importing Smithies

[hermionesviolin]

I know I said it last year, but it bears saying again: My most favorite blessing in the world is the Shehecheyanu. It made me tear up more than once at Rosh Hashana services. It says, thank god, we've made it this far. No matter what we've gone through, we have made it to this very moment in time, and isn't that the most amazing thing ever?
-Ms. Win-Wetz

Thursday I was kinda wiped by the end of the day, so I neglected to list an assortment of glee:
-Two women across from me on the Red Line were discussing movies and one praised Dirty Dancing as the "ultimate chick flick" and then in the next breath talked about how all directors are artists but watching Stanley Kubrick movies is like watching art.
-The guy next to me laughed out three separate times at whatever he was reading.
-At Norwood Depot, as we pulled out I saw a little girl running arms outstretched to an adult, which got "arrival's gate" stuck in my head.
-I swung by the library and Marc followed me out but actually didn't keep me too long.

Friday was a good day.

Had lunch with a bunch of coworkers.  Tara said all recent movies were sequels/prequels/remakes.  I thought of Serenity, but . . . Firefly.  But then Mary Alice mentioned Wallace & Gromit so I had to point out it didn't really count and mention Serenity.  Tara asked if I'd seen it.  "I saw an Advance Screening."  She asked if I was a Joss Whedon fan.  "Hard core."  She watched Buffy and Angel (BtVS started when she was in college) but never had a chance to watch Firefly.  She asked if you need to have seen the show to watch the movie -- she didn't have a chance to watch it when it was on -- and I said no, though I also offered to lend her my DVDs.

On Red Line home, I saw a woman reading Mansfield Park (Jane Austen) and the woman next to her reading The Olde Curiousity Shop (Charles Dickens).  Both were worn paperback copies and I wondered if they were reading for class or for pleasure (though admittedly the two do not need to be mutually exclusive).

And people moved out of the way (and got out of their seats) to let an elderly couple, and a pregnant woman, sit down.

And a girl standing next to me said recognized me as an f.a. from when I worked in Morgan.

Asked musesfool's iOracle whether I should stay at my current HBS position.

I wanted to see you walking backwards
And get the sensation of you coming home
I wanted to see you walking away from me
Without the sensation of you leaving me alone
"Time and Time Again" - Counting Crows

Dinner was shells&cheese from a box.  Mah fave.

The Smith contingent arrived after dinner.

Cat loved my dad's Bush t-shirt (Razorblade Suitcase) which I fully expect he picked up off a street somewhere, but she still loved that he had it.

At like 10:30pm Emma was tired and ready to go to bed, but then phone calls happened and then we were talking and finally around 2am we went to bed.

My mom went to the bathroom around 1:30am and saw the cuddle pile on the pulled-out-couch and understood why I miss Smith.  Yeah.

Saturday:

I actually remember about 3 years back, a bunch of us were sitting around in Maura's basement, and someone randomly asked me if - were it to rain on my wedding day - I would take it as a bad omen. I remember answering no, because rain is what makes everything grow, and therefore it could be considered good luck. I realize that is probably in some fortune cookie somewhere, but it is really what I believe. In fact, I find it especially fitting after such a dry, dead summer. Maybe this is exactly what we need.
-Jackie

We got to Faneuil Hall early, plus Hilary was running late, so we browsed shops.  Cat was wearing her "A Century of Women on Top" t-shirt and the Victoria's Secret cashier asked her about her college because she went to Bryn Mawr and they had similar t-shirts.  Urban Outfitters had the nerve.com sex position for each day of the year book, and it made me sad that the figures were not androgynous.  Emma pointed out the majority of the world is straight.  They did have a gay haiku book.  You were perfection. / Then you misspelled "embarrassed." / Don't call me again.

Emma suggested a sit-down place to eat which then got "The First" stuck in my head.

Stand up sit down baby
Gonna be a formal dress down hey day
We decide why not go downtown
How about you and me we go get wasted

We ended up sitting down at the Quincy Market Starbucks for a while and then on the floor up on the second level when we actually got lunch.

Followed Hilary to the Aquarium, as she knew the way better than I.

We started in the jellyfish exhibit.  Which was neat.  Though so much one has already seen seen in videos etc. that the "real" frequently felt unimpressive to me because it was nothing new, which was kinda sad. The dragonfish were really interesting looking, though.

Penguins are my dominant memory of going to the Aquarium as a child.  Watching them this time we noticed how they are oh so domestic -- finicky about food, walking right past the bucket of fish.  (Your day's trivia: Little Blue Penguins from Australia have the widest vocal range of all penguins and are closest to their primitive ancestors.  They are also known as "fairy penguins.") 

The big central aquarium which you walk around so it feels like it's a wall is my other major Aquarium memory -- large turtle, shark, manray.  This time we got to watch them get fed.

Then we went to Grand Opening.  Called my mom.  I walked the wrong way on Harvard St. and then walked right by the arcade but dude, they moved.  They front onto the parking lot M. and I parked in when we went to see OMWF at Coolidge.  The space is much less crowded now, and more brightly lit.

My mom was in the area working anyway, so she drove us home.

On the way, we talked about going out to eat, which just doesn't bring me the joy it does other people.  It's not my space, and I'm so picky about food, and I'm inner-directed and thus not about the atmosphere (or the people-watching -- that is for subway rides, not meals with friends).

We ended up having dinner at the Venice -- in the restaurant part, which is actually classy (as opposed to the bar part where my family usually eats).  We talked about Lent, among other things.  Yay real discussion.

Came home and parents were watching tape of House.  My dad said they'd watched last week's Veronica Mars and House from like 3 weeks ago and both contained Serenity ads. ♥

I was tired and ready to go to bed, but then we did stuff and I woke up and then it was 3am and we finally called it a night.

Sunday:

Had pancake brunch.

Talking about RENT, Emma asked how I feel about opera.  I really don't have much experience with it; the only one I've seen is when I went to the Met with athene.  Emma said she's listened to lots of operas she's never seen and I said, "But they're usually in Italian," and she said, "But it's not about the words, it's about the music--" and then stopped, because I am obsessive text-oriented girl.

We walked up to the cemetery and talked about wedding dresses on the way.

For dinner we had pasta primavera, salad (dark leafy greens!), garlic bread, Riesling (ginger ale for Emma).  Way to go fancy.

Stayed up late (duh).  Talked about Smith, etc.  Played poker & boozed.  Went to bed at something like 4:30am.

Random joy that day included "starry-eyed" feedback from a stranger (via light_it) on my darkfic.

Monday:

Back to Boston.

We started up at the North End.  Oh being natives and still not knowing where we're going.  I had us get out at North Station because that made the most sense to me, but of course with the Big Dig it isn't always intuitive/easy to get to the North End from anywhere, so we ended up walking back to Haymarket station and going from there.

We did go to Mike's but since we couldn't find any cheap place to eat where we would all be well-fed we headed back to Quincy Market.  We actually ended up eating at Bell in Hand -- apparently the oldest tavern in U.S.  The TVs were running a soap opera, which was distracting, but then it randomly switched to NECN and they played country music over it so that was less distracting.

Next was the Pru.  I hadn't really realized it was actually connected to the Neiman Marcus complex across from Back Bay.

On our way to Sephora, two guys walked by discussing the obligation Rome has to present an accurate depiction.  I was happified.

Next was Newbury St., wandering into whichever stores caught people's eyes.  Cat was thrilled to get to go to Betsey Johnson and Marc Jacobs.  I remember nothing about the latter, though the former had some nice stuff and we got to watch some people actually in the clothes, which was neat.

Boston Common/Gardens is nicer in the warm sun, but was still nice.  Then we headed to a Starbucks (ended up at the one near Louis Boston -- on Berkeley between Newbury and Boylston).  Cat and I went downstairs while waiting for Emma and Felicia to get their orders, and found the downstairs to be a pseudo-study-area.  There were some college kids (BU?) at a table behind us and one of them asked the other "What's 'social taboo'?" and Cat (psych major) and I just looked at each other.  (She thought they had come across it in a book and didn't know what it meant.  I thought they were trying to come up with an exact definition to use in a paper or something.)  One of them hesitantly suggested, "risque?"  After Emma and Felicia came down, there was a lull in our conversation and we listened to them again, this time talking about basically choosing to be gay.  "I think if I were bisexual, I would just go all the way gay."  One of them was a guy and he said, "I've been left for a girl before" (and clearly I am not in the normative headspace because I just assumed he was gay until I actually listened to the rest of what he was saying).  "One time I was literally left for a girl, and another time her next lover just happened to be female."  And then he said something like "I don't care" as in "Dumped is dumped, and you just deal," and I really liked him.

Dinner was leftovers (pasta was cold but still good), mashed potatoes, and booze/Shirley Temples.

Cat likes my '05 Ivy Day dress and it looks good on her, so I got to bequeath it to her.  w00t.

And then they went to Felicia's house so Felicia wouldn't have to make an extra trip in the morning and also so that I could sleep.

The end.