Jennifer Boonlorn's blog

Snippets from my trip to the Middle East with Brian:

• Brian goes to take a picture at sunset at the beach in Tel Aviv and realizes he took his camera but left his battery in the safe back at the hotel

• Brian scrapes the front of the car while parking and figures out a way to make money on it using his cc's international car rental insurance

• At the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem you can write a prayer on small piece of paper and put it in one of the cracks, Brian's reads "Dear God, I want a Wii, Thanks Brian"

• Brian takes over an hour and half to get out the door while our friends waited in the car below, all because he was freaking out over the safe in our room all the while blaming our friend Chris. And the whole reason he was frantic about getting back into the safe was because he wanted his passport because he thinks there might be checkpoints in Jerusalem, but he doesn't bother to grab Chris's passport because and I quote directly "I don't want to be responsible if something happens and Chris loses it"

I hate my cell phone. Not because it malfunctions, or does not work properly, although I have had my fair share of that, but because it works all too properly. My phone is in a constant state of ringing! Voicemails and text messages pop up continually and always with the wants, demands and desires of certain East Coast acquaintances NEEDING something.

How did I become these peoples’ ATM machine, psychologist, shrink, entertainer and go to person?????  I had one instance, where a person called me at 4am because they were about to get arrested! NO, this is just insane; I need time and space to get my own stuff done without always picking up the pieces for somebody else.

I feel like there is no time to be productive or creative if you are constantly on the phone dealing with mindless chitchat.

True enough, my phone is one way I am able to stay in touch and in a sense be able to “hang out” with family and friends back at home, but if it were not for that, I would probably toss my phone onto the street and watch it be crushed by the oncoming traffic! Ahh, that would be soo great! I love one of the last scenes in “The Devil Wears Prada” where Anne Hathaway’s character tosses her cell phone into the water fountain when Meryl Streep continually tries to call her.

Cell phones do have their merits. Sadly though and we have gotten to a point in society where we can’t imagine functioning without them, however no one ever seems truly present because of this.  

I understand the need and place of cell phones for business or emergency purposes. But what irritates me is the social impact of cell phones.

I go to dinner with people and they will make more of an effort to communicate with whoever it is that is calling them, versus the company that is right in front of them, you sit down and people put their phones on the table as if they were a permanent part of the table setting. People walk around the city with their fingers glued to their keypads sending out little text messages because the people on the other end need a reply to some question or request right at that very moment. It feels like people can’t stand to wait for anything and we are all being whisked into this habit of having to answer immediately or risk being too slow and fall behind.

Speed, instantaneous responses, and access into people’s lives 24/7 have taken the place of well-thought-out conversation and communication.

We may be able to check in with somebody two or three times a day, but the level of communication has gotten sloppier and of less substance.  It drives me nuts when guys use text messaging as a way to get to know a girl. As if two or three lines of text make up for a real conversation.

I feel my conversations with friends back at home are actual, though-provoking, friendship-building, soul searching chats, because we have not seen or talked to each other for months and what we do have to say, better count for something! I remember Meghan Connealy telling me about one of her English professors who told her to use her words wisely, or as she said he put it “Make it count!”

The same goes for Myspace and all the other social networking sites (VOX excluded ;-) sure we can communicate with people half way around the globe, or with people we have not seen since elementary school, but are the messages that we scribble on their “wall” really of meaning? It just appears to me like this need to be in touch with people 24/7, is fueling a lack of depth in communication And through out the whole process nobody is ever in the moment, they are obsessed with what is next, who they are going to meet up with, what they are going to do later that day and they therefore miss the present moment and are in a constant state of living via technology for a moment that may never come.

And that is why it is my secret desire to throw my phone into the oncoming traffic, watch it be smashed into a thousand pieces and start having real, solid, thought provoking conversations even if it means it only happens a few times a month and not two or three times a day!

People do many different things to cope with stress, loss, and "bumps in the road". How do you handle stress and hard times? 
Submitted by RedlyGal. 

For me falling apart is never-ever an option, you just have to keep going no matter what. But this mentality has led to pent up stress and frusteration that I did not deal with seven years ago when my parents were killed in a car accident. I believe in Heaven and I believe I will see my parents again, so that is something to hold onto. But it does not help in the day to day fact that I miss them and they are not here for some of the major lifestone's I have been passing.

 I need to learn to take on less and take out more time to have reflective-quiet time in order to process some of the emotions that go through my head and my heart. And for the daily annoyances of stress, I need to never miss a SPIN class, no other work out wrings out stress and anxiety like SPIN.

I just booked a flight to Jordan where I will check out Petra and the Red Sea before heading to Israel to explore Jerusalem, Nathareth,Tel Aviv and the Dead Sea. Brian and I were talking about taking a trip somewhere before he has to be in France and I have to go back to Parsons for my last semester. We were deciding between Turkey, Morocco, St.Petersburg, and Croatia. We both have covered a good deal of Europe and we wanted something off the beaten path.

I am so excited! I love exploring new places, countries and continents, it truly is one of my favorite things to do. 

I started off the summer with a trip to Boston to visit Meghan and then I got to explore new parts of NYC due to Kristin, Jena, and Meghan's visit, but the Middle East of all places is definitely going to be a trip! So much history, so much political unrest, so many cultural differences, not to mention all the Biblical history coming to life. I can't wait to experience it all!

So I guess I will have one last crazy, summer adventure before it is time to head back to the weird and crazy world of Parsons and the insane fashion industry.

Celebrities spotted roaming around Manhattan:

Luke Wilson and a "lady friend" walking down Greenwhich Ave

Kerri Russel (very pregnant and ready to burst!) roaming through Chelsea eating Pink Berry Yogurt

Tye Pennington pumping iron at the gym

Nina Garcia outside the Christian Dior store talking on her cell phone and scrolling through her Blackberry

Josh Hartnet filming a movie in Nolita, Lizzie and I stood and watched them film several scenes

Ryan from "The Office" walking around the West Village drinking his coffee

On Sunday Sarah and I went to Olive and Ivy for breakfast and then wandered over to Border's. Sarah picked up some book whose title I have forgotten that was full of useless facts and silly information. However, she came across this known fact "Sister Boom Boom was a transvestite nun in San Francisco who decided to run for mayor of the city in 1982, He/She received 20,000 votes." When she read it out loud I could not stop laughing. I think it was Paul and Ryan Hyland who coined my nickname way back in the day, but to know that there is another "Boom Boom" out there, who happens to be a tranvestite nun, well, that is just hillarious!