jersey shore controversy.

Okay, it's true, I have to admit that I am a complete reality television junkie. I love the corny reality TV shows that nobody likes to watch because everyone knows they aren't even "real". But, the latest reality show that I have been tuning in for is Jersey Shore. This show is about a group of eight Italian strangers who are living in a shore house together in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Many viewers have described this show as a social stigma since it gives Italian people a bad image. The truth about these young adults that are in their twenties are that they are not just ordinary Italians, they are "guidos". Guidos are the tawdry Italians that constantly have to wear gaudy jewelry, get spray tans, and tend to wear inappropriate clothing. But, what makes this show so addicting is all of the drama that goes on among the roommates, which has caused me to succumb to watching every episode of this new television series.

Many of the people on the show have different nicknames, such as Michael, who calls himself "The Situation". He is always very invidious in every episode since he likes to provoke his other friends just to make trouble and get them angry. Mike's best friend on the show is Pauly D., who always goes out at night with Mike so that they can meet new girls every night of the summer. As the season progresses, Mike and Pauly D have become sycophants since they flatter girls in order to get their number in return. One of the funniest girls on the show is Nicole, whose nickname is "Snookie". Her skin appears to be orange because she gets spray tanned so much, and always makes funny comments and gets herself into unfortunate situations because she is so outgoing. My favorite guy out of all the guys in the house is Vinny because he is very sweet and is the least obnoxious out of all of them. I watch new episodes of this show every Thursday night and cannot wait for tomorrow's episode!

so this is christmas.

This year I feel as though Christmas flew by. Ever since I entered high school, the holidays seem to go by and I am not able to enjoy them as much as I did when I was younger. My family always coalesces for Christmas, but I cannot enjoy the anticipation for when Christmas comes because I am always busy doing homework, and then all of a sudden Christmas seems to creep up behind me and I am not prepared for it to come yet. I like when my "Christmas anxiety" builds up inside of me because it fills my soul with holiday spirit. But, since it comes so fast, I lose that effect inside of me. But, Christmas will always be my favorite holiday because it is ethereal to me since it creates such a beautiful and timeless season for everyone. School always tends to make the time before the holidays saturnine due to the fact that sometimes I won't even have time to decorate the tree because of all the homework I have, which gets me very depressed sometimes.

But, school cannot put a damper on the fun that I have with my family during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My family is the loudest and funniest group of people that you will even meet in your life! My entire family means the world to me even though all of my uncles (my dad's brothers) hector me every single time we get together. I am an easy target since I find what they joke about hysterically funny and they are like brothers to me. Also, every time we are all together, my dad and his brothers will always perform ruses on their sister's kids, which we all get a good laugh at. My family is 100% Italian, and they won't every let you forget it if you ever meet or talk to them. My grandma makes incredible homemade Italian food that makes my mouth water at every holiday...especially Christmas!

REMI! <3

Puppies are the most adorable animals a person could ever own. They are known as a man's best friend, and over winter break I became very attached to my cousin's new puppy. The minute I entered my cousin's apartment I was beguiled by the cute little eyes and face of the tiny animal. My cousin, Nicole, and her husband, Matt, had come to me for advice on what they should name their puppy, and I had suggested the name Nico simply because I love the guy from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding whose name is Nico. But, when they told me that they were now getting a female puppy, I was a little insulted since I was so excited to christen this new puppy with the name I had chosen! So, while I was staying with Nicole and Matt, I excoriated their choice of choosing the name Remi because I thought it was a horrible name! Honestly, I have never met anyone that was named Remi, and did not think it was an exotic or creative idea. But, besides that, I fell in love with Remi because she had such a sweet demeanor and was so well-behaved for being only ten weeks old.

So, once Remi had fallen asleep by about 1:00 in the morning, and stopped barking, my cousin and I would stay up even later so that we could watch reruns of Sex and The City. During the commercials, Nicole was very garrulous and would ask me millions of questions about my friends and other unimportant matters. But, every night when it reached around 2:30 in the morning, we would hear barking and that's when I started to dislike Remi. She was practically implacable and would not stop barking until we played with her for another 30 minutes. But, even though my "sleepover" at my cousin's apartment was quite ephemeral since I was only there for four days, I still did not want to go home and especially did not want to go back to school. Nicole is like my older sister and I love her so much because we are able to talk about our lives for hours and she is always there for me.