Weekend Updates

The weather was very nice over the weekend, for the first time in a while. Bryan and Lyn were in town so the last few days have been packed with fun, just like a Fat Cat from the grease trucks is packed with food. Twelve hours after eating the “sandwich,” I am still in the penultimate stage of Fat Cat appreciation: Regret. In case you’re unfamiliar with the stages through which you progress before, during and after eating a Fat Cat, they are as follows: Disgust (How will I be able to eat such a thing?), Acceptance (I can eat it…), Enjoyment (… and it’s not too bad), Denial (I can’t believe I actually like it), Fear (I’m going to regret this later), Sickness (self-explanatory), Regret (I can’t believe I actually ate it), and Anticipation (When can we go again?).

Also enjoyable weekend snippets: Brats (the german sausage) with the Busches, Apples to Apples, M-D‘s birthday dinner at KC Prime (great restaurant) and lunch at Carlucci’s Grill (another great restaurant).

And I’m spent.

And by that I mean all of my money is spent. Between all the birthdays and all of the restaurants in the last month, it’s a good thing I have a bonus coming.

Yes, this is going to be a long entry. The title can apply to either my weekend or the entry, which is going to be long. Don’t say you haven’t been warned, twice.

This weekend so far has been great. At my job, there has been a team of three people including me who have been working frantically to pull together a last minute food and wine tasting event. It took place out on eastern Long Island, where apparently there are wonderful things like vineyards, farms, and completely undeveloped land. I had no idea that any of this existed on Long Island.

We’ve been working hard to put this event together, even though the idea of it didn’t even exist until just a little more than two weeks ago. We contacted the press, printed posters, fliers, invitations, and did what we could to promote it. We got the restaurants involved.

We came out to the site the day before the event to finish up some of the details, and it was determined we were going to have some problems with the health department due to an outside person dropping the ball with his responsiblities. At this point, we were close to cancelling the show, thinking there was no way the county department of health would allow us to run it.

After some running around, we were able to tie up the loose ends. There was still the issue of attendance, however. Since the invitations were sent out so late (due to the fact the event didn’t even exist more than two weeks before the planned date), we didn’t really expect much response. Somehow, many guests showed up to pay at the door. The health inspector also came, but he gave us few problems. The bands we had to perform during the event ranged from great to not-so-great. On the great end of the spectrum were Felix and All the Cats and Evan Farmer, who also happens to be the new host of While You Were Out. The sound company we used, Studio Instrument Rentals, was excellent and I couldn’t have hoped for better sound. They will definitely be used by us in the future.

The three of us thought there was no way this event was going to be able to be pulled off. But somehow it happened, and people came. Not only that, but the rain that had been forecast for our site held off, while all around us on the island there were heavy downpours.

While we were out on eastern Long Island, I stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast called Hidden Mill. It was amazing. I would like to stay there more, but I don’t think I could afford the $250 per night price tag without my company completely subsidizing it.

Thanks to everyone who came to my apartment-warming party this weekend.
From what I could tell, a good time was had by all. We enjoyed fine food ordered from the local Italian restaurant (pizza, pizza, and more pizza), Denise‘s awesome spinach dip, and two great movies in our Christopher Guest series, Waiting for Guffman and This is Spinal Tap.

Of course, photographs from the evening are already online.

Thanks to everyone who helped me move house this weekend. I’m starting to be really happy with my new apartment. I’ll take some pictures when I have more of my furniture built. If anyone wants my new address, leave a comment here and I will email it to you.

My walls could use some art.

Last week I interviewed for a part-time teaching position as a percussion “caption head” for a marching band at a school along the Northeast Corridor train line. It went very well, except for the percussion part of it. I should have known better than to interview for something with which I have little experience, but I’m glad I did anyway. Almost needless to say, I wasn’t awarded the position.

I’m moving to a new apartment at the end of the week. It will be the first time since 1999 I will be living sans roommate. This weekend I packed most of my belongings except for what I need over the next few days. That’s all I’ll say about that for now.

My mother is still trying to convince me to move to the west coast area. She thinks the Las Vegas area would be pefect; it’s growing and supposedly there are lots of jobs and a reasonable cost of living.

A few weeks ago, after eating dinner with my father and his girlfriend (not sure what to call her really, “girlfriend” sounds too immature and “lover” just sounds…. uhhh), Denise asked me if I resented him. Now that he’s together with A. and her kids, they have done a large amount of traveling all over the world. They have gone both with and without the kids to Italy, eastern Europe, western Europe, and on cruises. Right now, they are on a cruise to Alaska. My parents never did anything like this with each other or with me and my brother; our extent of travel was a one-week spring break drive to Florida to visit relatives. And as kids stuck with each other in the car, the trip was mostly unenjoyable. Sometimes I want to just tell him, “It’s not fair!” I want to go on lots of wonderful trips.

For those of you somewhat disturbed by my last entry, I apologize.

On Saturday, I taught a girl how to play On My Own from Les Misérables on the piano. I also went swimming in a pool and got mighty sunburned. I was so red, Denise began to refer to me as Zoidberg. Friday night I went shopping for a pair of snare drum sticks, a practice drum pad, and some other music accessories. There will be more on this point later.

Also on Friday night, I saw my new apartment. Getting around isn’t going to be easy when I won’t have anyone in my household to drive me. A car is still far in the future for me. Maybe I’ll get a bicycle which would at least allow me to get to the grocery store easier.

As time marches on (which it is still doing), I seem to be becoming less desirable. Yes, I certainly used to be sexy, but my hair is growing thinner, I’ve got a little bit of a gut, I don’t have a car, and I don’t have nice shoes. Such is life.

I didn’t quite make it to the park on Saturday. It was 100 degrees and a downpouring of rain lasted about an hour. Instead, I joined Darren and Ali on a trip to Philadelphia to see Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns), a strange documentary about They Might Be Giants.

I caught Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by the wonderful Tom Stoppard last night. The production was put together by Princeton Summer Theater. (Note: I couldn’t find an official website, so here is a link to the PST purity test.)

Tonight calls for the traditional fireworks display. I’ll be back at Mercer County Park, sort of reviving an old tradition. I wish there were more people coming.

I volunteered for my old buds at Giants Stadium Friday night. It was enjoyable, as always. I’m still a huge fan of the drum corps activity, and will be as long as I never set foot in that office again. Most of the corps were excellent. It’ll be exciting to see them later in the season after many improvements will have been made.

I saw Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle Saturday evening. It was alright. As advertised, there was lots of ass.

Yesterday, Denise‘s family came to visit. That’s about the extent of my weekend. I’m not quite sure why I am as exhausted as I am.