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Home » January 2008

Thursday, 31 January 2008

I just did my taxes and DAMN I must've done something wrong because my refund is insane.  Meanwhile, once the jacuzzi is installed in the apartment, I'm going to throw a party.  Yee haw!  (Also, if the IRS comes to get me, please note that I've left a brick of cash in my mattress, for my bail.)

In the theme of looking back on 2007, let's take a look at how I did with my 2007 resolutions.  You can read the original listing here.

1. Run 3 races - Okay, I technically only ran one race.  This is considered 1/3 complete.  Wooo!

2. Visit LA - Yay Los Angeles!! Yay Liz!! I want to go back again this year.

3. Car detailed - Whoa, I just completely forgot about this.  Completely.  Maybe I'll do it this year. 

4. "The Godfather" -  Okay I made the effort sometime in November or so to borrow this from my roommate's boyfriend, who claimed to be able to help me out with this particular resolution.  Can I just say that a Mr. Kyle failed me considerably.  I even had a whole night planned around The Godfather, with a themed dinner (remember when I made my shrimp ragu?) and red wine and The Boy's fancy television.   We ended up watching Fight Club instead, which semi-counts since I had never seen it.

5. Golden Girls on DVD - I purchased the first two seasons and I must admit, shows were made differently back then.  There are 25 episodes on Season 1 alone.  Grandma and I couldn't even get through it in one long weekend.  My friend and I are going to try to make another dent in it this weekend, actually.

6. Dupont First Friday - D'oh.  Again, slipped past my head.  Although I did hear that it's not what it used to be. 

7. DC Sports Superfecta - Man, you really need to put effort into these things.  Well I definitely did basketball and baseball, but hockey, football and soccer didn't happen.  Sad face.

8. Tidal Basin - Wow this is just the world's saddest list. 

9. Frame and hang all art - I did hang some of my art but never got any of it professionally framed.  Hey, at least I have stuff on my walls now.

10. Skiing or snowboarding - Can we just pretend I did SOMETHING useful with my life in 2007?

11. Pay off Credit Cards - Actually, although there's a balance on my card now, I'm counting this as a success. I closed my second card, paid it off and paid this one down so that I'm paying off the balance every month.  So yes, I'm free of credit card debt.  Now it's on to student loans.  Weeee!

12. Take a class - I took two photography classes, which were great fun. Plus they seem to have really paid off.

13. Monthly Brunch - I may have tapered off there towards the end but I definitely did brunch at least once a month.  I could list all the places but that's just plain boring.  You can ask me for recommendations if your heart will burst without knowing.

14. Dinner at Komi - Only the best part of 2007, and just in under the wire I might add, since it happened the Friday before New Year's.  Best Meal of My Life.

15. Ben’s Chili Bowl - I dragged a friend down there and enjoyed it but it's not like it's close enough to pop in whenever I feel like it.

16. Clean my room - Sometime around spring I took a ton of stuff down to the Salvation Army.  Of course all that stuff has been replaced with more stuff, which means another annual trip to SA.

17. Volunteer - I swear I volunteered for something.  Oh wait, yes!! I volunteered at the Fringe Festival, which was actually quite fun. 

18. Better photographer  -  I'm not the best photographer, or even a really good one.  But my photography has improved ten-fold this year.

19. See a play -  Volunteering at the Fringe has its benefits, since I got to see free plays.  So, check.

20. Get through my Netflix queue - I'm counting this as half, since I made excellent progress until school started. 

21. Make roast chicken - That was last year's valentine's day dinner and we didn't die.  Success.

22. Newport Chowder Festival - This actually coincided with one of the races I was going to run, so all sorts of drama ensued.  One day, my love.  One day.

23. Whiten teeth - I tried those Chrest White Strips for three days and then got lazy.  Plus it occurred to me that I don't want my teeth to look really fake.

24. Visit NYC - This was last February and it was great and I'm pushing for another trip this spring.

25. Year Sans Starbucks - All technicalities aside, I did not spend a dime on Starbucks in 2007.  But yes, I did consume Starbucks.  Shortly after making that resolution, every weekend morning devolved into an argument about how out-of-touch my ideals were and why the hell can't I just eat breakfast in the morning?  So I agreed that The Boy could do whatever he wanted and get a drink there for us to share, so long as the decision to go wasn't made by me and my money wasn't contributing.  The only time I had my own cup of Starbucks was at the original in Seattle, which  was still purchased for me.  There's a lesson in this:  being an idealistic tool gets you a lot of free stuff. 

So adding up all the points (and half, and third and quarter points I've awarded myself) that gives me a 62.7% success rate for the year, which is a vast improvement over last year's success rate of 48.7%.

Okay, tomorrow (maybe) we'll go over my 2008 Resolutions.  We're getting things done here people!!! 
by: DJGroovySlug at January 31, 2008 12:19 | link | comments (3)

Wednesday, 30 January 2008

A Whirlwind Tour of England and Morocco

Seriously, if I don't force myself to sit down and write this RIGHT THIS SECOND, you will see this trip report sometime in August, maybe after I've already gone on another vacation, finished summer classes and built a yacht. 

Our itinerary took us first to London for two nights.  We arrived on the usual red eye from DC, meaning our first full day there was spent in a half-stupor.

St. Paul's and the Millenium Bridge

St. Pauls, from the Millennium Bridge.

I forgot how miserable London really is, particularly in the wintertime.  It was cold.  It was windy.  It would pour rain for 15 minutes at random intervals.  We spent the first day exploring, somewhat, until we passed out in our hotel room sometime around 3pm. 

Although we stopped in London for a number of reasons - to see our friends, to see London, because it made getting to Morocco easier - the real reason I pushed hard for this stop was to visit Oxford, where I spent half of my junior year of college.  We took the bus up there and just wandered the streets and popped into shops. 



View of Oxford from St. Mary's Church.


When we happen to drive onto the UMD campus, The Boy always waxes nostalgic about this and that while my eyes glaze over.  This was reversed in Oxford, although he did enjoy photographing the city.


Bodleian Camera

The Radcliffe Camera, part of the Bodleian Library.

Two days in England was all I needed before the bad weather and bad food reminded me why I would never live in the country again.  We planed to Fez from Gatwick. 

It was dark by the time we got to the Fez medina, which is the walled older city typical of many Muslim cities from the Middle Ages.  We stayed at the Dar Roumana - a dar typically means a house arranged around a  courtyard - which was absolutely spectacular.  Owned by two (very worldly) Americans, they restored the Dar in about three years.



Amazing, intricate details.




We spent the first night in front of the fire, drinking Moroccan wine and snacking on olives, almonds and strawberries.



Laylo, one of the Dar cats.  What a sweetheart.

We hired a guide for our first day in the medina, since it all proved to be overwhelming just making our way to the Dar even with the Dar porter leading the way.  Our guide took us to all the major sites in Fez, winding and twisting among the impossible maze of the city.



Oranges and mint.




A bab, or gate, is the only way to enter the medina.  No cars or motorbikes allowed, just donkeys and feet.




Camel head on display, at the camel meat vendor.  Yes, that's his tongue hanging out.  We did eat camel, by the way.



The narrow winding streets of Fez.  And I mean narrow.  Because of the narrow streets and stone buildings, Fez was quite cool and we needed jackets. 

The second day we wandered around by ourselves, and I visited a hammam which is a local bathhouse.  Most of the homes don't have reliable running hot water so they regularly bathe at a hammam.   It was quite the experience, I must say.   My mother was horrified to hear about it.

We also visited the tanneries.  Fez is famous for its incredibly soft, colorful leathers. 



The white "tubs" are used the soften the leather with various ammoniacs and limestone.  The colored ones are obviously for dying.  It's smelly, dirty, disgusting work.  Mike Rowe, take note. 



Cat overseeing the leather production.  Hard worker, that one. 




Slippers, made of leather. 



You could argue that Fez wasn't a pretty town.  It certainly wasn't clean by Western standards.  But I adored it.  The people still live and work in the medina, they get their food, clothing, medical care, they worship, marry and raise families there.  This is an infrastructure that is over a thousand years old but it still maintains a high level of quality of life. 

We took the train to Marrakesh, which was supposed to be a 7 hour ride.  Of course, the train broke down somewhere in the middle of the Moroccan countryside, so it took closer to 10 hours.  At least we got to see what the area looked like.



Much more lush than you would expect.  The desert starts much farther south, past the Atlas mountains.

Arriving in Marrakesh was arriving into insanity.  It was like we had spent the past three nights in Des Moines, Iowa and suddenly showed up in New York City.  



Marrakesh's medina is far more geared towards tourists than Fez.  Vendors sold less food and regular clothing, and more tajines and scarves, which no real Moroccan person would buy.  But in terms of the spirit of Moroccan life, it's definitely still there.  Very frenetic.

We stayed at the lovely Riad Safa, run by two Frenchmen.  Unlike the Dar Roumana, which was empty while we were there, the Riad was at full capacity, meaning all five rooms were full.  We would spend the evenings drinking with our new British friends and comparing America and Great Britain.  



Marrakesh had far greater examples of architecture and sites than Fez, which was more of a living city.  This is part of the Ben Youssef Medersa, which is a Koranic school for boys.  Each of those doors is a "dorm room".  Dark, dank, and very small.  Adam commented that it was like a prison cell.



The courtyard of the Medersa.




The Majorelle gardens, a cool, quiet oasis in Marrakesh.  It was nice to get away from the bustle.
 



The Museum of Islamic Art, located within the gardens.




The Agdal gardens, with the Atlas mountains in the distance.  The gardens are mostly orchards and this giant lagoon full of HUMONGOUS carp. 



I seriously thought they were Moroccan water monsters for a second.  Families would come and feed the carp bread crumbs.

At nights we ate dinner at the famous Djemma El Fna, which is the reason everyone goes to Marrakesh.  At night food carts are rolled in by donkeys and the smoke and lights create quite the dramatic scene.



There are storytellers, snake charmers, dentists pulling teeth, monkeys, and magicians among stands selling fantastic fresh squeezed orange juice, kebabs and sausages,  mint tea and snail soup.  All of which we ate. 



Coming back to America depressed me considerably, although it is nice to see Gadget and eat cheeseburgers again.  The flight back through Heathrow didn't help, since we sat at the gate for two and a half hours while a bunch of Americans decided they didn't feel well, got the plane to be delayed and then threw a fit when they were thrown off the plane.  Man, it was ugly. 

Now my life revolves around work, school, and making myself go to the gym.  Morocco feels a million miles away and I can't wait until we get a chance to escape again.



It's an exhausting life. 


by: DJGroovySlug at January 30, 2008 09:51 | link | comments (3)

Tuesday, 29 January 2008

The Queen of Social Interaction

I returned to the Ridiculously Attractive Doctor this morning as a follow-up and it turns out that I have to have a Minor Procedure.  But, god, forget the Minor Procedure, the man needs to stop being so damn charming and nice and looking like a Greek god with a Kentucky accent.  While he's talking and reassuring me, my initial response is to scream out that NO I WILL NOT HAVE SEX WITH YOU SO STOP BEING SO NICE TO ME, PRETTY MAN.  Real smooth like.  Just so it's out there.  No more tension.
by: DJGroovySlug at January 29, 2008 17:54 | link | comments (2)

Monday, 28 January 2008

And I'm spent.
by: DJGroovySlug at January 28, 2008 21:07 | link | comments (1)

Friday, 25 January 2008

I wish I could spend more time on our trip report, or organizing the pictures, or finally doing my recap of my 2007 resolutions and listing my 2008 resolutions, but frankly since I've been home, I've been going out to long elaborate dinners and then coming home and falling asleep at 9:30pm.  I'm amazed I'm unpacked.

Today I'm flying out once again, this time to godawful Florida, for my grandmother's 90th birthday.  I love grandma, but I despise Florida.  I have no qualms about my dislike of Florida and were someone to give me the choice between living in New Jersey or Florida I would have to think Really Hard.   At the very least, the people who live behind her could reopen their wi-fi so I could post some damn pictures of my trip. 

I'll be back on Monday, just in time to run to UMD and begin Spring classes.  Woo.
by: DJGroovySlug at January 25, 2008 08:44 | link | comments (1)

Thursday, 24 January 2008

Today my blog turns 3 years old.  My blog no longer throws horrible tantrums, wailing on the floor in high pitched squeals.  Now it screams in complete sentences!

by: DJGroovySlug at January 24, 2008 10:46 | link | comments (4)

Wednesday, 23 January 2008

Trying to upload, organize and describe 700+ photographs of an 8 day trip.  Send caffeine, cheeseburgers and kittens, for snorgling. 
by: DJGroovySlug at January 23, 2008 15:20 | link | comments (2)

Wednesday, 09 January 2008

A Truth

Toothpaste For Dinner
toothpastefordinner.com
by: DJGroovySlug at January 09, 2008 23:20 | link | comments (2)

Wednesday, 09 January 2008

Perhaps I should say something...


Hmmm....


I want a puppy. 
by: DJGroovySlug at January 09, 2008 16:31 | link | comments (1)

Monday, 07 January 2008

I've been so stressed out this vacation, which is both sad and funny, since the reason I'm stressed is the constant bombardment of suspenseful television and movie-watching I've been going through.  I spent the weekend finishing the fourth season of The Wire, which typically involves me screaming at the television, squealing and covering my eyes and being a giant baby.  If The Boy is there, it also involves OMG HE'S GOING TO DIE, ISN'T HE?! ARE THEY ARE GOING TO KILL HIM?  TELLL MEEEE.  And then he slaps me and tells me to get a hold of myself, woman. 

The final straw came when I saw I Am Legend on Saturday night with Sanjay, who loved the movie since I spent most of the time shrieking about how I hate this movie and can we please leave? Which isn't to say I didn't like the movie, because I did, but I realize that now, in my old age, entertainment just isn't what it used to be.  What happened to fluff and happiness and spontaneous bursts of song? The last movie I saw with spontaneous bursts of song involved a man who killed all his customers with a barber's razor and then served them as dinner to the general population.  That Tim Burton needs some Paxil.  And a hug.

Zombies are the new ghosts for me, since ghosts, while unpredictable and scary, are completely incapable of eating me alive and running like fucking maniacs.  GAH.  I basically didn't sleep on Saturday night, and that's no joke.  I did not release the tension in my muscles until the sun rose.  I'm thinking of investing in a high power rifle.  I'm also now completely against any sort of genetic modification. And science in general.  Any politician who wants my vote should run on a No More Zombies platform.  Now excuse me while I search for a UV light set for my apartment. 

[I put my thoughts about the movie in the comments below, I really hope those of you who saw I Am Legend will talk about it with me.  These comments will contain spoilers!
by: DJGroovySlug at January 07, 2008 10:06 | link | comments (5)