Tuesday, April 27, 2010

$5- The price of a beer.

Dear Family, Friends, Colleagues, Teachers and Random Passers By:

In the Fall of 2004, I received a phone call. It was from a good friend of mine from high school, he was a marine. and he'd been shot in Falluja. When he called me back, he'd already had several surgeries. A bullet had torn through his back, and exited through his stomach. The bones in his foot and leg were shattered. Thanks to wonderful doctors, and many surgeries, he has almost fully recovered, with the exception that it is difficult for him to run, and it was a long road back.

On October 31st I will be running the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. I will be running for the charity Run for Wounded Warriors, which you can learn about here: www.runforwoundedsoldiers.org

I will be running this race for him, and all the Marines I've known who have died, been wounded, or have served, but most especially:
Srgt. Andrew Curran

Srgt. James Flattery
Lnc. Crprl. Matthew DeMarco
Lnc. Crprl. Richard Setterstrom

Lnc. Crprl. Jeremy Ailes
Lnc. Crprl. Nicholas Ulloa


And many others in the Marines, Army, Navy, and Airforce.

My goal on that day is the run the race in 3:30- one minute slower than my time in Chicago two years ago, and enough time to qualify me for the Boston Marathon. I qualified for Boston in Chicago 2008, but due to two high grade stress fractures in my right leg, I was unable to run. It is my goal to qualify and finally run in 2011!

Please help support me in my cause. If I can get 100 people to donate just $5 I will raise the 500 dollars I need to participate, but my goal is $1000. I have started off with my own donation, so all I need is 99 more people!

Click here to donate and help me out :)

http://www.active.com/donate/TeamAzalea2010/JUrgo1

I appreciate everyone who donates for my cause, and passes this note on!

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this!

+UPDATE Thanks everyone, I ended up raising $1,040!! I placed 131st out of 9,000 women with a Boston Qualifiying Time of 3:27. Here's a photo of me with a giant penis.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

My mother loves my cat more than me.

After my euroventure, I came almost immediately to Crispin Porter and Bogusky, in Boulder Colorado, but not after a quick stop in colorado.

Home was a quick 5 days. My parents were gone the whole time. My mother left me the longest list ever on how to take care of my cat- which she renamed after Bruce Springstein while I was gone.

I've had the cat for over a year, and when I went to Germany, and while I do the last two quarter in ad school, my mom is watching him for me. I don't think I'll ever get him back.

Now, my cat has replaced me in my mother's heart. You think this isn't true, but I can prove it. I hadn't seen my mother in over three months. When she arrived home from her Bermuda vacation, the first thing she did was ask where her cat was. I came bounding downstairs with him in my arms, ready to see my family after my long journey.

She immediately took the cat from my arms, and began cooing at him, asking if he missed her and if I'd treated him poorly.

Then she walked away.

I didn't receive a hug from my mother until I left for the airport the next day, but over my evening at home, I did hear her talking to him about how she would never leave him again, and on occasion I receive phone calls letting me know how he is doing- when he puts outside the litter box, and how he looks after the groomers.

As a joke, I created a facebook page for my cat when I left Minneapolis (so my room mate would know what he was up to)
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=100000342897132&ref=ts

My mom, who is friends with him, made sure that he friended all of her friends, and comments on his page more than anyone else.

Also, she has been known to sleep in my old bed with the cat, because my dad wouldn't allow him in their bed, and he would sit outside their door and meow all sad like.

So, at least if my mom loves my cat more than me, she loves him more than my dad too.

European adventure

Hello Dear Friends And Those Who Have Taken A Slight Interest In My Ramblings!

I am a horrible blogger. I admit it. I went on an 18 day extravaganza around europe and reported absolutely nothing.

Here is the jist:

-I visited 8 cities, and passed through many others.

-I slept on people's couches I have never met before- out of 18 nights, I only had to pay for 6.

-I drank a LOT of belgium beer.

- I drank so much Beligium beer, despite walking for 2-8 hours a day, plus running in the mornings, and not eating a whole lot, I still managed to gain weight.

-I met a man named Bruno, whom I drank belgium beer with and talked about genetics.

-Bruno bugs monks in the mountains, and gets cases of beer no one else can get a hold of, hides it in his basement, then has parties with it.

- After drinking belgium beer with Bruno, I climbed over the fence into an art exhibit that was about 50 blocks of cement with a red painted chair on each one. I sat on several of them and told Loren to take my picture. I broke one.

- After breaking one, I stood on a car and had my picture taken, and then I laid down in a cross walk, because I thought the picture would look cool there.

-I climbed some mountains and ate chocolate made of liquor.

-Tried absinthe in Hemmingway's favorite bar in barcelona shortly after witnessing either a robbery on the main street, or someone getting busted for selling a lot of drugs.

- I slept by an airport runway

- When Loren and I walked into our hostel room after climbing mountains old day, there was a really old man sleeping in his bed.

- A few nights later when I went to bed in a different hostel, there was a drunk man sleeping in my bed.

- I slept in a different bed, and woke up screaming OH MY GOD at 4:10 because I was haluci-dreaming and thought there was a spider as big as my head two feet from my nose. I ran from the room

- The next day I received an email from my friend who said "I had to wake up at 430am to catch my flight, but woke up to some obnoxious crazy girl screaming at 410am". This is how I know it was 410am when I woke up. I still have not told Loren it was me.

- Hi loren, I'm the crazy girl who woke up all 7 people screaming at 410am.

- I played Gollum in a really old castle. This meant hiding in corners in strange posses taking pictures.

- The part I enjoyed most about the castle was the torture room.

- My first morning in amsterdam, I woke up on the floor, on a deer skin.

- I found a Condomerie in Amsterdam- they make condoms to fit. They also have a cow shaped condom, and a statue of liberty condom, with spikes, that inflate when you cum.

- I found out that men pay the prostitutes in Amsterdam 50eu for anything. Women are only 30. Yes, feminism!

- When I'm drunk in London, I start speaking with a bad accent. When asked "But you aren't from Ireland" I said "No, I've been living in Germany" as if this makes it all better.

- I got my nose re-pierced in Camden Town in London. While the guy was doing it, he said I was the best person he ever had- incredibly calm, didn't even flinch. When he was putting in a larger ring, I passed out, my body was seizing, and he said I was staring at him, shaking with empty eyes. My friend wanted to throw up. She did not get her ear pierced after. So much for being the best victim ever.

- I met two people who met online, in different countries, through World of War Craft, and then got married.

- I met a catalyn man in Barcelonan hostel who told me and some other americans that he would take us a few hours outside the city up into the mountains and show us around. On the train out there we thought this could be the plot of Hostel 2. He gave us liquor chocolate. We thought this was a good idea too.

- I danced to a Tuna Band with a member of the band. He played his instrument really well. I was swooning. He was the best tambourine player ever.

- He later fell down from drinking 10 jaeger shots.

- I managed to go three weeks with out thinking about advertising. This was the biggest feat of the journey.