weekends

Back from DC

And lounging with the morning off.

First off, I wasn’t home for more than an hour last night before I got two mosquito bites. Wtf? Where do they come from? Don’t the buggers realize it’s fall?

Last week I tried returning the too-small, too-funeral-y dress to the little boutique on Avenue B. I knew there was a chance they’d only do store credit, but that was fine by me. What I wasn’t expecting was that they only did exchanges, and I’d pretty much have to pick the new item right then and there.

Of course I wanted to get something of the same value, preferably two on sale items. But there was nothing I loved. The owner of the store was there and she helped me again with choices. I was trying on a couple of things when she called out, “How about that gray sweater dress on the mannequin?” I’ve never worn a sweater dress and was hesitant, but said sure why not.

It was totally adorable, very soft and warm. “It’s cashmere,” the owner said, and she the other girl there agreed that it looked cute on me (they were not vocal about the other things I had tried on).

I agreed. The only problem? It was another $100.

Who goes to return a $190 dress to come back with a $300 dress? Me, that’s who.

I didn’t feel any buyer’s remorse, funnily enough, I guess because I really love the dress and can picture myself wearing it often.

We left for DC Saturday afternoon, and it was pretty much a comedy of errors. We rushed out right before to go to the post office, and when we came back, I was dripping with sweat and changed my whole outfit. Okay, already exhausted. It was raining and disgusting out, but we managed to snag a cab, but as we were walking into the station, MB held up his hands and said, “Oh no!”

“What?” I said.

“My suit!” he cried. He had managed to remember all the musical stuff he wanted to practice – travel guitar, recorder, books – but forgot his suit for the wedding.

We went into Border’s to find me a place to wait with our stuff while he’d race back downtown. Unfortunately the cafe was full so I said let’s just go into the station, but as we were going back down on the escalator, I saw an empty bench.

“Let’s go back up,” MB said.

Now. In the movies and TV, people go back up going-down escalators all the time. They seem to do it with little trouble. Well, lemme tell you: it’s HARD. Of course as you’re walking up, the escalator is moving down at the same or faster pace, so you’re basically staying in one place. So genius me figures, “Oh I just need to go faster, even with this heavy backpack!” And what do you think happens when you try to race up a descending escalator with a heavy backpack? You trip and fall.

I thought I was fine, just banged my knee, but then my knee started bleeding through my pants. “I’m so sorry,” MB kept saying over and over. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I didn’t know what I was thinking, convinced that I’d be able to go up a down escalator.

In the end it wasn’t a big deal. I was able to change my pants and slap on a bandage (luckily I was stocked up), and while we missed our train, we hopped on the next one for just $30 more each, and with MB’s suit in tow.

We got in around 7:30. Our hotel was very nice, but I didn’t pick such a good location. When I was first planning this trip, I thought we’d have time to tool around the city, and heard this hotel was good because it was nice and also near the metro. True on both counts, but we didn’t have time to do any sightseeing and so it was pointless to be at a place not close to either Union Station or the wedding site. Ah well. At least it was a reasonable price and there were tons of restaurants nearby.

We ate a good but overpriced Italian dinner, took a little walk, then were in for the evening. MB needed to practice and study, and I was just pooped and looking forward to lots of TV.

And also a nice cup of tea. (I know: I sound 80.) The hotel website said all the rooms had coffee makers. Ours did not. We looked and looked, and couldn’t find one. I went down to see if I could get tea to go from the bar, but they wouldn’t sell it to me. “We don’t want people walking around holding hot beverages,” the bartender told me, not unkindly.

So I mentioned the missing coffee maker to the concierge. He said it should be under the TV. Looked again. No coffee maker. I called housekeeping.

“It should be under the TV,” she said.

“I looked,” I said calmly. “It’s not.”

“I’ll send one right up.”

Tick tick tick. Forty five minutes. I called housekeeping again.

“It should be under the TV,” I was told once again.

“It’s not,” I said, through gritted teeth.

“I’ll send one right up.”

“Well, I called 45 minutes ago.”

“I just got here, ma’am.”

How is that my problem?

At this point, MB said screw it and ordered a tea tray plus fruit via room service, which actually turned out to be very nice. A whole slew of gourmet teas, beautiful fruit with tasty walnut cake. Luckily he did, because when they finally brought the damned coffee maker, that was all they brought.

Coffee maker. No coffee, no cups, no tea.

Am I crazy or don’t hotel rooms come with the whole shebang when there’s a coffee maker? Coffee filters, cups, cream and sugar, tea?

Lame asses.

Anyway, the wedding was very nice. The ceremony was in a lovely, simple chapel. You could tell that it was quite old. The reception was at a hotel/college campus nearby, and I realized we should have just stayed there. But someone I talked to said it was sort of noisy with rowdy college kids. We all had a great time dancing and SG’s son is just adorable. I kept wanting to squeeze his cheeks.

Afterwards we ended up back at Union Station hours before our train at 8:45. So we decided to hop on an earlier one, the 6:20. Waiting to get on the train, there seemed to be a million people, but once we were seated, it was pretty relaxing. I actually fell asleep.

Today I’m glad to have just half a day at work. Last week was insanely quiet. My boss just got promoted to a different position – I’m happy for him but sad to be losing him as a boss. He was really great. But it will be a few to several months before someone new comes in.

weekends / writing — 2 Comments
22
Sep 08

Music, mentors, and the Midnight Meat Train

I started a couple of posts last week, and for some reason just couldn’t finish them. I think part of it was that I was under the weather with a cold (still fighting the remnants) and we had a two-day meeting. The presentations were somewhat informative, but I was really falling asleep at some points.

Now that MB is in music school, we’ve been going to hear lots of live music. Wednesday we heard a jazz band. Though I’m not into that kind of music, I can appreciate their skill and talent. But admission was $35, and not really worth it.

Friday night we went to hear a couple of MB’s classmates play in their rock/punk band in Brooklyn. I’m not into that kind of music either, but it was still fun. They are so young! Like 17 and 18. I kept thinking, I’m old enough to be their mom, though a very young mom. Also they are all so puny, but then I realized they all have several years of growing left to do. They were also very nice and looked like they were having fun, being goofy and whatnot, unlike the girl we listened to a couple of weeks ago who seemed to take herself very seriously.

This weekend we also saw the New York premiere of Midnight Meat Train, which played, appropriately, at midnight in a small, arty theater near us. There were a ton of people and we thought we wouldn’t get good seats, but it was no problem. The theater wasn’t even totally full. The movie was good. Not Oscar-worthy, but it was fun and well-done.

Saturday YP and I had our monthly photo outing. The theme this time was Public Restrooms. It was my idea and I don’t know why I came up with it. Funny how a lone toilet or urinal can look like an art installation.

Sunday I had an all day seminar on the “secrets behind selling your first book,” run by one of my former teachers. Her style is to have you read your piece aloud (if it’s short) and then she critiques you right then and there in front of everyone and in a sometimes brutally honest way. But that’s what I need at this point. Still, I was a bit nervous going in.

Right before I left the apartment, I read her email again, and only then did I notice, “Bring your agent letter,” meaning bring the query letter you plan on sending to an agent, which I hadn’t written! Ack! In about 15 minutes I threw something together, then rushed over to Kinko’s to print it out. Whew! Made it.

Overall the session was really good. It was from 2 to 8, and I thought, Holy cow, how will it possibly be 6 hours? But the time flew pretty quickly. Only in the last 90 minutes did I start to feel tired. M teacher talked a lot, giving advice and telling stories, but also critiqued anything that people brought in, which were mostly agent letters and short book descriptions.

I went first somehow, and she basically tore apart my letter, in a nice way of course. Also, she seemed to like the premise of my book as well as the subtitle, though she thought the actual title could be better so I need to think about that. When learning that my book was basically complete and that I had workshopped it in two classes, she said I should contact those teachers – one who she’s good friends with, the other whom she only knows in passing – and ask for advance blurbs for my letter, and after I got them that she’d write me one too because she remembered the piece I wrote in her class and that got published back in 2006. Sweet! And I was the only one out of about 15 she offered to write a blurb for, mostly I think because my book was done and it had been workshopped.

It shouldn’t be a problem getting blurbs from those teachers. One friended me on Facebook so I know she’s open to contact, and the other wrote my MLS recommendation and told me that he uses my book as a good example of structure in his other classes.

She also had an agent and editor come speak, and we had the chance to introduce ourselves and talk about our projects. I was nervous of course, and I’m not sure how they felt about my book. They reacted to the subtitle, so that confirms what my teacher said, but I think with my kind of book it really depends on the quality of the writing.

The only thing I didn’t like about the seminar was that the guy next to me had really bad breath. Every time he yawned it was like a toxic windstorm.

Tonight I must go dress shopping. Suddenly SG’s wedding is this weekend and I still don’t have an outfit! Well, I have a backup but 1) I’m not sure it fits that well anymore, and 2) I’d like something new. I bought the backup dress in 2004. Over the weekend MB and I stumbled upon this very cute boutique on Avenue B. The dresses were what I’ve had in mind, a little old fashioned, a little Audrey Hepburn. Hopefully I’ll make it there tonight.

news / sick / weekends — 1 Comment
15
Sep 08

Life goes on

I was at the Brooklyn Book Festival for just a couple of hours yesterday, so I didn’t hear if David Foster Wallace was mentioned.

According to his obit in the NY Times, Wallace had been severely depressed for months, and had been dealing with depression since his 20s. He never seeemed to write or talk about it, though in his writing there’s an undercurrent of sadness, even in his funny observations, which made his essays even more appearling to me. There wasn’t that arrogance or snarkiness that’s found in a lot of other modern humor writing.

The festival was just okay. That morning I had run the Race for the Cure, just 5K but I was pooped from it. It wasn’t too hot but the sun was strong and it was extremely muggy. Before the race started I wandered around looking for a bathroom (no port-a-potties!) and when I got back, I was already soaked with sweat.

As usual the whole thing took too long to get started with five billion speeches, including Cynthia Nixon (a breast cancer survivor) and, randomly, Stephen Colbert, who was pretty funny. “Who else will be carrying their six year old for the entire race?” Once I got past all the walkers – as per every year, what are you doing in the 9 minute mile portion??? – I had fun running in the Park. My time wasn’t bad, about 30 minutes.

The heat worsened throughout the day. At the book festival as I walked around checking out the tents, I was positively roasting, and when I sat in the shade to listen to a reading – and to get away from the heat – my hair was literally dripping with sweat. In the middle of the next reading, my throat started killing me. I thought it was just because I was thirsty, but it just got worse and now I feel sorta crummy. Hopefully it won’t blow into a full blown cold.

In other news, as you know the press has been all over Sarah Palin lately. What I find interesting is how many people are afraid of her, or use that term, ie, “She scares me,” including yours truly.
Just how many people are scared of the Alaskan wolf?

This guy, whom I LOVE by the way. Supposedly Palin tried to ban his book, Pastor I am Gay. “She scares me,” the author says. “She’s Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.”

Ed Koch, former mayor of New York and possible gay. The Bush supporter now endorses Obama – who knew! Of Palin, he says, “She scares the hell out of me.”

Pink! She told PopCrunch that she thinks Palin “hates women” and “is not a feminist,”that she “is not the woman that’s going to come behind Hillary Clinton and do anything that Hillary Clinton would’ve been capable of … She’s not of this time.” Concluding, “The woman terrifies me.”

Ben Stein.: “I don’t know if she scares Obama, but she scares me.” You’re not alone, Ben.

Matt Damon, saying that her story is “like a really bad Disney movie — the hockey mom…from Alaska, and she’s the president, and it’s like she’s facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink,” and “there was a good chance John McCain would die in his first term in office and the thought of a President Palin is ‘terrifying.'” Not as terrifying as the thought that that movie premise sounds pretty good. (Just kidding. . . or am I?)

Sharon Osbourne. When finding out Palin hunts animals for sport, she said, “I’m scared of that woman with the glasses and gun!”

Palin’s own former campaign manager. “I’m still proud of Sarah,” she added, “but she scares the bejeebers out of me.” My favorite word of the day is officially “bejeebers.”

And lots of bloggers, including one who also loves her hair.

Although Palin frightens me as well, it seems saying so in the press is yet another no-brainer, like the whole pit bull/pig and lipstick thing. And what is it exactly about her that’s so frightening? Cheney and his cohorts are terrifying as well, but I guess they LOOK like it so it’s not as much of an issue. Palin is pretty and feminine, so somehow her extremism and alleged ruthlessness seem extra skerry, like a Stepford wife or little girl ghost.

Anyway, now I’ve been blogging for far too long.

friends / spa / weekends — 4 Comments
02
Sep 08

Last summer weekend

Well, not officially. Officially that’s the weekend of 9/26, but Labor Day always feels a close to summer.

Friday
After a lazy afternoon, we saw Trouble the Water, a documentary about Hurrican Katrina. It was really good. The main part were these “home movies” taken by a woman who was trying to break into the music business but in the meantime lived with her husband in a very poor part of New Orleans.

She decided to film the storm coming, and what started as her talking to neighbors – most didn’t have cars and couldn’t afford to pay for a train or a plain, and so without free transportation were literally stuck – quickly escalted into her and her husband climbing up to their attic, and not a full attic mind you, but basically slats, as the water rose higher and higher, eventually filling their house, and getting their neighbors without attics up there as well, including a couple of elderly ladies who had trouble walking. Eventually a random guy in the neighborhood helped bring every single person over, a few he carried on his back, to a house that was on higher ground.

Later the narrator’s husband led about 100 people over to the naval base, which was in the process of being shut down and so there were about 200 empty rooms. But the naval officers wouldn’t let the people in. In fact they drew their weapons.

Interspersed with the home movies were news clips like the FEMA guy saying they were working as fast as the could, and Bush making excuses for why he wouldn’t let the Louisiana National Guard come home to help. Those juxtaposed with all of those people stuck in the city, calling 911 and being told that they were basically SOL (the police had long skeedaddled), prisoners stuck in their jail cells without food or water, was really disturbing.

The only downside was that the jerky home movies totally gave me motion sickness. The woman who took that footage was there to answer questions afterwards, but I felt so queasy I needed to leave.

Saturday
That morning was my monthly photo expediation with YP. This month’s theme, Chinatown, which involved just sort of wandering around the area taking random pictures. I did get some good ones though, I think.

I was a little movied out that day so instead MB and I got massages at this Chinese place. (We had wanted to do it last weekend but I wasn’t feeling well.) I was a little nervous because tui-na massage is nothing like the ones you get in hoity toity spas. The most comparable is a deep tissue massage. I had one that was pretty painful at the time, but totally worth it afterwards. But I told the receptionist it was my first time, and so she asked my masseuse to go a little gentler on me.

She did at first, but as I got more used to it, she put more strength into the massage, and there were definitely times I had to do some deep breathing to work through the pain. What was cool was she could tell which were my problem areas (neck, upper back, arms, from mousing and carrying a too heavy bag on one shoulder) and concentrated on those. Also apparently my calves were tight (I had no idea) so she worked on those, as well as did this heel banging thing which was startling but actually felt really good.

MB enjoyed his session as well. He can take the pain, but I did hear some deep breathing from his side of the curtain too.

Afterwards my upper back and arms were quite sore, but in a good way, as though I had exercised hard. The next day I was still a little achy, but by Monday I was pretty much all better. This is something we might do once a month or so.

Sunday
I wanted a museum fix sometime over the weekend, and so Sunday we got up early to hit the Met before it got too crowded. Afterwards we thought we could hang out in Central Park so MB brought his ukulele. But get this: no musical instruments of any kind are allowed at the Met. Hunh? Why? Before we even got inside this guard stopped us. He was apologetic about it, but I still don’t get it. If MB had put the uke in a non-uke shaped bag, he probably would have been able to bring it in.

Our choices were to schelp all the way back home or just go to the Park. We chose the latter since the next day we needed to come back uptown anyway and the museum would be open then too.

Hanging out the Park turned out to be just lovely. We walked around a bit, then found a peaceful out of the way bench. MB played his uke and some people looked but most just kept going. It was funny: little kids would always stop and stare. MB thought it was because the uke is kid-sized. The area we were in was so nice, but then this huge bee started attacking us and we had to leave.

MB also played as we walked around, like a wandering troubador, before we sat at Bethesda Fountain for a bit, roasting in the sun, and then finally finding another quiet space in the band shell. We were left mostly in peace except for this nutty guy sitting near us. At first he was just writing, but then he said to MB, “I heard gord in those strings.”

“Sorry?” MB said.

“I hear gord in those strings.”

“Gord? Who’s gord?”

He held up his hands. “Our lord above” – something something – “Hare Krishna.”

Great.

Otherwise it was fun sitting there relaxing and people watching while MB played. A few people were roller blading, and there was one woman who was really good, like a figure skater. Also she totally looked like a guy. MB thought so too.

That night we were back in movie mode and finally watched Tropic Thunder. It was really hilarious, much funnier than I expected.

Monday
We met up with SB, her husband, and little Ellie for lunch. Sunday was Ellie’s birthday so I wanted to drop off a gift (kid-sized backpack and two T-shirts). It was fun since we haven’t seen each other in a while and Ellie is always a blast.

Afterwards we all went over to the Met, Ellie and family for her art class, and MB and I to check on the superheroes exhibit. It was fun but just okay. Costumes from movies, and avant garde interpretations. I’m glad it was free with general admission (which for me with my company ID was free anyway). After that we just wandered around, trying to find the less crowded parts.

Then it was relaxing evening in. We picked up groceries (along with all the returning-from-Labor-Day-weekend Manhattanites) and MB cooked.

Needless to say I am unmotivated this morning. And not looking forward to school tonight. Ah well. I’ll get used to it soon enough.

relationships / weekends — Comments Off
29
Aug 08

The city empties out

For Labor Day weekend. I guess this happens every year, but I’m always amazed when it does.
Last night for instance the streets were almost dead when usually on a Thursday night they’re overrun with drunk idiots. But as MB and I made our way back from seeing the awful awful Babylon A.D, there was almost no one.

We were both disappointed by the movie. The premise was promising, and it started out okay, but then the ending totally fell apart and turned incredibly cheesy. And Vin Diesel should really not try to act. Just be tough and a smart ass, and take off your shirt and beat up some bad guys. That’s all I ask.

We don’t have any big plans this weekend, thank goodness. I think we’re both sort of pooped with packed weekends. A couple of weeks ago it was Nashville, and last weekend was the spa day/dinner with my mom and aunt. We’ll try to get massages at that Chinese place again, and maybe hit the Met or another museum.

I was looking back through some writing odds and ends, and found last September’s horoscope:

Romantically, this month will mark a real change over the frustrating conditions you’ve experienced over the past two years. If you were not able to meet anyone, no matter how hard you tried, Saturn in Leo may have been to blame. Saturn will leave this position for the first time since July 2005. Finally, after two years, Saturn – the planet that would rather see you work than play, and the planet that asks for certain sacrifices – will no longer have sway over your love sector. Glory be! Saturn’s not due back until 2036!

There’s one more reason to anticipate the very best when it comes to romance. Venus has been traveling through your love sector in weak and sleepy retrograde mode, but will awaken and become lively from September 8 onward. Until Venus leaves your true love sector on October 8, you will have a full four weeks of bewitching fun. Dear Aries, for the first time in such a long time, you have the right conditions to allow love to bloom. Don’t let old disappointments color your expectations. You are looking at a whole new situation – I promise!

This is from Susan Miller. It’s really weird because 1) just a few weeks after I read the horoscope, I met MB, and 2) it was exactly July 2005 that I began dating, or trying to date, after separating from my ex.

In other news, today is very dead at work, though someone from overseas needs something “urgently,” though I don’t think I have it. I asked my boss about it. If I don’t hear from him by this afternoon, I’ll just send what I have and follow up on Tuesday.

Classes start next week! Boo! I like school but I love free evenings and weekends.

I should go to the gym but I don’t want to. I want to go to the Gap.

family / sick / spa / weekends / what i'm reading now / what i've been watching / work — 2 Comments
24
Aug 08

Another summer weekend bites the dust

Can’t wait till fall.

The week was rather quiet though I did have work to do. I have a short presentation to give on Tuesday, and I still have to finish up my slides. Luckily I know my stuff so it’s just a matter of organizing my thoughts and rehearsing a couple of times. I had a presentation this past Monday as well, and although I was nervous in the beginning, overall it was fine.

For some reason this week I kept running into old coworkers. First was the medical director who gave me such a hard time before I left. Needless to say he pretended not to recognize me (dick). Then I saw two guys I actually liked, and as we were standing there chatting, another guy I liked came up to us. It was fun to talk and joke, even if just for a couple of minutes. We could do that I guess because we had all escaped our old horrible department.

Friday night MB had a friend over, and they had a “jam session,” the friend playing harmonica and MB on guitar. They were actually pretty good, especially towards the end. MB had me join in on this little instrument, I don’t even know what it’s called. It’s this prongy metal thing attached a small wooden base. I thought I’d suck but it was actually easier than expected.

Later MB and I saw Death Race. We knew it would be total brain candy, and it was. Some parts were SO dumb, like yeah right, female prisoners really look like models for hair care products and low rider jeans rather than the scary bus driver and/or cafeteria ladies from elementary school. I was also very tired and almost fell asleep a couple of times despite the noise and action on the screen.

Saturday was spa day with my mom and aunt. I had given my mom for her birthday a gift card for an hour-long Swedish massage at this spa I like, thinking we’d make a day of it. Then she suggested giving one to my aunt as well since it’s her 60th birthday this month. (My aunt and I are both rats.)

I picked my mom up around 2 at Penn Station, after which we walked to the spa, where we met my aunt. I’ve taken my mother to a spa before, but she acted like she’s never been. My aunt definitely hasn’t, and they were both embarrassed about taking off too many clothes under their robes. Then I had to tell my mom to shush as we walked through the “quiet area.”

They did, however, enjoy the waiting area with free tea and other goodies like Luna Bars and dried fruit and nuts. I liked seeing them take advantage of the frills. This is totally random but I think Dr. Jarvik from those cholesterol-medication commercials was there too. Or at least a guy who looked exactly like him, down to the balding slicked down too-long hair. But I didn’t feel comfortable asking, especially since we were all sitting there in our robes.

Our appointments were at the same time, but while my mom and aunt went off as scheduled, I sat around waiting for another 15 minutes. Turned out there was some mix up and my facialist was only just on her way back from another location. In all I waited maybe 20 minutes. No biggie, but the facialist was very apologetic, and they ended up giving me a 15% discount plus some free body wash. Nice! They must have it in their records that I spend bookoo bucks there.

The facial was very good, better than one I had last year when I was left alone, wrapped like a mummy for way too long. She did some scalp, neck, shoulder, and arm massage as well. The extractions were painful as usual, but didn’t take too long, and then she did an oatmeal mask. It was nice and cooling, but also smelled like breakfast. Afterwards my skin looked quite nice.

I walked into the locker room, and my mom and aunt were there, all done and waiting expectantly. For some reason my mother had decided to put her shoes in my locker instead of her own, and so she had to wait for me to finish before she and my aunt went off to Flushing to look for Korean soap opera DVDs.

I took my time going home, but then MB and I basically had to leave right away to meet my mom and aunt for dinner in Queens. Why my mother wanted to eat in Queens, who knows. Probably for the same reason she left her shoes in my locker.

It took FOREVER to get out there. The 7 stopped at every stop, and plus there was a baseball game, so there was train traffic. Then of course all the idiots dressed up in Mets paraphernalia. And when we finally got to our stop, we had no idea how to get to the restaurant. It didn’t take us long to figure out, but of course my mother had to call, frantic: “Where are you? Are you okay?” Hey lady, you wanted to meet in Queens.

The restaurant was pretty good. We had lots of seafood, including chili shrimp, crab, and this very rich fish (I don’t know the name), as well as Chinese broccoli (oh boy, I’m hungry).

This was the first time my aunt was meeting MB. I wasn’t worried since my mom is the stickler; my aunt is very easygoing and gets along with almost everyone. Plus she and MB had work in common (ie, computers). It was funny: the three of us kept lapsing in Chinese, and I’d forget that MB didn’t understand. He didn’t seem to mind, but I tried to translate as much as I could.

Afterwards we all took the train back together. My aunt got off at Grand Central since she lives in Connecticut, and we took my mom to Penn Station and waited with her till her train came. As we said goodbye, MB initiated a farewell hug, which I could tell greatly pleased her.

Today we had all sorts of plans. Get a late lunch, get massages at this Chinese spa MB found online, then see a movie. But after lunch and as we were hanging out at a bookstore, I started to feel really sick. As we left the restaurant, I had felt slightly nauseous, but I thought it just might be hormonal. Then suddenly sitting in Borders, I started to feel crappier and crappier.

I did get sick, but just a little. It was very weird. Afterwards, I was perfectly fine. I didn’t have too much of an appetite – though now like I said I’m sorta hungry – but no more hurling. Must have been something I ate.

Still we didn’t think massages would be a good idea, and just headed home. I had picked up Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, a strange choice for someone with an upset stomach, but I’ve been wanting to read it and it was on sale. It’s good so far.

I wish we had yogurt. That’s what I could go for right now.

Back to work tomorrow. So not the right thing for a lazy girl.

friends / photography / TV / weekends / work / writing — 3 Comments
10
Aug 08

The weekend, in media res

So I feel a little pretentious today.

It’s been a semi-productive weekend. I’m not getting done everything I want, but I’m accomplishing some stuff.

Friday I ended up working a full day. I’m on this project that was supposed to be done that day, but of course I got a zillion last minute changes, so it’s not going out till Monday. Still, I had to get a polished draft done for the other people on the project for a call early Monday morning.

I don’t mind actually. Staying till 5:15 on a Friday is better than working on a Sunday, though I’ll still have to get in super early tomorrow just in case there are additional changes (which I’m sure there are). Plus it’s work I like (writing and organizing information in a presentable way), and quite frankly work I’d have done as a coordinator, which is the highest level administrative assistant. But if they want to pay me manager salary for coordinator-level work, so be it! :)

That night I went to Home Depot to find a mosquito repeller. Online I had seen a small, non-flame lantern, but the Home Depot I went to unfortunately didn’t have it. Next was Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a rice cooker. I had one for many years, but got rid of it when I moved in with MB. There were a lot of choices at BB&B, including fancy ones that could steam veggies as well. But I just went for something basic for $19.99. That BB&B is on the same street as this little Korean place I like, so I got some bibimbap for takeout, then hopped a cab home.

MB basically texted me all night. He kept seeing T-shirts and signs he thought were funny (though truthfully I didn’t get a few of them). To my delight, I discovered that some full episodes of Ghosthunters are available online, and texted him that. His reaction? Oh god. Watching a couple of shows, I realized how much I miss TV. It’s good company sometimes. But I’m still glad we don’t have one. God knows I waste enough time just surfing the web.

Saturday morning I was wide awake at 7:30. What the – ? That’s my weekday wake up time, and I always have a very difficult time getting up. I spent the morning writing and looking my blogroll and Gawker and other news. Then I headed over to YP’s to help him with some pictures for flyers for his upcoming gigs.

He had a very involved plan, which included photoshopping a picture of himself walking in front of a poster of himself, which also involved balloons and a green screen. Yeah, don’t ask. Also for some reason he wanted to take some of these pictures on his building’s roof. How to get to the roof? you might ask. By climbing stairs like normal people? Oh no.

He’s on the top floor and right now there’s scaffolding in front of his building, so he wanted us to go out on his rusty, rickety-ass fire escape, step over the railing, grab onto the scaffolding, walk up this metal pole that was like a tightrope at an angle, grab hold of this ladder, and climb up onto the roof.

Dude, are you fucking crazy?

YP tried to convince me that it’d be okay. “See,” he said, “the fire escape is nice and sturdy.” He rattled the railing, which promptly gave way.

“I hope you have a plan B,” I said, climbing back inside.

Plan B involved setting up the green screen (borrowed from his workplace) on various parts of the street on a very windy day. The poles, which were eight feet tall, kept falling over. Finally he had the brainstorm to throw the green screen over this fence, which worked pretty well.

As usual, while most people just walked by, one weirdo stopped to talk. He had a mullet and wore a T-shirt with the sleeves cut off.

“Do you guys have a card?” he said.

A card for what? He thought we were professional photographers. YP, friendly bastard that he is, started chatting with him, and of course he was a complete freak. It turned out he was supposedly pursuing stand-up comedy himself, though he had never done anything as involved as we were doing, gesturing at the balloons.

“Well, they’re just $12,” YP said. “A dollar a pop.” So to speak, haha.

“If I had $12,” Mullet Freak said, “it’d go to weed!”

Good luck with your career.

After our photo shoot, we got some Thai dinner and then saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I actually enjoyed it, though there were a couple of dumb plot points. I liked it better than the first one, which I could barely remember. I cried about every two seconds. And me with no tissues! By the end I was a complete mess.

I got home around 10:30, took a shower, and watched Ghosthunters, yay! I was tempted to watch a second one, but I was pretty tired by midnight and want to “save” a couple of episodes for tonight.

This morning I didn’t wake up till 10. I did, however, get in a good amount of writing, as well as catching up here, and now want to get out of the house and run a couple of errands. Luckily it’s so beautiful this weekend. I hate it when it’s sticky hot. Makes me want to stay inside all day.

weekends — 4 Comments
04
Aug 08

Nice, homework-less weekend

Though there were times I wasn’t sure what to do with myself.

Friday afternoon I left my office around 2 to work out. Afterwards I grabbed the bus home, but made the mistake of not eating something, and got really car sick. I didn’t barf or anything, and felt better after I got home and ate a little something.

That night we saw Frozen River. It was a really good, tightly woven story, with good performances from the two main actresses. It was also pretty dark.

Saturday we slept in, then spent the morning just lounging around. It was so nice not have any homework assignments. I did some laundry and read my fun book and wasted time on the Internet. I do wish I had worked on my writing.

Again, I can’t really remember what we did so we must have done our usual: walk, eat, talk. The weather was weird that day: hot in the early morning, then rainy, then cool, then hot again. We had both overdressed for the hot part of the day, and I for one was extremely grouchy and wornout by the time we got home, and ended up napping for almost an hour.

Later that night we saw the midnight showing of Road Warrior, as planned. It was definitely fun, and now I want to see the first and third ones.

MB was born at midnight so I gave him his gift after we got home. He liked the shirts a lot and said he’s going to wear them at his next conference.

The next morning I read and surfed the Net again. Worked on my writing a tiny bit. Then we headed out for MB’s eye appointment. He’s getting glasses finally. He looks really different with them, though in a good way, the way he looks so different depending on if his head is shaved or not, if he has a goatee or not.

In the afternoon he was meeting up with a friend so I took that opportunity to head uptown and go to Bloomingdale’s for some beauty products. Through my credit card I build up points for every dollar I spend, and what with paying tuition for school, I’ve built up quite a few, enough for gift cards to Bloomie’s and Sak’s.

That day I got a couple of Kiehl’s shaving things for MB. The Kiehl’s saleswoman was very annoying. She was all up my ass as I was browsing – I had to tell her TWICE that I didn’t need any help – and then when she was ringing me up, she kept looking around for other customers, only half paying attention to what she was doing.

I wanted to get something from Philosophy for myself, but for some reason they are no longer at Bloomingdale’s or Sak’s. So I headed down to the Sephora on 50th Street, stopping on the way for a rejuvinating Jamba Juice (Aloha Pineapple) and bag of “puffed” chips, which were delicious by the way! I ate them while relaxing in a Border’s.

At Sephora I was as usual overwhelmed with all the choices. Well, not overwhelmed. More like appreciative. I also like their soft sell technique, only helping when you ask. At first I was all set on getting my Philosophy moisturizer, Pigment of Your Imagination, SPF 20, but then I started looking around and decided on something different, DDF’s UV moisturizer with SPF 30. I got the one for sensitive skin though my skin is only sometimes sensitive. Oh well. SPF 30 is good.

For MB’s birthday dinner, we went to Lan, which MB has decided is his new favorite restaurant. We both had sushi/sashimi dishes, which were really good, but what was amazing was the appetizer, a miso infused filet mignon “tataki” with parmaseano reggiano. The meat was cooked perfectly and the miso sauce was unbelievably tasty. Dessert was good too. I had a white chocolate mousse with berries and some kind of liquer sauce. The mousse was extremely light, more like a gelatin than a traditional mousse.

Afterwards we rented a couple of movies, The Secret of Nimh, which for some reason MB was in the mood to watch again, and Tin Man, that miniseries that was on TV last year, I believe. But by the time we got back, it was 11, and I was too pooped for a whole movie, so we watched a South Park instead.

Back to work!

library / photography / weekends — Comments Off
28
Jul 08

A quickie before the gym

I had a second blog entry all ready to go last week, but for some reason I just couldn’t get it together to post it.

Last week I was really sick of school. Tuesday I skipped class. The night before I had taken a Benadryl – having run out of Allegra over the weekend – and was completely groggy the whole next day. I felt somewhat guilty ditching, but still had a lovely evening hanging with MB. Then the next morning it turned out the teacher had canceled class at the last minute. Woohoo, me!

I did make it to class on Thursday. The teacher felt she had to make up for class on Tuesday so we had just a five minute break, as opposed to 20, and we ended at 9, as opposed to 8:30. The class seemed soooo long. Usually we have our break at 7:30, giving us the opportunity to run out and get a snack. But she didn’t let us go till 8, and I was STARVING. I couldn’t even concentrate.

I talked to one of my other classmates, and she said she also feels saturated with this class. We agree we like the teacher, but it’s just a lot of information, and quite a bit of it is redundant.

During the week I was able to get m Allegra. Yay!

The weekend was pretty quiet. I have my final paper and presentation due this Thursday so I worked on that a lot, while MB started working on his book again. We did see one movie, Transsiberian, which was HORRIBLE. It’s the first bad movie I’ve seen in a long time. Right off I hated most of the characters, and the plot was just ridiculous, and I didn’t understand the main character’s motivation. Anyway, I don’t recommend it, not even as a rental.

Saturday morning YP and I had our monthly photo excursion. This time the theme was the “Seedy Side of Central Park,” one of my stupid ideas. Walking around, we realized that the seediness had been cleaned up long ago, and ended up taking “gross” pictures of nature instead.

Sunday was lots of working, and I’m so glad because I’m almost done with my paper and presentation! And a few days ahead of schedule! I knew that I wouldn’t be able to write the paper during the week; after work I’m just pooped.

Now off to the gym.

boston / friends / travel / weekends — 2 Comments
21
Jul 08

A Boston kind of weekend

It was a hot one, and there’s no escaping the heat wave here as well. The SoCal-like weather from the past few weeks was too good to be true.

Friday I left work earlier than usual, 12:30, and caught my one PM train just in the nick of time. I was able to get a window seat, but it was still pretty crowded, and somehow I ended up near a bunch of kids. At first I was dreading how the ride would be, but the kids were mostly well-behaved and cute. Plus my iPod drowned them out.

I had brought a bunch of schoolwork but did none of it. Instead I daydreamed and slept, and had a hot dog and coffee at about three. A weird combination but delicious all the same.

The train got in about 5:45, half an hour late. I went straight to ES’s house (I’m glad I still remember where it is!), where I found her napping. :) I don’t blame her. By Friday I’m pretty pooped myself.

For dinner we went to this Tibetan place nearby. I’ve never had Tibetan before and found that it was kind of a Indian/Chinese mix. We had curry beef with potatoes and mango noodles. The noodles were good, as was the curry sauce, but the beef could have been more tender.

Afterwards we walked around Davis Square. It was Art Beat this weekend, and so that night there was some live music. But what we caught was awful: some band from Italy that featured lots of bagpipes. We started near it, but decided we preferred to chat instead, so we found a bench and yakked until it started to rain.

A visit to Boston wouldn’t be complete without some ice cream. When the downpour started, we dashed over to an ice cream place and got some “Green Monster” – mint ice cream with crushed Oreo cookies – to share. I got a “small” but even with the both of us eating, we couldn’t finish it.

For the rest of the night, we just hung out at ES’s place. I watched TV, a nice treat now that I don’t have one, while she went through some photos. It was hilarious to look at the iPhoto Booth ones she, IS, and I took during one of my visits.

We went to sleep not too late, around midnight, and the next morning I was wide awake at 7:30 (not the case today, that’s for sure). I think I’m used to getting up at that time, and also ES’s blinds were up in the living room, letting in the natural light. Either way I was glad to able to get some homework in before ES got up.

We left the house at about noon, and attempted to walk around the arts festival. “Attempted” because the heat was really unbearable. After a little while we ducked into this crepe place and sat there chatting for two hours.

We eventually got back outside, and at that part of the day, after 3, it was less oppressive. ES knew someone in a band that was playing so we went over to listen to them. They did kids’ music, and it was cute to see all the little ones dancing and singing and almost getting electrocuted by the wires and speakers. Awww.

After that we checked out the booths. We were both on a hunt for jewelry. I saw a couple of necklaces I liked, but I wasn’t 100% sure about them so I let them go. ES thought about getting some earrings, but by the time she went back, they were sold.

By 5 I had reached my limit with the heat. On our way back to ES’s place, we ran into some of her friends. Normally I don’t mind a little chitchat, but at that moment it was the last thing I wanted. After a few minutes, I gave ES a look and started slowly backing away. Luckily she got the idea.

I felt better after enjoying ES’s A/C and ingesting some fruit. Must have been dehydrated and needing some sugar. We hung out for a while before ES threw herself into a cooking frenzy, trying this Asian tofu/bok choy/mushroom noodle dish for her friend’s barbecue we were going to later. My big contribution was chopping up some garlic.

I wasn’t too in the mood for the barbecue, to tell you the truth, but it turned out to be fun. ES’s friend had a very nice backyard, and everyone there was easy to talk to. Later in the evening they showed a movie, Fletch, projected onto a sheet – actually, shower curtain liners – hanging from the porch. It worked really well, and was a good movie choice because you didn’t have to pay close attention.

I realize I hate nature. Sitting there in their lovely backyard, I kept thinking I was getting attacked by mosquitoes (just one bite, though a huge one), and then I swear a slug crawled onto my foot. I felt a tickle, reached down to brush it off, then felt sliminess. Ew!

Sunday I was up semi early again, around 8:30. More homework before ES got up. Headed out around 12:30 to see the New England Sand Sculpting Festival at Revere Beach. It was crowded but not crazy, and it was definitely hot though overcast, luckily, cuz otherwise I’m sure we’d have been burned to a crisp.

We weren’t there long, just long enough to take in the sand sculptures – all very cool btw – and walk along the water, which felt really good on that sweltering day. But again, yucky nature: seaweed, gross!

Then it was time to drive me to the train station. ES gave me a nice tour of the downtown area, which has changed SO much since I lived there. Next time we need to spend more time in Boston proper, though it’s so easy just to stay in Davis Square.

Like a nice mom, ES had packed me a lunch for my train ride: leftover noodles, which turned out DELISH by the way, sliced red pepper, and watermelon and peaches, which I gobbled up even before we left Revere.

The train wasn’t crowded at all at first. In fact for a little while I had entire car to myself. But by the time we left the Route 128 stop, we were packed.

This time around I was able to do some reading for class, both research for my final paper and the assignment for tomorrow. Yay! Then I didn’t feel like reading anymore so I plugged in my iPod and watched the scenery go by. I love looking at the water and boats and catching glimpses of different birds along the coast of Connecticut.

The train got in around 8, about 45 minutes late. No biggie. I was tempted to take a cab, but sucked it up and took the two subways, but not before waiting for what felt like a billion years in the Hades that is the V/F train platform at West 4th Street.

I had big plans for the night at home: do my homework for Tuesday (we have to come up with two questions/comments per reading), iron my clothes for the week, do a little sewing (1) a button back on some pants, 2) a tear in the seam of another). I did none of that. I checked my email, my Flickr, my Facebook, my blogroll, then watched Intervention and The Office online. At least I washed the dishes and unpacked.

Today it’s hard to be back at work. Luckily I have no meetings. Plus MB gets back this afternoon, yippee! He was away at a conference in Toronto this weekend.

I should really work out soon, but I’m already starving! Maybe I’ll do a short one later this afternoon, or after work.

Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.