gimme a v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n

I really should be packing now, since I’m flying away to Minnesota tomorrow. But I am not. Instead I am drinking beer and faffing around on facebook and other such productive things. I can’t even say I’m doing laundry, since I think I just heard the washing machine stop. So. Time for a bullet-point post, methinks.

• First and most importantly, if you’re in Boston this weekend you should go see Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead in Cambridge. It’s being put on by Bad Habit Productions and is playing at a YMCA on Mass Ave just off of Central Square. Seriously. It is an amazing production. I love the play, I think I’d rank it at least in my Top 10 plays of all time, if not Top 5, and this production was fantastifabulous. R and G and the Player were all SPOT ON, and the troupe of players (don’t remember what they’re actually called…) were all wonderful as well. I didn’t like the King and Queen so much, but everyone else made up for it. Really, a fantastic show. I was so sad that the audience was so small when I went to see it on Saturday. SO GO SEE IT THIS WEEKEND.
• I sort of accidentally saw Harry Potter last week. I think I’ve now actually seen most of them in theaters, even though I never really want to… seeing as I don’t so much like the books… but my friends were going and I’m nothing if not a follower. So we went, and since all I really remembered was the Big Ending (which I mentioned, thereby spoiling it for one of my friends, but I didn’t think it was a secret anymore? but anyway I’m not going to mention it here.) but yeah I didn’t remember any of the smaller plot points so it was almost like watching a fresh story. I actually enjoyed it. Yanno, for Harry Potter. But I’m not going to recommend it, just on principle.
• So Tuesday morning I woke up and went to my computer and I had a google calendar alert thing informing me that I was going to a concert that night at the House of Blues. The Eagles of Death Metal, who I had never heard of. I checked my stash of tickets and sure enough there it was. This isn’t totally out of the ordinary, I love live music and tend to buy tickets to bands I’ve never heard of if the first one or two things I find on youtube is good. I decided not to remind myself who they were (I figured I’d investigated when I got the ticket and liked them, so I shouldn’t be too worried) so I just went to the concert cold. No idea what to expect.And you may recall my discomfort with the Tracy Chapman crowd? And how old and/or obnoxious and/or generally odd they all were? Well I walked into EoDM and was faced with a sea of mostly men in jeans and dark shirts, covered in tattoos and piercings. “Yessss,” I thought. “This is my crowd. I know what to do with this.”

  The show was great. EoDM isn’t actually a death metal band, which was fine with me. Good solid little rock band. Lots of fun. And they were superb performers. They all—the lead singer especially—treated the audience like it was the greatest audience they had ever performed for. It was so so so much fun.

  Which brings me to my final note of that evening. I went alone, which I usually do, and I was drinking (not excessively, really) and dancing my heart out and just generally having a blast, and apparently people noticed… Not one, no, not one but two different men commented afterwards that I had obviously had an awesome time. One of them accosted me by saying, “Hey Party Girl!” So… yeah. Just call me Party Girl. Apparently my reputation in this town is growing.

• Someone outside my window is really pissed off and yelling…
• I hit myself in the side of the head this morning (don’t ask) and my tragus piercing pushed all the way through the hole and popped out. When I stopped by the piercing place after work (conveniently located within sight of my apartment) the hole was already so healed she had to stretch the hole to get the post in.* WTF, ear. Chill the fuck out.
• It turns out I have a 35-minute layover in Atlanta, so hopefully I catch my second flight tomorrow…
• Which brings me full circle to the packing thing. Okay. Here I go. Don’t expect much bloggyness for the next week or so.

*Do with that phrase what you will…

observation, or, eat your veggies

So I was rereading some of my old posts, as I was wandering through fixing things, and one thing stood out to me, one thing I write about frequently:

I get sick a lot.

It seems like every other post is “oh yeah and now I’m sick again” or “well I was sick last week.” WTF? Hello immune system get with the program here. I don’t have this kind of time.

Really, I’m not a weakling. I mean, I’m clumsy and prone to random injuries, but I generally feel like quite a sturdy human being. I didn’t used to be this frail invalid type. I don’t know what’s going on.

Maybe I just post so infrequently that it only seems like I’m sick a lot. No, that’s not it. I really have been sick more than usual this year. So I dunno. Maybe I need to sleep more. Or take vitamins. Or not have ice cream and beer as my two major food groups.

I’m sure this is fascinating to everyone. But really, WTF.

commuting in gracetopia

Commuting isn’t fun for anybody. Day in, day out, go this way, go that way. But my last few days have been particularly horrific.

1. Yesterday morning, I am on the bus, on my way to my T stop. It is a usual crowded morning bus, and I am standing near the windshield.

And the bus approaches a stoplight. At this stoplight, like many of its brethren stoplights, Direction North/South goes, then Direction East/West goes, and then the pedestrians go. We are Direction N/S, and the light just turns red as we approach. So then Direction E/W goes. And then it is time for the pedestrians to go, but the bus driver apparently doesn’t know this and starts going. Not just that inch you do when the light is about to turn, he actively begins moving. BUT WAIT there are pedestrians! BRAKE BRAKE!

So the bus driver brakes hard, and everyone goes flying forward. Including me. And I am basically at the front. I am off balance and I go flying and but for the huge bearded hippie dude who is much sturdier than I am, I would have gone through the windshield. So thank you huge bearded hippie dude.

2. Today on my subway ride home, someone threw up in my car. Like, just threw up and left.

I hate vomit. I hate it hate it hate it whether it comes from me or someone else.

I almost threw up as well. God the smell. It was horrible.

I can only wait to see what fun tomorrow will bring.

lazy day of summer

Wow it’s hot.

I have accomplished approximately nothing this weekend. I’m currently in Providence, RI, lazing on my friend’s deck in this 87-degree weather. Trying to balance the beer intake with the water intake and stay under the umbrella’s shade. Had some thoughts of writing, but the sun broiled my brain to mush.

So I’m going to tidy up some things around Gracetopia (going to update the Rogues’ Gallery, for one) and go back to doing nothing on the internet.

More updates as events warrant.

sunday sunday

Good evening, everyone.

Currently listening to: the Sharks game. Gooooo Sharks! I wish I didn’t have to listen to it on the radio, b/c the radio announcers are even more annoying than the normal announcers. Oh well. Someday I’ll own the Sharks, so they’ll save me box seats for every game. (hey, a girl can dream, right?)

Anyway, I’m spending the weekend taking the kid brother to colleges. Tomorrow we’re going to have the fun experience of trying to drive in Boston on the day of the marathon. Luckily we’re closer to the freeway than to the race, so maybe we can just make a quick escape. Maybe…

The fact that I can take tomorrow off is weird to me. Like, I saw on my work schedule that April 20 was an optional holiday, and I was like, “what? we get 4/20 off?” Then I figured it out. But still. You silly New Englanders and your silly holidays. :)

Anaheim just scored. Damn it. This is not going well.

Mediocre Friday

Today was supposed to be a wonderful day.

I took off from work. Good Friday is an optional holiday at my office—one that I do not celebrate, but hey, why not? The weather was supposed to be beautiful, I could take a break and kick back—lovely, right? Right. Except.

I slept til like 11:30. Awesomesauce.

And then our internet was out.

Fuck you, NSTAR. Why did you choose today of all days to make some upgrade to the neighborhood’s electricity? WTF? The one day I stay home from work and want to veg out.

Oh well. I’m adaptable. I take my book and go upstairs to our deck, which is probably what I would have done anyway. I just would have taken my laptop too.

I open the door to our deck. I step out.

“Ouch,” I say. “What was that sharp prick in my foot?”

So I reach down and pull a rusty nail out of my foot.

“Oh,” I say. “That can’t be good.”

And thus begins the Great Tetanus Shot Saga.

See, I don’t have a doctor. I chose a random name out of the doctor book on my first day of work, so I had someone to put on my form as my Primary Care Physician. Some random name. We’ll call her Dr. Doobie. But all I have is her name.

And I don’t have internet. And I can’t find her in the phone book. And I can’t go to anyone else, because one thing I do know about my health insurance is that I can’t go to anyone unless I’m referred by Dr. Doobie, because she is the doctor on my form.

So I walk down to the library and look her up, and it’s within walking distance so I walk on over.

I enter the clinic. I explain what has happened and that I would like to get a tetanus shot please because I do not remember the last time I had one and it seems kind of urgent that I get one.

“We are not a walk-in clinic,” I am told. “In order for us to do this, you need to do a physical and a health assessment. We can make an appointment for next Friday?”

Me: “Um, what? I just need to get a tetanus shot.”

So I left.

I was unsure what to do. I’m new to this adult stuff, and I don’t know how serious tetanus is, really, so I didn’t really know how much of an emergency this was. Like, did I need to get to a doctor ASAP? Could I wait til next week? AND I DIDN’T HAVE INTERNET TO LOOK ANYTHING UP.

My roommate called her nurse-mother and I decided I should go get a shot.

But what to do? And ER sounded excessive. My insurance wouldn’t cover it unless I changed my PCP, which I couldn’t do without using the internet to access the list of approved providers and then calling them to see if they could help me.

But.

One of my roommates works at a medical center. Farther away, but I knew where it was. And they were in the phone book. I called. A tetanus shot for a walk-in: $15.  Totally doable.

So I went, and surprised my roommate, and she saved me from getting lockjaw.

And then my other roommate and I went and bought a case of 2-buck chuck. So now life is good. Except my arm hurts.

weekend accomplishments: zero

uggghhh I’m such a bad person. I totally bailed on Habitat for Humanity yesterday. I could feel myself getting sick on Friday, and then I woke up on Saturday and I was like, oh god exhaustion and I can tell I’m about to be really ill. So I stayed home and slept. And now I feel like the scum of the earth.

But I am feeling slightly better? So that’s good. I’m still like ridiculously tired, but better.

Except–

So far this weekend I have watched The Last King of Scotland, La Haine (still one of my favorite movies of all time), Law and Order: SVU, The Avengers, and Paris Hilton’s New BFF.*

And eaten a pint of sorbet.

So basically, this weekend was a total loss. Ughhh.

I did write like 200 words in my WIP, but I don’t like them very much.

.

*Contrary to how it may be appearing, I often do other things besides watch television. Really. I swear.

writing update

There are times when I think pounding my head against a doorframe might be more pleasurable than writing.

This may be is one of those times. No wait. Okay I fixed it.

I’m pretty sure this WIP I’ve been working on for about a year is complete and utter shite (ugh, MC, stop bawling all over the place) but I can’t figure out how to fix it without starting over. So that’s what I’m trying to do. 40k words, buh-bye.

Except now I can’t figure out how to start again.

Someone shoot me.

NEWS FLASH FROM GRACETOPIA

It’s the day you’ve all been waiting for.

Gracetopia is once again connected to the internet!!!!

That’s right, folks, I am posting from my bed, in my pajamas. This is the life. I’d like to give a big shout-out to “the boys downstairs,” as I like to call them, for making this happen.

And now, back to the world of the webs. I will once again be visiting all the old blogs I know and love, I’m sorry guys for my long absence. I will once again be online a ridiculous amount of time for someone young and in their prime. I am once again a happy and fulfilled human bean. Being. Whatever.

black-eyed peas: the legend is true

I am sick. And I know exactly who is to blame for this:

Um, what?

I hear you say.

I did not get my black-eyed peas yesterday. Black-eyed peas must be eaten on New Year’s day in order to ensure luck and good fortune for the coming year. (My mother is from the South–I have learned not to question these things.) And I tried, I really did. I bought them and everything. Was all ready to make them. But then at the last minute I decided to go to a friend’s house in Providence, where there would be NO black-eyed peas. I went and it was a lot of fun but of course I was worried about ruining the rest of 2009 just because of one day of foolishness.

I called my mother and was told that if I ate the black-eyed peas today it should be okay; I even got my little brother to promise to eat a double-serving to make up for me.

But apparently it didn’t work, because here I am, snotty and coughing. Happy New Year, my ass.

The black-eyed peas are now cooking. Hopefully if I eat enough of them I should be okay…