Last Night

I went to a concert with my friends Kate and Erin. Not just any concert, a New Kids on the Block concert. I am fairly embarrassed by this, but feel that you, my dear readers, would like to hear all about it.

I was a pretty huge New Kids fan in middle school and high school, despite my friend Martha's attempts to make me a cooler music listener. (Martha listened to such hip offerings as Souxie and the Banchees.) But, I had never actually been to a New Kids show before, mostly because they came to Washington in the summers, and I was always in New Orleans with my grandparents. And also, my parents didn't approve of the NKOTB obsession.

Anyway. The concert was terrible. And awesome. Seriously, having never been to a boy band concert before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I also don't usually go to shows that take place in stadiums. We were all the way in the top rafters (for $78! Like I was going to pay MORE) and I got vertigo, but it was worth it.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how few songs I recognized and remembered the words to. (By the end of 12th grade, I actually had decent taste in music and had given up my pop music tendencies for the much more hip, now defunct, WFHS fm.)

Anyway, there were lots of costume changes, a rotating round stage in the middle of the audience, fireworks, and some screaming. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the evening.

Me: Do you think Joey waxes his chest?
Kate: Probably, but he's still cute.
Me: I'm just sayin', that shirt is unbuttoned pretty far down for that lack of hair to be natural...

Erin: I think I thought I was a much bigger New Kids fan than I actually am.
Me: Agreed.

Kate: Is Jordan gay?
Me: Not sure...

Later in the evening, after Jordan has ripped open his shirt and is standing in front of a wind machine...

Kate: Yes, wax was used.
Me: Yes, Jordan's gay. How did we not know that before?!

Kate: Why do they keep Jonathan around? He doesn't sing or dance...
Me: And who let Danny in the group? Is he, like, Donnie's best friend or something?

Erin: Why is Joey wearing a scarf?
Me: um, it's jaunty? My great-aunt Genevieve used to wear scarves like that...

Me: Does Donnie keep wearing a baseball hat with every outfit because he is balding?
Kate: YES.

Donnie: We just want to thank everyone for coming out. We're not sure why this tour has been such a success. Maybe everyone wants to pretend they are 15 again.
Me: Try 13, Donnie.
Erin: I was 8!!!

Erin took photos, so when she emails them to me I'll post them.

Hoi Polloi

I was in the shower this morning, the only place I listen to the real radio, and I heard a commercial for Palm Beach. They were trying to entice you to visit, and their big selling point was that you could "hob knob like the hoi polloi" or something like that.

I got out of the shower, thinking, 'that's stupid. Hoi polloi means the masses. Why would I want to hob knob with the masses? Can you even hob knob with the masses?'

I went to yoga class, still thinking about this, so I called my dad after class to make sure I had the right definition of hoi polloi. He said, "No, it means the elite."

Well, clearly that is what the commercial thought it meant, but me, I still wasn't convinced. I googled it. I am right, but I also learned that a common misinterpretation of the word is the elite. And that you shouldn't say "the" hoi polloi, as hoi means the and you'd in essence be saying the the masses.

Now I sort of want to call the Palm Beach tourism board.

They Broke My Arm!

Today I had lunch with my friends Erika and Colleen. Erika and I were walking back to our offices, and our path took us past the FBI building. As we were standing on the corner, waiting for a light to change, this woman came running past us, screaming, "THEY BROKE MY ARM!!!" And she was dragging a suitcase.

Her arm looked fine. We both thought she was talking to people who were walking behind us, but apparently, she was just talking. I don't know who the "they" is... I am guessing the FBI?

The woman then came up to us, and said, "They broke my arm!" Erika said, "Sorry." Then she said, "Please, can you call me a taxi?" I said, "We're on a busy street. One will come by that you can hail." (True.)

She then left us and went to ask another person to help her. Erika said, "Why do I feel like Gypsies are going to toss a baby at us?" The whole thing was surreal... I'm still not sure what was wrong with her, other than I think she was crazy.

If she really did have a broken arm, this story is going to make us sound very callous. I don't know, maybe we are too cynical. What would you have done?

I Voted.

To answer (or try!) the Aussie questions from yesterday - the election I voted in today was a primary election. Here in the District, we have three official parties, the two I'm sure you have heard of, the Democrats and the Republicans, and the D.C. Statehood Green Party. I'm a member of the Deomcratic party, but if there is no democrat running for a particular office in a general election, I will vote Statehood Green.

Anyway. In the primaries, we are only voting on our party's candidate. So, for some offices, there is only one name, and for some offices, there are several and you have to chose who you want to represent you in the general election. To vote in the primaries, you must be registered with a party (not registered independant) and you can only vote on your party's ballot. (Like, I couldn't walk in and ask to vote on the Republican ballot today.)

We were not voting on the presidential candidate; that was already decided. Today we were voting on Congressional offices and state party representatives. You may think it's odd we vote for Congressional offices, since, well, we have no representation in Congress, but we do have a non-voting Representative, and we have a shadow Senator and Representative, who are all ready to jump in the second we are named full citizens of our own country.

I think I've already discussed why I think it's important to vote, but it can't hurt to talk about it again. First of all, way back in the 1700s, people died so that I could have representation. Then, there were the suffragettes, who were willing to die and be force fed through tubes and thrown in the slammer so that I could vote. In my opinion, not voting is the same as telling these brave people that what they did wasn't worth it.

Finally, as a resident of the District of Columbia, I pay federal taxes (just like every other American) but I don't have a Senator or a Congressional Representative who can vote (unlike most other Americans, but hey, at least Puerto Rico is choosing to be this way!). Yes, I am taxed but not represented, the very thing we fought a revolutionary war against. But in my opinion, if I don't vote, I'm basically saying that I don't care about all that. District residents should vote, in every election, no matter how small, order to show the government that we are just as able as residents of states to govern ourselves.

No puedo leer en espanol

I finished reading Twilight last night, and of course, I wanted New Moon right away. So I checked online, and it turns out the library near the office had it in stock! Hooray!



I went over there at lunchtime, and went straight for the Young Adult section. No New Moon. The librarian asked if he could help me, and I told him what I was looking for. He said, "Oh, we don't have that." I said "um, ok, well, the internet catalog says you do." He says, "well, I have Luna Nueva if you want to read it in Spanish."



Nice try, library dude. My Spanish is just not that good. I think I'm more at the Buenas Noches Luna reading level than the Luna Nueva reading level.

Marrakesh

So, Saturday night I went to the birthday party at the Moroccan restaurant, right? It was a pretty big adventure!

Around 8:15, I left the office and met my friend Alison at the metro, and we shared a cab over there. Good thing I had written down the address! The restaurant had no name on the door. Just something written in Arabic (maybe it said Marrakesh, but I can't read Arabic!) and a number. We went up to the door and it was locked, so Alison knocked with the giant door knocker, and we were let in.

(Yes. I SO should have had my camera for this excursion. I do apologize)

We were introduced by the hostess to others in the lobby, being told that they were here for Sharon's birthday party too. After a few minutes, we were taken to a separate club room, complete with dance floor and disco ball. We were seated at small sofas with little gold coffee tables.

Alison thought there were going to be about 12 people at the party. We found out from one of the people we came in with that there were going to be 25! She had taken it upon herself to invite 12 or so of her closest friends. Oh, and she failed to tell them that it was actually a birthday party.

People started showing up, and after a little while, a belly dancer came in and danced for about 30 minutes. She was really good. Around 9:45 or so we finally got started with the dinner portion of the evening. I was starved - I hadn't eaten since noon!

The dinner was a set course thing - your only choices were meat or vegetarian, then beef or lamb? The whole table had to agree on beef or lamb. (We let Sharon decide, since it was her birthday, after all.) The food was ok - nothing spectacular. The couscous in particular was not good. It was wet.

About halfway through our meal, something hit my leg. I sort of ignored it, thinking it was knocked off our table or something. But then things kept hitting us. It turns out the 12 extra friends? Were throwing bits of balled up bread. When the bread got taken away they started throwing raisins, potatoes, whatever they could get their hands on. I have never in my life been involved in a food fight (and I still don't think this counts, as I did not throw food back! Just was hit several times by rogue raisins and bread balls).

I got home around 1 am. The whole evening was a bit bizarre, but I really hope Sharon had a nice time.

An Incident with Paint

I painted two walls in my living room this weekend. One wall I had done last weekend. So there's one left to go. But...

I accidentally stepped off the ladder straight into the paint tray! Luckily there were drop cloths down and also a plastic bag right near by. I stepped on the plastic bag and scooted into the kitchen, where I cleaned myself off. Amazingly enough, I managed NOT to get paint on the floor.
And here is a finished wall. The paint is actually much closer to the color on my foot, more blue, less grey, but you get the idea.

At the Junior League Headquarters last night...

Annie: Oh, I knew her, she was in my pledge class... I mean, new member class.
Heidi: It's OK, we all try to pretend this isn't a sorority, but really it... kind of... (looks at me)
Me: is.

Flying Time

Yesterday I had the strangest flight back to Washington. There were two women, one seated in row 1, and one in row 3, who were traveling together. I was in row three, next to one of them. The one in row 1 first asked the girl next to her to change places with her friend, but she said no because her leg was broken and she wanted the extra space in the front row. Then she asked me to trade. I said no because I don't like the front row. You have to put all your bags in the overhead bin and I like keeping one under the seat in front of me.

The woman then explained to the flight attendant that she wanted to sit with her friend. He said the flight was overbooked, so he wouldn't be able to reseat them together. She then said, "well, can you make the girl sitting next to my friend trade seats with me?" That would be me. The flight attendant, luckily, looked at her as if she were crazy and said, "um. No."

And now, in a truly shocking turn of events, I have another movie poll for you guys! I leave on Thursday for Argentina. It's a very long flight, but I'm going to hope I can sleep. I'll watch one movie for sure, maybe two, depending on the whole sleeping thing. I took out the movies I've already seen (August Rush and Juno) and added a few of my netflix choices.

What movie should I watch on my flight to Argentina?
	Dan in Real Life
	Ira and Abby
	Martian Child
	Reservation Road
	The Gift
	Spy Kids 2
	Veronica Mars: Season 1
	Charmed: Season 7
Free polls from Pollhost.com

On this weekend's flights, I first watched part of Charmed: Season 7 (I am addicted to this show! I never watched it on tv but somehow on dvd I love it) and Into the Wild on yesterday's flight. Into the Wild was very good and moving but sad.

We all like Thai food around here.

Tuesday, I popped in to our (un)friendly neighborhood Thai restaurant to grab some lunch. I ordered the same dish I always order (beef with mushrooms in a spicy sauce) and I stood back to wait for it to be prepared. I was by myself, and I was the only person waiting to "emporter." (French for take away!)

The woman who owns the joint looked at me, and said, "why do you people never call ahead?" (I'm assuming she meant me and my colleagues, since we often come in as a group.) I said, "well, I don't mind waiting." and she said, "but WE do! You get in our way."

Harumph! Is this the way you talk to customers? As soon as she was done with me, this guy walked in who was 5 minutes late for his reservation, and she said, "You're lucky I held the table! If I had been more busy I wouldn't have done it."

OK, the sad part is? Wednesday, Benito emailed and asked if a bunch of us wanted to go get Thai. Instead of me saying we shouldn't go there because she's mean, I said, "yes, but we should call ahead so we don't get yelled at again."

Dining Out

Yesterday, I went to brunch with Mandy. I ordered eggs benedict, which were supposed to come with crab meat. But because I am weird, I only like eggs scrambled, so I asked for the eggs to be scrambled, not poached.

The waiter gave me a really weird look, but I mean really. It's not that unusual of a request, I wouldn't imagine.

When our food came out, Mandy's was perfect. She had ordered normal eggs benedict. The crab meat was there. Mine, however, had no crab meat and the eggs looked like they had been scrambled with ketchup! And there was chorizo in the eggs. So I sent it back.

The waiter took it back, and when he came out, he said, "The chef said he knew you were going to send it back."

What?! If that's the case, then why did he send it out like that in the first place? At dinner last night with Hugh, I was relating this story, and he told me I should have complained to the manager. He was appalled by the "the chef said he knew you were going to send it back" comment. To be honest, it didn't occur to me at the time to complain.

What do you think? Would you have sent back the messed up eggs? Asked for the manager?

Weird

This morning, from the bus window, I saw something truly weird.

A woman was standing next to a no parking sign. She climbed up onto the base of the sign pole, and then pulled herself up so she was head level with the sign. Then she kissed the sign.

Yes, you read that right! She kissed a no parking sign. She wasn't making out with the sign, it was more like a quick peck, but still! Who kisses a street sign?

I told my colleague about it when I got to work, and he suggested maybe she had fought long and hard for that no parking sign to be put up, and she was kissing it in gratitude. It's a theory, but I don't think it's very likely. I'm pretty sure that's not a new sign.

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving, you know, if it's your holiday and everything. We had 15 people at our house, and it was a lot of fun. Even if my placecards did get re-arranged by someone who was not my parent. (As the owners of the house, they of course would have the rights to rearrange my seating layout!)

Saturday, we went to my aunt's house for a party. My cousin Lindsay is getting married at Christmas, so the party was for her and her fiance. There was a jazz band, which was great. After the party, my cousins Anne Yvette and Rick and I went to a bar, where there was also a band playing. Anne Yvette and I danced (even though no one else was dancing) and the drummer said, "We got some good dancin' going on out there."

On our walk back to the house from the bar, something really weird happened. This minivan full of high school kids slowed down next to us, and they said, "Hey! Y'all got any drugs?"

We did not, so they kept going. I could not believe that happened! I guess they were just bored teenagers, and nothing more dangerous than that, but really. People in minivans should be cruising for milk, not drugs.

Let There Be Darkness!

I moved offices two days before I went to Brussels last time, in October. My new office didn't have a light switch, for some unknown reason. So the lights were just ON. For an entire month, while I was away. And we are supposed to be a green office...

I had asked for a switch to be installed, and I finally got one this morning. I never knew how exciting turning the lights on and off could be!

Now. If I can just get the picture hanger guy to come back... he hung pictures for me yesterday, but totally ignored the post-its I had put on the wall as to where I wanted them, so they are about 12 inches higher than I wanted!

Totally Nuts

This morning, Ana and I were in the office when I heard loud drums. I got up to look out of the window, and we saw a long parade of people, starting with people in running gear.

I asked what they were doing, and Ana said they are running from Brussels to Amsterdam, about 370 km. (This would be like running from Washington to, oh, New Jersey, basically)

I then asked, "Are they crazy?"

And Ana replied, "Yes."

Enough said.

Shalom y'all

Yesterday, I went to the Maryland Seafood Festival. Basically, we went for the crab soup cookoff, which was fantastically fun but I ate way too much cream and butter and I felt a bit ill afterwards.

In order to try and walk off some of the cream, we walked through the crafts section of the festival. Now, I did actually buy some soap, but most of the stuff was not stuff worth buying.

Especially what is pictured above. There was this whole huge display of painted crab shells. Most of them weren't even really painted - they would be painted with a background color, and then a photo would be shellacked on to the shell. For example, you could get one with Cal Ripkin's head on it. Or one with a My Little Pony. Or one with High School Musical 2.

This one was my favorite, though. Shalom. When I saw it, I not too quietly said, "But crabs aren't kosher!" Since these things appeared to be Christmas tree ornaments, Nicole wanted to know what the potential purchaser would even do with this thing.

And then I went back and snapped this photo with the camera phone. Hahahaha it's still making me laugh. I should have taken a picture of the whole booth, so you could have seen it in all its glory, but you'll just have to imagine.

I Can't Help It

I'm a bit curious about this.

But not curious enough to pay money for it.

Anyone have comp tickets to give away?