I’m going to American next fall.

I thought a lot about the decision and talked to a lot people about it. What it came down to was money, programs offered, and location.

AU ended up better than Ithaca for all of them. Two doctors offered me a private apartment free of rent in exchange for driving their two girls to after school activities. I’m not going to elaborate on the details here, but it’s an amazing deal. AU’s International Relations program is pretty solid. Foreign Policy magazine recently ranked undergraduate IR programs. AU’s program was ranked number 11 in the country. Cornell was ranked number 16 and Brown was ranked number 17. I know accolades and rankings are arbitrary and most of the time bullshit. And I’m nowhere implying that AU is a better school than the ivies, but the IR program is well respected. I really love the town of Ithaca—the community, scenery, cafes, activism, etc. But I’ve been in DC a lot this summer and it just feels right for me. Not to mention access to awesome shows all the time and easy transportation to other cities.

I’m going to miss a lot of friends at Ithaca: G-dun, J, Chut, Kaitlyn, Lawrence, Thom, Rose, Andy, Taryn, Hannah, Tamar, Meg—all right, I can’t even begin to make a list. I’m gonna miss so many people! I’m convinced that the publications at AU will not match The Ithacan and Buzzsaw. So that’s another loss. Shit, man, Ithaca was awesome. I don’t know what I’m going to do without Professor Moon, J-hop, Prannay, and a bunch of other awesome IC faculty. I can go on forever praising and reminiscing about IC, but I’ll leave it at this: I left for a lot of reasons, most of which I’m not gonna whine about here, but I’m definitely planning on visiting IC in the Fall. So I’ll see all you Bombers soon. Don’t worry.

Here are some things professors/faculty told me when I asked them about transferring to AU:

Scully: “Now, my sister went to American U. and liked it... but didn't love it… My advice: Stay at Ithaca College.”

Mead Loop: “What kind of journalism do you want to do? If the answer is political j then you should explore AU.”

A. Moon: “With journalism grad school a lot depends on your portfolio, and you don't need a prestigious school to put that together.”

Marty Brownstien: “AU ain't Yale. In fact, I see it as too much like IC for real comfort.”

Pranay: “This is great news!” A lot of my friends are down there working
and they love DC. I speak for the coordinating committee when I say that your work was
very much appreciated last year!”

A very generous lawyer who is a friend of the family is going to help me change my name. Finally. Robert Smith will soon no longer be me. New name: Robert Bestider Allyn. So, yeah, I’ll soon be Bobby Allyn.

Barbara (the classically trained pianist from Spain who is living with me in Baltimore) has played Rachmaninov's piano concerto number 2 so many times that it rings incessantly through my head when I sleep.

Taking Action for Animals Conference the next 4 days.

Two weeks I'm back in Pennsylvania.

Two weeks after that I move to DC.

It's Not All That Bad

Tip of the day: Don’t buy cell phones off of sketchy taxi drivers, buy them off of even sketchier b-more “cell phone dealers.”

The cell phone I bought off of the taxi driver broke. I knew when I bought it that it was a piece of shit. Oh well. So I went on Craig’s list and found another verizon cell phone for sale. I met the guy in Baltimore City and we made the deal. Before I got in my car the guy says, “hey, my man. Let me show you something.” He opened the trunk of his car and there sat a huge duffle bag full of cell phone and chargers. I was impressed. I asked him how he’d acquired such a stockpile of mobile phones, and he replied with, “that’s what I do. I’m a cell phone dealer.” The cell phone seems pretty nice (probably stolen) and came with cool ring tones including “rapper’s delight” and “it’s gettin’ hot in herre.” I’m pretty excited about getting phone calls.

My boss offered me to stay two extra weeks paid. I’m not sure if I’m going to or not. I might just stay one extra week. So, I’ll be home August 3.

I really don’t mind working in an office. I mean, I don’t know if I’d want to be stuck in an office my entire life, but it’s kind of cool. All my co-workers are pretty cool, too—so cool that I’m going to list a cool fact about each of them.

Charles- founder of VRG and the Vegetarian Journal, he’s been involved in the movement for over 25 years. He wears big black puppy vans every day, but he doesn’t skateboard, I asked him.

Debra- co-founder of VRG, she got her masters in IR from Georgetown and now edits the Vegetarian Journal (obviously a very domestic publication).

John- is having a vegan marriage today. He got his fiancée an eco-friendly recycled platinum ring.

Sjona- charges her phone in a flamboyantly pink fluffy high heel charger. It’s cool.

Jeanie- is always buying/making me new vegan food to keep me motivated.

Keryl- almost didn’t run the Ted Leo piece because she thought the picture his publicist sent me was “too creepy”.

Mark- told a caller yesterday during Call-a-Dietitian Day that “eating raw walnuts is basically like smoking a cigarette.” He cites something about the walnuts being easily perishable and turning rancid? I don’t know.

Jeane- has three Masters degrees and served in the Peace Corps for three years. If you ever write her e-mail she’ll have to send the response as an attachment; she has trouble with brevity.

I’m going to a Taking Action for Animals conference in DC the 28-30. I think I’m going to see Pelican while I’m in DC.

So, Where am I going to school next year? Yeah, I don’t know. I’m still waiting for a FA package from AU.

I don't know why I'm updating this thing so much. Maybe because I'm in a city by myself and don't really talk to friends that often. I'm probably going to delete this when I get back from Baltimore. Am I really that self-important that I have to share my life with the internet?

Decemberists tonight with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Enough said.