A Mad Recap
Mmmmm...It's so nice to sleep in.
Right. So here's the recap.
So I leave my home with sunny skies and nice temperatures of 75 degrees F to board a plane headed to the other side of the country. For those of you don't know, I live fairly close to San Francisco in a little city called San Jose. I was on the phone with the lovely myrafur until I boarded the plane and thus, exposed her to much squeeeing and excitement and wishful longing for her to join up with us in the crazy fun in NYC. Once on the plane, I was subjected to digital cable in front of my eyes and no one else in my row. I tried to sleep but failed miserably on that red-eye. Even sprawling out on all three seats did not help because I could not SLEEP!
Despite the non-sleeping, I arrived in NYC at the bright and early hour of 3am PST. Or otherwise known as 6am to all those who live on teh east coast. I made my way to my hotel, enduring the sight of many, many cars and lots of traffic jams that would do LA proud, spoke on the phone with tm_nicholas (who was disgustingly cheerful that morning...just to rub in the fact that he got sleep and I didn't. :-P ), checked in with thermidor about the hotel, made it there, got my luggage held, and off I went to explore my way towards to starrysummer's area for lunch.
So I wandered. Got lost. Wandered some more. Took some pictures. Finally found starrysummer after many, many phone calls. So I've wandered through the Garment District, Chelsea, West Village, NoHo, SoHo and then to Tribeca. Had lunch at a pricey Vietnamese restaurant (so expensive! Come here to San Jose and I'll show you some fantastic Viet food for half the price of the Buon Thit Nuong and the Veggie dish we had), walked her back to her office and got a glimpse of where she works before heading off to Ground Zero.
Ground Zero. To me, it's both a distant and heartbreaking experience. Distant in the fact that I didn't know too many people who worked in the buildings and I was on the other side of the country when it happened. Heartbreaking because I remembered the fear and sadness, the panic that happened when we couldn't find my best friend's older brother who was supposed to be in one of the buildings the day it happened (he was later found in Philadelphia. He cancelled his meeting to be elsewhere.), the grief and somber mood that persists when standing there. It gave me such a sad feeling. To see and know that thousands of people died here. That people gave so much of themselves to save those who survived. It was indescribable, how I felt. There was so much that I wanted to say and yet, there was nothing I could say. Like so many of those times when my father opened up enough to talk about his experiences in the Vietnam War. How do you express such feelings? I don't know if I could.
So I left the area, opting to walk back and contemplate......freezing my arse off the entire time in the pretty 40 degree weather and everyone pinpointing me as a tourist from warmer parts of the country. XD It took me a bit to walk back to the hotel but I got there, checked in, hopped into a hot shower and cranked up the heat to wait for thermidor's arrival.
So when thermidor arrived, we went off to dinner and to see GoF in Times Square. Had lots of fun and some alcohol. OMG. I fail at drinking when I haven't slept for more than 36 hours. That yummy cranberry margarita went STRAIGHT INTO MY HEAD. I was pink-cheeked and giggly like I had two shots of Remy. I was a silly, giggling thing.
So we saw GoF and LOVED it. Enjoyed it like a squeeing thing, calling tons of people in the West Coast. *coughs*happyhien*coughs* Then we came back to the hotel and CRASHED. Mmmmmmmm. Sleep.
Woke up fairly early (I was still on PST and thought it was damn early) but waited for dramaphile to come by. Once she arrived, we squeeeed for a bit. Then off to eat we went. We headed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, stopping to eat at Hale and Hearty (which we found to be a fantastic place for lunch. We had yummy soups and sandwiches there), gawked at many galleries, and headed off to meet up with se_spotwood and kerryblaze at Serendipity 3. Serendipity had the YUMMIEST frozen hot chocolate! And it was a BLAST meeting se_spotwood and kerryblaze!!! We talked forever and just laughed/giggled ourselves silly. Afterwards, we escorted se_spotwood to catch her train back to Long Island and picked up songs_mistress. We all headed back to our hotel, trying to find some alcohol on the way, and chilled in our room talking about GoF. Called up starrysummer to see if she wanted to swing by (which she did...and with Fandom Tequila too!) and got yeats and imochan to stop by our hotel to hang out! We all had a blast discussing things and giggled ourselves silly while thermidor read a short fic in her "Daughters of the Revolution" southern accent. Twas Brilliant! jateshi couldn't join up with us but we made plans for a quick meeting the next day.
So we all slept and woke up for another fun filled day of wandering around and shopping. Went to a fabulous crafts store full of beads and then another for trim and other fun stuff. Met up with jateshi and her friends for a brief moment. Was totally excited about that!!!! jateshi, our height difference took me by surpise because I've always pictured you to be about my height. XD And you were so cute in all Slytherin gear!!! :D
Hmm...I forget what else we did in NYC. Oh yes. We went to the hotel's bar for Happy Hour and had many, many drinks. Many yummy drinks. And shots with some nice guys from CT. Not my boys who were unable to make it out to see me. But we got incredibly tipsy and drunk called some people *coughs*foreword, longleggedgit, & songs_mistress*coughs*, drunk-chatted with some people, and generally had a blast.
Next morning, we packed up and checked out before heading to Little Italy and Chinatown. Ate at a great Italian restaurant and walked with Karyn through Chinatown so she could catch her bus back to Philadelphia. Had a bit of problem on the way but we got there! thermidor and I saw dramaphile off with a bit of teary eyes and we headed off to Rockafeller Center for some last minute sightseeing. After hitting up Dean & Deluca, we headed back towards the hotel. thermidor and I parted ways with more teary eyes, me to the hotel to catch a ride to JFK airport and her to do some more last minute, time-killing shopping.
The flight back was uneventful. Nice and quiet although I got hit on by some of the workers there. Damn my ghetto booty. :-P
Came back to come back to work like a mad fiend. Went to see The Lovemakers concert on Tuesday with no8ody and some friends. Saw Rock Kills Kid and She Wants Revenge at the Fillmore in San Francisco. It was pretty awesome. Bumped into vanae12 and missed seeing happyhien. She Wants Revenge reminds me a lot of Interpol in terms of just sound.
Hmm...worked the rest of the week. Thursday, I did a half day and saw a movie with my sibs before having a nice family dinner. It was yummy and the movie, Just Friends, was a cute bit of fluff. Friday, Black Friday, was CRAZY. Had a hectic day, drank a gazillion cups of Genmaicha tea, and went home exhausted, missing a fun evening with Kachang and the gang. Saturday, I spent at the mall. Bumping into an old friend, who works at the Apple Store, and seeing some other friends before heading home. Picked up two GREAT wines for the winetasting purelica and her bf had last night. Got a Catena 2001 Malbec (from Argentina) and a Spanish 1999 Rioja Reserve who's name escapes my memory. Made some yummy brownies with Cream Cheese filling and headed off to pick up happyhien and vanae12.
Arrived at teh cousin's house only to find out that Vanae knew half my cousins there already....well...at least Bao and no8ody. XD Had a blast trying wines not from California. Hien brought a yummy French one as did purelica's co-worker. It was a fantastic night and it was decided that we're going to do another one at my house on the Dec. 22 (before Laurent leaves and for ant_in_my_pants's birthday). Sooooooo. All of you come over on Dec. 22 for some food and wine. Or Dec. 24th for a Holiday Celebration! Because I'll be lonely in my home whilst everyone in the house will be gone.
tipgardner, You should definately try some of the wines. They were quite good. I'll see if I can get the names of the wines we tried and post them up.
But yes, yummy, yummy wines and great friends for some excellent company.
So there ends my tremendously long post about my hectic and busy week! I hope my postcards arrived safely to all of you. I'm off to work on my harry_holidays fic, brownies, and my X-Mas cards. If you still want one, email me at swtjemz [at] yahoo [dot] com. XD
Right. So here's the recap.
So I leave my home with sunny skies and nice temperatures of 75 degrees F to board a plane headed to the other side of the country. For those of you don't know, I live fairly close to San Francisco in a little city called San Jose. I was on the phone with the lovely myrafur until I boarded the plane and thus, exposed her to much squeeeing and excitement and wishful longing for her to join up with us in the crazy fun in NYC. Once on the plane, I was subjected to digital cable in front of my eyes and no one else in my row. I tried to sleep but failed miserably on that red-eye. Even sprawling out on all three seats did not help because I could not SLEEP!
Despite the non-sleeping, I arrived in NYC at the bright and early hour of 3am PST. Or otherwise known as 6am to all those who live on teh east coast. I made my way to my hotel, enduring the sight of many, many cars and lots of traffic jams that would do LA proud, spoke on the phone with tm_nicholas (who was disgustingly cheerful that morning...just to rub in the fact that he got sleep and I didn't. :-P ), checked in with thermidor about the hotel, made it there, got my luggage held, and off I went to explore my way towards to starrysummer's area for lunch.
So I wandered. Got lost. Wandered some more. Took some pictures. Finally found starrysummer after many, many phone calls. So I've wandered through the Garment District, Chelsea, West Village, NoHo, SoHo and then to Tribeca. Had lunch at a pricey Vietnamese restaurant (so expensive! Come here to San Jose and I'll show you some fantastic Viet food for half the price of the Buon Thit Nuong and the Veggie dish we had), walked her back to her office and got a glimpse of where she works before heading off to Ground Zero.
Ground Zero. To me, it's both a distant and heartbreaking experience. Distant in the fact that I didn't know too many people who worked in the buildings and I was on the other side of the country when it happened. Heartbreaking because I remembered the fear and sadness, the panic that happened when we couldn't find my best friend's older brother who was supposed to be in one of the buildings the day it happened (he was later found in Philadelphia. He cancelled his meeting to be elsewhere.), the grief and somber mood that persists when standing there. It gave me such a sad feeling. To see and know that thousands of people died here. That people gave so much of themselves to save those who survived. It was indescribable, how I felt. There was so much that I wanted to say and yet, there was nothing I could say. Like so many of those times when my father opened up enough to talk about his experiences in the Vietnam War. How do you express such feelings? I don't know if I could.
So I left the area, opting to walk back and contemplate......freezing my arse off the entire time in the pretty 40 degree weather and everyone pinpointing me as a tourist from warmer parts of the country. XD It took me a bit to walk back to the hotel but I got there, checked in, hopped into a hot shower and cranked up the heat to wait for thermidor's arrival.
So when thermidor arrived, we went off to dinner and to see GoF in Times Square. Had lots of fun and some alcohol. OMG. I fail at drinking when I haven't slept for more than 36 hours. That yummy cranberry margarita went STRAIGHT INTO MY HEAD. I was pink-cheeked and giggly like I had two shots of Remy. I was a silly, giggling thing.
So we saw GoF and LOVED it. Enjoyed it like a squeeing thing, calling tons of people in the West Coast. *coughs*happyhien*coughs* Then we came back to the hotel and CRASHED. Mmmmmmmm. Sleep.
Woke up fairly early (I was still on PST and thought it was damn early) but waited for dramaphile to come by. Once she arrived, we squeeeed for a bit. Then off to eat we went. We headed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, stopping to eat at Hale and Hearty (which we found to be a fantastic place for lunch. We had yummy soups and sandwiches there), gawked at many galleries, and headed off to meet up with se_spotwood and kerryblaze at Serendipity 3. Serendipity had the YUMMIEST frozen hot chocolate! And it was a BLAST meeting se_spotwood and kerryblaze!!! We talked forever and just laughed/giggled ourselves silly. Afterwards, we escorted se_spotwood to catch her train back to Long Island and picked up songs_mistress. We all headed back to our hotel, trying to find some alcohol on the way, and chilled in our room talking about GoF. Called up starrysummer to see if she wanted to swing by (which she did...and with Fandom Tequila too!) and got yeats and imochan to stop by our hotel to hang out! We all had a blast discussing things and giggled ourselves silly while thermidor read a short fic in her "Daughters of the Revolution" southern accent. Twas Brilliant! jateshi couldn't join up with us but we made plans for a quick meeting the next day.
So we all slept and woke up for another fun filled day of wandering around and shopping. Went to a fabulous crafts store full of beads and then another for trim and other fun stuff. Met up with jateshi and her friends for a brief moment. Was totally excited about that!!!! jateshi, our height difference took me by surpise because I've always pictured you to be about my height. XD And you were so cute in all Slytherin gear!!! :D
Hmm...I forget what else we did in NYC. Oh yes. We went to the hotel's bar for Happy Hour and had many, many drinks. Many yummy drinks. And shots with some nice guys from CT. Not my boys who were unable to make it out to see me. But we got incredibly tipsy and drunk called some people *coughs*foreword, longleggedgit, & songs_mistress*coughs*, drunk-chatted with some people, and generally had a blast.
Next morning, we packed up and checked out before heading to Little Italy and Chinatown. Ate at a great Italian restaurant and walked with Karyn through Chinatown so she could catch her bus back to Philadelphia. Had a bit of problem on the way but we got there! thermidor and I saw dramaphile off with a bit of teary eyes and we headed off to Rockafeller Center for some last minute sightseeing. After hitting up Dean & Deluca, we headed back towards the hotel. thermidor and I parted ways with more teary eyes, me to the hotel to catch a ride to JFK airport and her to do some more last minute, time-killing shopping.
The flight back was uneventful. Nice and quiet although I got hit on by some of the workers there. Damn my ghetto booty. :-P
Came back to come back to work like a mad fiend. Went to see The Lovemakers concert on Tuesday with no8ody and some friends. Saw Rock Kills Kid and She Wants Revenge at the Fillmore in San Francisco. It was pretty awesome. Bumped into vanae12 and missed seeing happyhien. She Wants Revenge reminds me a lot of Interpol in terms of just sound.
Hmm...worked the rest of the week. Thursday, I did a half day and saw a movie with my sibs before having a nice family dinner. It was yummy and the movie, Just Friends, was a cute bit of fluff. Friday, Black Friday, was CRAZY. Had a hectic day, drank a gazillion cups of Genmaicha tea, and went home exhausted, missing a fun evening with Kachang and the gang. Saturday, I spent at the mall. Bumping into an old friend, who works at the Apple Store, and seeing some other friends before heading home. Picked up two GREAT wines for the winetasting purelica and her bf had last night. Got a Catena 2001 Malbec (from Argentina) and a Spanish 1999 Rioja Reserve who's name escapes my memory. Made some yummy brownies with Cream Cheese filling and headed off to pick up happyhien and vanae12.
Arrived at teh cousin's house only to find out that Vanae knew half my cousins there already....well...at least Bao and no8ody. XD Had a blast trying wines not from California. Hien brought a yummy French one as did purelica's co-worker. It was a fantastic night and it was decided that we're going to do another one at my house on the Dec. 22 (before Laurent leaves and for ant_in_my_pants's birthday). Sooooooo. All of you come over on Dec. 22 for some food and wine. Or Dec. 24th for a Holiday Celebration! Because I'll be lonely in my home whilst everyone in the house will be gone.
tipgardner, You should definately try some of the wines. They were quite good. I'll see if I can get the names of the wines we tried and post them up.
But yes, yummy, yummy wines and great friends for some excellent company.
So there ends my tremendously long post about my hectic and busy week! I hope my postcards arrived safely to all of you. I'm off to work on my harry_holidays fic, brownies, and my X-Mas cards. If you still want one, email me at swtjemz [at] yahoo [dot] com. XD