A New Jersey Driver in Vermont

Me: Can you please stop tailgating this guy?
Mom: If I must.

Doe Camp

My mother is the opposite of me. When we arrived at Doe Camp yesterday and went into the hall for lunch, I said, "Ooh, there's an empty table back there."

"What are you nuts?" she said. "Let's go sit with those three ladies, they look interesting."

"But Moooooom, can't we sit alone?"

"Don't be such a wuss, we're here to meet new friends!" she said and settled in between the ladies, and immediately asking where they were from, if this was their first Doe Camp, and if they were taking archery that afternoon.




Later....

"No one asked me for my number," she said, making an exaggerated frowny face.
"So ask them for their email address so you can get together," I suggested.
"Doesn't that make me look like a loser?"
I sighed. "If everyone thought that way, no one would ever make new friends. See if that lady from archery would want to hike with you."
She looked at me doubtfully.
"I feel like I'm coaching you on dating or something," I said.
"You're right. Forget it. Let's have another piece of cake."

Rooftop Dancing

This guy was dancing on the roof outside my window. I didn't get the camera in time to catch it, so this video doesn't do it justice.



And sadly, I stopped recording just as he noticed me, waved, and did another boogie move. A few minutes later, I tried recording him again. He totally saw me holding up a camera. I wonder if he'll check YouTube later tonight to see if his rooftop dance moves were posted.

Up

I wanted to stay home and save money but Mike wanted to see Up. So we bought our tickets and a giant cherry Coke and settled in between an elderly couple on our left and two couples our age on our right.

When the previews started, we put on our 3-D glasses. Even the previews were in 3-D and the kids in the audience were shrieking and ooh-ahhing. Hearing them was fun.

The movie was the most beautiful movie I've seen in a while. And I don't mean visually, though it was beautiful in that way too. The story was simple. It had a terrific tinkling piano score. I shed a few tears.

I am glad that we went and I was even happy to admit that to Mike. It put me in a happy mood that followed me through the night and is sticking with me this morning.

I would recommend it to everyone. It made me feel more in love, with both Mike and with life.

How Many Coffee Beans in the Pot?

Today at work, there was a contest to see who could guess how many coffee beans were in this pot that was on display. The winner would receive two free Red Sox tickets.

How freaky is it that someone guessed the exact amount of beans? There were 4732 in the pot, and some fresh-from-Harvard's-MBA-program consultant nailed it. Was this a case of Rainman? Random? Rigged?

The cynic in me wants to say rigged, or wants to suspect that cheating was somehow involved. It's too weird to be random.

The other question is, what poor soul counted them to begin with?

And in case you're wondering, my guess was a couple of thousand beans off the mark. Pffft - not like I wanted to see the Red Sox anyway.

Last Year's Birthday List

Last year before my birthday, I made a list of all of the things I wanted to do in my 26th year of life. Here's the rundown of how I did:


1. Try a new recipe once a month - Maybe I didn't do this EVERY month, but I tried a few new things.


2. Make cupcakes from something other than cake mix and decorate them in unique ways - I made cupcakes from scratch once or twice, and I definitely decorated many more batches than that in crazy ways.


3. Join a gym and go at least once a week for yoga class - I joined and I went at least once a week. I did yoga for six months and got sick of it and starting going to use the machines. Still going.


4. Take in another litter of newborns or another pregnant mom cat - I did this twice. The second group is still with me.


5. I taught myself a few key traveling phrases in Italian and Greek. Learn similar phrases in French, Hindi, and Japanese (maybe brush up on my Spanish while I'm at it). - Didn't do this at all.


6. Send more letters in the mail to friends and family - I didn't send MORE, but I sent the usual amount I do in a given year.


7. Paintball - I did paintball, and I learned that it's better to go in the late fall than summer.


8. Go to a concert or two - Saw Rancid, Radiohead, and I feel like I'm forgetting one...


9. Wear sunscreen every day - Pfft. I more sunscreen more often, but not daily.


10. Travel to at least one other country - I don't think Greece counts since I went before I created this list. Mexico fell through because of swine flu, but I did go to Canada for two days.


11. Make a new friend (this one is hard for me) - Don't think I accomplished this. I turned some acquaintances into friends, but didn't make any brand new friends.


12. Attend another Book Club meeting at library - It seems like yesterday that I wrote this list. I remember adding this one on. I can't believe I never did it and a whole year has gone by.


13. Turn my cat blog into a book of short stories - I've been working on it.


14. Conquer my shoulder pain - Been working on this too. I've got a good handle on controlling it to some extent.


15. Go to Cape Cod - Bummer! I thought this one would be easy. Didn't do it.


16. Start using my video camera again - Pretty hard to do when my digital camera is so much more convenient.


17. Get promoted at work (not necessarily up to me, but I'll push for it) - Woo! Did it.


18. Buy a house - Still working on it.


19. Go to Niagara Falls - Made it by the skin of my teeth thanks to a surprise trip that Mike planned.


20. Make the mermaid sculpture I've been planning for a year - Fail.


21. Plant pumpkins - I planted them and the vine grew but never produced any pumpkins.

22. Save money/Buy less crap - I made a budget that allowed for one frivolous purchase a month if it was less than $50. I stuck to it pretty well.

23. Get all of my high school friends together - Accomplished in Vermont. This was a gimmee.

24. Be more honest about how I feel - Can always improve it but I didn't do so bad.

25. Plan a bachelorette party for Kelly - Jess and I planned a bridal shower that went very well. But then we didn't attend her wedding because of swine flu and she hates us now. Very sad.

26. Learn a new craft (making soap? sewing with a machine? knitting? blowing glass?) - Didn't learn a new craft, but learned new cat-care skills. Does that count?

Twitter

Twitter has always seemed pointless and obnoxious to me, but today I've been fascinated by the twitters coming from Iran and have been following them all day. Literally it's a real-time feed of what's going on there, and it makes traditional news articles seem like stone tablets in comparison. The Boston Globe has a good round-up of twitters, as has Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic (warning that Sullivan's contains graphic pictures).

My current favorite, from some anonymous person in the thick of it:

Ahmadinejad called us Dust, we showed him a sandstorm.

That's first-rate human drama there.

Quote for the Day

Their revolution will be Twittered:

@BabakMehrabani is saying that he was beaten by a baton and his right hand is numb. He is twitting with the left hand.

Quote of the Day

"I’m kind of a paranoid wreck."

--Robert Pattinson, everyone's favorite movie vampire, apparently not enjoying the trappings of heartthrob insta-fame. Who can blame him?

I was on this bus!

Six bus passengers were taken to hospitals this morning with neck and back injuries after an MBTA bus driver stopped suddenly to avoid hitting another vehicle near the Forest Hills T Station, according to a transit spokesman.

The Route 32 bus hit the brakes at 8:30 a.m. to avoid hitting a van that pulled out in front of it, said Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo in an e-mail.

I was the last one to get on and was standing up near the driver. I held on as people dominoed into me. Lucky that I had a good grip on the handle and didn't go through the windshield! But surviving unscathed made me feel big & strong.

Twilight vs. Transformers

Him: Twilight is junk.
Me: Well I think Transformers is junk, how does that make you feel?
Him: Makes me feel like you're wrong.

In Hardcover

I had a coupon for Borders (30% off) and I'm a sucker for coupons. I went over during lunch to see if there was anything I couldn't live without. It seemed like a good chance to buy something I otherwise wouldn't.

Maybe that's why I ended up browsing the new hardcovers. Usually I avoid hardcovers. They're inferior to paperbacks in every way: they're heavier, difficult to hold with one hand, too expensive, and present the reader with the conundrum of what to do with a jacket that wants to slip off every second.

But when I spotted a new release from Alastair Reynolds, my favorite sci-fi author, I found myself quite willing to tolerate its hard cover, and, with the help of the coupon, its price. That's high praise.

But now I'm in a paperback pickle. Reynolds has a new hardcover out every June; the previous year's hardcover hits paperback each June, too. I've always been on the paperback schedule, for reasons mentioned above. Now I've crossed over onto the hardcover schedule. Which means next June I'll have to buy hardcover again, perpetuating the hardcover cycle, or miss a summer in Alastair's crazy brain.

Darn coupon, messing me up.

Tom Hanks hit by meteor

In case you were wondering, Conan at 11:30 is still Conan.

I wasn't able to stay up for the first episode of the new Tonight Show, but I caught it on Hulu yesterday. I must say, the new set design is very eye-pleasing -- and surprisingly old-fashioned, in a retro-cool way. I can't take my eyes off it. On the other hand, I could do without Andy Richter, whose presence inevitably means less screen time for Max Weinberg.

My my, New Hampshire,

aren't you looking lovely today!

New Moon: The Trailer

Me: Ugh. I was praying they'd use real wolves.

Him: It wouldn't be Twilight without shitty graphics.

See it for yourself here.