Roamin' with Romagni

T-G-I-Almost-F!

After a grueling week of sickness and despair, I am finally starting to feel like myself again. This “thing” going around is pretty serious, so don’t forget to take your vitamins!

On a more positive note, the holiday season is approaching and I can honestly say that it’s one of my favorite times of the year. For many people, Christmas is one of the best days of the year, but I think it’s a bit overrated. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas day falls in my top five, however there are two other days in the season that take the cake for me. I think a lot of it has to do with, big surprise, FOOD! Many of you may be wondering, “What about family”? Well, growing up in an Italian family, I have learned to associate the togetherness and bonding of holidays with food.

So what are my two favorite days of the year?

#2- Thanksgiving – If this were a logic representation of my previous statement, Thanksgiving would be number one on my list. Let me address that later. Thanksgiving is one of the very few days of the year that I actually look forward to getting up early. All the men in my family meet up at my uncle’s house to do some early morning skeet shooting – a tradition that has been going on since I can remember. Three hours, hundreds of shots, (gun shots, that is) and one sore shoulder later, we return home to familiar smells and a long list of absolutely nothing to do (besides help momma Romagni, of course). Since everyone in my family loves food just as much, if not, more than I do, we kick off the gluttony around 2. After many hours of food, coffee, desert, and reminiscing, Thanksgiving is over and I have several pounds of food to bring back to school!

#1- Christmas Eve – O boy! I think a lot of my love for Christmas Eve has to do with the fact that even after the night is over, you still have the next day to look forward to! When most other holidays start winding down, a certain feeling of loss sets in. After I find my tackiest sweater, (sometimes borrowed from my father’s closet) we head out to the home of our family friends for a night of great food and memories! Dinner usually includes, but is not limited to, pasta covered with linguini and clam sauce, breaded shrimp, frog legs, (don’t knock it until you try it) fine wine, and sparkling grape juice for the little ones!

I figured I would share some of my favorite traditions of this coming season. If you’re stressed with classes, work or life in general, sit back and take comfort in knowing holiday break is right around the corner!

As I sat down at my computer this morning, I performed my normal routine – I checked my e-mail to make sure none of my classes were canceled, glanced at the daily weather forecast, updated my Netflix queue, and last but certainly not least, logged into my Facebook account. No less than 10 minutes later, I realized that I was in danger of being late to work… This got me thinking (even though thinking can be dangerous for many college students before noon) about the black hole that is Facebook.

At this time, if you haven’t already done so, go ahead and log into your Stalkerbook, er, I mean your Facebook account. Now, it may seem like I have a grudge against Facebook, however that is really not the case. From my point of view, which is that of a college senior, Facebook is the ULTIMATE social networking tool. When used properly, of course.

In my opinion, here are some of the great things about Facebook:

1. Stay connected with people- It’s the foundation that social networking is built on. Whether it be a long-lost friend from the second grade or a close relative, it is almost impossible to lose touch with people. Especially now that Facebook prods you to write on the walls of friends you may have been neglecting!
2. Birthday reminders- If you are anything like me, you have a horrible memory. It takes me multiple encounters to remember someone’s name, so you can imagine how I do with birthdays. Thanks to the reminders, I no longer feel like a jerk because I forgot a birthday. I just feel like a jerk because Facebook had to remind me.
3. Facebook Chat- With the click of a button, I have instant access to every friend that is online. I think that feature pretty much speaks for itself.
4. Mass picture storage- Assuming FB isn’t going anywhere, I can rest easy knowing that I have access to all my photos anytime and anywhere.Though, if you are less than moral in your pictures, you might want to think about making your album private.
5. Communication on a greater scale- Need something quick? Just ask every one of your 800 friends via status update. There is a good chance that SOMEONE can/will help.

With the good, comes the bad:

1. A slew of pointless applications- For the last time, NO!  I would not like to accept your Zombie Wars, Mafia Wars or Farmville request! Even worse are the thousands of surveys that serve absolutely no purpose. I can’t believe someone formulated an algorithm to tell me the exact day I’m going to die or the name of the person I will marry! Please, if you indulge in one of these surveys, think before you click the “Publish to Facebook” button.
2. Cries for attention- At least when people publish their entire weekend plans in a status update, others can take it into consideration when trying to make their plans. When someone posts an update like “So sick of it all,” they really just want to see how many comments they can get.

I saved the best for last:

1. Political statements- Are you just looking to start a fight? I suppose it is impressive that your post generated 35 comments, but in the end, the only thing that that comes out of these often one-sided posts is extreme animosity among friends. If you really feel strongly enough about something political, join a forum or get off your computer and actually get involved!

Like any other legal and addicting activity, please enjoy responsibly!