My Poor Tummy

With the little bit of food poisoning that happened while Morten was visiting, my tummy is already not in a happy place.

Today really sucked so far. Mini-boss and I went up to Lincoln Center to measure the sprinkler heads in the basement of the library. The stacks are in this tiny little 7.5' high space where the lights are the cheapest fluorescents possible. The first time I was there with Vanessa and we spent five hours there. The high heat made me get a migraine that lasted three days. This time, the temperature was very acceptable. However, the lighting or something about the air really got to me. We had half the place measured when my stomach started feeling worse and worse. I rested for a minute while Mercedes ran around and measured some things. Then we measured some more and I had to sit down again and put my head down on the table to keep myself from upchucking. My hands were shaking pretty badly. We got the last things done and I sat down some more while she photographed.

It's funny, just leaving the room made me feel amazingly better. Mini-boss theorizes that it's because the fluorescents are hard on the eyes. Apparently the vibrations you hear from those lights are actually the sound of the light rapidly turning on and off. The louder the hum, the slower the rate and the harder it is on your eyes. And it was a loud hum. Well, I guess cheap fluorescents make me sick to my stomach.

Apartment Life

I'm going to be very sad to leave the Troutman apartment. There's always so much going on! Tonight there was a photoshoot for some sort of fanboy site that Erica works for. In between shoots, she played some of her songs, Emma sang backup and I improvised on violin (sans G, Rachel's string broke and she hasn't fixed it...). Erica really likes my improvising - she invited me to guest play at a few of her shows. I gotta say, it's a lot of fun...
I wasn't home for the first shoot, but the second shoot was sort of odd. The girl models showed up and then decided to back out for whatever reason. Then, the guy stayed and did some sort of separate shoot. He was cute enough...seemed really empty headed though. Empty heads are not my thing.
O yes, and Rowena just emailed me. I might be having a couple of house guests for New Years! Nifty!

I have really big issues about being told what to do. This is a reason why I don't particularly like to go home. It's also a reason why I couldn't stay at Gramma's anymore. I don't like being told when to go to bed, when to pack. I don't like being told to put away the milk. I know damn well to put away the milk. When the fuck did I ever NOT put away the milk.
I survived five freaking years on my own at college. In all my years, have I ever once missed a flight? Have I ever once had to call home and ask for something like more money? I managed myself just fine. My time. My money. Do you really think that all of a sudden I graduated college and FORGOT how to be a responsible adult? Jesus fucking christ.

Merry Cheeriness!

Merry post-Christmas to all! I'm suffering from way too much food and a strong urge to go to the gym and work out. But what's the point if I can't go to my favorite dance class? So sad...
Morten came to visit. The first couple of days I had to work so he basically would just meet up with me after work and we'd go out to eat or stay in and I'd cook. I took him to go see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular (on the company dime, we were each allowed to invite 10, but I decided to keep it at one). The Rockettes were fun to watch for the first few minutes of each performance, but after minute five, you tend to get a little bored of watching them do formation after formation after formation. Frankly, they may get all the publicity, but the other dancers are the ones that get all the fun. Maybe I'll try out one day, it looks like it could be fun. I wonder if they have height requirements for all the other people, too...But I will admit now, I fell asleep during a few times while watching the Rockettes. O, and they had real camels for the nativity scene. I turned to Morten and asked him only to realize he was about to ask me the exact same thing, and we confirmed the realness of said camels when one turned to look at the audience and chew his...cud...
We also went to the MOMA (for free! thanks, awesome roomie Emma!), the Museum of Natural History (this time, being not 3 years old, I didn't cry my little eyes out at the sight of all the scary stuffed cavemen), Little Italy, Flushing, Chinatown...uhh...hm, felt like we did a lot more. I nearly got struck with a panic attack when we decided to push our way through Macy's. Bad idea...I blame myself. O yes, and we also went to Christina's birthday party. We had dinner at a place called Nyonya where I had tripe noodle soup and Morten sampled the stingray (tastes just like fish...nothing special...). Lots of fun, and it was nice to see Christina again. We always talk about hanging out, but never actually manage to...
So yes, now I'm alone again. Saw family for Christmas. We experimented with oatmeal cookies and made some with white raisins, dates and ginger instead of cinnamon. I think they came out really well, though a tad on the sweet side. Now I know what I can make for the big office bakeoff. Whoo! O and Eric and Sylvia made a crazy eggnog which was more like a very light and frothy pudding with lots of alcohol. I wish I could have finished it, but dad was poking at us that it was time to leave. He had to work the next day unfortunately. He says its my fault because I had to stay in the city on Christmas Eve to see Morten off. Well, even if I hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten out of work until 3 anyways, and with that plus the train plus the extra one hour drive to Hartford, we wouldn't have arrived till 7 or so anyway. So there!
But yes, Happy Holidays to all!

Saaad

Pushing Daisies has been cancelled...mid-season! I don't understand why all the shows I like to watch get cancelled so quickly. They are getting rid of Lipstick Jungle, too. In the spring, they also got rid of a nice quirky show called Miss Guided. O and all those years ago, there was that awesome show, Freaks and Geeks? Cancelled!
I just realized that the guy who created Pushing Daisies also created Dead Like Me. Loved it. Cancelled! He also worked on Heroes (I think in the first season, when it was still good...I can't even watch it anymore...). I think the only reason they haven't canned Heroes is because it did so well in the first season. Well, maybe now that they've canned Pushing Daisies, Fuller will go back to Heroes and make it awesome again.
He made another show called Wonderfalls. I think I have to watch it so I can lament another brilliant but cancelled show...

Happy

When a special someone is back in town, I remember why I want him around. He makes me happy. :)

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge!

Maybe

I am not a cat person. I hate to admit it. I wish I was a better person and loved the little beasties, but they are needy, needy animals. Granted, my roommate's cat has been sorely neglected by his owner, but why does it have to cling to me? He wakes me up any time between 4, 6 or 7am meowing and trying to break down my door. Then, he winds around my legs everytime I try to take a step and I end up kicking him/stepping on him/tripping. I don't get it, don't people say cats are independent creatures? I remember my own cat sitting outside my window at 8 am on Saturday mornings meowing her little head off so I'd let her back in and then she'd do the leg winding thing too. Don't they realize that when we're walking, that's a bad place to be?

I'll also take the time to admit now that I'm not too fond of dogs either. Those things have way too much pent up energy. The only dogs I've ever particularly cared for were the bassett hound my neighbor owned when I was three (because back then, slobber didn't occur to me as gross) and the bulldog my ex's friend owned (because she was the laziest dog in the world and just couldn't be bothered).

And the hair. Cat and dog hair EVERYWHERE!

Gah! I want my sleep!

I realized today that recently I've been going through life feeling completely numb. I'm in search of something that will make me really feel something. I could use a really good cry, or a really good rant, a good bout of laughter.
I'm hoping that this week will change things around. I need some euphoria.

Busy!

I feel like for a few weeks, I have nothing going on and then all of a sudden there's so much that there's not even time to sleep. Maybe it's just the holiday season. I'm most excited.

What An A$$

Marlen and I plus extra-random-roomie-guy from-Wilton-that-seems-really-cool went to see a place today. The ad on craigslist is most beautiful. In fact, all of the ads by this guy are. However, the broker - Seth of Sunrise Realty - is A DICK. I don't use that phrase lightly. In fact, I never call people that. He, however, is in all senses of the phrase, a DICK.
When I called, he was very brisk and pushy. Marlen said the way he talked to her was downright rude. I stated our budget, but he kept trying to push us higher despite me constantly telling him what our absolute limit was. Then, I asked about the advertised place. Is it close to the L train? Yes. How is it a 3 bedroom? How much does it cost to split a master bedroom into two rooms?
Instead of stating clearly what he requires from people, he said, "You do realize you have to bring money." To which I replied, "Huh?" The way he phrased it made me feel like it was a drug deal of some sort. And it had to be cash, or a cashiers check or something along those lines. He wouldn't even show us a place unless we had the money to put down an immediate down payment.
So we decide, it can't hurt to see the place. I find out that this place is not on the L line. In fact, it is 6 crosstown blocks from the L line! It is however, right near the G. Then, after he told us to meet him somewhere, I call and he tells us to go to the building. Well, why didn't you just give us the address to begin with? We get to the building and he thinks my name is "Anthony" for some reason. We go up and he shows us around. He seems nice enough about it, but then he said that to put up an extra room would first require someone to be acrobatic - because there's be a ladder involved - or require some serious money. On the phone he said that to put in an extra room, it'd be $800. Then, once we were there, he said it was $800 per person! Well, why didn't you say that earlier, jerk...Michael was late, so I went down to get him. While waiting, a guy in the next building was just getting home and I asked him how he liked the place and he said that even after being there a month, their place was still unfinished. And then, when I went back upstairs, Marlen was in the process of discovering that one of the tiles in the model bathrooms was loose. I pick it off and we see some really shoddy craftsmenship. Aargh! So it's all a house of cards! We tell Seth we're not interested and he pretty much just bolts out the door without turning off all the lights and without even closing the door. Marlen yelled down the stairwell, "What should we do with the door?" and he said, "Just close it behind you!" Eegads! That's a fricken furnished model apartment you're just leaving. I could have gone back in and helped myself to that refrigerator. We had 3 people and a car. Hell, who wants a washer? But no, we were honest people, so we just closed the door and left.
God...what a dick.

The Things They Carried

Carrying a dog in your tote bag is an acceptable New York tradition. Little yorkies or chihuahuas with their tongues lolling at passers-by is a common sight. I was, however, unprepared when on the L-train today, I heard the mewling of a kitten from a purse. No, not a tote or an open bag. It was a zipped up leather purse and the kitten inside was crying. I suppose the purse is far more attractive than a kitty-crate, but in terms of humane, one should seriously consider a type of situation where the kitty could, I don't know, breathe?