i dont know why i'm so bad at keeping up with this.......

sorry!

this hasn't been updated in forever, either....but i do have a real "blog" :  http://nficaro.blogspot.com/   if you're interested.

i went back to Egypt in March, and have plans this year to travel to greece, austria, egypt (again), cameroon and israel. So that's pretty exciting. not much else is new. still working. still planning on medical school. still world travelling. still entertaining those around me with my plethora of awkward moments. still staying home on saturday nights to finish non-fiction books that no one else in the world seems to be interested in . still trying to perfect the art of standard arabic. still trying to figure out where God wants me, and how He'll get me there. still dreaming big. still paying two gym memberships and only using one. still upset that the bank sent me the ugly checks instead of the ones i ordered. still freaked out by large birds. still trying to write a best-seller. still thinking the best nights are the ones spent having sister-talks on the boardwalk. still wanting to be a top-chef. still a fan of russian accents.

i never really change ;)

as i was semi-bumming out about being 24, i stumbled upon this quote that i had once read a while ago. It seemed really applicable and it erased all my downer feelings and replaced them with a new desire to take this new year that God's blessed me with and not let one single day go to waste <3 

here:

hope everyone else is well :)

-----EDIT:  I was readiing some old entries and i came across one that really made me nostalgic. I actually thought it was kind of funny...so i'm going to repost it (is that lame?). Well, whatever...it just reminds me of my days (or...my nights) at NYU and my hopes to soon return there.....

So, i'm sitting here in the library. I'm trying to distract myself from the raging battle in my soul between the good vs. the evil....the burning desire to make a run to the cafeteria and buy one of the ginormously huge lard battered butter dripping leaves-a-stain-on-the-plastic-because-of-all-the-oil chocolate chips cookies, and then the little angel pops up on the other side and reminds me that i don't want to end up bearing a striking resemblance to the goodyear blimp. Blimp. What an awful word. You could have no idea what it means, but just by hearing it you know it's something not good. Blimp. Kind of fun to say though. Blimp Blimp Blimp. Did anyone ever have a video-painter? I don't know why that popped into my head earlier today. It was the coolest thing. It hooked up to the tv and you could draw all kinds of neat stuff. Kind of like the Microsoft Paint Program...before that became big. Video-Painter was so money.  I don't think i can pull of saying 'money'. Video painter was really super! There you go.  I think I still have mine. Maybe this weekend i'll pull it out and try to hook it up. I need to find some huge D batteries. I haven't seen D batteries in ages. Do people still use them?   So each night around the same time  i get to escape off the 13th floor and come down here into the dungeon (err...basement) and waste away infront of the computer. Sure, i should be using the time for research, or atleast for pleasure reading so i can finish 'Running with Scissors' before I see the movie..  But no, i'm here doing this. Writing meaningless babble. Oh! I had a point. I seem to run into the same people each night while i'm here, or on my way here. I don't know their names, but i've made up my own names for them. Here, meet my company: Mr. I Think I'm Rediculously Fabulous: Security guy at the front desk/checkout station. Now this man thinks he's absolutely phenomenal. You know the kind. Absolutely enthralled with himself, and eager to engage you in conversation so that you too can see the explosive fabulousness of his being. The head cock, the sly smile, the nod as you walk by that makes you really wonder what the heck he's looking at (no one looks good in scrubs and messy hair at 3:30am), and the hands crossed in front of him as if to assure you that although the library is a very dangerous place, he's got it allllll under control. "Not on my watch" his body language says. Good thing he's here. I might get attacked by looks-to-young-to-be-a-surgeon boy, or compulsive vacuuming man Jose the turkey gnat, or lethargic med student Ted, or Roxybury Roy. Dr. Looks Too Young to be a McSurgeon:  Surgical resident (looking about 15 years old) that must have the same spare time slot as I do. He usually takes the computer directly across from me, and i noticed the intense look on his face as he sat in front of the computer. Looked like he was really on to something. On the brink of developing some world-changing surgical procedure. If anyone so much as made him blink, all would be lost and the biggest breakthough in medicine would go to crap. I've never seen someone so engaged with their work. After 2 nights I get up to "use the bathroom" and inconspicuously glance over and try to sneak a peak at this unprescedented research....   The guy was on myspace. Talk about a let-down. Compulsive Vacuumateur man, Jose the Turkey Gnat:  First of all, one must have been of the original GLCA tribe to truly understand the depth of the level of irritation caused by one who is dubbed a "turkey gnat". For a more detailed explanation of the nature of the turkey gnat, you may contact Lauren or Nicholas Nuzzolo. John Donadio is the alternate contact. Anyway. The best parallel I can draw to this man and his vacuum is Milton and his stapler (from Office Space). Now, it's one thing if you're on the custodial staff here at NYU, but it's another thing to just sort of rock the friggin thing back and forth in the same spot for an hour. So happens to always be right where I am. Wonderful! It's actually quite unnerving, almost creepy. The carpet here isn't dirty. How dirty can a library carpet be, anyway? You can't eat here, kids don't come here and make their sticky pukey kid messes,  i mean...what's the problem? But the wholleeee time i'm here (yes, now as we speak) vrrrroooommmmmmm vrrrrrrrooooommmmm back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. No eye contact. Doesn't even lift his gaze from the floor. There's a whole HUGE library! Why is it always right near me?? Lethargic Med Student Ted and Cohorts: This guy and his crew are always outside of the library doors as i leave. Just there. Not really talking. Just kind of existing. Looking like they should be going inside the library, or going a few feet in the other direction into one of the lecture halls, or in the elevator up to the hospital, but they just sort of lean. Lean on the boxes waiting to be brought into the library (I guess?), lean on the walls, looking like if they take a step in either direction they'll just collapse right there and turn into a puddle of med student goo. Maybe these are the hippies that don't believe in caffeine? Roxybury Roy:  Okay, so to go from the hospital to the medical school (where the library is) you have to travel down this rediculously creepy dungeony maintenance hallway, with pipes everywhere, janitorial carts, etc.. (you can get here other ways, but the entails a longer walk...and who could be bothered with that? not i said the lazy girl who wants a cookie)  Alright. So as i brave the abyss I always pass the main janitorial suite (aka double door closet) and without fail there's techno music blasting at top volume and the cutest middle-aged black man singing along. When he sees me walking he comes out (dancing) and always says hello and asks how i am. I'm nice back. He's a nice guy. A little too happy to be cleaning in the middle of the night, but really pleasant nonetheless. I like him. He puts me in a good mood. Alright. enough of this. Maybe next time i'll introduce you to more of my newfound friends. I still really want that cookie. I want to play with my videopainter and i want that big cookie. It really is the epitomy of all that is good and lovely. Not afterwards, when you're three pounds closer to being a blimp, but as you eat it, all is right in the world. Bah. I have my stupid apple. Stupid stupid apple. 5 more hours. then i can sleeeeeeep! Or head home and start my brave and noble quest to reach my bed. disclaimer:  it's late, i'm tired and disgruntled about not getting my cookie, and the keys on this keyboard are sticking (that really grosses me out. things aren't sticky for no reason.). So if there's some spelling/grammatical errors, excuse them. Oh, does anyone want to see that new Brad Pitt movie 'Babel'?? I know it's a longshot...but i really want to see it and i don't have enough self-confidence to go alone ;)  let me know!

Public - 4:03 AM - 8 eprops - 4 comments - edit it - email it - fix language

Currently Reading Middlesex: A Novel By Jeffrey Eugenides see related

it's the pumpkin spice time of year!!!!

pumpkin bread, pumpkin spice coffee (which i prefer over the ever-so-popular pumpkin spice latte), pumpkin candles, pumpkin picking, etc....

what could be better? 

Currently Reading Handbook of Neonatal Intensive Care By Gerald B. Merenstein, Sandra Lee Gardner see related

just poppin in to say hello to anyone who still logs on to xanga :)

all is well on long island. busy, busy, busy!!  right now i'm in the NICU at SNCH...i love it so far. i used to say neonatal intensive care was the last thing i'd ever do...  funny.  next month i start taking neurobio, biological/immunological perspective on AIDS, and psychopharmacology of drug and alcohol abuse.  should be great!   what else, what else...     starting to plan for teaching Friends in the fall (missionettes....jr high age group).   looking foward to helping with 'the point' church.  trying to shop for a new car - looks like maybe i'll go for the infinity.  anyone have any suggestions?

i'm determined to start using the gym membership i've been paying for since 2003. i'm catching up on all the episodes of House i've been missing (slowly but surely). i think i'm going to give in and join Netflix, since i think blockbuster will soon revoke all of my renting priviledges. wah.  looking into taking ballroom dancing classes with some friends - yay!  officially started paying my own bills (dad is pretty happy about that...).  My egyptian friends are coming to visit some time this fall.  i started getting 'the economist' magazine every week, and i actually read it! (shocker).  

mom wants me to go make her a latte. i should get on that.

how is everyone out there doing?

<3 Nicole

Currently Reading The Tender Bar: A Memoir By J.R. Moehringer see related

These updates are so few and far between, these days. Hmm..

So much to say, no real eloquent way to put it.

I am enjoying being home. I've been spending all of my time with friends and family. I am blessed!

Big things on the horizon...hope they work out...very exciting.

This world is a beautiful place, and may you leave it someday having - in some small way - made it more beautiful and teaming with life than you originally found it.

...and store up your treasures in Heaven

Currently Reading Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston see related

So yes, life is good in every which way it can be good.

i am very happy about that

i am not into writing long things lately. maybe i'm tired of reporting and analyzing everything...and am learning how to just be and enjoy it.

<3