7/16/01:I know, I know. It's been way too long since I've made an entry here. But at least I revamped the layout a bit to make it more user-friendly, so I guess that counts for something.

The last two weekends were really great. Two weekends ago I decided to spend July 4th - 8th up at my folks' house. They have been threatening to throw out the entire contents of my old bedroom for about a year, and that weekend I decided to help clean it out. I went into it thinking it was going to be a traumatic experience; you know, going through everything and throwing it out. Even though I haven't looked at or even acknowledged 99% of the crap in my old room, for some reason it was somehow comforting that it was all there.

Anyhoo, so I only wound up cleaning out one third of my room -- my old bed. My old bed had this really cool hide-away compartment that I kept all my secret stuff... as well as pictures, letters, etc.

Speaking of letters... I have the worst memory in the world. If you asked me, "Hey Jill, did anyone ever write you letters while you were in college?" I would have said, "Ben wrote me really awesome letters, but beside him, I didn't get any others," because that's all I remember. You can understand my complete and total surprise when I discovered HUNDREDS of letters I got while at college. I couldn't believe it! These weren't sucky letters, either; they were heartfelt letters that actually conveyed great information. So I spent a whole two days just reading all these letters and I was transported back in time. It was fun. To be honest, I forgot I had so many friends. That must sound completely lame, but it's true. I must say it was a nice little ego boost.

I also sorted through tons of pictures... and I do mean tons. Mindy put it in perspective for me-- she said, "Don't feel like you have to either keep all or throw out all of your pictures. Just go through them and keep the ones you like." For some reason, that concept never occurred to me. I didn't have to toss everything. With that in mind, I really did weed out the stupid stuff and kept what was important. It was like that "safe word" mentality, you know? Nobody was forcing me, I could stop at any time, and when you have that sort of safety net, you somehow go farther. It was very cathartic, and I feel lighter, somehow.

The greatest thing I found though was this poster I made before going to college-- it was a homemade rock poster of my high-school punk band, JDL. It has really held up over the years, and was a lot of fun to read and look at all the pictures. I should scan 'em in. I had forgotten almost all of the inside jokes on that poster and they cracked me up.

Anyway, another thing that made that weekend great was that I got to go out on my dad's new boat. My dad, my mom and I launched it out of Leonardo Municipal Harbor down near Hazlet. It was a real choppy and windy day, so water skiing was out of the picture for me (bummer!). Next time though. We also stopped by my cousin Doris and her husband Al's boat which is docked in Atlantic Highlands. It was great to see them. I had an exceptionally satisfying cup of corner-store coffee that made my afternoon that much better.

And the other thing that made that weekend great was getting to spend some good quality-time with Jeff, Mindy, Molly and Jack. Molly is just so freakin' cool. I can't take it! You should hear her read-it's unbelievable. I really felt like we bonded that weekend. We watched Chicken Run which I had never seen (though I'm a big fan of Nick Park), and we read books and told each other stories, and I watched her brush her teeth.

To me, brushing my teeth is just something I do a couple times a day so I don't have stinkbreath. To Molly, it's an adventure. It's not only a chance to hang out in the bathroom, she also gets to stand on her little stepstool, squeeze out banana-flavored toothpaste and put something plastic in her mouth without getting told to "take that plastic thing out of your mouth!" She also has the very exciting task of taking a plastic cup and filling it up with water and then swooshing the water around in her mouth... and best of all, she gets to spit! Wooooooo! Will the thrill never end?!

Though, between the two of us, there was a time, just a year or two ago, where I would brush my teeth and get a mouth full of super foamy toothpaste, and then I'd growl and whip my head around like a dog chewing on a sneaker... and I'd pretend to be a rabid dog. Perhaps that's too much information for you.

This past weekend (7-14) was also a lot of fun. My buds Maddie and Brooks held their annual Crab Fest at their mom's boyfriend's horse farm in Chestertown, Maryland. It was really great: great food, fun people, water volleyball (my hands still hurt!), Conestoga wagon rides and did I mention the great food? Maddie's dad made his world famous flank steak: it's unbelievable. This stuff would make a vegan eat a cow, I'm not kidding.
And then, as if the weekend couldn't have been cooler, I went to a Blue Rocks game on Sunday which is my favorite thing in the whole entire world ever and ever. I got to see Mr. Celery about a million times, and I'm so excited about it I could barf just thinking about it!

You know, I don't know why they don't sell Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray at Blue Rocks games. Everyone would drink it, I just know it!

Well, all right then.