Sunday, February 13, 2011

February 13, 2011 - Random Thoughts and Happenstances



My New Addiction

I have a new addiction! I’m probably gonna pay for it later, but I just couldn’t resist indulging before heading home from my mom’s tonight. About a week ago, the very nice Indian lady who works at the Dunkin Donuts near my school suggested I try a drink that’s half coffee and half hot chocolate. I tried out her suggestion and now I just can’t get enough of it. I’ve had at least one every day since and I think I have a problem.

The flavor is perfect: not too much of either and just enough of both, the scrumptious decadence of chocolate mixed with the aromatic and equally delicious coffee, and there’s no need to add any sugar or milk to it. I told her they should put it on the menu because I’ve already gotten a couple of people at work hooked on it. She told me that their “Dunkachino” is basically the same drink, only pre-mixed. I say this way’s better. It’s positively delish, and at least it's less coffee!

A Full Sunday

Today was a busy, busy day, both for the body and the mind. Aside from the usual weekend chores, such as laundry and cleaning (that I should have done yesterday!), I had a couple of places to go today, starting with a breakfast date with an old friend, and ending with dinner at mom’s this evening. What happened in between is somewhat muddied, but needless to say it was a busy day nonetheless.

Splash

I went to Splash last night and had a really good time. For the first time ever I lied to someone about my age, for no other reason than my own amusement. I was at the bar downstairs taking a break from dancing and the dude next to me, who was clearly wasted, gave me a “cheers” when I got my drink. I tried avoiding conversation, but he was persistent. I was soon introduced to his friend, who turned out to be an ESL teacher like me. Nice guy, but he was decidedly upset with his friend getting a little too drunk, too fast, and all he wanted to do was get the heck outta there.

I didn’t catch either of their names, although they each told me twice. The decibel level was so high that I just couldn’t hear them, and so I just nodded and pretended that I did. I don’t know, but I get annoyed that guys I meet always ask me how old I am pretty early on in the conversation. I guess that I’m hard to figure out that way. They kind of know I’m up there, but not exactly sure how far. I’d say these two were in their late twenties.

It was the first guy that asked me and when he did I hesitated. Then I said “60.” They both chuckled. So knowing that I couldn’t get away with that I finally said that I was 40 (I’m really 46!). The surprised looks on both of their faces made me feel good, especially when the ESL teacher said I looked about 34-35. I guess I can be a little narcissistic at times…

Anyway, the ESL guy went to get their coats and when he came back they started arguing because the first guy didn’t want to leave. (I think he had other plans in mind for the evening, even though I knew he was barking up the wrong tree!) So I excused myself to go upstairs and dance and that was the last I saw of them.

By the way, the music was fantastic all night! (*Reminder to self: Pick up the remix of Britney Spears’ new song “Hold It Against Me.” It rocked!)



Layne

Layne is the daughter of one of my oldest friends, Marcia. I’ve known her since she was about 7 years old and she’s always been like a niece to me. She lives in Florida with her husband and children and I haven’t seen her in at least 4 years, so earlier in the week I was excited to hear she was coming up to the Island for the weekend and wanted to get together. For the sake of space, I’ll share some more about Marcia, Layne and her brother Jordan another time, but it was awesome seeing her this morning.


Me and Layne at the Majestic Diner in Westbury

Family Dinner

As I said earlier, I went to moms for dinner tonight. My brother and his family, who I don’t see too often, were there and it was actually one of the best times I’ve spent over there in awhile. It’s funny because it seems like almost daily that I’m finding out about more people who’ve been reading what I write and I guess I’ve got to be more mindful of that in the future.

The topic of my Weight Watchers article came up again. Apparently both my brother and my sister in law read the piece, in addition to my mom and my sister. My sister in law Kim, who also participates in the program, actually brought it up at one of their recent meetings. She told me they now have a picture of my face on the wall with a target drawn around it. I’m realizing that maybe I was a little harsh on the program, as I’ve heard protests from many who’ve said that that Weight Watchers is not a ‘diet’ as I claimed it to be. I may be writing a follow-up soon.

Music, the Grammys, and Writing

The Grammy Awards are on tonight and thank goodness for Tivo because I know I need to put something out there about them on tomorrow’s Pop Music News for YCN. Already Lady GaGa’s come out of an egg and the articles and tweets have been flying all over the Internet. I’m just not sure what angle to go for, whether I should do individual pieces on the awards, the performances, or the intangibles, or whether I should just include them all in my piece. It’s times like these when I wish that writing was my primary job because I have work tomorrow and there’s little time to write during the show or afterwards. Frustrating!

I’ve also got two other pieces of writing to do in the genre of music before the month is out and I’m out of ideas. If anybody’s read this far down I’m open to suggestions. The pieces can’t be timely because it usually takes about a week or so to get published. A lot of my “top ten” pieces have gone under this category. So really, anything you’d like to read about in the world of music?

A Nagging Sensation

Though I’m generally doing good these days, the whole situation with him still nags at me. Even though I don’t have extensive experience in this area, this is exactly one of the things I hate about relationships. How could things go from being so rosy and nice, heartwarming really, to total estrangement as if none of it had ever happened? It just leaves me with nothing but wonder, confusion, and yes, a little bit of anger.




Well, thanks for reading. As always it seems as I’ve got way too much to say and I think I’ve said enough for one day. See you soon!

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