This is how I found out

Perhaps some day our children will ask us where we were when we found out Michael Jackson had died. Please notice the side bar advertisement. What are the chances?


This is my favorite quote of the day regarding the above mentioned situation:
Chinese attorney: Who cares about Michael Jackson.
Me (with disgust): Who cares about Chairman Mao.
French attorney: Who's Chairman Mao?

Now that the crisis is over....

WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED

About three weeks ago I arrived home one evening after a full day of merry-making. You can imagine my surprise to find a mouse (for no apparent reason) had decided to climb up sink between my bottles of soap to die







(seriously not for the squeamish. don't scroll down if you don't want to see it)



















Of course I was upset, but not nearly as much as I would have been at earlier stages of my life. Over the years, we've gone through a few cycles of mouse infestations which I have mostly ignored. Lately we have been having random 2-3 inch cockroaches showing up unannounced and dead in our apartment. (I am NOT kidding. LITERALLY 2-3 inches. Just to get an idea--I want you to right now put your fingers 2-3 inches apart to imagine it. Yes, 4 cockroaches that size have appeared in our apartment--3 of them dead.) I had gotten used to clearing them out because my roommates are not as city-hardened as I am. In fact, I felt especially capable of dealing with the mouse problem because only a few days earlier I had rescued my otherwise incredibly masculine date from a 2-3 inch cockroach when he crawled on to the sofa with us.

Even though I felt up to the task, it did take me about 10 minutes of looking at the mouse before getting up the courage to try to put the large piece of cardboard under him. When I attempted you can imagine my shock to discover that he (yes, I'm sure it was a boy. i don't know how) was NOT DEAD. I had been watching him NOT move for 10 minutes, but when I touched him with the cardboard his little legs started moving and upon further investigation, I could tell he was definitely breathing.

This changed the situation drastically. I didn't know what to do. I called my big brother, who didn't answer. I called my little brother; no answer. I called my brother-in-law. IS NO ONE EVER HOME WHEN THERE'S A CRISIS?!!

I'm afraid this story is dragging, so I"m going to speed it along now by saying:

I was not able to keep the presence of the mouse from my very very mouse-wary roommate

My little brother called back right exactly when the mouse decided to get up and start walking around, which caused him (my brother) no end of amusement. Apparently I did a lot of shrieking.

I was not able to rally up my nerves quickly enough to prevent the mouse from very slowly walking away and escaping behind the oven.

The next day the mouse decided to reappear back on the counter half-dead again while I was at work, causing mass amount of emotional distress to my poor roommate and necessitating an emergency call to the super to come save her.

This started a deluge of mouse-spottings and trappings that almost forced my roommate to move not only out of the apartment, but out of the city, the state, and this half of the continental divide.

Prayers are answered: after a day of fasting and prayer for the mouse problem to dissipate enough for that my beloved roomie would stay, there was a sudden drop-off in mouse sitings--we've not seen one in 12 days. They disappeared the way day after my fast. True story.

Now, just for kicks, here's a picture I found on the internet of a 3 inch cockroach. Just so you know what we're dealing with here.

Happy Anniversary to Me!!

Last month marked my three year anniversary in New York City. I giggle to myself at what a stupid, inexperienced, silly little girl I was when I arrived. To celebrate the growth I've made, here are some random ways I've grown, things I didn't know, ways I've changed, etc since arriving in New York City.

1. I didn't know the difference between natural and synthetic fibers
2. I couldn't tell the difference between high and low quality anything (shoes, suits, etc)
3. I'd never had goat cheese.
4. I didn't know people could tell the difference between butter and margarine (turns out most people can tell just by sight).
5. I'd never been to Europe
6. I'd never set foot in a JCrew and never purchased anything at Banana Republic (I have charge cards for both now)
7. I'd never been to, or even heard of, Ikea.
8. I could be wrong, but I don't believe I'd ever been cat-called before. Certainly I never had been on a regular basis.
9. I couldn't recognize basil by sight, smell, or taste. Now I just can't keep them alive.
10. I'd never been to a concert
11. I'd never paid a utilities bill
12. I'd never eaten or heard of gnocchi, pierogi, pad thai, or masala
13. The sight of a mouse would send me screaming and running into another room to stand on a chair

This is very much an incomplete list, but I don't want to get too wordy, so I'll just go ahead and publish it now. If I think of a really good one, I'll add it later.

New Post

It's time for a new post because as interesting as Dick Cheney talking about torture is, let's face it, it's a bit of a downer.

Although I have two things that I've been meaning to blog about, I am suffering from a general lack of the desire to do anything (to the extent that for the first time ever I will not be hosting a Tony's party this year), so instead of organizing my thoughts enough to put an actual post, I'm putting on this music video about New York City that I love so so so so so much. I just laugh and laugh and laugh. If it's not the best comic dancing music video you've ever seen I will give you a million dollars.
(that's just an expression. but seriously if you feel like laughing, click below and invest in four minutes of pure bliss.)