Friday, December 22, 2006

A Holiday Tune...

City kitchens, busy kitchens
Filled with holiday smells...
On the floor there are remnants of baking...

Cookies crumbling, dried fruit tumbling
Biscotti...pile after pile...
And in every still corner you hear...
Tiny mice...tiny mice...
It’s Christmas time in the City...
Hear them squeak...
Watch me freak...
Soon it will be...
Christmas Day...

Friday, December 15, 2006

Is me really monster?

- - - -
COOKIE MONSTER
SEARCHES DEEP WITHIN
HIMSELF AND ASKS: IS ME
REALLY MONSTER?
BY ANDY F. BRYAN
- - - -

Me know. Me have problem.

Me love cookies. Me tend to get out of control when me see cookies. Me know it not natural to react so strongly to cookies, but me have weakness. Me know me do wrong. Me know it isn't normal. Me see disapproving looks. Me see stares. Me hurt inside.

When me get back to apartment, after cookie binge, me can't stand looking in mirror—fur matted with chocolate-chip smears and infested with crumbs. Me try but me never able to wash all of them out. Me don't think me is monster. Me just furry blue person who love cookies too much. Me no ask for it. Me just born that way.

Me was thinking and me just don't get it. Why is me a monster? No one else called monster on Sesame Street. Well, no one who isn't really monster. Two-Headed Monster have two heads, so he real monster. Herry Monster strong and look angry, so he probably real monster, too. But is me really monster?

Me thinks me have serious problem. Me thinks me addicted. But since when it acceptable to call addict monster? It affliction. It disease. It burden. But does it make me monster?

How can they be so callous? Me know there something wrong with me, but who in Sesame Street doesn't suffer from mental disease or psychological disorder? They don't call the vampire with math fetish monster, and me pretty sure he undead and drinks blood. No one calls Grover monster, despite frequent delusional episodes and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. And the obnoxious red Grover—oh, what his name?—Elmo! Yes, Elmo live all day in imaginary world and no one call him monster. No, they think he cute. And Big Bird! Don't get me started on Big Bird! He unnaturally gigantic talking canary! How is that not monster? Snuffleupagus not supposed to exist—woolly mammoths extinct. His very existence monstrous. Me least like monster. Me maybe have unhealthy obsession, but me no monster.

No. Me wrong. Me too hard on self. Me no have unhealthy obsession. Me love cookies, but it no hurt anyone. Me just enthusiast. Everyone has something they like most, something they get excited about. Why not me? Me perfectly normal. Me like cookies. So what? Cookies delicious. Cookies do not make one monster. Everyone loves cookies.

Me no monster. Me OK guy. Me OK guy who eat cookies.

Who me kidding? Me know me never actually eat cookies. Me only crumble cookies in mouth, but me no swallow. Me can't swallow. Me no have no esophagus. Me no have no trachea. Me only have black fabric throat. Me not supposed to be able to even talk.

Me no eat cookies.

Me destroy cookies.

Me crush cookies.

Me mutilate cookies.

Me make it so no one get cookies.

Everyone right. Me really is cookie monster.


From: http://www.mcsweeneys.net

Friday, December 01, 2006

Which response it best? A poll.

Last night, Greg picked up some Ben and Jerry's vanilla fudge caramel ice cream. It pretty much sucked. The fudge and caramel had been overswirled into the ice cream so there wasn't a distinct flavor of either. We were equally unhappy but came up with two different solutions to the problem:

Tina's solution: Pour some Hershey's chocolate syrup on top so it would taste like something.

Greg's solution: Seal a rat in the container and ship it back to the factory in Vermont.

You be the judge. Which should we have done?

Thursday, October 26, 2006

No more Halloween for Tina...

This morning, I woke up in abject terror: I had been dreaming that I was hiding in a crawl space from Michael Myers. Even scarier, I was hiding with Archie Bunker.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Woo Hoo

The Union Star cheese shipment has arrived! Have a curd-y day! I intend to!

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Heart aflutter

Greg was browsing in an Eastern philosophy/new age book store yesterday and bought me a present: three polished rocks in varying shades of gray and blue. Why? you may ask, as I did: Because when he picked them up and the sunlight hit them, they reminded him of my eyes. Oh.

The token was followed up with this afternoon:

When together and forward press the girl's lips
Like coral they are colored, beneath precious stones of azure
and met with the boy's as to the sun and the night encountering
then shall the seas much rejoice.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Turmoil...

I hate turmoil. Job issues two-sided. Vacation issues.

I HATE IT!!!!!!

Luckily, I can amuse myself with blogging about food.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Stacy's grandmother died last night. My mom called to tell me this afternoon. Unexpectedly, I turned into a freakin' distraught mess.

It wasn't unexpected and considering that she's been hallucinating that the Nazis are after her for the last 6 months or so (they left Holland after WWII) it's probably for the best, but still it makes me very sad. Perhaps it's because this is the 3rd set of condolence cards I've had to write in the past 2 months...

So have a zoetigheid for Oma...

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah...

Ruby, the fan dancer in Greg's show has repeatedly invited us to see her other performances. Well, most of them require going to a warehouse district in Brooklyn after midnight on a weekday, so we've declined. Saturday night was our chance to make it up to her. We went to the NYC Burlesque Festival Gala at The Supper Club in Times Square.

It was fantastic...crowd watching alone was worth the price of admission. However, I did think our $20 would get us chairs. We knelt behind a wrought-iron balcony railing for 3 hours--literally--so we could see the stage. Great blues band played first, then a gazillion burlesque acts. Everything from the grotesque to the sublime. It was an interesting experience in avant garde theatre (almost nothing in it was even remotely sexual) and some of the acts had put a lot of thought into their performances and it was very much their "art"; it just happened to involve disrobing.

The standouts included a woman who recreated Manet's The Picnic; a trio from Atlanta who included a seriously ugly man on stilts in an antebellum gown from under whose skirts came two "soldiers" in blue and gray who did a well-choreographed sword fight/striptease while the man sang mid-19th Century ballads funereally in a gorgeous baritone; and Ruby's Big Apple Burlesque's film noir scene complete with radio announcers, singers and flashbacks. Others however, were downright silly and, occasionally, grotesque. Everybody had a gimic however, and as far as I can tell, if you have an odd minor talent, say, the ability to do rope tricks, balance glasses of wine on your forehead, hula hoop, etc., and can take your clothes off concurrently, you've got a job.

If you ever get the opportunity, I'd highly recommend the experience. Plus, I'm workin' on my act...

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

The fastest man in the world...

runs like a little girl.

I swear to God, we'd never seen anything like it. He was walking in front of us last night as Greg and I were walking home after dinner in the East Village. He got a text and took off: elbows out, forearms up, hands dangling, legs flipping up and out to the side. Seriously, if he'd been smaller and blonder, he could have been my 6 year-old niece.

But here's the thing. He was faster than freakin' Superman. He was two blocks away in literally five seconds. If he had better form, I'm guessing he'd win gold medals; as it was, he had a hookup with someone in a shadowy doorway. I guess the latter could actually be better...

Thursday, July 20, 2006

From the Blastocyst Community Bulletin...

There will be a new blastocyst orientation session at the Federal Building on Market Street at 2pm (use the side door). All blastocysts will receive a Social Security number, $50 cash and a free copy of the Employment Times.
-
The annual Blastocyst pancake supper will be held at the Grange Hall Sunday from 6am `til 11am. Cost is $5 ($3 for embryoblasts 8 days and under). Because of last year's maple syrup disaster, powdered sugar will be substituted.
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FOR SALE---framed portrait of President Bush signing the Blastocyst Civil Rights Act of 2006. Autographed on back by Sen. Brownback. $10 + s&h. 555-1323.
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All of us at BCB mourn the passing of associate editor Hank Grindle, 12 days, a long-standing member of the local blastocyst community for 7 days and 3 hours. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the VFW. Our condolences to Gladys, his wife of 10 days and 8 hours.
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BLASTOCYST ROOMMATE wanted to share 2-bedroom apartment on west end. $575 + utilities. Non-smoker preferred. Pets negotiable. No vacuum cleaners. 555-3421.
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BLASTAEROBICS! Come move and groove to a hip-hop beat at Marcy's Gym. Great way to make friends while increasing your lifespan by up to 36 hours! You'll have a BLAST! 555-MOVEIT.
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FOR SALE: Petri dish. 4-inch diameter, like new. Only used by my grandmother on Sunday. $10 or best offer. 555-9845.
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Feeling small? Join the Dale Carnegie blastocyst support group. Professional moderator helps you speak with confidence and raise self-esteem. Stay afterward for free résumé-building workshop.

(I can't take credit for this...it's practically viral, but I thought it worthy of a post. Oops. Just found out the source from the guy who sent it to me. "That bastion of angry liberal bloggers at www.dailykos.com ".)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

It's a fucked up world...

Saturday afternoon, Greg's grandmother went to get her mail. There's a letter addressed to "Mrs. Vera", the name she's known by at the store that delivers her groceries. It lists items from one of her shops (very specific to two weeks ago) as well as graphically detailing how she'll be raped and killed if she doesn't call the number at the bottom of the page and give them $10,000. She calls the police, they come and tell her it's probably just a prank, but she shouldn't throw out the letter just in case. We stupidly assume that her son, Greg's uncle, will be coming over to stay with her since he's a 15 minute drive away.

Sunday: Greg and his sister take the letter to the grocery store in question--conveniently located down the street from where the family lunch is to take place. The store management is really concerned and can't believe they weren't contacted by the police, but they have a pretty good idea of who this could be and will look into it.

Lunch: We decide we need to tell the restaurant people because Rose (age 91) who owns the joint, lives next door and also gets her groceries delivered from the same place. The more people who know about it/are on the lookout the better. Plus, if anything is going to happen with this, the restaurant people can make it happen. Theirs is one of the most venerable in the old Italian core of the Bronx--they have clout in many ways.

We grab Rose's daughter-in-law and tell her what's happened. 5 minutes later, her husband calls a buddy of his who's the captain of that precinct at home, who then calls the captain of Greg's grandmother's precinct at home, to ask why the hell nothing has been followed up on this. Greg is then called on his cell by the second captain and is asked to come in to swear out another statement. Fine. We finish dinner, I go home with Goog, Greg is dropped off at the precinct. It's 5:45.

At the station, after waiting forever, Greg is grilled three ways from Sunday. The first was the liason guy who's really pissed that another precinct captain got involved in this. (I'm guessing that people being called at home on the Sunday of a four day weekend was NOT a happy thing for anyone involved.) The second about why his grandmother isn't there herself--with the flat out statement, "I'm sure you're a great guy, but we really have to consider the possibility that you've already killed your grandmother and you're concocting this story to cover it up--but I'm sure you're a great guy. 'Cause we see this all the time." Luckily, Greg is sane enough not to be insulted and has no problem with that.

In the meantime at the house, Greg's uncle calls and can't understand why I'm there or why Greg is at the station. I ask him where the hell he's been. "It's just a prank. She should just put it out of her mind." He goes off on how we're totally overreacting. (This is the guy who bragged to me that he flashed a weapon at a neighbor who'd told his mother not to walk her dog on his lawn.)

Greg then arrives at the front door with two cops behind him. Of course, I've double locked the door so he can't get in and it's thundering so we don't hear him knocking right away. The cops have their hands on their weapons when I open the door. They retake her statement in person. They agree that it's probably a prank, but they will take it seriously and detectives will follow up on it. Granted, aggravated harrassment doesn't rank anywhere near the top of their list of things to be dealt with, but c'mon, the initial complaint hadn't even been entered into the system. They leave. It's 9:15.

She feels better just because the situation has received some serious attention. We felt better that the businesses involved and her neighbors are on the lookout.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Additional Wackiness

Greg was invited to a proposal on Monday. That's right, he got a call from the GW's boyfriend, asking him to come over 'cause he was going to propose. What?!!! Greg was one of about a half dozen of her friends, standing outside looking quizically at each other while he popped the question inside. Very, very odd.

Riotous Cavalcade of Crazy Activity

DC Trip
Went down on Friday. Met B at her office. FYI: The Discovery Channel has the best lobby EVER! A dinosaur skeleton, a robotic baby mammouth and a perpetual motion machine that goes "dink". Assorted fun with the Walker clan, followed by the baptism of Susy's baby. Back on the Saturday midnight train--populated entirely by drug mules and us--but we missed the flooding.

In thunder, lightning or in rain?
The only way to see MacBeth is in the open air with storms blowing through. Everything portentious was accompanied by a gust of wind. Fantastic staging. FANTASTIC!

Dental Dilemma
Not that anyone will care, but I'm having my post and crown fitted this evening.

Friday, June 16, 2006

New route to weight loss...

Post-root canal, I have a temporary filling until the 28th of June--granted, it's been less than 24 hours and the area may become less sensitive--but for now eating is almost more trouble than it's worth.

It's not that it hurts, it just feels wrong. Evidently I've needed the rc for a very long time. The dentist's comments included: "We gave you a shot of novocaine just in case, but I don't really think you even needed that--this nerve is obliterated."

The root canal itself went very well, (I got to see the before, during and after x-rays) it's just that there's so little left of the tooth wall that it's very susceptible to fracture (thus the odd sensitivity) even when filled with cement--so it's quite possible that I just spent $900 only to have my tooth pulled anyway.

So until that crown is fitted on the 28th, I'm chewing slowly on the right side of my mouth and drinking a hell of a lot of V8.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Sendin' shivers up and down my spine...

Guess who I ran into in the elevator again on Saturday? The father of the girl next door. That's right, Princess' parents were back for the 5th time. She got a grill and they had to drive down from Boston to put it together for her. You'd think someone with a law degree would be able to follow simple instructions, but evidently not.

I actually laughed in his face when I said, "My God! You're back again?!!!" He looked a little chagrined. I think he gets that I think they're all pathetic.

Seriously, I love to hate this girl with an obsessive passion that knows no bounds, not even that of neighborly civility.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Hi!

Just wanted to say hello. Nothin' more than that goin' on really. Highlights of a not terribly exciting week:

I've spent a lot of time looking for my book club friend Rowena on tv. Given the anniversary of AIDS, she's been doing lots of press, including the Sunday morning news shows. She's the research grants director for AMFAR and currently, according to her speaking schedule at international conferences, the world's current expert on the potential of the not-yet-existent anal microbicides. (NOT what she's been talking about on American tv.) Seriously, she shows up at a conference and people say, "Oh! I know you, you're the anal girl!" She brings back cool presents too--last year it was a jingly elephant coin purse from Thailand, this year, a leather rhinoceros bookmark from Cape Town.

I got the puppy next door in trouble last night--I pet him when he was out on the deck alone, he got riled up and started to bark when he went back in. Princess is evidently training him not to, 'cause all we hear is a mantra of "No BARK!" coming through the wall. She's even drowning out the parrot!

Also made a kick-ass dinner last night: sauteed raddichio and speck with onion and garlic and tossed it with fettucine. The purpose of the meal was to go with an odd regional Italian wine that we got at the grand opening of a new wine store--it was from Northern Italy, an uncommon grape and they said it would go especially well with speck (smoked prosciutto, essentially) and grilled radicchio. They were totally right on, it was awesome.

See, told you it wasn't much...

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Princess gonna be kicked out on her ass...

Saturday entailed more amusing chatting with the parents of the princess next door -- her father was back for the full three-day weekend (the third time) to do more installations (of what, I don't know). Her mother has been there for a week to get her settled, because she "has to! Poor Jen didn't get a single day off between graduation and her barr exam study sessions. She has those three days a week so there's no way she could possibly unpack her own boxes." Her mother also flies to Arizona every 2 months to cook and clean for her son for two weeks before returning to Boston. In the elevator, I told her father that they were absurdly nice to keep doing this. He took it to mean my parents were bad parents--I really meant that he and his wife are bad parents. (My wacky belief that a parent's job is to teach the child to be self-reliant.)

I don't think she'll be our neighbor for long though--they've installed tons of stuff (lease technically doesn't allow nails to hang pictures); put up permanent fencing on the deck completely blocking the required fire access between apartments; and have a freakin' DOGGY LITTER BOX on the deck.

Often, the first two would be overlooked, but throw in the fact that her mother has been calling the management company every day to complain about things like "flowers should really be planted around the base of the trees by the entrance" and, my favorite, "you need to do something about the garbage in front of the building three days a week". Ummm, you mean the garbage that's out to be picked up by the sanitation department? Believe us, you want it to be picked up that often instead of remaining in the building's storage. You really, really do!

Arash and Yas complained about a hell of a lot less and were evicted; as was Kate, the older woman who lived down the hall. We're not going to say anything to princess...we've already tried and been blown off, anything more and we'd just sound like the cranky neighbors.

However, once the "litter box" starts to smell, the complaining Greg and I are going to do to the management company is going to be staggering.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Four year drought...

and this Thursday I'm going to the dentist.

Why so long you ask?
1) No dental insurance.
2) I've always had good teeth.
3) My last trip was to the NYU Dental School and after spending 20 hours in the chair over the course of 3 trips I finally got a cleaning--although only 'cause I was REALLY insistent.

Why now?

I think I need a root canal. Very, very unhappy about it. Very, very.

However, the place I'm going to claims to have a "painless" procedure. Also, it's the same dentist who does the dental work on ABC's Extreme Makeover!

Monday, May 22, 2006

'cause it's really the Artful Scheme of Pestering...

What to report?

Friday my friend Stephanie had her bag snatched from the back of her bar stool while we were hanging out--didn't notice until much later. Greg and I considered sleeping on the street for Kevin Spacey hosting SNL--it was too wet and blustery. We were very happy with our decision, we turned it off after watching only 20 minutes--it blew.

Saturday I went to the farmer's market for my final plants of the spring gardening season and even the "crazy" farmer was very nice to me. He has piercing blue eyes, a beard down to his chest and when once asked (not by me) if his produce was organic, flew into a rage and ranted at length about how government standards of "organic" mean shit 'cause they allow more and more chemical treatment each year. (Evidently, you just have to complement his fava bean greens and he's all happy. He suggested mixing them with arugula to cut the richness. I responded by saying I'd done that last week on his son's recommendation, but this week I was going to use my own nasturtium to give it a kick. Growing my own nasturtium really raised me in his overall ranking of useless New Yorkers.)

That afternoon we went to the 9th Ave International food fest. Walked 5 miles, over the course of which we split a spit-roasted pig sandwich, sourdough olive twist, jambalaya, greek egg custard pastry, key lime pie, corn on the cob, cheesecake and copious amounts of sangria. Okay, we didn't split the sangria. Plus we had various bites of other people's food. (People we knew, thank you.)

The best thing about 9th Ave is it's still a neighborhood event--lots of old time Hell's Kitchen residents--it's kinda like a parish picnic. For example: the priest from Holy Cross makes meatball parm sandwiches, lots of neighborhood gossip and issues being discussed. Best overheard was at the Greek pastry place: "SO, one of the old-timers came in to warn us that a Turkish restaurant was going in next door. She asked if we'd be okay. NO! We're gonna shoot each otha! RELAX, they're young people, it'll be fine..."

This inspired a conversation about the kind of licensing required from the Restaurant Board in order to perform an armed takeover of the kitchen next door. If only the Armenian and Azerbijiani places would move down onto that block too. THAT would be a hoot!

Sunday: Thank you notes (I still have a week to finish according to Emily Post.), wholegrain rhubarb pancakes and naps.

Ongoing news: My husband is being stalked by the idiot fans of a morning talk radio show, which shall remain nameless, by order of one of the hosts. Thank God the phone is in my name. This way he just gets an unending stream of emails calling him a "douche-bag". To give you a hint as to which show, they were kicked off the air for a while for paying a couple to have sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral while mass was being performed. They were caught 'cause they had a sound guy there so they could cut live to the scene.

Not terribly exciting and a bit rambly, but are you happy NOW?!!! ARE YOU ART?

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Natural foods, you are mein enemy!

We found this great cereal at Trader Joe’s. Soy and flax flakes with soy nut and flax seed clusters. Sweet, whole-grainy and delicious. Only problem: have you ever seen a flax seed?

They actually are shaped in the sleek but evil-looking manner of any number of African river parasites that are able to swim up one’s urine stream, puncture their way through the kidney walls into the blood stream and then infest whichever organ they prefer. It should go without saying that flax seeds are NOT currently pooling in my retinas, laying eggs, but I wouldn't put it past them. What they have done, is worked their insidious deviltry on the gums on the left side of my mouth. Two seeds, one up top, one on the bottom; both were wedged in for two days--poking their evil spines into my tender sub-gum tissues. Thankfully, yesterday, after much probing and salt-water gargling I got the damn things out, leaving my mouth very sore but on the mend.

This morning, I decided to be smart and got oatmeal for breakfast. Oatmeal topped with almonds and hazelnuts. Yup. They may not be pointy, but it’s still not terribly bright to chew hard things when one has giant oral hematomas.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, but the REAL sign...

You know it's spring when the mentally ill homeless guy crushing Entemann's donuts in his fist before tossing the crumbs to the wind says "Morning, Bitch." in the sweetest, friendliest tone.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Marriage and Honeymoons...

Well folks, as of last Friday, we're officially married. Yup, that's when NYC registered our license--just short of five months after the wedding. Woo hoo! And since we're thinking of such things, I've started to plan our theoretical honeymoon. Tell me what you (especially those of you with more Euro-travel experience) think.

Fly in to Paris, spend 3-4 days acclimating to walking more slowly. I've learned from past experience that NYC boy doesn't make the transition easily.

Take the train to Marseilles, spend a day checking out the old port with perhaps a trip to Chateau d'If before taking the ferry to Corsica.

Wander Corsica for a few days before taking the ferry to Italy.

Rent a car, spend 5-6 days touring about...possibly Sienna, Florence, the Amalfi Coast...

October/November would be the time frame...not only our anniversary, but hoping for a little medieval All Saint's Day action.

He's agreed in theory, now, if only I can get Greg to go along with it in reality!

Monday, March 27, 2006

Mmmmm....chocolate....

Saturday night after a sensible vegetarian stir-fry dinner, we had the desire for cake. Greg was going to go to the store for an Entemanns, but I thought of the new chocolate bar at ABC Carpet and Home.

We went there instead, it was candlelit, filled with beautiful Parisian chocolates, an underlit bar, mellow music, laughter filtering in from the two restaurants on either side...fantastic ambience. We sat at the bar and ordered a 6-piece sample plate to share and two glasses of port.

Our waitress went to get the chocolates and the manager went to get our port--he couldn't find what we ordered, so he upgraded us to the more expensive variety at the same price. Very nice. We sipped, nibbled and chatted for about an hour.

As we were finishing our drinks, a conversation from behind the bar broke out among the staff about an extra chocolate tray that had been put out for the hour long sampling (someone hadn't shown for the reservation and they couldn't put the chocolate back). The manager shrugged and presented the 10-piece tray to us with his compliments. We actually couldn't handle consuming that much more chocolate, so we had a couple, gave some to the girls sitting next to us, stashed some squares for home and left a couple more.

As we were working on that, the bar manager placed tumblers in front of us--"we're testing this cocktail for the menu, could you give us your feedback?" Hazelnut and walnut liquors with brandy and chocolate to cut the sweetness, frothed and shaken with ice so it wasn't thick--fantastic.

We stumbled out after 11, buzzing from the chocolate and mellow from the booze. It would have been good with what we'd actually intended to order. With all the extras, it was most excellent! When you take "your trip to New York", I'd highly recommend it.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Party Maven

After a four-year hiatus from the party throwing scene, we're back.

Now, you may be thinking, "How is it that you throw no parties when you have a roof deck with grill in Manhattan?" The answer to that is the May 2002 housewarming party we had that ended up with crossed wires and a guest who invited everyone she knew--end of the night, we had 40 drunken people in our apartment and knew three of them. It was not good. Since then, we've had the occasional couple for dinner, but nothing beyond that.

Saturday night, we returned to the scene with a small (dozen or so) group of people from Greg's show and their significant others. I must say it was a success. The time was set for 6. We were ready by 4 so there was even time to get a little lie-down in. People started arriving at 6:30 and with the exception of a couple of people who had to work until 8, everyone was there by 7. My bi-polar American BBQ/Mediteranean Grill menu was a huge success. Everyone found at least something in the appetizers they liked and there was dead silence in the room when the chicken and lamb came off the grill as they wolfed it down. The Englishman in the house dubiously eyed the mango salsa, but once it was in his mouth, he looked as if he'd found religion. The entire tray of brownies was wiped out as was the lemon sorbet which went equally well with vodka AND prosecco.

It was so cold that we were forced to stay inside instead of having the appetizers outside as I'd schemed before sundown, but 12 people fit comfortably in the living room. It was suitably relaxed for us and it also helped that most of our guests were ridiculously grateful for a home-cooked meal. All in all, it made me believe we can do a larger party without outright destruction. Wooo hoo!

Monday, March 13, 2006

Home Invasion

Friday night, 'bout 11:30, I'm sitting home alone playing solitaire on the computer. (Greg's still at work.) All of a sudden, I hear a shuffling noise upstairs. The terrace door is open 'cause it's a beautiful night and now someone is in the bedroom. I reached over and unlocked and opened the front door. Then got up and slowly stuck my head around the bottom of the staircase. I can see a dark shape at the top of the stairs, as I lean farther around it becomes clearer and I realize that its tail is wagging.

There's a 50 lb black lab I've never seen before, tongue lolling, tail wagging, ears flopping, standing in my bedroom. Huge sigh of relief.

I closed the front door and then went up to remove him. Just as I got him outside, a streak of reddish brown goes for the bedroom--this dog I know. It's Kada from down the hall. Just as I grab both of them, my neighbor comes around from the other side of the roof. Cowboy boots on and glass of scotch in hand. "Sorry, that's my dad's dog. I'm havin' a drink with my dad." Given the redness of his cheeks, I do believe they were havin' more than one. I laugh, no problem, and go back in.

That's when the adrenaline rush near hyperventilation commences.

Friday, March 10, 2006

I have a new boyfriend...

and his name is Genghis Khan. I'm reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. It's FANTASTIC!

Sure he was ruthless, but he was fair. No nepotism, religious freedom, monarchs subject to the rule of law just as their subjects were, total meritocracy, free trade, diplomatic immunity, people who performed civic/public services (doctors, teachers, scholars, lawyers, religious leaders) didn't have to pay taxes.

Of course, in the course of his conquests, if you didn't accept him, he had no qualms about boiling you alive. But everyone has their quirks.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Just 'cause I'm 35, straight and a number-cruncher doesn't make me dull...

In the course of last night's dinner conversation, because of one of the plays we'd just seen, the topic of canabalism came up. I started laughing 'cause of course, I have ingested human flesh.

Greg looked at me in shock, as did the artsy theater kids at the table. I had to qualify and admit that it was more like "remains" than "flesh". Seeing that Greg was confused, I reminded him of the unfortunate powdery mushroom cloud of his mother's ashes, which both his brother-in-law and I inhaled when transfering the ashes into the little momento jars for him and his siblings. Hilarity ensued as I gave the blow-by-blow of the incident.

We then progressed to my dad's funeral, at which my throat became very dry from all of the condoling. Thus, having asked my mom if it were okay, I approached the casket and removed a hard candy from the pocket of my dad's jacket and the ensuing shock on the face of the honor guard fireman who saw me reach into the coffin, pull something out and pop it in my mouth.

Greg then pointed out that I'd done two of the most taboo things in our society--ingesting human remains and robbing the dead.

I retorted that 1) the former was unintentional and more of her ended up in my sinuses than my stomach, and 2) the man carried the candy just in case someone had a dry throat. No crimes there.

Klassy with a "K"

So Greg was in a One-Act Festival in the last few weeks. They didn't make it past the semi-finals, but last Friday we discovered that he'd been nominated for best actor out of the 50 plays shown. Thus, last night we had to attend the black tie awards ceremony...

The epitome of self-promotion presented with the seriousness of the Oscars and the class of a high school drama club. All the "i"s have been replaced with asterisks so this doesn't come back to haunt anyone.

Van D*rk F*sher's R*ant Theater presents a Van D*rk F*sher Production of Van D*rk F*sher's Strawberrry Fest*val Awards Show written, directed and hosted by Van D*rk F*sher with musical interludes written and performed by Van D*rk F*sher. No, that is not an exaggeration.

He also had a completely out-of-place musical interlude performed by a gospel singer with the worst voice of all time as well as another by a woman with a beautiful voice (performing one of his works, of course) but perhaps the worst spoken word actress of all time.

The extravaganza included performances of the 4 top vote-getting plays. Three of which were pretty good. One was absolutely brilliant. Neither Greg nor Monica, their director won their categories.

Oh, the best part. We were all given goodie bags. These contained 2 strawberry hard candies, 1 small heart shaped box of drugstore chocolates (yes, on sale after valentine's day) and last, but certainly not least, 1 bottle of strawberry margarita flavored wine cooler. Now that's class!

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Medicine

First thing this morning, my boss asked if I were getting enough sleep 'cause I looked awful. Well I was feeling a bit run down as well, right up until I discovered the cure at one of the expensive food places around my office:

Rice Krispy treats with Froot Loops.

I feel fantastic! And so much energy!

Friday, January 20, 2006

Additional Stuff and Nonsense Pertaining

Yesterday after work I went for a reflexology massage 'cause I've been just not right and I've discovered it's a good non-invasive, drug-free way to "balance my humors".

Now, you may not believe that it could ever possibly work, but I've always been foot-centric, and not in a fetish sort of way. (Ask Art, I've always cricketed my feet together to relax.) So the first time I went, I thought, "worst case, I get a one hour foot rub". Little did I know what it would be like. In some areas, it is just a foot rub, in others, namely those that correspond to other parts of ones body that are having problems--it's really freakin' painful. I've had varying results depending on what kind of a "state" I've been in--physical or emotional.

Last night, I came out with 20 times the energy I had when I went in. I walked the 2 miles home in roughly 25 minutes. Got upstairs and promptly voided my entire system. Felt like crap all night. Still have huge amounts of energy though and my lower back no longer feels like it's on the verge of being injured.

To go along with the intense urge to purge, our first grocery delivery in 2 months arrived. As far as I'm concerned, you just can't ask someone to carry boxes of canned goods up 7 flights of stairs--it's just not right. Thus, I went a little overboard when I restocked the pantry. For the next week, we'll be designing menus based on bulk. Most of the stocking was canned goods. But I also got the 10 lb. industrial pack of chicken thighs (normally, we prefer breasts, but these are great for grillin' and incredibly cheap) . Imagine if you will, repackaging raw poultry into smaller bags when you're completely sick to your stomach.

It was an interesting night.

JUBILATION!!!!

I got home at 10:45 on Wednesday night to discover a wonder, a miracle, a JOY!


THE ELEVATOR WAS IN SERVICE!!!!

By the time I got into the apartment, I found myself singing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning". Listening to others as they alighted, my response was not at all unusual. There were several other songs and much giddy glee.

Goodbye forced 7th floor walk up! Hello, grocery deliveries!!!!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Relationships

So, it was quite the couples weekend...We're all quite happy for Art here at Weenies and Idiots. Yay! For once Happiness for the Artful Scheme! Plus, oh my God! think of all the free massages!

However, we advise him to be cautious when entering any relationship. Why you ask? 'Cause it's been one fucked up relationship weekend:

We begin with Greg's brother--his girlfriend dumped him, but that's okay 'cause she's taken to throwing stuff at him (books, glass paperweights, etc.,) and given her particularly fine aim, it was becoming difficult to not defend himself --given his very strong anti-girl hitting feelings, the situation was untenable.

But really, the winner of the psycho-award goes to a former roommate and her husband who are in the process of splitting.

Friday, he started emailing me with a psychiatric diagnosis of his wife (my friend) 's behavior. (Evidently he came up with it himself, as well as the probably far-fetched causes for it.) I told him that his theory was far from an actual diagnosis by a professional and he should really stop sharing his ideas with all and sundry. Fine. He apologized. In the meantime, the wife called to see if I wanted to get together over the weekend. Great, tentative plans made.

Saturday at noon, about an hour before we were going to hook up, she called to say she was in Dallas visiting her family, 'cause he was too bizarre to be in the same apartment. No problem.

Two hours later, she called again, could we pick up the dogs in Hoboken and take them to a doggie spa in Chelsea? Evidently her husband's committed himself to an AA facility and "the two men who brought him home to pick up some stuff left the keys with a neighbor". A neighbor that she doesn't have contact information for--she's left a message with a second party, asking them to leave a note with the first neighbor to call her. Once that's taken care of, she can make the boarding arrangements.

In the end, at 5:15, she calls to say that everything was set: only problem, the neighbor with the keys is available only after 6. The doggie spa only accepts drop offs until 8. We need to travel, in a huge thunderstorm, to and from a different state, with animals, in less than 3 hours.

We got to their building at 6:30, luckily the storm has subsided. The neighbor let us in. Played with the dogs for a while, gathered their stuff, called the car service she normally uses. They have a new policy, they don't take dogs anymore. The clock's ticking. It's now almost 7--we have an hour to get to Manhattan. We find another car service--the very large driver is VERY concerned about the dogs scratching his leather seats and has Serpico playing on the backseat DVD: this is more than a little disturbing.

Ride into the City, the dogs are fine, no damage to the car. We get the dogs checked in, and go outside. The storm has kicked up again; it's a nor'easter. Greg's umbrella is bent in half and there's horizontal hail. Through sheer force of will, we make our way walking bent over double most of the time, to a Mexican restaurant on the Lower East Side. As we sit, finally warm again, with a pitcher of sangria between us, discussing the insanity of his brother's situation and the one we've just played such a role in I lift my glass toasting him with the inevitable conclusion:

"If you didn't look good before, you're looking absolutely FANTASTIC by comparison!"
"Here, here, Baby! Here, here!"

There's lots of loons out there...be careful.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

It's true.

I had a migraine last week that morphed into a sinus infection--generally just an issue of being run down and susceptible to everything. But then, a realization struck. I have the Black Death. That's right, the Bubonic Plague.

How exactly did I come to that conclusion you ask? It might have something to do with the giant bubo on the left side of my neck. It's really quite vile. Greg thinks its just a Vesuvian zit, but I think we all know better. I've also had signs of acral necrosis of the toes, but "Mr. Naysayer" claims that's just because I wore new black leather shoes in the rain.

Fairwell my friends, farewell. I guess I'm going the way of 25 million medieval peasants and innumerable southwestern ground squirrels.