Lately, I’ve done so much work on this website and so very little work on academics! Some blurb updates follow (the picture, by the way, is of me and my blockmate Sue getting ready to go out):

* Readers can now subscribe via email to be notified when new entries are posted. If you’re already a registered users, you’re automatically subscribed. Not interested? Opt out through the subscription page under “About”.

* The Daily Pennsylvanian sums it up well: “She uses [her blog] to chronicle her sexual encounters, mental-health issues and drug use.” In other words, I am a bipolar coke whore. A literary one, but still.

* I’m going to be Tinkerbell for Halloween. Already have the green dress and wings, so all that’s left is a wand! I hope I can pull her off with my black hair or else I might just look like a random fairy. Not going blond though, lest I appear as if I’m channeling a Ganguro chick.

* Still have no idea what you want to be for Halloween? Check out the selection at Pierre Silber which has fully embraced the “slap on a hat, put on a short dress, and call it a costume” concept. Last year, I was a Mile High Captain. If you buy something through my link (or any of the ads on this page), your questionable Halloween outfit will also sponsor my tuition.

* If you’ve ever wondered what might happen if PostSecret and Lolcats had a love child, then my friend Ryan has got the answer. His project Lolsecretz is a hilarious and spot-on satire of the two memes. Check it out for kittens and scandal.

* Had an interesting dining hall concoction for lunch today and I feel inclined to share with the Harvard readers. Recipe: Assemble a sandwich with cinnamon raisin bread, pepper jack cheese, chicken strips, tomato slices, and barbecue sauce. Toast in the panini grill until cheese is melted. Bon appetit!

* Apparently, the Pennypacker freshmen are doing the dirty dirty.

* “Savage Love” columnist Dan Savage is coming to Boston College this Thursday. The event is sponsored by BC’s GLTBQ Leadership Council and all the details are online. A longtime reader myself, I might just trek it out there to catch the guy speak.

* Added a Contact page with all my various contact info and social network affiliations. Just joined Twitter, by the way, and my status updates will appear on my sidebar. A FAQ will be coming soon for answers to important questions like “When did you lose your virginity?” Just kidding — it’ll be an endless gallery of shoes. Or a link-swap policy. Whichev.

By the way, Sex and the Ivy is now running on Wordpress 2.3. Yes, I upgraded all on my own. If you recently found the site down in the middle of the night, that’s probably because I was in the middle of a serious tech boo-boo. Been staying up over the past week (often in a sustained state of panic) to do web-related fixes in order to minimize downtime in the day. Can someone please give me an award for “Blogger Most Likely To Crash Her Own Website Who Miraculously Hasn’t”?

* Enjoying my last couple days in Philadelphia, where I’m staying with le sexy Jessica Gold Haralson (see right) and hanging with all the cool kids at Penn. Hot student journalist Eric Obenzinger told me that ever since I linked to his Facebook profile, the page has skyrocketed in Google searches. Ladies, friend him.

* Just got nominated for the 2007 Bloggies as a finalist for Best Teen Weblog. Show your love by submitting a vote! And if you haven’t voted for the Sex Blog Awards yet, click on the graphic on my sidebar. Both end Thursday!

* Suffering through a severe case of writer’s block. Been trying to finish two freelance assignments for the past month and have gotten nowhere. My first CollegeHumor piece (still to-be-written) debuts in a week. I’m also toying with the idea of submitting for “In Their Own Words”, a production put on by Harvard’s Women’s Center. Waiting for a creative breakthrough, perhaps in the form of …

* An intercession fling in Philly! Sam, who I met this weekend, is unconventional but a sweetheart … exactly what I need to cure mid-winter monotomy. Thanks to Jess and him, I’ll carry fond memories of Penn: great dessert with the former (love the bitter chocolate gelato at Capogiro) and fantastic sex with the latter (love, well …) I’ll write the full chronicle of my New York/Philadelphia adventures when I return to Boston.

* In addition to shopping classes, next week will be devoted to getting my ass in line. Pending are uncompleted work-study forms, multiple internship deadlines, and a yet-to-be-scheduled pre-screening for group therapy.

* FemSex information sessions kick off this week. I’m so there!

* I hear it’s twenty below freezing back on campus. Better warm up soon, if not for my arrival, then for the arrival of my favorite man I love to hate. Summer Guy may be paying a visit to Boston, Massachusetts in the next month or so. Details tk.

* And in lieu of a male conquest, here’s a snapshot of five-month-old baby, Dash — the first male face to appear on the blog! He accompanied his father, Ryan, to our (platonic) coffee date last Saturday in Union Square. I peg him as a future heartbreaker.

Between the Sociology 25 exam tomorrow morning and my final presentation for a seminar Monday afternoon, I’m blatantly disregarding my need to study and research to head off to New York in search of sexy Manhattanites instead.

Wednesday — Upon my evening arrival, I’m attending an erotic reading series hosted by Village Voice sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel.

Thursday — An afternoon visit to AM New York’s “The Dating Life” columnist Julia Allison who is interviewing me for CO-ED Magazine.

Friday — Lunch date/gangbang in TriBeCa with the boys of CollegeHumor, for whom I’m selling my soul via a sex column that debuts next month. Perhaps a jaunt to the East Village to say hi to Ryan Iverson (Yale ‘02) who I stayed with over Thanksgiving.

Saturday — Late afternoon joe (the drink, not the man) with Viviane, sex blog mistress and tea party hostess.

Sunday — Back in Boston in time for brunch so I can work on my Monday presentation. Yikes!

In between and late at night, I’m whipping out my little black book of booty calls in the city. Kidding. Maybe. Hey, maybe if I sleep around enough, I won’t even have to look for accommodations! Kidding. Maybe.

Okay, really now. I don’t actually know where the hell I’m sleeping Wednesday. Friday and Saturday I’ll be living in Columbia sex columnist Miriam Datskovsky’s dorm room. Other accommodations yet to be acquired/confirmed, though I should probably get on that considering I’m leaving in 24 hours. Thus, my frantic Facebook status: “Lena is baking cookies for the first NYC gal to offer her a place to stay tomorrow night.” Emphasis on gal. Sex is really not on my immediate agenda.

When I come back on Monday, I’m doing my presentation (ends at 2 pm) and pretty much leaving right after for Philadelphia (getting on the T at 5:30 pm). It’ll be the shortest plane flight ever, unlike the 6.5-hour trips home to Los Angeles, and my longest mid-year trip at eight days. I am staying with the oh-so-sweet Jess Gold, founder of UPenn’s literary erotica magazine, Quake, and hanging with Eric Obenzinger, the cutest student journalist I’ve yet to screw.

I’ll blog in between I’m sure, but it’s adieu to Harvard and all my Boston boys until February 1st. Work hard and play safe without me, kids.