unexpected love

Hello.  You are surprisingly delicious and help keep me focused. I think our friendship is inevitable, that is, until the FDA and/or hypertension decides otherwise.  Thank you & Goodnight.

eye of the storm -> mass exodus

I've been home sick with this miserable stomach bug that's been cycling through my office and pretty much everywhere lately.  I spent most of yesterday miserable and dehydrated in bed, and pretty much feeling like waif kate moss after losing like 8 pounds in the past couple days.  Dizzy and nauseous and crampy.  Today (after pretty much spending like 30 hours straight in bed) i felt kinda good and wanted to eat and do a dozen loads of laundry that have been piling up for quite some time now.......

Psyched to eat something besides pretzel rods and electrolyte-infused juice drinks, although i really love pretzel rods, they get real old after a day or 2.  I was starving! So i get to my kitchen and fridge filled with random goodies - leftover gourmet chinese food was probably not a good idea so i decided to make a grilled cheese. And then i saw ham! Grilled Cheese with Ham!!  And then i saw pickles!!!  GRILLED CHEESE WITH HAM AND PICKLES!!!  i was so excited to grill that baby on the frying pan and get it in my empty belly.

I was smart and ate it over the course of 30 minutes because i knew i'd get real full real fast and i wanted to not freak my intestines out.

• at 30 mintes sandwich was safely inside stomach and i was happy
• at 40 minutes stomach was making noises and movement and i was concerned.
• at 45 minutes stomach rejected sandwich and i was not happy.

What did i learn? 

1. When in doubt, just eat toast
2. There's a new Hollywood Diet in town
3. Always fear the eye of the storm

Back to pretzel rods and fake juice and bed.

brian boitano

oh man. i love modern men's figure skating it's great. they don't even need to pretend they have girlfriends or pregnant wives home in their native countries. it's about time gay men really shine in the olympics. these figure skating dudes are amazing......doing quadrooople what have you axel rods. that's impressive.

All along i'm humming a song over these guy's performances without even realizing what i'm singing over and over......i stop my uncontrollable humming for a brief time and realize - i'm singing totally the best figure skating song of them all.....

Year 2. Part 2: You are welcome.

 If you haven't read my lovely 2009 Valentine's day series, i strongly suggest giving it the once-over in preparation of this year's 3-part edition  (work in progress).  I'm big into self-help and providing useful tips to those looking for alternate ways to make things better, laugh, potentially make things worse, enlighten, argue, resolve....or possibly just make someone snicker. I make no promises.

It seems there is some anxiety about Valentine's Day as a whole, for likers and nonlikers. Here are some useful tips to make your way through these treacherous times of forced love-like tendencies if you don't have a damn person in your life that will be your valentine. (oh could you even imagine?)  So here's my list of 7. I picked 7 because they say it's lucky and that whole 7-year itch thing - i'm itchy from some kind of allergic reaction to take-out chinese food shrimp. So yeah - pay attention, don't cry, don't get pissy or bitter. It'll be all back to normal tomorrow AND more importantly...... all the heart-shaped versions of your favorite candy will be at least 50% off tomorrow!!

1.)  No one likes to be alone on Valentine's day (except professional narcissists and the painfully indifferent), so seek out people in your similar predicament. It's fun and a gang of people making fun of a nonsensical holiday is better than making fun of it alone and questioning how you really feel: which is really anti-holiday, but society makes you question that year after year.

2.)  Watch a marathon of any reality TV dating show from the past 10 years and then celebrate normalcy and lack of scripted nonsense.  You will lose a full day succumbing to the addictive qualities of train-wreck reality television. (which works out in your favor, Valentine's day is only one day)

3.)  Reality TV not your thang? Well you're in luck! If you are one plan your single lifestyle ahead of time....you've got Winter Olympics to entertain!!! That's right every 4 years baby- you get caught up in laughing at people tumble down snowy mountains, get all wrapped up rooting for your favorite country, wonder why Shaun White is so awesome, make up your own words to other countries' national anthem according to your knowledge (or lack there of) of their historical background......the possibilities are endless.

4.)  Take a nap.  Never underestimate the power of being unconscious.

5.)  If you have divorced parents - go hang out with one of them! Let them remind you how much better life is without that annoying/drunk/lazy/crazy/bitchy/gold diggin'/2-timing/lying/small penis/etc.  son-of-a-bitch OR wench (obviously gotta be politically correct here).  You will never be happier to change the subject and talk about cats and taxes or whatever divorced people talk about these days.

6.)  Play wii. Why? Cuz it's still awesome!

7.)  Get the Flu. I had the flu last winter, and let me tell you- all your overheating brain & intestines can think about is dying in a pool of your own sweat and/or feeling human again.  Thus, great distraction and legit excuse for being alone.

perspective

i used to like this video, but now i'm not so sure. I actually saw it before i even knew about the whole "post secret" craze and i thought the song was nice and the video was a really neat concept.  for the most part i think people send in a lot of predictable cliché crap on this blog.  I do enjoy the occasional cheeky ones or ones that aren't blatantly obvious, or the ones that are more visually meaningful/creative/stimulating.  I think i've come to the conclusion that i don't agree with the whole social movement of secretly confessing truths. I don't think there's anything therapeutic about secretly disclosing information that seems to be a crucial part of your existence, that in fact you anonymously submitting said thruths is the biggest cop-out of all.  And how is mass-anonymity worthy of being a social movement?  What are the odds that the people who need to read these post cards are even remotely interested or aware of such a website?  And it's not like you'd email someone a link of your "anonymous post card" and then if they were clever enough to realize this even pertained to their life.  It defeats the purpose.  What's so great about telling millions of strangers your secret and it having no real impact on the intended person?  I'd like to know.

I believe disclosing secrets anonymously promotes further lack of self-confidence and less ability to properly defend or advocate yourself, and is even a GREATER lapse in meaningful communication since "texting." 

 I think the bigger social movement should be a blog started by people mailing in "post secret-style" post cards they've received from people in their lives and how they react to them and what they've done to better themselves, help a friend, make changes, take chances, etc or if they simply ignore it.  This would have a larger ripple effect, i am sure of it.

I say, get some balls and mail someone a card.  I've done it  (not this "holiday").... and more than i've expected it has been rewarding.

be true & have a real heart.  won't ya

gud fud.....goood foood - to quote a dead family member

So i rolled into work at a little past noon this lovely day after the supposed motherload of a snow storm we were gonna have to eat our relatives to survive serious.  All for a measly 3 maybe 4 inches where the wind blew.....disappointing.  That's why I laugh at everyone in panic. Swine flu? PLEASE!  Blizzard wind might knock out power for a fraction of a second. Yawn.  Bring on the drama people. I don't even like snow, and i wanted this storm. How bored am i?  Exactly. the challenge of digging my way out of 3 feet of snow sounded like a blessing if i even knew what that meant.  I'm just so bored with everything being blown out of proportion.  I'm more disappointed than i thought jeeze.  I don't watch the news because it's crap. The weather even crappier.  I'm alright with dealing with whatever is thrown at me. It's New England, not the South Pacific.  We breed perfection here. We've got a little of everything in moderation.  It's yuppie heaven. I'm done ranting..

Onto giving props-ing!!!

i've been spoiled the past 3 weeks, i've been able to eat at this one super classy restaurant thanks to work schmoozing pharmaceutical dinners with my 2 fav workmates Joni & Jane. I love that place, not cuz it's fancy, cuz i just like the place and the food and Andy is my favorite and he works there.  i hope he doesn't read this, i'd be so embarrassed, but he's probably paid to be super stoked to see us (even though we don't pay) and i'm not gonna lie, i've been there a handful of times and he wasn't our waiter, and the experience wasn't the same......like tonight....i was an hour late for the event and i had a table setting waiting for me with a full glass of wine and then a special delivery of appetizers that i missed out on?? who does that?? Nice people do.  I don't ever know how to be like "hey you're awesome, thanks for looking out" so i usually just say thanks and smile and walk away.  I need to work on being less subtle and outwardly give props where props are due -  i'm not the type to say shit unless i mean it, unless it's xmas presents, people get sensitive about that crap.  i'd rather be quiet.  good times, even making fun of super british doc's  bib and coat.  that was unexpectedly hilarious. 

anyway i wasn't very hungry tonight, so i'll have a crazy feast for breakfast tomorrow: fillet mignon, broccolini, cheesecake, bruschetta, crabcake, popover, etc, etc.  Maybe i'll raid the fridge in a few.... 

blue diamonds are scary

i ain't talkin' bout no blingy bling son!

I originally took the day off yesterday to go to this meeting about a super intense grad school program that would totally consume my life for 15 months and then i'd be set for a while and able to do and go pretty much anywhere i want.  Well that meeting got cancelled a little while back and i decided to still take the day off and either sit on my ass or do something fun.  I decided to do a little of both.

I went for some PM snowboarding up in Nashoba Valley, it's kinda pretty up there and by pretty i mean yuppie.  It's way out there on 495 past Worchester, for exact longitude/latitude i suggest google maps.

It was not too cold and not windy at all........but it was damn icy up on them real mountains.

  I really needed to practice my turns and stops/falls so we spent a good amount of time on the papoose/powwow hills getting the tech stuff down or at least trying. I fell a few times, of course aggrivating the existing tailbone injury, making my flexibility somewhat limited.  I had an energy drink and then i was kinda game for taking the lift up the least threatening mountain, which apparently was nonexistent.  I coulda handled the challenge had there been powdery snow rather a sheen of ice. It was a bit much for me, only made it half way and my body was like fuck this.....so i walked the rest of the way down. Val went down like a champ, she did start off on the less icy side, and had her own board...and better control.  I wasn't about to break my ass to get street cred. Eff that. I know my old lady limits.

After the snow excursion i decided to venture to a Trader Joe's to stock up on grub for the supposed insane snow dumping we're getting any minute now....... it was only 5 miles down the road and then i might have miscalculated my where abouts and went on a scenic tour of Acton.  Then i was home safe. And now waiting for the mammoth snow storm.....roar?  meow.

saturday night fever!

Verdict is...............80's pop, 90's rap. Guilty Pleasure!

Wow. I can't remember going out specifically to shake a tail feather and enjoying every second of every song played for over 4 hours.....it was ridiculous.  And it wasn't because i was hittin' the sauce....it was totally the company and the music and maybe a little bit of the sauce that kinda made the night all that more crazy.  It was tons of fun and i got some exercise dancing in heels for those intense hours of sweet infectious music. We didn't leave the place till well after 2.......and then we had the whole cab fiasco....courtney saying that she was gonna marry this dude on the street from NYC between trying to hail a cab to every passing vehicle, cab or no cab present.... I think at one point she tried to get into a car that was already full with people....that girl.....so funny.  It was sooo freezing that night and i wasn't wearing socks. brrrrr!

We made it home safely from what we all put together....Back to Andrew's place in Brighton, where Me Megs & Court stayed up all night giggling with the guys about eharmony and toilet seat rollercoaster rides and finally passing out at some point while the sun was rising....I do recall TJ making a 4-am meal for all of us - kielbasa and green olive fritatta, and tater tots.  I just met TJ and he's wicked dope along with Andrew, the hostest with the mostest! My favorite thing about nights like that is that everyone woke up super happy and giggly (and maybe still a little drunk too).  Can't wait to do it again real soon!

i miss cooking

I've been working silly hours since my schedule changed a couple months ago.....i like my schedule for the winter months.....but the one thing it really doesn't work well with me is the fact that i don't really have great hours to cook.  I like to make dinner fresh because for the most part, leftovers aren't really appealing to me (unless it's take-out chinese food, lasagna, chili, enchiladas, soup and maybe a few more things i can't really think of right now because i'm so full!)

Tonight i got wicked hungry after a 5-hour catch-up nap, i had no energy to attend any superbowl parties and the one party i totally wanted to go to i would have had to drive 3 hours roundtrip.....and sitting hasn't been the most enjoyable thing for me since the whole falling on my ass incident....So in my heightened state of hunger i thought take-out was a great option, but nothing really was appealing to me and i didn't feel like finding socks to put on sneaks and venturing in my cold car.....and i'm kinda cranky because i really wanted to eat mustard horseradish chicken wings. 

Instead of those delicious pieces of unsatisfactory meat, i decided to look in the old fridge to see what was edible. Not much. There was just a lot of randomness, leftover-ish items accumulated from the past week or so and i just wanted something amazing.  I gathered a pile of random fridge ingredients, threw it into a pan and apparently created some magical concoction of pasta, chicken, 3 veggies, 2 spices, 3 cheeses, and then i randomly decided to add some old cream to make it all thick and savory.  I've never made a cream sauce and of course never on a whim. Beginner's luck.

I wish i could have shared it with everyone.  I've learned it's really difficult to cook for one.  It's kind of impractical. I haven't quite mastered cooking for one, but i think i'm pretty good at cooking for 1& a half or over 6.

learning is fun (even on weekends)

Wowie! I forgot how much fun museums are, especially ones that don't kick you out when it's close to closing time. That's quality.

So Me, Valerie, Mark the shark, Steph & Dan ventured into science park Sunday early afternoon hoping to get right in to the anticipated Harry Potter Exhibit!! It was nerdfestly perfect! So we get to the Museum of Science a tad after 1pm to be greeted with tourists and families galore. What else do people have to do on a bone-chilling sunday afternoon in Boston...learn?  Damn straight.  We didn't get Harry Potter reservations until 4:20, a solid 3 hours to kill in the museum.....YES PLEASE!  That place never gets old to me, and i've been there dozens of times since as far back as i can remember. Favorite spots, Mathematics room, electricity, waves/wind.....gift shop (space food! and poprocks and geodes). I usually hit up a laser light show or an IMAX, but Harry Potter was the only special event budgeted for this time.

Ugh no Photos or cell phones allowed in the harry potter stuff. We played some quidditch, checked out some talking wall photos, the screaching fat lady let us into Griffyndor house, lots of costumes and set props from the movies. I got to pluck some of those screeching plants from the greenhouse, chill with the centaurs and some bostonians trying to fake an english accent.  The super neat part was the separate harry potter gift shop that was set up just like the shops in Grimmauld Place in the movies. The collectors shit was rediculously overpriced, it was still pretty awesome. these cute little girls were casting spells in their best Hermione Granger voice "no, no it's wingardium leviosa" gotta love mini larpers.

i've got pics of everything non harry potter: t-rex, apollo replica, lightning show nerds, etc.

another fun weekend! (last week)

I've been having a lot of busy weekends and they've been rolling into busy weekdays at work and i'm home and awake on a Sunday for once....and this weekend finishing up right now is pretty fresh on my mind.

Friday - serious slacking on my part only working less than 4 hours (all for good reason) I had to get my ass to boston!  Why? Well, i just had to meet up with some cool kids, aka "weekend parents" for a mini restaurant tour of fresh goodies.  We ate tons.  Correction.  I ate tons.  Dessert was my favorite. Yum.  With full bellies, me and the weekend parents called it a semi-early night  (although i stayed up late watching that Criminal Minds show, and fell asleep to the one with the apartment surprise serial raper. Pleasant dreams.

Saturday- Up WICKED EARLY!  Me and Ginger caffeinated ourselves up DD style and trekked to the glorious snow-covered mountains of Massachusetts for an early morning snowboarding lesson. I was miserable for the first 5 minutes - part freezing, part uncomfortable in all that gear! After i internally pissed and moaned, I was psyched to learn about how horrible i am on a snowboard. I actually had a really good lesson and felt quite comfortable with the simple tips i was given. We took a pee break and then took the ramp up to the top of the big bunny hill, i strapped myself in, popped up, jumped into place to head down the glorified snowpile (it's like the size of a soccer field) - All of a sudden everything i practiced went completely out of the window, i whipped down a solid stretch of 10 feet and next thing i knew i felt like my tailbone was hitting concrete.  It hurt so bad and so quickly my body was in complete shock.  I sat for a minute, then flopped myself over and slowly tried to get myself down the rest of the mini slope.  My day on the mountains was basically over then. I made myself go down a couple hill trips (maybe like 4). I hate when your body shuts down but you just wanna keep on keepin' on. :( ----------we got back in boston and ordered some killer pizza, played some high stakes monopoly, i popped a handful of advil and passed out!

here's some mountain picaroos:

4 rows behind? we'll be there.....eventually

feelings are gross, lets talk about FUN!

today at work this nice guy named bob came in and gave away some free tickets. if anyone knows anything about me this is one truth; i squeal at free tickets. Literally squeal, it's embarrassing  and really, the more i think about it, i need to be smart about saying yes sometimes.

Today's FREE night was Uconn basketball.  I was like hell yeah big muscles and sweat and tank tops - count me in. Yeah-no.  Oh yeah BTW women are allowed to play some bball these days and whooda thought people willingly watch that too.  It just isn't the most interesting thing for me or my 2 companions, which probably made the excursion that much more enjoyable.  We talked a lot about things that we wouldn't pay money for, women's basketball was top of list (hoodless UConn sweatshirts & mock turtlenecks were honorable mentions).

we had disgusting seats 4 rows behind the bench, ya know the kind you only get if you are somebody, and being us (not those type of people) we ate up all the attention from the "regulars" and even the camera dudes were like "who are these 3 fine, young, intelligent, straight gals? lets put them up on the monitor and give them a proper mock turtleneck welcome" OH wait, that was Jay the taper guy, we actually knew him from way back. Cool!  so we made it to the game for the second half. The Uconn women won only by like 40 points instead of their regular 85, glad it was such a nail-biter. sigh.

Courtney and Meghan are silly! This restaurant/bar we went to after had miserable service, but damn that food they wouldn't serve us smelled sooooo good!  We lost my car in a fairly vacant parking garage, it was your typical scenario for any b-slasher movie. I suggested splitting up to find the car faster, because that's what people in the movies always do and they always find something lurking around the corners, car, homeless man, serial killer, etc.   We posed with some greats like RayRay and Big Bird and made fun of rich people, cops, stereotypical women's basketball fans, and plastic beer bottles with yankee stadium prices.


rumor has it we're gonna move to a different capital city this weekend for something a little more in our preference range: being loud and disorderly, paying decent money for better drinks and service, cute single boys closer to our age that don't collect cats or pokemon cards or arrest warrants, kitchens that are open past 10pm & public transportation.