An Even Better Dish

Poached salmon with dill and cucumbers. Delish! Also only 5 points.

Week Off

I've been sleeping in, playing WoW, cooking, drinking, and watching movies this past week. So far, so good. I even ordered premium movie channels for my winter break. Which leads me to my insane love of "Just Like Heaven".



Yes, it is sappy but Mark Ruffalo AND Reese Witherspoon in a RomCom? There's no power to resist it. The subject matter is a little touchy especially because it came out around the whole Terry Schiavo debacle. Mark Ruffalo is like an American Colin Firth for me. I need to see every movie he's in. Reese is hands down awesome and I usually covet her hairstyles. I guess I love the movie because I believe in the supernatural elements in the plot. Believe or want to believe because it would be really nice to actually have a guy out there who is destined to love me.

I also caught "Just Friends" last night. It's a little predictable but there are many laugh out loud moments. Ryan Reynolds isn't the greatest actor but my goodness, he's easy on the eyes! Alanis didn't know what she had. Isn't that ironic? Doncha think? I have plans tomorrow and Saturday. For New Year's Eve, I plan on cleaning my apartment. My company gives us New Year's Day off then it's back to work Tuesday.

Tah Dah: My Dinner!

Delicious and only 4 points for a 1 cup serving. Here's my version of the recipe:

1. Buy pre-made pesto (my adaptation since I don't have a food processor and can't make homemade pesto).

2. Mix in 1 oz. of goat cheese

3. Sautee 1 pound of scallops, about 3 at a time. There are about 10 scallops in 1 pound, you do the math.

4. Once sauteed toss in pesto.

The dish goes well with Pinot Grigio. Mmmm...

Holiday Update

The night of the 23rd, I hung out with my brother and his girlfriend. We went to my favorite Indian restaurant. Since the girlfriend has unknown tastes, I was pleasantly surprised that she loved the restaurant. The poor girl wound up ordering the hottest chicken dish and was dying from the heat. The girlfriend really impressed me this entire weekend. I was a little nervous about having a non-family member around but it turns out she kind of diffused holiday stress. Plus, since I'm the oldest of 22 cousins and always wanted to have a little sister, she and I got along swimmingly. I can make an AWESOME sister-in-law someday.

The 24th was my mother's family Xmas gathering complete with Yankee swap. Driving to my parent's, I saw a horrible high speed accident on 128 North. It involved at least 3 cars. Luckily I had time at my folks to calm my nerves until the big family shindig, The Yankee swap went this way for me: awesome gift, crap gift, and finally a gorgeous gift. I wound up with a gorgeous centerpiece bowl with a fascinating dye pattern. Of course getting me around my little cousins, with a couple glasses of wine in me, I completely regress. I was trying to seriously show my 9 year old cousin how to play the piano but seeing the fun she had mashing the keys, I joined in. Then her dad, my uncle, snapped at her for making so much noise. I timidly told him that it was me. Ha! Not only did I regress, I was totally inappropriate. I asked my 12 year old cousin if she was a woman yet. What? I got mine when I was 11! I can't not mention the fact that an uncle asked one of my cousins if she was pregnant and she totally isn't. So, she spent a good part of the night bawling her eyes out upstairs. He wound up getting the icy shoulder from the aunts plus moi all night.

Then we got home had our little family Xmas. I completely cleaned up - basically cut my Amazon wishlist in half. The best part of the night when my brother gave his girlfriend the big gift he had been preparing for her for weeks. Remember how my old laptop crapped out and that my brother is a computer wizard? He took that computer completely upgraded it with memory and airport card and gave it to her. She was totally surprised. There was shaking and tears. It was very touching. My mom did a bang up job cooking and buying "Santa" gifts. My dad was basically checked out the entire holiday eating, reading a newspaper or swearing in the next room because he forgot something. Oh yes, he did make coffee for the family both mornings. That was his contribution.

I got home last night. Finding places for gifts is almost as much fun as getting the gifts! I got a very cool World History atlas. The maps and narrative are completely engrossing. You can't just browse if you crack it open. You get sucked in. God bless the TV holiday marathons! Bravo had a Law & Order: Criminal Intent-a-thon all yesterday. I thought I was more and SVU gal, but I really liked CI. Tonight, I'm breaking in my Weight Watchers cookbook by making a pesto scallop dish. I don't eat fish much and I know it's a very healthy food. Plus, surviving a stroke means I need all the omega-3's I can get! You know what I realized today after shopping for ingredients? I don't eat fish a lot because it's EXPENSIVE!

The Final Harry Potter Title!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Speculate away.

Looking for Work Tonight

The title comes from Sarah's blog. Today has been Present Day. I got a corporate gift check of $50 and two gifts from co-workers. Plus, I have a $50 gift card from my uncle so I'm swimming in possibilities (on top of Smirnoff Ice).

The Positives of Having a Large Family
- A steady supply of babysitting jobs.
- Being memorable even if you live the most tame and boring life.
- Never lacking company.
- A good support system in good times and bad.
- Being spoiled as a kid. For Xmas we got trash bags full of toys.
- Lots of knowledge and experience you can tap into.
- Free furniture for your first apartment.
- A big group of people who you have a lot in common with and can enjoy 24/7/365.

Half Day Friday!

You know what that means? My holiday vacation begins Friday Dec. 22 at noon! Ahh... This makes up for the full workday before Thanksgiving. I believe in geek speak, this deserves a "Woot!"

Sucker for Online Tests

I found this test via a link on the Weight Watchers website. I highly encourage people to take this test because even though chronologically I am 30.1 years old, according to the test I am 29.4! I like tests that tell me I'm young at heart.

Bad or Cliched Blogger?

I found this link via the Universal Hub. As an aside, bad or cliched at least I cite my sources. Nothing chaps my ass more than bloggers who think their posts are original when they just stole a post from another blog without citation.

Perusing the list of bad or cliched blogerisms, I am not guilty on the first four listed. From #5 onward I am guilty yo. I guess I'm a cliched blogger, oy! So, using ethnic responses is cliched? Seriously? What's next? Banning Yiddish? I'm looking at you Nazi Germany. Um, isn't it a sign that America is a melting pot that ethnic responses have become cliched? Or is it, wait for it, a culture selling out? Just reading this Gawker list made my eyes bleed. However, Universal Hub is Boston-y goodness. It's like a blog-gasm. Hopefully cliched is the new cool.

Just Call Me Three Drink Anna

Dinner and drinks last night with the gang was a lot of fun. I didn't get towed from the reserved parking lot which made getting home a lot easier. I've discovered a talent over the past couple of weeks. Get a couple drinks into me, I become pretty quotable. Quotable or embarrassingly random, you decide. Last night I was complaining about the cologne that wafts over into my cubicle at work. The way I complained was by saying, "If I was pregnant, I would be PUKING!" Succinct, descriptive and said with conviction.

Holiday Money Gift + Gift Card +Sephora = SHOPPING SPREE!

Here is what I got last night and still had money leftover.

My Most Embarassing Drunk Moment

It was the summer of 1997 and I was 20 years old. September through May, I had time to build up my alcohol tolerance but I didn't realize how a summer of not drinking could dramatically decrease that tolerance. Every summer though high school and college, I worked in a community theater as a cast member and eventually staff member. In August of that summer, one of the cast members parents were out of town for a weekend, ergo party.

There was this stuff called Aftershock that I had never tried before and since it was new, shots were required. There was beer, vodka, and shots of whiskey. I somehow wound up locking myself in the bathroom because the doorknob fell off inside and I was too drunk to figure out how to get it back on. It took one of the guys shouting instructions through a key hole to get me out. By that time, I was pretty much done with the party. Hey, I lived only a couple blocks away so walking home would be fine. I didn't so much walk, I basically stumbled moaning to myself home. The piece de resistance was that I pissed my pants and bumped into a theater friend on the way home. He asked me if I was all right and I, famously, responded, "2 steps, 2 blocks I home."

I got to my parents front door and couldn't work the key but my Mom was up so she opened the door. She stood in the doorway and informed me that I smelt like a "brewery." I waved the comment off and headed upstairs to my bedroom. Once out of my urine-soaked clothes, I flopped on my bed. Then I puked on myself and my bed. I got up and went to the bathroom, puked some more, and got out of my pukey clothes. Naked, I wandered into my brother's room. He was sleeping in bed but I tried talking to him and leaning on his desk. The leaning didn't work so I fell and somehow I wound up under his desk, naked tangled up in his computer wires.

--------------------------------------------- This is where my black-out begins

My brother woke up and my mother got me dressed. She asked me what did I take (she assumed drugs since I was so messed up). I kept moaning about Aftershock. I was moved down to the living room where I was fed water and aspirin. I was moaning, puking, and spitting. My mother and brother had trouble not laughing at the sheer ridiculousness.

--------------------------------------------- The black-out ends

I woke up the next morning in completely different clothes, lying on some blankets in the living room. The first thing I saw was my father's feet. Very quickly I went from, "Oh God what happened... Crap! I am so busted!" I got a stern talking to from my parents. My punishment was cleaning up my puke ruined bed. I had theater rehearsal that night and I was told to come straight home from practice. I was still so hungover, my memory was fuzzy so when I got to the theater the "2 steps 2 blocks I home" quote had made its rounds and it was news to me. That was the first and last time I ever puked from alcohol and had a black-out.

Mid-December Bleargh

2 days until Chanukah and 12 until Xmas. I'm done shopping for presents and have sent out my holiday cards. The remainder of the month for me is 7 working days and 10 vacation days. So why am I crashing so hard now? Seriously, I have been dragging ass for a while. It doesn't matter when I get to bed at night, I'm lucky if I make it into work by 9AM. And I live 10 minutes away so I have absolutely no excuse.

Last night's chorus concert went really well! Even though this was the least prepared I ever was for a concert and I was exhausted, somehow I didn't completely screw up or keel over on the risers. Maybe it was the adrenaline of not knowing how we'd perform that saved us? Man, I used to live for that adrenaline rush! In my younger days, nothing was more fun for me than speaking in front of groups of people completely unprepared and on the fly.

With encouragement from my rabbi (who is newly married and thus knows her stuff), I have ventured back onto the Jdate scene. It has been just a week and so far I've just gotten two creepy solicitations. Creepy #1 is this guy who looks like Jon Lovitz He contacted me before and I blew him off and blocked him before. He's obviously on autopilot and sends emails to any chick. Creepy #2 was this guy who couldn't spell and only half filled out his profile. He has a "sun who is the lit of my lif". A catch people! I know, how could I have turned that fine specimen down?

Tomorrow night, I am using up my Sephora gift card with Sarah and then going to dine with the gang at Erawan of Siam. Friday night is Chanukkah service at temple and then RELAXING.

Three weeks in, I've hit a World of Warcraft wall. I have two main characters (plus 2 alts) and I'm stuck in the rut of going on a quest, dying over and over, finally completing the quest, then buying new stuff. Isn't it sad that I use shopping as a reward in a virtual world? I'm a practical gamer though. I don't care if a shield matches my character's outit, I consider its armor potential before I buy it.
So far I've discovered that palladins and rogues kick ass. You can do many cool things at low levels and die less easily. Druids and mages are lame if you are just starting and have no money - I'm sure they're cool when you're level 3 billion with buckets of gold.

Hopefully Tae Kwon Do class tonight will help wake me up. Even though I have the not-fun task of returning the uniform they sold me and asking for a "husky" or "plus-size" version.

Fall 2006 Grades

I got two A-'s which makes it a 6 credit A- semester! Hmmm... I seem to be doing better in school ever since I started this job.

Come See My Holiday Concert!

We're performing tomorrow, Dec. 12, at the Weston High School at 8pm. Our program includes selections from Mozart's requiem, Mack the Knife, In the Mood and sundry holiday tunes. If you don't like music, come for the food afterwards. There is always TONS!

Social Butterfly Weekend

My goodness this weekend was busy! It's so nice that now school has wound down, I can devote more time to an actual social life because that will be all I'll have after May.

Sarah's holiday party was tremendous fun and I learned that I'm not 21 so I should limit alcohol consumption. Throughout the night, I wound up informing people about my conversion to Judaism, how I'm looking for a guy, my anti-depressant medication, my most embarrassing drunk moment, and trashing the Bush administration. Yup, I'm a chatty (slurring) Yellow Tail drunk. Thank goodness there weren't any single men at the party!

Last night I went to 10 cent wings night at John Brewer. Basically the reason why my social life has picked up is that the perky redhead who I work with (PRH) met Sarah back in September. PRH also has a hilarious, snarky buddy. Since then, there have been many martini nights and parties. Sarah is like a passport, bring her anywhere and you're in. Hence my social life, tae kwon do classes, and an actual work friend. Wings night was with PRH, her brother, her ex-now-friend, and snarky buddy. It was a good group. Her brother and I have too much in common - it was kind of freaky. The wings were good and cheap.

I finally got around seeing the movie version of The DaVinci Code. You know what? I hated the book but it really makes a good movie. I think it's the fact that the book deals with interpreting symbols and paintings so a movie can readily convey what takes chapters to explain.

Kee-Yah!

Yesterday I took as a sick day due to a pounding headache and exhaustion/lethargy. I probably have a sinus infection and am crashing from a crazy semester. Luckily, I was able to make it to my first Tae Kwon Do lesson. My co-workers and I are taking lessons here.

I was a bit anxious because I know I am horribly out of shape and some residual grade school anxiety. I could do everything in the class. Whether I did it well, is up to debate. I got to kick things and practice some footwork. I'm good at kicking and not too nimble on my feet. When we got to combo kicks, I had trouble turning enough to be aligned well. I did get individual coaching on that part. It was a bit embarassing but done in a totally supportive practical manner. The class isn't too big and there is a wide range of ages and fitness. I really liked how the class focused on strengthening both sides of the body. So, I'm signed up until March 8 and I got my own set of white jammies (I'm sure there's a technical name for them).

Gigo-Action

Well folks, installing World of Warcraft basically killed my old iBook. It was 4 years old. This is a lesson for me to never install something beyond my computer's memory and RAM specs. I had been planning on getting a new computer in January but faced with the prospect of being computer-less for a month, I went shopping. Last night I picked up a new MacBook plus a printer (which will be free after a rebate). Plus, I got new earbuds for my iPod. The Sony adjustable size earbuds are so comfortable compared to the free monstrosities the iPod comes with. I seriously think I bruised my ears from those!

I've been an Apple gal all my life dating from the good old days of the Apple IIE. My first personal computer was a Performa and that was back in the early 90's when no one was selling things for Macs. My Mac prowess wound up helping me in my first job after college. It was 1999 when iMacs were coming out and I was working for a non-profit so I got to order new computers for the entire company. Since most of my co-workers were Apple illiterate, I basically became a one woman IT dept. One co-worker put her iMac on her old (unplugged) hard drive and called me when she couldn't access the disc she inserted. My Mac skills are thanks to my brother. He is the family computer guy. Right now, he's jealous about my new purchase since I have the best computer in the family.

Yes, Apple customers are like a cult. When I spoke to the sales rep at the Apple store, her face lit up when I told her that I've been an lifelong Apple gal. We got to shop talk about the Intel chips in the new Macs. I haven't had the time to check out all the cool new doohickies on my computer yet since most of last night was devoted to set-up. I do know that I have a built-in camera and airport card. Also, World of Warcraft should run like a dream - which means I might be able to get the new expansion pack that is coming out next month!

RCN Has Me Shaking in My Boots

I cancelled my service back in mid-October and I am still getting bills. The latest one had past due balances and threatened to shut down my service. GO AHEAD for Christ's sake! Two months dealing with these idiots...

My New Downstairs Neighbor

I am debating whether to call him The Giver of Good Orgasms or He Who Has A Vocal Girlfriend. Last Friday night, I was grabbing my laundry in my basement when I heard the squeaking and moaning. I could hear it a bit more faintly upstairs in my apartment. I think it lasted for a good 30 minutes and started up again in the morning.

I don't know what he looks like and have only heard his voice muffled through my floorboards so it will be a bit awkward when we finally bump into each other. My former neighbors had been in the apartment ever since 1999 (I moved in 2002) and they were engaged. I NEVER heard sex noises. I did hear the guy snore.

Agent Smith Was Wrong

Humanity isn't a disease, World of Warcraft is! I started playing last Friday even though my iBook barely has enough memory. So far, so good. My brother and his friends are major players so I am in their guild, Ponce de Leon, on the Cho'gall server. Right now, I have three characters:

Seregonna - a level 7 druid Night Elf with herbalism and alchemy skills. She's my main character. My brother has helped me out on a couple quests. Sometimes I get quested out so I focus on building my herbalism skills. My brother knows a lot of Tolkien elvish so he gave me some suggestions for character names. I wanted to try Luthien Seregon but due to game limitations, I went with Seregonna which sounds vaguely like my name.

Sarna - a level 3 warrior Dwarf with undefined skills. I like the dwarf world and the sturdiness of these characters. The sound of them running cracks me up. I've spent most of my time exploring the dwarf world and doing occasional quests. It's getting to the point where I really should pick skills! I'd like to try to get a pet too. Sarn is stone in Elvish.

Karat - a level 2 mage Human with undefined skills. The most boring world ever. I have found out that being a mage sucks if you have no money or skills. I only play this character if I'm bored or feel guilty about neglecting her. I wanted to name her Starbuck but that name was taken so I chose Kara Thrace which was too long hence Karat.

For the past two nights, I have played until 1AM. I dream this game and anything I do during the day is basically delaying my game time. Yup, I've got the WoW sickness.

Another One Bites the Dust

I finished my final Fall semester last night at 9pm. To celebrate, a bunch of classmates and I went out to the Bottom Line Lounge for a beer. I should be getting my grades within a couple of weeks. In my Leadership class so far I've gotten 1 A and 1 A-. In Managing Growing Businesses I got 2 A-'s. My participation grade is a lock for an A since I'm a talking machine. Hopefully my group projects in each class maintained or improved my grades! 6 more credits of A is just what my GPA ordered. Ugh, anything to take the stink off of the C+ from Financial Accounting...

December is shaping up to be a pretty hectic month (as usual for most people). I have holiday parties, a holiday concert, and tae kwon do lessons. This weekend I'm doing gift shopping. Hopefully, I'll get my replacement ATM card soon. Oh yeah, you know how my birthday sucked? I lost my ATM card that day and I only realized it days later! Note to self, don't withdraw money from an ATM in a rush. Yup my card was eaten by a ATM machine at the Burlington Mall.

Free time stretching out for two months - woohoo!