Chaos

Before I left NA, I watched "Big Fish" with Mucks. It made me weepy, somehow.
And Jeff (have I mentioned he had 6 wisdom teeth pulled?), Dom and I went for a carride to Newburyport to eat at Not Your Average Joe's. You know, considering I used to work there, I'm impressed that I still want to go back. We also walked the harbor/boardwalk. But the best part of that day was when Dom purchased a "Celtic Pure Chill" CD and made us play it while we cruised with the windows down. It was the kind of CD where the makers obviously dubbed out the original singers of the song (think Bryan Adams, Mamas & Papas, Elton John, etc.), and replaced it with celtic flutes. Hilarious.

I'm back in NYC. Watched the "DaVinci Code". My move-in experience was wretched. Note to future locals: if you live on Wall Street, DO NOT move in during weekday lunchtime. WORST IDEA EVER! My mom was attempting to drive in circles, since you can't park on the sides of the narrow streets down there, but kept getting stuck, lost, etc. It was humid, I didn't have my name on the tenant list, yet...and most importantly, the girl that I was replacing in the apartment hadn't moved out, yet. Her double-sized bed, along with ALL of her stuff, was still in the room. We had to attempt to make my twin bed fit somewhere in the mess. What a mess.
Craig was a dear and helped us bring stuff back from Bed Bath & Beyond. I had to buy everything, sans desk.
I saw my girls, Danie the Trini & Cassie from NJ. We ate Thai food and acted girly. And I saw former roommate Lauren all day yesterday. We ate Indian food and walked around. I mutilated my feet in my heeled flip flops. It has been raining rather consistently, and not the soft British kind, either.
Since returning here, I've been honked at, asked directions, interrogated by a friendly old man who was either speaking Hebrew or something Slavic. And I've been asked if I want some cocaine (et cetera). I love being back in NYC.

The More You Know

The Bad News - I failed at making a stir fry. A stir fry!
The Good News - I have learned one of the key distinctions between stir fry and stew: tomatoes. Ladies and gentlemen, if you do not wish to slurp your stir fry, do yourself a favor and omit any tomato ingredients from the recipe.

Yesterday my boss at job #2 took me and my 2 other coworkers out for lunch. We went to Lee Chen's down the road from the office. It's a cute little sit-down Chinese restaurant, more upscale than a buffet, not so fancy that you can't wear jeans. And the food is very good. I got steamed stuff, and wonton soup.
It's funny because my coworkers are no less than 10 years older than me. All of them. So, here I am, eating lunch and talking (more listening than talking, actually) with these much older people, as if I'm their equal of some sort. I felt very old, yet terribly young à la même fois. I was kind of suspended in this quasi-reality all lunch. Then back at work, all was normal again.
The day before at job #2 the office (Michelle's) I work in had file boxes taking up all of the extra space. The file storage company came in a few days earlier, and the boxes were all gone by yesterday. It was kind of sad; the boxes made the office more busy looking. I joked with Michelle at how she could have used the boxes to make a wall in front of her desk as a barricade....like in the French Revolution. She could wear a berét and the ruffled french bourgeoisie outfit, look over the side of the boxes, swear in french, throw something at people outside of the office, and then hide again behind the wall. She laughed at the idea. Probably because she would do it, if she knew french...and had the hat.

Late last night (by late, I mean 10pm....because I'm an old working woman) Shivangi, Vivek, Nimesh, and 2 other people I don't know came over. We decided to join up Erin & Jesse (and other kids I don't know) at Erin's house for a bonfire. At first, Vivek didn't quite understand that "bonfire" doesn't necessarily mean (for us suburban preps) riots and hillish mounds of stuff being lit on fire. He's a BU student, cut him some slack, right?
We got there and made smores in the campfire and talked. We talked about Bob Sagat, Pluto's demotion to a "dwarf planet", tea, war, college, and other assorted joys. We were kind of loud, but no one told us to quiet down. It was a nice night, fire and all.

Today is my last day of work. Thank goodness!

Can You Believe This?!

So, yesterday when I was at job #2, I became slightly bored, and decided to scope out the world's newsreels.

I found this article on MSN yesterday at work:

Controversy for Indian Restaurant

It's ridiculous! Someone actually wants to advertise themselves through Nazism!? What are they on?
I think one thing is for sure: Mumbai's got a problem brewing....and it ain't pretty.
Let's just hope that it doesn't catalyze India's role in the recent "War of Religions" over there...

Ladies and gentlemen, I feel the world is ever-so-quickly getting into one giant...well, the picture says it all.

On a completely different note, there was a man who apparently got completely stuck in chocolate at a factory. Terrifying, I'm sure. That article was also of high-end quality. The link is: Trapped in Vat.

I'm trying to do last-minute back-to-school shopping. It's harder than I remembered!
I'm leaving Sunday to move into my NYC flat. If you care to know.

Find a Mattress

Friday night, my sister concluded that it was obligatory to go to the movies. So, we went to go see Little Miss Sunshine. Everyone should go see that movie. I haven't laughed that well in a theatre since...I can't remember when. It was an excellently good time, and Jesse cackled the entire time. And it ended in a good way; nothing too Hollywoodesque, nothing too Goethe. My favorite character in the movie was Dwayne, who looked JUST LIKE my friend Aaron. Except this kid was with black hair, and a bit shorter, and skinnier, and emo.

Saturday I went out to lunch with Steve and Eliot, my high school boys from PA. We concluded to go to a mall and eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Steve's deathly allergic to nuts, though, and I'm lactose intollerant...so we actually didn't eat any cheesecake...but we had good food! I will fully admitt I have a strange addiction to salmon. We had a lovely time talking, joking, catching up. I gave them some guidance on applying to college. We joked a lot. I proposed to Eliot. Those boys are wonderful, and so old for their ages! Who would think that they're only seniors in high school!?!
Morgan the Mormon swung by at nighttime to say hi/bye. She just returned from working all summer in upstate NY at GE, and was on her way out back to WPI. It's funny because we've known each other since we were 8 or so, and now it's the kind of friendship where we don't really have that much we need to say, but we just want to see each other. We watched a movie with my family.

Sunday was the big day of going to visit Scott at Lake Compounce with Jesse and Jeff (who just returned from a summer in Ecuador). 2 hours of boy-talk, and Jeff telling us his hilarious mishaps while in South America (the key stories: almost being kidnapped in Colombia & dancing with 13 year-olds).
We finally got to the park, which is located in the middle of nowhere. If we weren't making a real effort to find this park, I'm sure we would have never found it. It's in the middle of a forest, tucked between some mountains. And man, it's an old-school park. It reminds me of Canobie Lake park, only more IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, and smaller, and older. We roamed around for a while, lost in the park. Jesse and I are both wimps and refuse to go on rollercoasters, so Jeff had to exercise patience with us and our wimpyness. Scott finally found us, and it was like having the 4 Musketeers back together. Reminisced, caught up, and walked. it was HOT outside, so we were slow, and we sweated a lot, but we still had a good time. We went on a ski lift ride, and Jesse nearly passed out (and hyperventilated, at the same time) from the height.
We experimented with Fried Oreos, which are about as disturbing as the name, if not moreso.
Scott introduced us to his co-workers/roommates. It's really weird when people you don't know at all, or haven't heard of, come up to you and say, "It's so good to FINALLY meet you! We've heard so much about you!" Thanks. Nice to meet you, too?
We 3 sat in the front row and watched Scott's 2 shows for the day: Country Unleashed & Rockin' Radio Replay. The first one was hilarious, because it was all country music, and we danced with the performers. By the second performance, Scott and his partners integrated us into the show, which made it all the better. Scott had to wear a mullet wig that made him look like a caveman. He dances the robot well.
It was a short day, but one thing is for sure: I love those boys.


Finding a mattress & bed frame for my NYC apartment is nearly impossible.
I finished "Breaking the Spell." I think I'll try on "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood for size.

Music & Garlic

When I was younger, I was certain that the ONLY music artists ever were Elton John, Michael & Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Bette Midler, The Beatles, and Prince. The rest of the songs were made by normal people like me (ok, I'm a bad example) who performed only that 1 song on the radio.
When I got a little older and understood that was not the case, I became overinfatuated with music (if that is actually possible). I loved anything and everything that was music. Only, Nine Inch Nails and other more "hard" rock (and rap/hip-hop) frightened me. I thought it was some kind of cult music.
Now? I play "Name that Tune" and "Name that Artist" with my friends all of the time. I love music, yes, but I am a little pickier about what I listen to and what albums/artists I pick up. I have a Nine Inch Nails album, and I go to hip-hop clubs.
I still listen to the original 7 artists, though.

Yesterday, my mom, Aimee, and I went to Vinny T's for dinner before we picked up Dad.
I ate a whole garlic. As in, they roasted a whole garlic, and I ripped it to shreds.
I love garlic. A lot.
I'm gonna smell like garlic all weekend.

Picking Up Aimee

Last night after work Mom and I went to go get Aimee from Logan.

Compromising with myself to gym tomorrow after work, I encouraged the family to drive into the North End for dinner.
So we got lost in Charlestown for about 30 minutes. Yeah yeah, Charlestown isn't the best location to get lost in, but it wasn't that terrible. Just slightly frightening.
We finally got into the North End, and all was well. We parked not too close to where the restaurants on Hanover Street are, so we had to walk a little bit (which the both of them continually doubted my walking navigation skills as we meandered through alleys). Guys, I knew where I was going. Don't worry. We just started in a bad place, and it was hard to get there.
Aimee commented all night that she felt she was in Europe, or London (?). Well, we were in fact in the North End, which is about as Italian first-generation as you can get in the US....

We concluded to try the newer restaurant, Strega. And boy, let me tell you....it was great. They had italian/mobster movies playing on one wall, and the ambience was vey dark and upscale. The food was pretty darn good. I indulged, yet again, with a vodka & salmon penne dish and a glass of merlot. Delicious.
They decided that it was necessary to end the night at Mike's Pastries. For those of you who haven't been to Mike's, then you don't know what it means to be italian (which I am not), or what it means to be alive. The baked goods/pastries are so good you won't feel like dieting ever again, if only you could just feast on only the sweets in that glorious little patisserie. It's always busy, but it's sooooooo worth it. And the people who work there have serving down to a "t"...or to an "s", more appropriately. I purchased some macaroons (regular & pistachio) and some leaves.
Boy, will I be paying for it today.

Quasi-Reunions

Friday night after the gym (and after finishing "The Pirates!") I went to Dany's house for a little party. I haven't seen Dany, nor our group of friends (be it churchies or the Fellowship), for probably a year straight. I love that I've known these kids for so long, and so well, that I can see them after a year and it's almost like we've never missed each other. I saw a bunch of old faces, and a few surprise-faces. It was a nice night with them.
Dany's younger sister was also participating in party-ing with her friends. Because they were all high schoolers, though, and Dany & us were all college kids or already out of college, the groups segregated themselves...the high schoolers fooled around downstairs, while us older kids (and the parents) talked upstairs.
I've never realized the true value of the game Apples to Apples until that night. Roughly 20 of us older kids huddled together on the couch and played it for at LEAST a good hour and a half or so. After we finished the game, we just chilled out in the kitchen and talked. Like old people. Reminisced about when we were younger; filling in each other about our current status and plans; updating people on others who weren't there. And I felt slightly out of the loop because I hadn't seen them in so long, and I'm awkward anyways...but they (for the most part) kept me included, like always. I love them.

Saturday, I impulsively drove up to Maine to visit Jessica over in Ocean Park. The town is adorably miniscule...and looks like something straight out of a 1930's picture from the Saturday Evening Post. You can only drive at a slow crawl through the town. They've got all of 3 shops down there, a shuffleball court, and one is an ice cream shop called the Soda Fountain. The houses are all small, and the ones in the center of town are all white. And it's right on the beach, which is the highlight of it all.
After 2-hour traffic, I joined Jess on the beach for a few hours. We lazed and soaked in some sun. We talked a bit, caught up, girl talked, talked about books. Tyler (her brother) and a bunch of their friends joined us behind their house. They're funny kids. A lot of them were Canadian. Scott called, and I put him on speakerphone so Jess and I could both talk to him for a while.
We went out to grab some dinner at a local diner, and grabbed some DVDs at some local video shop. We also stopped by the Soda Fountain (with the entire town in line before us) and grabbed ice cream (frozen yogurt for us lactose intolerants). I didn't watch the movies with them because I had to drive home.

Sunday was low-key. I think I bruised the bone in my left foot, which is sad. I grilled some steaks (which the grill decided to engulf in a sea of flames...charbroiled it is) and we had a summery dinner. Jaynie and Giard stopped by for a while and we chilled outside. We concluded that I talk too much.

Snakes & Penguins

First thing's first: New Line made a movie called Snakes On a Plane. Snakes. On a Plane.
Ok, I can deal with that, kind of.

What scares me is that this movie is some Hollywood phenomenon that is supposedly going to alter the way movies are produced/made.

But the blog is pretty hilarious.

On a completely different note, I found this article yesterday about a car accident in Texas that killed penguins and some fish (but NOT an octopus). It is pretty sad, and funny (at the same time). The thing that irks me is that the police officers are thinking more about their safety than the poor penguins' safety.

Shake-a-speare

Yesterday was wonderful weather. The kinds where you just want to squeal about how nice it is outside.

Last night, Laura B. (just returned from Bungoma, Kenya) and I went into Boston with my mom and one of her friends.
To see Shakespeare in the Park.
It was "Taming the Shrew": North End style. They made everything like the North End, 1940s/1950s. And they all had wicked thick Revere/Boston accents. I enjoyed it.
And we knew a guy in the performance. He was a drama kid at our high school. Paul Melendy. He still has his uber skinny-ness and caterpillar eyebrows. Funny guy.

We paid far too much for dinner salads at a place called Panificio. If you find that place on Charles Street by the Common, re-evaluate your financial investments.

Power Panty

I just want to bring to the world's attention the new feminine fashion of: the Power Panty.
Also known as a newage girdle.
I think this picture best expresses the magic of the power panty.
If you're into the idea, just use it as spandex.
And the top seller of these underpants are called....what else, but....Spanx.
WHO THINKS OF THESE THINGS?!?!?!

Jesse and I concluded last night that we'd both like to be international ambassadors, and somehow we both have the dream goal of working for the UN. Or something of relative important & international influence. Fingers crossed, right?

I talked to Ido for over an hour while parked at the gym yesterday evening (I was in the parking lot because I was going there...). It was nice to talk to him, I just wish I could see him, too. He wanted to watch Will Ferrell with me, too.

Michigan

This weekend was full of tripping over to Ann Arbor, Michigan to see my family. My grandfather has been in and out of the hospital for the last few months, and we went to go see him in a kind of "just in case" mentality. He looked alright, considering the amount of surgeries and close calls he's been having. My poor grandmother is holding up, too, considering. They both are tired, though. That was quite obvious.

Mom booked our flight for 6am, meaning we had to wake up at 3am and get there by 4.30am. Really, it was fabulous. Northwest is the way to go. Sarcastically speaking.
Anyways, we got our rental car, and went to Meijer's for some breakfast. Meijer's is much like Wegman's...it offers everything, it's midwestern, and it's open all of the time. I love those stores.
We went down an isle that had 2 signs: "International Foods" and "Mexican & Chinese Foods". I had to think about this for a while. Anyways, we hit jackpot over in the British & German section of that aisle, and I pranced out of the store happily with my booty of Hob Nobs, Fig Rolls, Cadburys, and Ritter Sports.
Hit up Aunt Mary Jo's (yes, that is her name), and I hung out with my cousin Joe while my mom and Aunt Mary Jo went to a funeral for some relative. I have so many relatives I don't know that "Do I Know Them?" has become quite an interesting constant game with my family. Joe and I goofed off on the computer for a while (we goofed off all weekend, but anyways), until I went to the basement and used their in-home gym to get some blood pumping. The machine of the day was the Nordictrack-like thing, where your legs literally swing back and forth at full speed while your arms attempt to keep up with your legs on the bars. It was an interesting machine that freaked me out a lot, and made me feel like a prancing gazelle. I made Joe do abs with me, which he was less than excited about.
After checking into our hotel room, we finally ended up at The Farm (my grandparents' home) where I took inspiration from my grandfather and took a 2-hour nap. I woke up to find much of our family in the family room, and dogs everywhere.

Welcome to my mom's family. Veteran farmers with a tiny (and ooolllddd) farm house that consists of a single room extension that is of equivalent size of the rest of the house. The decor of the house consists of holiday gifts and family presents (mostly unused or overused) dating back from pre-Vietnamian times, save a stash of doggy treats that somehow finds itself in every nook of the place. At any given moment, an estimated 2.5 dogs can be found running frantically around the 2 rooms and 1 kitchen, begging for food from the "Food Lady", my grandmother. If for some unknown reason there aren't at least 2 or 3 other family members in the house (who, mind you, have western accents), you can find grandparents sleeping on reclining chairs or working on 1000+ piece puzzles.

Anyways, after dinner with some family, Mom and I drove back to the airport to pick up Aimee. When back at The Farm, my cousin Jodie came over with her boyfriend/fiancé?, Nick. Nick's from Liverpool, England. His accent was not very thick since he's been living in Michigan, but I could definitely hear his Northern Britain accent. It was WONDERFUL to talk to a Brit again. Apparently Jodie and Nick are moving to Liverpool in February for a year or so....which means I get to visit. Excitement, commence!
Jodie, being a physical therapist, tried to help me with my tendonitis problem. It's still bruised, and it hurts to move it....but it may all be for the best.

The next day I went to the hotel's gym to run on the treadmill before we enjoyed another day at the farm. It was a good jog, but I was being stared down by a few co-guests for the treadmill that I was using. I pulled my quads on the damn machine somehow, but it was good nonetheless.
We were going to have breakfast at The Farm, but their one toilet broke (and Uncle Mike had to come over to fix it), so we went to Baker's Pantry. All 8 of us. Afterward, Aimee, Mom and I went over to CostPlus World Market and splurged on more international foods (Milka, Cote D'Or, marzipan, etc). We're spoiled, I know that much.

It's funny, because there's not much to do at The Farm but relax and do nothing, so that's what we did. After calling a few friends to say "hi", I took another 2-hour nap, and woke up to find (again) more relatives. We decided to, as a family, go to Red Lobster for dinner. All 14 of us. Leave it to my family to be he huge family that ruin the waiters' days. Granted, it must be noted that 2 of the people with us were Aimee and my other 2 grandparents: the evil ones (we'll refer to them as the republicans). We tried really hard for a few hours to find reasons not to call or see them, but we were found wanting, so we obediently invited them to dinner. Now, this may sound harsh, but it's completely legit. Ask anyone who's met them. Ask my father. They aren't the best people in the world, that's for sure. We have a family rule with them: don't spend more than 24 hours with them, and if you have to see them, cap it at 2 hours. ANYWAYS...

Dinner went over rather well. I made the mistake of telling my republican grandfather that I was dating an Israeli for a while. I didn't hear the end of it....then I made the even worse mistake of bringing up computers...then my mom made the mistake of telling my republican grandmother that I was learning how to cook. Otherwise, I talked to Nick, and we reminisced about England.
After dinner, Jodie, Nick, Joe, Aimee and I went out to downtown Ann Arbor and hit up a comedy club. It was pretty funny. The first guy wasn't much, but the other guy was pretty funny. I still can't get out of my mind when one of the guy's just stood on stage and shook his fat around and said, "Look, I'm Jell-o. Eat me." I can't figure out whether it was funny or disturbing. Ah, good times with cousins.

Sunday began with a pancake breakfast that lasted for a while. Then some lowkey puzzle making. Then some throwing of dice with the cousins. Then not much. Then a drive to the airport.

On a different (and more depressing) note, Ido is going back to Tel Aviv on the 9th. I want so badly to see him, but it's simply impossible for me to do so. How much do I not want him to go back.... Also, James is transfering to SUNY Buffalo, due to money problems. So, there's 2 of the closest, best men I have, leaving me for other places. And Deejay's going to Thailand on Thursday. I'm a mess.

I've gone nuts...I know

Neil - a bee dressed up as a dog
James
Dan Aaron

So, Dan has this idea that us kids at NYU are part of a bee-hive...long story.
Well, in a fit of madness at job #1, I have decided to use my artistry talents and photoshop a few of us into bees...
I didn't know where else to put the pictures, so here they are...this'll hopefully be the only time I ever do this.