I intended to finish some work from home tonight, but that’s just not happening.

I intended to write something here that would be funny (or amusing at the very least) but that’s also not happening.

We had a department dinner at Cookshop and it was quite tasty and I’m quite stuffed and quite sleepy. I had a delicious cocktail - their Herbal Sour, which is made with Veloce herbal liqueur, rosemary, thyme (a fresh sprig or two as garnish, btw), fresh citrus and bitters. In the food arena: a lovely purslane salad with blueberries, hazelnuts and a champagne vinaigrette, then a NY strip steak with grilled peppers and chimichurri sauce, along with a carrot, radish and pistachio slaw. Dessert = grilled market peaches with saffron semolina cake, vanilla ice milk and ginger crumble. TASTY.

I hate to say it, but I think I’m even too tired and on the verge of food coma to read. It might be a movie night. I’m thinking classic - and I’m thinking noir. Perhaps Double Indemnity? Or Gilda?

Decisions, decisions. I might drop off to sleep before the end of the first scene, so it doesn’t matter all that much.

I love sleep.

My friend Sara wrote a review of Siren Festival and it’s up on PopMatters, with a little gallery of my photos from Siren. For which I got a photo credit! It’s very exciting. We were emailing about it way early this morning and it started my day off juuuuust right.

It’s especially nice because it’s Sara’s piece and I like it. She’s able to write about music without sounding like a 12-year with a crappy thesaurus (which is my impression of my ability to write reviews of just about anything…)

I just realized that might sound like a back-handed compliment. The point is that I like her writing style. She wrote another piece reviewing the Grand Archives playing at Johnny Brenda’s in Philly (where she tells me I must go sometime to see a show - and I intend to. It’s just a matter of finding a friggin’ weekend where I’m not scrambling to play catch-up with the stuff I didn’t get to do during the week. Ugh!). Sara and her friend Kaleb also have a great blog — ASYNDETON — on Tumblr (link also on my blogroll).

It’s a great name for a blog.

Why?

Because.

Here’s a definition of asyndeton: “a stylistic scheme in which conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples are veni, vidi, vici and its English translation ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ Its use can have the effect of speeding up the rhythm of a passage and making a single idea more memorable.”

And reading that phrase brings this song to mind. It’s absolutely grown on me. I like to turn this shiz up in the car and drive around like a moron, slapping my hand back and forth on the steering wheel.

Veni Vidi Vici -Black Lips

Tonight, I (mostly) ran my first 5K (well, 3.5 miles so 5.63 kilometers) as part of the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge. I signed up with my company and was one of 15,000 people from various companies who completed the course through Central Park.

I had to slow down to a walk more often than I would’ve liked since my allergies were bothering me and my throat was burning. I now have a nice cough and post-nasal drip to show for it, though. Still, I managed to finish 3.5 miles in just under 47 minutes, meaning that I’m doing a 13-minute mile when I split it between walking and running.

Afterward, a bunch of us went over to a pub to get some food and drinks. We got there about 8:10. They didn’t start serving us food until 9:40, at which time I had to leave to get to the subway (at 77nd and Lex) and take the 6 down to Astor Place (down by my old NYU stomping grounds) to get to the 9th Street PATH and take that back to NJ to get back to my car in Hoboken before the parking garage closed at 11. I got my car at 10:48.

So, until I had some of this peanut butter and jelly sandwich 3 minutes ago, I hadn’t eaten real food (Gatorade and a Special K bar don’t count) since lunch at noon, and had done a 5K in between. I have no appetite, but I ate half of the sandwich so that I don’t wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pains (it’s happened before when I told myself it was too late to eat dinner and skipped it after a day of physical exertion).

I’m glad that I did it, because I proved to myself that I could. But I’m angry that I couldn’t run the whole time because of my allergies. This just means I’ll be working to prove that on the treadmill - which won’t be hard because the treadmill is not asphalt, it doesn’t have hills, it’s not humid and covered in 15,000 other runners, and I can watch TV while I’m at it and not pay attention to how far I’ve gone or how fast I’m going.

Yes, it was good to do, but everything hurts (despite my stretching) and I am not feeling as tired or clear-headed as I thought I would in the aftermath. But that’s my problem, isn’t it?

I don’t feel as though I have much to write about right now. And I don’t have any new pictures to post.

I could mention how much I enjoy my new cell phone.

I could mention that I went climbing tonight and seemed to be getting back into my groove and that my back will certainly hurt tomorrow.

I could mention that I signed up for my company’s corporate challenge walk/run taking place on Thursday and that while I am having second thoughts, I think a 3.5 mile run is quite manageable and I will do it.

I could mention that I’m very stressed and tired and have been getting headaches every day for the last four days.

I could mention how happy I was when a friend complimented me on the photos I’ve been posting lately.

I could mention the books I read this weekend - there were several - and talk about the new one I’m really enjoying.

I could whine about my currently re-emerging headache.

However, I don’t really want to write about any of these at length. I’m tired and know that I won’t sleep for a bit yet since my mind is speeding and awake. It’s partially due to the soda I had at dinner because my headache was so bad, I resorted to caffeine to help me over the hump.

Ah well. As Miss Scarlett said, “After all… tomorrow is another day.”

This week seems interminably long, even in light of a half-day at work tomorrow and a day off on Monday. It’s just been chock-full of activity - possibly because one of my co-workers is on maternity leave and the other is on vacation. This might just be me catching the overflow, but I’m thinking it’s something more. This doesn’t feel temporary.

But I’m feeling good in a small-scale philanthropic way because I just donated some moneys (not a lot, but apparently their most popular pledge amount) to my local public radio station during their pledge drive. I was going to forgo the thank you gift (another tote bag?) but then I saw that I had the option to get an iPod cover. I’ve been looking for a new iPod cover. So I’ll have this (mildly pretentious) cover in a few weeks:

I might have to start putting some of their podcasts on my iPod just so the inside matches the outside. Right now, my radio listening is NPR (WNYC, more appropriately), the oldies station (rarely now because DJs really annoy the crap out of me these days), or my iPod. That’s it.

I don’t think I’m alone in these listening habits - it’s a bit of the DVR/TiVo mentality:

a) I don’t want commercials
b) I want to hear/see what I want when I want it
c) I’m willing to pay a little more for this privilege (which is a little f’ed up if you think about, but it’s modern life - we pay a lot to maintain our respective levels of peace and quiet in life)

And now, I think I’m going to go by my local bagel shop and get a bagel before I catch my train. It’s a rainy morning and I’m feeling tired, but OK.

Once more into the fray!

Kind of well. My stomach is not pleased with the amount of food I placed into it this evening. It was a bit more than it’s been used to lately. But it was a business dinner - the restaurant had a three-course prix fixe thing going on… what’s a girl to do?

My workday was exceptionally long-feeling and, frankly, a bit overwhelming. Not to the point of tears or anything, but I haven’t multi-tasked like that or accomplished so much in so little time (or started so much in so little time) in a few months. And it’s not like I’ve been sitting at my desk twiddling my thumbs over the last few months either. Therefore, a business dinner with a small group of people I enjoy was just what the doctor ordered.

We went to Tabla. Mmmm, tasty.

First off, signature cocktail: the Tablatini. Imagine if you will: Skyy Citrus with Lemongrass-Infused Fresh Pineapple Juice. Served in a martini glass with a shoot of lemongrass resting atop it, piercing a wedge of pineapple. Points for presentation and many more points for taste.

I started off with the braised duck samosa, served over a salad of shaved fennel, orange & pea tendrils. That was mighty tasty. Since my colleagues had all decided upon fish for their main courses by this point, we ordered a bottle of white wine - Vouvray, Prince Poniatowsky, “Clos Baudoin” 1989. I had a glass before I started my main course just to get a taste - a mite sweet, but very good. And I’m not usually a fan of white wine.

I moved onto chili rubbed hanger steak & braised short ribs of beef with purple Adirondack potatoes and baby spinach. This was some red meat heaven. Prepared medium rare (my preferred level of done-ness) so it looked lovely on my plate as well - red and purple and brown and green… rich jewel tones, really. Aesthetically quite pleasing.

In between courses, we discussed our ethical issues (or lack thereof) with eating things like foie gras and veal, and how our connection with cats and dogs is the only thing that saves them from being food-stuff, talked about playing the ukulele and ukulele festivals, documentaries and the Anglican church, then drifted into talking about work, then forked off to talk about Facebook and Twitter first in a work capacity and then in a personal… and it was soon time for dessert.

When the dessert menu arrived, there was really only one thing I could pick - not because there weren’t other delicious options, but because I am obsessed. With crème brûlèe. If it’s on a menu, I am ordering it. Period, end of story. A lot of that has to do with Amelie - but not all of it. I’m not that easily influenced and shallow. There is something romantic (in a poetic old-timey way, not a bouquet of roses way) about the cracking of the caramelized sugar. Mmmmm. But there it was: coconut crème brûlèe with carrot cake, tamarind sauce, coconut ice cream and carrot sorbet.

And I am so full now, and so tired, and still have a bit of work to do from home. But it’s well worth it after this tastiness.

My friend Sara was up visiting the NY metro area this weekend, so she came into Manhattan yesterday morning and spent the majority of the day with me. We had tea, walked a bit, did some shopping, walked some more, took the dog I’m sitting for on a super long walk in the park, ate some yummie vegan-friendly foods and had more tea.

Throughout the day, we were both finding it difficult to think of the words we wanted to use - this resulted in made-up words (I’d call them neologisms - but I’m pretty sure they’re not real), saying the wrong words (but knowing what we meant) and just lots of “I know this!” moments/”tip of the tongue” syndrome (lethologica if you can’t remember the right word; anomia is a more severe version of this that comes with aphasia - impairment of speech due to brain damage). In both our cases, this was due to lack of quality restful sleep - and I find that’s the first manifestation of sleep deficit in my world. All this week I’ve been struggling to think of words - words like “attrition” and “tomb”, for example.

Today, I’ve been feeling gross and headachey, so aside from walking the dog, my activities have included watching movies, reading and doing NYT crossword puzzles. Between last night and now, I’ve watched “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (impressed), “Juno” (underwhelmed), “Hairspray” (surprised), “Bride and Prejudice” (Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice - Naveen Andrews line-dancing = strangely hot), and, randomly, the E! True Hollywood Story of the Kardashian family (because I thought to myself, “What the hell are they actually famous for? I’m still asking the same question…).

Aside from seeing Sara, these are all just empty diversions and I am aware of it. I spoke with my mother in Poland today; amidst everything else, she had forgotten it was Mother’s Day. The service for my grandfather is tomorrow, and I lost it a little when she told me about picking out the urn (he wanted to be cremated, so that was done on Friday) and going over home renovation plans with my grandmother to make sure that she’s safe now that she’s going to be alone (another hard realization).

She mentioned to me that she’s reminded of my grandfather everywhere she looks… when coming back from a cousin’s house last night, she looked up at the balcony of my grandparents’ home where my grandmother and grandfather would always stand and wait for us when we were arriving from the airport or from being out somewhere anytime we came to visit. We would pull up and they would be standing up there together, waving down at us and smiling. I can see them; it’s an extremely vivid memory. Now, she said, it was just my grandmother standing there waving to them - and I can’t write about that anymore.

And this is probably too personal for the direction I want to be heading here, too much information, and I think I shall end this post now.

I think I’ve chosen one of my “weekend in NYC” activities: The Brooklyn Museum’s Murakami exhibit.

I’ve never been to that museum and my Brooklyn experience totals three (3) visits, so it would be an adventure on more than one count.

Anime-inspired art? Yes, thank you. A retrospective of the artist’s development from traditional Japanese painting to modern pop culture flavored works? Totally.

“A Japanese girl jumping a rope created by milk spurting from her gargantuan breasts…” - not so much, but I’m sure it’ll look amazing. And give me a whole new mental picture when my friend talks about breast-feeding her impending child.

I’m finally getting a bit caught up on my RSS feeds. I haven’t had much time or desire to read through, so there are literally thousands of posts to read. Some are just getting skipped since they’re from before I went on vacation in late April. However, here are some things I found interesting, compelling, or otherwise worth sharing:

1. A three-dimensional exploration of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica.
2. Craftzine’s instructions on decorating office supplies with fabric.
3. A product that appeals to me in so many ways: a gizmo that creates perfectly spherical ice “cubes” - or, um, ice spheres, I guess.
4. An article in The New Yorker (via Bella Sugar) about how even Dove’s “real beauty” ad campaign makes liberal use of photo retouching done by a premiere photo retoucher who works for all the big magazines and ad agencies. Not surprising, but f’ed up nonetheless.
5. A post from BiblioAddict about buying a book for its cover. It’s saying basically what I was going to say about Michael Chabon’s Maps and Legends. I bought this book for the dustjacket (or jackets - there are three, ingeniously designed and cut to produce a stunning package). I also really liked The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and the first 60 pages of this (his first non-fiction) book are phenomenal. I’ll pick up The Yiddish Policeman’s Union next week since it’s in paperback now and is supposed to be fantastic, as well. But really, look at Maps and Legends:
   

From YesButNoButYes, a video that made me crack a smile. Despite this week’s ick, a splitting sinus/pressure headache and neck pain and a general sense of malaise resulting from a crappy morning commute.

Also - it’s funny because it’s true: