Matt's Video Blog #2

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Matt's Video Blog #1

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Easy as Life

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted this week was unexpectedly busy. Saturday was a fun-filled day starting with a 3 hour brunch lunch with some old camp friends. I don't think any of us planned on sitting in Cosi for 3 hours and telling camp stories, but that's what happens sometimes...I guess. It's always nice to be able to talk to people who you don't see very often and maybe even don't talk to much. Camp, as some of you know, is like my home away from home (it's my 10th time going back in fact!) and the people there have become almost family for me. Some of them know me better than I know myself and I know that I can always call or text or whatever someone from camp if I need help with anything. They're always there, and there's a lot of them too! So, shout out to Jake, Colby, and Aaron for making my Saturday afternoon a blast. What a cheesy word. "Blast!" Who thought it would be a good idea to substitute "Blast" for "fun" or something. Who knows. And if you thought my Saturday couldn't get better, it did, in a BIG way. 

I had a once in a lifetime (or once every time I'm home) opportunity to join my Mom and making some Jewish parent's dream come true. Their son's Bar-Mitzvah party. "Ben's Field of Dreams" was a hit and much in part to the hard work of my mother and her crew (aka me and JB). The party, of course, has some bumps, but not enough to keep my mom from dancing a little bit (she could have been a Solid Gold dancer...for those of you who have any idea what that is). But seriously, my mom is amazing at what she does. It's astounding to me that she has only been doing this for a few years and now she is a big kahuna in the Bar-Mitzvah world. Much love Momma, you rock. 

Sunday was a little slower but that night was my cousin's birthday party. When I say birthday party I do not mean pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, dance around in circles, eat ice cream cake and watch home videos 10 years later and laugh birthday party. I mean the type where both sides of her family are there and we sit, watch football, and tell stories...not to mention the 5 children running around entertaining us. Needless to say, it was a fun night and it was the last chance to see my cousin Jordan before we both headed back to school. Miss you already Jord! Monday was uneventful and Tuesday I flew out to Arizona to visit some family. I spent just about 48 hours there, and I have to say that it was an amazing trip that I wish had been longer. This is partially do to the fact that the weather there was much better than at home or at school, but it more because I had the chance to really get to spend some one on one time with my amazing uncle Jon, wife Kate, daughter Maddy, and doggie Josie. 

Arizona

Chicago

We didn't do anything extremely exciting per-say, but that was not the point of me going. I was happy to sit at a table in the house with any of them for 2 hours and just talk. I figured out that you can learn a lot over just one cup of coffee, or one car ride. It meant a lot to me that they sort of let me sit in on their life for two days, and I cannot say how proud I am of my family. Now that I'm a mature adult (some may argue otherwise) I can really appreciate my family members for who they are and talk to them like I'm not a kid. The flights were quite easy and once I returned home I immediately had to start getting ready to head back to school. I spent my last days at home visiting with more friends and hanging out with family. Sunday, my flight back, was eventful to say the least. First off, my first flight was cancelled which resulted in me having to sit and watch the Bears game with my mother. Loud doesn't describe it. In case you didn't know, the players can hear her through the TV so it makes perfect sense that she yells at them like they are her players. After that, I headed back to the airport to give it a second go. This time I was successful in getting on to the plane, though I had no idea what I was in store for. First, the family sitting across from me thought it would be a good idea to bring their dog on the plane. I am semi-allergic and I'm sure the man sitting next to me got quite annoyed with my sneezing. Not to mention the crying child behind me who screamed almost the entire flight. Other than that, it was lovely. Once I landed in Boston I learned that people have an extreme craze about their baggage. I had no idea that the closer you stand to the luggage carousel, the faster YOUR luggage comes. After pushing my way through the hoards of people I got both my bags and hopped a cab back to the BoCo. Sometimes I forget that we live in old brownstones and that there are no elevators. Two bags, a guitar, and carry-on later, I was on my bed almost asleep when I was alerted that my friends were heading to the cafeteria for their evening meal. I decided to join them and enjoy my first meal back at school. It was, as always, lovely. I was exhausted by the end of the night and decided it would be a bad idea for me to go and party before I unpacked. So, I unpacked, and by the time that was done, I was just ready for bed. I hit the hay early but it was much needed. Today was wonderful in that I received a new iPhone and spent 2 hours at the apple store. I could have spent all day, but I had to resist. Now I'm back in the dorm relaxing, reading, web surfing, and figuring things out for later tonight. As more and more kids filter into school, I slowly am remembering why I loved this place so much. For this semester I plan on really appreciating every person and every moment because it's all quite precious. The things we learn now are the things that we'll use for the rest of our lives, but we don't have to worry about that today, because today's not even over. One at a time, it's important to keep everything in perspective. Break was four weeks over mental cleansing and detoxing, it's time to get back to doing what I love; learning about what I love. But with all that, we have to take it one day at a time. I hope that everyone had an amazing break from whatever you were doing, and if you didn't have one, take some time and watch a movie or eat ice cream or something. Rest your mind, everyone needs to sometimes, and don't plan on having a break tomorrow, today's not even over yet!

-Matt

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When You're Home

It has officially been 5 days since I've arrived back in the 847 and it's been a good time so far. Getting back home was no easy "thang" though. On Sunday, I posted about how we were boarding the plane and I was going home and how nice and blah, blah, blah. We boarded the plane on time and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the Frontier Airline Jet was. There were 2 seats on each side, so my brother and I got to sit together, which could have been a formula for disaster but that ended up being the least of our worries. After boarding we were informed there was a slight issue in the cockpit and that we'd be in the air as soon as it was fixed. Pretty normal, a slight delay never caused anyone much harm. Now, 45 minutes later, people were growing restless, not me of course (that's because I was sleeping.) I was then rudely awakened to find that everyone was getting off the plane. Apparently they could not fix the issue and proceeded to tell us, essentially, we were "s**t out of luck." My father went into Bruce mode and called American and booked us a flight for the next morning since everything on Sunday was booked solid. Frontier told us to go and retrieve our luggage and then head over to the (ONE) desk, where we'd be given further information. My Dad, always the thinker, decided to split up! I went down to luggage with my Mom and Brother, and he went to the desk. 10 minutes later we received a call from upstairs, my Dad, telling us to meet him back at security because we were getting back on the plane. As thrilled as we were by the news, it was quite tedious to go through security again and have to board again and have to just get settled again. As soon as everyone had boarded it was about 3 hours past the time we were planning on taking off, but we ended up making it home just fine and ordering my favorite Northbrook pizza. Keep in mind that earlier that day we had gotten off the boat and when we arrived we had to take a car back to Northbrook from Milwaukee. That's what I call a day of traveling. 

The week began and my first day officially home included a work out and Netflix. Relaxing right? The next two days I had the opportunity and the privilege to visit my old high school and sit in on some theater classes and answer some question about school...a lot of questions about school. It was nice to just be back in familiar territory, the place where I really learned everything I know about performing and all that. What's more, I was lucky enough to sit in on a dress rehearsal, and then a performance of "Spelling Bee" at my school, which many of my close friends were in. To see them on stage and to just sit in the audience and watch was easier than I thought it would be. I couldn't help but sit back and be so proud of the program that I came from. The talent was extraordinary and the students involved had some star performances. Not to mention, the directing and music in the was phenomenal. I truly believe that it was comparable to the tour of the show I saw some years ago. So that's my shout out to the cast, amazing job you guys! 

Today I decided to help my Mom out at her office, I had no idea what I was getting into. I will say, as boring and hard as it was, I had a pretty good time. I got the chance to watch my mom do what she does best! And boy is she good at it. Meanwhile, I was sorting, labeling, alphabetizing, and then rolling and packing giveaways for a party this weekend. Luckily, my cousin joined me a little later and we were able to get it all done. 

Other than that, there hasn't been much going on. I have been watching a lots of "Weeds" if that's exciting to you. Like I said, I am extremely happy to be home and spending time with friends and family but I am more than excited to get back to Boston and back to work. I am even more excited for what happens after this semester. When I return home I am going to be hard at work with an old friend of mine on a secret project that I'll inform you about later on in the spring, and then, for the 10th time, I'll be heading up to Woodruff, Wisconsin to hang out and spend the summer with some amazing friends of mine who range in age from 9 to...older. I sent my contract in yesterday and I have a feeling this could be one of the best summers ever. 

For now, I'm off to dinner with a friend and then who knows what the next few hold in store. Being at home is like a giant improv game, I'm totally making it up as I go along. 

-Matt

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It Couldn't Please Me More

After a week of hiatus I have returned with stories a plenty. The "Allure of the Seas" and the stops along the way were home to some amazing stories and memories that we'll be talking about for a long time. The ship itself is the largest in the world. It consists of 7 neighborhoods that are free to explore. The royal promenade (the mall), the boardwalk (home to the aqua theater and carousel), central park (outdoor area with restaurants), entertainment place (comedy club, ice skating rink, main theater, casino, and club) to name a few. Needless to say, it was an amazing shop and there was always stuff to do. There are a couple essential parts of a cruise vacation though. First the ship, and the staff, and the service and all that, and then there's the people you travel with. The Slutsky's and the Bernsen's, two very good family friends, were fantastic travel partners and without them it would have been a completely different trip. Dinners, excursions, and just sitting out by the pool was always entertaining, and it was just a pleasure to be able to spend time with everyone. 

Like I said, there was always something to do on the ship and during one of the first nights , there was a game show type thing called "The Quest." Essentially there are 10 teams, and you have show the host that your team has something, but you can't leave the vicinity. Lipstick (but it must be on a man), Abe Lincoln (a penny), 2 bras (that sort of speaks for itself) are just a few examples, but little did I know that one of those little things would change my entire vacation. I was lucky enough to be a team captain and when it was time to see a pair of heels on a man's feet, I was ready to step up to the plate. So I strapped on a pair of heels from one of my friends on my team and took my time strutting up the the middle of the court to show that we had the required item. While the other men were falling and stumbling their way up, I took my time and walked up like they were any regular pair of shoes. Oh, I forgot to mention that "Single Ladies" was playing, so how could I resist whipping out some of the moves I knew. Let's just say that for the rest of the cruise I was known as "Mattyonce" by everyone on board and was shaking hands and taking pictures with people for the rest of the week (and that's not a joke.) I'm not going to complain about the fame but after the tenth time of being asked to do single ladies from a random person in the middle of a hallway on my way to bed, it got a bit old. That was only the beginning though. When we got off the boat in St. Thomas, we knew something was bound to happen. It wasn't until we were on our way back to the ship that the craziness ensued. Earlier, we had hopped into one of these big open air cabs that seated 15 of us. The ride to the beach was nuts but I am happy to report that nothing fell out in transit. But our cab driver turned out to be very protective of her customers. When we were ready to head back, our driver from before had not arrived yet. Without second guessing, we hopped in a cab about the same size and were heading back to the ship when we saw her cab approaching. Suddenly both cabs stopped side by side and she began to scream something along the lines of, "Gimmie back ma people!" We all sort of sat in shock and were confused as to what to do. Our driver continued driving forward and we watched our old driver turn around and follow us until we both eventually stopped. We immediately got out of this new cab and got into the old one. It turns out, she was not a force you'd want to reckon with due to the fact that she was in possession of a firearm and was willing and ready to use it if she did not get "her people" back. We sat in silence for about a minute, and then we laughed the rest of the ride back to the ship. That kind of stuff only happens to people like us in St. Thomas. It was a story for the books, and I am sure that "gimmie back ma people" will be something we're saying for a long time. A couple of other quick little stories for you: I found out this week that my mother and her best friend thought Puss in Boots was two different people. Puss and Boots. New years was an incredible night...which I don't know much about since I was asleep by 1:00. Putting a broadway show on a ship and expecting it to be a broadway quality show...not gonna happen. BINGO must be rigged because I played every day and was one away...one time. Casino's are only fun when you makes money, otherwise slot machines are just annoying and loud. Most important of all, cruising with Royal Carribean is "fierce." Overall I had an amazing week at sea and I cannot wait to do it again next year...and for 9 days! For now, I'm going to sit in this airport and enjoy the sun while I can. My last two weeks of break will be spent in Chicago, probably losing my tan. Snow and cold, here I come! In the meanwhile I'll be working out and stretching towards my splits every day. I'll be sure to keep you updated on all thats happening before my return to BoCo, where second semester is soon to be underway. Now that's what I call vacation! 

-Matt

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