The other day Kahea and I took a much needed shopping break during our massive time gap between classes. On the drive back we started talking about 90's movie soundtracks and how they were so great. Being the pop culture/music gal that I am, I thought I'd share my favorites:
1) "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" Bonus points to you if you had both soundtracks. This movie came out when I was in 8th grade (1997ish) and I loved it. I thought it was beautifully shot, lovely and modern but let's be honest, it had Leonardo DiCaprio and he was super dreamy. Almost every girl I know remembers the scene 10 or so minutes into the movie where he's sitting on the stage, writing in his journal and smoking a cigarette and he looks up and that little bit of hair is in his eyes. Hardcore gals can also start humming the song that's playing in the scene. But the soundtrack had a lot of gems. For starters, there was "Lovefool" by the Cardigans which you could hear every time you turned on the radio during ths time. But it also had Everclear, Radiohead, Garbage, and Butthole Surfers. Kahea and I started laughing as we realized we both loved the song "To You I Bestow" by Mundy and actually started singing it out loud.
2) "Can't Hardly Wait". I'm not going to lie, I bust out the cd fairly often. My favorites are "Dammit" by Blink 182 and "Tricky" by Run DMC, but it also has Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, and Busta Rhymes. Plus any cd that ends with "Paradise City" is fine by me. It's surprising that they didn't include "Mandy" on there since Barry Manilow was kinda a big deal in the movie, but while he makes the songs that make the whole world sing, I didn't miss him on here.
3) "Clueless". If you read this blog enough, you know I love this movie. But I also adore the soundtrack. When I first got it, I listened to "Supermodel" a million time. Not that I wanted to be a supermodel, but I loved the line "I wish that I was like Tori Spelling with a car like hers and a dad like hers". My favorite song was "Where'd You Go" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This was right before I was into ska music, but it was so bouncy and fun. I was thrilled when I saw this song was included on Rock Band 2. The soundtrack also had 90's favorites from the Beastie Boys, Radiohead, and Luscious Jackson. Plus who doesn't love "Rolling with the Homies"?
4) "10 Things I Hate About You". This is one of the few tweeny flicks I can watch with the boy and we both actually really enjoy it. My friend Cat and I saw it in the theaters and thought we were so clever because "Bianca and Cat were seeing a movie about two girls named Bianca and Cat". Yea...we're awesome. The big songs that really stick out in my head from this movie are "I Want You to Want Me" by Letters to Cleo and "I Know" by Save Ferris, both bands which appeared in the movie. All my friends were really into this cd. The only this missing was "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by Heath Ledger. I still can't help but swoon a little when I watch that.
5) "American Pie". That movie was absolutely ridiculous and I loved every second of it. Whoever thought to have some guy "have fun" with a pie is insane...or genius. Besides goodies from Blink 182 and Sugar Ray, my favorites were "You Wanted More" by Tonic and "Sway" by Bic Runga. Whatever happened to them? VH-1, get on that.
After having this convo, I spent the weekend listening to these cds and working on a paper. The music was great...I wish I could say the same for the paper.
I'm a girl who likes to sleep. A lot. This means that it is almost impossible to wake me up for breakfast. When the choice is breakfast or 10 extra minutes of sleep, I'll always pick sleep. Unless there's french toast available. But that's another story.
Since I'm always running out the door to go to school, I tend to grab things that are easy to east in the car: lemon zest luna bars, rice cake, maybe yogurt if I'm feeling especially coordinated. Some days I feel like fruit, so I'll grab a banana. Banana's are delicious on their own. Banana bread is also yummy and Banana cake at my high school is probably my favorite dessert of all time.
One morning I was driving to school eating a banana and I heard loud music coming from the car next to me. I looked over and noticed that there was some 16 year old driving a car. It made me laugh for a second because he totally reminded me of myself when I was 16 and driving to school. But as I looked at him, I noticed he was making a weird gesture. What was he doing? He pointed at my banana and made a blow job motion.
Yea. Classy. Because eating a banana and blow jobs are the same thing.
I later told the story to friends and we kinda laughed at how silly teenagers can be (because you know, I'm so much more mature now that I'm 25...)
This morning I had a banana for breakfast. It's been many months since the last incident and several bananas have been consumed since then. And today, another bratty teenager did the same thing.
WTF?
So what's the solution? I could stop eating bananas in the car, but I don't think that's going to happen. I could ignore these people which would be the mature thing to do. Or I could find a witty comeback/motion for when this happens. Any suggestions?
So it's been a little more than 3 weeks since I've started this weight loss/eat better/looking hot regimen. I wish I could sy that that it hasn't been bad, that I love the gym, and I don't miss pizza at all.
That would make me a liar.
The first week was rough - I was crabby 24/7. Anytime I would see a food commercial on tv, I could feel my stomach say "one more time - you know you want it". For some reason Burger King commercials made me drool. And I don't even eat hamburgers. But I wanted it. The hardest part was that I drive past In N Out every day on my way home for school. How I dreamed of animal style fries. But I survived. The last 2 weeks have been somewhat easier. All crappy food is out of my house, so I'm forced to eat healthier things, which is good. And I've started to eat real breakfast again, something I haven't done since grade school. Nuts. I forgot how delicious breakfast can be.
The gym has been the better part of all this craziness. I made a killer gym mix on my ipod which keeps me motivated. How can you not want to run when you're listening to "Bust a Move"?
I also forgot what a great place the gym is to people watch. What characters did I see at my gym?
1) The guy in 90's AC Slater stone-washed jeans lifting weights: Last time I checked, jeans weren't the best work out attire.
2) Woman who clearly was into Jane Fonda's workout 20 years ago rocking a multi-colored leotard and spandex pants with scrunched socks: I'm not going to lie, I did a little staring when I saw her. I think my workout Barbie had the same outfit. But she was comfy and was singing along to her music, so work it out...
3) Man on the bike talking on cell phone as loud as possible. Actual Conversation: "Hey man...I can barely hear you, the music at the gym is too loud...no problem, I'll just scream so you can hear me."
4) The girl on the elliptical trainer in the sorority shirt and pink ipod...oh wait, that's me.
So here's the update: after 3 1/2 weeks, I have lost....12 pounds!!! I'm stoked. Let's hope this continues.
And that I can continue to stay away from the chocolate. Any suggestions for healthy sweet things would be great!
I fully remember the day when I started this blog. I was sitting in my first year property law class with the scariest teacher in the world who, if you were so unlucky to get called on, would call on you for 90 minutes straight. It was almost the end of the school year and several of us were taking abroad trips during the summer. We decided that we would start blogs and write about our adventures and keep our friends updated. When I got to the Dominican Republic, I found that the internet cafes couldn't load the blogger page. But I decided to keep it and while I don't write in it nearly as much as I should (seeing that this is almost 2 years later), I'm happy that I have it and pumped that this is my 100th post.
I keep this blog for me as a place to write really random thoughts and as a reflection of where my head was at any given point in time. But there are some really fantastic people who read this blog - I absolutely adore all of you and am so thankful for all the nice comments that I receive.
A long time ago a friend challenged me to write 100 things about myself. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but I thought maybe if I did it chronologically, it could happen. So, in honor of this 100th post I present "100 Random Things About Bianca":
1) My mother had her choice of 3 Wednesdays to have me: she chose May 18th because it's Haitian Flag Day. She grew up there and every year on my birthday she likes to tell me that there is a huge celebration in Haiti in my honor.
2) I was named after Bianca Jagger, ex-wife of Mick Jagger and Studio 54 regular (the pic is of her riding a horse in the club. Out of control). She's now a great humanitarian. I'm a girl who loves to go out dancing and went to law school with all these plans to save the world. I would say I was named after the right woman
3) I went to a Jewish pre-school even though I'm Roman Catholic. My mom still has the Menorah I made out of a block of wood and birthday candles.
4) I started taking dance classes when I was 3 years old. I loved it. I would wear my tutus all over the house and if my mom was in a good mood, to the grocery store, libary, etc.
5) My earliest memories are of me dancing on top of my coffee table to all the songs on Madonna's "Like a Virgin". I knew every word to every song. Cleary I didn't know what she meant, but I adored her. Which brings me to
6) "Dress You Up" may be my favorite song of all time. It's so 80's and poppy but I can't hear it without singing at the top of my lungs and dancing around. I once recreated this outfit.
7) Chicago Style Pizza is my favorite food in the world. I get it shipped out to California because I haven't found a place that gets it right. When I was little, I hated it and would only eat parts of it. For a few years I'd only eat the crust. At some other point I thought the crust was gross and would only eat the cheese on top. Silly Bianca.
8) My parents never forced me to eat certain foods. I'm still an extremely picky eater.
9) I used to read magazines that were designed for girls older than me. I started reading "Teen" when I was 9, "YM" when I was 10, and "Seventeen" when I was 12. I'm a rebel.
10) I loved fashion from an early age and I was a big fan of "Dress N'Dazzle". I had this outfit. I can't believe they tried to pretend it was 3 dresses in 1:
11) I learned how to walk in heels when I was 8 and got my first pair when I was 10. My nutty Godmother in NY gave me clothes that were designed for girls at least 5 years older than me.
12) I went to a super small single-sex classroom grade school. There were only 19 girls in my class.
13) I met my best friend in 2nd grade. She walked up to me and told me she liked my hair. I told her I liked hers better. We were best friends ever since.
14) That same year I won a really big award at the end of the year prize day. Each year it was given to the 2nd grader who showed the most kindness and generosity to her fellow classmates. All these pompous parents pulled out their expensive camcorders because they were convinced their daughter was going to win. My mom said it took a ton of energy to control her laughter when she looked at their faces when I won.
15) The first word I read was "fuck". I was 3 and it was written in crayon on the laundry room wall in my apartment building. My mom didn't know whether to yell at me or tell me congrats.
16) Sometimes I'll randomly make comments in French. It's completely unintentional. My mom speaks it fluently and I took classes in grade/high school and a little bit in college. Sadly my french isn't so great.
17) I used to love the show "California Dreams" and wanted to start my own band. Tiffany and I would hold auditions on the playground.
18) Besides my ankle, the worst injury was when I got a huge gash in my chin when I was 4. I was at the park on a big metal pumpkin (a la Cinderella) and some girl said "fuck" to me. I politely informed her that it was a bad word. But as I spoke I let go and my chin smacked the metal. I still have a little scar.
19) I went through a year or so period when I refused to eat. My parents had to sit at the table with me for hours until I took a few bites of my food. But I would eat puffy cheetos.
20) I used to rock bedazzled jeans. No, I'm not ashamed.
21) My parents always had the best junk food cabinet. At any given time we had fruit roll ups, gushers, hostess cupcakes, pringles, etc.
22) One time while enjoying some treat from the cabinet, I decided to enjoy a glass of non-alcoholic eggnog. Worst idea ever. I threw up all night. To this day just thinking about eggnog makes me gag.
23) My first celebrity crush was Jonathan Brandis. His "Teen Beat" pictures were all over my bedroom door. That is part of why:
24) "Ladybugs" is one of my favorite movies. It's totally underrated. Tiffany and I can recite it word for word. We're awesome.
25) That movie made me enjoy playing soccer. That and orange slices and capri sun.
26) I really love "Schoolhouse Rock". I will bust out into "I'm Just a Bill" at random.
27) When I graduated 8th grade, I was the girl with the least developed body. I prayed every night for God to give me boobs.
28) I now have the largest boobs of anyone I know. I guess prayer works.
28) I went to an all-girls high school. People are surprised that it was by choice.
29) I had my first kiss when I was in 3rd grade. The boy's name was Sam and I thought he was oh so dreamy. We were at a family friend's son's birthday party at Discovery Zone. We kissed in the tubes. He took my choker necklace to remember me by.
30) The only detention I ever served was for being late to school 3 times.
31) The school tried to give me multiple detentions for my skirt being too short. My mom called and told them if they wanted to buy me a new skirt, they could. Otherwise, I would not be serving detention.
32) My favorite unit in gym class was badminton. I love it. And I kicked ass.
33) When I was in 8th grade, I got to adopt a dog because I got straight As. He was a black cocker spaniel named Taco. People always asked if he had a brother named Burrito. They thought they were funny. But he really did have a brother named Burrito.
34) My first concert was N'Sync. I'm not ashamed.
35) I've always been a good writer. My honors english teachers always commented that they could tell that I put a lot of time and effort into my papers. I always wrote them the night before.
36) I took the Metra for the first 2 years of high school. It took me 45 minutes to get to school and I hated it.
37) My first boyfriend took the same train at the same station. He was friends with another friend of mine and we first talked online. It wasn't until weeks later when I saw a picture of him on his website that I realized that we took the train together. The relationship lasted a month.
38) My first car was a 1989 Honda Accord. It was the perfect first car.
39) I totalled the car 4 months later. The accident happened 2 minutes away from school. To this day I'm still extremely cautious when making left hand turns.
40) This car was replaced by a blue Ford Focus. I picked it because it matched my coat. That car was totalled years later when it was parked in front of my brother's house. A drunk frat boy hit it and drove away. Too bad he didn't realize that his license plate fell off in the process.
41) I was a theater brat. But I was never in a school production.
42) I studied at an independent theater in Chicago. My junior and senior year, I was super lucky to be selected to be in their company. It was amazing.
43) I was also a choir brat in high school. I tried out for the competitive choir on a whim and made it.
44) I was really into ska and pop-punk music. I loved Reel Big Fish and Blink 182.
45) In high school, I went to almost every Q-101 festival.
46) At Q-101 Jamboree in 2000 I smoked my first cigarette. I was 17.
47) I smoked on and off for 2 years. Every once in a while when I'm super stressed I still crave one.
48) My mom's smoked my entire life and on an almost daily basis I tell her to quit. She doesn't know that I ever smoked and I think she'd be devasted if she knew.
49) I first got the internet when I was in 8th grade. AOL 3.0. It took forever to connect.
50) My AIM name is still the same one I had in 8th grade. I'm too lazy to change it.
51) When I was in high school, my dad refused to let me fill up my car with gas. He was being "protective" and didn't want me to run into any problems at the gas station. I filled up my first tank when I got my current car when I was 20.
52) I had my first job when I was 16. I was an administrative assistant at a temp agency. A lot of my job was contacting clients about jobs they were hired for and mailing out their checks.
53) At this job I was asked out by clients about once a week. My dad, who was the accountant for the company, would come out and tell them that he was my father and the man who signed their checks.
54) That same summer I went out on a date when a guy that I was friends with for a while. We went to a movie at a theater where my brother worked a few summers back and still had friends who worked there. He called these friends to let them know that I was going to be there and to "watch out for me". They spent the entire movie sitting behind me and making comments any time the guy tried to put his arm around me, hold my hand, or even talk to me. Worst date ever.
55) Surprisingly, that guy still wanted to date me.
56) Junior year we had to have a meeting with our parents and our college counselors. The counselor told my parents which schools I was interested in applying to and what my chances were of getting accepted. The only school in IL was University of IL in Champagne-Urbana. The majority were in California. My parents were pissed.
57) My parents were really protective and I never got the chance to do things on my own. I decided to apply to schools outside of IL so I'd be forced to do things for myself.
58) I chose my college because there were palm trees at the front entrance.
59) The summer before I left for college I worked as a camp counselor at an visual and performing arts camp. My campers were not into art. They spent the entire summer begging me to teach them how to wear make-up. I've never seen kids so happy as they were on the last day when I taught them.
60) I was supposed to fly out to school on September 12, 2001. Every flight I booked to San Jose for the next 5 days was cancelled. Finally my parents and I loaded up the minivan and drove out to California. It took 3 days.
61) Somewhere in the dessert in the middle of Nevada we got a flat tire. My dad had issues changing the tire and I told him "get out of the way" and I did it by myself. That's one of the few times I heard him say that he was proud to call me his daughter.
62) I could not stand my freshman year roomie. She locked me out every friday night and kept coffee in the coffee pot for days at a time and would rewarm it.
63) I met the boy the 2nd day I was at school. There was a huge meet and greet thing in the dorm's lounge. I went up there to get my computer fixed and a girl (one of my future roomies) was the first person I met and decided to introduce me to a few people, one of which was the boy. He said hi to me and didn't say one other thing the 20 minutes I was talking to that group of people.
64) I did not like him at all.
65) A few days later I found out he was in my English class. We went to the cafeteria after class to get sandwiches. He said a few more words this time and I decided that we could be friends.
66) The boy and I helped a guy we knew ask out a girl who was our friend. During the process he told me that the boy and I should go out. I told him he was crazy.
67) A few weeks later the boy and I kissed. I knew that I didn't want to start dating someone so early (after all, this was my frist time at a co-ed school and there were boys EVERYWHERE) so I decided that the thing with me and him would be a fling. Here we are 7 1/2 years later.
68) I declared Biology as my major when I started school. I wanted to be a pediatrician since I was 5. I hated chemistry. It was the hardest A I ever earned and I decided that I would have to change my plan.
69) I asked my sophomore year roomie to be my roommate by posting a cheesy poem on her door. It said "roses are red, violets are sometimes pink. I wanna be your roomie, what do you think?" I'm ridiculous.
70) We lived together for 3 years and she's one of the most amazing people I know.
71) That year, we were in the same French class and had a big presentation. The night before we decided to do some "spring cleaning" (drink the little bits of alcohol left in the random bottles around our room) and watch Woodstock: the movie. It's one of my favorite college memories.
72) In college I had a hamster named Abbie. She was named after Absolute vodka.
73) On my 21st birthday I got so drunk that I called my mom at 4 a.m. Chicago time to inform her that I drank a lot.
74) The next day a few of us went to "1984" to go dancing. My roomie Erin and I got insanely drunk on 1 drink. I don't remember any of it, but I do remember throwing up on the side of the road. Jessica = best DD ever.
75) 1984 is still my favorite place to go dancing.
76) My other roomie ran for State Assembly our senior year. Yes, like real state politics. It was the only time that my liberal self voted for a Republican.
77) I joined a sorority my junior year. I decided to go for it because 1) they gave us free roundtable breadsticks at the introduction meeting and 2) they had really cute pens. I spent the next 2 years having a love/hate relationship with it.
78) I decided to apply for student government my senior year, hoping to get appointed to one of the class offices. They placed me on the Executive Board. It was one of the most demanding things I've ever done, but I met one of my really great friends from it.
79) Every year my roomies and I took cute pictures and made them into Christmas cards. These are the only photos my mom has on her fridge.
80) I never really rebelled in college. In my mom's eyes, the worst thing that I did was get my ears double pierced. But she was really pissed about it.
81) Good thing she didn't know that I also had my belly button pierced.
82) The roomies and I made a pact to get Alkaline Trio tattoos. Jess already has hers. I have to find a way to incorporate it into the 1 tattoo I'm considering.
83) All of my friends in college were WAY into the Harry Potter books. I tried and tried to get into them...I only made it through the first 2. But I have seen all the movies.
84) After graduation I worked for an intellectual property law firm. I hated it more than anything and I quit after 3 months. I wasn't sure if law was the right career for me, but I decided to apply to law school anyway.
85) A few weeks before I started law school, I found out my parents were getting divorced.
86) The gory details of the divorce resulted in me not talking to my dad. I still don't.
87) I had planned on dropping out of law school after the first semester. Convinced that external factors were the reason for my unhappiness, the boy and my mom convinced me to keep going. I cannot believe it's over this year (yay!!!)
88) That year I found out that my school had a 2 week immersion trip (and the basis fo this blog) to the Dominican Republic to work with Haitian Refugees. Seeing that I'm 1/2 Haitian, I had to apply and was thrilled to go. Besides Canada (where I stayed with family) and Puerto Rico (where I went w/my friend's family and stayed at a ritzy resort) it was my first trip out of the country. I was excited and terrified.
89) Being the picky eater I am, I survived on cookies and rice. I lost 10 pounds by the end of the trip.
90) My mom was born and raised in Haiti but because of the conflict there, I haven't been able to go. On my trip to the Dominican Republic, we crossed the bridge and spent 10 minutes in Haiti. I cried. One of the best moments of my life.
91) One of the many, many reasons that I love the movie "Clueless" is because Cher does one of her debate speeches about the Haiti-ans. I almost peed my pants laughing when I saw that. I can recite the movie word for word.
92) I love my tivo. I don't think I could have made it through law school without it.
93) I'm really, really good at "Don't Forget the Lyrics", due to my ridiculous amount of music knowledge. People tell me I should apply to be on the show, but I'm afraid the first song picked will be so completely random that I'll fail.
94) I absolutely adore my dog. Not only is he ridiculously cute, but he also participates in my dancing parties by hopping along next to me.
95) When I was 18, if you told me that at the age of 26 I would be a lawyer and married I would tell you that you were the biggest idiot I've ever met. Oops.
96) If no one wakes me up, I can easily sleep until 1 p.m.
97) For graduation, I think I'm going to treat myself to a pair of Christian Loubouins. Can I afford them? Not really. But the little kick I'll give when I get my diploma to show off the red sole will be totally worth it.
98) I'm convinced that I'll never be able to grow my hair longer than a few inches past my shoulders. But I would really really love to.
99) I really want to take hustle lessons. Yes, I know disco is dead. I still want to.
100) I'm a little scared about what the next 25 years has in store for me. But I'm also excited.
I can't believe I actually thought of 100 things about me. If you read through this, you now know some of the most important things about me. And you're awesome.
