Yesterday I woke up too early because I was so nervous... Today I woke up too early because I'm so excited! (And, of course, shooting myself a bit in the foot when I'll be tired as all hell by 10... but as the Japanese would say, shikata ga nai!*) I'm grabbing an early dinner with Liz, and then I'm going to Mohegan Sun with Dave to see Stone Temple Pilots!! And then I'm going to a "novelty" party with Beth tomorrow!

Anywho, last night I went to Emmee and Silver's, and we had some yummy barbeque. Afterwards, we decided to go get bubble teas! We went inside, and guess what they were handing out free samples of?

Durian!

Emmee wouldn't let me eat it 'til we got back outside, so Silver could see my reaction. You see, durian is known for having a sweet, custard-like consistency, which is overpowered by its smell. Emmee had previously described it as "worse than farts." Some people describe it as "aromatic." If you'd describe a dumpster full of rotten onions incubating in the summer sun as "aromatic," then yes, I suppose it is.

It should be noted that Andrew Zimmerman, the man that makes a living on the Travel Channel eating African Blood Soup and Jellied Moose Nose, was unable to eat this because of the odor.

So I took my free sample outside, stuck it in Silver's face, picked out a piece, tried not to breathe,** and took a nibble. Custard-like consistency? I guess so. Sweet? I'm sure it was, but mostly I tasted rotten onion. I managed to swallow it. "Interesting," I said. "Um, you want the rest?"

"Hell no!" cried Emmee. "Don't let that shit into my car! But hey, you beat out Andrew Zimmerman! Congrats!"

Hell yes I did. And you know the only reason I ate it was for bragging rights!*** That stuff is potent - that tiny morsel made my breath reek for the rest of the night!! Even Listerine was powerless. Can someone please explain to me what the appeal of this fruit is? And who was fucking insane enough to find one and try it in the first place???

*"it can't be helped!" (I may have misspelled this)
**now I have REM in my head
***well, also to score one for Caucasian palates everywhere

Feeling better today! The fact that it's Friday just might have something to do with this...

Here's some great news from Colorado: Baby Okapi Born at the Denver Zoo!! Those of you who may recall Pat calling me a furry last Halloween know quite well how much I love these big, goofy, giraffe-related jungle moose! (I even have a plush one that parties with my plush African wild dog...)



So yes, I am all kinds of squee today!

Today was an overall good day! Perhaps I will write more on it tomorrow.

Going to bed soon, where I will muse on how to be a better person (and a better friend)...

So, people have been telling me recently that I look like I've lost weight! Which I did, a few months ago, but lately I haven't felt like I've lost any at all. I've been kind of a lazy bum, only making it to the gym occasionally, and not watching what I eat too well. I figured people were just being nice to me, since you're all very nice people!

So yesterday at Curves, I decided to suck it up, climb on the scale for the first time since May, and see how much weight I hadn't lost, or worse, gained.

Oh snap, I've lost 7 more pounds!

So, that's 36 pounds lost since I started going to Curves in Feb '08, and 18 pounds lost since this February. Still a long way to go, but nevertheless I'm feeling a bit more motivated again!

So, hot damn, that was a long, crazy, fun, wacky, wonderful weekend! The only bad thing that happened (to me at least) was the part where I burned my fingers on the steering wheel! They still have red marks. Yeowch.

In other news, people were flying a hot air balloon over Worcester this morning. This freaked out my coworker Mo, who is of the opinion that "if God wanted us to fly, he'd have given us wings!" Myself, I'm of the opinion that He did mean for us to fly, that's why He included all the necessary physics for us to invent planes.

So, how was your weekend? And how's Monday treating you so far? Nice, I hope. If Monday's giving you trouble, just let me know, and I'll kick its ass!

Here's an interesting article, courtesy of Fark:

US Judge Bans "Catcher in the Rye" Sequel

I first read Catcher in the Rye in high school, on my own, because I picked it up at a local book sale, and I really liked it. Then I had to read it for English class, which made me resent it (English class did that for a lot of books for me, unfortunately - I guess I'm more of a book enjoyer than a book analyzer.) But now I look back and a) probably better understand the book now than I did then, and b) realize I do still like it.

The most surprising thing about this article, for me at least, is the fact that JD Salinger is still alive! (Though apparently he has not been photographed since the 50's...)

I had a weird dream last night, where my mother was watching a movie that wasn't Harry Potter, but some Harry Potter-like rip-off. I kept making fun of it, and yet... I could not look away! It was during a scene where kinda-Dumbledore was showing pseudo-Harry how to summon a fairy that my alarm went off.

I went to Dunkin' Donuts and asked for a Boston Creme - I don't usually like donuts but boy do I like to get one of these occasionally - and the bastards gave me a nasty blueberry one instead! I couldn't even eat it!

And, it's approved, it's official - I am taking a week off in September, for no other reason than because I freakin' can! Well, you only turn 25 once, I suppose...

Well, after surviving a 10-and-a-half hour shift on Saturday (which basically ate the entire day, thnx) I went to New Hampshire Sunday morning to spend two days with my parents (as a slightly-late Father's Day, I guess.)

Things didn't go quite as we planned (we were hoping to go kayaking on Monday, but unlike Southern New England, which enjoyed its first sunny day since 2005, NH was still raining like a bitch) but a lot of adventures were had nonetheless. And my dad really liked th stuff I got him from Bath and Body Works... in fact, my mom is now jealous of the hand soap I got him, so I suppose I better get back to the mall in time for her birthday...!

Sunday was so busy that my mom called me down to the deli and had me serve ice cream to a dad and his 3 kids. She just kinda threw me in there and pointed to the gloves. Of course, three of them (including the dad) wanted cones with rainbow sprinkles. How the hell do you put sprinkles on a cone? Apparently by putting the sprinkles on a paper plate and the pressing the cone into them. But no one told me this; they just threw me to the wolves. So I tried to slap them on with a spoon. Sprinkles everywhere! Kinda like that lame cell phone commercial!

Sunday night, after making enough stir fry to feed 15 people, my mom and I went to the camp to see any dusk-time wildlife. Now, I don't believe I told you 'bout the bear that apparently almost ate my mom last time she was at the camp. Well, it did come towarrds the cabin, because it smelled the candy she was eating, and she managed to scare it off by yelling a lot. This story, of course, freaked me out. Bears! Bears will eat you!

Well, that night, we were only there about 3 minutes, when she said "There he is!" and I turn to see the bear... as it ran through the yard. "You were afraid of that?" I said. "It's just a baby!" "It's last year's baby!" said my mom, "And it looked a lot bigger and scarier when it was heading right at me!" Folks, this bear was probably the size of a lab! It was actually really cute! And oh, yes, I'm sure, still very dangerous.

Monday morning I ran errands in town with my dad. It was a lot of fun to spend time with him; I don't really get to do that enough. And then we made my mom Shake-n-Bake pork chops for lunch. I realized that even I could make Shake-n-Bake pork chops sometime. So... I probably will! Now, who else likes pork chops, and would eat them with me?

Then I made it home, after hydroplaning through much of the Lakes Region (fitting enough, I suppose) and went to bed really really early! Gosh, I am so exciting, I don't know what to do with myself.

Today is really quite a busy day!
Happy 25th Birthday, Pat!

Happy 24th Birthday, Heather!

Happy 50th Anniversary, Dave's Parents!

and... happy end of quarter to me! I got to work at 11, and early estimates have me getting out at... 9:30 tonight at the earliest! Woo freakin' hoo! Well, I suppose I'll have a lot of time to make birthday calls with...

I got out of work a little early yesterday, went to the gym, stopped at home to write a letter, and then went to my Aunt Cora's for dinner. Upon reaching her house, I realized I could not find my cell phone!

We stopped by Curves to see if I'd dropped it there, but no such luck. Now I was really worried. Had I left it at home? But I didn't use it while I was at home, so why would I have left it there? Well, I tried to relax as we went out to dinner, but the whole time I was picturing my beloved, low-tech, comfortable-against-my-head Samsung lying in a puddle, forgotten. (Yes, my phone is almost 3 years old, and harkens back to the days when phones were still designed for talking into, not being typed on...) That phone and I have been through a lot together! Sometimes I've dropped it, sometimes it would drop me, but overall I think we got along very well... if I have to get a new phone, I thought, I'm going to be so upset! I'm going to lose all those pictures of weird produce and people's cats that I've accrued over the years! Whatever shall I DO??

Finally returned home and there it was on the kitchen table - apparently I had taken it out of my pocket when writing that damn letter, after all! I ran to it and kissed it, crying "CELL PHONE, I LOVE YOU, AND I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU AGAIN!"

I may have imagined it, but Ballou seems to be looking at me funny.

Ack! Guess what I found out this morning, thanks to eavesdropping talking to my coworkers?

You know "Taste of Shrewsbury Street"? That evening of culinary delights that Kate, Maura, and I went to last summer, and it was so awesome that we vowed to take everyone we knew next time?

Yeah, apparently it was yesterday.

First of all, WTF, I thought it was always on a Wednesday? Secondly, I had not seen any advertising for it this year at all! Usually there are signs all over the biotech park, and an article or two in the Worcester Telegram.

Still, I guess I should've looked into this sooner; I feel like I really dropped the ball on this one. My bad, guys... *hangs head in shame*

Oh, and the Extraction robot is down. End of Quarter just keeps getting better!

Now, New York is pretty damn awesome, and really really HUGE, I will give it that! And it's got all kinds of claims to fame, like "Smelliest Summer Streets" and "People Most Likely to Shove You in Front of a Bus" and "Most Suspicious Men Hawking Quasi-Legal Fake Rolexes."

But what little city with the crazy drivers and the butchering of the letter R will always have a dear spot in my heart?

Boston, baby! And as you can see, we were TOTALLY THERE Saturday!


Dave and his favorite sign in the universe
We were here to see my first-ever major league baseball game! Yes, I am a bit of a late bloomer... this should really not be a shock to anyone who was around when I discovered "Music that's not my mom's Bonnie Raitt tapes" at the tender age of 14 (interesting note, this is the same age I finally got around to catching the chicken pox)... Anyway, what better place to see your first baseball game than the oldest (and undoubtably most awesome) baseball park??



Fenway!!!
Dave and I, along with his brother Danny and his nephew Seth, managed to catch the commuter line into the city with a few minutes to spare, and then navigated the subway system to Kenmore Square. Here we chilled out and ate at UNO's, which was in a hotel that looked really familiar for some reason! Hmm... Anyway, we made our way to Fenway, and as you will see evidenced in these pictures, I bought myself a neato hat on Yawkey Way! And now I actually know what Yawkey Way is!


The game was between the Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves, and it went by very quickly, because the game was played very defensively. There were several almost-home runs, including one by Ortiz that missed by a foot or two! Seeing the game in the park was so much fun; you really get into the excitement, and it's great to join the crowd in the wave, singing Sweet Caroline (which I did quite loudly, much to Dave's chagrin) and yelling YOOOOUK!

The night was really great! The best part was this:

Hey, ho, what's happening? Well last week had a lot more to it than my tenant-related woes. 'Bout time I actually write some good stuff down!

Monday night til Wednesday, I was in New York to see Liz and... THIRD EYE BLIND! This is a dream I've had since high school, realized at long, long last!


Stephen Jenkins, I think you're crazy, but damn can you sing!

On Monday night, we ate at a great Asian fusion restaurant called Wild Ginger, and then headed to Starbucks, where one employee lamented his upcoming shift downtown at a bar (where he makes the big bucks, but has Starbucks for benefits, but all the money is to pay his fiancee's tuition, you see) while the other employee tried to hand out coffee cake to everyone.

On Tuesday, I was apparently a bad influence, because Liz called out from work so we'd have more time in the city! Before the show, we stopped at a Japanese dessert shop, where all the desserts were quite intriguing, yet to me at least, not as tasty as they looked! But almost everything had red bean paste or jelly in it so Liz was in heaven! We also went to FAO Schwartz, where as you can see below, we had some Lego friends. I was tempted to buy half the store for Gill, but did not want to carry 15 stuffed animals all over Manhattan.



We had dinner at a crazy place called Jeckyll and Hyde's, which turned out to be more of a kid place than anything, but still a lot of fun. But seriously, my last three trips to NY and I keep eating at kid establishments! Next time I really need to find something for grownups! And then, we were off to the Roseland Ballroom, where we got to see 3EB!! As well as useless guido security guards who were too busy showing each other their tats to actually guard anything, an opening band that no one caught the name of (and no one cared), and some crazy bitch that kept molesting me and everyone else, 'til she was finally dragged off by aforementioned useless security. Yes, otherwise the concert was a blast!!! We were really belting out to some of the songs ("Back down the bullies to the back of the bus, 'cause it's time for them to be scared of us!!!" "I'll get over you, you are not who I am!!!") and as Liz mentioned in a post earlier this week, we were exposed to some new "little ditties" that really make me wonder about that man's sanity.

Then, off to home again, (but not without a stop to buy some Yuengling!) and then two rather crazy days of work, before I could get to the actual weekend, and my first-ever major league baseball game! (See Part II, because this post is damn long enough!)

Just got a call from out expatriate pal, Pat!

He's settled well into his new apartment, which he said is really cool (it even has a giant chessboard outside), but all the furniture appears to be from IKEA ("The bed is this white box... thing.")

He hasn't had much of a chance to use the French book I gave him, but said it'll come in handy because "everyone drives like shit!" He's up there with 12 other people from work, so he's not totally alone. (Have I been haunted of thoughts of Pat wandering alone through the dark streets of Montreal, looking for a friendly face but only seeing French-Canadian sneers? Well, no, I guess not. Still I feel better knowing this!)

And for those of you wondering, "Oh no, What will Pat do without his Boston Scientology protests??" well, have no fear, they have protests in Montreal too! You bet your ass he went to one already.

He asked how everyone was doing, in particular, Beth! (I told him the surgery went well, and that Beth was doing as well as anyone restricted to fluids and pureed chicken could!)

I got his address, so I can send him a birthday card. June 27th!

And as for the new friend, well, Dave and I both bought fishies today!



Mine is named... Ballou!

OMG why am I still up??!!

Had a good afternoon though! Gill and I survived the cookout, and plan on buying an Auburn CASTLE. Hahah, the more I think about it the more I almost actually want to do it! Seven freaking bathrooms! That's seven places to read books!

Afternoon tea with Beth was delightful (of course) and so was the post-tea shopping. Bought Dave something silly!

Now I'm here... downloading weird music that Heather likes? No, bad Stacey, go to bed! Fine, kay, kay, I will!

Weekend... almost... here!

So right there's like a party going on?

Flag Day Party this Saturday! Usual place and time!

It's been an odd week... my apetite's been a bit off and I'm not getting quite as much sleep as I need to. And also there was Brendon's dad's wake last night, which was really a nice service, where people got up and shared funny stories and things they loved about him. In some ways it was very inspiring...

Today I think I might be a little sick. It's one of those vague crappy feelings that's almost as much mental as physical. I'm not particularly depressed or anything, but not particularly happy or energetic either. Just really, really blah!!

Blaaaaaaah.

Today is the company barbecue! Which every year, without fail, is on a dreary, cold, wet June day! And I usually eat myself silly, but maybe not this time. Then I'm off to have tea with Beth! Afternoon tea! Chip Chip Cheerio and all that rot!

I really really just can't wait for the weekend. There's party, and bowling, and me maybe getting some sleep! And yard sales and lazy Sunday morning time and all kinds of not being here at work! I just needs it.

Hahaha! Well there's a lot of words and phrases I guess I've picked over the years that I sometimes say (or at least think):

Spanish
pobrecita! - poor little thing!
O Dios mio - oh my God
cacahuate - peanut (this is just a funny one)
guapo - good-looking
muy - very
todos - all
buena suerte - good luck
quizas - maybe
There's a lot more Spanish ones that crop up in my mind often, but I can't think of them now... maybe later?

French (and French-Canadian)
memere - grandma
je ne sais pas - I don't know
porte chinois - shepherd's pie
piton - button
je vous aime beau coup - I love you very much
tritqueue (sp?) - chicken butt, aka 'the last part to get over the fence,' according to Memere

German
danke (schon) - Thanks (a lot)
ja - yes
Handy - cell phone (how cute is that?)
naturlich - naturally

Japanese
gyuunyuu - milk (another funny one)
senzeni na - it can't be helped
neh? - kind of means "isn't that so?" or "am I right?", comes at the end of a sentence
kawaii - cute
sugoi - awesome
hentai! - pervert! (and yes it also refers to anime porn)

Of course one of my favorite words in another language is... Woonsocket! Which supposedly means "Thunder Mist" though we're not too sure of that anymore...

So I had fun visiting my parents this weekend, and I finally gave my mother her three Mother's Day gifts: a candle, a chicken-shaped tape dispenser (which I bought in Grand Central Station), and a funky little bracelet, seen here:



As you can see, it's taken 'til about the end of May, but New Hampshire is finally green!

Not a heck of a lot happened; we saw one moose (and 600 stupid tourists that scared it back into the woods, and also did not look at what cars they were wandering in front of), and took a fun ride on Cherry Mountain Rd, which is my mom's favorite place to take the truck and scare my dad. ("He whines that it has dirt on it, 'Yeah,' I said, 'it's a truck!'") The weekend also involved some good eats and some good ol' mother-daughter gossip and chitchat!

Looks like the next time I visit will be to bring my dad his belated Father's Day gifts - I'm seeing a trip to Home Depot in my future - anyone want to help my find the 14-function wrench or whatever the hell he wants this year??

The week's halfway over now - it looks like Gill's got herself a new beau! And Kate, Maura, and I had a lot of fun at the Burrito Company last night (though maybe we should have less sangria next time, haha) and also shopping in Wrentham! Yeah, the last thing I need is another flashy shirt from Lane Bryant, but here it is. Perhaps I'll debut it at work on Friday and make my coworkers think I'm even crazier...

Well, I'm up at my parents' house and it's raining buckets all of a sudden. The only place where weather is even more fickle than RI is in the NH mountains!

Gill, Maura, Pat, and I went to Dave and Buster's last night before Pat leaves for his summer internship in Montreal. He's getting paid for this training, and also is getting a fully furnished apartment with internet, cable and access to a pool, and he is one lucky bastard!

I gave him a book of "real" French (as in slang, sex words, all that fun stuff), and he was having a lot of fun with that. Hmm, maybe he is going to get himself in trouble up there...

We had a lot of fun eating dinner, playing trivia, riding snowmobiles (oh hell yes the snowmobiles!) and trying other various games. Once again I didn't spend any of my tickets! Maybe I am saving up for a Wii (only about 54000 points to go!) Or maybe I'm just crazy! All I know is being in an establishment where your boyfriend's name is on everything will make you miss him quite a bit!

So, back to being in New Hampshire this fine, already-not-raining-anymore day! My mom seems very excited to have me here! Now if she'd just sit still for 5 freaking minutes so I could talk to her and figure out what we might do today!

Off on a mom hunt, wish me luck!

Beth is home from the hospital, and all is well!!