Prepared to spend all night in the library writing papers and getting shit done...




While I'm here...how about a hair length update?



You should see what it looks like in a ponty tail. I'm pretty cute right now, I gotta say.

Schoolwork and becoming an adult is taking a dump on me =]

Vulgar? Maybe. An accurate description of my second-to-last semester in college? Yes.

Oh my god is it really my second-to-last semester in college?

I'm growing up!

Ok. Done with my stream of consciousness narrative.

Over the past few weeks I've had a difficult time accepting that I'm as far along in school as I am. I mean, I have more down time than I know what to do with, I have a pretty good financial plan for at least the next year, I am taking the final steps in my application to a two-year committment with the Peace Corps, and I'm not having nervous breakdowns biweekly due to stress overload.

But within the past few days I realized that I'm not freaking out because I love my degree. It's not that I'm not doing tons of work...it's that I'm doing tons of what I love, so it doesn't feel like work. My favorite piece of advice I've ever heard was something along the lines of "find a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life."

I'm living the dream.

Does getting rid of the orange background make the site a little easier on your eyes? This is what it used to look like:



Tell me in the comments section please!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the birthday girl, Gillian's, new tattoo of a Mad Hatter quote straight up her side:


"don't lets be silly"

Decisions made in college are so...collegey.

I have been suffering from a sore throat for about a week now. Last night I bought a bag of cough drops, popped the first one, choked on it and consequently made my sore throat way worse.

My friend with the tattoo gun has struck again. I'll try to get a picture of my friend Gillian's fresh tattoo some time today; apparently she got a quote from the Mad Hatter straight up her side. Keep checking back to see if I've gotten the ridiculousness posted. It is her birthday, afterall, and so I feel it is only right to give the now twenty-year-old a big feature on RPS.com.

I think today I'll shirk my responsibilities and hang out in Zach's room in my pajama pants and a sports bra casually doing homework now and then but mostly taking naps and blogging. It's that kind of Monday.

Join me in my Do Nothing Monday and lets watch movies and eat pizza together!

School finally realized that it needed to zap the $600 from my account, so I'm back to where I was. Sorta. I had to buy another $40 textbook so I'm actually -$40 from where I was.

Waiting to hear back my financial aid results for next year's FAFSA. Keep your fingers crossed that the federal government will decide I'm worth sending to school for free.

Because of the fact that I'm in New York and New Yorkers do not know what See's Candy is (I know, it's a shame...) I shall refer to this deliciousness from here on as "extreme yummy goodness."

Yesterday was a very extreme yummy goodness themed day. On top of being able to arrange a last-minute extreme yummy goodness order for my mom, I also received a package in the mail from Pat and Dave C (aka the ultimate care package senders) with a heart-shaped box full of extreme yummy goodness! Don't worry, Zach wasn't a complete failure; we went out to a lovely dinner yesterday that I didn't pay a cent for. But still. I think extreme yummy goodness wins.

In other news, Max finally earned himself a mention in my blog that is more than just an update on who he is dating. Last night he soberly decided to get a tattoo from a fellow student who just received her first tattoo gun in the mail today.



It's a lyric from a Tool song. Assuming you know nothing about the band, does even their name lead you to want a lyric by them on your ribcage forever and done at the hand of an 18-year-old whose only experience with tattoos is with a clementine and on one other student?

...these are the people I'm going to be roomming with next semester.

Read this: Least Favorite Thing About Valentine's Day, by The Oatmeal.

Still rich . . . but WHY?
Extra money still in my bank account. I'm going to give it a couple more days of sitting there before I decide that I can stick it savings/pay off some loans/buy a latte or two.

And getting richer . . .
Was able to secure another weekend with a bunch of unexpected hours working for the Potsdam Institute for Applied Research. My friends (who are primarily sophomores) have resorted to making fun of me for not going out to parties so much anymore. As of late I've been staying in to do homework and getting to bed early so I can get to work in the morning......this is what it feels like to be a senior, huh? Or am I just finally growing up and realizing that a loud, sweaty house full of drunk freshman isn't really my scene?

Let's say a little of both.

I'm rich! I think.
I paid off part of my student bill yesterday and was planning on paying off the rest when I get my next paycheck. The funny thing is that my online bill says I made the payment, but my checking account says I didn't...meaning I have an extra $600 sitting in my checking account. If the computer doesn't catch the error (and when pigs fly), then I will just be the happiest little broke college student ever.

The mystery man I'm dating...
I don't have any pictures of Zach and I together on either Facebook or here. And so, without further adieu, the boyfriend and I (being as serious as we possibly can...in matching shirts....):


tell us how obnoxiously cute we are in the comments section?

I've remodeled the site a baby bit. In the about section you can now find this chart, which shows just how much I'm screwed with money:

this semester's expenses

tuition	$7,160.00
comprehensive fees	$618.00
rent: jan-may	$2,125.00
textbooks	$210.00
total	$10,113.00

income

library job	$70/week
research assistant job	varies
help from parents	$50/week
federal loans	$4,732.00
private loan	$1,500.00
family loan	$1,500.00
credit card	limit of $1,000.00

And, as usual, the Paypal link is there if you wanna just hand over your extra cash (because I know we all have so much of it these days...)

I have decided that chocolate is good for me. I am going to eat a little every day and be happier, more caffeinated, and will have more money because I'll be buying less coffee. Boom. Chocolate is great for me.

Also, some of you may know that I do not own a bed. I have a futon that is, without a doubt, the least comfortable thing in the world (Zach THINKS I like to spend the night with him because I like him a whole lot. He doesn't know just how much I hate my futon). Some of my friends who will be living in the house with me have never lived off campus before and therefore need to start collecting furniture for the Great Move-In. Gillian and Mark went dumpster-diving recently and have found another futon that needs a place to live until we move into the house. And so, out of the goodness of my heart, I have offered up my bedroom as a futon storage facility.

Zach, I'm going to have to stay on campus in your dorm a little more (I know, life is hard). Our friends are using my bedroom as a storage facility.

Max wants me to blog more about him therefore I feel the need to update you all with the news that Max has a date this week with a girl he met speed dating. Her name is Elizabeth.

To the Women of California,

Will you be my Valentines? I will fly out from New York and take you all out on a wonderful date.

I know I'm not the most charming girl in the world. My breath smells like coffee pretty much all the time, I like to crack politically incorrect jokes, and I can't tell you how to change a tire. Despite my occasional uselessness, I'm also financially pretty stable and come from a loving family. I'm great with kids and love my dogs more than I love coffee.

So, ladies of California, lets go on a date together and see where this takes us. Maybe it's a little forward, but if all goes well I think we should elope. As you may or may not know, we can legally get married now.

Happy Valentine's Day, ladies of California.

Loads of lovin,
Lizy Kurtz

PROP 8 GOT STRUCK DOWN TODAY

The house I'm living in for my next, and final, semester here in Potsdam (also the house in which I will be turning 21, which is equally as important):

Everyone needs to get out of the line in the library cafe. C'mon, their bagels and lattes aren't THAT good. And I KNOW my school work requires more coffee than your school work.

Yes, the new place allows me to move in over the summer. The rest of the crew won't be moving in until the end of August, so I'll be getting the house to myself for three months! My landlady is super nice about it - it's just a couple hundred extra dollars (unbeatable deal) to get a house to myself for the summer. Um, heck yes.

The cafe line still hasn't gone down.

I found a place to live next semester. It's been a long week of figuring out what to do, becoming comfortable with who I'm rooming with, and coordinating information between my future roommates' parents.

I will be living in a house with 8 of my closest friends here in Potsdam (the house is luckily divided into two separate apartments, with four bedrooms on each floor, so there will be a little more privacy than just 9 college students getting the entire run of the house). They say one shouldn't ever room with friends, but it's a great deal and the location with proximity to campus is unbeatable. I've met with the landlady too and my first impression, cooky though she was, is that she is more on top of her shit than either of my previous landlords.

But, as usual, I'm prepared for the craziness that will no doubtedly ensue as the result of the 9 of us living together.

Eh. At least my friends will let me hang my pirate flag out front.

First order of business: I changed the site again (obviously). As usual, tell me your thoughts about it in the comments section. And don't forget to check out the new Hall of Fame section for all of the fabulous things you send me in comments!

Second order of business: I'm currently in the thick of the really super extra annoying process of finding my next place to live. Someone please send me lots of lattes and bagels while I get through this.

Oh, and happy Februrary!