trials and tribulations @ the supermarket

Last night I fought the incredibly strong urge to get home and immediately jump into my fleece pants and then onto my couch, and instead I called my friendly neighborhood cab company to take me to Stop n Shop for some food shopping.  

The major reason I opted out of home delivery this time is that the selection is limited, I'm pretty sure they jack up the price of everything, and no matter what it tells me the total will be on the website, the total when they get to my house is always higher (sometimes even when there were things they were sold out of - and let me just take a minute here to tell you that last time they had the audacity to tell me they were sold out of TORTILLA CHIPS.  How does a grocery store sell out of tortilla chips?  It's like the time I was at IHOP and the said they were out of milk.  I still think they were lying.  If I already told you this story I apologize, but I'm also too lazy to go back and check).  The cost of a cab to and fro is pretty much the same as the delivery charge + tip anyway.  The only downside is there is no nice little man to bring everything up and put it in my kitchen for me.


The other reason is that awhile ago I bought what I thought would be a cute, simple black dress from Target online but turned out to be a hideous really long sweater that hung in the MOST unflattering way possible and I had to return it.  Target and Stop n Shop are attached to each other.  Two birds, one stone.  

So anyway, I got to the grocery store, and I was ravenously hungry.  As everyone knows, this is always a problem when it comes to food shopping.  The biggest problem for me is that I start looking for things that are ready to eat right now and not things that require cooking but are more reasonable.  With the end result being that I am now very well stocked on things like cheese & crackers, but not so much on ingredients for delicious, healthy meals.  

A frustrating lesson I learned yesterday is that apparently Thursday is the worst possible day for food shopping.  I was wandering the aisles yesterday (Jan 29) looking for the perishables I had on my list (I did have a list, I just mostly disregarded it) and I noticed that practically all of them had an expiration (sell by and expiration mean the same thing to me) date of Feb 1.  THAT'S THREE DAYS.  You've got to be kidding me.  The only perishable I caved and bought that couldn't be frozen was milk.  I can definitely go through a gallon of milk in three days. 

The other issue I noticed that I have is that I'm not a person who can (or will) just stroll through the store in a leisurely manner, seriously weighing my options and taking the time to think my purchases though.  I go through that place like I'm on one of those sprees where you get as much in the cart as possible in 5 minutes and you get to keep whatever you get in there.  I can't relax in a place like that.


The end result of all this being that I was in the door at 6, out by 6:30, purchasing mostly things that could be eaten immediately or with very little preparation, and a pretty revolting amount of cheese (seriously, I was embarrassed when I got to the checkout counter).  I got home, looked at everything I bought and said to myself, "Jessie, what the hell?"

I think maybe I need a personal grocery shopper.

the doctor is in

One of my favorite things to do is to pass my wisdom on to those who are in desperate need of it (or, stick my nose in other people's business and give them advice that they don't listen to and always turns out to be right, whichever way you prefer to read that).

But seriously, I love it when people ask for my advice.  Particularly on relationships.  I know, you're thinking 'but Jessie, you've been single forever.  You don't have any first hand knowledge of what relationships are like past approximately two dates.  When you try to date it turns into a disaster worthy of Jerry Springer!  What are you even talking about?!?!'  And you're right, but you know what they say - those that can't do, teach.  Plus, have I mentioned that I'm always right (just so long as it has to do with other people)?


Anyway, that's not really the point of this post.  The real point is, I have a couple friends who are always having issues of some kind as far as relationships go.  They call me, we talk it through, I dispense my sage wisdom, they do the opposite of what I suggest and then later tell me they should have listened to me in the first place (one of my other favorite things is to be told that I'm right - clearly).  It's a sure thing that at least one of them will always have a tricky situation with a member of the opposite sex.  Well, both of these friends are going to be out of the country for the ENTIRE month of February and it's freaking me out.  Who will come to me for advice that I just sort of make up as I go along?  Who will be around to tell me I'm right and the things I say make sense?  I'm at a loss, staring down the barrel of a long, advice-free February, and it's very sad.  What am I supposed to do with myself?


I think I'm taking it pretty well, don't you?  :)

...and now it's raining.  So that'll make the streets nice and filthy with slush on the way home.

I should have called in sick.

Blasted Snow

I don't know if I'd officially call what it's doing outside right now "blizzarding", but it's definitely closer to it than I'd like.

Until this minute it was coming in SIDEWAYS, and very heavily.  Sadly, the camera on my cell phone is not up to par for capturing snowflakes (the parts where the picture looks a little cloudy...that's snow), but this is the view of the street outside my office.  Gross.

All I want to do when the weather is like this is go home, sit in front of a fireplace (which I don't have), drink hot cocoa, and nap.

I should at least be wearing fleece pants.  Alas.

Is anyone else done with winter?

Movie Review: Bride Wars

So Friday night I went out with my compatriots Toni and Alisa (along with Liza Minelli and a tomato), and we had ourselves a girls' night.  A pretty standard girls' night anywhere in the world (I imagine) involves a romantic comedy, some delicious food, gossip and cocktails.  Just in case you are not a girl or are a girl and have never heard of the concept of a girls' night.  In which case I'm sorry, go find yourself some friends as soon as possible.

We saw Bride Wars, with Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson (in case you live under a rock and/or don't pay attention to current features playing at the ol' movie house).  

Storyline:  Two best friends have dreamed about getting married in June at the Plaza Hotel ever since they were little girls.  Afte getting engaged within 24 hours of each other, they book their dream weddings with their dream wedding planner, but due to an (apparently) unfixable mistake, their weddings end up being booked on the same day.  Neither wants to give up her dream wedding for the other, each one thinks she's right, they become mortal enemies and each do their best to tank the other's wedding.  Hilarity ensues.

My take:  I liked this movie (Rotten Tomatoes sure didn't, though).  Is it pretty formulaic?  Yes it is.  Do you pretty much know the ending 5 minutes into the movie?  Yes you do.   Are most of the stunts pulled more likely to happen in junior high than among grown women?  I certainly hope so.  
Still, it was cute, extremely fluffy, and I'm pretty sure Anne Hathaway secretly wants to be my friend so I see all of her movies.  What I liked was how they portrayed the two different relationships, how one was good and the other not so much (I'm trying not to give too much away, but seriously this is extremely predictable.  I promise I'm not ruining more than like 3 minutes of the movie - and if I am, you may have what I consider to be a slightly skewed perception of a good relationship).  Some of the parts got kind of ridiculous (specifically, the dance lessons and the client meeting the morning after the bachelorette party for anyone who has seen it), but show me a romantic comedy where that can't be said at SOME point.


I teared up a bit at the end, as I tend to do with movies about best friends (or movies in general.  I think I may have an overdose of estrogen or something).  I enjoyed it, I'll probably buy the DVD to add to my collection of movies about weddings (along with My Best Friend's Wedding, The Wedding Planner, The Wedding Date, 27 Dresses and Monster-In-Law.  It fits in pretty well with those movies).  If you're looking for a bit of fluff that doesn't require the use of your brain at all, I think you'll enjoy this movie.

If you're looking for profound, Oscar winning material (or you're a big movie snob), go elsewhere.

Hermit

Here's my weekend in a nutshell:  movie with the girls, Japanese food, girlie talk, cocktails, vampire book, vampire book, vampire book, SingStar, vampire book, Cary Grant movie, Cary Grant movie, Cary Grant movie, knitting.  Oh, and I did my taxes.  Man, I'm exciting.

Yes, I really did read four vampire books this weekend.  They're the Sookie Stackhouse series (if you watch True Blood on HBO you know what I'm talking about).  Sacha & Toni got me into the show, and when I found out there were books and that there was a whole SERIES, it was clear I'd have to read them.  I got the first one awhile back, and I enjoyed it.  Last week I got the 2nd and 3rd.   I then ordered the 4th, 5th, and 6th.  I read 3-6 this weekend.  This is not uncommon for me.  


My sophomore year in college I read the first Harry Potter book (I was a little behind the times, there were three out already when I started reading them).  About halfway through the first one, I was hooked.  A friend of mine complained at the time, "Jessie I hate it when you have a new book to read because you completely disappear and never want to do anything or talk to anyone."  At the time, I thought that seemed a little harsh, there are definitely worse things I could be doing than reading too much.  However, I have since been forced to concede that when I get really into a book (or a series, usually), I will pretty much do that to the exclusion of all else (all else to include cooking, cleaning, showering, etc.  It's pretty gross, actually).  You see, I HAVE to know what happens next.  It's an imperative.


Which brings me to Saturday.


I had big plans for Saturday.  I was going to get up, clean my apartment, head downtown and go to the Apple store (I got a hand-me-down iPod shuffle, so I need to buy a docking station and some headphones) and then see if I could get into some trouble with Alisa.  Possibly even buy some groceries (that's a big day for a girl without a car, trust me).  Instead, I got approximately 5 total hours of sleep Friday night because I kept waking up and it was really cold so I immediately bailed on going downtown.  Which was pretty lame, but seriously, there was no way that was happening.  Now Friday night when I arrived home, there were three new books waiting for me (I heart you and your two day shipping, Amazon Prime).  My plan for these was to have them as my train books for the next week or so (because they're light and they don't take up much room and the covers are sort of dark colors which do not draw attention).


When I woke up for good on Saturday at 9:30 (after false alarms at 4am, 6:15, etc) and realized that I was going to be pretty much useless for the entire day already, I figured I'd read a couple chapters of the 3rd vampire book and then I'd try to take a nap and maybe after that I'd feel like a normal person and rejoin the land of the living.  Fast forward to 7:00pm when my phone rings, and it's an invitation to spend the evening over at Floyd's Cove.  I had just cracked open my 4th book of the day (6th of the series), I hadn't showered, I hadn't napped, and it was pretty amazing that I'd gotten off my bottom long enough to make some tacos (though I was still reading the whole time).  I had a good couple minutes of internal debate over whether I should go to FC or just stay exactly where I was.  Then I remembered the voice from long ago accusing me of being crappy when I just want to read, so I pried myself away from the book, showered, and went to be social.  It probably shouldn't have been that hard, but my couch has a very strong gravitational pull.


And let's be honest, it's not like these books are life changing or anything.  They're just quick to read and enteratining as hell.  I ordered the 7th and 8th ones yesterday, they'll be here tomorrow.


Just so you're prepared when I have nothing interesting to say this entire week.


 

well, that was something

How sick are you guys of my Grey's recaps on Fridays?  That's ok, I'm going to keep writing them anyway. :)

I thought last night's episode was pretty fantastic.  I did cry at the end, but that's pretty standard for this show (or any dramatic show, particularly one involving sick children and people dying left, right and center). 

I'm glad Christina and Meredith finally made up, and also that it wasn't a big sobfest of apologies.  I don't like big sobfests of apologies, and to be quite frank with you, every big fight I've had with a friend in my life (and I've had some, let me tell you) usually ends exactly this way.  It's been long enough, we don't want to fight, but we're too stubborn to admit we may have been wrong, so we just act as though things are fine and the fight never happened.  Maybe it's not the healthiest way to deal with conflict, but it's tradition.

I'm also glad that Derek and Meredith both seem to be growing up a little bit.  If this whole serial killer thing had happened even last season it would have been grounds for an immediate breakup.  Luckily, Meredith had her big candlelight breakthrough and then Derek had his mom come in and tell him what's what so he could be there outside the prison after she watched the serial killer die (I can't believe she went.  Yikes) and she could open up enough to say that she didn't know what the hell was wrong with her either and not try to deal with that horrible-ness alone.  I enjoyed that her uncontrollable crying freaked him out so much that he drove her over to Christina's because there was really no one else who could handle that sort of situation.  And of course, Christina came through, but we've covered that already.


I wasn't sure how this next relationship would go, but Mark and Lexie continue to get cuter and cuter.  Even with the fairly ridiculous premise of last night's mishap (I know it's a real thing, but it's still ridiculous) they managed to be cute.  And funny. 

The story with the kid who was dying was pretty hard to watch, particularly when Bailey was in the OR begging Derek to stop operating so she could have the sk's organs.  But Bailey is Bailey and when push comes to shove she was always going to do the right thing.  I knew that kid wasn't going to die, Grey's would not do that to me in a way ER always did (before I quit that show).  Plus, you know, they had to throw the Chief and George into the episode somehow.


By the time the end of the show rolled around and Izzy finally realized she was sick, my patience with her had completely worn out and I was more than ready for the realization.  Pretty much the first time Denny said, "You're a doctor.  Figure it out" I was like yes please!  Figure it out!  Do it!  Of course they had to run through every other possibility first (when she tried to rationalize that maybe he wasn't actually dead I wanted to shake her a little) but she got there!  She's sick, and hopefully in two weeks we'll find out with what (why two weeks?  why?)

And one last quick thing.  My favorite exchange of the night was between Christina and Owen:

Christina:  You've got some problems.  Some BIG problems.
Owen:  Yea.  Will you go out with my anyway?
Christina:  Yes.


Loved it.

it's just not my day

Last night I collapsed into my bed at approximately 10:05pm, completely exhausted.  I briefly toyed with the idea of staying up to watch Damages, but when I couldn't find last week's episode that I missed online fast enough I just gave up and crashed.  I was tired from spending my afternoon and part of my evening in the company of all of my bosses, on my best behavior and also being hyper alert in case anyone asked me a question so that I wouldn't feel like an idiot.

I don't know about you, but trying to make sure I don't look like an idiot is extremely tiring.

Anyway, that brings me to this morning.  First decision, wear a dress to work.  This involves shaving of the legs.  So far, so good (ish.  Shaving one's legs at 7am when you're bleary eyed and still half asleep is not necessarily a recipe for a job well done but it'll do when you're going to wear stockings).  Next item:  Put on stockings (a word far preferable to pantyhose, don't you think?).  I immediately got a run in said stockings, but figured it's high enough on the leg that no one will ever know, particularly as there was no extra pair nor enough time to pick a new outfit before leaving for the bus (I'm on a very tight schedule in the morning to ensure I get as much sleep as possible). 

At this point I realize that the fighting with the stockings has not left enough time to make the bed (all part of my new being a grown up plan.  Make the bed when you wake up.  Makes going to sleep just that much better), but I got over it pretty quickly.  As I started gathering my things to leave (including extra heavy bag full of work stuff from yesterday) I realized that in my haste to find sweet, sweet slumber I failed to prepare breakfast for this morning.  I silently curseed myself and then decided I would just have to get a bagel at work.

I got myself on the bus and then on the train, where I noticed that somewhere between leaving my apartment and getting on the train my hair has transformed from pretty ok looking to crazy bag lady.  This happens pretty frequently, it's a shame no one can see me immediately after I've finished blow drying my hair and putting on my makeup when I look nice.  I don't actually see other people until I look like a crazy bag lady.  Somehow this happens even if they're in my apartment when I'm getting ready.  I think my hair may only ever look good in my bathroom mirror.


Back to the point.  Of course there are no seats on the train because it's rush hour and some people like to take up two seats when they only need one (ahem.  The train seat is not your lazy boy.  There is no need to spread your legs so far apart that another person could not possibly fit next to you.  Particularly when you are a very tall, skinny man.  It is ok to sit with your legs together.  I promise.  And please stop looking at me as if my standing in front of you is taking up  your personal space.  It's the subway, your personal space was forfeit when you walked through the door.  Get over it.)  Standing, holding on to the pole while juggling three bags full of stuff is not the easiest thing to do.  Particularly when you're me and balance is already an issue.  I'm proud to say that I only almost fell twice.  That's pretty good.


I got to work, took my coat off and noticed that the run in my stocking is slowly creeping its way down my leg (not surprising).  I don't have anything helpful like nail polish to stop it, however, so I'm just hoping that it won't go past the hemline of my dress until after work.  Let's be honest.  Bare legs is not exactly appropriate for January.  If only it was acceptable to wear jeans under my dress at work.  Someday...


so it's just one of those days where everything is a little off.  Things are not going according to plan, it's just kind of eh.  


While eating my lunch (leftovers from last night) I predicted it would take about 2 minutes for me to accidentally spray marsala sauce on myself (I didn't earn the nickname Messy Jessie as a child for nothing), and I was pretty much right on in that prediction.  It was only one spot, and you can't really see it, but still.  Add it to the list of things that are a little off today (though I still put my lunch in the win column because it was delicious and it was only one spot).


If it weren't for Grey's Anatomy I'm pretty sure I'd be going to sleep at 9 tonight.  It's going to be dramatic!

The Top 10 Romantic Comedies

A couple of weeks ago, in my vast internet readings, I came across these list of 10 Top 10s created by the American Film Institute.  Now, I love me a good Top 10 list (let alone 10 of them all grouped together!).  I decided that I would make it my new life's work (or something) to have seen all of the top 10 lists.  So that's 100 movies.  I have no idea how long this will take me.  Some will be easy (like today's, in which I own 5 of the 10) and some will be almost painful (I do not, as a rule, enjoy Westerns) but still, I'm gonna do it!  And you, lucky you, you will get to read all my opinions on these chosen films.




10. Sleepless in Seattle - it's only right that a Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks movie make the list, and this is a fantastic one.  I mean, you do have to sort of overlook the fact that Meg Ryan sort of cheats on her fiance with a guy from the radio and essentially stalks Tom Hanks from across the country, but I like it.



9. Harold and Maude - Now this one I was a little skeptical about.  I hadn't seen it before last weekend and I was afraid of the ick factor (I mean, a 50 year age gap is a big one).  It also makes me think of There's Something About Mary when Cameron Diaz said it was her favorite movie of all time, and if it comes out of Cameron Diaz's mouth, it's already kind of annoying (sorry).  But for whatever reason, this movie totally works.  I especially liked it when Harold turned his brand new Jaguar into a hearse.  That was one determined/deeply troubled kid.



8. Moonstruck - I obviously completely love this movie.  I will never be able to fully dismiss Cher or Nicholas Cage (even though he was by far the worst part of the movie) because of this one.  My favorite lines:

Rose:  What you don't know about women is a lot.

------

Johnny: In time you will see this is the best thing.
Loretta:  In time, you'll drop dead and I'll come to your funeral in a red dress!


I could keep going, but we'd be here all day.



7. Adam's Rib - This is another one I hadn't seen before last weekend.  I liked it, I'm pretty sure I didn't love it.  But I would watch Katharine Hepburn in pretty much anything, and Judy Holliday was pretty fabulous as well (I think this is the first movie of her's that I've seen.  I definitely want to see more - I think next will be Born Yesterday - hold please, while I put it in my queue.  Thanks).




6. When Harry Met Sally... - See, you forget now because she looks like some kind of sea monster (please, stay away from your plastic surgeon and leave your lips alone!), but for like 15 years Meg Ryan WAS romantic comedies.  This is one of my favorite movies, and Billy Crystal's speech at the end convincing Meg Ryan that he really does love her is one of the best ever.  Completely raised my expectations to unrealistic heights and ruined me for how actual relationships work, but that's fine. :)





5. The Philadelphia Story - I'm pretty sure I could watch this movie every day.  I have only good things to say about it.  Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, lots of fiestiness, champagne ("I've never had enough"), it's pretty great.  You're getting a couple more of my favorite lines from this one:



"OHHHH C.K. DEXTER HAVENNNNN!!!!!!" (if you haven't seen this movie, picture Jimmy Stewart drunkenly yelling this out the back window of a car swinging a bottle of champagne, it's awesome.  Then go see this movie.)


"Where's my wandering parakeet?"



4. Roman Holiday - Audrey Hepburn is very sweet, this is a good one.  They;ve remade it enough with different titles that for that reason alone it deserves to be on the Top 10.



3. It Happened One Night - Prior to seeing this, the only thing I had seen Clark Gable in was Gone With the Wind.  Which is obviously not a happy go lucky kind of movie.  And I had my doubts about it, I can tell you that.  But I was wrong, it was very good.  I don't know if it was #3 on this list very good, but it definitely deserves to be on here somewhere.



2. Annie Hall - This may spark some adverse reactions, but I do not like this movie at all.  I'm not a Diane Keaton fan, I'm not a Woody Allen fan, and I just don't think this movie is funny.  Or romantic.  It's completely neurotic, and not in a good way.  I don't think the people in this movie should even know each other, let alone be in a relationship with each other.  It kind of hurts my feelings that it's listed as the #2 romantic comedy of all time.  It hurts my feelings that it's on this list at all.  Ugh.



1. City Lights - I have to admit, I haven't actually seen this movie yet.  It's on its way to me as we speak via the wonder that is Netflix.  I'll let you know.  The #1 movie sort of feels like it should have its own post anyway.  Right?

You know, some days this thing taunts me.  Many days I am just overflowing with interesting (to me) things to say and I have to force myself to cut it short(er) and then I try to remind myself to write about that other thing I didn't have room for in the future.  Only I inevitably forget and am left with times like today, when the big white space in the compose section just stares at me as if to say, "You know you have nothing interesting to say today.  You know you spent most of your weekend sitting your apartment knitting an afghan like a 92 year old woman watching movies you've seen thousands of times and anyway you put up approximately 1,000 (compared to normal) pictures yesterday which has left you with NOTHING for today."

And I'm forced to admit the blog is right.  I've got nothing for you today, so I'm going to leave you with this:  How about we all just take in the history of this day?

See y'all tomorrow.  

my weekend in pictures

A three day weekend, when the outside looks like this:

Results in the making of this to keep from feeling cold:

Watching some of these to keep my attention held while making the hat:

Reading my way through these (well, not all of them):

Gathering these:

To allow for this:

And just generally hibernating.  We got a lot of snow this weekend.

because it's more than a feelin'

Just so we're clear, the title of this post has nothing to do with the post itself, it's just the song in my head right now.

Last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy was extremely good.  It was back to what I love best, Meredith being crazy, realistic-ish relationship drama, and lots of talking about tequila.  Yes please, and then some.  I do have one quick question - when did Lexie move into Meredith's attic?  Did I miss the part when she stopped living with George?  I mean I'm guessing it happened sometime after she told him he was an idiot for not realizing she had feelings, I just don't remember the actual move.

Other random observations:

Mark Sloan was the cutest ever when confessing he slept with Lexie to Derek's mom (and especially how at first she thought it was Meredith and she said, "oh Mark.  Not again..").

Derek's mom's subsequent interrogation of Lexie was also quite excellent.


Dr. Hunt has some serious issues.  Christina is perfect for him.

 
Meredith's 'alarmingly high' ponytail was great, particularly the hot pink scrunchie probably left over from 1987.

Eric Stoltz plays a creepy sociopath really really well.

I find my mind wandering whenever Callie Torres is talking these days, which saddens me as I used to really like her (though I did like it when Mark told her to walk tall).

I am so ready for Meredith and Christina to make up.

The serial killer banging his head on the bed at the end made me want to throw up in my mouth a little.

I think Derek could use some anger management classes.  

Good for Izzy on breaking up with her dead boyfriend.


Well, I think that's that!  I hope everyone has a great weekend, I know I will if for no other reason than it's going to last three days.  *contented sigh.

throw away day

Well I'm afraid I really have nothing of value to tell you today, for the following reasons:

1 - ABC is a bunch of huge bastards who canceled one of my favorite shows and left me with nothing to watch on Wednesday nights.  (oh, and ABC?  Stop being a bunch of jerks and either air the last three episodes of Pushing Daisies or release the entire series on DVD immediately.  Thanks) 


2 - The most exciting thing I did last night was pour Drano down my shower (who started to act up again this week) and clean the crap out of the tub.  I know, it was boring just to type that.


3 - I was in bed by 9:00, and sleeping by probably about 9:30.

4 - It's approximately 12 degrees Farenheit today.  That is extremely cold.  I'm bitter that I had to leave my apartment.

I don't know about you guys, but I've had my fill of winter.  Bring on the spring!

stuff on the train

While waiting for the train at the Prudential Center last night (after a fun little trip to Trader Joe's - where they have the best/cheapest frozen vegetables) I saw a lady wearing a purse that contained a giant clock on the front of it.  A clock with approximately a 6 inch diameter, fully functioning.  It was set to the wrong time, but still that's got to be convenient.  "I wonder what time it is?  Oh I know, I'll just look at my purse!"  You think I'm kidding but check it out:

Can you tell me what the allure of something like this is?  Is it pretty?  Is it cool?  When you're standing in a store, what makes you look at this and think "oh yea, I need one of those!"  I don't get it, but then no one has ever accused me of being fashionable.

Shortly after seeing Awesome Purse Lady, I was sitting on the green line daydreaming about the tacos I would be making at home, when my attention settled on a group of high school aged kids sitting behind me.  They were talking about normal kid stuff - other kids at their school, band, music, etc (is it just me or are all kids really loud?  Was I that loud at that age?  Probably, but man I'm sure it was annoying to anyone else in a public area) and one of the girls mentioned that she had bought a poster of Kurt Cobain recently.  One of the other kids said, "yea that guy blew his head off with a shotgun the year we were born."  And suddenly I felt very, very, very old.

I got to Government Center where I needed to switch on over to the blue line, and as I walked downstairs I could hear a woman yelling rather loudly.  My first reaction was that there was some crazy person ranting as crazy people do about something or other (which is possibly one of my favorite things about living in a city), but as I listened more closely I determined that this woman was actually just having a normal conversation.  On her cell phone.  Why is it that when some people are on their cell phones they think that it somehow puts them in a cone of silence and they can go ahead and speak at whatever volume they choose with no regard to the other people near them?  I wish that I could better describe exactly how loud this woman was.  Here's the best I can do:  Go outside with a buddy, have them stand a good 50 yards away (half the length of a football field) and then have a conversation with them.  The volume you would need to carry on that conversation is approximately the volume this lady was using.  In an enclosed underground space made of concrete.  And every time there was train noise, she just got louder in order to be heard over it.  Once we actually got into the train car I thought maybe she'd simmer down.  Nope, everyone in the car got to hear her conversation like she was sitting next to them for the two stops she was on the train.  Turns out she was riding with two other people.  They didn't seem phased at all by it but I would have been completely mortified if anyone I was with pulled something like that.  It's just not what we do.

Not bad for a Tuesday.

seriously?

1 - When did Lifetime start showing old episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" during the week?  Flipping through the channels at around 7pm Monday evening, I stumbled upon this previously unknown phenomenon.  Lifetime just got even more amazing (I wouldn't have thought that was possible).

2 - Monday afternoon I went to CVS in order to purchase much needed light bulbs (as my entire kitchen was left in darkness Sunday afternoon) and though I couldn't find any physical evidence to support this, I'm pretty sure someone went #2 somewhere near the soda refrigerator.  It was PUNGENT.  Also revolting.  I'm not sure how that happens, and also how the employees managed to staunchly refuse to acknowledge the smell and not set about trying to do anything about it.

3 - Friday I got an email from Amazon, letting me know that I could now reserve Twilight on DVD.  Because I bought all 4 books on Amazon, it thought I would like to purchase the movie.  On the one hand, this is very helpful.  On the other, WHY IS AMAZON STALKING ME?!?  It also freaks me out when I purchase movie tickets on Fandango and a box pops up asking me if I want it to show on my Facebook wall.  The answer is no!  Why are you keeping tabs on me, Fandango and Facebook?

4 - The AT&T commercials "more bars in more places" that imply if you don't have an AT&T phone you will die.  Particularly if you are a snowman and there is a heat wave.  Is anyone else ready to see the end of this ad campaign?


5 - BARNEY LOVES ROBIN AND NOW TED KNOWS ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  In case you've missed it, I love this show.  It's the best ever, start watching it now (sorry for the spoiler, Mom, but I'm hoping you'll forget about it by the time you get to this season).  NPH is my hero.



6 - The best thing about knitting a blanket in the winter is that at a certain point you are knitting a blanket which you are using at the same time.  And it's warm and cushy and warm and cozy and warm.  And really hard to give away. (my artwork is amazing.  Gotta love Microsoft Paint)

ah, weekend.

Alas, the end of another weekend.  How I will miss you sweet weekend, until such time as we may meet again.

Yes, I do like to wax poetic about the weekends, I love them.  Particularly productive ones.  For example:  This weekend I drank a bottle of wine, played SingStar until 3am, bought a gigantic new stock pot which I proceeded to fall in love with, made a lasagna, vacuumed, read a book, watched two movies, shoveled the front walk of my house so my groceries could be delivered, had groceries delivered, ripped out a good 2 feet of a lace scarf and started from scratch on smaller needles with the pattern doubled, continued work on a wedding blanket that by rights should have been done no later that December 15 (but will probably not actually be done until sometime in March at the earliest), watched football and slept.  I know, it's pretty impressive.



What I did not do was read any more of Atlas Shrugged.  I'm not that broken up about it.  Though there was an article about it in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend.  My boss brought it in for me to read, as we've talked about the book and the fact that I'm reading it (sort of).  It's pretty interesting, how the book is becoming more and more timely.


And that's about as serious and political as I think I'd ever like to get on here, so let's move on, shall we?  Tonight is finally the return of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory so I am definitely looking forward to that tonight.  Speaking of HIMYM, did anyone see Neil Patrick Harris on SNL this weekend?  Can we discuss how the Doogie Houser theme instrumental was comedy gold?  It was pretty great.

why I prefer my books and movies fluffy and silly

First:  last night's Grey's episode was ok.  It didn't knock my socks off or anything and I didn't see the first 15 minutes because I was on the phone with my little brother.  I don't really feel like I missed much.  Let's just say I'm ready for them to move this storyline with Izzy and Denny along (I read the spoilers awhile back, I know what happens).  If for no other reason than so I can stop reading all the ranting all over the interwebs about how much everyone hates Izzy, hates that they brought Denny back, hates how unrealistic it is.  My response to those people is this:  If you hate the storylines and you hate the characters, please stop watching the show.  You'll feel less bitter about it, I swear.  Also, of course it's unrealistic.  It's Grey's Anatomy.  Realism left the building several seasons ago.  Thank you.



And now I move on to more literary thoughts.  It's been noted that my tastes in movies and books runs to the slightly silly, the romantic comedy-ish, the girliest, fluffiest stuff possible.  I won't deny it.  But there's a reason.


If you look to the sidebar on the right, you can see that Atlas Shrugged is still at the top of the list of what I'm reading.  It is taking me longer than anticipated to finish this book, because it keeps getting too heavy (material wise) and I have to take a break.  The beginning was kind of slow for me and it took awhile to make my way through that.  Then in the middle things started to get really exciting and I couldn't put it down.  And right now I am in the middle of a 60 page speech by one guy.  And while it's a good speech and provides a good recap of what the rest of the book is trying to say, it's still a SIXTY PAGE SPEECH.  And it's serious, and it's kind of depressing and when it came down to it, I decided that reading it around the holiday season was simply not the best idea.  It's been a month since I've picked it up.  It just sits there, on one of the tables in my living room, staring me down and begging me to finish it.  I'm so close to the end, too!  I may try to make it my project for the weekend to start working through it again.  But only in the mornings, and only if it's sunny. 



The major reason I'm having a hard time finishing it is that I'm afraid it's going to have a sad and/or depressing ending.  On one hand I want to find out how it will end ahead of time so that I can be prepared one way or another.  On the other hand, I know I won't do it because I won't want to ruin the rest of the book.  I have this problem a lot.  I stopped reading The Kite Runner a couple of chapters in because I had a feeling something bad was going to happen.  Same with this book my mom let me borrow like a year ago that I can't remember the name of (I haven't lost it, I just can't make myself read it).  They're both still on my list to read in the future, but I really need to work myself up mentally to the depressing stuff.  I have the same problem with movies.  It took me over a month of the DVDs sitting in my apartment before I could watch either Schindler's List or The Passion of the Christ.  


The problem is, I get a little too involved, a little too emotional.  I'm not just sad while the sad stuff is happening on the screen or the page, I stay sad about it afterward for a time proportional to how much it upset me.  Million Dollar Baby had me sitting in the middle of my living room feeling completely drained for about two hours after it was over.  With both Schindler's and The Passion, I was sad for about a week.  I still can't really think about specific scenes without wanting to cry.  I get really upset and then I can't let it go. 



The thing is, I want stuff to have a happy ending.  Especially fiction.  If it didn't happen in real life, and it's all pretty much just made up anyway, there's no reason to leave me feeling depressed at the end, is there?  I know that a lot of people feel differently and they want their entertainment to be as real as possible, so if things are a little too happy and tied up they don't like it.  Well, to that I say this:  Real life sucks quite enough a lot of the time.  Many people don't get their happy endings, depressing crap happens all the time.  So when I'm looking for something to pass the time, and it's already something someone made up, I want it to be happy.  I want the good guys to win, the bad guys to lose, and the guy to get the girl.  It may be cheesy, it may not make for world changing stuff, but it's what I like. 



Don't let this make you think that these are the only sorts of things I read/watch.  I try to have a balance, I try to be well rounded.  If a movie comes out that looks sad but also really good, I will probably still watch it.  Not until it comes out on DVD and I can Netflix it and watch it in my apartment where no one else will see my crying like a small child, but eventually I'll get there.  And any movie that comes along that is really profound and affects a lot of people (see: Schindler's List and The Passion of the Christ) I will hunker down and watch it, because I think it's important to see these things.  I'm just saying that I may limit myself to watching Meg Ryan movies from the 80's and 90's and reading books with silly pink covers for about a month or so immediately following.

bonus

I can't remember if I've ever talked about this before (probably, I'm pretty repetitive), but I have this problem where I get completely random songs in my head for no reason and I can't get them out.

It could be (and usually is) a song I haven't heard in a long time - months, sometimes even years.  It usually won't even sound like anything I've actually heard, I can't explain it, it's just there.  And it's usually only one little phrase of a song on repeat over and over and over and over.  I can't explain it, it could be the result of a very specific and musically inclined brain tumor.

Right now the song in my head is "Guys and Dolls" sung by Frank Sinatra in, you guessed it, Guys and Dolls.  I haven't watched that movie in ages (although now I kind of want to) and I don't know how it got there!

To be perfectly honest, however, I'll take that any day over "Womanizer" by Britney Spears, which was in my head in the earlier part of the week (add that to the drawback of driving.  Top 40 stuck in your head for days...)

Now I don't know about all of you, but I'm pretty excited for the return of Grey's Anatomy tonight.  I feel like it hasn't been on in so long that it should be a new season starting or something.  It's entirely possible that when I get home I'm going to have to find the last episode online so I can have a refresher.  I feel like it was the one with Christina in the air vent?  I don't even know...when was that, October?  Stupid hiatus for the holidays.

The good news for the spring is that because stupid network television has started canceling most of the shows I really like or putting them on at horrible times that I don't think I'll be watching, my goal of less TV watching is starting to come to fruition.  As far as the next couple of months go when it's freezing, this will dramatically increase my movie watching (which I bet you didn't even think was possible), but at least there are less shows I will be hooked on.  Then when the weather starts to get better and less artic I may even develop a life!  Anything's possible, I guess.

That's all I've got for today, I'm coming down with a cold and my brain is no longer functioning.  Which is making me super productive at work, let me tell you.

winter evening

Last night, as we geared up for yet another snow 'storm' (which thus far has turned out to be approximately 2 inches, but that didn't stop all the snow emergency lights from flashing last night), all I really wanted to do with my evening was curl up on my couch and watch one of the new movies purchased with my Christmas gift certificates to Amazon (with 4 more still to come, have I mentioned how much I love an amazon gift certificate?  It's a lot):

You'll note that 3/4 of these are pretty girlie.  I recently decided that my selection of chick flicks was lacking.

I have taken measures to correct this situation.

Of course this plan was temporarily hijacked by HG 2.0 who enticed me with things like Santarpio's pizza and stopping over at Floyd's Cove (the new name of Sacha & Toni's place) for a little while to be social.  The allure of this magical pizza (and, you know, the company of my friends) was enough to get me off the couch and out the door, grumbling all the way about how I was going to be back in my apartment by 8:30 AT THE LATEST.

After a bit of chitchat and a couple slices of pizza, I took my leave.  The inevitable "oh come on, stay and hang out" started, but I explained that I wanted to watch a movie.  Which one? they asked.  "Don't worry about it" was my response.  I have noticed that nothing drives people so crazy as when you won't tell them a simple piece of harmless information.  It's one of my new favorite games (though I think it'll have to be used sparingly, otherwise it will lose its effect).

Sacha jokingly asked me if I was going home to watch some adult entertainment (not his actual word - sorry, parents).  With a completely straight face I looked him in the eye and said, "yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do.  I need to take advantage of Suneil being out of the house."  We had a good laugh and then he said, "oh wait, I bet you're going to watch that Earnest movie."  I congratulated him on being right and he responded, "well, that pretty much is adult entertainment for Jessie."  (again, sorry parents)

What I actually did was return to my apartment, put in The Importance of Being Earnest and get out my stationery, my trusty pens, and a cup of tea:

Please take special note of this fantastic tea cup brought for me all the way from Japan by Alisa.  I love it.

and settled in for the evening.  I love love love stationery (along with movies and books, it's one of the great loves of my life) and fancy writing instruments (by fancy I mean colorful), so I have decided to put both of these things to use in order to resurrect the lost art of the letter.  I enjoy writing letters, and in my youth I was all about writing to people who were far away.  And while I am a fan of the interwebs and the ease of communication these days, there's still something to be said for something you can hold in your hand that has been handwritten for you by someone else that I like.  Plus, it eventually gives me an excuse to buy more paper products (and yes, I am a huge nerd.  I'm ok with it).

ps - thanks for the breakfast suggestions, everyone!  They were extremely helpful and I will probably try all of them out at least once (after all, variety is the spice of life)

The proverbial leaf

So, the ushering in of a new year also brings the the vow of many to 'turn over a new leaf.'  People decide en mass to eat better, lose weight, go to the gym, .  In most cases these goals are never realized, or they last approximately a week or so.  Just because the year at the end of the date is 2009 and not 2008 does not mean that I've suddenly grown a new personality, or acquired willpower where there was none before.  Nonetheless, I try.

I have discovered that this leaf business works better for me in phases, and with as little pressure as possible (and apologies to Toni for totally ripping off her leaf).  Baby steps, one thing at a time.



In June I decided it was time to ramp it up, skincare wise.  I immediately went on a full scale assault of my pores, and six months later the assault is still on and I feel like I'm winning the war.  In October, I roped Alisa and myself into makeovers at the Benefit makeup counter where I spent a ridiculous amount of money, and since then I've actually graduated into being a grownup and wearing makeup every day.  When I went to Michigan for Thanksgiving, my skin suddenly dried so much that I felt like I could be used for kindling, and so I've become pretty religious about moisturizing (Eucerin body lotion is the best in case you're wondering).


On the other hand, I've tried to start drinking tea, which I'm doing sporadically, but it could be better.  I am trying to cut down on the amount of soda I drink, but I really need to get the caffeine somehow (coffee is not an option).  I'd like to spend less money on food and work on having groceries around instead of getting takeout all the time, but despite my good intentions it more often that not doesn't work out that way.  I would also benefit from leaving my house more to exercise, go for a walk, or just get up and move around.  Not so much, especially when it's -150 degrees outside.  I could probably also benefit from having a consistently clean house (and not just when I know company is coming).  Anyway, slow and steady wins the race, or so they say.  Keeping up with the baby steps.


My current drive is on having groceries around.  Over the holidays I did some cooking and remembered that I actually enjoy it.  It's kind of nice to have a bunch of ingredients laying around that can be made into something delicious when put together, and it's even better when there are leftovers to be had for lunch later on (just so long as those ingredients are balanced with things that require no preparation whatsoever for the other days when I come home and don't want to expend any effort at all).  It's cheaper than eating out for every meal, and when I buy groceries I'm more likely to shame myself into buying somewhat healthy things as opposed to eating sandwiches nonstop.  I know, I'm growing as a person.



This all brings me to this morning.  I had decided I was going to start eating breakfast again (I know Mom, breakfast is important it's not good to skip it, you don't have to yell at me), and that I might as well try to do my own breakfast instead of spending money on a bagel every morning (which is really not the best idea anyway).  Somehow I got it into my head that I would mix together some nonfat yogurt, a sliced banana and some honey nut cheerios.  That would be my filling yet healthy breakfast.  I was warned ahead of time by Grace RN that this might not work due to the amount of sugar found in yogurt that would probably just make me feel hungry again in about an hour.  I thanked her for her kind advice and said I'd try it out, with worst case scenario being that I never do it again.


Well, somehow in the middle of this brilliant plan of mine I somehow forgot that I HATE YOGURT.  I hate everything about it, it makes me gag.  I thought to myself, yogurt is healthful, when mixed with bright berries it looks kind of pretty, other people eat it all the time, I could totally do that.  Um, yea.  No, no I can't.  I tried this morning.  I gave it a legitimate effort, I swear.  It was just too gross, I hated it.  HG 2.0 advised me not to start out with the nonfat, but I don't even think that was the problem.  It was the consistency, the gooeyness, the flavor, all of it.  It's too much like pudding which I also don't like.  I ended up just being angry with myself that I ruined a perfectly good banana.  So now I'm munching on some cheerios at my desk trying to determine what else I could do for an easy breakfast that doesn't take much preparation (as in, it pretty much has to be something that I can just grab and bring into work because I'm not waking up any earlier in the morning).  Yogurt is clearly not an option.  So disgusting.

Master Mechanic

At the moment, I have another house guest (we'll call him HG 2.0).  Some subtle differences between the previous squatter and this newer model:  this one comes with a semi-fixed end date (as HG 2.0 is leaving the country shortly) and this one comes with a car.  What's more, HG 2.0 went out of town over the weekend and left me custody of said car so that I was free to roam about as I pleased (I never miss having a car until I'm driving one and then I remember how much I love it.  Until I buy gas and then I remember the parts of car ownership that suck).

The one problem with this situation is that last week HG 2.0 noticed that one of his headlights had burned out.  He said all week he was going to get a new one, but we're talking championship level procrastination here to the point where it was 7:00pm on New Year's Day, his flight was leaving at some unholy hour on Friday morning and he was calling around trying to see if any places were open (though I can't really judge, I'm a pretty high ranking procrastinator myself).  As you may or may not know, it gets dark on the East Coast at about 4:00 during the winter (which is really great for seasonal depression, let me tell you), so having one headlight out seriously limits one's ability to go places in the later part of the day without the possibility of being pulled over.  And I'm a total rule follower, so I was paranoid about going out after dark sans one headlight with an out of state car, because I was pretty sure I would be pulled over immediately (I should note that I already think I'm going to be pulled over at any second because I'm sure I'm doing something wrong that I'm not aware of.  I pretty much always think I'm doing something wrong that I'm not aware of.  Is that weird?).

So, anyway.  As I like to think I'm pretty nice (when it counts if not all the time), I offered to get the headlight replaced on Saturday morning while he was gone, using some of the money he gave me for rent.  For some reason my offer made him nervous, and he kept insisting that if I wanted to get a new headlight I could and then he could just put it in when he got back.  I appreciated his total lack of confidence in my abilities, but I assured him that from my experience the friendly people at AutoZone would help me change the headlight (I mean they help with windshield washers).  He still seemed unsure but was probably afraid to come right out and say, "I think you will break my car, please don't touch it" for fear that he would sustain bodily injury, so he just let it go.


Saturday morning I woke up bright and early and headed out for Operation: Headlight Replacement.  I arrived at AutoZone, walked right up to the counter and triumphantly declared that I needed a new headlight for a 2000 Honda Accord.  The friendly worker found my item in the computer, retrieved it for me, I paid for it and left (yes, without asking for any help).  I got back to the parking lot where I noticed a sign that said, "no working on cars in parking lot" which led me to believe that even if I asked for help I would not get it because it would constitute working in the parking lot, and I also reasoned that I am a fairly intelligent person and perfectly able to follow the directions I was pretty confident were in the owner's manual.


I returned home, got out the owner's manual, popped the hood, took apart all the pieces that required taking apart, looked at the headlight in the car, looked at the headlight I had purchased (but thankfully not opened) and thought to myself, 'one of these things is not like the other.'  I then flashed back to my time at the store when I said, "I need a new headlight for a 2000 Honda Accord."  See, the major problem with this statement is that what I actually needed was something to fit a Civic.  Serves me right for being all cocky and Ms. Know-It-All-y.  Surefire recipe for me to do something stupid like say the wrong model of car (the worst part is I KNEW it was a Civic.  I'm really not that much of an idiot, I just come across that way sometimes).


A short time later I walked back into AutoZone with my tail between my legs and the same guy remembered me and said, "is there a problem?  did you need the high intensity?"  I sheepishly told him that it was actually a Civic, not an Accord.  He chuckled a little and switched them out for me.  Once again I was on my way.  I did not ask for help again because I was determined that I would do something right, and that something would be replacing the headlight all on my own (which I have never done before) without ruining HG 2.0's car.


While I have to say the directions were not entirely as helpful as I would have liked, I managed to successfully change the light, without accidentally touching the halogen part of the bulb (which apparently can lead to overheating and explosions...nothing like the threat of hot miniature explosions to make you be careful).  Everything was put back together successfully, and my friend need never know that I did it without supervision (except that I'll probably tell him and it'll sound something like this - "so even though you think I'm a moron who can't follow directions at all I changed the headlight in your car ALL BY MYSELF and did it perfectly, thankyouverymuch."  And I may follow it up with sticking my tongue out).  And I know he doesn't read this so there's no way he ever needs to find out that I originally got the wrong headlight (except that I'll probably tell him).

This new and functioning headlight allowed me to spend some time over at Alisa's watching girly movies and eating some completely delicious homemade pot stickers, and to go to the mall where I bought giant fluffy new pillows, and to return me safely to my home.  And I suppose it will also allow me to go pick up HG 2.0 from the airport this evening.  Two headlights really are so much better than one.

you're a star, baby

So this year for something completely new and different, we all went over to Sacha and Toni's for Chinese food and drinks to ring in the new year.

The original plan was to have some dinner, then go to our beloved hookah bar for awhile, returning to the apartment for champagne toasts at midnight.  The dinner part of the plan went smoothly, though the restaurant we got our takeout from has a limited menu on New Year's Eve and it does NOT include scallion pie.  Which is quite possibly the worst decision made by a restaurant ever, as scallion pie is delicious and magical.  Anyway.


After another freaking New England snow storm (let me just quickly tell you why winter here is crappier than in Michigan.  NE lulls you into a false sense of security with no snow for weeks and weeks and weeks and then BAM!  Like 10 inches of snow in one day.  Add the crazy wind whipping off the ocean that shakes the house and no amount of winter armor protection will help, and you've got yourself a recipe for a completely miserable three months weather-wise) we all bundled up as much as we could and piled into cars to head to the bar (we had perfectly sober drivers, do not fear parents!).  As the first couple people walked in the guy informed them that there was absolutely no room.  However, as soon as the rest of the party made their way in and he saw that there were 6 and not 2 of us, the manager took it upon himself to take another look around and see if he could find a table for us.  He came back a couple minutes later and said, "ok, I can get you in for $20 per person."  After this completely outrageous statement we left in a huff and went back to party central grumbling all the way about our bitterness toward the once beloved hookah bar (which will probably be beloved again in a couple weeks).


Upon our return to party central (by the way I have decided that Sacha & Toni's place needs to have a name so that we can reference the place we all spend most of our time by one word instead of having to constantly spit out 'Sacha & Toni's place'... suggestions are welcome) we consumed more adult beverages (Sacha kept trying to sell us on some drink called a 'French 75'.  It sounded and tasted kind of gross, so most of us opted to stick with our gin & tonics) and awaited the ball drop.


Which brings me to the absolute most fun party game ever.  Yes, even better than Rock Band.  What I'm talking about is the wonder and majesty known as "SingStar".  It's a game for the PlayStation 3, it comes with two microphones and a little camera that affixes to the top of your television.  Basically, it's karaoke in your house with video.  A-maz-ing.  It may not sound like much, but add a little alcohol, 'pass the mic' mode (which makes it a team event) and as much insane backup dancing as possible while filming is taking place and you've got yourself hours of entertainment, my friends!  It was pretty spectacular, and probably ended up being more fun than spending a bunch of money at the hookah bar and just sitting around the table blowing apple flavored smoke rings.


When all was said and done we enjoyed our extra second of 2008, celebrated with champagne and noisemakers and awesome paper tiaras, and (at least I) had the appropriate amount of hangover on New Year's Day.  The biggest downside of the evening by far was the walk back to my apartment at 3am.  It was cold, cold, cold.  Definitely the longest 5 minutes of the year so far.

 

We make the best faces for the camera