Hi Weekenders!

It was only Friday and Saturday, but boy how they were Jam-packed with events (mostly Student Ambassador related- hence my choice of title.) Alrighty, well, if you don’t know what this foreign, yet official sounding position is, lemme show you a website that can explain most efficiently!

–> http://www.newpaltz.edu/admissions/ambassadors_become.html

Also check out our cool biographies of all the Student Ambassadors! There’s pics up of us, so you can see how purdy we are (haha.) Also, we have fun facts! Cooooooool dude.

–>http://www.newpaltz.edu/admissions/ambassadors0708/ambassadors_all.ht

At any rate, Friday night, all us Student Ambassadors had a nice, bonding dinner at Rock ‘da Pasta! I just blogged about that place, I know…so it’s been my second trip there in a rather short period of time (for me at least.) I don’t normally go out to eat TOO much I feel, but this weekend, I went out to eat a truck-load!

I just want to give a ginomrous thanks to Jamie Michelman, for being the coordinator of our bonding supper! She also brought together some student ambassadors to go to the Headless Horseman event. (Unfortunately I couldn’t attend since I had a show that night.) However, she is a loving individual who just wants all us employees to have some fun together and get to know each other! She even saved a seat for me when I came in late after my dance rehearsal. Isn’t that sweet? Shana, I think this gal needs a raise (wink, wink.)

Well would you like some visuals of our happy-go-lucky times at Rock ‘da Pasta? What’s that you say? You would? OH, well splendid! Catch a glimpse of these nut-zoids.

Jamie Michelmen, everyone!

Jamie Michelman and Marlea Liguori being cute kiddies.

Erica Clough, Brittney Daily and Kevin McSherry (NP BLOGGER WOOT WOOT) all giving a wide grin…cept for Kev here. Hmm.

Erin Kowalsky and Meagan Olsen giving the ever-so-cheesy “thumbs up.”

Student Ambassador group shot!

Well we couldn’t ALL fit at one table!

Haha, this is painted on the top of the fridge they have in the restaurant! Rock (Da) Pasta!

It was a grand ole’ night! Here’s a video that I took of us conversing and being silly. AWWWW YEAH! Oh and Kevin stands up to get his dessert before he leaves! I find it HILARIOUS!

YOUTUBE VIDEO OF US AT ROCK DA PASTA!

Oh and thanks Shana for buying us all dessert!! Mmmm it’s nice to go out to eat with your boss! Let me just say, it was a FRENZY at the other table to get to the desserts first. You could hear spoons clanking. So three cheers for a joyous night. Now we all had to go to sleep early to arise at 6:15AM for, youuu guessed it, OUR 2ND OPEN HOUSE!

Now, Open House was pretty much the same ordeal as the LAST open house, cept in my case, it went a lot smoother and quicker! Hooray! There some little mishaps here and there, but all were taken care of in a jiffy! I put up balloons again (just like last time) and worked in the Athletic and Wellness Center to help aide the volunteers and mingle with the families (just like last time.) However, I have some new pics and even clip-age of vidoe. Soooo here ya are!

Nichole Saldana yelping when I took a picture of her. She was caught unawares!

Meagan Olsen acting like the gem she is when we are walking through campus to tie up those darn balloons. We don’t want any families getting lost, now do we?

My theatre professor, Stephen Kitsakos, sacrificed his own raincoat to put over the jacket the costume shop made. It rained!!

Gianna Cioffi rolling that raincoat covered jacket out of the Athletic and Wellness Center.

Jamie Michelman one more time and Zuri Regisford at the Staff meeting after we officially completed the Open House season!

Chris Levine and Stephanie Samuel smiling at the staff meeting! They ain’t tired!

Kevin McSherry on the go!

Marlea Liguori a little sleepy (which is totally understandable! It’s a looong day! By the way, that’s what I looked like last open house!) And there’s Paul Kohler in the corner, all smiles.

Sarah Doran just discovered we have HUGE pockets inside our jackets.

This is me with my “big, tripped-out name tag” as they say in that Progessive commerical. You know what I’m talking about, right? I’ll put up a YouTube video of it, BUT, I just want to let you know that Jamie MADE this name tag for me. Shana, the bossy boss, says she ordered me one, but I’ve been a Student Ambassador for 2 semesters and I STILL don’t have one. Not like I’m bitter or anything. Haha I just can’t win! So here it is, my homemade name tag for you all to see!

Big, Tripped-Out Name-Tag on YOUTUBE!!!!

Shana Circe with our Team Leader, Matt Vitale. Matt is graduating this December, so this was his last Saturday tour of his life here at SUNY New Paltz !

A REAL group shot of all us Student Ambassadors 2008, after Open House ended! We’re on the Admission Building’s steps. We’re all serious here.

All us being silly gooses! AHHH haha Kevin McSherry what are you doing to that pole!?

Well guys, I thought I’d end on a funny note here- Kevin McSherry, fellow New Paltz Blogger, vandalizing that column.

Thanks everyone who helped out at Open House who made it a smooth, successful day!

Bon Voyage all!

Hey all! I’m doing this a little backwards, but I’m going to talk about Saturday and THEN about Halloween. Okie dokie smokie?

Saturday night was something called Midnight Theatre. This is an event that the theatre students put together, where we make light of the mainstage productions, and other current events that are taking place. For example, the hosts of Midnight Theatre, Andrea Green and Evan Teich, did some jokes about politics, since the elections are coming up Tuesday (S0 S00N!). Well there were a lot of laughs all around.

I actually have a video here of Paul Rigano and I at Midnight Theatre. In the musical production of Company here on campus, Paul played Harry and I played Sarah. (I’m sorry I keep talking about Company, but I guess it was a large part of my life thus far this semester.) Anyway, Harry and I were “happily” married. I use quotations because every marriage has their pitfalls. As a couple in the show, we did love each other, but we each had our vices; that definitely showed in our production. At any rate, there is a scene where Harry and I actually get so riled up that we perform karate on each other. And that karate eventually turns into petty street-fighting; anything to WIN against one another! So, I hope you enjoy this video of Harry and me during Midnight Theatre. In the beginning, Paul and I are reenacting the karate scene from Company to teach the audience about stage combat. However, the longer we are “play” fighting, the more we truly wanna beat the crud out of each other! Well, hopefully you watch and laugh!

P.S. If it wasn’t for my roommate Sam, this video would never have been up and running. So thanks Sam!!!

NOW, about Hall-o-ween! I hope you all had a marvelous Halloween! As you can see from Jessie’s blog and my previous blog on the Headless Horseman, New Paltz is pretty well known during the Halloween season. It’s quite the sweet spot. Lots of people get into the spooky spirit round these parts! For one thing, my friend Becca Cotton had this really cute Halloween get together where her house was DECKED OUT!

Oh and there was a live band playing in her living room! They called themselves Crazy Cat Lady. My friend and alum of SUNY New Paltz, Emma Jerome, is a singer in the band! Cool, huh? Let me show you some pics of Becca’s house, as well as me and my friend’s costumes!

Sorry to change the subject, but who’s excited to vote!?!?! AHH I’M SO PUMPED. This will be the first time I am eligible to vote for the President of the United States! I feel so empowered! However, some people may not feel this way. Some say our vote doesn’t count, due to the electoral college, etc. etc.

That is why I want to end this blog with a quote that my acting teacher, Nancy Saklad, said to us during my freshman year in Acting One. As soon as she said it, I took out my notebook and scribbled it down. I felt and still feel that it is so inspirational. Also, I believe it pertains to tomorrow with a lot of us young-ins voting.

“We need people like you to help this world become a better place.

We need your wit,

your smile,

your kindness,

your brilliance,

your enthusiasm,

and your creativity.

You will be the savior of this generation;

don’t deny us what you have to offer.”

So remember, you can vote from 6am till 9pm tomorrow! Don’t wear any pins, buttons, shirts, or any other paraphernalia representing candidates. If you do, you will not be allowed to vote! Bring Identification, and don’t be lazy and NOT wait on the lines because they’re long. YOU’RE VOTE IS WORTH IT! WE MATTER!

Its been a good couple of days so far: good meetings, good work time, good meals, good down time -It’s All GOOD!  For one thing, my Women: Images and Realities class gives a ton of extra credit.  Which is excellent because it will help balance out some of me-harder-courses -so if You have any extra credit options, make it your business to capitalize on that! To tell you the truth, I really do have harder classes that I should be studying for right now -no worries, I’m feelin’ A+’s…

Outside of my classes I’ve been doing some pretty exciting things with my time.  I got a haircut yesterday -all went well, I look good -if I do say so myself- lol.

“Hey EVERYONE: Come and See How GOOD I LOOK!”  ~Anchorman.

I also am getting my bike tuned up as-I-write (wow).  I ride a Mongoose Rockadile mountain bike, and I am on that bad boy all the time! So if you see a blue and white blur whizzing past on the roads, its me, say “hi,” please.  Apparently the bike shop I took my bike to has been there for some thirty years and the owner really knows his stuff, so I feel comfortable leaving my bike there.  And I am SO excited to pick it up this afternoon.

Speaking of which, I have a nice little schedule planned out for this afternoon:  no Drawing II class (sadface) but I will be able to do some laundry, study, go to a prayer group, swim, eat, study, pick up my bike (!!!), study, eat again, do some extra credit, see Gideon YAGO, have a house meeting, eat again, and watch the Presidential DEBATE! Woo-Hooooo, Yeahh! Biz-E-Day To-Day, but as you can see, all good things.

Come to think of it, yesterday was a busy day too, because on top of all that I just mentioned, I went to a Study Abroad G.I. meeting and a NRHH G.I. meeting as well!  From what I’ve heard studying abroad is one of the BEST COLLEGE EXPERIENCES EVER! and that information is coming from people that have studied abroad, such as my oldest sister, Marissa, and other peeps.  Personally, I’m thinking of doing a summer session because I don’t want it to interfere with whats going on here at New Paltz -plus, I’d be great to get away for the summer!  Oh, and that’s right, I forgot to mention where I’ll be going: Florence.  I’m an Artist -why wouldn’t I go? lol.  As far as NRHH, it is an organization that recognizes students, faculty, on campus organizations, etc. as part of a regular, weekly, monthly, yearly sort-of-thing.  The members in it are the TOP 1% of Student Leaders on Campus!!! So, wish me LUCK!  Anyway, my application needs to be in by October 31st at 12 NOON.

Look out NRHH, here I come! (I hope : D )

MEWSICK!

(music -haha, I made a joke with letters!)

As of late I have been listening to some CHOICE tunes -and believe me, they be bumpin’:

Sting, “Desert Rose”

and

Jack Johnson, “Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down”

^^*Look this one up on www.playlist.com*^^

Peace Out, Cub Scouts,

Matt

: D

What is this COTA business, you ask? Ah, well it’s Celebration of the Arts that took place here at New Paltz’s Hasbrouck Park on Sunday September 28th. I know that was a little while ago, but I took some video footage and took some snapshots, so I thought I’d tell ya a little about it. Wow, this took place when we had that very long weekend! September seems so long ago! Well here’s the website that you could get a more in-depth view of what went on there!

http://www.celebrationofthearts.net/COTA.html

There were all kinds of artists, from: emerging, working, closet, and those taking a chance by bending convention. To give you an idea, there were over 100 artists showcasing and selling their artwork, performances through out the day, a local writers’ tent for signings and book sales, children events, an arts networking tent, free professional development seminars for artists, habitats for artists installations, and foood.

Here’s some videos of the performances I watched!

A New Paltz alum, Cuttz, performing at COTA.

So as I mentioned before, there were a lot of beautiful booths where artists were selling their work. We didn’t buy anything (alas the life of the poor college student) but my friends and I looked around! Check it out! Enjoy and till next time stay smiley!

The event took place right behind the Van Den Burg Hall, which houses our nursing and business programs. THAT’S how close this event was to campus.

Children were running all around, especially on this playground, despite the misty weather and the mud.

Kids made tambourines out of paper plates and decorated themselves!

On Friday, the F.Y.I. Program took it’s annual trip to Mohonk, and it was a blastie-blast!  Lemon Squeeze, Skytop Walk, Botanical Gardens, and Chillin’ with RD Kristen… Ohh, yeah!

As you guessed, I was on the Lemon Squeeze with CDA Matt, RA Chris, RA Lorraine, RM Diana and RA Matt (hey, would you look at that, all the “Matt’s” went on the Lemon Squeeze!) along with most of the F.Y.I. program.  I felt very important as I was checking students on and off the bus, wearing my bright orange shirt, and taking up the middle group of the Lemon Squeezers all my myself (Yeah!)  Now, as a former F.Y.I.-er from last year, I forgot how awesome it was to be in the thick of it with all those rocks, and all the climbing and the occasional plateau to gaze out over the range.  Although it was a hot, hot day, it still was not as hot, humid and hazy as last year, because this year we were actually able to see the campus!  JFT, HAB, AWC, REH, OM, CH, Hasbrouck Quad, and just a hint of Lenape.  And although this is a small school and a small campus, it still is big. But, even though the campus looks big, and the tower at the top of Mohonk is way tall and has been there forever, it’s all still dwarfed my the awesomeness of mother nature.  Everything from the clouds, the sun and the mountain to the Hurricanes down south (yikes, I hope they’re alright!) can dwarf all else, in its size, grandeur and longevity.  It makes me respect and understand nature and our environment more and more for each one of these experiences.  I only wish I could have taken more pictures, but then again, I think of “3×5,” by John Mayer and I say:

“Naa, they have to see it for themselves -and I should see it again too!”

On that note, I would encourage all of you to go to Mohonk, and climb the Lemon Squeeze.

For now, it’s back to homework and what not

“Yikes! …and away.” -Snickers Commercial

Matt

: D