Welcome Back!
Well after a week long hiatus I am finally back in NYC and back to blogging. I had planned on starting up again this weekend, getting in some hours at work and starting the blogging of our trip to Louisiana, but I started to feel a little under the weather on the last leg of the drive home on Friday and then by Friday night I was in the midst of full blown sickness. This was especially bad for me because I very rarely get sick. I think the last time I was sick was maybe three years ago. I think this is mainly because I don't really worry about getting sick, plus I'm generally just a pretty healthy person. Not this weekend, though... I basically sat on the couch for two days straight watching movies and really bad television, including the Real Housewives of Orange County and The White Rapper Show. All I can say is, thank god I don't get sick more often.
We had a great time in Lousiana and I'll have pictures and a blow by blow of the trip over the next couple of days....I'll probably write a pretty detailed account of each day, mainly for record keeping purposes. I'm feeling much better today but still not 100% so installment #1 will come tomorrow. Here's the beginning of the trip...setting off from Brooklyn in the pimped out mini-van
Labels: Louisiana
It's Carnival Ti-i-i-i-ime...carnival Ti-i-i-i-ime....
Just so no one gets worried, I may or may not be blogging for the next week. It depends on whether or not I can pull myself out of my Jim Beam and coke/fried seafood/being hit in the head with beads stupor. Despite my best efforts to avoid Mardi Gras when I lived in Louisiana I am now being sucked back in....way in....a week of Louisiana revelry....should be interesting......
Labels: Louisiana
Wake Up Call
One of the things that mystifies me about living in New York is what people actually do for a living...what are their jobs? This question comes up because it seems like there are always a lot of people of employable age out on the street at all times. I've noticed this not only in Manhattan where it could be attributed to tourists or people on their lunch breaks, but even in my neighborhood where neither of those things is really prevalent. I know some of it can be attributed to students but it really seems like a lot of people. Anyway, I bring this up because of how I was awoken this morning.
I was laying in bed, sleeping off my Valentine's Day bottle of Cote Du Rhone when I hear people screaming and laughing, namely my neighbor yelling, "Don't worry about the mess, I have hardwood floors, I'll just mop it up later!" This was followed by their apartment door opening and closing about 50 times and then loud music. Usually our neighbors are pretty quiet, other than their recent puppy purchase, so this was really unexpected...especially at FOUR in the morning on a Thursday. Andy and I start complaining to each other and I was like, where the hell do these people work that they would come in from somewhere at 4 in the morning and then just start partying it up at someone's apartment? Aside from the oddity of a party at that hour, it is really inconsiderate. Not everyone has your schedule...most people have to get up and go to an office in the morning. I thought the whole thing was just plain rude. At one point another neighbor knocked on their door and asked them to keep the noise down which only stopped the yelling, not the music. I just kept saying over and over "Where do they work? how are they up partying right now!" It's the middle of the week!Needless to say, this was a pretty shitty way to start the morning.
As we walked to the subway Andy and I started plotting all of the home improvement projects we will need to take care of early next Saturday morning. We've decided there are lots of pictures that need to be hung and that all floors will need to be repeatedly vaccuumed.
Labels: apartment
Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day everyone...
I am not really big into Valentine's Day but I thought I would wish everyone a happy day nonetheless. Andy and I don't really go crazy over it, and I definitely don't mind that. We aren't going out to dinner tonight and we certainly didn't get each other extravagant gifts. This morning I got up and made him coffee, served in a new insulated mug that he can take to work and that will be the extent of the gifts. I told him that if he got me anything it should be under $20..b/c that's how much the mug was.
Yesterday some of my co-workers were having a discussion about whether or not males should send their mother Valentine's Day cards. Which brought us to the broader question of whether Valentine's Day is more a romantic holiday or just a day to express your love for people, platonic, familial, or romantic. There is also some speculation that the responses would split along gender lines. Which brings us to this week's poll question....
After you vote, please leave a comment explaining your answer.
Labels: valentine's day
Dance Lesson
When I say that I will never do something or never do something again, it's pretty much gauranteed that I will do it again and soon. So, shortly after my post about how I never dance...last night I went dancing. Not club dancing though. In anticipation of our trip to LA Andy and I accompanied Cassie and Martin to see a zydeco band and take an introductory Cajun dance lesson beforehand. Needless to say, I was terrible.
When the class began everyone was in semi-circle around the edge of the stage, probably about 25 people. The instructor started with the waltz which she described as a very simple step, one-two-three, one-two-three. So I was just gliding along, thinking that i was doing fine when she pointed at me and said "NO!" I was the only person she made any comment on positive or negative. My confidence was shot after that since I apparently couldn't even do the most basic step. With Andy leading I think I did manage a passable waltz. Then we moved on to the two-step. This was well beyond my range. As we were two-stepping around the room an older man took it upon himself to take Andy and I on as his pet project. He worked with us one-on-one to try and get the steps down. After about 15 minutes of him telling me to "glide, glide!" and "take smaller steps, SMALLER STEPS!" I had had enough but we couldn't shake him for the rest of the night...every time we danced he was there to cut in and tell me what I was doing wrong. As a result we missed the jitterbug lesson, and consequently the "cuddle" which sounded the most fun to me.
By the end of the night I was frustrated and exhausted from all of the gliding or attempted gliding. I was also quite drunk since I figured that alcohol could only improve my dancing but apparently not. Andy said that we were going to practice at home so we'll see how that goes. I'm not holding out much hope.
Labels: NYC sights
This is news?
This whole Anna Nicole thing has really put me into a funk...not because I'm mourning her death but the reaction to it is vomit-inducing. It is upsetting that she died, but no more upsetting than any other human being that I don't know. The media is acting like an important figure in society died..someone that maybe made a contribution instead of just being a pair of boobs. On CNN Larry King was talking about her like she was Princess Diana, how she had this incredible spirit and she was just a fantastic human being. Let's see...she posed for Playboy (not that there's anything inherently wrong with that) then married a dying man so she could inherit his money, starred in her own reality show, and then lost a lot of weight..am I missing something here? The headline on Yahoo this morning was "Why We Care About Anna: She perservered when others would've given up" Perservered in what? Trying to collect her multi-million dollar inheritance....NO ONE would give up on that...give me a fucking break.
I think this is just symptomatic of the out of line priorities in this country. I felt like this when Bush was elected the first time, maybe not as bad as when he was elected the second time but seriously people...hello? War in Iraq??? Genocide in Sudan??? even in the U.S. continued problems in New Orleans? the ever-widening gap between the have and have-nots? I'm not saying that there can't be some level of escapism and entertainment but to try and turn Anna Nicole's death into a significant news event is a disgrace.
I shudder to think what will happen when Flava Flav dies.
oh the subway
I am definitely not one of those females that sits around and bemoans the end of chivalry, wishing that men would start opening doors and throwing down their coats again. I do, however, expect some level of politeness from males in one area....subway seating. For the record, I do not expect a man who is already seated to give up his seat for me. I am not elderly nor do I have some sort of outwardly visible physical impairment that woud indicate that I should get preferential seating. I do however expect that when I enter the subway car a man not practically shove me to the ground in his attempt to secure the last remaining seat in the car...which is what happened to me this morning.
I leave for work much earlier than most New Yorkers...I'm usually at my desk at 7 a.m. I feel that one of the privileges of leaving this early is that I get to sit down on the subway. Normally I don't really care if I get a seat or not but in the mornings I haven't had any coffee yet, and I like to sit down and read my book. This morning, for some reason, the train was pretty full. The doors opened and no one got off but there was a seat directly in front of me. I take a step toward it when some douchebag guy practically knocks me over and shoves himself into the tiny seat. The guy was wearing a ski jacket, ski gloves and had ski goggles pushed up on his head...um, get over yourself, we don't live in Park City Utah...there is no chance that in the middle of the day you're going to leave your office for a quick run, so stop it with the whole "I'm cool..I'm a skiier routine." Also, this guy was carrying a Razor scooter...I can't even add anything to that. He looked ridiculous. After he almost pushed me down he immediately opened his AM New York, the finest of all free morning newspapers, and refused to make eye contact with me even though I was shooting him daggers the entire time. There was a very nice man sitting next to him however who saw how pissed I was and stood up so that I could sit. I thanked him very loudly and would like to thank him again now.....Thanks guy in the green sweater and jeans on the N train this morning...that was very nice of you to give up your seat next to the asshole with the Razor scooter.
Also, as requested by Megan I am going to start having more polls on the blog. Maybe I should just let the polls decide everything....what movies I should see, whether I should go to the gym tonight...anyway, here's the newest poll:
Labels: subway
s
Andy and I had a few people over to the apartment for the Super Bowl....since I'm not in the mood for tons of typing today I'll just post the pictures here....
Here's Andy and I getting the football pool together....the game had already started at this point and everyone missed the opening kick off and subsequent touchdown return. This was later blamed on poor hosting, but I blame it on the fact that the Super Bowl always starts like 15 minutes after they say it will...this year, 5 min. early.
Peter and Simone watching the game...the white figure in the foreground is a little preview of Miss Kitty.
Jen, Kimone, and Steve enjoying the game.
Andy still represented for LSU with the purple and gold crocs. We pulled for Indy since they had former LSU stars Joe Addai and Booger McFarland.
Peter doing what Karin called the "Classic Peter Pose"
Steve and Simone, enjoying the game more and more as it looks like they will win the final quarter in the football pool.
Me doing my Beyonce impersonation....why is she always showing her armpits?
Karin and me discussing why the Bears insist on running the Cover 2 when clearly the way to go would be the blitz.
Steve and Simone after winning the final quarter...$40!!!
Karin, me, and Jen, dejected over the fact that we didn't win the big money :(
And there are just a couple of preview shots of Miss Kitty...I'll try to take one tonight that gives the full effect.
Labels: visitors
The New Miss Kitty
The biggest, and maybe the only, drawback of having a cat, namely Miss Kitty, is her massive amounts of hair. It is everywhere in our apartment, in our bed, on all of our clothes, and probably even in our food. Over the past couple of months she's gotten really bad mats in her fur, especially on her stomach. This could probably be prevented if we brushed her everyday but she doesn't really like to be brushed, and I can barely keep up with my own grooming requirements, much less Miss Kitty's. So, on Saturday while I was at work Andy lugged Miss Kitty up to the groomer.
She was supposed to be ready before 7 so when the phone rang at about 6:15 on Saturday night I thought for sure it was the groomer letting us know that she was ready. I answered the phone and it was the groomer but instead of asking us to come pick her up, he was asking for permission to shave her. I said, what do you mean, shave her, and he explained that her mats were so bad there was no way to comb them out and they were all over her body, not just on her stomach so they would have to shave her. I said, I'll have to call you back and quickly hung up the phone. I almost started crying when I told Andy about shaving her. I'm not sure why I'm so wrapped in Miss Kitty being a gorgeous cat...I knew she would look ridiculous without any fur. Maybe I was projecting my own insecurities about my looks onto her...who knows....but I was extremely upset. Andy called back and gave them permission to shave her.
When Andy went to pick her up the groomer told him to tell me that it was just hair, it would grow back, and that she would be fine. Apparently he could tell how upset I was over the phone. Miss Kitty was shaved once before when her mats were out of control but we did it ourselves so she still had all of the hair on her legs, stomach and head....not this time. I had to do a double take when I first saw her. First of all, she is TINY...I mean, a really tiny cat. I would now estimate that 75% of her is hair. Except for her head...the fact that she is tiny only exacerbates the fact that she does have a very large head. Next, the groomers left almost no hair on her teeny body. The only thing left is the tip of her tail and a little bit of hair on her face. That's it. It really is a sight. Her body looks like a hairless cat....
with the face of this dog...
I don't have photoshop so I cant crop the head onto the cat for the full effect but you get the idea. I think her pride was wounded so I haven't decided if I'll post a picture yet or not...maybe when it grows out a little.
Labels: miss kitty
Book Reviews
Blood MeridianThis is the third Cormac McCarthy book that I've read. The first, All The Pretty Horses, I couldn't stand and the second, No Country For Old Men, I loved so I decided to give him another chance with Blood Meridian as the tiebreaker. The book was much more in the style of No Country For Old Men, meaning that it was extremely dark and at times, very depressing. In reading some reviews afterwards one critic said that even though the book was dark it was also exhilirating and energizing. I definitely did not feel that way. At times the book was so bleak that I felt like it was sapping the energy out of me. My favorite character in the book was the Judge, a huge, pale hairless man that leads the group on their journey through the Texas/Mexico borderlands. He is a fantastic villain. Another very disturbing yet all too realistic theme of the book was the blurring of the lines between who is the victim and who is the aggressor. I pitied the Native Americans when they were getting scalped but it was supposedly in retaliation for the pilaging of Mexican villages. I think this point is especially salient considering our current international situation. Overall, amazingly well written....4/5 stars.
Fear of FlyingThis is supposedly one of the groundbreaking novels of the feminist movement but after 30 years it feels incredibly dated and reads like a Harlequin romance. I guess in the 1970s it was revolutionary for a woman to decide not to have children or to get divorced or go to an "analyst" but by now it's all really well worn territory. After the first 100 pages I tired of her describing every penis she had ever seen and giving us the "woe is me" why did i have to be born a woman spiel. I could identify with most of what she talked about in terms of her struggles to decide whether to have kids and her quest to "find herself" but maybe that was the problem with the novel...I live most of these issues, I don't need a poorly written novel to over-analyze it for me. Also, there was a note from the author at the end where she describes her life experience and how she came to write the novel. So, the novel is her life story...sort of like a James Frey in reverse...she didn't even bother to change the main character's hair color. boring read...too many ridiculous descriptions of boring sex acts...2/5 stars.
Labels: books
Guest Post- Poetry
I've had a little case of the blogger's block this week so here's a guest post for everyone...a poem courtesy of my friend Marvin Flint....
In an era post-emancipation,
What rich fodder you find,
In female altercation.
Back and forth they go,
This pair, this duo,
They lead, they follow,
In slow escalation.
A rise, a fall,
What is that?
The apology rebuffed!
Stiletto to the eye; your foot, madam, crushed.
This still office day broken,
You look to your papers,
As shrill voices lock,
What was unsaid, spoken.
And our faces blank, speak not of our souls,
Inside there's joy, neigh, delight,
At the dreadful spectacle
That is the office bitch fight.
Labels: guest post
