i survived orientation

and all i got was this laptop...



no really, though - i bought that last night and it has consumed my thoughts ever since. isn't he cute??? my first laptop ever, and the only computer that's been *mine* since about 2003. he's perky, doesn't eat much, follows directions well, and is very quiet. he distracts me during boring presentations, but i think that will be more helpful than harmful. and dude, wireless is the best. where have i been? this shit is cool.

school's fine so far too :)

woman of leisure no longer

so that's a wrap - my one week off between work and school. orientation starts tomorrow morning. i ought to be in bed. but what could be more important than locating an old collection of hemingway's short stories, which has remained packed since i moved out of my ill-fated copley square apartment in 2003? sometimes my own nervous energy astounds me. i addressed it with a dose of oban in one of the new bulbous scotch-tasting glasses kz and i purchased at bed, bath, and beyond today. shortly after, we retreated back to our chilly, clean laundry-scented abode for some movies on the projector and mass consumption of guacamole, desperate to escape the humid throng of rainy sunday shoppers with their indecision, indecipherable foot traffic patterns, and lack of turn signal usage.

the 'leisure' in the title is meant to be a little funny. my mems was here for an entire week, as our inaugural houseguest. we've been living here for 2 years, if that tells you anything. with her skilled hand at the reins and while marveling at her deftly blended usage of slave-driving and mollycoddling maternal tactics, we unpacked boxes, purchased table linens, moved heavy furniture, and hung decorative effects with the zeal of british imperialists. we also took a break and went to my favorite beach on tuesday, after which i decided i am officially old, now that 4 hours in the sun is more than enough for me. and we ate a lot, of food in general; kz's rare steaks and expertly handled fish fillets; sushi; local cheap breakfast; farmstand produce; german prune jam (be still my heart); our favorite indian; and, of course, haagen-dazs. and then there was bargain shopping. good lord, do i feel fulfilled. hopefully this pilot run will usher in a new era of houseguests in our newly homey apartment, and an annual visitation of the memmies.

it should be noted that a rather hectic trip to introduce our maternal units for the first time, show mems the site of the wedding, and procure several extremely large and heavy pieces of solid oak furniture (generously donated) and drive them back in flooding rain, and drag them up the stairs with only me and kz, was successful on all fronts. amazing!

so i am left feeling quite bereft after a week of female bonding, manual labor, fun, and strange corrsepondence with my erstwhile colleagues. the next chapter begins tomorrow. it's not as simple as beginning a new job, or a new year of college. nay, it's where i've committed to spend the next 1/5 of my life, and eke out a name for myself and a focus for my career.

hope it doesn't suck.

is it geek love?

it is when your fiance tries to impress your mom by solving a rubik's cube in under 3 minutes.

and succeeds.

so fucking weird

so it was my last day at work today.

recipe for fun

one part freezing bridesmaid in the rain




one part touching ceremony



one part omgwtfbbq



one part high altitude drinking



one part high altitude drunk



one part high altitude hangover



one part serious rock wall



see the rest of andrea's colorado wedding trip

of human interconnectedness

today, as igg charioted me back from our last pitcher o'beer lunch on this side of the tracks (lunches to resume in worcester in about a month), we came upon a 1-lane stretch due to construction. i barely noticed all the cars, the dudes jackhammering the pavement, the gargantuan ditch in what was once the road...instead i exclaimed, exultant as one who speaks the truth from within, "wow! that is the skinniest motherfucking cop i have ever seen!" referring to the police officer directing traffic. it came as no surprise to me that igg began saying "jesus yeah, i was just going to say that!" before i even finished my sentence. we are indeed alike in cruelty and selecting unwitting targets of barbed comments. i thought upon the gaunt gent no more.

until later, when a coworker shuttled me to buy me a coffee as a parting gift. let me note that this guy is quite proper and has G-rated humor; as a young geeky father with a stern wife and a devoutly christian boss, i have never really heard him swear. we approached the 1-lane stretch again, and i was thinking about my large iced when he spluttered, "holy shit! that is the skinniest policeman i have ever seen!" and i laughed and laughed.

that fucker really was that skinny. the worst thing is, there is a large gulf between people like me and igg and people like my coworker. we cover most non-retarded varities of american in that gulf. so i bet every single car who drove by him today had a bunch of people in it all remaking, "christ! that is one skinny cop!"
how much does that suck.

silver lining

but then, i also have another coworker, an unambiguously gay pal who calls me "p-sabs" (princess sabs), and we celebrated his 50-something-ith birthday today. for which i presented him with a twinkie lodged between two hostess snowballs, and he loved it.

i guess the job has its perks (no pun intended).

before it's too late

it's definitely time for me to move on. i keep saying i've spent too much time around immature, spiteful, backstabbing, habitual whiners at my job. apparently some of the evil has soaked into me.

yesterday, a coworker around my age, who is also getting married and tries very hard to be adult and serious but astounds us all sometimes with her sweet but shallow daftness, made an unprompted announcement that now she is going to start "seriously dieting." to which i laughed and asked what all the meals of crystal light, pre-weighed-out special K, and skim milk for the last 6 months had been. she responded that she was going to try even harder (bulimia? it's the only form of negative intake i can think of) and exercise by going to the gym before and after work each day. let me also say that she is pretty and rather compact, so this all seemed quite strange.

this morning she walked towards me at group meeting to say hi, and i shit you not, i came within half a second of motioning towards the two mini donuts on her plate, smirking, and saying "so how's that diet working out for you?" i even opened my mouth to say that before i realized it was a total asshole thing to say, and if i heard someone else say it, i would have immediately called them a douchebag to their face, and that if i said it, i might as well rot in hell.


i also used to save up every rumor and pile of dirt on anyone that i ever heard, and use it like the currancy of diplomacy it was meant to be when my ass is on the line. with the amount of crap i've passed around in the last few months, the coffers are empty and i'm going morally bankrupt.

corporate culture, what have you done to me??