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Thursday, December 29, 2005 ( 9:20 AM ) teahouse Get In Line I called the Salvation Army yesterday, because I have a few bags of old clothes and books that I'd like to donate. Charity begins at home. From childhood, we had a family ritual of donating old clothes to charities, even though we didn't have much ourselves. My parents taught me that it's a good thing to do. So I called the local chapter yesterday, and asked about their hours. The woman on the phone said to me in an impatient voice, "Well, we're done accepting donations for the day. You'll have to wait until tomorrow." I looked at my watch. It was 3 p.m.! She added, "Also, we take a maximum of 3 bags per person. No more than that. And if you have a computer, it must be less than two years old or we won't accept it." Geez, when did they get so picky? Maybe my clothes aren't good enough for them. Now I'm wondering whether there will be a bouncer there, charging me a cover charge to get in. # 0 comments Tuesday, December 27, 2005 ( 11:03 AM ) teahouse It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year I'm enjoying a couple of blessed days off from work post-Christmas. And doing everything I can to avoid the same part of town as my office. I got some lovely Christmas presents! The Sister gave me a wooden block filled with knives. Hooray! And some DVDs. The Boy gave me chocolates, DVDs, books, a set of wine glasses and some beautiful jewelry. My standing rib roast turned out spectacular, the side dishes were divine. It was a perfect Christmas. I've decided to have a New Year's Eve party, so now I'm scrambling to clean my place before the guests arrive. Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and to those of you who are traveling this time of year - keep safe and warm. And as for me, my lofty goals for the next couple of days include sleeping as much as possible, eating a lot of leftovers in the form of roast beef sandwiches (yum) and watching as many Star Trek reruns as I can. What a life! # 0 comments Sunday, December 25, 2005 ( 12:39 AM ) teahouse Everybody's Waiting for the Man With the Bag The Sister, the Boy and I just got back from midnight mass. Now we're having a midnight snack, and we're going to try to go to bed early so Santa Claus can come. On our way into my apartment building, my doorman wished us a Merry Christmas, and promised that he'll let Santa in through the lobby when he and his reindeer arrive. We could try to make and use this patented invention for a Santa Claus detector. Nahh..I prefer the mystery. I'll let the man do his work in peace. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! # 0 comments Friday, December 23, 2005 ( 6:07 PM ) teahouse Mixed Blessing I couldn't post all day..my internet was down. Then I had to go to work to finish a project, bleh. So thanks for all of the love! It's nice to know that my virtual/blog friends think I'm cool, even though my real life friends think I'm a big TOOL for going to work on a scooter. As everyone knows, the transit strike is over! I'm really glad to be able to ride the subway again. But I do feel slightly let down...I'd just figured out how to pop a wheelie on my scooter. # 0 comments Wednesday, December 21, 2005 ( 8:56 AM ) teahouse Scootin' in Heels The commute to work yesterday went fairly smoothly for me. I zoomed down Broadway on my little scooter, passing pedestrians and yelling, "Wheeeee!" as I went by. I got groups of older people yelling, "You go, girl!" and a guy who shouted, "Hey, baby! Nice rims! Can you give me a ride?" It would have been fun, if it hadn't been TWENTY DEGREES F outside the entire day. And also, if I hadn't totally bruised and scraped both ankles hauling the scooter around. It kept swinging around and banging me in the legs. There was much teasing from the coworkers when they saw my little scooter (it folds up small, and I was able to carry it up to my office). But my mail guy gave me a high-five and said, "You are so cool!" Everything is topsy-turvy this week. But it's good to see the resilient New Yorkers, organizing carpools and walking and sharing cabs. I spent a few minutes yesterday surfing the web. Man, I should have invested in an electric scooter! I have scooter envy. I'm already trying to upgrade. I hope this ends soon. # 0 comments Tuesday, December 20, 2005 ( 8:39 AM ) teahouse Strike! I was up until 2 a.m. watching the news, waiting for word on the impending transit workers' strike. And yes, it has happened. The ringing of my phone woke me up this morning. It was my best friend K, who lives in Queens, who wanted to know if she can stay over at my place tonight. I'm one of the lucky ones. I live and work in Manhattan, and my office isn't too far away from my apartment. But I am prepared. It's not the distance I'm worried about; it's the frigid cold! I was considering roller skating to work today. I also thought about donning my running shoes and turning it into a training run. But last night I went to Toys R Us, fought the pre-Christmas crowd, and bought this. I'm all set! # 0 comments Monday, December 19, 2005 ( 9:04 AM ) teahouse The Demon Liquor Over the weekend, I went to a chamber music concert that took place at a small church on the West Side. Beforehand, I'd had dinner, drinking a quantity of wine and sake. So by the time I got to the concert, I was kind of tipsy. In fact, a couple of my friends there said I was laughing a little loudly, and smelled like liquor. Before the concert started, I went down to the basement of the church in search of the restroom. I burst through the double doors of the community room, and suddenly found myself standing in the midst of about a dozen people, all gathered in chairs in a circle. One guy was in the middle of saying, "And so that is how the 12 steps worked for me. It wasn't easy..." They all looked up at me, red-faced, staggering and smelling like a distillery. And quickly looked away. I muttered, "I'm looking for the ladies room.." ran over to the corner of the room and went in. Apparently, I'd wandered into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Totally drunk. After I got out of the ladies room, I caught a couple of them giving me a hungry look as I ran back upstairs. # 0 comments Friday, December 16, 2005 ( 9:13 AM ) teahouse Come On, Ride the Train Well, the transit workers decided not to go on a full strike. At least not for another 4 days. Which means I have no excuse for being late to work today. Dammit. # 0 comments Thursday, December 15, 2005 ( 9:01 AM ) teahouse Loss of Innocence The other night, the Boy stayed at my place. I had to get up early to go into work the next morning, but he slept late. When I got home that night, I saw that he had very kindly made my bed for me. I also saw that he had very kindly arranged my teddy bears (I have THREE) in extremely kinky and suggestive positions relative to each other on top of my comforter. This veritable orgy was the first thing I saw upon entering my bedroom after a long day at the office. I'll leave the exact configuration to your imagination. Suffice it to say, I shuddered in horror. And giggled in spite of myself. The Boy has an active imagination, coupled with a juvenile sense of humor. A deadly combination. I'll never look at my stuffed animals the same way again. # 0 comments Tuesday, December 13, 2005 ( 9:38 AM ) teahouse Thank You My housekeeper, R, came over on Sunday and whipped my place into shape again. She has accused me of deliberately being messier, because I know she'll clean up after me. I confess it's true. She did give me a lovely Christmas present, though - a nice bottle of wine. She explained, "I always give my employers something to eat or drink for Christmas. Otherwise, if I give them some knick-knack present, then it's just another damn piece of crap I have to find somewhere to put when I clean." That is so beautiful in its clarity. Last night I worked until 9, then came home through the cold and drank half the bottle while watching reruns of Law and Order. Oh, and I made sure to leave some dirty clothes lying on the bathroom floor for R. I'm considerate that way. What a life. # 0 comments Monday, December 12, 2005 ( 12:04 AM ) teahouse Soap Opera Over the weekend, I hung out a little bit with M, who was my boyfriend in law school. We split up amicably over 5 years ago, and have been friends for a while. Completely randomly, he came to a party with me and my current Boy. And also completely randomly, the current Boy's ex girlfriend was at this party. So M (my ex) was introduced to C (the Boy's ex). (Are you keeping all of this straight?) At one point during the evening, M said to me, "C is cute. Is she single?" I said to M, "What??!!?? Do you know she's the Boy's ex?" And of course, like a typical neurotic girl, I started asking M, "Do you think she's cuter than I am? She's a lot thinner, isn't she?" I know, I know. I'm terrible. M, realizing the delicacy of the situation, replied, "Ohh. Of course not! Actually, she's not that cute. Actually, come to think of it, she's really ugly. You're much more beautiful! Ok...I'd never go out with her. Gosh, she's such a dog!" Then M and the Boy looked at each other over my head, and had a good laugh at my expense. I didn't mind. M was always diplomatic. And of course, unfailingly loyal to me. # 0 comments Friday, December 09, 2005 ( 9:12 AM ) teahouse Dear God As you know, I've had a really busy week at work. I have a couple of major deadlines on Monday, so I'll be working all weekend as well. Did you really have to send the big snowstorm today? I mean, how can I be expected to concentrate at the office when all I want to do is say to the partners, "Screw you all!!!" and run out of the building, and go sledding in Central Park? And while you're at it, can you help out the negotiations between the transit workers and the City? None of us want them to go on strike. I bet it would help if you acted as the mediator. Or else sent your son down here to move things along. I really think that you both have the moral gravitas to get these things done. Why can't we just all get along? And build more snowmen while we're at it? # 0 comments Thursday, December 08, 2005 ( 3:08 AM ) teahouse It's 3 a.m. I Must Be Lonely Yes, It's 3:00 in the morning. No, I don't have insomnia. I'm working. For this I sold my soul to the devil, and went $100,000 into educational debt. Why did I do it? # 0 comments Tuesday, December 06, 2005 ( 9:21 AM ) teahouse Absent-Minded Last Friday I left my office in the afternoon, went to pick up my race number for the Holiday 4-mile, and went back to the office. Somewhere in there, I managed to lose my hat, scarf and both gloves. They're completely gone. I have no idea how or when. All I know is that when I left the office, I was bundled up. When I was walking back to the office, it was snowing and my ears suddenly felt cold. And my fingers were frozen. How does a person lose all of those things in the street within 10 minutes? I have no idea. I've truly taken absent-mindedness to a new level. Maybe I need some of these again, like when I was a kid. # 0 comments Monday, December 05, 2005 ( 12:52 AM ) teahouse Now Showing Over the weekend I saw Good Night and Good Luck. Wow. It was amazing. I urge everyone interested in media/journalistic integrity issues to see it. David Strathairn is brilliant in this movie, and a very underrated actor generally. I hope he gets an Oscar nomination for this. While sitting in the theater, I saw the preview for this movie, which is releasing soon. I will NOT be seeing it, just on principle. Some would call me a stickler for details. But I refer to it as the, "All of the actors are actually Chinese instead of Japanese, but we'll all speak English and hope the white man is too dumb to know the difference" movie. # 0 comments Friday, December 02, 2005 ( 8:32 AM ) teahouse Making Do I've started my Christmas shopping already. And I'm doing a lot of shopping online. So I've already received several packages in the mail. Unfortunately, I haven't bothered to buy any Christmas-themed wrapping paper. But I do have an abundance of other types of wrapping paper, from other events of the past fall. And I'm on a mission not to waste any money during this Christmas season. So everyone is getting Christmas presents in light blue paper with "It's a BOY!!" printed all over it. # 0 comments Thursday, December 01, 2005 ( 8:44 AM ) teahouse He Knows If You've Been Bad or Good Yesterday on my way to work, I passed a little girl (no more than 3 or 4 years old), sitting on the sidewalk, waving her arms, bawling and refusing to move, while her exasperated mother stood next to her and did everything she could to get her to stop crying. The girl was screaming so loudly, passersby like me were slowing down and staring. The mother was clearly embarrassed. She coaxed and cajoled, threatened and yelled. Finally, the mother reached her breaking point. "Ok, that's it!" she snapped. "I'm telling Santa Claus!" It was like turning off a switch. Immediately, the little girl stopped crying and stood up obediently. She let her mother grab her hand and continue walking. # 0 comments |
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