sidenote: my attempts at formating suck because i am a techtard. if the pictures don't quite match the story that's next to it...well, whatever. my stories in real life are like that as well.

cashing in on the IOU

i have the bionic cold. somehow, i contracted a different strain than the one that's afflicted my entire office(s) and barn. mine began on friday, got increasingly worse for six days to the point where i thought it might be pneumonia again, lessened in intensity for a day, and is now back with a vengeance. kill me.

regardless, i am sitting in the cohasset office encased in my green nylon vest and a few layers of technologically-engineered fabrics. it's gotten suddenly chilly, and it's lovely. a week ago, however, i was draped by a pool in winston, so perhaps we'd better recap homecoming.

jill and i decided, much to the surprise of our classmates, that we'd descend upon the forest early on wednesday night and do nothing important for four full days. the prodigal massholes. i buzzed my way through work on monday and tuesday, and trotted cheerily out of the westwood office at 2:00 on wednesday. i was meeting my boss in the city to do a walk-through of a proposed event venue, so i parked my car at the quincy adams T stop for the weekend and jumped on the red line, beskirted and dragging my little orange suitcase. as a general rule, the t has always struck me as pretty harmless, but i do have some inbred paranoia from being the only daughter of an italian faux mafioso, so when the drunken, shirtless construction worker stumbled onto the train and sat so close to be that he was on top of my skirt, i began plotting my switch to the next car down. despite my obvious headphones and dark sunglasses, he began leaning in front of me, slurring loudly and waving his hands. "why are you so beautiful, so plush?" he yelled. everyone on the train stopped to watch. i feigned indifference, which didn't go over well. "so beautiful, like a picture," he continued on. the train lurched, and he slid his hand up under my skirt, so i leapt up, aiming for the open seat between two large guys who appeared to be about my age. the guy grabbed my wrist and skirt, and said, "no vacation for you, you're coming with me!" (reference to the suitcase, i suppose.) the huge guy across the aisle at this moment stood up, grabbed the much smaller construction worker told him to get his fucking hands off me, and physically threw him from the train as the doors opened at andrew (oh the timing...). his friend grabbed my suitcase and invited me to sit down. thank you, thank you, thank you whomever you are. they offered to walk me to meet my boss, but i politely declined. arrived to meet mara rather shaken, but intact. stupid t.

post-walkthrough, mara took me to the airport to meet jill. we flew through charlotte and then to gboro pretty uneventfully where we reunited with a bouncy, squealing, tail-wagging duo. alli and steph got us back to wake and took us to the foothills brewery where we downed a heavy harvest beer of some sort and ate calamari all the while attacting the attention of the bored band, life in general. we continued to see these guys everywhere for the rest of the weekend.

thursday involved a great brunch at midtown with sara wobker. wonderful to see her and get to sit out in the sunshine with pancakes. the rest of the weekend was generally a blur. a happy blur, but a blur all the same. at some point, bionic cold popped up and we tried to kill it with eggs and vodka shots. highlights of the rest of the weekend include hanging with joe box, the pre-tailgate brunch, the tailgates themselves (we just hopped around), and sixth and vine, winston's wine bar. i feel very, very loved when i meander down to winston, and even managed to make new friends. :)

i am running out of steam and must blow my nose again (sidenote: i am going nuts because i ran out of q-tips yesterday and forgot to buy more last night...i am a daily ear digger and now they feel upsetingly unclean. anyone else this neurotic about aural potatoes?). sigh.

many thanks...

...to zach for the tip - just won two tickets to SNL december 3rd! apparently i AM going to have to get to new york this year. :)

perhaps a cliche, but one of the best books i've ever read...not sure if i'm more nervous or excited about this!

"chicks in chucks"...i like the sound of that.

sitting in the office wiggling my feet happily - they're encased in a brand new pair of classic chucks. spurred a girl in a mohawk on to pet me saturday night at the middlesex lounge in cambridge - she had also decided that i have the "same vein my forearms" as angelina jolie. then she tried to follow me into the bathroom. oh man.

lots of socializing this weekend, lots of horseing - sunday coached the PR boss, mara, at a local show. such a weird turning of the tables.

is anyone up for seeing the presidents (as in lump, peaches, and kitty) october 3rd?

when you're entirely consumed by something tiny, and yet your day must go on...what do you do?

i can etch-a-sketch like a pro, biatch

i just found a koosh ball, an etch-a-sketch, and a book on office yoga in my new little space. someone's looking out for me. :)

i've been MIA for quite a bit, but it's not because i don't love you, dear e-audience (how many of you are there? ::squints into the darkness:: i see...two? three? thanks guys.). lots going on right now - a merger which will eventually turn into a move from the space we just invaded, two weekend trips, and a newly-filled lesson schedule. i'm basically PR girl from 9-5 and the barn equivalent of an elementary school teacher from 6-8 on weeknights and the grand majority of sat/sun. quite content with this, though. kathryn and i decided that we weren't exactly giving back to the community (cheeeeese) like we should be, so we're restarting the 4H club that provided us with lots of great opportunities and information when we were little. when you're younger, 4H entails learning the practicalities of the animal you're studying (for example, ours is a club for horsey kids), competing in quiz bowls and judging tours, and doing a TON of community service. as you get older, there are leadership opportunities. most of the teenagers end up running the meetings, working to get the younger members relating to each other, and keeping detailed records about their "horse project" (aka, keeping track of the details of being responsible for owning an animal - vet fees, vital health info, money spent, training logs, etc.). all of these things were a huge help to me in learning to adjust to the academic expectations of my teachers and professors, and also provided me with a very solid base of horse knowledge to rely on. it's also a very easy way to make friends when you're little, and having that common ground is a big help for kids who tend to be shy. 4H. not just for farm kids anymore. genuinely looking forward to getting this off the ground.

another interesting fact about being out of college: in the past year and a half, i've made friends from all age groups and walks of life. i realized the other day that i spent a large chunk of the weekend with women who were in their forties and fifties, and that many of my friends are getting married, just beginning college, having baby showers, getting divorced...i feel like it's an easy way to absorb life lessons and wisdom. i've always relied on people like sara wobker in times of crisis for her few years of experience and level-headedness, but it's nice to be constantly influenced by people who've gone before you (and still checked back to taking joy in the little things by kids). :)

notes from my margins

one those special little moments - when you walk into the office bathroom at 9:00a to find the seat up - you're the first pee of the day. go ahead, bad ass, sit on that seat! yes!

this morning (bright and sunny, sixty degrees, mind you) i watched two people come to near blows over a parking spot close to the door of the gym - does this seem counterintuitive to anyone else?

apology.

i'm so dismayed by the news that i can't - just can't - write about anything trivial and asinine in my life in good conscience. so sorry.