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But you can cook your own food!

We went to dinner the other night with some good friends and they were really excited to take us to a place down in Chinatown. It's really good, they told us. I didn't doubt them.

Then we got there. Hey, it's a place where you cook your own food! Just like Lost in Translation!

Here's the thing, if I wanted to cook my own food I would not be at a restaurant in Chinatown. Still, despite the fact that the food was a bit bland and parboiled (you boil your own food!) the smoothies were good. A little rum would have made them better.

The lesson here is that if your beloved friends wish to take you to a hot pot place (Shabu Shabu) and you go along, order an extra smoothie and see if they can't throw a little rum into it.

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By: Alyssa | Sunday, May 30, 2004 at Sunday, May 30, 2004 | |  

Smooth criminal

I'm trying very hard to not write daily about the horrors of apartment hunting. That might be as bad as the rash of "weather" blogging I perpetrated late in 2002.

Anyway, the hunt continues and what I've determined is that in the eyes of landlords (I've met so far) and airport security I am a criminal and a deviant until I prove otherwise. (To be fair, I suspect we are all deviants and criminals until we prove otherwise in the eyes of certain groups - see above.)

For the record, we are not deviants or criminals. In fact, exactly 100% of us have been cleared by the US Government to such a degree that one of us has security clearance. So I talked to this kind of hostile woman who is very protective of her building. Look - it's the landlord's right. I absolutely understand and am empathetic to such a position.

Our conversation, in which I responded to her had was hostile (on her side) and continued to be hostile when I went to the place to look at it. I thought things might be easier if we dealt directly with the landlord. I have been upfront and specific in my requirements and in our "limitations" - in that we don't want to move in before August and that we have a cat. I have not hidden this information. It's the first thing I tell everyone.

I have no idea why people think they can change that reality. I'm not dumping the cat and barring some extraordinary circumstances I can't move before August.

I have never been so strongly tempted to pull a Hail Mary and try to buy a place on the fly. I know it's such a bad idea, but then I'd never have to look for a rental again.

Deeps and I have started splitting up the viewings because it's so brutal that to subject us both is unfair. One of us goes the other stays behind to provide moral support upon return.

I haven’t felt this persecuted and paranoid since…. probably when I was a teenager and listened to too much Morrisey.

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By: Alyssa | Friday, May 28, 2004 at Friday, May 28, 2004 | |  

What I'm reading

It's the time of year - well, the calendar says it is - for summer reading. You wouldn't know it around here with the torrential downpours and the cold temperatures. Deeps keeps threatening to turn the heat back on.

Anyway - it's a good time to start thinking about summer reading. I just finished two back issues of the Atlantic Monthly. I even read the really long article about the New York Times and what happened with Jayson Blair (a very fascinating, if not surprising read). Now I've moved back to the realm of books. Or at least I'm trying to.

Usually by this time of the year I've got a nice long list of reading ahead of me. I'm not sure how it happened but my list has not manifested. I just started The Devil in White City which is in keeping with my history of reading the really hot thing everyone read (last year) much later....

But what comes next? Scott Von D has a few suggestions, although since I broke up with the Sopranos about 3 seasons ago I can't say I'm intrigued by all of them.

But Raymond Chandler - that's something I can get behind. I spent a few summers back reading the works of Dashiell Hammett and really enjoyed myself. I love the hard boiled detective. Which I think is why I was so fond of Frederick Brown's pulpy crime novels from last summer.

Maybe I have a summer reading list after all.

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By: Alyssa | Thursday, May 27, 2004 at Thursday, May 27, 2004 | |  

Tiny, Dirty apartments

So we've finally broken down and admitted to ourselves that we should look at apartments. I've updated the checklist (I'll be posting a new link to a revised PDF soon) and we made a flyer (Professional couple seeks good home!). We've been pouring over Craigslist and Boston.com to find something, anything.

The problem with Boston is that it's primarily a broker town. So you pay some person a month's worth of rent for a fee so that they'll find you an apartment. When we first moved here we had 3 days to find a place, so the fee thing made sense (grudgingly) for us. But now that we have 2 months to find a place, I'm less inclined to pay a fee. In fact, after last night I'm less inclined to even talk to a broker.

So Deeps talked to a guy and made an appointment to see like 4 or 5 places. Deeps outlined our requirements - parking, access to transportation, we have a cat, we need 2 bedrooms, modern kitchen, dishwasher. The guy said to give him a couple of days and he'd come up with a list. I hauled out of work to meet the guy (and Deeps) in Central square.

We arrived a few minutes early which seemed to freak the guy out.

We sat down and chatted for a few minutes. Did we care if there was carpet? We didn't care - as long as a cat was okay. The guy made a face.
Did you tell me you have a cat?
Yes, it's the first thing I tell everyone.
That's too bad, because I have 4 great apartments but they don't allow cats. That's what I was going to show you tonight.

I start plotting how I might take my revenge on the broker guy, then I give a look to Deeps. I'm revisiting my grief at having to move - now because I remember what it's like to deal with morons.

We eventually saw a tiny, dirty apartment that had 2 bedrooms and a modern kitchen. The bedrooms were so small that I stood with my arms expanded and the walls were just out of reach on either side of my wingspan. Did I mention I'm 5'3"?

The kitchen was modern if you think of avocado and burnt sienna (cracked and broken) floor tiles as modern. The dishwasher may have been the first model ever sold in the US.

So, what do you think?
Our bed won't fit.
Oh.

Before we went into the apartment the broker people had accidentally broken into another tenants apartment thinking it was the apartment that was being shown. I think it was a legitimate error. But I left the building when it happened. I can't have the B&E on my permanent record. They also showed us the apartment with another person, a potential renter. I'm not sure why - it was weird. I think she hated it too.

We may need to get more creative. Or diligent.

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By: Alyssa | Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at Wednesday, May 26, 2004 | |  

Sweeps

I missed a lot of the big Sweeps events this month. I think everything ended early. Except Arrested Development which won't end until June. And I don't think Alias has either. ABC must hate Jennifer Garner or her fans or both.

But for all the big deals made about finales, they were a little "meh" as we say around the manse. I finally caught the Friends finale (I mean how could you not given the propensity for reruns) and the Frasier finale. Friends was predictable. I think Frasier was a little funny. But the most satisfying series finale I saw this year was Angel.

The show ended the rocky 5 year run. I watched pretty regularly - through the good and the bad. And despite what some might say, I don't think there was a whole lot of bad. It was a pretty consistent show. And the finale was pretty spectacular. Everything came together in a way that made sense, was satisfying and despite the downbeat tone of the series - it was ultimately uplifting. Plus they didn't forget to bring the funny (I'm talking to you Friends) to bring levity to some pretty dark circumstances (end of the world and all).

Good, satisfying, and over all too soon - can you say that about Friends or even Frasier?

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By: Alyssa | Friday, May 21, 2004 at Friday, May 21, 2004 | |  

Two things
I'm swamped with work and moving stuff, but I thought these two things were kind of interesting.

First - Jon Stewart's commencement address at William and Mary this year. It's a good read. Sure you might have heard some of it before, but it's still good.

Second - this is the sign of a person who is clearly not keeping an eye on the ball (so to speak). Or worse, letting the other aspects of his job suffer while he obsesses over one facet of it. I've seen it happen at many offices. Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. Look - two cliches in one paragraph!

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By: Alyssa | Wednesday, May 19, 2004 at Wednesday, May 19, 2004 | |  

Happy Anniversary - Part II

I heard the bells ringing out all morning. It was a lot of activity for a Monday. The bells were from the Arlington St. Church where couples got married after filing for a waiver on the three day waiting period. News reports say about 1000 people filed for their marriage licenses.

Good for them.

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By: Alyssa | Tuesday, May 18, 2004 at Tuesday, May 18, 2004 | |  

Happy Anniversary

tomorrow is my father and step-mother's anniversary. They've been married for about 15 years. They've had their ups and downs (especially with 4 teenage girls in the house at once). So this is an exciting milestone for them. We're all pleased to share it with them.

And tomorrow is the day that same-sex couples get their marriage licenses in Massachusetts. And of course, my newly adopted hometown is the first to start issuing licenses in a few hours. We have Longfellow's House, Harvard Yard, MIT and the Charles River. People have fought and died here for freedom. It's been a place where people come to study, learn and teach for nearly 4 centuries. So to me, it makes sense that it starts in Cambridge.

Happy Anniversary

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By: Alyssa | Sunday, May 16, 2004 at Sunday, May 16, 2004 | |  

Of course werewolves can kill vampires

So my friend dropped me a line saying he thought he'd like to see Van Helsing and asked if Deeps and I were interested. Sure, it would be crap he wrote (and I agreed) but it's fun, summer movie stuff and it might be a good time.

Deeps did not agree. He opted to watch The Sopranos On Demand instead. So I went out with my friend to the movies. On what we like to call "the date."

The date involved him picking me up in front of my house, my husband yelling out the door, "Be careful and take your cell phone!" He waved goodbye. I hopped into the awaiting car.

"Where's Deeps?"
"He decided that he wasn't in the mood for crappy vampire movies," I replied.
"So this is like a hot date then?"
"I guess so," I answered.

And off we went on our hot date. First, it was cold. And kind of rainy. And we were a little late. And Van Helsing isn't really a date movie. It's long and kind boring. It's dumb and loud, which I'm really willing to forgive. But mostly it's boring. I thought about leaving but I didn't drive. And my friend is also a regular poker companion and he never folds - even if it's a bad hand. So I figured that he wouldn't be willing to leave a movie early.

I did enjoy all the fine use of hair care products for the main characters. Plus Kate Beckinsale's miraculous purple lipstick was so shiny and purple, I really liked watching it remain perfect from scene to scene. It was comforting. Like jello salad.

Later my friend remarked that he didn't know a werewolf could kill a vampire.
"Oh I knew that -" I responded flippantly.
"How?"
"I learned it at the movies."

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By: Alyssa | Friday, May 14, 2004 at Friday, May 14, 2004 | |  

The Saddest Music In the World

It started innocently enough. Deeps sent me an email asking if I wanted to join him at a movie. He included a link with a brief description. The movie - The Saddest Music in the World.

I agreed.

There were problems with the plan. The film is showing at Kendall Square which has a nice, if charmless, movie theater. But if you're looking for quick food (less than an hour) in the immediate vicinity then you're out of luck. A lot of restaurants close early around there because they cater to the giant office park. What is open isn't that great. In my opinion the Kendall doesn't become a destination so much as a pit stop to where you're really going after you see a movie.

The biggest problem was the movie. Whoa. I walked in and spotted a giant movie poster while munching on a pretzel (that would ultimately become my "dinner"). I was starving and chomping and looking at this giant poster with Isabella Rossellini.

ME: So this is a Guy Maddin film?
Deeps: Yes.
ME: This could be a problem.
Deeps: I have warned you about his movies.
ME: I'm not sure if it's worth skipping dinner for this.
We headed inside.

It wasn't worth skipping dinner for. But spending an evening with my husband is - still, I think I'd rather have spent the evening watching that Survivor special with him instead.

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By: Alyssa | at Friday, May 14, 2004 | |  

We're moving
Our landlords are selling our house and I'm having a very hard time dealing with that fact because I hate moving above all over things: root canals, stinky feet and push ups.

But I guess I'm going to have to suck it up. Strangers will traipse through our house for the next few weeks and we'll have to keep the apartment extremely clean. We will start to slowly dismantle our life in this apartment. It's just an apartment, I know but we really moved into this place. I as annoyed before, now I'm a little sad.

We've had lots of good times. We are good tenants. Future landlords, you will be lucky to have us - we bring our own snow shovels and our cat catches mice.

Someday we will be grown up enough to buy a house. Someday.

For now I have my fantatsic apartment rental checklist - man, I made a good checklist. This thing holds up well.

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By: Alyssa | Tuesday, May 11, 2004 at Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | |  

Jersey
So we went to Jersey for the weekend to visit the in-laws. It was quite a weekend. I'll sum it up briefly: I ate good Indian food and was awakened at night, in my jammies so that I could stand in a dark room with a bright light shining on my face and talk to someone in Mumbai via video chat.

Mostly I stood there with my hand in front of my eyes saying "What?". And I couldn't see because I didn't have my glasses.

Oh India - you must love me now.

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By: Alyssa | Monday, May 10, 2004 at Monday, May 10, 2004 | |  

Since you mentioned it....

Look - I need to make a few apologies. I mean, everyone else is doing it so I thought it was best if I took a few steps to clear the air.

I'd like to apologize to the Best Buy guy that I yelled at for being a moron. You're a moron but you don't deserve to be yelled at and forced to wear a sign that says "I'm a moron" as I suggested.

Sorry to my husband for what the cat did on the rug yesterday. It happens but it's still unpleasant. I think the cat is sorry too.

Please accept my apologies, beloved family, for telling you that you're all crazy in new and alarming ways. It's still true - but you should really get news like that from a professional.

Finally, I'd like to apologize to my friend for laughing at her kid's name. I think little Gethsemene is going to grow up to be a well-adjusted man. Really.

Ahh.... much better.

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By: Alyssa | Friday, May 07, 2004 at Friday, May 07, 2004 | |  

Just call me... a-choo!

I don't really remember having an allergy problem as a kid. But then again, I've tried really hard to block out childhood.

I don't think I have a really big problem now - but for about two weeks every Spring I become the unstoppable sneezing machine.

I mean it - I sneeze in my sleep. In my sleep. It's gross.

The saddest part, is that I wake myself up with the sneezing and my husband says "bless you" - then resumes snoring.

Ah Spring - you little minx. Thank goodness for the over-the-counter Claritin stuff.

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By: Alyssa | Wednesday, May 05, 2004 at Wednesday, May 05, 2004 | |