Season Of The Witch

Happy Halloween! It's my favorite holiday of the year (sorry July 4th, you aren't so much fun anymore) though I hate when it falls out during the week. Gone are the days right after my friends and I graduated college and dared to go out for an event like this on a weeknight. I would even go back home after work on Fridays, get ready, and go back out in the city again. The thought of doing that now absolutely makes me cringe.

But, rather than being lame, I have opted not to run home to watch Gossip Girl and instead go to Alex's Halloween party as he lives literally on top of the parade. In all my years of going out in the village to celebrate, the closest I could ever get to this spectacle was 14th and 8th (aka nowhere near the parade, too jammed), and I now feel it is my duty to attend as I have the ability to do so. Besides, they repeat Gossip Girl on Sunday.

I don't have an outfit with me today so I may go to Ricky's after work and buy a mask or something (apparently Alex has some scary 80's permed wig I can borrow too.) Don't think I'll need that though since I accidentally left my make-up at Stiffy's house after his party on Friday so I'm already looking pretty scary as it is. Whatever works right?

My mom bought bags of pretzels to hand out to the trick or treaters. LAME! Can't believe we aren't giving away chocolate, we're so uncool. Do people still hand out 10 pennies in Halloween paper bags? That was the worst!

I heard a song on the top 5 at 9 on CBS-FM last night and #2 was a song called 'Cute Little Monster' or something like that. The lyrics were really funny and included something about kneecap soup, I can't find it on google anywhere though. Anybody know what I'm talking about? I'm guessing it's from the 50's or 60's.
What does a vampire never order at a restaurant?
A stake sandwich...

What does a cannibal get when he comes home late for dinner?
The cold shoulder...

Why did the Cyclops have to close his school?
He only had one pupil...

What kind of pants do ghosts wear?
Boojeans...

What did the three vampires order at the bar?
Two bloods and a blood light...

What did the skeleton say to the bartender?
I'll have two beers and a mop...

(wah wah wah wahhhhhh)

Making People Scared Won't Get You Very Far

Happy Halloween! (Well, almost.) On Saturday night a bunch of us opted to do a scavenger hunt for the holiday for a change. It was the "Ghosts of Greenwich Village Hunt" which was actually really cool. It was a 2 hour hunt in teams of 6 that started off in Washington Square Park. We had to find answers to the clues all over the west village (seriously, I thought I knew the w.v. so well - after all I always planned for it to be a future habitation at some point) but I saw some streets I'd never even heard of before that were really so un-Manhattanlike and lovely! Most of the answers were found on plaques on brick walls (which I never noticed before), things mainly referring to famous people (like Mark Twain, Washington Irving, the apt. from Friends.) We were bothering local residents and asking them to help us out too which was quite funny at times. There was one answer we couldn't find on West 10th street between 5th and 6th, and now that I know it, I intend to go back there to find the plaque because it's still frustrating me. Anyways, we made all the stops in time but somehow our team still came in last (at least we can say we got into the Washington Mews courtyard unlike our friends though so take that!)

I dressed up as Lily Allen but unsurprisingly nobody knew it until I told them (I thought it was a good outfit, but it definitely would have went over better in London.) I did see an Amy Winehouse in the bar who suggested we could fight later which was nice. Some other notable outfits I spotted were a giant gecko, a giant sperm (who got wet stuff on my microphone I might add, eww), Victoria Beckham, and two older women who I think were supposed to be from Mama's Family. I didn't see anything super original, except for Milli Vanilli who had the best outfits of the evening by far (photos to follow.)

Sun is in the sky oh why oh why would I wanna be anywhere else? Deal or No Deal Girls One of Mandel's Models, Avril Lavigne, and French Maid People Kept Stealing My Mic To Sing (tre annoying - not Kat, the randoms) Milli Vanilli got on the bar and sang 'Girl You Know It's True' They had on tight white legging-shorts, short shirts, and did the running dance like in the video (SO FUNNY!!!) Gecko, Jess, Kristine, Heather, and Kat Me with earrings! (You won't see this again until next Halloween if at all) Buddy the Elf with Jenn (Strawberry Shortcake, not a Pumpkinhead like the freaks in Washington Square were calling her)

And the obnoxious people of the day award goes to...

The two people who exited the elevator this morning, allowing me to get in, the door closed and it didn't move, forcing me to get out an go into another car. Why couldn't the two people who got out of it originally tell me that it was broken? Assholes!

On a nicer note, congratulations on your engagement Lauren and Eric!!!

To Get To Sleep

I went out five days in a row last week, this officially proves I'm no longer a loser!

Wednesday was Air Traffic as I mentioned previously.

Thursday was the longest day of my life. I left work early and went to a focus group about this German beer called Radeberger. It tasted good and the packaging is really nice, very regal looking. Regardless if I liked it or not, I still got paid a nice sum of money for 45 minutes of talking about beer, who could ask for more?

Next I headed down to NYU by City Hall to see panelists speak about their jobs in the government but I got there with some time to kill. I sat in the park and voraciously read as much of Gone with the Wind as I could before going in (leaving me with about 5 pages left, I was dying throughout the seminar.) Don't read the rest of this paragraph if you plan to read the book but God's Nightgown! I cannot believe it ended like that. I've felt really hurt and incomplete for the past week, like I actually got my own heart broken. I don't think a book has affected me like this in a really long time. I just bought the DVD off eBay so I can relive all 367 hours of its glory (alright, I think it's really only like 4 hours.) Definitely saving this one for a rainy day.

Post-NYU I met up with Marcus for dinner in Chinatown. Has anyone ever heard of soup dumplings because I never have? They're steamed dumplings (we had them with crab and pork inside) and there is actually soup on the inside. You have to be really careful picking them up or you could break them and all the soup spills out. But if you are careful and the dumpling actually makes it onto your spoon, I suggest biting the outside and sucking the soup out; you'd have a serious problem if you tried to eat the dumpling in one whole shot.

After some drinks on the LES (OMG! They played Buffalo Stance at Iggy's!) we met up with Alex for British Sea Power at Bowery. I know it was CMJ and all but going on stage at 12:15 am?! I consider them worth the wait but unfortunately I did not think this was one of their top performances. They did not play much off the second album which is my favorite and there were pretty much no antics to be seen. Oh wellz. There was some new 'Lucifer' song which I really liked though. I didn't get to Meghan's till almost 2:30 am. I was pooped.

On Friday night Robyn and I went to dinner in Soho and met up with Kat and her friends at the Ben Sherman (not Nat Sherman) store. They were having a party in there with free beer and vodka red bulls which was tre random and I have to admit I was worried for the clothes. We went to some party afterwards in an empty gallery/studio/space which was really weird. Hard to explain but it was just a huge empty room (with free vodka again, whee!) with a DJ and strobe lights and projections of women's faces on the walls.

I went to my old haunt, Metro 53, on Saturday night because it was a friend's friend's friend's (you know the deal) birthday. On the way to the bar, I saw a guy arguing with his girlfriend on the corner and didn't think much of it...until the cops pulled him out of a cab and arrested him for apparently hitting her. Other weird occurrences of the evening: two girls got into a huge fight near where we were standing. They had to be pulled up from the floor and off of each other and then escorted out of the bar by the bouncers. Also, a girl felt up my ass. I felt someone rub my thighs from behind with their hands and I turned around and was like huh? I saw the girl but didn't think anything of it. When I told my friends what had just happened, the girl walked past me and totally felt up my thighs and ass and was like "sorry" in a seductive voice. Huh?!

Sunday was Vicki's bachelorette party. A bit different from the go-out-and-get-drunk kind (very nice for a change.) We had it at Dashing Diva (nail salon on the UES.) We all got manicures and pedicures (came with a cosmopolitan - pretty funny seeing the women making them out of ghetto vodka in the back) and we had food and drinks. I actually got something out of it which was the best part (and my nails haven't chipped yet.)

No plans for me until Saturday night's Halloween scavenger hunt. Anybody have tips for my Lily Allen costume?

Parklife

So, I actually was able to see Air Traffic in the end, yippee!!! (Now I can stop complaining about when and where I can see them during this CMJ mess.) I met up with Ryan and his friend Doug, had dinner at Open the Sesame, and got to The Canal Room early. We watched this band Arizona first and I think I was the only one of our group who kind of liked the band. They were similar to The Thrills but not too California-sounding (hence the name Arizona?)

I was ridiculously excited for Air Traffic, and was honestly having a hard time keeping myself composed. They only had about a half hour to play and they played all of the upbeat songs which were grrrreat. I am pretty sure this was the setlist in order:

'Get In Line'
'I Like That'
'Time Goes By'
'Just Abuse Me'
'Charlotte'
'Never Even Told Me Her Name'
'No More Running Away'
'Shooting Star'

I can't pick a favorite because I liked everything (not a shock.) They had energy, were really talented, and I loved loved loved the keyboard playing. On NMRA the bass player and the guitarist both had their own individual drum and played symmetrical beats, which was nice to see something a bit different at a gig. I didn't have my camera on me because I didn't think I was seeing them yesterday, poo (and I forgot it today for BSP, oh wellz.) Ryan and Morgan told me that they liked the show, I thought they were putting me on because I'd talked them up so much but it seems they were being honest, so woohoo! Also have to just throw in how cute the band were. I thought the singer looked a bit like Prince Harry and the bass player like a grown up Haley Joel Osment with a cool haircut. Go see them and spread the love!

I saw some weird things yesterday too. I was walking through Union Square looking for a spot to read some more of Gone with the Wind which I can't put down (damn, that Rhett Butler is so sexy!) As I was passing through a spot with two rows of benches on either side of me, this humongous rat ran from the grass, through the seated people's legs, across the sidewalk, and through the other seated people's legs. The woman in front of me screamed (she and it were about 5 feet in front of me) and the guys behind me started laughing. I was a bit shocked (I was definitely not expecting that to happen in between a bunch of people during the day in Union Square) but I found it kind of funny (maybe because I was used to the mice doing that to me and my roommates in my old apt?) The woman who had screamed kept justifying herself to the guys behind me saying she can't believe no one in the seats even flinched. Blegh, heebie jeebies.

Then I was on 1st ave by 6th street and there was a guy in a bear suit riding down the street on a skateboard. I thought that was pretty random till I saw a person in a wolf costume skating behind him?! They were followed by another guy on a skateboard with a video camera. At least we know they weren't doing it to scare people.

This morning the elevator opened on the third floor and there was a business guy in a suit carrying a stuffed gorilla twice the size of him. I think I've seen enough fake/real animals in the past 24 hours to tide me over for a week or two now.

If I Was a Rich Girl

In a shocking twist, it appears that the British authorities have treated me properly for once and have awarded me a tax refund for the 2006-2007 working year. That's 650 GBPs baby! Which, when converted, means $1300 big fat American smackeroos! I feel like the richest person alive right now!!! (No, I'm not taking you out for dinner.)

Yet although I'm very happy monetarily, I'm still seriously confused about this CMJ stuff. Turns out the Canal Room show is actually tonight. I think I am going to it (if I can go to one Air Traffic show, it's all I'll need to be happy.) The report of what happens will follow tomorrow.

...Can't believe I'm going this nuts about a band of 20 year olds. But seriously, the album is really that good!

I'm Trying To Fit You In But I Can't Seem To Find the Room

This has turned into a very confusing and crappy gig week!

Air Traffic are playing four CMJ shows this week (all of which are free I might add.) I planned to go to one tomorrow and one on Friday. Turns out that Robyn isn't able to come to the Living Room show anymore because she has something to attend for work and now I've just read that Air Traffic are going on at 4:00 pm on Friday rather than 5:00 pm (though their website still says 5:00) and I doubt Heather will be able to make it from her job on time. Why are you playing so early, WHY!!!

Then I found out that British Sea Power are not going on until midnight on Thursday!! I don't live in the city anymore, I can't do this! There's a 1:19 am LIRR but then I'd be at the gig for less than an hour but I don't not want to go.

I don't really want to go to the Air Traffic shows by myself. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have a problem with this, but as these are early CMJ shows, I'm picturing myself at them with about 3 other people feeling like a total idiot.

So, as of now, if I can't force anyone into going with me (they are playing at 10 pm on Thursday hint hint all!) then I think my new Thursday plan will be this:

3:30 pm - Leave work early
3:45 pm - Focus group with beer consumption (don't tell work people, shhh)
6:30 pm - Seminar at NYU for international relations people looking for jobs in the government (I have to do something serious at some point during the week)
10:00 pm - Go solo to The Canal Room to see Air Traffic (I have to kill time anyway because Pela are opening for BSP and I don't want to put myself through that again)
11:00 pm-ish: BSP at Bowery Ballroom

That sort of makes sense, but in any case, if you are my friend (or want to be my friend) these are all of the Air Traffic shows this week (barring the midnight one in Gramercy on Thursday.) If anyone is interested in going with me (remember they are free) please let me know. I'll even go so far as to buy you a beer or mixed drink of your choice!

Wednesday: 6:00 pm at The Living Room**
Thursday: 10:00 pm at The Canal Room
Friday: 4:00 pm (or 5?) at Pianos

After all, how could one not love this song?
Air Traffic – Charlotte

**Update: It now says on the website that this event is private so possibly scratch that anyway.

When You're a Jet, You're the Top Cat in Town

So, I went to 53rd and Lex to run some errands on my lunch break. I took the subway there, and when I went to take it back, I got on the E, was reading the Metro and I suddenly started wondering why it was taking so long to get to the next stop. Well, it turned out it was because I went to Queens by accident, doh! It's going to be a long week.

I'm now caught up on all of the Gossip Girls eps. The last shot of the most recent episode focused on the Sherry Netherland, where I worked for a terrible two weeks. That pretty much ruined the whole episode for me.

Also, I watched Legally Blonde (the musical) on TV. I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised!! And Laura Bell Bundy (who plays Elle) used to be on Guiding Light, snaps to that.

This weekend flew by again. On Friday night, Heather, Kat, and I went to Emily's birthday at iBop where they hired out a karaoke room. I thought that singing This Is How We Do It in the beginning would be a good motivator, but it was actually a terrible idea (though I don't think we butchered it as badly as Poison.) We sang everything pretty much in groups, my favorites we did were Promiscuous and Smile. I might end up making the last one my signature karaoke song, what do you think?

On Saturday night I went to dinner with Vicki to Friend House for sushi, yummm. We went to Bounce (the downtown one) which has these huge beer cylinders at each table that holds like 8 pints or something (I wasn't drinking though.) After that I ended up meeting up with Gareth and his friends at Professor Thom's to watch the Red Sox game. Not drinking and standing in heels in a sweltering bar during an 11 inning baseball game does not a happy Meredith make.

Yesterday, Heather, Jessica, and I went to the Oyster Fest in Oyster Bay. I did not get any seafood, instead I was in a pulled pork mood so I went for that. UGH!!! The whole thing was blobs of fat covered in barbeque sauce. I think I'm off the pulled pork for a while now, I doubt even Bodeans could tempt me.

I went to Charlie Brown's tonight for dinner. I thought they were doing a raffle or mailing list sign-up when I walked in till someone pointed out that it was actually one of the Jets signing autographs (whoops!) It was Hank Poteat - Does anyone reading this know who I'm talking about?

Surprise! I'm a Republican!

Long Beach Dub Allstars

After this weekend, I'm really not sure how my liver is still functioning. Let's just say that I've made up for all the nights I've stayed in over the past two months.

On Friday night Kat and I had some dinner, dessert, and lots of Trader Joe's wine at her place before going out around hers with some of her friends. Not quite sure how I did it, but I managed to wake up nice and cheery at 10 am the next day (well, more cheery after I got a bagel and coffee from Dunkin' Donuts) and did my 1 hour and 45 minute commute home. With no hope of taking a nap (too much caffeine), Heather and I headed out to Long Beach in the afternoon to get our Irishfest on.

Heather brought her fake teeth* with her and we were pissing ourselves laughing.

One of these things is not like the other...Ralph (before he knocked 1943 of his opponents' beer pong cups over)Justin and MatteoStiffy's house is sooo nice. It's like a real person's house and it's right near the beach.That's a Red Sox blanket behind us (my RS fan friends should be happy about this.)

Since Heather and I got there late (5:30ish) we were behind everyone else on the drinking so we met them all at the outside part of Minnesota's (you had to pay to go inside.) It was the one night this whole year I actually decided to wear my 3-inch chunky platforms which was the smartest move because we had been relegated to using port-o-potties and there were huge beer puddles all over the ground (everyone else was in flip flops.) Anyways, by a majority vote we went back to the house early, drank there, and by some way of a miracle (I had wanted to stay out) went back to another bar at 1:00 am and got our groove on.

Stiffy & Jessica in the later bar

More teeth action, this time on the bottomVodka + Sprite = yumThe next day (again not sure how I didn't have a hangover...Heather is another story but I won't write about it, instead I'll just laugh silently to myself) we went to Bumblefuck, Long Island to go apple picking.Most of the apples were on the ground. The survivors on the trees were in pretty disgusting shape.Heather jugglingThe green ones were definitely healthier.We stopped off for roasted corn on the way home (didn't buy any pumpkins though.)

I've been pretty busy at work and haven't been so proactive with my job search. In the words of Radiohead "You do it to yourself, you do, and that's what really hurts." I am indeed really mad at myself.

*We got the disugusting fake teeth as our complimentary toys in our frozen margaritas at 5 Burros. We did not fail to impress gross out the other patrons there.

God's Nightgown!

I'm reading Gone with the Wind at the moment and I've got to say it's really good so far! I bought it last year because it was only 2 GBP in the cheap bookstore in Camden but could never bring myself to start it being that it's over 1,000 pages long. I couldn't find the new book I had planned to start reading the other day, and I definitely needed a distraction from the creepy subway guy, so I started it. Anyways, instead of modern phrases like 'Come on!' or 'Give me a break!', etc. they always say 'God's nightgown!' and that's been making me laugh all day.

T-15 minutes until wine guzzling, dinner, and dancing begins, hoorah!

Wasting Waste of Time

Can someone please explain to me why Kid Rock is on the next cover of Rolling Stone? Is he seriously releasing something new? Is he even allowed to do that? I stopped subscribing to them because they were way to liberal for me and the political articles were getting on my nerves but the music articles were usually tolerable. Come on though, is there actually a point to this?

Flower Power

I've been meaning to ask - does anyone know why half of the yellow taxis in Manhattan have flowers painted on their hoods and trunks? It's really...random. I'm thinking maybe it's for one of the following:

• To identify those who are boycotting GPS systems
• To make some statement about global warming/using some earth-friendly fuel
• ______________________ (Fill in the blank)

Sound of the Underground

I got asked out on a date on the subway this morning, um, yeah. The real annoying thing about this situation is that this guy gets on at my bus stop (I've seen him tons) so now it's going to be hard to avoid him. He started talking to me on the train when I finished my book and was transitioning to my iPod. He talked non-stop the entire ride and kept telling me how he would see me at the bus stop in 2002-2003 but then I disappeared and now I'm back, and do I live on this street or that street, and where do I work? I tried to give vague/wrong answers but I felt stuck and didn't know what to do since technically he was being nice and I wasn't about to get off and wait for the next train. Then when he asked me out and I told him I had a boyfriend, he still insisted on going to dinner as friends (went on about this for a good 10 minutes) which I want to no part of. I didn't have a pen to take his number (thank God) but he said next time he sees me he'll give it to me. Obviously I won't call but now I'm going to have to see this guy everyday for my entire commute?! Help!! This transportation invitation tops it, I think I've now seen, heard and done it all - hooked up with a guy I met on the E train, kissed someone on the Silverlink platform, and dated a guy I met at the Kentish Town bus stop. I'm going to wear a hat and sunglasses to work from now on.

I saw Across the Universe on Sunday. For those who don't know (I don't think it's been released in Europe and it's not in wide release in the States), it's a movie set in the 60's (covers all the main controversial topics) but the whole thing is set to Beatles songs - as in the characters sing the songs within the context of the movie, just like a musical. The plot was predictable but I loved it nonetheless and can't wait for the DVD. 'Strawberry Fields Forever' was the best scene but here's a good one for 'I've Just Seen a Face.'

Lai dai dai da da dai.