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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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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Christmas Lullaby

Hello from beneath the rays of sunny florida. I am currently sitting in my room with my cousin Jordan and I decided to post since it's been a few days. Let me recap some of the past week for all ya'lls. So, the flight to FLA was quite nice. Nothing too bad, easy window seat, and a couple that only spoke spanish next to me wasn't the worst combination. Beside the fact that they fell asleep and endlessly drooled on each other, it was all good. I got my luggage ok and was happy to be arriving in Florida, and not in snowy and cold Chicago. I hung out with my grandparents for a whole 24 hours and it was lovely. We went to dinner at this really "hip" restaurant that is owned by the same people who run my favorite place in Florida. The next day my mom, dad, and brother arrived and the fun began. Since than we've been sitting in the sun and just hanging out, not to mention sleeping in and staying up late.Why you ask? Because this kid is new Netflix subscriber and has become addicted the Showtime sensation, Weeds. I have already finished 2 seasons in a matter of 48 hours and I cannot stop. I love the fact that the show is classified as a dramady, which is exactly what it is. There are moments that I laugh quite hard, and moments where I am literally sitting on my bed with my mouth wide open. It keeps me on edge the entire time, I am, like I said, addicted. Speaking of dramatic media, my first night here I had the privilege of seeing "The Black Swan" with my grandparents, not something I would recommend. The movie itself was fantastic and Natalie Portman was stunning. I sincerely hope she wins the oscar, or at least something. That's the kind of role that can mess someone up in their head, and she really was acting out of her mind, like crazy amazing. Speaking of ACTING, I recently started reading a book for my acting class, "The Actor and The Target". I really didn't know what to expect but I have to say, though I am only 3 chapters in, it's incredible. I'm already learning a lot from it! If you're into deep stuff about acting, give it a good read. That means you Rachel Rubenstein. Other than that, there hasn't been much going on. Today my aunt, uncle and cousins arrived, and the party REALLY got started. Tonight we got dinner at a restaurant named LoLa, and it was mighty delicious. There was, of course, no lack of laughs as it always is when our whole family is together. It was a lot of fun and it made me sit back and appreciate my family on this Christmas Eve. LoLa stands for Laugh often, Love A Lot and I guess this will be the deep part of my blog for the night. I decided, after taking a picture of the sign, and thinking about it I sort of decided I need to do both a lot more. I think that at school I have been taking things a little too seriously, and maybe in life in general too. I need to start laughing stuff off, and today I had the chance to grab a bit with an old camp friend and it reminded me how good laughing feels. There are so many memories from camp that make me laugh harder than anything else, and I realized that I need more of that in the rest of my life. So from now on, I'm gonna laugh...more. In terms of Love A Lot, I'm gonna start by showing my love for the people around me more. Sometimes I guess I take things for granted, like people, and I don't tell people how much they mean to me enough. So, that's my "preach" for the day. Give it thought, do you laugh and love enough? Anyway, I hope that this finds you well and that your new year is wonderful and bright. And of course, have a merry Christmas. 

(I have been dying to end my blog like this since I started)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

-Matt

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It Won't Be Long Now

As I'm sure you have discovered, I am blogging from a new website and a new address! Tumblr has been absolutely wonderful to me, but I felt that it was time to move on from that "artsy" stuff and actually start a blog. I was really inspired by some of my friends here and if you want, their websites are listed in my blog description on the right hand side.

So much has happened since I lasted blogged, as always, and so I'll do my best to get where I'm at right now. Starting with last weekend, we knew that all of us here were in the final stretch. There weren't too many finals this week, but enough to have to work. Let me just list for you what I took in the past 6 days: Lib Arts, Music Theory, Tap, Sight Reading, Musical Theatre, Acting, Movement/Anatomy, and Voice and Speech. As stupid as this all sounds, it wasn't all glitter and rainbows. There was plenty of work to be done, and besides that I was working hard on putting this together and putting together something that I'll show you later. While all this was happening I had the privilege of doing plenty of fun stuff this week too.

First I had the opportunity to see the Boston Pops Holiday concert...for free! It was an incredible night and it was a lot of fun. I had never been to symphony hall before, and I was awestruck by the beauty of the building.

Later on in the week I headed over to Mass. General and got my vocal chords scoped. I realize the picture is a little bit gross, but that is what my vocal chords look like! Nice and healthy might I add. After my last final I hopped on a train to Macy's with my friend Sarah who needed to do some holiday shoe shopping. We then proceeded to Urban Outfitters where I bought some very nice stuff with some gift cards I received for Chanukah.That night I had dinner with my core at P.F. Changs and we all got dolled up, which in the end paid off because we were all able to order wine which might I add was quite delicious. To end my semester in Boston, I went with some BoCo friends to the Boston Gay Men's Chorus Holiday concert that one of my teachers was a part of. It was an amazing and "fabulous" way to end my semesterand now I'm here at the airport waiting to hop a flight to Miami.

All semester I have been working on a project that I have been determined to do since before school started. This week I realized I had filmed over 10 hours of HD footage on my iPhone and, as planned, put it together to create "The Faces of Freshman Year - Part One: First Semester." It was definitely not an easy task, but it was so much fun to do. The final product is on my Facebook, and I'll post it here as well. I realize you might not understand all the jokes, or know any of the kids, but it gives you a good glimpse as to how amazing our first semester really was. I'll embed the video at the end of this post. I'll be in Florida for a week, starting today and I'll be sure to post at least once while I'm there. For now I'll leave you with the video and wish everybody safe travels this holiday season. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you soon! P.S. You can actually subscribe to this blog whether you're a blogger or not and I've included two little buttons on the right hand side that can help you share my blog on twitter or facebook!

-Matt

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