Baaastin in Review.

It was an adventure. It always is, though, when I get together with the BFF. We drove up Saturday morning, and got there around 1. BFF swears by her GPS, so we plugged it into my car and it was surprisingly useful. I harbor a suspicion for many electronic devices, because they aren't totally reliable — and TomTom did crap out a couple of times — and I think it's so important to maintain basic knowledge. Like knowing how to read a map. (I remember driving around NY two summers ago, and asking my sister to look at the map. Her response: "I don't read maps." My response: "Whuh?") But we managed pretty well with the GPS device. We got to the Hilton in Woburn, MA, which was only 20 minutes from the Boston. The hotel had a slightly retro vibe, with mustard-brown colored carpet and taupe walls, but it was clean, nicely appointed, and we had a room overlooking the atrium. The room has this sliding door, and you can step out onto your carpeted balcony above the hotel bar, pool, and restaurant, but you're protected from the elements by a huge slanted glass wall, so it's like being outside without the weather. The view from the balcony: Nice, huh? One other bonus was that staying in a room above the atrium means you can catch the free wifi signal coming from the lobby. We relaxed in the room for a bit (a 5 hour drive is tiring), made reservations at Legal Seafood, per Wife's suggestion, and then headed to Boston. No particular destination in mind, we ended up on Boylston Street, parked, and started walking. Always in the mood for Thai, we stopped in at Bangkok Blue, where BFF had mediocre pad thai, and I had amazing chicken panang. We wanted to sit outside, but the hostess looked ominously at the overcast sky, asking, "Are you sure? It's going to rain soon." It looked cloudy, but not rainy, and I almost objected, but decided to defer to her. And, wow, am I glad I did. It was sprinkling by the time we finished eating, but when we were ready to head outside, it was pouring. I didn't have an umbrella — since I've gone natural, I've proudly eschewed all forms of rain gear — and BFF had a tiny one, which I insisted she use for herself ("I'd rather have you dry, then both of us partially wet"). I stepped outside gamely, and was soaked to the skin within 30 seconds. I was wearing a skirt and a white tank top, and a white kid riding by on his bike took note of this, asking where my umbrella was, then shaking his head at my lack of common sense. And of course, as he rode away, shouted, "wet t-shirt contest!!" (And yet, he was oddly polite the entire time. I had trouble gauging Bostonians, because they all seemed really mellow and nice, which is antithetical to the New Yorker.) By the time I got back to the car, I looked like a drowned rat. BFF was mostly intact, however, due to her ingenuity and force of will. We drove back to the hotel, put on PJs, hung up our wet clothes, and chilled for a while, watching Fox News*. We eventually dragged ourselves back to the car, drove to State Street, and walked around the Long Wharf, Faneuil Hall, and Quincy Market. The wharf was really cool, and we summarily decided to purchase a boat together. Dinner was at 9, and because it was really busy, our poor waiter started off by simultaneously greeting us and the young couple next to us. I felt bad, because he had clearly been double-sat (sat with two parties at the same time), which is one of those things hosts try to avoid at all costs. I expressed outrage at the injustice, and he was great to us the entire night. Of course, the fact that we splurged on lobster and wine may have helped, but he seemed genuine. We chatted when he came to our table, and it turned out he was born in North Africa, which explained the accent and the middle eastern look. He was henceforth known as our Sexy North African Server. He even tied our lobster bibs on for us, sexily, of course, and he gave me his e-mail address to send him the pictures we took with him. 20% for you, sir! Post-dinner, BFF drove us back to the hotel, and we passed out like negroes after a church picnic. The next morning was absolutely gorgeous. Puffy white clouds in a bright blue sky, and warm but breezy. We got brunch in Cambridge, at a place called the B-Side Lounge. We ordered a bunch of food, but BFF's pancakes were like cardboard, and she ate less than half of them, so we asked the server to take them off the bill. She acted like it was a huge inconvenience, and said she'd have to 'ask the chef.' Considering the fact that our bill was over $50, I didn't think it would be much of a stretch to take a $5 item off of it, and the chef concurred. But I thought it was strange she seemed so put-upon. When I thanked her, and told her everything else was delicious, she gave me a very ... sarcastic look. 15% for you, ma'am! We drove to Harvard, and caught the free Unofficial Harvard Tour. The tour guides, Harvard students, were funny, and it seemed like we got a lot of tidbits that probably weren't on the official tour. The guides walked backward the entire time, and enunciated very well (how old am I? "Enunciated very well"?? Sheesh!). Peep the "Hahvahd" shirts. Yes, that is how people talk in Boston. 'Charges' = 'Chaaahges.' We walked around Cambridge, and down to the Charles River, which is etched in my mind as the site of super-trippy Harvard Man, one of my fave guilty pleasures. After that, it was time to head home. The weather was mostly beautiful and sunny, with a lovely cool breeze. Somewhere in Connecticut, I was leaning out of the passenger side window enjoying the sun and the breeze when the Mack truck next to us honked. I looked up, and this Cletus-the-Slack-Jawed-Yokel-looking-dude had pressed a piece of yellow construction paper to his window. "U R HOT" it read, in black magic marker. I started laughing, he was grinning, and a good time was had by all. I guess you have to make your own fun when you're on the road for days at a time. By the time we arrived in New Jersey, around Newark, it had started pouring again, but we got a nice welcome-back present... *A note on Fox News: I finally understand why people call it Faux News. It's amazing that there is a channel which calls itself news and is yet and still, consistently, undeniably, wrong and a proud propagator of false facts.

Baaastin.

I'm going to Boston. My best just got back from six weeks in Italia, and we planned to hang out this weekend... ...you know what, I'm not even gonna lie. I don't need an excuse to take a road trip. One of my favorite things to do, when gas was about 2/3 the price it is now, was take a drive. I've driven all over New Jersey. I've gotten majorly lost. I've ended up in Nowhere, Pennsylvania. I used to drive down to D.C. on a whim. I love to drive, and I've come to a certain sense of acceptance when it comes to gas prices. They're high, and that's just the way it's gonna be. Of course, it helps that my '06 Scion xB is costs just about $40 to fill up (I do miss the days when it was $28, but back then, I felt like I was getting away with something bad) and I can get more than 300 miles out of one tank. So anyway, BFF and I were going to go somewhere boring like Philly, when it occurred to me that we could and should totally drive to Boston. We got a hotel for Saturday night, and we're driving up early in the morning. I haven't been to Boston since I was a senior in high school, for a journalism conference. It's one of my favorite memories. I have no idea what we're going to do while we're there, but knowing me and BFF, we'll make our own fun no matter where we end up. See ya on Monday!

The AIM Archives, vol. ???

Lauren & me on NC, Indy, Hillary, and the $6.4 million.

Tell 'Em Why You're (Not) Mad, Son!

I had a friend instant message me today, asking if I'd seen the Vogue cover with Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen. Of course I have. Stevie Wonder has seen it. Anyway, this friend happens to be a black man who is deeply offended by the cover. I saw the following alternate on Jezebel, and sent it to him. Nope, that's not better, he said. Less blatant, but just as bad. As I told him, I'm the first person to be on the lookout for racism. It's ALWAYS racism. But... this isn't as problematic to me as the fact that Lebron James is the first black man to cover US Vogue (and the first black man to cover French Vogue was a leggy crossdresser - meanwhile Men's Vogue has covered Will Smith, Denzel Washington, and Obama). More problematic is that J.Hud was only the third black woman to cover US Vogue. Vogue is not the most diverse or racially sensitive crayon in the box. But the James-Bundchen cover? It just doesn't scream 'King Kong' to me. They both look like they're having fun. (Oh, and why isn't LeBron in a suit, as my friend and others have asked indignantly? All of the sports figures in the mag are dressed in uniform, while the models, uh, model.) Ta-Nehisi Coates makes a good point about racism debates about magazine covers versus, you know, actual racism. And The Assimilated Negro agrees that this is all a bit much. But what's your take on it?

And more birthday weekend!

About a month ago, I told my best friend she needed to clear her schedule on March 15 so she could spend the day celebrating my birth. And she had to plan it. Pulling the BFF card only works two or three times a year, so you gotta make it count, right? So. Saturday. We drove into the City (I guess that makes us B&Ts? Shudder). The original plan was to hit up the Met, then brunch, then American Museum of Natural History. But... we got a late start, and ended up eating first. We ate at this place called Cafe Lalo, this really cute and quite small restaurant on the UWS. It was very, very French, and unlike most brunch places, it didn't really have your typical breakfast meats (bacon, sausage, etc). But my meal was delicious... steamed eggs with herbs, cranberry scone, Devon cream, and marmalade. (And a really yummy champagne cocktail called a 'Rose Petal' - champagne and Chambord.) BFF had a plain belgian waffle. Look! Pretty brunch! We headed over to the natural history museum. BFF works for Time, Inc., so she gets in free to the top museums in the city. We spent 20 bucks to go to the Butterfly Conservatory, and I got some really pretty shots. We took a brief stroll through the museum. I liked the African Peoples exhibit, which was good, although all the forms had medium skin tones, which I thought was pretty lame. Plus, they looked sorta... ashy. Onward to the Asian Peoples hall, which was also good. I must admit, I did feel like I was in elementary school. But, in a good way. After spending about and hour and half in the museum, we crossed Central Park (it was our first time actually walking through it) to get to the UES, and the Met. I had a very brief Blair Waldorf moment when we got to the steps. They were covered with people sitting, eating hotdogs and pretzels, talking on cell phones, reading. I wished I was wearing a pleated skirt and knee socks. (Oh Gossip Girl, how I've missed thee!) (Note: my profile pic is actually a self-portrait taken while we were chilling on the steps.) The Met was gorgeous. We were on a tight schedule, but I could have used hours to explore it. There was a really interesting exhibit on a French realist named Gustave Courbet. His work was incredible... and talk about real. In his paintings, he even included the depressions left on women's waistlines from wearing corsets. We weren't allowed to take photos in there (bah!) but it was really, really good. Take my word for it. The only thing about having such a busy day was that we were TIRED. But we remained calm and carried on. Dinner was at Dallas BBQ, home of the most wonderful and ginormous margaritas, followed by a quick change in the car, and off to Sugar, a cool lounge-y type place off of Canal. We don't look that tired, do we?? I had the BEST time.

Lupe Fiasco @ The Fillmore 1/31/08

Greaaaaaaat show! Can I just leave it at that? I went with a colleague from work. We're from different departments, but he facebooked me and we've become work buddies, based on the fact that we a) are probably the only black people under 25 who work there, b) can talk about Greek stuff - he's a Sigma, and c) he's mad cool. I SO did not want to drive to Philly, but his car was in the shop. Imagine my surprise when he said he could drive stick! Bonus points were immediately awarded. He drove us to Philly, and got a BEAUTIFUL parking spot directly across from the theatre, on South Street. Soooo fab! It was at that point we knew the night was gonna be awesome. I've got chills just thinking about it! Now, we had been late leaving Jersey, so my BFF and her boyfriend were already having dinner when we arrived. Work Buddy and I walked down the street to this diner type place, and ordered drinks and apps. (side note: the drink menu included a drink called the "Jamaican Me Crazy." It was made with Captain Morgan's. Ummm, how are you going to title a drink after my homeland without including either Appleton or Meyer's? Boooooo!) I had a Money Maker - I don't remember what was in it, other than Bacardi, but it was good. BFF and boyfriend met us at the diner, we drank, talked, took pics; Work Buddy and I got Blue Moon (yum!), then it was off to the show. It started at nine, but due to the warning of one of my HU bros Josh, we went in late, so as to avoid the crappy opening acts. We got there as this dude named Optimus was finishing up his set, with a surprisingly good version of Bob Marley's "Waiting in Vain." There was an intermission, so we went to the bar, where WB sweetly got shots for the group (it was BFF's boyfriend's birthday). SoCo and lime, let's go! The majority of the crowd was white high school kids, of course, with a sprinkling of uber-hip and fly young black people. Fast-forward to the crowd chanting: "Lupe! Lupe! Lupe!" and the show started! I bet WB that Lu would start the show with "Superstar" and end with "Kick, Push." He was sure it would be the reverse. He was half-right, dang it. The show began with "Real," from F&L, and while I get the concept, it was kind of a wack intro. It was followed by an awesomely rocked-out version of 'Ye's "Touch The Sky." (Did I mention the whole rock band aspect? BFF remarked to me about halfway through -- "This is my first rock concert!" And that's what it was. Sooo cool.) My favorite cut was later in the night, when he did "Daydreamin'." It was so hard. I was practically moshing, while WB was looking at me like I had two heads, but I'm pretty sure it's because he was jealous. Intermission, with this random dude who kept repeating: "I had a dream I was a $100 bill." Um, ok! Back to the bar, then. BFF and I ran across a friend's line brother who also went to HU. We chat, finish our drinks, head back to the floor, where the boyfriend and WB have been gallantly holding our space. At that point, we're pretty much feeling like this: The most interesting part was when he performed "The Coolest" a capella. I have to admit, it was a little weird to see him reciting "the coolest nigga, what / the coolest nigga, what / the coolest nigga, what" in front of that particular crowd... And that's when I realized that the only really derogatory statement I could make is the following: Lupe is truly a poet. So, having the rock, and the hype man, and the flashing lights is all good, but between songs, you just feel like you should be snapping your fingers or something... I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but, he was awesome and yet so low-key... sigh, I dunno. The show ended with Superstar, and the super-cute Matthew Santos came out to sing the hook. Below is the clearest picture WB managed to get of Lu. Like I said. GREAAAAAAAT show!

Ports, and chiantis, and syrahs, oh my!

"Let's go to sleep in Paris, and wake up in Tokyo..."

Since the Barack (I wonder if anyone still calls him Barry? I SO want to!) speech didn't count as a "real post," I'm back. I had a fab night at the Grill. It's the kind of place that makes you want to come in on your off day just so you can enjoy the atmosphere and the people (with a pretty bomb discount!).

I sat with one of the servers who came in with his S.O. and we talked about my full time job, wine, chocolate souffle, teaching, wine, Jay-Z, Beyonce ... and wine. Did I mention it was half-price wine night?

Mmmm.

Wait, what was I saying? Oh, right, I'm a wino. ____

Listening to: the water cycle through my fishtank.

riesling & reasoning

Just had dinner with my girl Lauren S. (She's one of those people who makes me wanna use her full name when I refer to her, but I'll refrain.) We dined at the Grill where I work part time, sat in the lounge and split a 1/2 price bottle of wine. Do you have one of those friends with whom you can converse easily for a few hours and part ways feeling completely relaxed? She's that friend. She asked me when I would start blogging again. I finally had an answer for her: today! I don't know what it was that pulled me back into the blogosphere -- but I think it was the beautiful train wreck www.jakobandjulia.com which gave me the final push. I still don't think what I have to say is all that earth shattering and enlightening, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Talk to you soon. the neo. Reading: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Listening to: "Let It Die" by Feist Waiting for: tomorrow, when I can wish my beautiful sorors a happy 100th anniversary.