Saturday, April 23, 2005
Only dorks like me write on the weekend
Hey.
I've noticed that just about everyone else in bloggerland goes strangely quiet on the weekends. It's entirely possible that I'm the only one who has no life. Oh well.
This is actually my only break in a day that is in fact chock-full of excitement. I went to watch the videotaped version of Firefly this afternoon, which I'm glad I didn't see earlier because I thought I looked and sounded pretty dumb on camera. I think the lighting was not terribly flattering for anyone, but I'm still not thrilled about seeing myself on video. I never have been, really. I'm always filled with a profound sense of embarrassment.
Tonight I'm supposed to go to a huge grad party at M.'s penthouse downtown. That promises to be lots of fun, and will hopefully remind me that I still have friends in town. Then I'm heading to part 2 of the Drag King show I saw last month. My friend made the semi-finals and I want to go watch her win!
It will be an exhausting evening, and I'm already tired because the Boy managed to surreptitiously sleep in my room for the five or so hours between when we got home from dinner and when he had to get up to go to his last exam. My mom didn't even notice he stayed here, probably because she was busy worrying about my brother because he never came home last night. Who the hell knows what he's up to these days. Anyway, I got just about no sleep because it was hot out and certain people snore and I was overheated and feeling restless most of the night. This sudden heat wave is not entirely pleasant. It makes the nights muggy and humid and forces me to wear slightly less clothing during the day, which apparently forces other random strangers to act like complete assholes in my presence.
Why do men think that I ought to take catcalling and whistling, not to mention rude stares, as compliments? The whole thing makes me (almost!) want to become a Mormon and cover even my ankles and wrists for religious reasons. It's not as though I'm walking around in a bathing suit, either. Capri pants that show about four inches of leg and a sleeveless shirt should NOT be enough to turn men into complete apes. I wish I had a total stick figure of a body with absolutely nothing to gawk at at all. Then I could wear whatever I wanted and no one would be a moron. But as it stands, I have to be very careful. I rarely appreciate the attention and loathe being treated like a walking Barbie doll. It is just gross. Please, guys, don't be so clueless as to think that women you don't even know want you to yell lewd things at them. We don't. It's revolting, and ensures that any chance you had with us to begin with is extinguished faster than you can yell "take it off!"
I could rant for hours about this, but I am moving on.
I did some not-so-fine dining last night at the evil grease factory that is McDonalds, with the Boy who had been studying all day and wanted a break. It was, well greasy. And salty. The food was memorable only in its ickiness. We only went there because it was really late and we didn't want to stay out for hours and hours.
It was not at all like the night before, when we went out to this hip little place by my house for tapas and beer. That was actually really high class. The place is tiny, so small that anyone over about 170 lbs. would have a hard time seating themselves. There are these teeny little booths right next to each other, which means that if the people next to you are having an animated conversation or are breaking up with each other, you're in on it as well. It's happened before, and you really have no choice but to eavesdrop. The Boy and I just look at each other knowingly and giggle. The other night we ordered the pommes frites, which are delivered in this gravity-defying mountain of little fries covered in salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar, and shaved bits of green onion. Neither of us could finish the whole thing. Then we got some mussels with chorizo sausage and tomatoes (really nice!), some crab cakes with an orange-soy-hoisin sauce, with tobiko (those delightful little orange flying fish eggs you get with sushi), bok choy, and a little avocado salad, and some double-cream French brie with frozen grapes, honey, and baguette. It was really, really amazing, and actually pretty affordable, especially considering the high quality of the food. The place always has loud, annoying techno music playing, but it was better than usual the other night, with a little bit of jazz and some chill Jack Johnson.
I just went out and did what I've been meaning to do for more than a year -- buy some new headphones!! The ones I had finally kicked the bucket, and I'd rather be utterly poor than without headphones. One of the earpieces completely separated itself from the headset, and I don't even think I can tape it together anymore. So I went to Futureshop and endured the bored ignorance of the salesguy for a few minutes before deciding on a pair and hightailing it out of there. I should have gone to the store downtown, because their salespeople were at least born with some semblance of a brain. At least I can take them back within 30 days if they suck a lot. And 30 days means listening to about 60 cds, minimum. Plenty of time to decide if they're crap or worth the $50 I paid for them.
In case you were wondering...
At the moment I'm listening to:
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute -- crazy, chaotic, but pretty fascinating tunes. Borrowed from the bro, actually a better word would be 'exhanged' with the bro for my precious, precious Nirvana.
Nirvana - Nevermind -- keeps me relatively sane.
Nirvana - Best of, Vol 1 -- same as above.
Tegan and Sara - So Jealous -- haven't listened to it in a while, so I took it out to play with me.
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine -- already raved about her.
At the moment I'm reading:
Lunch With - Jan Wong -- brilliantly catty interviews with my favourite Globe and Mail reporter and former China correspondant.
Tropic of Capricorn - Henry Miller -- yes, I'm reading it slowly. Only because it is brutal to read and so I've had to put it down for a bit of a breather.
Sweetness in the Belly - Camilla Gibb -- haven't started it yet but I will in the next few days. It looks fantastic.
The Focus section of The Globe and Mail, the Sun, The Province, the Straight, and whatever other newspapers I can get my hands on.
Okay, time to try out those new headphones. Yay.
-N
