Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Evening the Score

My smoke detector adventure continues. Just last month I thought I had taken care of this issue, but alas the smoke detector wanted a rematch. Last night after an exhausting day and actually dragging myself to the gym for the first time in a month, I dropped into bed at 11pm basking in the glorious 8 hours of sleep I was about to get. Unfortunately unbeknownst to me, my apartment had other ideas. At 2:30am the Squeap came back with a vengeance. Every 30 seconds...SQUEEEEAP. Not wanting to deal I got up, closed my bedroom door and put a pillow over my head. I could still hear it, but was convinced it was something I could just sleep through. 2 minutes later the Squeap took on a whole different sound...it started to growl/hiss. I kid you not. Finally I get out of bed, drag my drafting table stool into the hallway and in a half awake state, somehow managed to stand on top of it and remove the smoke detector from the wall once again and remove the battery without falling off. It's nearing 3am by this point and I'm pissed I've had to deal with this whole fiasco again.

3am was also the time a nasty storm blew through outside, rattling my windows and producing heavy rain. I tried the pillow over the head trick again, this time not really knowing if it was the sound I was trying to block out, or if I was trying to suffocate myself to end the misery, but whatever my motive, it didn't work. Finally around 4:30 I accepted that I wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep and I got up and watched TV until having to go to work this morning.

Sleep total for the night: 3.5 hours....Squeap - 1, Kai - 1. The score is tied.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Countdown!

In 1 month and 1 day I will be in London!!!!!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

The answer to my culinary woes!!!

So I'm browsing in Williams Sonoma this afternoon and come across the absolulte answer to my cooking hatred. Now if I had any food knowledge at all I would have known that something like this existed, but I live in a culinary cave and though that you could only get things like this that were huge. You can't really tell from the picture, but this little guy is SO little and cute. I highly recommend it for all you single cooks who hate chopping and grinding as much as I do! I LOVE THIS THING!!!!


No more hands smelling like garlic and slicing my fingers off when chopping herbs!!! And it's only $40!

An apology

to the tourists I heckled on Thursday night. I went out for some drinks with coworkers and on my way to Grand Central I saw typical NY tourists with their dazed looks and HUGE street maps. A very large group of people was blocking the street trying to decide which way up-town was. Now I fully realize I should have just TOLD them which way uptown was, but I didn't have all my wits about me and so instead I simply yelled "PICK A DIRECTION, if the streets are getting HIGHER in #s you are going UPTOWN, if the street numbers are getting lower you are going DOWNTOWN". Sigh. It truly is amazing I didn't get arrested that night. I also had a very intense conversation with a pretzle cart.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Tipsy Arguments

Had a fabulous dinner last night at Uva on 2nd Avenue. 4 people, 2 bottles of wine and lots of food made for an interesting evening. At one point the 4 of us got into a bit of a heated debate on my use of the word "luxury". The 4 of us all between the ages of 24-28, were all raised in similar upper middle class/somewhat wealthy families and all work for the same record label on the assistant level. "Receptionist L" made a comment about how she "could never have a job doing something she didn't believe in". She commented on a member of our staff that has a negative attitude and who isn't know for being very proactive in her job (Ms. Mailroom), saying that she didn't understand why she didn't just quit if she didn't like it. I made the point that you can only have Receptionist L's point of view (only taking jobs you truly believe in) if you were raised the way we all were, with considerable personal/familial wealth to keep us afloat, that her perspective was "a luxury" that people (like Ms. Mailroom) who struggle just to feed and house their family every month do not have the ability to have. I was trying to make the point that we all should feel lucky to work where we work, but Exec Asst. A said it was ridiculous to think that none of us should aspire to have more "important" (for lack of a better word) jobs just because other people don't chose that life. My whole point was that for some people there is no choice to be made, that the necessities are life are all they can provide, but nobody seemed to get my point. (Personal Asst M sat quietly through the conversation, interjecting only to say that he liked his job and had no aspirations to work his way up, that he appreciated working in the music industry and that he liked the balance he currently had of work/personal life). I was incensed that nobody was understanding what I was saying. Of course I would love to have another job where I am doing work that is more meaningful to me, and of course I work towards attaining it, but I also acknowledge that I can only be in the position that I am because I'm lucky and because of the circumstances I was born into. I hate it when people raised like we all were don't get that, that everything is about entitlement. I have such a low tolerance for that, especially after 1/2 a bottle of wine. I guess such conversations are not to be had over drinks.

Friday, June 16, 2006

A medical question

Is it possible that one of the side effects of either having a cold or of cold medicine is heightened sensitivity to life? I've been so sensitive all week to people and life. I think the congestion is making me over emotional. Is that even possible??

So it's Friday night and I'm home watching this new show on TLC called Take Home Chef. It's pretty interesting. This chef stalks women in the grocery store and then goes home with them and helps them cook dinner for their husband. Aside from the fact that it's yet ANOTHER show on TV that reminds me I have NOBODY to cook for, I like it. How about he takes home a SINGLE girl and teaches her how to cook for 1 without having enough leftovers for the entire neighborhood. Or hell in my case how about he teaches me to cook without setting the smoke alarm off or starting a fire.

See over sensitivity to things....no wonder I'm not married.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

A blast from the past....wow

The other day I got a message on myspace from someone with a familiar name. When I opened it up, I realized it was my best friend from KINDERGARTEN...I hadn't seen her since probably the fourth grade! The memories from that time in my life have been flooding back ever since...it's so funny to think of how far you are from the person you were back then and how in some ways you are also exactly the same as you were. It's been fun to play the memory game.

This cold is still hanging on....It's stuck in my head and not coming out. I've never had a cold like this before, usually you go through stages...sneezing, coughing, but no, I am in perpetual congestion mode. No cough, no sneeze it's all staying up in my head. I hope it ends soon....I can't take another week of not being able to breathe! I hate being sick! But man I love Nyquill!!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

A lesson in Pharmaceuticals

When taking 2 Sudafed doesn't work, do not take 2 more an hour and a half later. You will definitely be able to breathe, however, your eyes will dilate, your hands will shake and you won't be able to stand upright. I unfortunately did this about an hour before leaving work and was unable to get home on my own. I'm home and have detoxed to the point of not being able to breathe again. Only two more hours until I can pop open the Nyquill bottle. I promise no matter what, I will only take the allotted dosage.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

I'm siiiiiiiiick

I have a head cold that won't get out of my head. It hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday. I was at work feeling fine and then all of a sudden in the afternoon I started to feel really worn down and my nose started getting stuffy. I had brunch plans with a friend and didn't want to blow her off so I got myself out of bed and dragged myself uptown, and actually wasn't feeling to bad. I even felt good enough to do some shopping with her (and buy myself a very cute Calvin Klein dress and blazer) and get coffee, but as the afternoon went on I could feel my head getting heavy. I managed to make it home and drop into bed for a lovely nap, but now I'm awake, I can't breathe and every time I try to get up, I feel dizzy. Rargh.

I accept my position in this world as a life-long single woman. I've never been able to figure out the dating thing (or even find someone willing to TRY the dating thing with), and I've realized that my solitude is most likely permanent. Still though, when I get sick it's hard to shake the feeling of wanting someone around to take care of me. It would be nice to have a man around the house, to lay next to me in bed and watch movies with, to go out and buy me Nyquill and OJ, to bring me tea...to pick me up off the floor when I pass out....the simple things. Rarely do I feel like I NEED (god I hate that word) someone around to go through life with, but when I'm sick my sensitivities run high and I find myself sad. It doesn't help that when I'm sick I spend entirely too much time in bed watching TV shows with poorly scripted romantic interludes. An old rerun of Summerland had me bawling today....I blame the Sudafed/Nyquill/Tylenol cocktail I'm currently on.

Anyone got any chicken soup?

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Just got home from the book reading/signing. First of all I have to say how striking Anderson Cooper's blue eyes are. I've worked with dignitaries, musicians and artists and I have never been star struck, but one look at those blue eyes and I completely got tongue tied. I really enjoyed hearing him speak and can't wait to read the book. I am so exhausted after the past few days that I can't wait to put my PJs on tonight and crawl into bed with it.

Also you should be VERY proud of me, I spent almost two hours at the Barnes and Noble this evening and ONLY bought 1 book! I am getting the hang of this whole saving money concept!

Alright off to bed.....I'll share my thoughts on the book when I'm done.

Monday, June 05, 2006

I gave myself a deadline of midnight last night to finish draft 1 of the resume. I emailed it out to some friends for their feedback at 11:42pm. It feels good to have that first step done. I'm going to gather feedback this week and then by 11:59pm Sunday night have draft 2 done and ready to start sending out. Right now my sticking points are coming up with an objective and highlighting the skills of my current job to reflect those necessary for event planning. Aside from those two issues, I think the resume is in decent shape.

My sister called today to let me know my dog hasn't been eating for a few days. My parents left on vacation three days ago and she hasn't eaten since. I think Ginger is just upset they are gone and is rebelling (can dogs rebel?) and that she'll eat when she's hungry, but it does have me worried. I told my sister to go out and buy this special food that Ginger likes that my mom gives her as a treat occasionally and see if she will eat that. Rargh, I hate being so far away sometimes.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and see Anderson Cooper at the Union Square Barnes and Noble..he's supposedly doing a reading from his book there tomorrow night. I'm hoping I get off work early enough to go. I'd love to see that hottie in person! Luckily a friend is coming with to prevent me from having "drool face" all night long. Older intellectual men are SO hot.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

One more time

I've spent the last hour or so on the phone with Aaron. He leaves for Iraq tomorrow. I know it's his third time, and that he's a well trained Marine, but every time he gets on that plane, I worry about him until he's on American soil again. He's been my best friend since the first day of high school, he's the one person who knows how to handle me when the irrational takes over the rational in my head. We've never fought, there's never been any drama or romance, it's just a pure good friendship that I am beyond grateful for. After he called me last night to tell me he was leaving, I laid on my bed and a memory flashed through my mind. I remembered the night before he left for basic training. We had gone out with friends and I had driven him home. We sat on the bottom of the staircase and talked about how he felt about going, about what scared him, about how right he felt the decision was for him. I know the things he shared with me weren't things he had said out loud before. The last thing we said to eachother that night before he left (and before he left each time for Iraq) was I love you. A few years later Aaron came home on leave, he hadn't told his parents he was coming, so his brother made sure they were home, and I went to pick him up at the airport and drove him to his parents house. When I pulled up, his dad and brother were in the driveway. I was a familiar face in that house, even after Aaron left, so they didn't think twice about seeing my car pull up. His dad didn't even look up until Aaron and I got out of the car and he said "hey Dad". I've never seen such joy on a father's face before. When we went in the house, his mom was upstairs and Aaron's dad called for her. She took two steps down the stairs before she saw Aaron and her eyes teared up and she had to stop and sit on the stairs to regain her composure. Aaron and I ran up the stairs to help her and when I arrived she punched me on the arm for not telling her he was coming home. Later that night the guys were out on the porch and she and I were sitting in the living room. She looked at me and said, "I never told Aaron this, but that night before he left for basic training, I heard the two of you talking on the stairs. I know he never could have told me the things he said to you that night and I am so grateful he has someone he can wholly confide in." I never knew she heard us that night. A part of me thinks that she was meant to hear his words, even if he couldn't say them to her. She needed to know how important it was to him and how he felt it was his path in life to take.

As I'm writing this I'm remembering the day we helped Aaron move out of his duplex. His mom and I were packing up his closet and she found a box. She handed it to me and asked me to open it, figuring it was safer if I opened it to see what was in it (in case it contained material that was...uh "private" in nature). When I opened the box I found every letter I had written him in the two years I had gone to a different high school. We had written back and forth constantly and it never occurred to me that he would keep those letters. I don't think I have felt that loved in all my life. I put the lid back on the box, put it safely in the "keep" pile and never told him I had found it. I wonder where the box is now. My guess is safely in his closet in exactly the same place my own box of letters from him resides.

I love you Aaron. Be safe.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Its rare I blog so early in the morning, but as I was getting ready this morning I saw something on the Today show that astounded me and I had to share.

Apparently Time magazine recently ran an article about room maids. Men who hire women to take care of the house (cook, clean, laundry etc.) and in exchange they are allowed to live in his house rent free. Apparently the demand for such a situation is quite high....women are lining up for this arrangement! I guess it's really no different than a live-in house keeper, except that these women were typically young (20s), but it still astounds me. The guys being interviewed kept staying how they didn't want the "hassle" of a wife or girlfriend and this was a great situation for them. First of all, if you are equating your wife/gf with the term "maid" then you should NOT be in the dating pool, second of all, some of the men seemed to use the situation as a "wife test drive" and ended up hooking up with/marrying their room maid. RARGH! Dating is bad enough now without the guy expecting me to do his gardening and wash his car. I think we are entering dangerous territory here.....I fear a return to the Donna Reed life is on the brink and I don't have my pearls.