Pathetic Conversation of the Week
MiccioKaren: I really need to lose weight.
MiccioKaren: And the only way to achieve that is to stop eating altogether.
ohmybox: or run 6 miles a day like me
ohmybox: i ran like 40 miles last week
MiccioKaren: You're not making me feel good at all.
MiccioKaren: I want to cry now.
ohmybox: and ate all the poop in the world
ohmybox: lost like 2 pounds
MiccioKaren: Yeah, you're full of crap.
ohmybox: hehe
MiccioKaren: Because you said you had the stomach flu that day we went out and instead of eating Vegan food at the restaurant, you waited a few hours and ate a cheeseburger.
In more encouraging news, today I taped "TV Tales: The Golden Girls" on E! and I was totally enthralled.
I want a new cell phone, with new service, but the options are overwhelming. Boost Mobile, because of their innovative advertisements? Virgin, because of its contract-free plans? T Mobile, because of Catherine Zeta Jones? Verizon, because I don't know one person who does not like the service? Cingular, because of rollover minutes? Sprint, because of the color and stereo Samsung phone? AT&T, because of the GSM worldwide service? AT&T is who I have now and the one I'm leaning the least towards. 2 year contracts, my God, that is a lifetime of cellular enslavement.
This weekend, I got a precious lot of nothing done. But I saw "Sweet Home Alabama" and am in love with Patrick Dempsey, hung out with some Italians, ate some Indian food, had some milk tea and pudding, and had salted salmon twice.
Next goal: maintaining my track record. I can sniff out winners, I just have to practice nailing them.
La Vie en Rose
Outside my window the world is pitch and foggy. I feel as desolate as my surroundings. I am trying to convince myself that I am not a loser when people that I want to call me back do not, and that I really have nothing to be nervous about underneath this avalanche of work.
I called Jose, and said, "I just wanted to tell somebody that I am stressed out and lonely and a loser."
He said, "Hey, me too!"
I felt oddly comforted, so that was the full extent of our conversation.
12:21 and All is Well
I just got back from an invigorating workout at the gym. Right now I feel hopeful and overprivileged. I would like to always feel this way. Consider the alternative: desolate and underprivileged. Boy, if that were the case, I would prefer to just die.
But, we are looking at the positive side of things today. That includes finding a site where Gucci sunglasses are only $100! That beats the price I got them for at Guidoreni in Florence, but of course, that was a veritable tourist trap and I couldn't expect to really pay the best price for them, just a better price than what I could find in America. This new price tag I've discovered enables the Gucci Girl in Training to get her favorite style in a few of her favorite colors. I am kidding.
(No, I'm not.)
Actually, I've decided to freeze my finances right now because there is not enough coming in and too much going out. Yesterday, however, I experienced a windfall. Just as I said I wanted to start working again and that I was in desperate need of cash, I got 1) an overdue refund check from my roommate, 2) a job offer, and 3) an increase in my allowance from Daddy Dearest. It is a kind and benevolent God that sometimes likes to surprise me. I don't think I've done anything good lately to deserve that.
Tonight, Reyna and Tammy will be over. I'm really excited - the furniture of Apartment 209 is in place and now the roommates will be, as well.
Alizee et Amelie
Today's post had a package for me from France. There were 3 CDs inside, a mixture of French pop and folk. There was also a handwritten letter with Matthieu's scrawl, like any disclaimer that comes with mail-order items.
It's a nice thought, really, to know that I have the chance to receive little presents in the mail from Europe, to know that people still write me handwritten letters. I like appreciating this minutiae and not taking it for granted. It's a source of very delicious pleasure for me.
Today I re-read a good deal of the e-mails that Jose and I wrote back and forth during the time we were in Europe this summer, on our own and and together. It's some of the best stuff I've ever read... written. I was instantly whisked back to those happy, sunny days, which more accurately were just frenetic and humid. I'm glad that I have friends I write e-mails to that understand me so well, and that their reception of me encourages me to pour forth my observations, eliciting vivid thoughts and recollections that I'm eager to convey. I'm glad I have friends I can tell stories to.
Today, it was like I was in a whole other world.
Funniest Moment of the Weekend
"I feel like a National Geographic monkey."
- Vicky Luh, standing on a corner in Rodeo Drive with me, scrutinizing and adjusting my earring with both hands.
A close second would be Reyna trying to mime "drinking fountain" during a spirited game of Guesstures at the Borrero residence.
One Way to Stay Happy
Get fresh-baked bread from a bread machine, take a slice and lather on some butter, Lawry's garlic spread, and Parmesan cheese. I'm a going to break a personal rule here and say that the cheese doesn't even have to be authentic Parmigiano Reggiano; use Kraft. Throw it in the oven and bake for 7 minutes at 350 degrees. "Aw yeah, babe."
A bonus way to stay happy: watch plenty of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies. If you're lucky you'll catch "Swing Time" on AMC after a long day of class.
Happy Birthday Jose
We had a good LA night. Dinner at a vegan Indian restaurant called Parus, which really was excellent, and then karaoke at Smog Cutter. Jose had mentioned in the invitation that most of the clientele there were ex-Vietnam vets and ex-whores. It was an amazingly accurate description.
They introduced me afterward to a great eatery, Fred 62's on Vermont. The menu is attractive, the food tasty and filling, the ambience novel more than it is kitsch. We also went to Gabbah, a ghetto but true hip hop hangout. There were a couple of groovy-cool lounge rooms, one of which had a nice breeze blowing through and very plush couches, and the dance floor was completely pitch dark. It has been at least 4 years since I went to a bona fide hip hop joint -- I didn't realized how commercialized I had become. More Tribe, less Nelly. This stuff wasn't underground though, so I was able to enjoy it.
Ramon has a PowerBook G4 and it's absolutely fantastic. I'm in love with it. I never thought I'd be this pleased about a Mac product, even though I could never deny its sleekness. But the way everything sounds and runs on this bad boy is killing me, the self-proclaimed Sony Style girl.
I'm really torn right now.
Jose's 24 now and I hope he had a good birthday. I'm glad that he fused his worlds last night. I had a good chat in Spanish with Ariel, who gave me dos besos on each cachete antes que salio'.
Italian Things That I Miss Today (in no particular order)
Italian milk
Italian yogurt
Italian friend
So, basically, dairy and Roberto.
Whew
It was a busy weekend and it's not over yet. Last night, at Wolfgang Puck's California Cafe at the Irvine Spectrum, we had a waiter whose better calling was probably magician. I am not saying he made food disappear and reappear. I'm saying he had jet black hair and a slim moustache and grandiloquent way of speaking. He would present things with a flourish, rattle off today's specials with more enthusiasm than even Wolfgang Puck intended. The whole episode was just a bit too nauseating to endure at dinnertime. It could not have been more obvious that he was a struggling entertainer of some sort, relegated to waiting tables, because he was useless as a server. We gave him a $5 tip for a $70 meal. Maybe he could magically turn it into 15%.
And then the final testament to this man's ineptitude revealed itself this morning, when I opened up my leftovers and found that Magician had handed me Polen's Wolf-Fredo instead of my Grandma Puck's Linguine.
Matthieu and I went to the Hsi Lai Temple yesterday and then South Coast Plaza. Buddha would have wanted us to achieve nirvana at the mall. The wing right out of Nordstrom's first floor leads to Tiffany and Chanel. Matthieu said in his heavy Gallic accent, "OK, I guess this is meant to be some kind of fancy mall."
At Burberry I fell in love with a tres chic denim jacket. I was very close to buying it. Later, I felt I had missed out, and it didn't help when later Matthieu told me he had 3 Burberry jackets back in France. Everybody knows it's so easy to make me burn with envy. Matthieu's defense: "It was a gift. I tell you, my grandmother swears by Burberry! She is convinced it is quality."
Reyna had a great "Belvly Hills" barbecue on Saturday night. I met some Italians, but none of them were any too simpatico. I've started taking Pepcid AC to prevent getting red from drinking, but as a result I do not get drunk anymore. I don't know -- be happy and look like shit, or be bored and look the way you did when you left for the party? To me, there is no clear winner here.
Matthieu is leaving today and I'll miss him. He made me laugh a lot.
