and, Monday...
Friday
We ate lunch outside again. And the GlobalVegetarian was Greek, so I got spanikopita :)
At one point, MaryAlice mentioned the Alan Alda movie Same Time, Next Year. Katie said, "Like Brokeback Mountain." Eric initially wtf-ed but hi, it's a totally valid comparison -- which on reflection he did concede.
The Eric highlight, however, was (possibly during the conversation about the cruise MaryAlice might be going on?): "No offense to feminists, but... some women just shouldn't wear dresses."
I asked for suggestions/recommendations of places to eat near Newton Centre Station. Eric suggested Bertucci's, which I was all prepared to do but when I checked online it turned out to be a 12-minute bus ride from the station. ::rolls eyes:: It looked like there was a plaza with eateries right near the train station, though, so I figured we'd be fine.
MaryAlice pointed out that my friend and I would be dressed up, then said, "Is Elizabeth one of those women who shouldn't wear a dress?"
I said I was actually planning on changing my clothes until I got there, so I wouldn't be riding the T in a knee-length skirt, but that I could change before I left work and ask Eric to make a determination.
He had already made some attempts at explaining himself and at this point explained more clearly that he had meant that some women just don't feel comfortable wearing dresses, so then they don't look good wearing them, that he hadn't actually been doing the "I know this is offensive but I'm going to say it anyway" (which I had accused him of doing by using those sorts of disclaimers) but was actually not trying to be offensive. We agreed that perhaps he should have just said that in the first place rather than saying the offensive thing.
Katie and I took the T to Park St., and when we got out it was really crowded and she said there was a Yankees game. I was not aware of this.
I was less than ten minutes later than my hopeful arrival time in meeting Ari. We ended up going to Sapporo Restaurant -- one of the first restaurants we saw, and I was kind of in the mood for Asian food. It was good.
We went back to her room and changed into our pretty dresses. (Sorry, we didn't take any pictures.)
The music was much like unto my prom (2001). One woman reminded me of Emma -- long hair swept up, similar facial structure, dressed all in black but totally clothes I could see Emma wearing, having a lot of fun out on the dance floor.
We abstained from dancing for a while, but after watching people for some time, I began to remember how I actually do enjoy dancing (my prom, the last WriterCon, etc.) I said to Ari, "I don't wanna like force you," which she misheard as, "I don't wanna flirt with you." (Yeah, the fact that loud music makes conversation difficult does not thrill me.) Sadly, around that time a lot of the people who had been dancing were leaving, so it wasn't very much fun and we soon returned to wallflowering. Sigh.
We took the train back around 11pm. We pulled into Fenway and gee, the game had let out. At first I thought there were more people on the Outbound side than the Inbound side, which seemed odd to me. However, after the train had boarded and begun to pull out I realized there was a huge crowd like unto Fourth of July, with security guards. Oh. Wow.
Saturday
My plan had been to take Ari to South Station then go to the gym and do laundry (and buy a new external hard drive since my computer had been freaking out when I turned it on Saturday night so Ari could check her e-mail).
However, Ari and I stayed up talking and around 2:30 decided to just stay up all night rather than get a few hours of sleep and be groggy. (She would have to leave my apartment ~7:15am to make her train home.) Around 5am this was looking like less of a good idea, but it was too late to change our minds then.
I was seriously fading by the time we left for South Station, so Ari got a coffee, boarded her train, and I learned later survived her day at work; I instead went home and took a nap for 5 hours. This of course scrapped my plans, but was clearly necessary.
After I woke up, I took a shower and went to Border Cafe (Harvard Square, Church Street) for a CHPC get-together. There were ~17 people. It was kinda meh, in part because I ended up sitting proximal to people I wasn't all that interested in. My food was yummy, though -- corn and black bean empanada.
As we were getting ready to leave, I saw Alyssa at a table near us. Hee.
Next was Layna's party. It was weird not recognizing a significant portion of people, since I've gotten used to recognizing everyone having been to a number of her parties.
We played Apples to Apples. I'm not a huge fan of the ampersand cards (expansion deck).
The first card I was a Judge for was Torn & Tattered. Honorable Mention to The U.S. Constitution, but fairy tale litgeek me totally picked The Little Mermaid.
One of the other cards I was a Judge for was Slow & Steady. A good case was made for Black Lingerie, but Elephants won.
I didn't get any green cards until after we had begun playing for second and third place (which eventually turned into playing-until-Peter-finally-gets-a-green-card), though after that I acquired cards rather quickly (probably aided by the fact that the number of people playing was significantly smaller).
* Hazardous (Pork & Beans - Jewish Elizabeth)
* Overwhelming (Forever & Ever - Jason)
* Twisted (Cops & Robbers - Cat)
* Hot & Bothered (Husbands & Wives - Peter)
Becca had kept arguing for her cards, "Look beyond the card," so when she was the Judge for "Addictive," Chris played "Fear & Loathing." Her fiancée played "Screeching," arguing, "Think before the card." That innuendo became a running joke throughout the night.
Unlike last time, I did not stay until the very end but departed at 1am.
Sunday
At 10am the kitchen windows were open and weather.com said 61F. It smelled like summer. This of course worries me, as hot&humid makes me wanna die, so I do not enjoy the preludes to summer.
Apparently everyone else was was doing laundry today as well, and I had decided to take off my flannel sheets so I had more laundry than usual. (I know it's gonna cool down later in the week, but it still seemed a good time to switch out my sheets.) It wasn't too bad, though.
9:45pm, windows open, weather.com says 56F: nice. (Yes, by now I have closed one of the windows.)
(Grr, technology keeps being mean to me. Seriously need to buy an external hard drive, 'cause my computer keeps freaking out, which worries me.)
Want sleep.
We ate lunch outside again. And the GlobalVegetarian was Greek, so I got spanikopita :)
At one point, MaryAlice mentioned the Alan Alda movie Same Time, Next Year. Katie said, "Like Brokeback Mountain." Eric initially wtf-ed but hi, it's a totally valid comparison -- which on reflection he did concede.
The Eric highlight, however, was (possibly during the conversation about the cruise MaryAlice might be going on?): "No offense to feminists, but... some women just shouldn't wear dresses."
I asked for suggestions/recommendations of places to eat near Newton Centre Station. Eric suggested Bertucci's, which I was all prepared to do but when I checked online it turned out to be a 12-minute bus ride from the station. ::rolls eyes:: It looked like there was a plaza with eateries right near the train station, though, so I figured we'd be fine.
MaryAlice pointed out that my friend and I would be dressed up, then said, "Is Elizabeth one of those women who shouldn't wear a dress?"
I said I was actually planning on changing my clothes until I got there, so I wouldn't be riding the T in a knee-length skirt, but that I could change before I left work and ask Eric to make a determination.
He had already made some attempts at explaining himself and at this point explained more clearly that he had meant that some women just don't feel comfortable wearing dresses, so then they don't look good wearing them, that he hadn't actually been doing the "I know this is offensive but I'm going to say it anyway" (which I had accused him of doing by using those sorts of disclaimers) but was actually not trying to be offensive. We agreed that perhaps he should have just said that in the first place rather than saying the offensive thing.
Katie and I took the T to Park St., and when we got out it was really crowded and she said there was a Yankees game. I was not aware of this.
I was less than ten minutes later than my hopeful arrival time in meeting Ari. We ended up going to Sapporo Restaurant -- one of the first restaurants we saw, and I was kind of in the mood for Asian food. It was good.
We went back to her room and changed into our pretty dresses. (Sorry, we didn't take any pictures.)
The music was much like unto my prom (2001). One woman reminded me of Emma -- long hair swept up, similar facial structure, dressed all in black but totally clothes I could see Emma wearing, having a lot of fun out on the dance floor.
We abstained from dancing for a while, but after watching people for some time, I began to remember how I actually do enjoy dancing (my prom, the last WriterCon, etc.) I said to Ari, "I don't wanna like force you," which she misheard as, "I don't wanna flirt with you." (Yeah, the fact that loud music makes conversation difficult does not thrill me.) Sadly, around that time a lot of the people who had been dancing were leaving, so it wasn't very much fun and we soon returned to wallflowering. Sigh.
We took the train back around 11pm. We pulled into Fenway and gee, the game had let out. At first I thought there were more people on the Outbound side than the Inbound side, which seemed odd to me. However, after the train had boarded and begun to pull out I realized there was a huge crowd like unto Fourth of July, with security guards. Oh. Wow.
Saturday
My plan had been to take Ari to South Station then go to the gym and do laundry (and buy a new external hard drive since my computer had been freaking out when I turned it on Saturday night so Ari could check her e-mail).
However, Ari and I stayed up talking and around 2:30 decided to just stay up all night rather than get a few hours of sleep and be groggy. (She would have to leave my apartment ~7:15am to make her train home.) Around 5am this was looking like less of a good idea, but it was too late to change our minds then.
I was seriously fading by the time we left for South Station, so Ari got a coffee, boarded her train, and I learned later survived her day at work; I instead went home and took a nap for 5 hours. This of course scrapped my plans, but was clearly necessary.
After I woke up, I took a shower and went to Border Cafe (Harvard Square, Church Street) for a CHPC get-together. There were ~17 people. It was kinda meh, in part because I ended up sitting proximal to people I wasn't all that interested in. My food was yummy, though -- corn and black bean empanada.
As we were getting ready to leave, I saw Alyssa at a table near us. Hee.
Next was Layna's party. It was weird not recognizing a significant portion of people, since I've gotten used to recognizing everyone having been to a number of her parties.
We played Apples to Apples. I'm not a huge fan of the ampersand cards (expansion deck).
The first card I was a Judge for was Torn & Tattered. Honorable Mention to The U.S. Constitution, but fairy tale litgeek me totally picked The Little Mermaid.
One of the other cards I was a Judge for was Slow & Steady. A good case was made for Black Lingerie, but Elephants won.
I didn't get any green cards until after we had begun playing for second and third place (which eventually turned into playing-until-Peter-finally-gets-a-green-card), though after that I acquired cards rather quickly (probably aided by the fact that the number of people playing was significantly smaller).
* Hazardous (Pork & Beans - Jewish Elizabeth)
* Overwhelming (Forever & Ever - Jason)
* Twisted (Cops & Robbers - Cat)
* Hot & Bothered (Husbands & Wives - Peter)
Becca had kept arguing for her cards, "Look beyond the card," so when she was the Judge for "Addictive," Chris played "Fear & Loathing." Her fiancée played "Screeching," arguing, "Think before the card." That innuendo became a running joke throughout the night.
Unlike last time, I did not stay until the very end but departed at 1am.
Sunday
At 10am the kitchen windows were open and weather.com said 61F. It smelled like summer. This of course worries me, as hot&humid makes me wanna die, so I do not enjoy the preludes to summer.
Apparently everyone else was was doing laundry today as well, and I had decided to take off my flannel sheets so I had more laundry than usual. (I know it's gonna cool down later in the week, but it still seemed a good time to switch out my sheets.) It wasn't too bad, though.
9:45pm, windows open, weather.com says 56F: nice. (Yes, by now I have closed one of the windows.)
(Grr, technology keeps being mean to me. Seriously need to buy an external hard drive, 'cause my computer keeps freaking out, which worries me.)
Want sleep.