Fibronostalgia

Hey guys, remember those awesome Memorial Day picnic times? Well, you can revel in the joy once again, because Suzy posted some of her pictures to Facebook and I yanked them but quick.

Post-water balloon fight. By the way, that is actually me in the picture, not some stand-in.







Daniel and Suzy caught in an intimate moment. I like Daniel's model face.










Hey guys, remember that time on the Fourth of July when we went up on the roof but couldn't see anything so we went to Riverside Park? Of course you do! By good fortune Suzy also put some of those up.

Right after this we went and stood on the edge, teetering all the while.







Thanks to Mark for providing the rooftop.







I should have asked Mark to take a picture of my viewer while taking a picture of Suzy's iPhone... but that would have been a bit too insane.








Since I had so much work to do tonight, I drank one of the espressos that I had chilling in the fridge. I've taken to bringing them home from work in baggies for later, because I'm a hoarder and that's what hoarders do. Well anyway, it's a good thing I did, because I couldn't have gotten everything done being a yawnypants. What else helped: Grooveshark. I love it and can't do anything without it anymore.

Now I'm all hungry since it's been so long since dinner, but I don't want to eat anything and I certainly don't want to get a glass of water because I'll just be up at 5:30 going to the bathroom. And Daniel killed a bug in there yesterday and I will be darned if I sit down in the dark and touch a cockroach that's hanging out on the toilet paper roll or something.

In good news, I bucked up and paid most of my (six-month-old) library fees. My Queens card had been deactivated for some reason so they gave me a nice shiny new NYPL one. I wasn't even charged the $1 replacement fee because I've never had a NYPL card before. The library on 100th and Amsterdam is a sad, sad place. The outside is this brownish tan brick and inside everything looks old. There are even retro fans bolted to the walls from the pre-air conditioning era. And their fiction collection could have done with some improvement.

Who IS That

Due to an insane amount of espresso consumed this evening, I am up at 1:32 AM organizing the copious amount of My Pictures files because they must be ORDERLY and CHRONOLOGICAL. I was skipping through one and was like, who's this girl hanging on me?

I thought, "Hmm, well it had to have been recent, since my hair's shorter. And we had to have been friends because I would not have been smiling if a stranger or mild acquaintance were holding on to me like that. Who the heck is this girl?"

Did I ever mention that I have a doppelganger? Her name is Christina and she is very pleasant. People at social events where she is not even present come up and believe that we have met before (my doppelganger is much more social than me). We don't always look similar but in certain angles there is a definite resemblance.

I kind of like that I can live vicariously through her and pretend like "ooh, look at my fun friends touching on my shoulder oh how cool we're BFFs already" without any of the work of an actual friendship.

We should get into mischief.

Nothing Up

I cannot wait for this summer lab class to be over. It's on Monday evenings and starting to irritate me. The class is about using technology in the school library and blah, don't care. Luckily it only goes to August 2nd, so I only have to endure for another week or two.

Our poor little lamb has been afflicted with a stomach virus (or salmonella) for the past two days. I went out and got him two kinds of Gatorade yesterday so hopefully his electrolytes will remain at stable levels.

Really, I promise there is nothing else to report. I've been doggedly finishing up my lab assignments and like, sleeping. And watching movies. I have a medical research study today that involves nodes and images and my head being involved somewhere down the line. The second part of the study requires that I hang out in an MRI tube for awhile, which is fantastic because they soothe me.

ALA Loot

So, Chicago! This was the exhibit hall, which was chock full of vendors eager to sell me their wares. They were extremely nice to me until they asked, "So, what library do you work for?". Learning that I was still a student cooled their ardor some.


I firmly believe that the best part of any convention, ever, are the games of chance. Demco had a Plinko booth! Never mind that the prizes were terrible, YOU COULD WIN THEM! I got a free tote! The Barnes and Noble booth's Plinko was better - I won candy and eventually (after about five tries) a raspberry dark chocolate Godiva bar. Yum!



My dislike for people in full-body animal costume has only grown over the years. Do you know what freaks me out about them? You have no idea who is in that cat suit. Could be a ninety year old man. Could be Hillary Clinton. Ugh, gives me the willies.





By the way, their outfit coordination was supposedly a coincidence.


Best loot of 2009: the aforementioned Godiva bar, a Mango t-shirt, a Penguin bag, and a fan!

LOOK HOW IT GLOWS!








Fun in the dark!








Daniel and I had fun with it.











Watch the ear!








Of course, with every set of pictures must come a jowling shot.








Tonight is the highly-anticipated Boat Trip that my sciencey partner Kelly is hosting. Boat + river + drinks + food = who cares if it rains?

Sink Cat

Despite having had two drinks and it being after midnight, I dragged myself down to the second floor to soak in the sweet wifi and to bring you this:










That is all. If you do not enjoy it, you have no soul. Good night.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Day

I just started packing for Chicago and I'm actually surprised that I didn't wait until tomorrow morning. Alarm's all set (7:00, but a picnic compared to 5:00) and since I am a think-aheader, all I have to do is drag my weary body to the M60 a half block away and sit in a dazed torpor for an hour. Then comes the airport security farce, and, ooh exciting times, my co-presenter Kelly is taking a flight at the same time (and may well be the same flight) so we'll meet up there and bask in general anxiety.

Today was Big Fun Surgery Day, which involved a lot of mooning about and text messaging. The MTA did me wrong by the M96 crosstown but but then immediately redeemed itself with a speedy downtown 6 train. Then I got to sit in a glorified waiting room without magazines and with extra loud cell phones. And no wireless internet. I don't know why, but I am continually surprised in life when I go places that I would expect to have internet and all that ends up on my wireless radar is a locked account with one bar of strength. Is this standard for hospitals? And by the way, if I am ever horribly mangled the first thing I'm going to whisper is "Lenox Hill". It was a beautiful, friendly place.

Anyway, I ambled outside for awhile and ended up at a Starbucks and the original plan was just to get a muffin or cookie or something and suck up the internet, but as I looked at the pastries I realized that absolutely nothing appealed to me. The 'bucks let me down. As I am not one to pay for a sub-par snack, I continued wandering around like some sort of human wifi divining rod until I ended up at Crumbs, a cupcake shop over at 79th and 3rd. I asked if they had wireless and the lady said no, but that I could probably hack onto some unlocked ones. Sweet! Ha! Pun!

I got a Reese's cupcake which was good but not the best ever and a cup of milk and 'milked' them (I CAN'T STOP) for about an hour of pure, uninterrupted mail checking and tomfoolery. I was mesmerized for way longer than I care to admit by this particular optical illusion as well as this one which took me too long and kept me staring for minutes on end.

I had visions of being late going back to the waiting room and a nurse being like, "oh good god where have you been? Meredith got sick of waiting and is now somewhere in Manhattan clad only in a robe and the cloudy aftereffects of general anesethesia!" PS: my fears were entirely unfounded.

Due to Daniel's repeated insistance that I read East of Eden I brought it along with me and luckily I did because a: it's really long and b: it's really good. I got about 3/4 of the way done and am debating whether or not to bring it on the plane with me tomorrow. Pros: I will finish the book. It's nice to have good, dependable reading material on the plane. If I don't finish it soon I may forget about it and not knowing the ending will drive me mad. Cons: It's kind of a big book. I can't just leave it in Chicago since it isn't mine. I'll not take long to finish it and then I have to find new material.

We'll see.

Oh, oh! So when Mark and I were in Brooklyn for the Texas BBQ last week, he noted as we walked to the subway that he'd seen a lot of dwarves running around that day. I said, "hmm, haven't noticed" and then we parted ways and he took off home on his bike. At that very instant, an entire troupe came out of the subway - like, at least ten. Ten dwarves! I got very excited.

Anyway, I was reading the NY Metro today and came across this article: "National Convention Gets Little People Together". Eeek! There was a whole convention! And it seems like a fun time:

“It’s a place where a lot of relationships start,” said Trombino, an Arizona author and motivational speaker who met his wife, Carol, at an LPA convention. “Many end in marriage.”

I would think that the term 'little people' would be a bit pejorative but clearly that is the preferred term. And the article indicates that the plural is "dwarfs", not "dwarves" as I imagined. Different from 'scarf'.

So I got through a lot of my book and wrote up all of my assignments for the first week of my second summer class. I got very wordy about the issues of MySpace and teen behavior. I brought some light magazines with me but didn't read them. Checked out the cafeteria and nothing looked good. Experienced malaise.

This is a cell phone picture of this big tattooed guy sitting across from me. He was an exciting dude.






But I was home by 4:00 and in time to catch the exceptionally good Pourhouse lunch deal: large burger with toppings, bunch of fries, and a beer for $6.95. Any additional beers are $1. Best deal in town.

Mark and I hung out for a little while after that and then I took a nap and now here I am, 1:50 AM and writing the lengthiest post in the world to avoid more packing. Oh, and Mark's roommate Will will (heh) coincidentally be in Chicago tomorrow too. They both lived in Chicago before so I'm counting on Will to squire me around.

Suzy and I went to Central Park yesterday just to hang out and we saw this woman climb over the fence (it's there for a reason! Respect nature!) and throw some food around. I thought she was just a crazy lady at first but then got closer. It was a raccoon den! There were all of these little stuffed animal-looking cubs tumbling over themselves to get this nasty garbage that was being set out for them.


They didn't look too nocturnal to me.

Mom! What are you doing up here? Did you drive all the way up to surprise me? Why, you shouldn't have! So what did... oh, wait. It's not... hm. Never mind.






Dad! What are you doing on large billboards and posters all over New York City? I didn't know you were an actor! You could have told me! What was Denzel... oh. Never mind.






In case anyone missed seeing my grotesquely swollen and itchy leg, here it is. It's better now; this was from about a month and a half ago. I suspect a spider bite.






I was applying for health insurance yesterday and the sourpuss of a case manager told me that I would have to include a hand-written letter with my application because the feds don't like to believe that anyone can live if their rent is more than half of their net income (in my case, more like 80%). So she gives me some computer paper and I take out my pen and begin my letter:

07/09/09

To Whom it May Concern;

I am able to get by even though my rent is over half of my earned income per month by making sacrifices and cutting down on frivolities. The $540.00 that I pay in rent each month includes utility payments, so I am not responsible for water, gas, electric, waste removal, et cetera. I plan my grocery trips around supermarket sales and buy in bulk. My cooking is done at the beginning of the week and I am creative with leftovers. I walk 40 blocks to work and back to avoid--

That was the point where Grumpy McShouldntworkwiththepublic returned and immediately squawked, "Ah! That letter is way too long! The government doesn't want to hear about all that! What did you write?" (reads my letter out loud) "They don't care about this! Here, I'll tell you what to write!". And she did. I think she's mistaken about the feds not wanting to hear about my money-saving tips. I could have included some sage advice to stretch a dollar.

I've put off this dull business long enough. Time to fill the old suitcase.

Happy 4th, You

Daniel's been gone since last week and I miss my fey roommate. He won't be back until after I get back from Chicago so I'll have time to clean up this place after two weeks of debauchery.

Mark and I were invited to one of his ex-girlfriend's rooftop parties last Friday, and after some deliberation about what to bring for the potluck we decided to make frozen chocolate-covered banana pops that we'd (independently!) seen featured on lifehacker some time ago.

They were fantastic. On a whim, I decided to cover two or three with peanut butter before putting the chocolate over them and it was a superb idea. How good do those look!







Close-up, sprinkles.








The view from the Brooklyn roof was great. The girl who hosted the party was celebrating her apartment-warming, birthday, and recent engagement all at the same time. Triple whammy. And the 4th of July, I suppose.




















Normally I hate, hate, hate fireworks but these were set off down near 59th street so we were a good three miles away. At first Suzy, Mark and I were going to watch them from his rooftop, but there was too much impediment.


So we walked down to 106 and Riverside with a bottle of wine in a plastic bag (because we are classy) and there was a whole bunch of people there who had the same idea that we did (with similarly short apartment buildings)


And then we had the even better idea to go down to 95th street so that we could get next to the water and have a clear view. That was good, but a million other people thought that as well.













Hee. I had a mystery shoppe at the Texas BBQ in Brooklyn yesterday that I'd completely forgotten about.





We planned on getting the summer Creamsicle frozen cocktail but couldn't resist the patriotic standby that they trot out every holiday, the red white and blue layered frozen delight. Came with a free umbrella and shot! Can't beat that.