the maw of Fafnir

http://xkcd.com/352/

The corollary: Sometimes, receiving *hug* just doesn't cut it.

I'm sure that when I thought to write this, I had lots of semi-interesting things to say. But now, at the end of the day, when I've been up since 530 working (admittedly, I took a huge break in the middle to get on a train, come to work, and eat breakfast), I've kind of forgotten them all. I'm endeavoring to clean my apartment tonight, so that should be of the thrillingness.

Thing I am happy about: I was productive at work today.
Thing I am less happy about: When someone says no, it means no, especially if they say it repeatedly. I'd suggest backing off before the object of your somewhat-unwanted affection delivers a rant worthy of a violent hiphop song.
Thing I am working on: Organization. It is the key to a healthy lifestyle.

I went to Dobromir's bachelor party on Saturday (it made sense for me to be there - there were about twice as many girls as guys). We "sat around and watched porn." The groom got very drunk, and "his grandfather was there." The "plot" of the "porn movie" might have involved a bartender giving a groom a tequila body shot and perhaps lots of dancing at a place called the Buddha Bar. It may have also involved chains and bowling balls, but I don't really remember much beyond that. It was a great "porno flick", and I met lots of nice and fun people. There was Bon Jovi, too, so you know that makes it an automatically good night.

I personally will now no longer have peppermint schnapps in anything other than hot chocolate. Taste of toothpaste + (Jager || other hard alcohol) = bad. In this case, a liquid cocaine shot almost did me in, but I persevered and woke up in the morning with a hang over predominantly from not sleeping enough (and not the alcohol). In order to counteract this, I then stayed in bed until about 530pm, at which point, I took a shower (coz, damn...) and went to play world of warcraft, where I got really distracted by backstory writing and didn't contribute much. It kind of makes me sad, because I love my character, but she has no idea what the hell she's supposed to be doing and is now in the Twisting Nether, looking for an old friend.

And today, I've gone to brunch & eaten pancakes, had a corset fitting, and am now at home, debating on the wisdom of things like cleaning my apartment, going to borders and buying season 5 of Buffy, getting food, visiting the grocery store, reading a book, or watching Star Wars (IV-VI) or Rome (season 1).

It is not a bad day to be me.

Gordon Biersch Pilsner, tequila shot, Jagerbomb x2, vodka shot x3, probably equivalent to one bottle of budlight (WHY do people drink that?!) & large quantities of dancing in 3" heels.

I still owe Chris at least one more tequila shot. Oh well - tequila is drinkable only when salted and limed.

( I don't know. )

Things I've learned from Dublin, after two days here:

- It rains. A lot. But only for five minutes at any given time.
- Coats with hoods are American, but hoodies are okay.
- European snacks are much better than American. (I actually knew this one already, but it's so true. Did you know that nutri-grain bars here are actually *tasty*? They come in blackberry-apple, too...)
- The closer you are to the original brewery, the better the Guinness tastes.
- Drinking a "baby Guinness" isn't like having another drink - it's so small, it doesn't count.
- "What's the crack?" shouldn't be answered with "The crack is." Unless you're Ray.
- Telling the taxi driver that you're going to Barrow Street is fine - telling him that you want to go to the cross of Barrow and Gordon will just get you a confused brogue phrase.
- Ironically, Europeans seem to work less but actually work the same or more than Californians. Maybe they're just more efficient. Maybe it's coz of the snacks.
- Inga is so damn American.
- Smarties are just not the same without their little lettered caps. Curse you, unnecessary hexagonal modernity!

10 lessons for life:
1) dance. laugh. relax. life's too short to stress.
2) never put anything in writing you wouldn't want your manager to read
3) just because you think and feel a lot when you write something, it doesn't mean it translates into your words. text is the easiest thing in which to misinterpret tone.
4) know your myths and legends before you build a story around them.
5) tag things. label documents with dates. it makes them easier to find.
6) just because you're older than your friends, it doesn't mean you're any less young.
7) ancient egyptian hieroglyphs are actually pretty cool, even if translating them is only an academic skill.
8) sometimes, even tyrannosaurus rex was afraid.
9) frivolous items aren't frivolous if they make you smile.
10) don't always resist your impulses. sometimes surprises are nice.

for the first time since moving into this apartment, i made myself an actual meal with actual meat and fresh vegetables, using nothing that was previously frozen, and very few prepackaged things.

I made: a rack of lamb ribs, rubbed with a moroccan lamb rub, consisting of parsley, mint and various spices; moroccan veggie stew, with zucchini, summer squash, carrots, and onions, as well as various spices, raisins and olives; and couscous to go under it. And a little cup of moroccan mint tea.

it took me just over an hour to make, i used all but one of my cooking pots, and my apartment reeks of onions, but DAMN. it was FANTASTIC.

i admittedly did not make baklava for dessert, but i think my land o' lakes cappuchino mix and a mcvitie's digestive biscuit will be sufficient.

Also, the trader joe's / draeger's combination of grocery stores 10 min walk from me is too great. whatever i can't find at TJs, draeger's has, as well as ridiculous amounts of various european food, including munich beer, british smarties (and digestive biscuits), and arabic chocolate.

oh dear lord, that food was good... mmm...food coma....

today, i am happy about: fortune cookies at p.f. chang's. Admittedly, the food there isn't as good as at Windy's (except for their lettuce cups, which I didn't have), but the cookies inevitably have some pithy comment which is actually relevant to my life. Sometimes, when I need guidance, I go to p.f. chang's for food specifically to read the fortune cookies. as a side note, having conversations about the cosmic relevancy of fortunes from fortune cookies, as well as the demographics likely targeted at various chinese restaurants, is also pretty nifty. ( Cut for long story about fortune cookies )

today, i am less happy about: the fact that it is THIRTY-SIX degrees here, and it's nearly fifty in MA. WTF, world?

today, I wish that: it were warmer, it were Christmas, that i were home, and that it were breakfast time right now. because i am hungry.

today, i am happy about: controlled slippage. mike and i went wandering to half moon bay the other week, and found some rather muddy, algae covered stones and kept almost falling down, but not quite. this particular activity became christened controlled slippage, and given how goddamn cold it is here, it serves me very well.

today, i am less happy about: cold, cold, cold, OMG, cold.

today, i wish that: people from Amherst would just move to California because it is warmer there. Much warmer. Also, I am there, and that should be reason enough to move. :)

This weekend went by amazingly quickly.

I discovered:

I like Guinness.

Abercromie & Fitch occasionally has okay stuff, so long as you don't mind looking like a teenybopper.

Finding shoes is a bitch.

Programming in Python is also a bitch.

Alcohol + club dancing == bad idea. No, really.

I became a member of gamechronicles and made my first post.

I have no hot water. I don't know why.

Well, onto finding out what the actual week will bring... beyond baths with water heated on my stove...