And it's Decided!

Well, it's final. I'll be in good old NYC for the summer busting my hump for AIESEC. Not much of a change with that, but this time it'll be in a full time capacity of hump busting! It was an extremely tough decision, but I'm really really excited for the summer and the internship! ALthough Jill nearly gave me a heart attack in doing it...Next question- where to live?! Katie80 might be bunking with me so you KNOW there's gonna be trouble in NYC this summer!

Laundry 101 REALLY is the Coolest Place to be

I could not have felt more popular tonight at work. Seeing that I had to be at work, at a Coach meeting AND at a Marketing meeting, it made perfect sense to have everyone just come to me! It was a fantastic sight, it was. 15+ AIESECers invading Laundry 101 equipped with glorious food from the Latin American night (which i sadly missed for a conference call). I think my coworker was jealous at how cool I am. If only he knew that it was all a genius ploy.
So, I realized yesterday that this next month is going to be shear hell for me. Gone almost every weekend, papers and exams like whoah and more presentations than I had really budgeted time for. Well, I love being busy! Not to mention that I bought glorious helpers for my crazy schedule- thank god! Everyone be excited for overtired, but cracked out Ali!
Thanks to everyone that has listened to me agonizing over what to do this summer. It's so much harder when you have two awesome options that are completely different. REALLY happy with how my meeting went with the university folks today so that's not as much a concern, but NY seems to keep having pros added to that side. We'll see! Not to mention that I'm super happy with where AIESEC Madison is right now. Strong leaders (too many in fact!), great events, lots of enthusiasm, lots of strong opinions as always. Couldn't be happier with how far everyone has come and how hard everyone has worked! That's my emotional rant. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Time to study for Criminal Law. I'm in this awesome small seminar which is absolutely fascinating and we have amazing conversations, but everyone in there is gearing up to be a lawyer except me. Makes me feel a little inadequate come exam time. Oh well.

Hummus and Halls

If you are not at the library right now sitting across from me (which is all of you because I am entirely alone), you should be. Minorities Room, Helen C. Password is La Resistance. Punch and Pie. (if you don't know that reference, i might have just uninvited you). But I do have hummus and halls vitamin C drops so you know you're excited. Adam, Williams, Katie- get here now. Jenna already abandoned my hopeful heart. I feel alone. And loserish in the corner. I need someone to make me read this red Criminal Law book as opposed to blogs. Help me.

Frustration of Silence

With all the controversial political topics that are storming around locally and nationally recently, immigration has caught my intention. I have never been particularly interested in immigration policies at a national level, but more have been interested in immigration patterns and how policies have affected that in other countries.
Well, US Rep. (from WI of course) Sensenbrenner brought forth a pretty hardlined approach to immigration for the US recently which has had me thinking a bit. Immigrants (and non-immigrants) across the country have been protesting in response and yet many claim that this is 'a long time coming' and 'what the public wants'. In a recent article, Sensenbrenner claimed that this "is the right thing" and yet, I have a hard time believing such a seemingly racist stance is right. The article also states that,
"But last year, Sensenbrenner got a law enacted that was aimed at barring illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses. And in December, he left his stamp on the broader immigration debate. The powerful committee chairman sponsored and won passage of an immigration bill that would build a long wall on the Mexican border, beef up enforcement against hiring undocumented workers, criminalize illegal presence in the United States and expand the laws against aiding illegal immigrants. "
Although I don't think that illegal immigration should be triumphed or supported, I also think outright criminalizing it is a crime against humanity. It's easy to jump to conclusions when living in the great country we do, but i find laws such as this one to be very ethnocentric.
Additionally, I hear a woman wanting the Gov to take a strict stance on immigration. As she continued, she said, "Let the Mexicans stay in Mexico." Unfortunately, I don't think that eliminating illegal immigration would rid this country of perceptions such as that. Watching Law & Order: SVU with Grace and Jenna last nite, there was a particularly horrific episode involving white supremacists and neo-nazis. Grace asked if people like that really exist in the US. Well, I think it was demonstrated to me today that yes, sadly, people still have those views here.
(I'm expecting an angry response from Alf)

Suberb Sundays

I planned to have a nice, productive, work finishing Sunday. I'm currently sitting in my living room watching Law and Order instead.
However, in my defense, I have already gone grocery shopping, did dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Making dinner tonite for the girls and hopefully some work will get done at some point. I'm cautiously optimistic as Paul would say.
In any case, this week is gonna suck so I might as well get rid of this cold today and rest up!

Wastoid

Well, I'm officially a waste of space. I have tons on my mind, quite a few impending deadlines, too many unread emails in my inbox, too messy of a room (still haven't unpacked from Spring Break) and my head is swimming. All that sounds fun right? Sounds like Ali would have been smart and laid low this weekend. Oh no sir. I instead lived it up like it was 1999 and have spent 2 mornings/days in bed past 1. Awesome. So i've gotten nothing done so far. At least tonite will be spent on Katie80's couch watching a movie or so and I can get stuff done manana.
Also, I realize that I'm gone a lot of this month. Next weekend I'll be in Chicago with the fam (sadly not in Michigan) then it's our Stones conference, then it's Chicago for Rent (!) and then to Katie80's for Easter and the next weekend it'll be AUSTIN and then the LAST weekend will either be Mifflin or LTM. Tough decision on that one. I hope that's all right. In any case, I have a lot ahead of me this month! Quite excited, but trying to schedule some sort of homework time. Plus, I'm super jealous right now of everyone who are at international conferences. I need to figure out my summer plans so that I might be able to go to Poland for IC. Where else would I be in September? School? Overrated. Oh, and I'm SO jealous that Johnny will be studying in Prague next semester- best city in the world!

Heading to the Other Country

It's official. Jenna and I have booked our tickets to go to Austin for 'Reception Weekend'. Johnny has offered to pick us up in San Antonio (at least that's what I heard). Who's coming with us?!

And we're back...

Although break this year was no Spring Break in Cabo, it was just what I needed. The Cars couldn't have said it better. Little R+R at home in Boston full of tons of movies, a super awkward nite at Tufts, a great nite downtown and lots of quality time with my girl Jess. Not to mention watching Katie80 pull teeny bopper moves on TRL that she will never live down.
And then I embarked on a 7:00 am flight to Denver. Arrived at 10:34 to be greeted by Bri with a giant sign with my name on it. I knew the trip would rock my world. The rest of the Madison crew had arrived in an over-tired, drunken stupor which continued for a few hours before departing for the condo. 2 condos in the mountains with 30+ AIESECers equaled awesomeness. Skiing was fantastic and I forgot how much I love that silly sport. Hot tubs and TONS of Foosball (?) could not have made me happier. BUT, the highlight of my weekend was MOST definitely playing Drinking South Park with a forty of Mickie's. Yes, it was a random game we made up, but awesome. Drink everytime they say something offensive on South Park- needless to say, we were delighted to have had 3 episodes in a row so we could play. Plus, a rowdy hour long rendition of Bitches Bitches completed the weekend, leaving me with bruises on my legs to remember the awesomeness of the break.

Any hidden meaning?

Maybe Suzanne or Missy or Dana might have some insight into my weird/freaky dream from last night:
So my dream. It had been after being away for a week for Spring Break and I returned to my apartment- except, it was my apartment from last year. So I go in, nothing abnormal, except when I went to go to bed, I looked up (lights on for whatever reason) and the entire ceiling was covered with spiders and spiderwebs and they were all over. I left the room, dodging the webs and little eight-legged critters that creep me out. Talked to Hannah (my old roomy about it), laid on the couch and for whatever reason decided to go back and sleep in my bed anyway. I then woke up this morning scratching at my face and neck and the 'spiders'.
Gross huh? Don't know if its symbolic for anything or if I just slept on the wrong side of the bed or something.

From the comfort of the Gilman couch

So for the past 5 days/nights, I have enjoyed my spot on my parents couch as we've watched tons and tons of movies and Law and Order. Fortunately, my best friend Jess has joined for most of the time. I've journeyed off the couch for two nights and a few days of shopping and a Sunday of church. Saturday night we went downtown to a bar called The Hong Kong which is a great bar by Fanueil Hall. It was me and two dear friends from high school and the Canadian AIESECer that stayed chez moi for a few days over Christmas break, plus his 3 friends from Canada. I was in French speaking heaven and after a few drinks, I even busted out my French as well.
And last nite. You know those situations which start off slightly 'eh' and you know you should probably leave but you don't want to make a big scene? Well last night took that to a new level. I have never been in a more awkward situation in my entire life and all I can say is thank the effing lord that Jess was there with me. At least we did go to a great comedy show at Tufts where the guy from SNL did stand up- the guy that always plays Bill Clinton. Hilarious. But, last night was a night for the books.
Tomorrow I have a 7 am flight to head to Denver for Mountain Mayhem. Brokeback was surprised when I said that I ski, but I'm super excited to head down some freshly powdered Western slopes. Not to mention to drink in the beauty of the hot tub. Very excited!

Paradox or Perfect?

So in a committee session I attended today, two of the bills that had Executive action taken on them were about medical malpractice caps and the castration bill that I had quoted previously. Ironic? Perhaps. Either way, the caps would be a patient's damnation to 'financial castration' because the damages they could earn would be severely limited, despite the fact that the few cases that even go that far are the very serious ones that end up in millions of dollars in medical bills for the patients anyways. Whether you believe that not having caps will end up in the flight of doctors to other states is irrelevant in my mind. 20 other states have no caps and I am assuming that they have enough doctors to go around. Besides, the point of our political system is based on checks and balances and judicial decisions belong to the jury and the judge, not the legislature. We should focus on keeping the premiums down instead which will help keep Wisconsin a great place to practice medicine while still allowing our system to help those that are severely harmed.
I think I have completely lost my Boston roots- except for the Red Sox.

Sir George Clooney

George Clooney's interview on E! tonight was the best, most amusing, side splitting, orgasm on my couch interview that I have ever seen (politics and important stuff aside). If you missed it, sucks for you (especially if you enjoy the male species). Bottom line- he has a killer sense of humor that any man should try and emulate in order to have women clawing at their doors, even though that might be a bit pathetic/irritating.
On a different note, all my friends are studying so I figured I'd post something for a little library distraction entertainment- you KNOW you've been caught as you read this! I should be there, but haha, i don't really have any work due this week. Haha. I mean, you can all laugh at me when I pull my 2 day all nighters. But really, for once, I'm caught up in my readings and don't have any exams this week. BUT, i do leave for beautiful and classy Romulus, MI tomorrow. THat is a treat. BUT, the REAL kicker is that tomorrow night i get to drive to Milwaukee for my 7:10 flight at which point, I get to fly to St. Louis. THEN, this is lovely, I have a 10 hour layover in St. Louis which i will probably spend at a crack-motel. THEN, i get to wake up for my 7:00 AM flight (which i'll probably miss) to Michigan. Tomorrow is going to be fantastic! But, I am excited for the Wheat and Rye- best townie bar in the nation, followed by Black Bear Lodge in NYC.
Final note, if you do not know about the Constitutional Amendment that just passed the Assembly and that will be a referendum on November's ballot- learn about it and don't just take the media version. It's a bill that ends domestic partner benefits (affecting both straight and gay couples) that will have devastating effects on our university and the talent that we can attract. Unfortunately, it's being painted as simply a ban on gay marriage and has become a huge partisan fight. Please, feel free to ask me about it or Brokeback (Adam) if you have questions or read about it. It's something that truly freaks me out and I really really hope that Wisconsin voters educate themselves about it in November before they vote. THanks. My rant is over.

I remember

Okay, so today I received a notice for the International Trade Business Forum thing I'm speaking at for an hour. Very professional- I'm speaking at the Student Track (even though I requested the business one) about the importance of going abroad and such and what AIESEC offers, etc, etc. Well, it's this big deal and very professional with very important sponsors. To my dismay/lack of surprise/amusement, I am MR. Ali Gilman, President of the Wisconsin chapter of AIESEC. In international realms, the spelling of my name is quite problematic!
By the way, is it weird that i enjoy studying for my African International Relations class? This may be one of the first times when i've felt compelled to be an overachiever in college- but it's interesting!

Adam is a Whore

They did not have seeing eye dogs. Just because I don't go for anything that moves like you (they were NOT beautiful babies), doesn't mean guys can't ask for my number. Yes it's a rare occasion, but let me revel in the confidence boost for at least a day or two.
This semester is going extremely quickly. I'm very excited for Spring Break though- quality time at home then some crazy times in Denver for Mountain Mayhem.
New new members tonite!
I had something else to say, but forgot it. Any case, library trip tonite.