I went out to celebrate a co-workers birthday tonight.
Can I just say how much I loathe Texas Roadhouse? I don't like their policy of not seating you until all party members arrive. The waitresses usually stink, and the food ain't that great either. Every time someone chooses to go there, I just cringe.
The waitress tonight was the worst waitress I've experienced in a while. She would do stuff like say "I'll be right back!" then disappear. She never refilled water glasses. Messed up orders. Most of the table asked for to-go containers and she kept "forgetting" and basically brought them one at a time to us. After long intervals of going A.W.O.L.
If I could have tipped in negative money, I would have. How cool would it have been to ask her for two bucks for sucking so badly?
Anyway, the cute lightheartedness of the movie, My Life in Ruins, made up for it all. How sweet of a movie was this? No surprises and a happy ending...the perfect chick flick. All done against the background of Greece. Greece went up a few notches on the travel to do list after seeing all the gorgeous landscapes and blue waters.
Later I was doing a little background info (read: trying to find out who the foxy male lead was...it's Alexis Georgoulis btw) when I stumbled into a few interviews with the female lead Nia Vardalos. Know what? She's a cool broad. Don't believe me? Read this blog post she did on Anderson Cooper's blog here.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
working again?
Saturday I proctored ACTs for a little extra money. Every little bit helps so I try to do it as often as they ask me to. The kids were good, and that's all that matters. I usually don't have problems unless I get a pack of friends in there...then all hell usually breaks loose until I threaten to void their tests.
Tonight I had dinner with a friend of mine visiting from out of town. M has been living the x-pat life for fifteen years now in England. We don't see each other very often, but I love it when we do. We were roomies way back in our 20s. I have a very soft spot for him. I guess the best way to describe it is that I feel very motherly towards him. Like he's my spiritual child or something. Funny thing is that he's probably a year older than I am, but I still have very maternal feelings for him.
Anyway, it was great catching up in person again. I think the last time we were face to face was when I visited two years before moving to NYC. Ten years or so. I'll see him again in a month or so when I fly through England on my way to Africa for my vacation. I'll get to meet his new fiance and their adorable son. That kid is so cute, a perfect Gerber baby. M tells me that the wee one has been modeling already, so it's not just my bias for my spiritual grandchild...lol.
After dinner, we went to C's studio to sit around and talk. I cannot believe that I was the first one to poop out and leave. Mama's getting older and I just can't hang like I used to. Especially on school nights. The guys were still hanging when I left at midnight.
Tonight I had dinner with a friend of mine visiting from out of town. M has been living the x-pat life for fifteen years now in England. We don't see each other very often, but I love it when we do. We were roomies way back in our 20s. I have a very soft spot for him. I guess the best way to describe it is that I feel very motherly towards him. Like he's my spiritual child or something. Funny thing is that he's probably a year older than I am, but I still have very maternal feelings for him.
Anyway, it was great catching up in person again. I think the last time we were face to face was when I visited two years before moving to NYC. Ten years or so. I'll see him again in a month or so when I fly through England on my way to Africa for my vacation. I'll get to meet his new fiance and their adorable son. That kid is so cute, a perfect Gerber baby. M tells me that the wee one has been modeling already, so it's not just my bias for my spiritual grandchild...lol.
After dinner, we went to C's studio to sit around and talk. I cannot believe that I was the first one to poop out and leave. Mama's getting older and I just can't hang like I used to. Especially on school nights. The guys were still hanging when I left at midnight.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
If I weren't so disinterested, I would comment on your sense of irony...
Last night I went out with my pal M to see TV on the Radio at the National. Such a great show! I have to thank R and um, R who both highly recommended the show. Without such glowing reviews I probably wouldn't have gone out on a "school night".
First M and I grabbed a bite to eat at Gibson's Grill. We both opted for the Asiago Baked Tortellini. Our waitress was very odd. When M asked her what the tortellini was stuffed with she replied that it was stuffed with nothing. I sent her back to the kitchen just to be sure, and hey, lookie there, it IS stuffed with something. Doh! We also suspect the waitress lied to us about her hair cut, possibly her name, and our ability to enter the club from the restaurant early. (They have a door that goes right into the club and they do start letting folks in an hour before non-restaurant eaters get to...for some reason, this chick insisted we had missed that boat.)
Anyhoo. The pasta was really tasty and I popped for the wine in the marinara sauce. It probably needed to cook a tad bit more to burn up more of the alcohol, but overall it was a nice unexpected touch. I didn't care much for their bread. They served us bread with the pasta in addition to a bread basket on the table. I have no clue what was up with that. It didn't taste bad, I just don't care for hard breads. They have a tendency to tear up the roof of my fragile mouth.
After our carb overload we went around the long way, (ahem, bitchy waitress), to the venue.
This is the part where I wax poetic about the venue. I love the National. It is the best venue Richmond has had since the Flood Zone...and that wasn't as nice as the National. It's just big enough for a decent audience, yet small enough to feel intimate. The sound can be wonky at times, but I can pretend I'm in a club in NYC for a little bit so it's all good.
The opener was a band called the Dirty Projectors. They did some really neat stuff like 3 part harmonies, yet off key to the point where there were some really painful moments in the show. I think all the neighborhood dogs were happy for the sing along though. I heard some reminiscent 80s type Prince backup vocals which was cool. They also did some other harmonies that reminded me of throat singing, not in style, but in the back and forth between the two singers. Saw some really painful dancing...think: I'm a hippie chick trying to throw in some r&b and hip hop moves to some rhythm that is only playing in my own head and not the one I'm actually singing to. Oy. I spent a little bit trying to figure out where they were from. My votes were for Vermont or So Cal. Wrong! Brooklyn! Brooklyn hipsters...one even wearing an ironic jumper in a picnic tablecloth fabric.
I have to admit Googling them and giving them a second listen. They sounded much better recorded than the live set. Perhaps they were having an off night and couldn't hear each other in the monitors or something. All forgiven. Except the ironic pink onesie. Can't forgive that, unless she perhaps hot glues some plastic ants and a plastic hot dog to the front. Then, maybe.
On to the headliner. TV on the Radio kicked major booty. What a great show! I can't even say anything else about it without gushing...so I'll stop. Show good. Go see them if they tour in your neck of the woods. Seriously. It's even worth staying up past your bedtime on a school night. :)
First M and I grabbed a bite to eat at Gibson's Grill. We both opted for the Asiago Baked Tortellini. Our waitress was very odd. When M asked her what the tortellini was stuffed with she replied that it was stuffed with nothing. I sent her back to the kitchen just to be sure, and hey, lookie there, it IS stuffed with something. Doh! We also suspect the waitress lied to us about her hair cut, possibly her name, and our ability to enter the club from the restaurant early. (They have a door that goes right into the club and they do start letting folks in an hour before non-restaurant eaters get to...for some reason, this chick insisted we had missed that boat.)
Anyhoo. The pasta was really tasty and I popped for the wine in the marinara sauce. It probably needed to cook a tad bit more to burn up more of the alcohol, but overall it was a nice unexpected touch. I didn't care much for their bread. They served us bread with the pasta in addition to a bread basket on the table. I have no clue what was up with that. It didn't taste bad, I just don't care for hard breads. They have a tendency to tear up the roof of my fragile mouth.
After our carb overload we went around the long way, (ahem, bitchy waitress), to the venue.
This is the part where I wax poetic about the venue. I love the National. It is the best venue Richmond has had since the Flood Zone...and that wasn't as nice as the National. It's just big enough for a decent audience, yet small enough to feel intimate. The sound can be wonky at times, but I can pretend I'm in a club in NYC for a little bit so it's all good.
The opener was a band called the Dirty Projectors. They did some really neat stuff like 3 part harmonies, yet off key to the point where there were some really painful moments in the show. I think all the neighborhood dogs were happy for the sing along though. I heard some reminiscent 80s type Prince backup vocals which was cool. They also did some other harmonies that reminded me of throat singing, not in style, but in the back and forth between the two singers. Saw some really painful dancing...think: I'm a hippie chick trying to throw in some r&b and hip hop moves to some rhythm that is only playing in my own head and not the one I'm actually singing to. Oy. I spent a little bit trying to figure out where they were from. My votes were for Vermont or So Cal. Wrong! Brooklyn! Brooklyn hipsters...one even wearing an ironic jumper in a picnic tablecloth fabric.
I have to admit Googling them and giving them a second listen. They sounded much better recorded than the live set. Perhaps they were having an off night and couldn't hear each other in the monitors or something. All forgiven. Except the ironic pink onesie. Can't forgive that, unless she perhaps hot glues some plastic ants and a plastic hot dog to the front. Then, maybe.
On to the headliner. TV on the Radio kicked major booty. What a great show! I can't even say anything else about it without gushing...so I'll stop. Show good. Go see them if they tour in your neck of the woods. Seriously. It's even worth staying up past your bedtime on a school night. :)
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Can you feel it?
It begins with a tickle.
Typically it starts in my shoulders and radiates outward. Like a little buzz of electricity under my skin. First shoulders, then chest. It then moves upward to my face. Then my back. It radiates down my body, the tingly feeling. It builds and builds. Slowly, bringing a smile to my face and I breathe out and keep on working. I know it's coming. The tingles get more and more intense. Until finally.
The endorphins explode in my body. It takes everything to keep from laughing aloud and disturbing those around me.
That is why I love lifting weights at the gym. That endorphin climax that makes all the work worthwhile.
What?
What did you think I was talking about?
Typically it starts in my shoulders and radiates outward. Like a little buzz of electricity under my skin. First shoulders, then chest. It then moves upward to my face. Then my back. It radiates down my body, the tingly feeling. It builds and builds. Slowly, bringing a smile to my face and I breathe out and keep on working. I know it's coming. The tingles get more and more intense. Until finally.
The endorphins explode in my body. It takes everything to keep from laughing aloud and disturbing those around me.
That is why I love lifting weights at the gym. That endorphin climax that makes all the work worthwhile.
What?
What did you think I was talking about?
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Work work....
Today I proctored SATs for a little extra money. I was fortunate that the kids were good today, and unfortunate that I was in a room where I needed to rearrange the desks due to some teacher's weird classroom setup. It's all about balance, you know.
Afterwards my friend and I went to do takeout at Mimi's Cafe. A new place that opened up here in Richmond, apparently a western US chain. Long story short she felt that I should tip the folks at the take out counter. I feel the beauty of take out is that you don't have to tip.
She actually asked the person (you know, the receiver of the tip) what the protocol was and (of course, duh) they said that the standard was 10%.
Do you guys tip takeout at restaurants? What is the real, non-tip receiver, standard? Have I just been an uninformed consumer all of these years?
Afterwards my friend and I went to do takeout at Mimi's Cafe. A new place that opened up here in Richmond, apparently a western US chain. Long story short she felt that I should tip the folks at the take out counter. I feel the beauty of take out is that you don't have to tip.
She actually asked the person (you know, the receiver of the tip) what the protocol was and (of course, duh) they said that the standard was 10%.
Do you guys tip takeout at restaurants? What is the real, non-tip receiver, standard? Have I just been an uninformed consumer all of these years?
Friday, June 5, 2009
I can't get you outta my mouth....
Today someone brought in a homemade dessert to bid farewell to a co-worker.
I was pretty stoked because it looked so appetizing. It was similar to a trifle with layers of vanilla pudding, angel food cake, fruit and whippy cream.
Can you say yum-o?
Well, as soon as I put a bite in my mouth I realized that she had used the whippy cream made with aspartame. Being polite, I ate as much as I could and used an old anorexia trick of mushing it into nothing into my bowl. See, as much as people tout the benefits of artificial sweeteners, I hate that stuff. I would much rather stick to my real sugar and deal with a dash of tooth decay. If I ever do end up with The Diabetes (as my dear sweet granny would call it), I will just stop eating sweets. I will not switch to science project sugar. I can promise you that.
Not only is it a taste thing, but through trial and error I have discovered that my bout with migraines was directly related to aspartame laced foods. Once I stopped consuming the poison, I also had improvement in nighttime knee pain. (If you Google, some aspartame conspiracy theorists correlate joint pain with science project sugar...they allege it dries out the fluid in your joints.)
Anyway that's neither here nor there, the main thing was that for the rest of the day I had that nasty aftertaste in my mouth. I tried brushing my teeth. I tried chewing gum. I even tried eating copious amounts of Cheetos. (As an aside: I'm on some weird Cheetos kick...I've had a little bag of them every single day this week. Apparently my body is having some vitamin deficiency that can only be found in Cheetos. ;D ) Nothing would get that nastiness out of my mouth.
Anyhoo, that's my rant for the day: Science project sugar bad,Cheetos real sugar good.
I was pretty stoked because it looked so appetizing. It was similar to a trifle with layers of vanilla pudding, angel food cake, fruit and whippy cream.
Can you say yum-o?
Well, as soon as I put a bite in my mouth I realized that she had used the whippy cream made with aspartame. Being polite, I ate as much as I could and used an old anorexia trick of mushing it into nothing into my bowl. See, as much as people tout the benefits of artificial sweeteners, I hate that stuff. I would much rather stick to my real sugar and deal with a dash of tooth decay. If I ever do end up with The Diabetes (as my dear sweet granny would call it), I will just stop eating sweets. I will not switch to science project sugar. I can promise you that.
Not only is it a taste thing, but through trial and error I have discovered that my bout with migraines was directly related to aspartame laced foods. Once I stopped consuming the poison, I also had improvement in nighttime knee pain. (If you Google, some aspartame conspiracy theorists correlate joint pain with science project sugar...they allege it dries out the fluid in your joints.)
Anyway that's neither here nor there, the main thing was that for the rest of the day I had that nasty aftertaste in my mouth. I tried brushing my teeth. I tried chewing gum. I even tried eating copious amounts of Cheetos. (As an aside: I'm on some weird Cheetos kick...I've had a little bag of them every single day this week. Apparently my body is having some vitamin deficiency that can only be found in Cheetos. ;D ) Nothing would get that nastiness out of my mouth.
Anyhoo, that's my rant for the day: Science project sugar bad,
Thursday, June 4, 2009
What is this?
It's been raining here all week. I don't mind the rain, it makes the flowers grow. The weather has been pretty cool for a few months now. I've only had to turn the AC on for Memorial Day weekend and a few days this week.
I was thinking today about how for the past few years it has typically been crazy humid this time of year and how different this is.
Then it dawned on me.
We're actually having a spring this year.
Thanks, Season Gods. You rock.
I was thinking today about how for the past few years it has typically been crazy humid this time of year and how different this is.
Then it dawned on me.
We're actually having a spring this year.
Thanks, Season Gods. You rock.
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