/hibernation

I have been extremely lax in my blogging these last several months. You know how it goes: Busy doing fun things. Not organized enough to put photos on Flickr. No photos = no writing about fun things. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I shall attempt to remedy that this weekend by doing a massive upload of photos. I’ll be doing them in installments, starting with last August.

It’s March. Pretty soon we will have ploughed through a quarter of the year. What have I been up to this year? What’s coming up? Hey, look! A list!

1. Coming up on Friday, I have a phone interview for a Project Archivist position at an area library. The lovely folks at MIT have offered to do a mock interview with me on Thursday to help me prep. I’ve also expanded my job search to include positions back in the DC/Baltimore area.
2. I had a whirlwind trip to Maryland and Florida last week. I left Boston for Baltimore on the 20th, caught the Riveters/CCRG bout, spent several days among friends and family in Maryland (met the BFF’s girlfriend, she’s rad), left for Florida on the 24th, spent a few days on the Gulf Coast with my seester and JeT’s dad enjoying the 80 degree weather, caught a Red Sox spring training game, then landed in Boston just as the snow began to fall Sunday morning. It was a bit of a wild week: one morning I woke up to broken glasses and raw patches on my hands and face. I try to tell people that the raw skin was due to extremely dry skin, and the glasses were on their way out anyway. There are some, however, who refuse to believe this and assert that I must have been in a bar fight.
3. I now have new glasses. They are red. And shaped rather like my pair-before-last, slightly cat-eye. Did I mention they are red? And awesome? Yes.
4. PRD is gearing up for the 2009 season. Our last batch of newbies joined in January, and there are only a couple left who haven’t yet passed their assessments to claim their name. This is really exciting! It’s going to be a fantastic season! I shall be continuing as the Rookie Wrangler, and I’ll also be taking on the job of League Archivist. I’m also going to be playing in two away games. In Canada! Also, PRD is playing host to several travel teams this year. The first Riveters home bout is against Harrisburg Area Roller Derby (HARD) on April 11 at the RICC. The Killah Bees are hosting the Skate Free or Die girls at a scrimmage next weekend, and then we play them at a NH bout in April. I’m not going to be playing in that one, though, as I’ll be playing in Ottowa the following week. It’s going to be a derby-filled summer, indeed. (Check www.providencerollerderby.com regularly for the most recent updates.)
5. I haven’t been very crafty though. I did finally finish my SIL’s hat and scarf, delivered only two months late. The BFF has a birthday coming up and I’m working on something for him. I started a hyperbolic plane in blue and white cotton, which was supposed to be a bath pouf. I ran out of the white, half way through the last round. I might just knot it off and call it done, though, since the whole reason for making it was to do a bit of stash busting. I also have to make another Jayne hat for myself, since I lost the one I made last Fall. Once I actually get going on something, I’ll feel better.
6. I have severely neglected my pen pals these last several months. The end of the derby season in September ate up all my time, and then it was fall, and then winter, and now here it is nearly spring and some of them haven’t heard from me in ages. It’s not due to lack of caring, but rather to severe lack of organization. I just need to cart around my little notebook of writing supplies, then I can write while I commute, just like old times.
7. Saw They Might Be Giants a while ago. They were super great, as usual. They played so many songs! And many many were ones I’d never heard them play before, or hadn’t heard in a long while. We made some concert friends, which was fun.
8. We have a new car: a 2008 Kia Sportage, silvery grey. It’s awesome. We can accelerate. Uphill! And it’s big enough to fit my legs! And passengers!
9. Though I have been bringing my lunch to work nearly every day (thanks to JeT who actually prepares and packs the food), I miss bringing super fun bentos. I shall endeavor to remedy this. We’ve been making some new foods, though, so we’re slowly edging out of our food rut, which I’m very happy about. More new foods to come, and of course bento photos!
10. I’ve recently discovered Wild Turkey’s American Honey. If you’re a fan of whiskey or bourbon, you need to try this. Even if you normally hate the stuff, you need to try this. It’s golden awesomeness in a bottle. Highly recommended.
11. Speaking of imbibing, my librarian friends and I came up with a blog idea to help us broaden our beer horizons. We plan to sample a different kind of beer each month, and report our findings on the blog. We’re still thinking of a name, though. I was all ready to go in January, and then I sort of just forgot about it. This should be quite fun, once we get going!
12. I would like to go bowling. And ice skating. And just go out more often. Maybe stay in town for a bit on Fridays or something. I just need to get my act together and play cruise director, I think. I’ve just been so disorganized; I haven’t felt like myself for months and months. I think I’m finally coming out of my stupor, though. I think the sunshine did me some good. I’ll work on my schedule this weekend, and will start planning some outings. I wonder where my planner is… probably under the laundry somewhere.
13. First outing: This Friday, March 6th! Watchmen! Who’s in? JeT and I are going to see it in Boston (on the Common). We’re buying our tix tonight, if anyone’s interested.
14. And then there are a couple of concerts coming up: OK Go! and The Pogues! So excited!

Cars and crazy people

We’ve got our car back now. Just picked it up this evening. The final cost was around $1700. The insurance appraised the damage at $1000, and we have a $300 deductible, so we ended up paying the difference: $1000. Yeah. So now our savings is significantly diminished. Again. I hate cars. I hate money. And it took JeT five hundred phone calls to get the insurance company to fax over the appropriate document to the shop so that we didn’t have to pay the whole thing up front and then be reimbursed. They were all “sure, we’ll fax that over.” Then the next day JeT would call the shop and there all “Um, no. No fax yet.” Another phone call (different rep answers): “Oh, yeah. We have all the info we need. We’ll totally fax that right over.” The next day same thing. Seriously. It’s like they get paid extra for every time we have to phone in to give them info they already have and to ask them something they told us they’d do nine times. /rant

I’m glad this week is over. And now, some fun:

Overheard Misheard on the red line (at Park Street):
Crazy man: Get off the train!! I’M ON A MISSION!!!

Turns out he wasn’t really crazy. He was just on the phone, yelling to someone who was (presumably) on the train, and he wasn’t saying “I’m on a mission” but rather “I’m going to miss you.” As in, if you don’t get off the train, we won’t be able to meet up, because you’re going to be on the train as it pulls out of the station. But still. The misheard version is way funnier. And more succinct.

Overheard on Church Street, Cambridge:
Man exiting Starbucks to no one in particular: It’s a Haaahvahd scaaahf! It’s a Haaaahvahd scaaahf!!! (exaggerated accent and arrogant head waggle)

At first I thought he was saying it to the woman going in to Starbucks, but she wasn’t really wearing a Harvard scarf. Then as he crossed the road, he just kept repeating it to every passerby he saw. It was too cold to stop to observe him further, and I was running late for work. I picture him trying out other Boston-area accents and testing them on the streets of Cambridge. How many micro-regional accents can he road test before he gets carted away? Hurrah for street linguistics!

My favorite crazy/surreal moment in the city happened last summer: I’m on the bus, going to work, right? I’m thinking about zombies, like you do, and wondering what the best way to fend them off in the city would be. Where would be the best gathering spot for survivors (somewhere with beer, right? We were riding past the Squealing Pig at that point, so that may have influenced my thinking a bit), what the best weapons would be (I’m sure the geese wandering around the Fenway wouldn’t mind sacrificing themselves for the cause), etc. When what do my overactive-imagination-fueled eyes see? This dude lurching and lurching himself across the sidewalk right in front of us, and no one seems to notice that there’s totally a zombie just walking around Boston. And then, I think “I’m totally going to be the first person to die, because I’m the one that sees them first, and no one is going to listen to me until it’s too late and they see me get eviscerated.” And then the guy comes into better view, and he’s not a zombie at all, but actually someone with some sort of disability.

This and that

I’ll start with the not-so-good so we can end on a positive note, yes?

1. Friday was hell: I was running late for work. They don’t plow the road into the train station very well, and I slid down the hill and crashed into the curb on the turn into the parking lot. I did manage to pull into a space and still make my train, because there was no way I was going to deal with that mess while it was still snowing. We borrowed JeT’s mom’s car on Saturday and went back to get our car towed to the shop. Not good news: $1500 worth of damage. Pretty much everything but the axle was busted. We’re waiting on the insurance appraisal, because there’s no way we can pay for that out of pocket. Not after this summer’s transmission debacle (which was also my fault, by the way). Feeling pretty lame. Oh, and during the adventures (see point #2 below) I slipped on the ice and fell on my giant bruise again. Double lame.
2. Friday continued: On the train ride home, JeT realizes that we have to go back into Boston because he has the only set of keys to the med room in his pocket. Luckily, we hadn’t passed Quincy yet, and were able to make the U-turn without incident. I was starving, so we decided to pretend to be tourists in the snow and go get food at Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market. We got Indian food. It was delicious. So, full bellied, we headed home in better spirits. Of course, we didn’t yet know the full damage of the car at this point. Alas.
3. I think I stayed in my jammies all day on Saturday. I can’t really remember.
4. Skipping to Monday, because I want to keep all the crappy stuff together: I did not have a very good practice last night. My knee took forever to warm up, so I only did half of the falling drills (which are actually quite fun). Then, during this one drill where we were practicing being jammers and blockers (alternating, of course) I was having a really hard time keeping up. Turns out it wasn’t just because my legs were aching. Apparently I stopped being able to breathe properly. I pulled over and skated around the outside of the track for a while trying to catch my breath. I could breathe out just fine, but it felt really constricted breathing in. Like in a bad panic attack when it feels like there’s a cave troll sitting on your chest. Well this was as if it was gripping my breathy tubes every time I tried to inhale. It was really freaky, and started to scare me a bit, but I was too angry to really be that scared. I mean, how dare my lungs freak out when I’m trying to learn something new and keep up with the rest of the girls. I hate feeling weak and I hate having to sit out a drill because of weakness. Oh, and while the other girls were learning jammer starts (you know, where you run on your toes for a bit to get up speed) I was still trying to recover my ability to breathe. They got to learn something cool while I had to gimp around the track like a big ball of weakness on wheels. /rant.
5. And I don’t feel at all well today, so I’m home sick.
6. Sunday was pretty awesome though: PRD had a scrimmage against Pioneer Valley Roller Derby. It was the Riveters against their travel team. We won by something like 158 to 21 or something crazy. It was still a really competitive bout, and was tons of fun to watch. Afterwards we went out to a local bar in Naragansett (or something). I rode with Hysterica and her boyfriend Jeff, aka, the Reverend Al Mighty. They were super nice and gave me a ride down to the scrimmage. I shall have to bake them cookies. At the bar, I felt pretty awkward at first. I never do well in crowded situations. Especially at bars. By nature I’m geeky and awkward. Like all of a sudden I’ve grown two extra feet, have eight arms, nine legs, and can’t seem to stand anywhere without being in someone’s way. But after a couple of beers I felt normal again and was able to talk to people like I wasn’t some sort of space alien. In the end, it was quite fun, and I’m glad I went. We didn’t get home until 1:30 in the morning though, so I was a bit of a zombie at work yesterday.
7. We got some great news on Monday: JeT got the job he interviewed for last week! Yay! It’s a step up the ladder at the place where he currently works. He’s very excited to start in two weeks. It’ll be more paperwork and less work with the clients, but it pays more. So, hooray for that. And hooray for JeT! I think we’re going to the Garden Grille before the Battle of the Bands, so if anyone wants to come help us celebrate, you’re more than welcome.
8. Saturday is the Battle of the Bands (see post below) and we need to bring a ton of people. This is a fundraiser for PRD, and you know you want to support your local derby girls, right? It starts early enough that if you wanted to come for a bit but leave before the wee hours of the morning, that would be cool, too!

“There is too much; let me sum up.”

The last couple of weeks have been rather crazy. Some upsetting things, some wonderful things, and everything in between. Chronologically, earliest to most recent, this is what’s been going on:

1. We still don’t know what killed Phoebe. Rather, we know she died of internal bleeding, but do not know its cause. The Shanks has had many blood tests and will continue to take Vitamin K until his blood coagulation rate is back within the normal range.
2. In happier news, Miss Kitty and 007 got married! We’re so happy for yous! Yay! I was a bridesmaid and had a fantastic time. JeT was the DJ and rocked the house. My favorite dance was the polka with the best man. Our “secret meeting” dance was a hit. We performed our version of OK Go’s C-c-c-cinnamon Lips, and kicked quite a lot of arse, if I may say so. Interested parties can find photographs of the event here, and here. (The latter has amusing commentary.)
3. We went to Maryland to visit my family. It was great! Some of my Canadian family came to visit my parents at the same time, so that was a treat as well. My little cousins aren’t so little anymore. My nephews are growing up, too. You know, when these kids aren’t being terrors, they’re quite funny.

   We played a Newfie game called 120. I’ll have to show you all some time. I learned it when I was 15, and am finally getting the hang of it. Really, it’s not so hard, but I only play every few years or so. I actually won a couple of games this time! Much fun was also had playing darts in the garage and bocce in the lawn.

   I also brought home a ton of books from my parents’ house. ‘Cause, you know, I’m really short on books. Mostly they’re the Harvard Classics, which my mum read while they were stationed in Spain. And some of my old books from when I was a kid, which were given me by my Great Aunt Eunice, to whom I bear a great resemblance. Speaking of my aunt, I also brought back this mechanical bird/music box thingie she left me. It’s rad. It’s really old and still in fantastic shape. If ever we should encounter an “Antiques Roadshow” event, I’m taking that.

   MO was kind enough to watch the Shanks while we were gone. He was happy to see us when we returned, and I’m not ashamed to say the feeling was indeed mutual. Poor little (ok, not little, but still) guy was left on his own without The Phoebes for a whole week. We almost didn’t go on our vacation, but since he didn’t look to be in imminent danger, we decided to go. I’m glad we did.

4. There was a fantastic party at BlogSEA manor last weekend. Muchos foodies and drinks, though despite my best efforts, sober I remained. Gathered ’round the firepit (which was, of course, used for cooking, why do you ask, officer?) ’til the wee hours of the morn.

   We received a late night visitor. Stranger’s name was Andy, i think. Looking for someone called Mitch, was it? I don’t know. I couldn’t understand a word he said. I don’t do well with mumblers. He chilled for a bit, and then left. Then in the middle of the night, there was a bit of a hullabaloo in the parking lot across the way. Many officers, a bit of yelling, someone kicked our car in frustration (no damage done), a car being thoroughly searched (not ours). Bunch of savages in this town. An eventful evening, though.

   The next day was spent riverside, enjoying the sandy beach and swimming. I need to live near clean, moving water. NEED! It was wonderful and relaxing.

   On the way home, the alternator broke, and we were stranded on the side of the Mass. Pike. Apparently, our Kia Roadside Assistance doesn’t serve that particular highway, so we had to pay $80 bucks to be towed 5 miles, so that we could then phone the Kia people again to tow us the rest of the 30 miles home, which cost $13. I must mention that this song began to play just as we were being picked up by the first tow truck guy. Hilarious. The second tow truck guy was wicked funny, and laughed heartily at JeT sitting on my lap for the ride home. I told him that I was not laboring under the misapprehension that I am a small person. We finally got home more than six hours after we had left.

   I should also mention that our vet was kind enough to pop by the house and give ‘Shanks his meds and a bit of food. He’s a friend of the family, and is very good to us and our kitty.

The rest of this week has been uneventful, thank goodness. Just enjoying the not-so-hot days and eating popsicles. Tonight we resume our secret meetings for some wrap-up filming and whatnot.

Tomorrow is HP day in Harvard Square!