My Friend Works for the National Health

It's 5:30 pm and I'm just eating lunch now. Does anyone see something wrong with this picture?

New 'SatLav' system tracks toilets. Wow I miss London.

Can someone please explain to me why I was able to get a dentist appointment for next week, but I cannot go for a doctor's check-up until FEBRUARY?! That's not even because I have an HMO, it's because the doctor won't give any check-ups until the last week in February (wtf?)

Since I do have an HMO, I also can't get referred to see any other specialist until after my check-up (since I haven't been to my doctor in over a year.)

Happy Insurance Day to me (tomorrow that is) but what am I paying all this money for if I can't even get an appointment? Not saying that I want to end up in the emergency room or anything but I would like to get my money's worth.

Cosi's chicken soup is gross fyi (but the bread is still ace.) I'm going to get my Thai (Mai Tai, hahaha) on with Kat and Meghan later.

Oh man my guy got voted off Survivor last night! All that Adam and Eve crap bit him in the ass. He should've started paying attention to the game and not biblical stories.

Current Music: Kaiser Chiefs - Love's Not A Competition (But I'm Winning)

Just Enough For the City

Sorry for the lack of postage, I had a busy week. Dave came last Friday so I was happily preoccupied. First order of business was beer pong at Pat O'Brien's. He'd never played before so the Upper East Side bar crawl (still hate bar crawls but it suited the purpose) served as a good host for the event. Not sure what he thought of it but it's always good for keeping oneself occupied in a bar (see more on keeping busy in the bar down below when I discuss Plan B.)

That night we saw Stevie Wonder at MSG. I thought I wasn't going to know too many songs, but he's just one of those legends where you keep on recognizing songs you knew he sung but forgot about. His voice has not changed one bit, he was so talented, it was a really fantastic two and a half hour show. The crowd were terrific too, mostly middle aged and going nuts for him. They were cheering like crazy, standing for at least half the set, singing along; it was really nice to be surrounded by an active, excited NYC audience for a change.

Unfortunately, instead of my pictures being THE shit, they were just plain shit.Stevie on the screen (very witty by the way, including doing a country version of 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' after the regular one)

He split the audience into women and men singing harmonies on "Ribbon in the Sky." Dave and I couldn't stop singing it all week but we replaced "Ribbon" with every street sign we saw which probably does not sound funny unless you are participating.

'My Cherie Amour'

Tony Bennett came out as a surprise guest and sang his original version of "For Once in my Life," I didn't realize how amazing his voice was. Prince also came out and played guitar on "Superstition."

This was the setlist (according to a couple of websites because I couldn't remember):
Loves In Need of Love Today / Too High / Visions / Living for the City / Master Blaster / Higher Ground / Golden Lady / Ribbon In The Sky / Overjoyed / You and I / Lately / If Its Magic / How Will I Know / Don't You Worry Bout a Thing / Signed, Sealed, Delivered / My Cherie Amour / Boogie on Reggae Woman / For Once in My Life (feat. Tony Bennett) / Sir Duke / I Wish / You are The Sunshine of My Life (I kept wanting to sing Minute Maid from the commercial) / Superstition / As

No Part Time Lover, dang!

Dave and I were in the city for the majority of the week. We hit up FAO Schwartz and Toys R Us in Times Square. I did not know about this giant moving dinosaur on the second floor (did you?)I also saw The Met (not to be confused with Mr. Met) for the first time ever. We randomly stumbled upon a cast of my favorite sculpture, I was Psyched! (sorry, couldn't resist)

Cupid and Psyche

We drank lots and lots and lots on Wednesday. After failing to watch England lose to Croatia (Nevada Smith's - you have some nerve charging $20/head) and watching Italy vs. Faroe Islands instead (hahahaha, uh, Faroe Islands are a country? Seriously?) we stayed around the Lower East Side for most of the night.

I love happy hour, la la la la la

Thursday was Turkey Day and due to a hangover, we did not attend the parade as planned (we also did not go ice skating in Central Park either because of the Zamboni schedule.) On Friday we ate on Bell with Gail and Mike and in the evening we had some nasty beers at The Ginger Man with Julie and her ginger man. They should do sampler platters there so you know what you are getting yourself into. Dave and I had a late late dinner at Duke's and made a mad dash for the last express bus in the freezing cold.

He left on Saturday (weep) but rather than moping around the house I decided to go to Plan B with my lovely ladies. I generally like that bar even though it can be hit or miss but this was one of the better times (even though I drove.) Some dude who was a friend of a friend motivated us to play guess/imitate that dance move in the middle of the bar which was really fun!! I need to do things like that more often.

Heather got a birthday hat from someone, I think this is her being a chicken?

Classic NYC art

Tin man hat taken from the rubbish pile (nice one!)

On someone's bicycle

A*B*C*1*2*3*X*Y*Z (But He Don't Know About X*T*C)

My weekend was totally lame and I loved it!

On Friday (that was the least lame bit) Erica, Heather, and I went to Kat's, Florens,' and Pepe the puggle's and drank Trader Joe's wine (this is becoming a Friday night habit of mine) and ordered in dinner. The guy from Cafe Wai? (Wai did we order from there is the main question) did not get the order straight and gave Erica and I two salads each for the price of one. Normally I wouldn't complain but it was G*R*O*S*S. We had a dance party and played guess that iTune which is my fave.

On Saturday I ran errands, took a kickboxing class, baked chewy brownies with walnuts, and rented Grey's Anatomy Season 3.

On Sunday I did some unproductive shopping at Bay Terrace, then stopped by Gail and Mike's new place to check it out and ended up helping Gail build her bookshelf. Aside from the two shelves I put on the wrong way because I was too busy talking rather than paying attention, I am now an accomplished put-togetherer of furniture from Ikea AND Crate and Barrel! Afterwards I went for dinner with my parents to the Triple Crown Diner. Apparently there's a meal called "chopped steak" which I never knew about. It's basically one huge piece of chopped meat on a plate, amazing!

On Monday night, Ryan and I saw The Pipettes at the Blender Theater (really hate that name by the way) but I totally loved the venue. Bars downstairs, good size gig room (looked like ULU in London but smaller) and it had tiered seats in the back which you could sit in if you wanted (not ticketed.)

I really liked the gig, the songs are all happy bouncy numbers and the girls were really into doing their cutesy routines. It did look a bit silly at times but they aren't serious about it so it's fine. I think the best number of the night was 'Why Did You Stay?" It's one of my favorites anyway but it sounded really good live. I've got to give props to the audience (really old for a gig actually, like 30s and 40s) who were dancing and clapping up by the front, very rare in New York (though I thought someone was going to get whacked by an arm during 'Pull Shapes.') I also have to mention that the whole polka dot thing is cute, but I definitely could have made these outfits myself. Maybe I should do that for a living? I mean I do that on Halloween almost every year anyway.

I took a video of 'Dirty Mind' because I love that song, but that was probably the only flat song and limited dancing of the night. If you don't know them, don't judge them by this:

I stayed at Meghan's and had to be at work early the next day to set up a meeting. I got here quicker than expected (ahem 7:45 am) and wanted to die by the end of the day. Tonight I'm going to meet California-via-London Dave who is working in NY for the week for drinks later (who needs step class when you've got drink specials?) Also Spector's got a show tonight but it starts at 10 pm so I'm iffy on that.

On a side note, I got my current phone in fall 2004 (though I didn't use it for the year and a half I was in London) and I just figured out yesterday how to put the message alert on silent. Seriously people, the ringer would not shut off until you checked the message, I can't believe I just discovered how to fix this!!

Like A Regular Tourist

I'm so uninspired to write but I really have nothing to do today (total opposite compared to yesterday.) I decided to wear a skirt and make-up (my first time looking like a girl since I started this job) so even though I feel blah, at least I don't look it.

Speaking of femininity, I saw the Radio City Christmas Spectacular on Tuesday. Julie's mom won tickets so I went with them and Julie's cousin Rachel. I've got to say, the Rockettes were definitely a sight to see. They did 6 or 7 numbers, and the way they synchronize is unbelievable. From a former tap student's point of view, I do have to note that the actual tap steps were fairly basic, but the kicks were ridiculously high. Although I'm a bit Xmas-ed out from it, it's a very good show for the kiddies.

Last night I saw Athlete at Highline. Seriously - they were really really great! Not that I didn't have high expectations (I'd only seen them once on the main stage at V in 2005 and the thousands of people in the crowd singing 'Wires' is still in my top festival moments), but I was blown away by their performance yesterday. They were really tight and just were wowing everyone, the audience loved them (mostly Brits.) When the singer sang a song by himself, the amp got messed up and he got mad (not sure if he actually kicked it) but he busted right back into the song like nothing had even happened when I'd expected him to give up and go onto the next one. I still can't believe how impressed I was, this definitely ranks in my top shows of the year. They sang about this...

this...

and this!

So, on my way out of work on Wednesday I saw Blair from Road Rules get into the elevator. I was excited because he was one of my favorites back in the day. Then yesterday I was banging away on my keyboard when I spotted him again, apparently he's friends with the girl who sits behind me. I guess he works sometimes on our floor or something? Random!

Yesterday I finally got to see/play Rock Band (the game all of my amazing secretarial skills have been focused on since I started this job.) It was a lot cooler than I'd expected! It's basically Guitar Hero but it also has drum pads and a mic (for the run down of what it is check out the link.) Anyways, I sang 'Celebrity Skin' with two guys I work with on the guitars. Even if you know the lyrics already, it's still hard seeing them fly by so quickly with the arrows pointing at whether your voice should go up or down. After it finished I turned around and there were 6 people watching us, I was mortified! Even though I haven't tried out the drums or guitars, I think I could actually bring myself to say that I would really like to own this game.


Dear 6:00 pm,
aaaaaaaaaaaaa
Hurry up!
bbbbbbbbb
Love,
Meredith

Get Me to the Church on Time

This weekend was Vicki and Thom's wedding, ending my run of bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and weddings for 2007 (unless Lauren has something coming up for her engagement...?) dhsrh fdbgzxb xs fb
Julie and I made an executive decision at the last minute to drive to the church rather than take the LIRR. BIG mistake! The church was right near the Lincoln Tunnel and the Javits Center (not sure why we didn't think of that before) so it was very congested and the parking was non-existent. After driving around, we decided that the garage across the street was going to have to do despite it's $25 flat rate, so we waited to go in for a bit until Robyn randomly came out of the church and told us that the lot was full and we were queuing for nothing (thanks a lot garage!) Time was running out so Julie and I had to park quickly, ahem, in a freakin $40 lot!! The dumbass parking garages really make my blood boil. Rachel's boyfriend Chris told us about this website that lists all garages and their rates, so if you know where you're going in advance, you can look them up ahead of time. Genius except we found out an hour too late :(
fgbfb
On with the photos:

Vicki with her dadVows The reception was in a Hilton in New Jersey. This wedding was really fun because I got to see all of the Binghamton girls which was great.

dfhdfh

Julie & EricLauren & EricRachel & Eric ChrisSue & Eric RobI was freaking out because I was the only one at table 13 while everyone else was at 17. I figured it was a mistake, but I was still worried about asking whoever was in my seat to switch. So we get to table 17, and the lone person sitting there was my dad! I kicked him promptly out of my seat.

Robyn*Rachel*MoiBinghamton girls

Lauren*Julie*Sherri*Sue

Rachel*Robyn*MeJewelie and SherriMy moms and popsWith the bride and groomBringing SexxybackI can't not mention the few odd things that happened at this reception. The best man (Thom's older brother) started of his speech with "Fornication......(dropped jaws from the guests)........ahem, For an occasion." Personally I thought it was funny but it was definitely not appropriate. Then I spotted a family friend of Vicki's that used to be the lead singer in this band called The Sexy Magazines. I knew about them from her, so Alex and I made a point to watch them as the opening band at Coachella in 2005. So, I told this guy I'd seen him perform and was he was wearing striped pants at that show? (I was drunk.) He said the band broke up and he's in some other band now. I think he didn't want to talk to me and I didn't know how to end the conversation so I was just like "Great job!" with a thumbs up and left (because I'm a dork.) Then, probably the funniest part of the night came when Thom's family (the Irish side) tied together a huge strand of napkins and created a jump rope! Even the DJ had to say he'd never seen this in his life. Photos here:Even Thom's mom jumped in and accidentally fell! It was so funny (well, I thought so.) I had to endulge in some chocolate cake and a martini glass full of mousse.They played lots of 50s music which I liked (and my dad doing the twist with me and my friends was quite entertaining.)They are on their way to Hawaii for a 15 day cruise. I want to get married just so I can go on a honeymoon.

That's all folks.

Because I Am Asking Politely

Dear Enter Shikari Fans,

Please stop leaving me nasty comments on my YouTube video.

THANKS!

Love,
Not an Enter Shikari Fan

PS - Dave totally copied what I suggested he write as a comment (sorry but I need the credit for that.)

There's Red Stains All Over the Place (They're Not Blood They're Cherryade)

I made it to Alex's party last night to watch the parade. What an amazing apartment in an amazing location! A duplex in itself usually blows my mind but my god, this was ridiculous!!

srgsg

Ben and Esmeralda (visiting from Mexico), came to the party with me also (PS - nice work on the Pimms Alex.) We mostly watched the parade (right above 6th ave.) from the window. I saw some really good costumes, like that stalker astronaut in a diaper, the two muppets who sit in the theater balcony, a Lego bride and groom (they couldn't kiss, it just physically did not work), and someone inside an actual claw machine. My photos of the parade came out crappy though.

View from the apt.

Neon Stick Figure People

Roommates

Ben dressed as 'Ben with a Job' and Esmeralda dressed as a 'Tourist'This mullet is still cracking me upThriller

Someone else dressed as a Deal or No Deal Girl (had to take this for my friends)

I'm a non-flying angel

As of December 1st, I'm a non-flying angel with health insurance (finally!) And speaking of health, I got a flu jab this morning and it hurts.