Vibrant.(Still) Unrepentant. Badass. Old. Queer

My hands are cold. It is windy. Thus far, I am no liking Spring 2007. On the plus side, I am in possession of a piece of pie from the Upstairs Neighbor, and that makes me happy. It is rhubarb. At least, I think it is rhubarb, I didn't actually look at it before I put it in my refridgerator. Usually, I no like the rhubarb pie either. However, the Upstairs Neighbor, hallowed be her name, makes a kick-ass rockin' rhubarb pie. In other news: The pab is back on the scene, at least temporarily [meaning: Until I get my presents from China and grind his heart into the pavement with the delicate open toe of my patent leather stilettos]. I wonder if he has deluded himself into thinking that we are still dating. I mean, really, I haven't seen him since at least a week before my birthday. Yet, last night on the phone, he was talking about applying for jobs in California. And, then, I must assume jokingly, said, "So, you'd better start packing. Ha. Ha." But, it so...

Morning, Kittens. So, let's run down the excitement of the weekend: I caught a cold and spent the entire weekend indoors, napping, knitting, and surfing the web. *woot* I am blaming the boss [No, not Bruce Springsteen, *my* boss]. He was sick on Thursday and out on Friday. It is all his fault. I hates him. Needless to say, the potential date on Saturday did not happen. We chatted on Sunday morning. The reason he did not return my call was that my phone message was garbled and staticky. Stupid cell phones. Why do they always crap out at the last moment? It's probably a good thing, though. I needed to stay in. So, Saturday night, I watched In the Mood for Love , which I thought was amazingly beautiful. Tony Leung is super HOT. *rowr* And, can I just say I totally*heart*ed Maggie Cheung's 1960s dresses. They inspired an idea for once I get my sewing machine and learn how to use it! I'm so excited. And, I know it will be the Next Big Thing. *heh* Sunday, I d...

Morning, Kittens! Or... um ... Afternoon, I suppose. I think I'm coming down with a cold. I'm self-medicating with coffee, tequila, and frequent napping. *woot* I have a 'low-key' date tonight. Possibly. So I need to be rested. Relaxed. And not coughing and hacking and sinus-draining. I think I can postpone the onset if I get lots of sleep. Stupid busy schedule not allowing me to get enough sleep and lowering my resistance. Resistance is futile. In the meantime, happy hour last nightw as a hoot. Tomoko got to meet fellow journobuddy Jerry. Much talk about politics and elections ensued. *woot* You know how I get off on that shit. I'm actually thinking of a post for EnviroWonk . The idea has been playing around in my head for a few days. I need to mentally stabilize my argument. Then, I get to bust some EnviroHeads. HOTness. God [Are you there? It's me, VUBOQ], when was the last time I updated the Wonk? I have been a bad EnviroBuddy. I'll pro...

Anyone else lose an hour somewhere? So very tired this morning. But, I had a very good weekend. Not only did I finish the Never-Ending Sweater of Doom (see pictures in previous entry), I also vacuumed the living room, tidied the kitchen, and spent loads of quality time with friends. Saturday evening, Mike and Robert picked me up. We got take-out Vietnamese (yum!) and watched The Departed at Bob and Bernard's house. Mike was dog-sitting for them. I was not expecting to like The Departed , because I normally don't enjoy mob movies. This one was very good though. Highly entertaining. Although I found the final shot -of the rat on the balcony- to be a bit contrived and unnecessary. I kept thinking "How did the rat get up there?" Sunday, I spent the morning blobbing around the house (and recovering from the red wine hangover). Mike picked me up around 3 and we hung out in Dupont Circle, meeting Robert and running into Steveandbobby. Mike, Robert, and I went to Alero for d...

Do you think, if I gave pab a box of Rice-a-Roni without saying anything, he would understand? Or maybe some other lovely parting gift?

Sooooooooo ... last night was Chocolate Decadence at the Ritz-Carlton. 3 hours of chocogoodness. OMG. I was so bloated. But the chocolate was (as chocolate is) so very very good. My favorite? Had to be either the yummily rich and smooth pie/fudge-like wedge that reminded me of the super-rich melty goodness of the only-sold-in-Winter Japanese candy: Melty Kiss. Chocorgasm. OR ... the odd, yet surprisingly delicious, chocolate cake, coated with bitter bitter dark chocolate and filled with a surprise - basil cream filling! Seriously. Shocking. Tantalizing. Oh, so good. Mmmmm ... There were over 200 different chocolate items. I think I may have tried them all. *oog* Today, I spent the morning and afternoon drinking coffee and knitting. I have seamed the shoulder of the Never-Ending Sweater of Doom and knitted about an inch of the neck. WOO HOO! I left the house around 2:45 to meet pab at Eastern Market. I had to go to the yarn store to buy more yarn. I started a hat for a friend, but under...

Before I get into my weekend adventures and insecurities, a few tidbits: It snowed. See photo. I finished my knittens. Photo forthcoming (hopefully). I have apparently been banned for life from Scott-o-Rama . *sniff* So, the weekend ... pab picked me up from Union Station a little after 10AM. He was late. This did not make me happy. He bought me coffee, so I became happier. We got to the hotel (Hilton Garden) in Williamsburg around 1PM. We checked in. We got settled. We had sex. It was ... ok. I mean, I suppose that I was expecting something a little more toe-curlingly amazing, considering that he only ever has oral sex. You would think that someone who "specialized," so to speak, would be, well, friggin' fantastic. Perhaps, my expectations were set too high. I mean, it wasn't bad. It just wasn't ... well, I guess it wasn't Mike, who as we know gives the best blowjobs ever. And, I was expecting something at or above the Level of Mike. *sigh* We cleaned up and...

The Most Marvelicious Mush warholized me. Isn't she sweet? Yay for fun Flickr toys. And here's a shocker (and, no, not this kind ): The class liked my story! Yay! They liked me. They really, really liked me. Lots of nice things were said. And they also honed in on the areas in the story where I had concerns. Which could possibly mean I have good instincts as to when my writing truly does sucketh (kind of like now). The teacher/instructor/workshop leader made some good points, so I look forward to reading his written comments next week. YAY. I managed to catch the 10:04 bus to Silver Spring (*woot*), but forgot to request a transfer. The weather was mild, so I didn't mind walking home, slip-sliding on a few icy patches. I spoke briefly to Robert, who is heading to SF for the weekend (for his BIRTHDAY!), and, then, I called pab. I got home around 11, and the hopes that the long walk home would have helped to settle my brain were dashed. I still didn't fall asleep until a...

pab picked me up at Union Station around 6:15 last night. We had dinner at a little Mexican place, which -as a friend said to me- looked liked a Mexican flea market inside. The food was quite yummy. I had cheese enchiladas. Mmmm. I do so love enchiladas. After dinner, I was stuffed like a pig at Christmas, so we drove over to the Jefferson Memorial for a bit of a walk, and then pab drove me home. On the way home, it started to rain. We made out for a bit in the car, and I went inside. A few minutes later he called ... to ask if I wanted to go to Williamsburg this weekend with him. I said yes, with the qualifier that we must get back in time to see the Oscars. Good lord, I am so gay. He's running a half-marathon there on Sunday afternoon. We will leave on Saturday morning so that we can do some sight-seeing and stuff. Then, I guess soon after the half-marathon we will head back. It should be fun. I haven't been to Williamsburg since I was in college. I can already taste the home...

pab called earlier today. We're going out for dinner tonight. He'll meet me at Union Station around 6/6:15 and we'll go to some mediocre restaurant in or around Capitol Hill. I should be excited about this. And I am. I'm also apprehensive and uptight. The relationship has barely begun, and I am already thinking about the end. gah.

But, first ... OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! I have finished the Never-ending Left Sleeve of the Never-ending Sweater of Doom! Worship me, kittens! Now, all I have left to do is connect the shoulders, knit the neck, and sew the whole thing together! I should be done by AUGUST! *woot!* Ha. I kid. My goal is to be done by my birthday (March 17th, for those of you who want to send presents). Oh, and if anyone has any good links for seaming, please send them to me. I have no idea how to do the shoulders... or actually how to attach the sleeves to the torso. The rest will be mattress stitching, I guess, which is relatively easy. And, now, the confusion ... I didn't go out with pab tonight. He called around 6:30. I was too comfortable here to bother getting ready and leaving the warmth of my sofa. We may meet up tomorrow depending on his schedule. About an hour or so after we spoke, he called back. To tell me that he's thinking of moving to South Florida to be closer to his pare...

Yesterday afternoon, I met Tomoko, Robert and Darryl for margaritas! *woot* It was quite fun. While walking to the restaurant (Alero in Dupont Circle), I thought I saw a snowflake. "Impossible," I thought to myself. "It must be falling off a tree or something." Ha. I was soon proved to be mistaken. The snow fell quite furiously for awhile, accumulating about an inch or so while we ate and drank. and drank. and drank. After the snow stopped and the final pitcher was empty, we slid our way up to Fab Lounge. It was empty, but the beer was reasonably priced. Hmm ... Come to think of it, I believe I owe some people for the beverages. My walk home from the metro station was a little trickier than usual because of the recent dusting of snow. I'm glad I wore my snow boots! pab called as I slipped homewards. We will probably be meeting up later today. Meanwhile, I will be knitting, watching Pride and Prejudice , and lounging on the sofa. Happy President's Day! *smooc...

The date yesterday with pab was quite fun. He picked me up around noon and we drove to National Airport to return his rental. He has this weird philosophy about not putting mileage on his car, so, whenever he takes a roadtrip, he rents. To each their own, ne? After dropping off the car, we ended up at this little restaurant in Del Ray (augh. VA, again) for lunch. I had a sandwich with roasted eggplant tomato basil mozzarella. Quite yummy. Then, we drove back into Civilization to visit the National Portrait Gallery. It was all right. After awhile I began to feel "portrait overload." Seriously, how many paintings of people can you look at, thinking "Hm. Should I know who this person is?" before you go absolutely bonkers? The answer is apparently ten. I did enjoy the American Art sections of the museum. Were those Noguchi settees and tables in the Modern Art section? I believe they were. Placed there for the huddled masses to enjoy. Hot! The Joseph Cornell exhibit was ...

I had loads of fun last night. I had to do laundry, but didn't have enough quarters. I had to scrounge around through buckets of change until I found enough to do one load of laundry. Ah. Clean undies for yet another week. Life. It is good. I also made soup. I would love to tell you it was delicious, but I burned my tongue with the first bite and lost all sense of taste. It smelled good though. The recipe is thus: Saute in olive oil 1/2 onion (diced) and clove of garlic (mashed). Add one apple (peeled, cubed) and 3 potatoes (peeled, cubed). Add one chipotle pepper and a couple of spoonfuls of adobo sauce. Cook for a bit. Meanwhile, slice in half an acorn squash and remove seeds. Place squash in 1/4 cup of water and microwave for 8-10 minutes. To the pot add one can of diced tomatoes and several cans of water. Bring to a boil. Scoop out squash bits and add to soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. When all the veggies are soft, blend the HELL out of those suckers. Gawd, I love my handb...

The snow looked glassy on the walk home. I hesitantly put one blue-booted foot on it. It was slick, smooth. I walked the rest of the way home on the plowed sludge, frozen, uneven, but easier to walk on. As I passed the middle school athletic field, I was suddenly smacked across the gob with an idea: I should try to ice skate on the track! I did. It was a brief moment of silliness. It made me laugh. I ran and then tried to slide as far as I could. Of course, only after I stopped did I think, "Hm. If I had fallen, my brittle nearly-37-year-old bones would have shattered ." While I was skating around the track, I missed a call from pab. Once home, and settled, I called him back. "What are you doing," he asked. "I'm sorting laundry, hunting for quarters, and making a manhattan." [As you know, I've been craving those lately ... mmm ... bourbony goodness] "A manhattan? What's in those? Can you make them without alcohol?" "Sure," I...

For four summers, I taught US Geography at a camp for Asian exchange students. My roommate, Don, was an Iowan dairy farmer, part-time college English professor, and a part-time high school Spanish teacher. One evening, after work, we were talking about low-performing students (in general, not at the camp), and Don said, "I call 'em pabs ." "Pabs," I asked. "What does that mean?" "Peaked At Birth. It's all down hill from there." And we both laughed. This morning, while attempting to create a moniker for "the Date," I realized his initials are P.A.B. And I laughed. PAB called last night. On Saturday, he's going to pick me up for brunch, and, then, we are going to the newly reopened National Portrait Gallery . Fun times, I'm sure.