Wino???

The question of finals week is...is Natasha an alcoholic hobo? Can this woman be leading a double life, one as an active, social, UCLA student; and one as a wino?
A classmate of mine, gave me a bottle of wine as a thank you, for letting him take my notes to kinko's before every exam. This alone is not a rare occurance. Every year for my birthday since I turned 17, I have recieved alcohol from somebody (silver Patron this year).

Here is a recent conversation with my mother regarding our annual (famous) holiday party:
"do you want to bartend this year? Because otherwise I will hire somebody."
"yeah, I'll bartend."
"we'll pay you."
"that's not neccessary. I enjoy doing it. I will do like last year, and bartend until I am too wasted to."
"okay, well, we will pay you in wine then."

So, the possibility of alcoholism exists...but what's with the homeless reference? When I told the bartending conversation to my roomate, she said, "you know, natasha, bums work for alcohol." When Marni first visited my room this week, she saw a backpacking picture of Sean and I leaning over a pot of pea soup. I told her about how awesome that birthday backpacking trip was, and how close of a friend Sean is to me. She responded with, "you look like you're homeless". Perhaps I will start singing 'Day-o' in the streets of Westwood.

Quotes:

"Are there a lot of freaks like you in California?" -'Little John', a Bostonian, in repsonse to my green party/vegan-ness.

"did you guys know there are trees in north campus? I just saw some." -Sevan, my aircraft propulsion TA.

"you are like [our professor], I bet you only date art majors." -Patrick

"half your stories start with, 'I was really wasted...'" -Ranger

The Family Curse

According to my cousin, Chris, there is a curse on McElgunn women. It spans over four generations, plauging every one of us. It's the curse...of bad driving. Now, if you are male, you are probably thinking, "No, Natasha, women are just bad drivers". Stop being sexist.
Chris would tell you the curse involves tailgating, stopping rapidly, and an inability to park.
I would be quick to refute this 'curse' theory, but I am not the best driver on the block. I have been in about eight accidents in the last five years. Six of those accidents were in the first six months of having my license. Two of them occured within two minutes of each other, and two of them were in my own driveway (totaled my mom's and hit the housekeeper's). But all the cars I hit were stopped. Oh, and two were not my fault. To my defense, I drove a '67 Mustang. The hood is long and it's difficult to park. Luckily, people in Sebtown aren't terribly materialistic, so insurance was not involved in most cases. Once I thoroughly understood parking, driving became a little easier...and safer for everyone else.
Most guys who find out I drive a stick-shift are very impressed. I then proceed to tell them that I have been driving a stick every day for two years now, and still stall about once a month. Driving a stick in LA sucks. Shifting on the 405 is a nightmare, and none of my roomates can drive my car, so I have to move it all the time.
As to the tailgating accusation...when people are driving too slow, I like to encourage them to speed up. Don't they know I'm in a hurry? Even if I do tailgate a little, I am never late.
As far as stopping rapidly...I am optimistic the light will turn green by the time I get there. If it doesn't, then there's just a little extra excitement to get your heart beating faster.
I suppose there are worse curses to have on your family...

Quote:
"...throw some poker chips in the dryer with the sleeping bag to maintain loft."
"Isn't that money laundering?" -Tommy to The North Face rep

Joke:
A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel down his pants. The bartender says, "Doesn't that bother you?". The pirate says, "Arrr, its driving me nuts". -an Anastasia's customer
(I thought this was hilarious, but nobody at REI did)

Privacy Please

I know most of you tend to forget I am a female, but I do posess some very female qualities. Amongst those is, a love for shoes, the way I act when speaking about a 'crush', and my tendancy to be physically self-conscious. I always was the most modest member of my family. As a child and teenager, I wouldn't even change clothes in front of my mother.
At Thanksgiving this year, my mother called me 'prissy', and my aunt 'prudish'. These are words I have never heard describing me outside of my family. I wont go into why they said that, but its very much false. I first conquered my fear of exposure spring quarter of last year. I was swimming laps at SAC about three days a week. I usually went before class, so had to shower afterward. They had public showers, and its difficult to be modest and get clean at the same time. During the summer I broke my arm and had to stop swimming, but, I lived at pikapp. Beyond having male roomates, I had the broken arm, and lived in a room without a door. It took me forever to change clothes and I grew tired of worrying that someone would see me. Once, before an interview, I had to ask someone in the house to button my blouse for me. Then I moved into my apartment. I have had my own room for about four months now. So today I decided to start swimming again (its been mostly running and yoga all quarter). I am disappointed to find that they have installed curtains in the shower area. Although, I am pretty sure a couple of lesbians were showering together behind one of the curtains. It seems that until I have a roomate again, I will get to be modest.
Mostly unrelated, Thanksgiving was awesome. I adopted Eden and took him with me to my Grandma's house in the desert. It was covered in snow; the first time I have ever seen it like that. I never get to see snow. There was about 25 people there; the usual party. The usual crude/sexist humor and making me blush took place. We drank a lot and played poker. I took shots with my mom and younger brother around 1:30am. Awesome. My brother brought two French exchange students, who were hilarious. One of them reminded me of Harry Potter, but he was less than thrilled when I told him that. We saw The Incredibles, which was better than I expected. This year we only stayed up until 3amish, but it was fine with me, because my roomate had her birthday party the night before. Friday I returned to Westwood only to work all weekend. Although, I did get to visit the Ghetty with Rob and the French guys. I have lived here for over three years and have never been there. It was awesome. I am always surprised at my appreciation for 'artsy' things. I heard there is an Einstein exhibit at the Skirball center, anyone want to go?
I am quitting one of my jobs next quarter, so I will actually have a life again. I have been super frustrated with my Orbital Mechanics professor and a certain journalist for the Db magazine this week. If I can make it to winter break, all will be okay. My parents' famous Christmas party is Dec 18th; always crazy fun. And I am so stoked about my trip to New York. Marni, good shopping, Times Square, Broadway shows, Boston! Okay, gotta get through finals first.

Jokes:

"Why does a blond haired woman take those pills only women take (birth control)?"
"So she knows what day it is." Julian (imagine a French accent)

"You know your a redneck if...you climb into your car through the window." some jerk at Thanksgiving; that is soooo not funny.