good-byes, hellos, birthdays, and sickness
this weekend was jam-packed full of stuff. i didn't think we'd have anything to do, but things sure filled up quick.
let's begin with the sickness. it hit me like a 18-wheeler truck. last wednesday i was feeling fine. the weather started to turn a little chilly, though, but i wasn't worried. BAM! i woke up thursday morning and i couldn't breath. all that day i was sniffling and sneezing and completely congested. i went out that night for dinner with nicole, ariesta, and zin. i unfortunately had to call it an early night because i could feel myself slowly going downhill. i got home, threw on my trusty presentation high school sweats, my ucsc sweatshirt, grabbed a blanket and made camp on the sofa. i was all set with my box of tissues, water, sudafed+advil combo, and some hot "breathe easy" tea. friday was even worse. towards the end of thursday i was having a hard time focusing, and by friday morning i wasn't going to get anything done, i just knew it. i managed to get everything that needed to get done done before heading home and calling it a half-day. i got home and repeated what i had the night before: sofa, sweats, meds, and tea. i managed to make myself some mac n cheese for lunch, but by 3:30, i was passed out. i made my way to the bedroom and slept until about 6:15 when marshall called, letting me know he was headed home and if i wanted anything for dinner. he came home and we ate our taco bell before heading out. friday was going to be a busy night.
our plan originally was going to go see marshall's coworker's drag-king show in SF then head over to oakland for sanam's bon voyage party and spend the rest of the night there. right as we got off the freeway in the mission, marshall gets a call from his coworker saying that she won't be on-stage until midnight. it was 8:30. we were banking on her going on at the beginning of the night. so, plans changed. we made our way back to the freeway and headed over to oakland to hang out with sanam before coming BACK to the city for the show. once in oakland, and lost due to the bad google maps directions and going to sanam's in a totally different way than we normally do, marshall got a text from his coworker saying that she'll be on stage somewhere between 11 and midnight. my time with sanam was growing shorter and shorter. anyway, we finally made it to sanam's and hung out for a couple of hours. it was fun and i got to see a few people who i hadn't seen in a while. i spoke with my friend, gloria, and we both agree that i should have a futurama halloween party. she's agreed to come as bender, as marshall and i are going as dr. zoidberg and amy wong, respectively. we'll see if that happens. i would LOVE to put on a halloween party, anyway. i just need to plan.
so, right, we left sanam's a little before 11pm and headed back over the bridge to SF. we found the bar and then parking (luckily). we arrived with enough time to get a drink and hang out for a bit before marshall's friend did her little show. she lip-sync'ed to the "dick in a box" skit from SNL. she used a strap-on (did i mention she's gay and this was a lesbian bar?) for the dick and she dutifully had a box strapped to her crotch. it was very well done. i noticed that the majority of the people were singing along. i also saw that she got a few tips from the people in the front row, too. we stuck around afterwards and waited to see her before we left. i had never met her before and even now it doesn't feel like we've actually met. when she finally finished changing back into regular clothes and came out to see us, i really had to pee. they had ONE private bathroom in the entire bar. i believe the "bathroom" next to the one i used as like an open bathroom and i'm really not that comfortable peeing in front of strange women. i believe i stood in line for the bathroom for a good 30 minutes. i had to deal with 3 cutters and had to stand next to this grunge-looking couple heavily making out against the wall. i finally made it (it was surprisingly clean, that bathroom) and made it back to marshall and his friend. due to my sickness, i was waning fast, so we didn't stay too long before we headed home. she's coming to marshall's birthday on wednesday, so at least i'll hopefully get to chat with her then. as of now, i can just finally put a face to the name.
saturday was a dreary day. i was still sick and it was gray and rainy outside. we didn't have anything to do except for an eye spy scheduled dinner that night, so we just hung around. i was super excited about dinner; i got a bar and dinner evaluation for the left bank in san mateo. i LOVE left bank. everything was just fantastic. the drinks were wonderful, as was the fried calamari. i had their special: beef bourgeneon (basically really good pot roast) over the BEST mashed potatoes i've had in ages. i was just in heaven. i seriously had no problem writing my evaluation afterwards, especially since they love to hear people talk about their food. that was my favorite part of the whole thing.
sunday was jam-packed. i managed to get a hold of my mom and sister saturday afternoon to discuss my mom's birthday (sunday). i had made dinner reservations at amber indian restaurant in santana row earlier that week, so that was taken care of. my sister, though, wanted to hang out before dinner and catch a movie or something. i looked around and not much is out that my mom and/or sister would be interested in (mind you, i would be interested in these movies, but, ya know...). the one thing that my mom wanted to see was the bourne ultimatum, which i'd already seen, but would definitely see again. i told my sister and she said that was fine and we figured out a time to meet and everything was hunky-dory. the movie was great, of course. i even liked watching it a second time. i also got to brace myself for 2 hours of shaky-cam beforehand. we had lots of time after the movie and before dinner, so we headed to santana row and shared a meat and cheese platter and a few glasses of wine at the open-air wine bar. it was really nice. due to my sister's kids and everyone's different schedules, we rarely just get to spend time with each other. plus, my sister and i got to treat my mom to stuff and we don't do that very often, either. we had fun chit-chatting and gossiping and judging people, our favorite pastimes. dinner that night was very good. we ordered WAY too much, which is typical of dinners with my sister. she always thinks we need more food than we do. anyway, she ended up with the leftovers anyway. the food was fantastic. i'd like to go back and get a few items again, just to see how they are when i'm not sick. my stomach was none to happy about having 4 small glasses of wine in the afternoon, so i really wasn't all THAT hungry. i tried a few things, but really didn't eat all that much. plus, i sat next to my niece, who decided that she wanted to just squirm all night long and not eat anything. my sister had most of it handled, but i was start to eat and get distracted at the small person next to me, moving around all over the place. other than that, it was a great birthday dinner. my mom got exactly what she wanted and so did marshall. he ended up with a great haul this year: a big pizza peel, baking stone (primarily for pizza, but good for all other baking), a new and very large pizza cutter, and a pizza cookbook. i think you get an idea of what we'll be making for dinner in a week or so. :)
marshall's birthday is on wednesday. i know one of his gifts will arrive via UPS tomorrow, but i'm iffy on the other, which is coming from an individual seller and via USPS (it can arrive the next day or take 3 weeks, you never know). at least one of his gifts will arrive before his birthday, so i can give him SOMETHING on wednesday. we're heading out to dave & busters for dinner and a night of video games and some drinking. i think it'll be fun. we've got a lot of people coming, so i know it's going to be good times. oh, btw, i wanted to extend an invite to spitemeat (happy birthday to you, too!). i don't have an email address for you, but you're definitely invited. let me know if you and "the wife" want to come along! so yeah, it's going to be a busy week this week, leading up to another busy weekend. i'm sure i'll get some sleep at some point...
oh yeah - hoorah for heroes. finally!!
let's begin with the sickness. it hit me like a 18-wheeler truck. last wednesday i was feeling fine. the weather started to turn a little chilly, though, but i wasn't worried. BAM! i woke up thursday morning and i couldn't breath. all that day i was sniffling and sneezing and completely congested. i went out that night for dinner with nicole, ariesta, and zin. i unfortunately had to call it an early night because i could feel myself slowly going downhill. i got home, threw on my trusty presentation high school sweats, my ucsc sweatshirt, grabbed a blanket and made camp on the sofa. i was all set with my box of tissues, water, sudafed+advil combo, and some hot "breathe easy" tea. friday was even worse. towards the end of thursday i was having a hard time focusing, and by friday morning i wasn't going to get anything done, i just knew it. i managed to get everything that needed to get done done before heading home and calling it a half-day. i got home and repeated what i had the night before: sofa, sweats, meds, and tea. i managed to make myself some mac n cheese for lunch, but by 3:30, i was passed out. i made my way to the bedroom and slept until about 6:15 when marshall called, letting me know he was headed home and if i wanted anything for dinner. he came home and we ate our taco bell before heading out. friday was going to be a busy night.
our plan originally was going to go see marshall's coworker's drag-king show in SF then head over to oakland for sanam's bon voyage party and spend the rest of the night there. right as we got off the freeway in the mission, marshall gets a call from his coworker saying that she won't be on-stage until midnight. it was 8:30. we were banking on her going on at the beginning of the night. so, plans changed. we made our way back to the freeway and headed over to oakland to hang out with sanam before coming BACK to the city for the show. once in oakland, and lost due to the bad google maps directions and going to sanam's in a totally different way than we normally do, marshall got a text from his coworker saying that she'll be on stage somewhere between 11 and midnight. my time with sanam was growing shorter and shorter. anyway, we finally made it to sanam's and hung out for a couple of hours. it was fun and i got to see a few people who i hadn't seen in a while. i spoke with my friend, gloria, and we both agree that i should have a futurama halloween party. she's agreed to come as bender, as marshall and i are going as dr. zoidberg and amy wong, respectively. we'll see if that happens. i would LOVE to put on a halloween party, anyway. i just need to plan.
so, right, we left sanam's a little before 11pm and headed back over the bridge to SF. we found the bar and then parking (luckily). we arrived with enough time to get a drink and hang out for a bit before marshall's friend did her little show. she lip-sync'ed to the "dick in a box" skit from SNL. she used a strap-on (did i mention she's gay and this was a lesbian bar?) for the dick and she dutifully had a box strapped to her crotch. it was very well done. i noticed that the majority of the people were singing along. i also saw that she got a few tips from the people in the front row, too. we stuck around afterwards and waited to see her before we left. i had never met her before and even now it doesn't feel like we've actually met. when she finally finished changing back into regular clothes and came out to see us, i really had to pee. they had ONE private bathroom in the entire bar. i believe the "bathroom" next to the one i used as like an open bathroom and i'm really not that comfortable peeing in front of strange women. i believe i stood in line for the bathroom for a good 30 minutes. i had to deal with 3 cutters and had to stand next to this grunge-looking couple heavily making out against the wall. i finally made it (it was surprisingly clean, that bathroom) and made it back to marshall and his friend. due to my sickness, i was waning fast, so we didn't stay too long before we headed home. she's coming to marshall's birthday on wednesday, so at least i'll hopefully get to chat with her then. as of now, i can just finally put a face to the name.
saturday was a dreary day. i was still sick and it was gray and rainy outside. we didn't have anything to do except for an eye spy scheduled dinner that night, so we just hung around. i was super excited about dinner; i got a bar and dinner evaluation for the left bank in san mateo. i LOVE left bank. everything was just fantastic. the drinks were wonderful, as was the fried calamari. i had their special: beef bourgeneon (basically really good pot roast) over the BEST mashed potatoes i've had in ages. i was just in heaven. i seriously had no problem writing my evaluation afterwards, especially since they love to hear people talk about their food. that was my favorite part of the whole thing.
sunday was jam-packed. i managed to get a hold of my mom and sister saturday afternoon to discuss my mom's birthday (sunday). i had made dinner reservations at amber indian restaurant in santana row earlier that week, so that was taken care of. my sister, though, wanted to hang out before dinner and catch a movie or something. i looked around and not much is out that my mom and/or sister would be interested in (mind you, i would be interested in these movies, but, ya know...). the one thing that my mom wanted to see was the bourne ultimatum, which i'd already seen, but would definitely see again. i told my sister and she said that was fine and we figured out a time to meet and everything was hunky-dory. the movie was great, of course. i even liked watching it a second time. i also got to brace myself for 2 hours of shaky-cam beforehand. we had lots of time after the movie and before dinner, so we headed to santana row and shared a meat and cheese platter and a few glasses of wine at the open-air wine bar. it was really nice. due to my sister's kids and everyone's different schedules, we rarely just get to spend time with each other. plus, my sister and i got to treat my mom to stuff and we don't do that very often, either. we had fun chit-chatting and gossiping and judging people, our favorite pastimes. dinner that night was very good. we ordered WAY too much, which is typical of dinners with my sister. she always thinks we need more food than we do. anyway, she ended up with the leftovers anyway. the food was fantastic. i'd like to go back and get a few items again, just to see how they are when i'm not sick. my stomach was none to happy about having 4 small glasses of wine in the afternoon, so i really wasn't all THAT hungry. i tried a few things, but really didn't eat all that much. plus, i sat next to my niece, who decided that she wanted to just squirm all night long and not eat anything. my sister had most of it handled, but i was start to eat and get distracted at the small person next to me, moving around all over the place. other than that, it was a great birthday dinner. my mom got exactly what she wanted and so did marshall. he ended up with a great haul this year: a big pizza peel, baking stone (primarily for pizza, but good for all other baking), a new and very large pizza cutter, and a pizza cookbook. i think you get an idea of what we'll be making for dinner in a week or so. :)
marshall's birthday is on wednesday. i know one of his gifts will arrive via UPS tomorrow, but i'm iffy on the other, which is coming from an individual seller and via USPS (it can arrive the next day or take 3 weeks, you never know). at least one of his gifts will arrive before his birthday, so i can give him SOMETHING on wednesday. we're heading out to dave & busters for dinner and a night of video games and some drinking. i think it'll be fun. we've got a lot of people coming, so i know it's going to be good times. oh, btw, i wanted to extend an invite to spitemeat (happy birthday to you, too!). i don't have an email address for you, but you're definitely invited. let me know if you and "the wife" want to come along! so yeah, it's going to be a busy week this week, leading up to another busy weekend. i'm sure i'll get some sleep at some point...
oh yeah - hoorah for heroes. finally!!