Hockey for a Cause

New Yorkers, or those who will be in the New-York ish area on September 25th:

Some people from my league will be hosting a charity women's hockey tournament (no blades. no wheels. just on sneakers) at Tompkins Square Park.

The tournament will benefit Girls for Gender Equality, and you can sign up by following this link.

The tournament will be totally lax, so if you've never played or haven't played in a while, don't be afraid to come out.

Here's the promotional video. WORTH IT:

Here's part two if you liked part one:

Shameless, Shameless Post

This is basically so my Blog Tracker starts working. I just started a new one. The old one stopped working. I had no idea that happened. Or...it just might be possible...that I have had no visitors...not a one...in 8 months.

I'll tell you some stuff, though, so this becomes quasi-worth it:

1. Iced coffee is soooo good.

2. I have never seen the movie Up, but I know the premise. I wish I had one of those dog collars that would interpret my dog's thoughts.

3. These guys are truly, truly evil.

Ok, that's enough. Hope the tracker works.

woohoo!

we don't have bedbugs!

chorus of cheers!

i am a little paranoid, and the city is having a bedbug epidemic. so i scratched once, and freaked out.

the guy came today, and, for free, told me i don't have them. he did a thorough inspection, ruled out the possibilities, and declared my apartment a bedbug free zone. for free! did i mention?

so yes, i have reached new heights of my hypochondriac-ed-ness, but new yorkers, please heed: never get bedbugs or need an exterminator for any reason whatsoever. but if you have to, then make sure you call these guys. ask for tony.

i don't have bedbugs! and NEVER DID.

GoodBloodyHell

I am running the real risk of turning into one of those people who can only talk about how fucking stressed she is.

I hate that shit.

I'm fucking stressed.

Wedding bullshit takes a ton out of you. Especially when you've got lots of people on your ass about it. This has its excellent points, because it means I have less to do all by my lonesome. It also means that I've got a legion of folk to answer to.

Sigh. Poor ol' me.

Yeah, I know these ain't real problems.

All that aside, I've become mildly obsessed with the "mosque" at the "WTC site" I've had a share of heated conversations on the subject, and been called a unpatriotic (meh, there are worse things), a bad catholic (um, was I one to begin with?), and an idiot (that one bothered me, but at least they didn't say "not funny").

My take, in short:

1. This country was built on freedom of religion. Not "freedom of the religions that we think are ok.
2. Weather or not you happen to agree with the Islamic Cultural Center and its message/location...weather or not you think it's tacky/rude/tasteless for the building to go up in that particular place, they're legally allowed to build where they want.
3. Contrary to what many may think, in NYC, you can't just haphazardly build giant buildings just anywhere, and just because you think it would piss a bunch of people off. This is an interesting NY Magazine article about the real estate side of it.
4. MUSLIM, ISLAM equals the same thing as Al Quaeda. (That should read as "does not mean the same thing as." I just wanted to play around with the strikethrough thingy.) Just like all Christians don't want to blow up abortion clinics, and all Germans are not Nazis, etc.

Here's where I have to depart from my regular cynical, snarky self, and say that I do not, for one second, have anything less than a GIANT amount of respect, sadness, and heart for every single 9/11 victim, their families, and their friends. I will NEVER understand how it must feel to be a family so directly affected by this, and the fact that the 9/11 memorial site has NOT BEEN BUILT YET 10 years later is inexcusable to me. I feel similarly to how I feel when I think about how this country let it's folks down on 8/29/05. This has nothing to do with my sympathy for any of that. If anything, I think that this is an opportunity to work on making some mutual peace.

Wow. That was sappy.

Thanks for reading.

Is Blogging Different?

Sorry about the abrupt cut-off last time.
It's not the easiest thing to talk about folks who I've hurt.

Here's something interesting, that I haven't really had to deal with too much yet, but then this week it was right up in my damn face.

Someone took (severe) issue with something I once wrote on here. It was anonymous in the strictest sense of the word, but I suppose with a little guesswork (and the actual desire, which I can't see any of you actually having), a person could figure out who the main players were.

Here's today's question: though a blogger blogging about her mundaniac life is perfectly within her rights to blow everything out there on motherfucking front street, is it still shitty? I mean, personal shit goes into short stories and essays of mine all the time. Is blogging different?

Make it Work

*I never posted this. I wrote it a very long time ago. I don't know why.

In all my years of watching Project Runway, I have never, ever, EVER really agreed with the winner.

Until, last night.

Seson 7 finally got it right! I've been saying all season how this time, they've been letting people stay based on merit, which actually kind of sucks because it means we've had to deal with this bitch all season long. But last night, they finally got it right.

I loved Seth Aaron's collection. I loved it's quirkiness. I loved that you couldn't wear it right off the runway into regular life, but, with a little tweaking, you kind of could. I loved, most of all, his kooky hair.

So three cheers to Kors, Heidi, and FashionDirectorOfMarieClaireMagazineNinaGarcia. Well done.

Also, a great, hilarious Project Runway blog: Eric Three Thousand.

Pending Nuptials, FormerBoys

I love me some Pre-Husband. I feel a comfort with him that I haven't felt in a while...maybe ever. I know he's the right person for me. I've even naturally toned down the crazy, which, I think, is a direct result of living with him and his amazing calming presence.

Watching Treme with him on the sofa last night was one of the best times I've had all week (also: anyone who's read this freaking thing even once knows I'm obsessed with all things NOLA).

That said, our wedding and subsequent marriage (which I'm so excited for) has got me thinking about dudes from my past.

I hate that I want everything to be fine with everyone. I hate that there's motherfuckers out there who don't know how I feel, and therefore they think I am evil. I hate that I had (have?) the tendency to express myself poorly, therefore hurting other people when it's the LAST thing I want to do.

That's all for now, I'm getting all googly. Maybe more later. Yeah. More later.

I Hate Even Giving This Any Attention

Oh, bloody, bloody freaking hell.

Gorilla Coffee: where I spend much of my work-from-home, writing, time-wasting days.

The coffee is like rocket fuel. Just how I motherfucking like it.

Apparently they treat their employees like dirtola. The Slope has been all abuzz with news of their re-opening, their non-reopening, etc.

I'm not going to be able to go back there, am I?

Sigh.

PS: check out my new favorite site Fucked in Park Slope for more insight into my punkass hood.

That is all.

This is Just Fantastic

Hedwig comes back at the end of this year. She's Broadway bound.

God, I love her.

Swoon

My obsession/dreams about Dr. Gregory House are turning into gross fan fiction. Well, actually, not really. Sometimes they're a little sweeter than that. I want to fix him. Last night I dreamed that Dr.Wilson and I were talking. In the course of the conversation, I asked him "what have you done for me lately?" And then I cut myself off saying "I know, I know, you sign my paychecks" (evidently I worked for him). Then he said (this part makes me giddy) "I'm also going to find you a husband." You see, he meant House. He is House's best friend, and wants the best for him always. Catty as ever, though, I retorted, "yeah, but I don't want him just to be forced to go out with me...I don't want this to be a Cameron thing..."(Sigh. If you don't watch the show, Cameron loves House. It's unrequited.) House and I hook up a few times...you know...brief makeouts, etc. Then I wake up, outlandishly disappointed, as per usual. (Did I mention I'm engaged? I love you honey!)

Every spring I get all giddy and happy and want to go galavanting and carousing and running around the neighborhood.

Woohoo!

Did I mention...

So thanks for your help on that last post, blog-readers far and wide....

I realize that since I hadn't blogged in a long time, those who know me simply in blogland don't know that Boy and I are tying the knot on October 16th of Twenty-Ten.

He asked me while we were out to dinner for his birthday, in January. We went to James, in Prospect Heights. I remember it being a lovely place, and I remember the nice staff leaving us alone when we wanted, and giving us free champagne when we wanted.

We're finally going to make an honest girl out of Giapants.

(This is an old photo of her. She's so big now!)
Hockey season starts soon, and I'll write more later.

Thanks, again, birds!

Please Weigh In

Hi Friends,

I know. I've been gone. I also know I start every post that way, lately, which sucks. Well, yesterday was my birthday, which is when I tend to make resolutions, so hopefully that will change.

Anyway, I've got a little story for ya, a bit of an ethical situation, perhaps, and as much as I hate to make y'all do work, I'm gonna need you to weigh in.

Here it goes.

Bella and Buster dated, a long time ago. They began their courtship in 2001-ish, dated for several years, lived together for some of those years, and parted as amicably as two people in such a situation can.

During their living-together stint, Buster had a job more consistently than did Bella. Buster paid a lot more than his fair share of the bills and rent until Bella got a job. Buster was great.

Bella would tell him, "Buster, when we are in the situation to do so, I will help you with your old debt to make it up to you."

Bella got a job, and everything started to equal out. Bella started to pay her share, but they didn't hack into Buster's debt yet. Over the duration of their relationship, Bella's mom, who lived in the same city, tried to do little things for them all the time. She bought Buster four new tires when he needed one. She took them on extravagant (albeit, family) trips to Spain, Italy, and Las Vegas (though that was because Bella's mom wanted to see Celine Dion, and she basically forced the fam to do the same, so we can't expect Buster to be too grateful for that. Sorry Celine). She gave Buster a surprise 30th birthday party. She paid for movers for the two lovers when they needed one.

So, unfortunately, the day came when the young couple split up. Nothing dramatic happened, no cheating, lying, or stealing. Just a realization that the two were not well suited to each other.

Years pass. The two see each other occasionally, being that they have mutual friends. While it's not the most comfortable situation on earth, it's not horrible, either.

One day, about four years post break-up (timeline is iffy, bear with me), Buster tells Bella how disappointed he is that she has never helped him with his debt. Bella retorts "why, Buster, we broke up a zillion years ago! Surely it's not still my responsibility to help you with debt accrued before we were even together!"

Buster disagrees. Buster insists. Buster wants money from Bella. Bella brings up all the ways she thinks their relationship evened out, money-wise, in the past, but Buster was not having it. Bella brings up that they both have new lives and this is not how the world works; Buster disagrees.

Bella wonders why Buster has waited so long to bring this up. Bella then finds out that Buster has proposed to his current girlfriend (rings are expensive!).

Debate ensues.

So we ask: does Bella owe Buster money after the fact? Many years after? Tell us. If she does, that's cool, too. Bella can take it.