Beach, Bar Fights and Birthdays

Okay, okay I'm back! It's hard getting caught up and on your feet after being on vacation, and I really need to spend more time chugging along in my distance learning courses (I don't want this to turn into another scene from Statistics).

First off, I apologize for my whine festival earlier. I just got frustrated with trying to plan a get together. I'm sure that my friends are doing the best they can, and I shouldn't judge. I just had to let off some steam.

So for three days I went to a training seminar for work. I had a pretty good time and I passed the certification test that they gave us at the end with flying colors. Hooray, hooray.

That night myself, boyfriend, and our friend from college who recently returned from 2 years in Senegal with the Peace Corps set out for the beach to meet up with the others. It was so wonderful to see this friend again! Really, it was like no time had passed.

I don't have too much news from the beach. It rained and was cloudy much of the time we were there. We did a lot of eating in little restaurants and diners, playing board games, and sipping cheap beers.

The first night we were there (keep in mind we had to be cagey because we were cramming 5 people into one room) our neighbors got a little rowdy. A group of people stood right outside our door playing the guitar and singing to popular early 90's songs. We were pissed for a while, but we relented and just listened and made fun of them. Around 4am the police came along with the property manager. They tried to kick the group out, but somehow they talked their way out of it.

Also while there I bought a giant $10 piece of cake. It was damned good, and it was getting closer to my birthday... I couldn't resist!

The first full day that we were there when it rained, we went to the movies. Everyone wanted to see "Knocked Up," but I've had plans with some high school friends for a while to go see that. Instead we saw "Waitress." I have to admit, I loved it. There were a few parts that were just a little too corny and I had to snicker in the theater, but overall I really really liked it. And I left the theater with an overwhelming desire to bake and eat PIES. I'd really recommend this movie to anyone looking for something fun but smart, the way a real 'romantic comedy' should be.

The day we left was nice outside (of course). We were able to sit on the beach for a little while, then we checked out of the hotel and headed to where one person's parents live (she's from the beach). We had brunch at a diner near here house; it was adorable, everyone knew everyone. When we finally got to her house it was awesome to be able to see where she grew up. She was mostly moved out of her bedroom, but there were some things that reminded me so much of my own room. Teen angst song lyrics written along the wall, certain pictures and quotes tacked up on the wall, empty boxes of animal crackers lining the door frame and a few relics from high school boyfriends... she and I could have been great friends growing up. Our rooms said a lot about how we much we wanted someone to notice that we were 'different.'

Boyfriend drove on dropping different people off as we passed their city. Our friend from Peace Corps had the farthest to go, she was going to visit our old college town for a week and catch up with people there. Somehow she convinced us to stay the night there as well and leave in the morning.

I saw my first bar fight. It was between two guys from the Rutgers baseball team that was in town for a tournament. One guy broke a bottle and then held the glass shard up to another guy's neck. The one who was threatened went nuts, screaming and yelling all sorts of things: "I had your back for three years, and this is what you do? I'm out of my f*cking mind!" This went on and off for hours, after what seemed like forever the one guy got kicked out of the bar but it raged on in the street. I guess I remember why I don't like bars.

The bar fight aside, I love the town my alma mater is in. I'd gladly go back there, buy a little house, get a dog, go to lectures on weeknights and just generally enjoy life.

Wednesday was my birthday. I love and adore birthdays. I am finally starting to realize that I'm not getting any younger, though! One of the things boyfriend gave me is my choice of a cooking class at Sur La Table. I think I'll take the fondant course; maybe it's not the most utilitarian choice, but I think it will be fun! I'm headed back to my parents' house tonight for a little birthday grilling and then going to see "Knocked Up" with some friends. And, of course, I'd like to see Maggie again.

Perhaps the best birthday present I got, though, was last night. My brother has started this new thing where he loves calling after I'm asleep. It's irritating as hell to be woken up, but it also sucks for boyfriend. He gets really startled when all of a sudden my phone starts vibrating and going nuts. My brother told me last night that the military board met on his case yesterday, and he is not being deployed to Iraq. Not being deployed! NOT NOT NOT. Thanks freakin' GOD!

A Weekend to Remember

Friday night I was supposed to meet up with Jen, my friend from law school last year. After I got home from another fun 5pm meeting, I gave her a call. She was with another friend in the area, and that friend wanted to go get her nails done.

I felt a little dumped on. I thought it was my night to have Jen all to myself. And you know how I feel about getting nails done (or you can probably guess, based on my eyebrow rants). Two hours lately she was finally done watching her friend get her nails done, and the friend was now coming to dinner with us.

We met up at one of my favorite places for fun, Rock Bottom. Jen and I used to go to the one in Pittsburgh all the time, especially at key times such as during midterms or finals. We had some dinner, drinks and lots of laughs. But Jen's friend started losing her voice and getting sicker than apparently she had been the rest of the week. So they left; she didn't see my apt, and we didn't even get a picture or two together. I was bummed, and I was slightly intoxicated... not my favorite combination.

I know that she's living in South Carolina now and she doesn't get to see people often. She has to try to get in as many people as she can when she's around; that doesn't mean I have to like it. I had a great time with her. I forgot how easy she is to talk and joke with. I missed hearing her constant laugh. Any irritation at her friend is purely just jealously because I wanted more time.

Our friend Ray was supposed to come up for the weekend as well. He backed out because he said he had to finish working on his graduate level thesis. Boyfriend and I have a strong love and appreciation for academia, so of course we didn't balk when he started to waver. Also, I learned that I'm thanked on his acknowledgments page. That brings my number of thesis thank-yous to two graduate level theses and one undergraduate level thesis. I wouldn't hate being a professional muse, or at least a thesis muse... as long as it's nothing like Sharon Stone in that awful 1999 movie 'The Muse.' Turns out Ray just wanted to spend some quality time with his new girlfriend. Well, I guess that's forgivable too.

And it all worked out swimmingly, because I had one of the best weekends ever.

Saturday I convinced boyfriend to go to my favorite mall near us and finish up some Christmas shopping. Their holiday decorations were amazing, and I really enjoyed everything about being there. It was crowded, but not as bad as the mall we went to the weekend before. It was big, but not so big that it felt overwhelming.

Our friend Jeff happened to be in DC visiting some art shows he wanted to see. He metroed over to the mall and we all enjoyed a delicious Thai dinner. I got them to go to the Hallmark store outside with me, and I finally found the perfect gift for boyfriend's mother - A Very Merry Trio. It's a snowman and two penguins, and then dance to music and rattle bells.

Anyone remember Billy the Big-mouthed Bass? Most people bought him as a joke gift or for someone they really didn't like. My boyfriend's mother got it because she thought it was great. She also has singing stuffed dogs, a witch portrait that sticks out its tongue and makes fun of you when you walk buy, a talking/singing Frankenstein door knocker, and lots of other things I'm trying to forget. My only hope is that she doesn't buy A Very Merry Trio before I can give it to her.

Well if having my two favorite men as shopping buddies wasn't great enough, we also went to Cold Stone Creamery, watched my nudey neighbor for awhile, and played some XBOX. Truly a night to remember.

On Sunday we made a quick and decisive trip to the grocery store. Also, I got boyfriend to agree to take me to see 'The Holiday.' I was just in one of those romantic comedy moods. I didn't want anything that would shatter my world, just some mindless, fun entertainment at the theater. We race there to make it in time. The previews come on, the previews cut off. The previews come on, the previews cut off. Repeat cycle. Some guy comes in to pass out reimbursement tickets and assures us that the movie will begin shortly. Repeat previous cycle a few times. Forty-five minutes later another guy shrugs that the movie probably isn't going to work. "So, should we go?" we wonder. Who knows. It's a big mystery. We left, no movie.

That was a bummer. I was all hyped up to see a holiday romantic comedy. I went to the video store downstairs to try to satisfy my romantic comedy desires, and I rented 'The Break-up.' I know that I make other people sad when I crap all over things they like, but seriously, do you really like The Break-Up? A movie where two people scream for two hours and then don't even satisfy the classic cliche of reuniting in the end? This movie seriously pissed me off and didn't help my problem at all.

But, I decided to stop being lame, and I picked up a book I've been meaning to read that's been beckoning me from the bookshelf for a few weeks now - White Teeth. So far it's great, and I'm thrilled.

Other lovely news from the weekend is that I tried out the other trial pair of contacts I picked up since the O2 Optix weren't working out. These are Acuvue Oasys, worn by Olympic figure skater Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto! These contacts are really working out for me! I highly recommend them to anyone who spends long periods of time in front of the computer, gets frequent headaches or tired eyes, or works in any other environment that's not conducive to contacts. Also, I love Tanith & Ben... and figure skating... and the Olympics!

I could mention some crap about my Monday at work, but why tarnish such a great weekend? Hope you all had a good one as well! Don't let Monday get you down.

'The Virgin Suicides'

Last night we watched The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola. I enjoy watching movies that are a little off the beaten path, not your typical romantic comedy or action film, but I'm not sure I quite got this one.

Has anyone else seen the movie or read the book? While it was visually entertaining, I don't know that I felt a lot of storyline there. Maybe the book has something else in it that the movie doesn't get. One review I read says that the movie is about how men can never understand what it's like to be a thirteen year old girl or a thirty year old woman. But it seemed a little weak to me.

I guess the boys in the movie were supposed to be really obsessed with these girls, but they didn't seem that obsessed to me. Maybe I'm just thinking of movies like The Sandlot, where the message of the kid's obsession with baseball really resonated. Yes, they're two totally different types of movies, but it just seemed like any plot having to do with the boys was an afterthought. I think Sofia Coppola relied on the four blonde sisters, including Kirsten Dunst, to mezmerize the audience so that they didn't notice there was no unifying theme, just dreamy screenshots, a quintessential 70's soundtrack, and artistic play.