This was a great Thanksgiving even though it totally did not go as planned. The original plan called for me to assist this group with preparing dinner for the residents of a half way house for Thanksgiving in the morning, and then driving down to Virginia to spend the rest of the weekend with my family. Well I did help out fixing dinner and that was great doing something for someone other than myself. It was weird being in that volunteering element because I hadn't done anything like that in a long time. The purpose overrode any insecurities I had about doing it.
Aftewards, I went to Vida and Hugo's for dinner. Before dinner we ended up having a kinda kung fu theater marathon. It was GREAT! I haven't seen old movies like that in a long ass time, with the bad dubbing, sound effects and people jumping about. Took me back to the days when USA would run hours of movies back to back on Sundays! haha!
Yesterday, I did head south for my cousin's baptism. Afterwards we had dinner at my aunt's. Man I miss my baby cousins. They were so cute, especially the youngest one who was like, "I like it when you sleep here. You can sleep in my room, ok?" Man.
That whole experience got me thinking about kids. For the longest time if you asked me about kids, I would tell you that I wanted to wait. But wait for what? Mainly it's waiting for someone who I could see myself raising kids with, and married to for life. Now THAT is question now isn't it? I have no sympathy for men or women, who get married only because their biological clocks are ticking so loudly it drowns out their common sense when choosing sperm/egg donor.
Things I am thankful for...
1) Life.
2) My family who put me up and put up with me.
3) Ditto for my friends.
4) My new job.
5) My new apartment.
6) Hope of things to come.
As I sit here in my friend's lawn chair, whose current locale is my livingroom, writing in my blog that I have neglected, I am struck by the utter quiet. The only noise is the occasional car or truck that goes by and the Bach piece being played by a spanish guitar emenating from my speakers. It is almost surreal not having anyone IN the place with me making noise of their own.
Tonight I washed my pots, each very carefully and with much pride, as I have always wanted these particular pots. Much thanks goes to Larissa, Nils and Niika for who pitched into the Apartment Fund specifically for these pots. Both Niika and Larissa are fellow foodies, so they appreciate the awesomeness of a set of Calphalon, even a starter set like mine. I swear I've been looking forward to this for so long, I literally know just about everything that should go where. It's the little details I don't have yet. That and despite all of my diligent HGTV watching, the notions for 'decorating' and 'coordinating' still haven't seeped into my XX brain.
Tonight I had one of the greatest treats of a lifetime thanks to Chantel. We all went to this restaurant in Philly called Cuba Libre for their Monday event, "33 Tastes". As the name implies for a flat price, we all received 33 incredibly delicious mini courses from their menu. On the drive to Philly Chantel was explaining the concept and I was like, "33 little courses?". In head I envisioned them bringing out 33 petite fores (may have spelt that wrong), which is French for small ass finger food.
Wrong! Going to a Cuban restaurant, I was just looking forward to a mojito. Well in 33 Tastes, they brought THREE different mojitos. Brigid and I were like, we weren't going to stop till well after dessert. Little did we know the menu was double-sided for a reason. 3/4 of the way through the meal we were all pretty damned stuffed. But we all forged ahead! In addition to the 3 different mojitos, they brought 3 different sangrias (at a different point in the meal), 9 different desserts, and something like 12 different fish, chicken, duck and pork entrees. The entrees ranged from civeche style fish and shrimp, grilled marinated meats, empanadas, plaintain crusted chicken and this sweet bread with mango butter that was off the chain! This little list is the mere tip of the iceberg. The meal was complex in flavor and texture, and my little list doesn't it justice.
If you're reading this and going 'eww' close your browser window right now!
Simply put, that meal was one of the most decadent experiences of my life.
I forgot the artist whose album was entitled 'changes' because it would have been most apropos for this entry. This Friday that just passed I moved into my apartment with a little fanfare and drama. Rather than recap each day in a different entry, here's is the Reader's Digest verstion:
Friday, Nils and I drove down to Virginia to get my stuff. The INTENT was to drive down there early enough to beat the horrendous Friday traffic that was no doubt waiting. Well it didn't work out that way. We got to VA, packed up most of stuff and headed on the road. I say "most" because I am quite certain a few critical boxes are sitting somewhere in that garage. We make it to my apartment 4 hours later (twice as long as necessary), and start to unload in the rain! Nils and I joked it was like freaking de ja vu, because last year around the same time we did the same thing to get my stuff out here. However this time Hugo and Juan came over and moving the stuff went by MUCH faster!
To thank the guys, I took them to Hooters for beer and wings. Now I had never been to Hooters, and thought the commercials were all hype. Boy was I wrong. As I walked in there I could almost here my Gender Studies Professor scream at me. haha! I was good and didn't stare - not too hard. ;-) Some of those waitresses were fine, ours included. And some were, eh, not so much. Our waitress hung out our table and talked it up with us because we were her last table and we all had her rolling. The jokes didn't stop! The jokes began about how the 911 hot wings were making us all bawl like little babies. Stuff was banging though!
Satuday, I called the maintenance guy to ask wtf about my electricity not being on? The utilities places said the work was done and the breaker needed to be turned on. The maintenance guy was like, "are you sure we are talking about the same building?" And I'm like, yes, I'm holding the welcome letter here in my hand from the leasing agent. The guy goes, well I was just there at that address and there was a couple there watching TV. And I'm like well that would be kinda hard seeing as how, I'm the only person in my apartment and there's no power to watch TV. He finally comes by and fesses up he went to the wrong building. The irksome part was his attitude. Yea, I am really sorry to be ruining your Saturday, but if you just turn on my power I can be on my way!!!!
On the way from Nils' I managed to get a flat. Good times. I get out my car and hear this hissing sound, and I'm like you have got to be fucking kidding me, right? I finished unloading the car and then went to put the spare on and THAT is flat too! WTF! I laughed to myself, thinking that the universe is testing my resolve to be on my own. My first dinner in my apartment came from the Chinese restaurant from around the corner, and I watched a movie on my computer. :)
Sunday, yay internet is back up!! Man oh man! Feels good to be back online! So I went to the tire place to get the tire replaced and the guy is like wow, yea that is natsy tear. He examines the rim and says that I must have hit something that caused to rupture. I thought back to one particular stop on my way over here from Nils' I do recall hitting something like a pothole or something, but didn't think anything of it because my car was loaded down with stuff and bumps would probably feel worse? The guy confirmed my suspicions that I need new tires all around for when the snow hits. Aside from actual treadwear, my tires are more suited for Ca driving than East Coast snow.
Two weeks and one day into my job, I'm on a business trip. What a trip! Pun intended. My boss needed an assist with some training, and trip also served the additional purpose of me interacting with the reps in the field whom are technically my clients. I got to see first hand their reactions to the tools they would be using. Conversely, I also got to see any negative reactions and concerns they had about said tools. We travelled to South Carolina, North Carolina, Atlanta and Florida all in the span of 4 days. It was a crazy road trip! At the same time it was fun and productive. We talked a lot of shop over meals, but the company took care of meals so there was nothing to complain about. We ate very well too. My boss has a credo: you work hard and play hard. And this showed. No matter what we did the night before, we had to be ready to present and train the following morning. My favorite night was Wednesday night where we ate at the House of Blues, and then went to this dueling piano bar joint. The latter wasn't exciting, but the HOB was off da chain!
The trip was grueling and very hard. By the last day neither of us were saying anything. In the Orlando airport I stood in line for my food, while we waited for the plan back home and it hit me how tired I was. Neither of us said much over our meals and it was pretty obvious how exhausted we were. At this point the last thought in my head: And I have to move tomorrow? Fuckin' A.
It's official though: I really like my job so far.
Bush won. Onto better things...
I beat FarCry!! Woohaa!! No cheat codes, no guides, no nothing!! Nils was sitting here watching me as I was playing and I was having a helluva time getting this one last guard who was hiding behind pipes and his shield. My boy goes, gsee there, his leg is exposed, shoot him in the legh. Ifm all, gno! I want a vital organh because I was totally zoomed in on his ass and you could see where I had hit him several times before. Sure enough one more shot in the thigh took him out totally. Musta hit the femoral artery or something; I donft frigginf know.
Man this game rocks! Can't wait for the sequel. I'd play the game again with a better setup just to see the stuff I missed. Bring on the sequel! Speaking of sequels: I await Halo 2's arrival with bated breath!
I just got hit with another deluge of comments spam so don't go looking at those links! Shortly I will get around to deleting all that shit, but in the mean time ignore them!