Friday: Jason wasn't feeling well, so instead of shopping and movies, we stayed in with rentals. Perhaps due to a conversation I'd had with a friend earlier in the day re: women, their bodies, and objectification, our choices of movies were less than great. Superbad had some laughs, but mostly, I was disgusted with the juvenile (read: totally misogynistic) humor. In the end, I was glad they made the point in several ways that getting someone drunk to sleep with her is a really bad idea (mostly 'cause I repeatedly yelled at the tv, "that's rape, you asshole!"), but overall, I just didn't understand the hype. Shoot 'Em Up was even worse than that, and we ended up turning it off about 30 mins in. Clive Owen + Monica Bellucci. And we turned it off. Yes, it was that bad.

Saturday: Got up early and took the bus to NYC. The 4-hour trip ended up taking almost 5. I napped a lot. I even napped when I got to Tex's-- have I mentioned that these meds are kicking my ass? But we got up and readied ourselves for dinner at STK in the Meatpacking District. Oh gods. Let me tell you about this dinner. First of all, the place was swank as hell. Appetizer: picture a bed of sea salt dribbled with lime. On it are four seashells. In the seashells-- cilantro, scallops, fresh lychee. It was tingling good. For dinner, I had the filet medallion with blue butter sauce, served with asparagus dressed in lemon butter. Tex got the filet with hollandaise, garlic, and truffle sauce. Both sauces were unbelievably tasty and complimented the light salting of the steak perfectly. Dessert was a molten chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream presented like a work of art. It was... oh man. Just amazing. After that, we went to the LJ meetup, and I met bunches of new people, and got to see Carly and Karyn as well. Still, I couldn't drink, so I was again the loser nursing water at the bar. We ended back at Tex's, and I passed out pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Sunday: We slept in late. Late. When we finally got up at around 1pm, Tex made us breakfast, we showered, and then we headed to Forbidden Planet near Union Square. I picked up volumes 4 &5 of Y: The Last Man to keep me company on the bus back. Volume 4.... man, there were some things I was not expecting. Still haven't finished volume 5, as I got sidetracked talking to Matthew, the salsa-dancing JHU med student with the pretty eyelashes. Spent some time with my mother when I got in, then headed home to relax, call Jason, and pass out.

Tonight: Dinner with my bro, cleaning up my room, catching up with BSG.

-- I've more or less cleared my schedule for this weekend. I'd said "maybe" to a half-dozen things, but overall, I need to rest and recharge. I got so busy I dropped the ball on personal commitments a couple of times, and that's simply not acceptable. So I'm staying in this weekend, working on the commissions that are due this week, snuggling up with J, taking a long bath, doing laundry, and otherwise taking it easy. On the plus side, the dropped balls have been amended.

-- I'm going to be in NYC next weekend! Yay for Tex and Carly time. I've missed them bunches.

-- Had some cuddle time with J last night. We laugh a lot. This is good. Case in point, in the car this morning, we were talking about going to see a movie, and Iron Man came up:

Me: Despite the fact that I'm deeply ambivalent to Robert Downey Jr., I've heard good things, so I'd see it.
J: 'Deeply ambivalent?' Do you ever get the feeling like we're on Dawson's Creek whenever we have conversations?
Me: That's fine as long as I'm not Joey. I hated Joey.
J: Agreed.

-- I just discovered a lovely little entry Peitho had written about us that I'd missed.

-- I got Maduro's new disc, Siege, in the mail, and it is electronic goodness.

-- I'm mulling over this paycheck's little splurge: what do I want more, a hot pink rosehips skirt for dance practice, or some more soap from The Soap Box Co.? I'm down to my last Villainess bar. Shock! Horror!

-- Things are kind of awesome right now.

Work is very busy today, but I had to interject to say one thing:

I have a 6'5" man in a kilt in my bed right this very moment.

Carry on.

Returned from spending time in Fell's Point with leecon to find two really big jewelry orders. Squealed in glee. Promptly ordered two jewelry storage racks. I'll be packing up orders shortly.

But right now? Funny episode of Buffy. We just finished watching Lady Vengeance, and texmorgan has been notified that he is never again allowed to pick the movie. He is vastly apologetic and accepted my ensuing physical assault good-naturedly.

Will respond to all the comic book comments in the AM.

PS-- Tex is pregnant with my child. You heard it here first.

Virgo:: "The moon asked me to meet her in a field tonight," wrote mystic poet Hafiz (translated by Daniel Ladinsky). "I think she has amorous ideas." You might soon feel a similar suspicion, Virgo. According to my reading of the astrological omens, seductive offers will be coming your way, and not just from the moon. Secret suitors may emerge from the shadows. Temptations could lure you toward the far ends of your imagination. The sheer profusion of invitations you'll receive might make you giddily agitated.

Oh, Uncle Rob. Why must you always be right? Of course, this time, it's falling rather decidedly in my favor. I have in fact received some very tempting invitations of late, and I'm kind of sitting back to take some of them in before I make any definite replies. I'm certainly enjoying my embarrassment of riches, though. I enjoy temptation. I plan on having my fill in the coming weeks.

I also got some excellent news in that my favorite manpillow is coming to visit the weekend of the 15th. This also makes me giddily agitated. :)

I got a good night's sleep last night and feel rather rested this morning. The oddest thing is that I've been waking up every morning at exactly 7:52 on the dot. How odd is that? Such a random time for my body to decide to wake up. Maybe I should play the lottery.

Last night was a good dinner with Flissy. We ended up at Salsarita's, where the margaritas are shockingly stiff. It was a margarita kind of day, you know? We decided to resume formal troupe practice in two weeks, and start off with slow, juicy taxim moves to reconnect. Looking forward to it. From then I finished odds and ends jewelry-wise, including replacing the 30-odd jumprings in a necklace with split ones for extra strength. "Silk Road" is being renamed "Travelogue: San Francisco" in honor of the antique copper I picked up on that trip. I'm having a little bit of angst about that necklace. I can't decide whether to keep it or sell it. On one hand: it is very memory-laden and personal. On the other: there are related memories of a certain person that I'd rather rid myself of, and I don't want any reminders of him in my space or on my person. So I'm see-sawing a bit. I think what I've decided to do is to put it up for sale, and if it doesn't sell before the item expires on Etsy, I'll keep it. That gives it a good solid few months to find its home with its right person, and if it doesn't, I'll take it as a sign. I also started work on a labradorite and sterling necklace called "Rainy Day," and it's very dainty and pretty. Tonight I have one more alteration to make on an existing piece, then I'll finish it up.

BPAL wrist-to-nose: Yesterday I wore Anactoria from the Lupercalia update. The description is this: The scent of the throes of violent passion: entangled limbs, teeth on flesh, furiously grasping hands, the taste of blood and sweat. Golden amber, white honey, red currant, daemonorops, kush, and Arabian musk. Sexy, right? And I think it's probably a chemistry thing, since almost everyone on the forum got musky amber, but this went straight to vetiver (kush) on me, which was a bit too cologney for my tastes. When it dried down, I got some sexy amber and skin musk, but I have other scents that get to that stage much quicker, rendering this a little bit redundant. That said? I think this would smell excellent on a man. I think it's going up for sale/swap. Not a bad scent at all, just not me. Which is a shame, considering that description. Alas, there's no shortage of sexy in the BPAL catalogue.

Today, I'm going to attempt to catch up on emails I missed while I was sick. I know I owe one to secretshores... if you emailed me and I spaced, remind me, please?

So last night, I dozed off and woke up to a message from tamnonlinear, who was at the Tribal Night show at the Palace of Wonders. It was a bunch of people shouting get well soon stuff. The only voice I recognized distinctly was James the LJ-less (at least I think I heard him), so I don't know exactly who was in the crowd, but thanks, it meant a lot.

Dixie made breakfast of amazing awesomeness this morning. Veggie turkey bacon and eggs, plus this fantastic yogurt coffee-cake. She said she likes the idea of having a daughters, just as long as she doesn't have to pay for college or their medical upkeep. :)

Okay, good things... I never did talk about NYC. Hmm, well, for starters, when I got there, Tex presented me with the NFT 2008-- a complete, detailed, not-for-tourists guide to New York broken down by neighborhood with everything you could possibly need to know on-hand. We went to brunch with his sister Leah, who is very cool and sweet, then we walked around Chinatown and SoHo. We saw an art installation and sipped some couture cocoa at Vosges. We went back to Tex's apartment in the East Village and chilled out with some Thai food before watching a movie with the awesome Miss Carly and some of her friends. Before we headed out to Ace Bar, which was basically Chuck-E-Cheese for adults (margaritas + skeeball = score!); I pwned Tex in skee-ball, and Tex pwned me with his real V-Day gift. A shiny new black iPod tricked out with all of his favorite albums. Sarah exclaimed, "oh my god, it's like getting a mix tape from James Bond!" And you know, it kinda is. So I have joined the mp3 age and now must go on an iTunes spree.

Ace Bar was very very crowded; I'll have to go back on some other night. We ended up at 2B with Carly and another of Tex's friends (Dave?). 2B had a much better atmosphere-- two floors, chic, comfortable-- good music, but nothing you can't talk over. Great martinis. After pizza, we got back to Tex's sometime around 3:30. The next day we were lazy and slept in, then got bagels and did some cuddling before I headed back to the bus. Tex and I cuddle exceptionally well. We're like the yin and yang of body temperatures. And also covers. This is why he is my favorite manpillow.

Overall, I'm kind of easing into getting to know NYC. I know that I can be a little slow to make major life decisions, but I'm sort of trying the city on for size, seeing if I could live there. And I think I could. But I want to make sure I'd be moving for the right reasons and all of that, so I don't want to rush to a decision. But the city is exciting and vibrant and a place I definitely want to spend more time.

Ohhhkay. Have been parked on the couch with Ariel watching old-school Angel this morning. I'm not really planning on moving. I swear, this sofa has qualities of amazing regeneration and comfy-ness.

In honor of my uterus having read me the riot act, I present to you:

Texmorgan: I like to think of a period as a traveling salesman of cockblocking. It makes sense though. When women get together, all their periods sync up because the salesman wants to loop them all into the sale. The period is a lazy and cranky salesman. Sometimes he like the house a lot and stays a little longer, other times he doesn't like it so much and just wrecks everything then leaves quickly. And, of course, birth control is like a security system; it lets you see on the security camera screen when he's coming so you can plan to have the house all tidy and decide when you want to let him in or not.

( Yes, there's more.Collapse )

AND GUYS, HE MADE ME OLD BAY COOKIES.

In related news: Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Uh, to the whole uterus thing, not the cookies. Which were... interesting. Kinda like weird ginger.
In non-related news: Lost blew my mind last night, yo. Plus, 8 hours of sleep for the win!

Took off from work early on Friday to meet texmorgan at the Inner Harbor. We got caught up over coffee, then wandered about for a bit before meeting Julian for dinner at Edo Sushi. The Harbor Roll is pretty good there-- tempura shrimp, pine nuts, spicy crabmeat. Good stuff. We then proceeded back to my place, where the three of us watched Resident Evil: Apocalypse, talked bellydance, oohed over shinies, and I gave Julian his late gift of ninja socks. Plus, there was good ice cream-- I highly recommend Häagen-Dazs's Aztec Chocolate... yummy cinnamon chocolate goodness. After Julian left, Tex and I watched more zombies and got in some cuddling. In fact, I managed to see all three Resident Evil films this weekend, and I have a few notes on the third installment, Extinction: ( Spoilers.Collapse )

Saturday, I got up for class, and ( ...dance notes.Collapse )

Met up with Nora after class to size her ear cuffs and extend her belt with carnelians. Chilled out more with Tex after that. I'd told people to show up for dinner around 6, and I intended to take a shower around 5, but Tex pulled me back down and we fell asleep on the couch, him sitting up, and me curled up on his lap. This is how Sarah found us when she knocked on the door at 6... I had big sleep lines on my face from his jacket, and his hair was sticking straight up. I managed to shower and put on some pesto pasta, with a side salad of romaine, walnuts, tomatoes, and cranberry walnut vinaigrette. Chris saved the day by picking up ingredients for cookies, and Agnes/aggiebell defied the integrity of my brie and ate it on panne. We watched Hairspray and Tex made cookies of ultimate ultimateness, of which there is now one left out of approximately three dozen.

Slept in like lazy people on Sunday, after going to bed nearing 4am. I made hippie breakfast, and Tex wrote his Rabbit Hole Day post about me turning into a zombie. We met up with Ariel and trekked down to Tribal Cafe, where we met up with Abby/tamnonlinear, Ruthanne/leimon_malakoi, and Greg/gsh to see Kallisti Tribal, Asharah, and Belladonna perform. Abby told a very funny anecdote about horseshoe crabs that totally broke Greg. But there was good dancing and ubiquitous shiny, and that was good.

Overall, I got a good amount of Tex time and friend time, with a bonus of a big heated male body pillow to warm my bed at night. Win!

I did get some sad news this morning. Chad Kardell, a college acquaintance and choir-mate, passed away last Thursday.

Now, to get through my day. I am very sleepy and wishing I were still in bed snuggling my manpillow.

Mmm, Friday morning donut and coffee sugar high. AND! I am only working a half day today, as then I am going to meet Tex in the Harbor for shenanigans, before meeting Julian for dinner. And fuck, I forgot Julian's present. Dammit.

Tomorrow after dance class, we're going to hang with Sarah a bit, then dinner with Agnes. Sunday is Tribal Cafe with Ariel, and hopefully I'll get to see other people I lurve... Abby? Greg? Maybe Shaun and Jenny. Plus, the bill is Kallisti Tribal, Asharah, and Belladonna. It doesn't get much better than that.

After Ariel and I did movies and dessert last night, I settled in to finish a commission. A routine cuff took me an hour and a half longer than planned. It was a little modified, and I just couldn't get it to lay right. I finally did, but after that point, I was too tired to work on anything else. After my last sale, I broke even on my shop, so I treated myself to the Joan of Arc quote bracelet I'd been quietly lusting after. And I enjoyed the new Bravo supermodel show... mostly 'cause I want Ronnie to be my gay boyfriend, and boy is Ben gonna be in some hot water with his wife. Gotta say, Ronnie/Ben is kinda hot. And man, I'm really liking Perry, even if I'm not attracted to him. Overall, though, the girls are really underwhelming me. But last night's episode was all fetishy, and that made me really happy. This show pwns Top Model.

Okay, off to put all the weekend reporting together before I gotta run! Ciao!