one funeral, a wedding, and some roller derby

That pretty much sums up my weekend.

JeT’s Grandmother passed away and the funeral was on Friday. It was an all-day affair: funeral home, mass, graveside service, reception. It was a long day for the family, but they held up pretty well.

That evening was PRD’s second home-team bout: Mob Squad vs The Rats. The Rats won. I didn’t see any of the game, though, since I was at the ticket table the whole time. I didn’t want to leave the other girl there by herself, and she couldn’t leave me there alone because I was putting out little fires all evening. I don’t think I want to do that again. It was stressful and annoying. Everyone who saw the bout said it was awesome. The Rats win means that we’ll be playing them for the next two home games, which is cool. And thanks to Monsieur Renard for working the bakesale table for the first half. Thanks also to friends who came out to watch the bout; I’ll be skating in the August bouts.
The after-party was, um… pretty awesome. Those of you who were there, or received texts and phone calls from me, or heard about it all the next day, know that it was EPIC. That is all.

Saturday was Laura and Aaron’s wedding, which was really fun. The ceremony was quite nice. The minister had a wicked Boston brahmin accent, they walked in to “Shipping up to Boston,” and the last song was “Dirty Water.” We were lame and forgot the camera. Laura looked beautiful, and Aaron was quite dapper. They all (including the bride) wore chucks with their fancy clothes. Laura’s were satin. We danced, we laughed, it was super great.

It was such a busy couple of days, I feel like I should have more to say about it. I guess I’m still exhausted.

I leave for Montreal on Friday, then it’s off to Maryland for two weeks. This place is a wreck and I haven’t even begun to think about packing. Need to employ some house gnomes to do it all for me.

no wonder I’m exhausted

Last Saturday actually felt like summer, which made me quite happy. (Remind me I said that when in August I’m daydreaming about October.) I do hate the heat and humidity, but I love these first few days of early summer.

I went for a run last weekend, and it was decidedly more successful than the last time. I brought along my MP3 player and that made a world of difference. Though I rather felt like the marching band people in this xkcd comic. And none of the songs really matched up with my stride, which drove me batty the entire time. But I went the whole nearly 4 miles without having to turn back because I was too annoyed to follow through. I left the house around 11:30 am, though, which was stupid of me. My route is usually pretty shady, but I forgot that at noon, nothing is shady. With nine months of winter, it’s difficult to remember how to behave when it’s actually warm out. I got pretty dehydrated and overheated and got dizzy so I only ran about half the distance and just walked the rest. But I still call it a win since I actually got my arse out the door and running. And the cross training Summah Resolution is in effect! I need to put the pull up bar back in the doorway, and really, I’ve neglected doing any sort of core work for entirely too long. It’ll all pay off when I can kick more ass at derby.

Speaking of which, I’d love to publicly thank roller derby for helping me overcome a metric shite tonne of body issues that have plagued me my entire life. I’m really not that much smaller than I was when I began derby, but my perception of my body has changed tremendously. I’m stronger and faster than I’ve ever been in my entire life, and that thrills me to pieces. I’m not running to lose weight, either. I’m running for the sheer enjoyment of the movement and to increase my strength and stamina to be able to better play the sport I love. I really don’t give a shit about how other people see me when I’m running down the street in spandex booty shorts and a tank top.

Every other time I’ve ever exercised regularly it’s been about getting stronger and gaining stamina, yes, but always looming in the back (or front) of my mind was the desire to become smaller and to lose weight. It was always there. And now I hardly have any of that crap left rattling around in my head. It’s almost entirely gone. I say almost, because no matter how hard I try I can’t turn off the voices outside of my head telling me that I should want to be smaller. I’m average size, really, but a large percentage of society, however, thinks that I am fat. And even if I was, who the hell cares? It’s my body. How it looks is no one’s business but my own.

And while I’m at it, society: Fuck you and your fascist beauty standards. I’m so sick of all of the hate-yourself bullshit that is everywhere during the summer. (Well, it’s everywhere all the time, but seems especially omni-present these days.) I don’t need 53 specials on how to get my body ready for bathing suit season, thanks. And I’m going to stop there before I get really caught up in a body issues rant. I’ll let others (more capable than I) handle that one.

Moving on.

I fell at practice this past Tuesday and my knee pad slipped. No major damage, just a bruise and some swelling, but it was a little scary. I’m going to take it easy (ie no scrimmaging) for a couple more days, but it should be good to go for practice next week. I did not run this week like I had planned, though. It was rainy most days, so I’m probably kidding myself into thinking that I would have gone out if I hadn’t been injured.

Oh and as for my other Summah Resolutions, I did see Ida Maria last week. Two local bands opened for her. I really enjoyed For What It’s Worth (who were super nice and gave PRD a lovely little shout out mid-set). And The Danger Room (while they didn’t completely strike my fancy) were decent, too. In other local news: I went to my first Waterfire last weekend! It was sruprisingly really great. I hate crowds and it was a little touch-and-go for a little while, but I settled in pretty quickly and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Plus, they had fried dough. Oh, and I also got to see the Red Sox this past week. I saw game two in the series against the Marlins. It was really fun! A friend of a friend had an extra ticket for the roof deck standing room area. It was a wickedtonnalotta fun, and half way through the game the people sitting at the $500 table in front of us gave us their seats. (And I got to have fried dough at the game, too. Nom.)

And tonight is the BDD bout against the Texecutioners. (I missed last night’s Gotham/Texecutioners bout in CT, but I heard it was phenomenal! Gotham won, but it was a close one the whole time.) And the Nuts and the Cosmos are kicking things off before the interleague bout gets underway, so it should be a pretty fun derby evening.

My last day at one of my jobs is the 30th and next Friday they’re throwing us a library-wide “assistant appreciation party.” Translation: “sorry the economy sucks and you’re all getting laid off at the end of the month.” I wonder if they’ll actually have anything I can eat. I usually end up with just juice and plain crackers at these “appreciation” gatherings. Though the following week I’m going to a separate gathering just for those of us who work in my department who are getting laid off. That should be much more fun. I went to the library summer party last Friday (though I left early due to a migraine) and it wasn’t as awkward as I had expected it to be, and there was a ton of vegan-enough-for-me food, so perhaps this Friday’s party won’t be as weird as I’m expecting it to be.

It’s still weird to think that in a couple of weeks, I’ll have five-day weekends. I know I should feel bad about my looming unemployment, but I’m actually looking forward to it. It’ll give me time to catch up on a bunch of projects, namely R’s book. Things keep getting in the way and my life keeps exploding all over the place and I can’t seem to get my act together to actually meet to discuss the work thus far. It’s really cool that I get to participate in this project, as I’ve never edited a novel before (just books of poetry and essays and things), but I haven’t been as efficient as I would like to be. It’s a pretty fun story, and I want to be able to devote more time to it. Check out the author’s new website!

That’s the news for now, friends.
Hearts and Stars.

/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!

History up in flames

Some of you know that I worked as a archives consultant this summer at the MSPCA-Angell in Jamaica Plain. This evening there was an electrical fire that destroyed about half of the archives there. No one (neither man nor beast) was injured (thank goodness) but that’s a really big chunk of history gone in only a few minutes. The MSPCA-Angell archives and special collections are important because they document not only one of the oldest animal-related organizations in the country, but also the social reform movement of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

I’m pretty sick with grief over the loss, and yes, I know, it’s just paper (and film), but the history… all that evidence. It’s just gone. They’re trying to salvage some of the items and create a list of things that were destroyed. While I worked there, I conducted a survey of the collections, including a map indicating where in the rooms items were stored. I hope this information proves useful to them in their salvage efforts. I just feel so helpless otherwise. I tend to get attached to collections I work on, but this one was really important to me. Both because of the nature of the collection itself, and because this was the first job where I really got to test my archives skills.

I think I’ll phone tomorrow to see how they’re getting on. The people with whom I was in contact during my time there were all very enthusiastic about the archives project (as well as my efforts, which was rather gratifying), so I’m sure they’re pretty devastated over the loss.

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.