H2O

I made a resolution to start drinking 8 8oz glasses of water a day, which started yesterday. Unfortunately, the resolution started yesterday afternoon, and I spent a lot of time running back and forth from my desk to the ladies' room. Lesson learned, and now I am spreading out my water consumption over the course of the day. I am going to be thin and healthy, damn it. ::shakes fist at the sky::

I had to go to the UPS office this morning to pick up a package that they were holding for me. It took ages for them to find it, but when I was leaving, late for work, I got to see the fleet of brown UPS trucks leaving the parking lot, truck after truck in tandem, ready to deliver all sorts of goodies to people in the greater Boston area. I wonder what they got.

Summer of Doing Stuff, Part I

Last night featured the first event in what is hereforeward to be called "The Summer of Doing Stuff" (technical term.) The evening began with Scarlet, Moneypenny and I going out to Silvertone for the highly delicious (and caloric, but hey! it's summer!) macaroni and cheese (and a side of greens,) which Moneypenny and I washed down with Sidecars, while Scarlet partook of the Bud Light. Don't be fooled, true believers, this wasn't just a night of drunken debauchery; this was a night for culture, philosophy, art, relationships, sports, and how if Moneypenny ends up working at Starbucks that personal caffeine consumption would be at an all time high.

My favorite topic of the evening was the lengthy discussion of "Why Can't Women Break Up With Their Girl Friends If They Don't Get Along/Have Grown Apart/Have Gone Psycho???" I could probably write a blog entry on that subject alone, but instead I am going to leave that for my readers to comment on, if they so choose.

Now don't get me wrong, the night wasn't all quite so highbrow; after the third round was served, we delved into fandoms and Mary Sues, not to mention teh hawt-ness that is Varitek and teh awesome that is Big Papi. And Sark. And vampire novels. And "Supernatural", which I still don't watch, but as it has Jeffrey Dean Morgan aka "Denny ::sobsob::", I might have to sign on to that one.

Now Scarlet has started a bit of a summer reading recommendation challenge, despite the fact that I told her about the entire bookshelf of books that I still have to read and can't take on any new books. But then again, I can be up for this challenge as re-runs aren't my idea of summer fun.

And so:
Let's start a meme! What books/fanfic/comic do you recommend as must reads? Can be anything and for any reason...
1. The Griffin and Sabine trilogy and The Morning Star Trilogy by Nick Bantock. I simply love these books of existential correspondence between people who have never met, and yet, who are completely connected. It isn't just the story that is compelling; there is the tactile nature of the book - reading the actual letters and postcards. The illustrations are beautiful and multi-layered.

Holiday Weekend

I haven't posted much of late, mostly due to being too lazy and not having all that much to reflect on.

This weekend, however, I was utterly rejuvenated by my college core group of friends. "Raquel", "Molly" and I headed out to Nantucket on Saturday morning to meet up with "JLou" and "Suzer" and "Jo" to have a pre-10 year reunion (this coming Saturday,) "Suite 102" reunion. We reminisced about school, napped, watched cheesy Lifetime television movies about teenagers and sex and syphilis, tried to find a baby name for Raquel's unborn child (due in July,) Googled to find a father for Jo's baby (with her partner,) ate TONS of dip and crackers and Peanut Butter M&Ms, went to the beach, drove around town looking for boys designated by code names like "Levy" and "Blue Devil", talked about bad and good things going on with our lives, and basically laughed and laughed until I got the hiccups and started to cry from laughing so hard.

When I got back after the seven hour commute from the island, I discovered that my apartment was an oven, so I threw open all the windows and made some iced tea, the first of the season! Then I watched Stage Beauty, which I found surprisingly good... surprising because I have been disappointed by much of Claire Danes work post "My So-Called Life", but she was very good, and Billy Crudup, despite the whole break up with (goddess) Mary Louise Parker, was really outstanding! I had forgotten that I had done a whole research project my sophomore year of college about men as women on the stage in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (from a costuming perspective), and there was so much in the film that resonated with my (long-forgotten) research. The last 15 minutes of the film was really great - the rehearsal and ultimately the "truest" performance of Othello. I need to see some Shakespeare live; it has been too long.

After such a great time, I feel the absence of my friends, but I also have the reserves to attack this week and make it a great one. And anyhow, I will see most of them again on Saturday at the reunion!

Springtime, a ringy dingy ding time... birds sing...

I went outside for a walk up Massachusetts Avenue today to run something up to the hotel for a visitor, and I didn't want to come back to the office afterwards. The weather outside is sunny and mild and simply perfect. Everyone I talk to agrees that it is so nice to have spring in New England again, despite the doom and gloom of the Channel 5 news last night talking about brush fires and bugs. Brush fires and bugs are nothing in comparison to daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and robins building their nests. And I don't even LIKE birds.

I keep forgetting my coat places. I think that it is because when I go to the places it still is on the cooler side, but when it is time to leave, the day has really warmed up, and I just don't THINK "I had a coat when I came in because it was cool." Yesterday I had to drive all the way back to Concord from Cambridge because I realised that I had left my coat at our book club hostess' house. Thankfully, I remembered it before I got COMPLETELY home.

At book club yesterday, where we BARELY talked about the book, the subject of clothing sizes (including the clothing conspiracy that I mentioned in my previous post) and dieting and exercise was a hot topic for discussion. I really need to drink more water and start driving less and walking more. I have been so bad about going to the gym since my bad cold at the beginning of March, but I am going to go workout today after work. I had been going for exercise walks outside, but there is something about the pace on the treadmill or on the elliptical machine that can't be duplicated when you are walking outside. And I really need to back on the caffiene again, although I am NO WHERE NEARLY as bad as I was a couple of years ago. One large coffee and one 12 oz can of Diet Coke a day really isn't bad in comparison to the 3-4 liters that I was drinking per afternoon of the stuff. But I would like to be in better shape for my 10 year college reunion next month, so that when we climb all those stairs at the Cross, I won't have a heart attack or stroke. Not eating crap at meals and getting more sleep probably wouldn't hurt either.

I haven't really said all that much lately about things going on in the world or with the US government, mostly because I just find everything too absurd to try to make sense of it all. My standard MO is just to shake my head woefully. For I am indeed, full of "woe"; I am also full of "whoa."

Ramble on

I really like the new Dresden Dolls album. I have been listening to it a lot in the car on my early morning/late evening commutes to and from the office. I have been spending a lot of time at the office of late. The really sad thing I realized this morning: I had put on my name tag before I even left the house and I didn't bother taking it off during the time that I popped out of my event to run up to the office to answer e-mail and harass people about their details for their upcoming events. I am either getting really lazy or I am building up a tolerance to self-identification. Let's hope it is the former rather than the latter.

I thought that I had found a new place to live, but I don't think that it is going to work out (it's just too much money for a three flight walk-up,) which means I get to spend another Sunday going to open houses in Brookline... It is so horribly frustrating. I HATE spending my Sundays looking at crappy places and coming home utterly disappointed by aforementioned crap. I honestly wish that I could just pick my apartment up, like some benevolent giant, and move it to a nice quiet area within walking distance to Coolidge Corner. I don't think that is asking all that much, but apparently, it is. The good thing is, every day is a fresh start with promise in the house hunt. And I am not being sarcastic; every day something new comes on the market that outwardly meets my criteria. When I realized I couldn't buy the place that I really liked, I drank two Stella Artois, said to myself "fuck it" and got over it surprisingly easy, and that wasn't the beer talking. It makes a difference that I can take my time with this; the first time I bought, I was facing an expiring lease!!

The weather has been utterly springlike this past month, and it is absolutely wonderful.
Here are some other wonderful things:
* Peter Pan
* sharing silence with a kindred soul
* unabridged dictionaries
* a standing ovation
* tolerance

et in Arcadia ego

While I was walking from the parking lot at work to my office, I passed a large delivery truck with the company name "Christian Party Rentals" painted on the sides. Intrigued by this, I peeked into the open back to see what they could have been delivering, but sadly, the truck was empty. Christian Party Rentals: hmm. Do they rent Christian parties? Or do they rent tables and linens, etc. to people who are planning parties with a Christian theme? What happens if someone comes who is Jewish or Muslim? Does the stuff have to go back as it isn't a strictly Christian party? Or is it okay to have an eccumenical party? The mind boogles with these large existential issues before the first cup of Starbucks.

I am wearing my outfit that makes me feel like a combination of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly: pink three quarter length sleeve boucle cardigan over a white shell, black swirly skirt with black heels. Wearing that with my sunglasses, my black boucle lady coat and carrying my pink Kate Spade purse when I was walking in made me feel like I belonged in Paris, in the 1950s. April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom... so tempting... and yet, not. Maybe if it were the 1950s.

Airport security: feel the irony

A shout out and props to whomever has to travel a lot, either for work or life because I think that the airports on the eastern coast of the United States of America are the most ridiculous, mismanaged thing on the planet. The local 7-11 is better run!

Spent yesterday being personally searched as I was chosen "at random by the airline" to be one of the potential terrorists attacking the airport. I noticed that none of the people chosen randomly by the airline to be my fellow potential terrorists were elderly people or traveling with young children, just a lot of single women traveling on their own. Hmmm, yes, I suppose that we single women traveling alone ARE a threat: we could get all crazy and premenstrual on the flight attendant. SNORT. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be the TSA man who got the personal treat of going through my carry-on bag; it was full of dirty laundry.

I flew into and out of Heathrow three years ago while there were tanks on the tarmac as a security precaution, and I was treated better, less incovenienced and felt safer than I do flying around the US now. First off, there is no standard code followed by all of the airports: case in point - some people make you take your shoes off, others don't (stupid shoe bomber, I would SO like to kick your ass.) Next, in my experience, the people who work security for TSA are NOT happy employees, and, therefore, they take it out on their customers, ie. the traveler. I am convinced that some of those people are on a major power trip. Also, why do two separate TSA inspectors have to look at your I.D.? Thank goodness they have stopped doing the triple check at the gate. I am convinced that one of these days I am going to lose my driver's license at an airport, and THEN where will I be? Lastly, if you are going to subject someone to "the Full Monty" as my inspector jokingly referred to it, don't keep them waiting in line for fifteen minutes before you "get to them." It doesn't make for a happy traveler.

I know that these new procedures are supposed to make things better and safer for travelers, but I really think that the Europeans, who have been more actively concerned with terrorism in their airports for longer than we have in the US, are a model at which we need to take a long and serious look.