the making of something good...

i happen to like those salad stations where you just stand there and spout off the ingredients that you want while some rubber gloved dude flings contents into a bowl for you. here is my can't go wrong combo of awesome:

lettuce (preferably of the romaine variety)
cheddar cheese
one egg
tomatoes
cucumber
avocado
diced chicken
green peas
one scoop of ranch (if you just say ranch they throw in three scoops and it's terrible).
mix... and eat.

i know that everyone in new york is complaining about the nonstop weird rain weather we've been having (a la seattle), but frankly i love it. a lovely breeze just seems to constantly permeate. and i'm a fan of a nice breeze.

my roommate's cat has taken to my bedroom. i came home last night to find her in my closet, cuddled up with my shoe boxes. maybe she just loves shoes as much as i do. and since my roommate was out of the house last night, the cat slept on my bed. i can't even tell you how happy this makes me. i've missed having cats in the house.

swell season/interference

i love those days where a friend calls/IMs/texts to invite you to a show that evening... especially when it's to see someone you LOVE. in this case, it was my friend M, and she was taking me to see the Swell Season. you would only be familiar with them if you'd seen the movie ONCE, or were a fan of The Frames, or Glen Hansard himself. aka if you weren't completely dead to all things awesome.

Glen has such an unbelievable voice and stage presence, and i've seen him about seven times on stage. usually at smaller venues, pubs and bars... all over the place. well last night they sold out Radio City Music Hall. and although i missed the intimacy of being smashed between a bunch of beer toting sweaty dudes swaying to the music, i was really happy for their/his success.

and friends... he ROCKED it. as usual. and i still love everything about him... his humility, his charm, his talent, his range. guhhhh.

and they had a completely wonderful opening band (that are apparently HUGE in ireland) called Interference... this appears to be their website and they were bloody brilliant. the lead singer, fergus, is in a wheelchair and the rest of the band sits on the floor or in chairs to play with him... it was beyond moving, and the man's voice is beyond soulful.

i'll let you enjoy.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!!"

we all know of my love for the word "awesome"... i love it even more when it's screamed at me by someone else.

my weekend included WAAAAAAY too much alcohol... rugby match watching (love. this. sport.)... laughing, sunburning, and all around awesomeness. i love those nights that warrant returned phone calls the next day by friends in CALIFORNIA b/c i decide in my drunken delirium to call my guy friends that live nowhere near me. btw, if you're going to try to booty call someone when drunk, try picking someone that lives within... saaaaay... an hour or so from you. not the other coast. i am clearly awesome.

apparently i was throwing out lines like "what time are you off? should i just give you an address?" to the bartender... yelling at dumb guys that who were being rude to my girlfriends, and buying shots for EVERYONE. and by "buying shots" i mean, not spending a penny while at the bar. so who knows who bought them... but it wasn't me.

which brings me to the purpose of this post. imagine, if you will, the next morning... when my evening's bed mate had asked very sweetly to borrow my toothbrush (something that i would normally say absolutely NOT to, but let it slide this time), and then limped into the bathroom (a rugby injury not so much MY fault). a few minutes later i hear the sonicare start buzzing... he's brushing, he's brushing.. and then i hear "THAT WAS AWESOME!!". gotta love a good sonicare clean, man.

of course i would have preferred to hear that after any sort of good business, but this just makes for a better story. he was like a three year old with a new toy.

awesome: sonicare.
not awesome: a full day hangover.

---

also... nina is the name of my drunk alter ego. and she, as a thirty-year old single woman, enjoys the naked. it's true, she just does. and sometimes, she wins the argument over moral judgement and appropriate behavior. here is how she managed to finagle this evening:

him at around 8pm (after the game which started at 1 which is when i started drinking): i'd like to buy you dinner.
nina: okay!
him: let's leave now, i'll buy you some dinner.
nina: okay! (we leave)
him: what should we eat?
nina: i have an idea... (dials diner near her apartment and orders a burger for pick-up, walks him onto the subway, and heads towards queens).
him (as nina is trying to eat said burger): that can wait.

aaaaaand then it's 5am and nina still hasn't had anything to eat. the poor dear.

awesome/not awesome...

welcome to the next installment of awesome/not awesome...

awesome: being completely moved into a new clean apartment.
not awesome: having to go back today and clean the old apartment.
awesome: sore muscles from all the heavy lifting.
not awesome: having pretty much every one of your friends flake on helping you carry boxes, due to mostly drunkenness, dates with boys, and avoidance.
awesome: sumitting a decent sized invoice for a photography gig.
not awesome: broker fees... why do we REALLY need them?
awesome: extended spring seasons.
not awesome: leaving the house without an umbrella.
awesome: receiving flowers at work from a girlfriend.. simply because you're having a bad day.
not awesome: being far away from those friends that you want to give a hug to.
awesome: any form of cheese, really. and morning coffee and cheerios. and YOU, dear reader(s).

happy friday. your turn... A/NA

for the record, i am NOT pregnant.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh the powers of persuasion. two of my best girlfriends, after hearing me complain of excessive fatigue, early periods, general dizziness and nausea, and odd cramps... were CONVINCED that i had an ectopic pregnancy, and for their own piece of mind made me go home after work and buy a preggers test.

for the record, i have NEVER... i mean EVER... had to purchase a pregnancy test. i've never had to pee on a stick, make sure to hold the stick with the test end down, try to wipe while holding said stick upside down, and then wait two minutes while the test ran itself whilst sitting on the bathroom counter. ever.

for the record... i know my body. i know when something is actually amiss. my body and i are seriously bff. the test gave me a BLARING negative result within seconds of setting it down... and stayed that way for the following two minutes (actually five minutes b/c i just wanted to prove a point to myself).

i felt ridiculous... and i little angry.. because now i can no longer say that i've never taken a pregnancy test and never had a scare. well you know what, i can still say that. because i didn't HAVE a scare, and it was a waste of eleven dollars. and yes, they are both sending me five dollars to cover the cost of their own idiocy. so JUST FOR THE RECORD, i'm not having someone's baby.

carry on with your day. kthxbye.

it might be the weather or just the storm clouds in my head...

i can't seem to shake this pervasive feeling of tired. i get into bed exhausted, and it takes me several hours to fall asleep. then in the morning, it takes over an hour of hitting the snooze button to get me out of bed. it's been like this for the last two weeks i'd say. is this because of the change in season? i don't feel particularly melancholy... a weence stressed b/c of financial issues (always) with moving and what not... but i'm not actually sad. i'm not sick. i'm not anything.

i'm looking forward to this summer with big eyes and an open heart (which is a nice change). i have high hopes of NOT dating... and of not caring that i'm not dating. because to say that i'm tired of pretending to be charming and tired of pretending to not get my hopes up when i meet someone new, is a severe understatement. i just want one of two people to come back, give me a very large hug, and tell me that i've been missed (followed by some sort of naked smooching activity). unless that's going to happen, i don't even want to bother with the rest of it. over it.

my mother was in town over the weekend, and i joined her and her also 60-something friend for high tea at the waldorf astoria. her friend kept asking me question after question about my life and where i was going etc, and my mother just sat there. like she finally GOT that i didn't like being constantly pestered about my future. when i said somewhat flippantly "i figure that if i'm not married by the time that i'm 35, i'll get articifial insemination... twice... and be done with it"... and she nodded. she NODDED. my "i want my daughter to have a perfect life, and get married, and have lots of babies, and be successful" mother NODDED her agreement that such a path would be okay for me. like finally it occurs to me that my mother doesn't so much want me to be happy for her own sake, she actually just wants ME to be happy. it's like my heart just burst open and i can breathe again.

the fact that spring is extending itself past one week in april is beyond lovely. i like this cool breeze, and drops of rain pretending to freshen up the dirty city streets. in my opinion, it can stay. stave off the swass season, i'm fine with that... although last night i found myself putting on the hooded sweatshirt that was sitting at the foot of my bed... because i was exceedingly cold, and because sometimes when you want to cuddle up to the person that ISN'T sleeping next to you, it's important to wrap yourself in something familiar and comfortable, and tuck up in your own arms.

for some odd reason, my period came an entire week early. i couldn't figure out why i was being such an insane yatch two weeks ago. now i know... it was early pms. and one would think that if the period comes a week early, it's done a week early. but not so. i am currently enjoying day ten in the trenches. welcome to the wonderful world of NOT awesome.

p.s. i did not enjoy sweeney todd.

mister depp is singing to me...

i'm watching sweeney todd for the first time as i type this... johnny depp singing is kind of an oddity to me. and yet, i still want to lick his face.

signed the lease on a BRAND NEW apartment about a block away from where i'm living now. i now have a dishwasher... her name is marjorie and i love her already. we move in on thursday, and really i'm just counting down the seconds til i get to run around in the fancy new pad. i. love. unpacking. conversely, i fricking HATE packing, although it's a good excuse to throw out old clothes that i dont wear anymore and dust off knacks that have been sitting on a shelf for the last year.

the summer action adventure season is upon us, folks. ironman, indiana jones, batman, and wanted... excuse me while i go change my panties.