Minutiae Mashup

Things that have happened this week that were probably blog-worthy, but I didn't blog about:

Sunday I rode my bike for the first time this season (to work...and then back home...seven hours later). There are so many muscles I use to ride my bike and, let me tell you, most of them aren't anywhere near my legs! Ouch. Riding has improved vastly since then - the two other times, I mean.

On Tuesday, I had dinner with my friend, Matt. Matt is going to Northeastern, he works at the Boston Globe, and he "freelances" at Tomb. In short, he is an interesting guy. He was supposed to go to a Tokyo Police Club show with me this week, but in an unsurprising display of stupidity I have him the wrong date (Tuesday), so we had dinner, instead. I heart Border Cafe.

Wednesday morning, there were cops outside of my windows. So, there is a set of condos that went up next door to us recently. They've been done with construction for about seven months now, and already the yuppie couple in the top unit has moved out. We assumed that this had something to do with some neighborhood gossip about the husband in one of the couples being wasted out of his mind at the end of our block one night. Another neighbor found him and walked him (more like dragged him) home. But three cop cars? Either both of those completely normal looking yuppie couples were crazy or the other couple moved out because of the crazy in the lower unit. There's also some Rock Band going on over there. I know. I've heard it. To further confuse us, my roommate attests to witnessing some naked peeing off the balcony, but that was the top unit - so see what I mean?

I decided to sell the tickets to that TPC show on Craigslist. Then I decided to go. Then I decided to sell only one ticket. This all worked out, but from point a to point b was kind of stressful and crazy. However, it all worked out - the end.

J has been out of town for essentially two weeks now. He flew to New Mexico last week on Tuesday morning (5AM - who drove him to the airport thank you very much?) then came back in on Friday night. We celebrated one of my friends' birthdays on Saturday, then he flew out to Arizona early on Sunday morning. I should be glad I got to see him on Saturday, but two weeks is a seriously long time. I might be complaining, but that would be unbecoming, so let's just say I'm stating...

...In the meantime, I have watched a lot of bad TV that he won't typically put up with and I have started "packing," which means that I have taken stuff out of places and am trying to decide whether or not to keep it. "Packing" looks a whole lot like "dumping out every single one of my drawers and then not cleaning up."

I should be better about updating this thing.

On blasting your mom into space

I thought I'd share a story with you today:

I went to dinner with J and two of his friends once.J and I showed up some time after Jordan and David, so they were well into their first beers, and had been having various sorts of conversation. Evidently, earlier in the evening, David had asked Jordan, "If you could blast anything into space, what would it be?"

Jordan didn't answer at the time.

About fourty minutes later, we were eating dinner and he'd finished his second beer. He slammed the empty glass onto the table and said, "David, if I could blast anything into space, it would be your mom."

Jordan has a two beer minimum on your mom jokes. And Boston is going to be a much less amusing place when they both go to grad school.

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

me: Did I tell you about the five piece string quartet version of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1 that I have?
me: And how I want it played at my wedding?
me: Possibly while I walk down the asile?
Laura: LOL
Laura: No, you didn't
me: Well, there you go
me: It's such a great love song!
me: Arguably the greatest love song of our time
Laura: You argue that, I'll stay here and listen
me: She's battling the pink robots! She won't let the robots defeat him!
me: And he trusts her implicitly!!
me: Not to let the robots win!!!
Laura: LOL

Happy March!

I basically took way too long to upload this onto YouTube:



Matt, did I ever tell you you're my hero?

It's why my abs are so fab

Every time we pulled into a T station this morning, the announcer would come onto the intercom and say, "Harvard Square." I stopped at Harvard Square seven times this morning, laughing a little bit more each and every time.

Some days you just have the giggles, and there's not much you can do about it.

It's always on these days that one of your coworkers starts talking about a business plan that makes you think, fondly and for several reasons, of the Underpants Gnomes' business plan. And so you say it out loud, because that's what you do. And then one of your friends gets the giggles, too, and cannot stop laughing, and so you're not sure whether to feel badly because she can't breathe, or laugh even harder yourself.

I always opt to laugh harder.

[Currently Spinning: Bishop Allen - Calendar]

God, How You'd Like it...You'd Like it to Fade

Here is all the crap I haven't written about since I disappeared off the face of the earth. Each blurb should be its own several paragraph entry, but since it's too late for that, you get sloppily written blurbs. Because blurb is fun to say, and this way, I don't have to think about what I'm writing. Which is why I've avoided writing, anyway:
----------
Alisa bought a DVD player. Now I can watch Grey's Anatomy on the TV! I'm very excited about this, and have already used the DVD player to watch The Village sans commercials (it's been on TV lately, but with commercials and without some scenes...bleh). This is fantastic.
----------
I'm working on the second pomatomus army sock. I really messed up the heel, and had knit the whole heel flap and turned half the heel before I realized I'd done it backwards. Since I'd already messed up, I decided to rip the whole thing out and do a "mirrored" version, instead of two matching socks. We'll see how it turns out. The army socks have sort of been my prototypes and the purple sock yarn is my "now I'm an expert" version. This won't be any exception, I suppose. This is slightly less fantastic, but will be fantastic when I have two completed pairs of pomatomuses. Pomatomi?
----------
I went to two graduation dinners last week. One in the North End with Ben's family and Taz, and one at an Afghan restaurant with Jessica's family and Alisa. Really, it's enough to move me to tears that I was invited. I...there are no words. I immensely enjoyed both dinners and it's really fantastic meeting families. It's one of those things I always realized I took for granted in high school -- that I knew all of my friend's families just because of house visits, and how it's sort of a big deal to meet people's parents now because we all live in different cities.
----------
Jessica's gone. I suppose I didn't post when Ben left, either. They're both gone. I'm a little sad. A little out of sorts. I miss them, but I still can't really believe that this is it. That it's time to move on. Because it doesn't seem different. I just know it is.

Jessica's sisters went out with us on Friday night, and we had a blast. There was dancing, which means that Alisa and I have put in our dancing time for the next six months...but it was fun. I always enjoy the Phoenix when they play '80s and top 40. And while there's some unwanted flirting, the guys there aren't nearly as aggressive as they are everywhere else.
----------
I have an interview next week. I'm excited about that. Really, I am. It's a big company, so maybe I can finally have friends. We'll see, but either way, it's just a placeholder until grad school, so it doesn't have to be the superfantasticdreamjobi'vealwayswanted.
----------
Alisa and I have to move. Because our landlord is an idiot. And kind of a jerk. And unreasonable. And we hope he has so much trouble renting out this space after we move, since he thinks he's giving us a "deal," when in reality, we've already seen some places on craigslist that are less expensive than ours now, and maybe nicer. Maybe not -- but we have more space than we need, anyway. And nicer doesn't always mean bigger.

I hate moving. But maybe this time I'll be able to paint my walls.

Now Listening: Franz Ferdinand - Fade Together

Sweetest Thing I Heard Today

Peteamus Maximus: but ill definetly apply to the grad school you are at or planning on going to
Peteamus Maximus: yeah thats my plan

Never knowing when they've lost the game

"What is that [on your pizza]?"
"Just a toasty bit. Why, did you think it was an olive?"
"Maybe."
"Were you going to fling my pizza across the room?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't."
----------
I bought a muffin this morning. A honey oat muffin. It said nothing about raisins. Starbucks...back on the list you go!

I felt like even though I have to make my cash last for the next few days, since I lost my wallet and all, I needed a pick-me-up in the form of espresso and a muffin. See, today was my last visit with my orthodontist. I don't mean that my orthodontic treatment is finished, just that Dr. Kim is finishing his residency and moving to New York and has left me with some new ortho-resident (and how dare he, I say). Some guy with a midwest accent that may or may not grate on me -- we'll have to find out. I plan on making the best of this; I've been a fan of "fresh starts" in my life these days, and I'll take every one I can get. But fresh starts don't always lead to good experiences, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't more of a "glass half empty" kind of gal, even though there's usually a little bit of, "but yeah, it's also half full" going on in my head. I got lucky with Dr. Kim. I really grew to like him being in my mouth once a month for a little over a year, but how many times can I get lucky? The way my karma has been lately...

I don't know what I did in the last year to piss off the powers that be, y'all. Seriously. I need some good juju.

At least the ipod is working again -- even if it has to be plugged into the wall.

Now Listening: Inara George - Fools In Love

I'm like a ship without a wheel; a touch without a feel

Things have sucked the past few days. But there've been moments:

Amidst the crap, my ipod came back to life, and I found my old TX driver's license - so at least the hurdle of "needing a photo ID" to get some of the things I need is alleviated.

Also, I have really good friends.

And Mad Libs were awesome in second grade, and are still awesome today.

Now Listening: Bread - Lost Without Your Love

Attack of Mono Bear!!!

First of all, ignore the time stamp -- I posted the picture at that time, but now It's 7AM, and I will be paying for that today (I also want to try to scanned it so it looks better. That's a digipic of a polaroid).

Last night was the final episode of ANTM. Alisa and I had big plans. Plans that involved KFC (because when we watched ANTM on Tuesday, we said that Tyra had gotten fat because she had been hitting the KFC too hard -- then looked at each other and said, oooh...KFC!).

Knowing that Ben likes ANTM more than as much as we do, we invited him over to watch with us, and have some KFC. I also had that bottle of chenin/sauvignon blanc wine that I have been waiting to tear into (I finally found a substitute for the tishbi chenin blanc from Best Cellars! I am so happy!), and then after that, the bottle of pinot grigio seemed like a good idea, too.

Anyway, we did lots of other things besides watch ANTM and ruin American Idol for Ben (Alisa and I sometimes don't shut up when we're not interested in what's on the TV)...like, we discussed how when Alisa marries her Asian/Black Jew, we're not going to be able to make fun of Asian people, black people, or Jews (which I have to admit will kind of put a damper on any conversation I'll have in the future around Alisa's husband, Fred). We picked our band name (Skin Gives Up) and our first album name (He Sounds Like A Girl), and even our first single (I Like The Sound Its Butt Makes). Alisa poked Ben's head for eight hours (oh, you've gotta love the return of a classic like that one), and I used the white board for an even more awesome purpose than the rules, which was to write "towel is dirty, Ben sucks" after he spilled water all over on the floor, then used our towel to sop it up (like I told him to).

Oh, and then Mono Bear attacked Ben and ate his face (M.B. may have had a little help from Alisa) -- but you already knew that.

I saw it on the HBO

Manish was in town this weekend, and highlights include the following:

1. Getting to see Manish - obviously.
2. Running into Vero and Cat Clarke at Whiskey's (okay, theoretically, Vero was part of the group I was with - but still, she showed up later than us all and by then Jess and I had separated ourselves from the group, so when I saw Vero it was random to me). We had a little Hanks HS reunion there, and it was great.
3. Getting to talk to Mike. Who is in Japan. Ja...pan. Not only awesome because I didn't even know he'd gone to Japan (although I remember hearing a rumor of the sort a while ago), but because it was Mike. And International Phone Calls are always awesome.
4. Manish asking our waitress if she was "from the block."
5. Getting to WILG at 2:30 and insisting on saying hi to Emily.

Today, I went to Connecticut with Emily and Jessica to get Emily's car (IHOP! anyone?) and got to see Matt and go to dinner with Emily's parents. Matt made us two of the most awesome CDs for the ride back.

What's up, Chuck?

CHARLES DOWD HAS FOUND ME ON MYSPACE AND I HAVE TO SAY THAT AS MUCH AS I HATE MYSPACE, THIS MERE MOMENT HAS MADE IT ALL WORTH IT.

*Ahem*

So, Charlie. What can I say about Charlie? Charlie and I were BFF in 8th Grade. We were practically joined at the hip; bonded by our mutual love of Charles M. Schultz and a fascination with the Donner Party. On multiple occasions, Mr. Hamilton had to threaten separation or death when we got out of hand in History class (at the time we believed separation to be worse). On those such occasions, there would invariably be the most ridiculous notes passed back and forth. One word notes. Things about Mr. Hamilton (as much trouble as we might have gotten into with him, he really loved us - and only actually got mad once. It was enough to sober us up fast). Mrs. McDonald did separate us - banishing me to a dark corner of the room because she had dated Charlie's dad in high school and liked him more than she liked me. I still have his Dookie CD (*SHHHHH*). Even though he'd heard it all his life, he was never annoyed when I thought, for three solid years, that "What's up, Chuck?" was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. He was not only completely supportive, but equally thrilled when I used Spam as a project prop for more than one class (we were really into Spam, ok?), and he was there when we drop kicked said Spam in the street and then stuffed it in someone's mailbox and ran (yeah, so we were also little hooligans...). We sang the Monty Python Spam song to each other, and used to do the Knights who say "Ni!" bit a lot. He gave me a stuffed snoopy he'd had as a child, and I do still have it somewhere. I didn't bring it to college because, uh - it was actually already on its last leg. But I do have it. Seriously. I Heart Charlie Dowd. If there's a Charlie Dowd fan club, sign me up, and tell me where to pay the dues, baby.

I know things happened. I don't want to get into it, mostly because I don't truly remember what it was. I was 15, I knew he liked me, but I couldn't...or didn't want to be with him. And that was it. To him, it kind of meant we couldn't be friends anymore, and I thought that was just awful and was really terrible to him. I didn't even try to be a good friend after that, which I'm sure only amplified the problem. I felt so badly about the way things went down, later, and there are people you still think about all the time - years after the fact, and for me, Charlie was one of them. I never lost Charlie in my heart. He was one of those friends with whom I shared everything - good, bad, disgusting (you know...secrets, tears, chewing gum...that sort of thing).
He's a chef now. How freaking awesome is that?! A Chef! And he has who appears to be the sweetest girlfriend fiance!, ever. He looks good, too - happy, healthy - like Charlie, but in better clothing (just kidding - I love you!)

Now Reading: Everything is Illuminated by Joseph Safran Foer
Now Listening: Stars - Set Yourself on Fire

Now What Do I Knit?!?!?!?

The shawl that has been the bane of my existence for the past few days is now done. Finished. Finito!!! Hooray! I'm so happy I could dance a little. I've still got to block it (otherwise Emily could have taken it to Indiana...I would have let her, but I'm never letting another project leave my sight until it's done, because for real, it kind of leaves me on pins and needles knowing that a scarf that I made last year is in some box or somewhere without its tassles because some jerkface idiot (joke) left it somewhere before I was able to finish it).

Two things before I go to bed: Emily, I'm sorry for being so sad at the end of the evening. It's just tough with no job and no "prospects." I promise I'll try to have a super awesome time on Saturday, even if it's just one super awesome time and then - that's it. Second thing: Snakes. On. A Plane. Snakes!!! (I got my shirt in the mail today, lol)

Quotes of the Week

"He just wanted to see if my life without him was the same.
It's not.
It's much better."
----------
"Is that a Wu Tang Clan shirt?"
"No, It says Dinky's Donuts."
----------
"Matt, are you wearing a Wu Tang Clan shirt?"
"No, it's a picture of a muffin"
----------
"All of us are going to be orphans! Except Kristina, because I'm going to kill her.
With my chopsticks."
"I've seen you use chopsticks. I'm not scared."
----------
...&tc. And this is why I love my friends. A real entry will follow soon, because I just had the most amazing job interview today and I really, really, really hope that I get this job. I am about to send a "thanks for the interview" email, but some really annoying-yet-catchy japanese music just popped up on my playlist and now I can't concentrate. (Uh, thanks Ben)

Dinky's Donuts

Tonight a bunch of us went to dinner at Brown Sugar, then to Tomb where Matt was our tour guide.

Tomb was very fun, and apparently none of us had to die because none of us are that stupid. And honestly, the puzzles weren't that hard, so I can't see how people do die at Tomb...Kristina could get us out of any ancient tomb, though. Ben may be the president of the Kristina Chidozie fan club, but I'm her number one fan.

Highlights of the evening (because I'm too lazy to form paragraphs and string sentences together coherently):

• Emily giving me the idea for a new way to get people's attention - tap the side of their head with one finger.
• Calling Matt "Safari Matt."
• Getting into Tomb on a *wink, wink* basis.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I just woke up. There is so much I wanted to do before Irish festivities began...I do have three hours, but if I've learned anything from the sloth and general laziness I've developed since I've been staying home all day, it's that three hours isn't a lot of time. Especially when you poke it about getting around.

Plus, I haven't had coffee yet, so I might need another hour to get jump started as is.

Today is going to be crazy.

Here's hoping it's the good kind.

My Feet! Are Bleeding!

Yesterday, I went to get a manicure, while Emily got a manicure/pedicure, and Kristina got her eyebrows waxed and then decided at the last minute to get a manicure. It was fun, I liked the people, and I will be going back for a pedicure with Emily soon.

Why? Well, besides the fact that it looked really relaxing, last night, Harvard and I walked back from WILG, and when I got home...my feet. were bleeding. Well, one of my feet was bleeding. The other one just had a ginormous blister - or three. I can't believe it. Those shoes are so old, they should be way broken in by now. Although, every summer I have to prep my feet for strappy sandal weather. By prep myself I mean wear sandals like the ones I wore yesterday, walk around for a bit, take them off with blisters and cry a bit, then do it again in a week, until the blisters are callouses.

Harvard made me promise to dress sensibly on St. Patrick's day. However, we are going to Tommy Doyle's, then to Harvard, then to the apartment...maybe I can hack it in the 4" wedges I really want to wear...but maybe it's time to start talking myself out of that right now :) Before I end up bleeding on the day of my heritage. Or, you know. with a sprained ankle or swolen, gross feet.

I used to wear heels so often that when I switched to flats it hurt for a day. Ouch! I'm okay with my height now. I just like heels!

Tangent: Do you ever feel like you're having a conversation with someone, and (to borrow a fight club concept) you feel like they're just waiting for you to finish so they can say what they want to say? And that feeling that you start raising your voice to finish what you're saying even though someone else has moved on and is talking about someone else, even though you're talking to each other? That feeling, but on AIM -- is weird.

I'll Sit and Wonder of Every Love That Could Have Been

I did NOT finish the knitting olympics challenge on time. I'm way behind. Nowhere close to done. My personal life got in the way of knitting, as per usual...so...man, I suck so hard. Congrats to everyone who did finish. Y'all rock my face off! I will post pics of the shawl when it is finished.

Now Listening: Death Cab For Cutie - The Sound of Settling

Irish Car Bombs & Loaded Questions

Last night, Jessica, Ben, Emily and Matt came over. We were going to play Balderdash, but ended up deciding we had enough people for loaded questions, instead. Before the games began, we did the Irish Car Bombs...

["Oh my, this is disgusting"]

["The dixie cups do float! Oh no, my shot is just floating on top of the Guiness! I'm going to pour it out"]


As you can see from the progression of the pictures, the car bombs were not successful.

During Loaded Questions, one of the questions was "What is your favorite word for the male anatomy?" Ben had the pleasure of reading off the answers for that one:



And Emily demonstrated knitting: movie style. You know how when they knit in the movies or on TV, sometimes they do it upside down? Yeah...:

The highlight of my evening, however, was when Matt showed up with a card for me. It was a sympathy card, but he relpaced some of the words: "Such a sweet little soul job could never be forgotten. With sympathy on the loss of your pet job." Seriously the funniest card ever.