I am still exhausted I must say and there is literally no end in sight. Some of it is my fault, as I overbooked my social schedule just a weeeee bit, but work has also been incredibly busy and it does not help if someone who is not even your boss, and whose business it certainly not is to do so, tells you that you are not doing your job.
So, here is the narrative - long and short - of what went down this week:
Sunday: My actual birthday (contrary to the belief of many of my friends who have spread this date all over the month of October, and enabled me to milk the blessed event as much as possible - I think I may just declare my birthday to be anywhere between October 18th and Christmas - just send the gifts!! As to my age, I am 30, always have been. No further comment). Spending lots of time on the phone with friends and my shrewd family who passed their vacation time here hiding gifts for me in the basement. Afternoon hike in the Blue Hills on a stunningly beautiful sunny fall day. Superb, just superb dinner at The Blue Room in Cambridge (http://theblueroom.net/main.html) - Appetizers were ricotta gnocchi with Tuscan kale, bacon, oyster mushrooms and truffle oil, and Arugula Salad with endive, roasted pear, Stilton cheese and toasted hazelnuts. The fish- oooh the fish - was so so good - wood-grilled whole branzino with green olives, grapefruit, parsley and watercress salad and pomegranate syrup. But nothing, nothing, topped the desert - a pumpkin creme brulee that was to die for. This was supplemented by a nice, slightly unpredictable Malbec, and you know all was well with the world that night.
Monday uneventful, but worked late.
Tuesday - continuation of the birthday hoopla, Stephanie and I headed to Davis Square in Somerville to dine (no wine involved this time) at a wonderful Indian restaurant called Namaskar on Elm Street (http://www.namaskar-cuisine.com/) - a Mango Lassi and Chicken Saag later I was ready to burst!!! Off we went to attend the annual Halloween Performance of the Post Meridian Radio Player's "Tomes of Terror II), a staged radio production of creepy and scary stories (our talented friend Renee is part of the troupe). The three tomes featured included an episode of the 1949 comedy series "Our Miss Brooks", the shuddersome vampire tale "Carmilla" - which was adapted by Renee base don the 1981 "Nightfall" episode, and "The Stone Ship", a disquieting tale of the sea by William Hope Hodgson.
Wednesday - time to end the love fest with Marge, the cockatiel, who had been visiting with Oscar and myself, and return her/him to her/his rightful owners, the most charming Ellen and her hubby, pizza chef extraordinaire, Patrick . In order to adequately help the Esslinger-Cooley gang hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, I had dressed up in my Lexington High School cheerleader uniform, which I did not recall as being that short when I wore it two years ago, and also not as that tight-fitting. I brought the pompons and made a half-baked attempt at jumping up and down but soon settled comfortably in one of the couch chairs in Ellen and Patrick's living room and did not budge for a while. It is Halloween tradition at the Cooleys to watch a bad SciFi or scary movie, and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was chosen for this night's event. I did not stay for the conclusion of this stellar cinematic event from the 70s, and was honestly glad to get out of that cheerleader uniform once I got home.
Thursday got a little complicated as in addition to work and play, I had agreed to be the interpreter for a cancer patient from Germany who is at Mass General for treatment, and this has thrown my schedule off quite a bit. Food was grabbed just whenever possible, and I literally ran all day and then ran out of the hospital for my ushering assignment that night at the Lyric Stage Company. Written by Christopher Shinn (whose screenplay is rumored to be up for a Pulitzer Prize) and directed by Daniel Gidron, it was a thought-provoking piece. A young widow, whose husband died in Iraq is visited unexpectedly by her dead husband's twin brother, and both of them are forced to explore what the loss of the husband/brother meant to each one of them. (https://lyricstage.com/).
Friday - still complicated, more translation work and powering through the rest of the tasks to be done. Run, run, run...... and again, run out of the office to meet my friend Hannah, and new friends Andrea, Tara and Jennifer for a lovely meal at Brasserie Jo (http://www.brasseriejo.com/). Their web site claims that if you cannot make it to Paris, this is the next best thing, and I think they may be right. The food was frighteningly authentic, my swordfish au poivre magnificent, and we had the most charming waiter in the world. The dinner was leading up to the whole gaggle of us heading for Boston Symphony Hall (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=boston+symphony+hall&gbv=2) to attend a reading of famous American humorist, writer and screenplay David Sedaris. It had been a dream of mine to hear him read/talk and this was a most phenomenal experience. Hannah and I both laughed so hard our jaws locked up - all of Sedaris' stories are autobiographical and the man sure knows how to make fun of himself. He does not shy away from anything, and no one involved in his life, landlady, his family, his partner Hugh are safe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sedaris). His humor spans from crude to highly intellectual, and that is exactly what I like about it. I am enclosing a few Sedaris quotes I found on the internet for your amusement at the end of this e-mail, which will come to an end now. I am planning to head down to Cape Cod this afternoon to spend some time with my friends Rick and Denise. It is Rick's birthday (everyone say Happy Birthday Rick!) and we got a bike ride planned for tomorrow, as soon as the hurricane is gone. [BTW -it is also my friend Pauline's birthday today, so everyone say Happy Birthday Pauline!!]
pet:)
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David Sedaris Quotes:
*After a few months in my parents' basement, I took an apartment near the state university, where I discovered both crystal methamphetamine and conceptual art. Either one of these things are dangerous, but in combination they have the potential to destroy entire civilizations.
*I haven't got the slightest idea how to change people, but still I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.
*I love things made out of animals. It's just so funny to think of someone saying, 'I need a letter opener. I guess I'll have to kill a deer.
*Maybe I'll learn a trade. I've considered taxidermy. I always thought it was a shame you couldn't do that on people.
*Seven beers followed by two Scotches and a thimble of marijuana and it's funny how sleep comes all on it's own.
*They were nothing like the French people I had imagined. If anything, they were too kind, too generous and too knowledgeable in the fields of plumbing and electricity.
* I recall thinking that the computer would never advance much further than this. Call me naïve, but I seemed to have underestimated the universal desire to sit in a hard plastic chair and stare at a screen until your eyes cross.
*At first, writing for The New Yorker was very scary to me. I couldn't imagine anything that I would write in that typeface.
http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/lists/sedaris/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBdymtyXt8Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JJ-tK7-gIk
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