But to start, ow. Ow, I think I broke myself. I feel like I've pulled every single muscle in my body in the last four days. Seriously, the muscles in my arms and hands are so tight that I'm having a little bit of a problem with typing. Plans for tonight definitely include collapsing in the bathtub for a long hot soak. Eeesh.

( Wednesday with Shaun & Jenny, Thanksgiving at home.Collapse )

Friday, I embarked for NYC. I took the Chinatown bus up, which was confusingly un-marked but otherwise non-skeevy. I have never heard so many languages at once. I settled down and laughed at some Laurell K. Hamilton pr0n. Arrived in NYC ahead of schedule, where I was met by texmorgan. We did some chilling, watching Top Secret (which I found surprisingly funny), before he left for work, and I did some hip drills and watched Amadeus. We had midnight dinner at 7A-- yummy lemony garlicky tomatoey cheesy pasta goodness.

Saturday was sleeping in, then brunch at B Bar with Tex and his friend Alex. I liked the décor-- greenhouse meets urban meets Asian. I had yummy nut and berry pancakes, then we went to Babeland to peruse the wares. I got one of the special candles in a mango vanilla, plus a few other odds and ends. The cone? It mystifies me. Anyway. We went back home to chill, trade backrubs, and watch State and Main before heading to Ninja.

Let me say this about Ninja: it was total culinary debauchery. A long, decadent food orgasm. Here's what we had: ( Food porn under the cut.Collapse ) Aside from the amazing food, the presentation was very friendly and fun. We had ninjas jumping out at us ("Why aren't you scared?" one ninja asked. "You've never met my mother," I replied). We had ninjas attacking with swords to take away our plates. All of the menus were on scrolls. The private table-for-two was enclosed and hidden away, with a faux rock-wall dripping in greenery. We even had a table-side magician. It was an incredibly special meal, and my thanks to Tex for taking me. After dinner, we took a walk around City Hall and up over the Brooklyn Bridge. I oohed and aahed at the lights, and Tex turned into a giant Texcicle. We then went to Otto's Shrunken Head, a rockabilly tiki bar where the women were dressed and coiffed within an inch of their pinup-loving lives. There was a band playing that had great instrumentals (I love punk rockabilly double bass), but disappointing vocals. Boo to that, but everything else was very cool.

Sunday, we got up for bagels, then headed to the batting cages at Chelsea Piers with Tex's friend, Mike. I was a little worried that I'd lost my batting-fu in years of non-playing, but I seem to have done quite nicely for myself. Little-known secret? I used to be a jock. Six years of all-state ball. Shh, don't tell. Anyway, I broke an aluminum bat, which I don't think is supposed to happen. But overall, I was pleased that I didn't embarrass myself. We then went to Lush, where I picked up some Ocean Salt and a Holiday bubble bar, 'cause I'm a glitter fanatic and red glitter was just too cool to pass up. Though with few exceptions (Jingle Spells!), I've forsworn Lush bombs for Fantasy Bath ones, some of the newer bombs were really neat, and I want to try the Silver Clouds and Geo Phyzz... is Bling Crosby any good? Anywho, then it was off to Mud Coffeehouse for a snack before winding things down. I got to meet Tex's cool roommates, then he escorted me to my bus. Overall, it was an awesome, awesome weekend, and I'm excited that I'll be back in NYC in just a mere two weeks.

I came home to a fun package from pallid_regina from my Wishlist swap-- awesome yarn hairfalls to wear to my performance next weekend, armwarmers, and a wonderful letter. I see the start of a beautiful pen pal relationship.

But oh, this morning, I am feeling every muscle in my body. I think it was the batting cage that did me in. I also had cracktastic dreams involving me singing Pamina in The Magic Flute, only every time I tried to sing, my mouth was filled with cookie dough. Uhh. Also, for some reason, Jared Padalecki was playing Tamino, and he was very irritated at my inability to do my lines. Brain, WTF?

I also pre-ordered Asharah's Instructional DVD, and if you bellydance, you're probably going to want to do that, too. Dooo eeeet!

I think that's everything that's fit to print... note to self, watch the Ten Inch Hero preview and download BSG: Razor.