a day I spend watching crime dramas on Netflix to stretching my brain a bit through a blog post.

Image: http://dvdsetsource.com/prison-break-seasons-14-dvd-boxset-p-33.html


It seems to be that my lack of bloggage is because I don't know WHAT to write about. I have been so frazzled since graduation with moving, working, job searching, and the occasional emotional breakdown that I haven't had time to reflect.

Image: http://www.popfi.com/2008/03/07/salar-de-uyuni-a-mirror-that-reflects-the-sky/

I don't mean that I want to look at an analyze every aspect of my life on a blog - no one would read it and if they did they would probably think I should be committed. But it is important to take a moment now and again and to jot down some thoughts even if it is just to get them out of your head. I officially dub this blog as a brain dump. If you find it interesting please read on, and if not well then I don't caaaare.

Sugar on Snow...But Hold the Snow Please

March in Vermont is a difficult time of year. Most people are officially ready for the snow to leave and the green grass and crocuses to appear. Unfortunately the most common sight in March is walls of dirty, brown, muddy snowbanks that refuse to go anywhere. When these brown walls finally do melt they usually cause chaos, flooding, and pudding like driving conditions.

I'd have to say I have never been a fan of March, the mud, pot holes, frost heaves, unpredictable weather, and dirty ugliness have never really appealed to me. However there are two parts of March that I do like, college basketball brackets and maple sugaring.

While my college basketball bracket usually depends on where my friends go to school, the attractiveness of their star players, or the color of their uniforms my experience with maple sugaring has been much more hands on, but old fashioned.



Yes, that is a much younger me tapping trees in the backyard of my parents home in South Starksboro, the old fashioned way. My dad's maple sugaring operation is pretty low tech and small. The taps are hand drilled (yes there is a tool for that), the sap is hand collected from these old buckets that my parents inherited when they bought the house, and the maple trees have been tapped many, many times over their lifetime.

The sap is then boiled in an arch, constructed out of cinder blocks in the back yard. The Dubenetsky Maple Syrup operation is anything but high tech, and only produces enough maple syrup for a year of Sunday pancakes, but it is a sign of spring and hope that the long winter is finally over. While it may not look like much, especially amidst the half melted snowbanks, greenish yellow grass, piles of dog and horse crap and bare trees I love it and encourage you to go out and try some of this years REAL maple syrup. I guess March in Vermont isn't so bad after all, as long it stops snowing!

"Falling In Love is Like Owning A Dog" by Taylor Mali

Since yesterday was Valentines day and I am at least several days behind in everything in my life it seems these last few months, I thought I would share one of my favorite love poems by one of my all time favorite poets Taylor Mali. Read, and enjoy.

"Falling In Love is Like Owning A Dog"
By Taylor Mali



First of all, it's a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Blog Thiefs

Just the other night, while tooling through my Google Reader I stumbled across a blog. At first I thought it was my blog since it had the same title as my blog "Where's The Craic?" but after further investigation I realized it was SOMONE ELSES BLOG! Whether knowingly or not someone had stolen by blog name! I felt a little defensive, since I though my blog name "Where's The Craic" was quite creative indeed. Not only did this blog have the same name as mine but It was also by a Champlain College student who is studying abroad in Dublin. HUMPH! Whether done knowingly or not, my blog name had been stolen out from underneath me.

Instead of sending her a nasty note or leaving weirdo comments all over her page I decided to act my age and change the name of MY blog. After all, I assume blogger does not give you the complete rights to the name of your blog. I am still not completely satisfied with the name "Great Craic" but hopefully I will have a creative moment in the next couple of days and come up with a great new name for this blog. Until then, stay posted and keep an eye out for the blog that changes names.

Senioritis Makes Me Cranky

Well, it has finally happened. Almost one month into my last semester of college and I have come down with a serious case of the inevitable "senioritis". At first I thought it was just a really bad case of PMS, unfortunately this is something that chocolate and potato chips won't fix...at least not completely.

Photo:http://womenkind.typepad.com/.a/6a011168583444970c0112797103b128a4-popup

I have been in a constant state of annoyance, being annoyed with having to go to class and doing homework, just wanting to sleep through everything until it is over, and getting angry at my neighbors downstairs for partying on a Thursday night when I have to get up and work early the next day...the nerve! I guess for me "senioritis" isn't just wanting to slack off all the time but I am also starting to consider school a colossal waste of time. I could be making MONEY instead of sitting in this class...hmmm.

I started this semester swearing up and down that I was not ready to graduate, that I would rather stay in school then enter the real world. What was I thinking? The more I think about it the more I realize that I am ready to grow up. Sure it is scary to think that for the first time in my life I will not have to report to school in September of 2011, but hopefully I will be doing something fun/exciting/amazing/awesome/extraordinary. Perhaps skydiving.

Photo: http://www.skydive-dc.com/

And for all of you out there who get some sort of pleasure by asking a college senior the dreaded question "So what are you going to do?" Let me just say I DON'T KNOW I DON'T WANT TO KNOW I DON'T NEED TO KNOW! To phrase this a little more politely, I have no freaking idea what I am going to do after I graduate in May, who knows what kind of opportunities are going to arise in the next several months, who knows where I am going to be, or what I am going to want to be doing. Who actually wants to graduate college one day and start a full time career the next? This is my time to explore who I am and what I want to do, I can do anything I want. I am going to go with the flow.

But for now, I am just going to put my head down and attempt to make it through this last semester of College, passing all of my classes, and trying to control my temper, which is getting shorter every day.