The party is expanding
Tonight we are celebrating Vivian's green card. It's past due and I had to cancel last Saturday, so I am going a little overboard now. Got up early and started cooking. So far the tofu and shrimp red curry is done, I just need to cook the rice. I will also prepare a huge salad and baked brie with caramelized onions (the onions I did this morning, I just have to shove the thing in the oven) and a few canapes. Dessert, so far: chocolate pudding mini-tartes with japapeño and lemon filled croustades. Oh, and a tequila, pisco, fruit juice mix is macerating with fruits in the refrigerator. I have barely time to shower and go to rehearsals now. Today there's this actress from Mamma Mia coming over to show us how it's done.
I met my match
She can out drink me and out dance me. She works the room better than me, talks to more people, gets more responses. She's also younger and prettier. I am torn between hanging out with her and having fun or staying away from such fierce competition. Who would have thought such a creature existed.
Geek satisfaction
I am surfing the web with Firefox on Ubuntu in a VirtualBox running on a Windows 2000 machine. Aaahhh!
0626080001.jpg, originally uploaded by Rosarionyc.
0626080001.jpg, originally uploaded by Rosarionyc.
Give me a break
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Buzzword! Buzzword! Drunkorexia (don't miss the link, it's hilarious, the pompous judgmental comments being the best part!), the "new" eating disorder, so new it was popular when I was a kid. More than 13% of females have more than 7 drinks a week? I think I might know them all. I think I hang out with a bunch of alcoholics. And Cristopher Hitchens rule!
Cheerfulness explained
A little excerpt from a very interesting essay:
Interpreting pain and loss as meaningful in a philosophical or religious context is another form of bargaining, a consolation prize: "My legs are gone, I have been tortured, my children went to a concentration camp, my tumor is inoperable, but there is a reason for everything: it is to test my faith; it is all for the greater glory of God or the Party; it brings humankind to a realization of existential despair; even from the jaws of defeat we can salvage a mustard seed of victory, we shall rise from the ashes, we shall be changed." Explanation is still the game of hope and fear: "If I submit to suffering, then maybe I will gain a higher truth."
The pressure of affliction tends to blow these answers away like chaff. A political prisoner being drowned in a bucket of floating sewage is interested in only one thing: the next breath. Sarcoidosis is not quite as severe, but the concern is the same. Beyond that, I want to open completely, without disguises, consolations, or illusions of any kind. By refusing to assign meaning to it, we stay with the emptiness of suffering, and thus begin to live in a reality that is luminous, limitless, unconditional, and immediate.
The cheerfulness that results from this renunciation of meaning cannot be destroyed, because it does not deny anything, and it does not have to be maintained. Misery and death are included, and allowed. It is not "my" cheerfulness; it does not come from anywhere. You can let go of it and laugh. You could drink from skull cups and make trumpets from human bones.
I am not sure why I like it, but I do.
What now?
Monday, June 23, 2008
So I uploaded a picture of our food from my cell, as I usually do. I did not rename it. It got sent as some 00something.jpg. I come home, I check my blog and the picture has been renamed MAZEL TOV MAZEL TOV, HARAV HA'TZDIK!!!!!!!
WTF??????
Done!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Finally! After spending most of the weekend working, I am done.
Tomorrow I am meeting Dawn at 6 A.M at the Y.
In the meantime I might sleep ...
As of tomorrow I might have new bloggers here, Adriana and Davide, telling everything about their relocation to Barbados.
Last Sunday
at Girls Girls Girls.
You can click on the photo and get the bigger version and then click again and see the humongous version, with the close-up pores.
Me being me
Saturday, June 21, 2008
svelte and subdued...
Photo snapped by the enemy at the Italian Meetup a couple of weeks ago. In the foreground, Eileen, looking like a lady should.
Why not two?
The Passion Fruit Saketinis were not bad at all. Pamen seemed very satisfied with her Sparkling Geishas. And now I am left to wonder how on Earth am I going to work tonight?
Too much work
and no play ... no, I refuse to be dull.
I am off to try a new restaurant, Riingo, just around the corner. I will have just one little miserable cocktail, a hopefully delicious dinner with Pamen and then back home for a long night of work.
As for the play, the director discarded the one we were doing and chose a completely different thing. Lets see what happens.
Today is the first day of summer, right? It feels so strange without M.A. For years now hot weather, the beach, swimming, most things summer related are intrinsically connected to him and it feels weird to experience them on my own. Guess I will though, like a big girl!
Friday!
Friday, June 20, 2008
I am done here at the office. I am leaving behind my iPod speakers because I lent them for a goodbye party still going on in the hall. Me, I am getting home, maybe working a little, or maybe reading the play. Up tomorrow early, more work, and rehearsals at noon. In the evening Vivienne and Randy are coming for drinks on my roof deck to celebrate her green card, after, I think, 10 years of waiting. Juan, Leandro, Ricardo and Pamen might drop by too. Later.
The mistery thickens
I got a call from UPS this morning regarding another shipment from Great Britain that needed to pass customs (one of the items was a scooter!). I explained the situation to a very nice lady and refused the box, so it gets sent back to the shop. Then I called the vendors in England, explained yet again the situation and got a good laugh out of the stupidity of these thieves you are seemingly unable to get the stuff sent to them. But there is a detail that is troubling. UPS did not call me at home, at work or on my cell. They called my Grand Central number, which I hardly ever use (by hardly I mean I got maybe a handful of calls on that number since I opened it in 2006). UPS was provided that number along with my current address. How the fuck did the thieves know this number? It is not listed and, as far as I know, it's not connected to me in any public forum. It is puzzling and I need to find out what is going on. I hereby ask my loyal reader base, all 4 of you, to think hard and come up with possible scenarios. Thanks - all 4 of you.
Retarded thieves
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The idiots who have been using my credit card (raking over 7.000 dollars so far) not only have had stuff sent to my address (duh!) but they have also bought a couple of KLM tickets for a London-Amsterdam-Johannesburg flight. Their names come up in my VISA statement! I don't care if they used their real names or if they are traveling with fake IDs (which, by the way, implies an altogether different level of crime), it's just an idiotic thing to do. Having watched too many police series on TV not to be compelled to act, I found the South African police website, with a convenient form to leave tips about crimes. They even have the Johannesburg International Airport as one of the places to send the tip to! So now you know, should they ever find my body floating away on the Hudson, go look for these asses. They will probably be the ones wearing glaring red football jerseys.
More on the same: I called a company in California today to send back a huge box with clothes worth almost $700. Another brilliant move from the sharp minds behind these fraudulent transactions ...
Better late than never
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
I only just discovered this and it might prove to be as fascinating and addictive as This American Life or 30 days.
More than I can chew
I am on the night shift this week. Saturday afternoon is 5 hours with the theater thingy for which I have to prepare. Sunday I am on beeper duty at work and will probably go to the office. I have a gazillion things to do at home (the wall decals in my bedroom, the mobile curtain in the kitchen, the throwing out of a ton of paper, the giving out of a ton of clothes). I have to do the paperwork for the credit card fraud. I downloaded an Arabic course so I don't stand there looking like an idiot when Meriem and her friends start making side comments. Oh, and I have to start working on a short movie for the Year of Languages due at the end of the summer, as well as on a documentary that I have embarked upon with Chema. To make things more NY hectic, I now have also one of those long and ungrateful side "jobs" like my sister's nightmarish resumé. I really need to drag my sorry ass to the gym again. It's the only way I can hope to have enough energy for the rest.
Clueless
Monday, June 16, 2008
Seems Michael Economy is a downtown star. How could I be so unaware? Miss Guy is also somebody to be reckon with.
So there I was yesterday, dancing at the Bowery Electric until I could move no more and talking to this very nice still-in-the-closet young boy. I was actually telling him my thing with black men when a black man walked in, came straight to me, at that moment sitting at the bar, and started moving all around and over me. I think that impressed the shit out of the boy. And me, to tell the truth.
Let the nightmare begin
Came home to a package of soccer shirts and Chelsea scarves from Manchester. Having no idea what was going on I checked my VISA account on the web. Wow! Somebody is spending my money like there is no tomorrow. I already blocked the card. Now I have to sort this mess out and still manage to pay the very nice couple I bought some prints from this afternoon. It was bound to happen some day, it's amazing it has no happened earlier.
Lots of rain and new experiences
Saturday, June 14, 2008
The amount of water pouring down right now is nothing short of amazing!!!! I might rethink my evening plans!
Today I met with the theater group and found out which play we are doing and what is expected of me. It was fun getting into Fordham, checking out the classes, sitting at a desk again. And it was very interesting to find out how it's done, all the little details, all the work that goes into producing a play. As assistant to the director I am basically expected to be at his beck and call. Right now I have to read all the parts and know them well enough so I can feed the lines to the actors. I have to make a list of the props. I have to take care of coordinating the rehearsals. I have to help with creating the playbill and the posters. This is going to be a 5 hours affairs, every frigging Saturday, until October. Too late to back out of it now though.
After the rehearsal (at which I discovered that one of the actors works exactly one office down from mine!!!!!I have never crossed paths with him at work and it took an Italian group on the Web to get us to meet!) I started walking back home with some of the other victims. Eventually I took refuge with one at them at Borders. She is an American of Italian descent who teaches Italian but has a B.S. in neuroscience. So we chatted on NLP, my ex hubby, Oliver Sacks, Ramachandran, my crush on Cristopher Hitchens, etc. This must be my week for interesting conversations, given that it started with a debate on prostate massage with a guy I had just been introduced to.
Well, on a different subject, I hope to stick to my plans for tomorrow, as I did not go out yesterday night, nor did I tonight.
To be or not to be
Thursday, June 12, 2008
MSI Wind or Dell Inspiron Mini? I almost pre-ordered the Wind this morning and now I found out about this smaller Dell, with Ubuntu!!!!! I liked the hardware on XP Wind, the longer battery life and the memory and I was ready to chance installing Ubuntu on it. But now I am screwed. Now I will have to wait and see the Dell specs.
Twittering again
Tonight it's drinks at Meriem's with the Arab crowd.
Tomorrow I'll spend the day at the beach with Pam, then go over to the MoMA for the Eliasson's exhibit a lot of people are raving about.
In the evening, drinks with Joi, one of the girls I met in Lima.
Saturday early afternoon I'll attend my very first theater meetup, where I hope to find out which play we will be doing.
Saturday night I might go to a birthday party.
Sunday afternoon I can't miss the Renegade Fair in Brooklyn and then Girls, Girls, Girls at night.
So busy that I am on Twitter again. I also thought it would come in handy should I ever be arrested. Sign up to follow me and in the meantime I'll look into ways of synching my Twitter updates with my Facebook status or I'll be forced to spend the rest of my days sending SMSs.
A blast of an evening
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
I am blogging and walking. Met the Italian group for drinks and then dinner. Wonderful time. I finally negotiated working for the Italian play but not as an actress. I will be behind the scenes.I am going to end up under a car tryng to type this on my cell and blog. Pam is on the train and will be home shortly.
Slavery
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Another beautiful day and here I am at the office. I am trying to decide whether to take Friday off and go to the beach by myself or keep these 2 days and use them later on.
I finally met Gigi today. She's a friend of Gabriela's, the daughter of Gabriela's brother's best friends. She was in NY for a couple of days and we managed to have a coffee together this morning. She's very nice and she has been instrumental, with her family, in Panchi's successful back surgery in Spain. Now back to work so I can get out of here soon (although I am afraid I'll have to pull an all-nighter today).
Not happy
Saturday, June 7, 2008
There's a heat wave in NY. It's sunny and hot hot. I had half planned a day outing to Sandy Hook. Instead, I am in the office and I will be here tomorrow too, buried under a pile of pages. I have no idea why I said I could do it. I've been invited to a barbecue today too. I doubt I will be able to make it. Todays it's juts me and the little mouse who's been visiting my office lately. Shit. I also started my working day calling M.A. who's still at the beach having a grand time. I really want to telecommute!
Saw the Sex & the City movie yesterday evening. Loved it. Not immediately, but eventually. At the beginning I almost got mad at what seemed like the most unfeminist movies ever. Then I warmed to it, decided it was a fairy tale, relaxed and enjoyed it. Then, as it often happens with sagas, I did not want it to end. I want to keep an eye on these girls in their 50s, 60s, 70s ...
Grand time
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Back from my Meetup meeting. Had a wonderful time with a bunch of nice, interesting people. Drinks at Bar Milano after work and pizza at ... at ... at ... I'd better sleep now ...
I am back
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Flew in on Sunday and I am still awfully jet lagged. Up at 5 AM today. I had a wonderful time though. Good thing I have NY to come home to or I would be seriously depressed now.
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