I haven’t had much time to write. It’s OK. Actually doing stuff is a nice change from writing about wanting to do stuff, yes? Anyway, there’s been a fair amount of goodness going on and, being who I am, I am already worried about the withdrawal symptoms that will “rear their heads” (to quote from my new friend Pay-Pay, my affectionate-sounding nickname for Sarah Palin) once the fun is over. But that will have to wait. Here’s the coolness:

Earlier this month (October 2), saw Fleet Foxes in Philly (with my friends LJ and Sara). Their set was just lovely… lovely, lovely, lovely. Pardon the floweriness, but their voices and harmonies are just heavenly. The opening act, whom I shall call “Hipster with Banjo” - not so much. There are several videos from that show on YouTube - here’s one of their song “Mykonos”. You have to ignore some of the audience sing-along:

Yeah - so this was at the Starlight Ballroom. Beforehand, we got some tasty dinnerness at the Silk City Diner and some gelato at Capogiro. Mmmmm, tasty.

Later that weekend, there was some small-scale bar-hopping in Brooklyn. If hopping can be applied to going to one bar, walking a block away to another bar and then heading back to bar #1. The two bars - Union Pool and Fette Sau. Fette Sau is, strictly speaking, a barbecue joint. A barbecue joint with a smoker capable of “slow-cooking 700 pounds of meat at a time”. AT A TIME. We walked in and the smell of smokey mesquite and meat was just divine. Unfortunately, they were no longer serving food. Fortunately, they were still serving alcohol, so we had some rye (Michter’s?).

‘Twas my first experience with rye (and probably only my third or fourth encounter with the bourbon/whiskey family) and it was pleasant and without embarrassing after-effects. Honestly, those labels on meds that say you shouldn’t drink while taking them aren’t joking. While on my meds, I would have one glass of wine or one mixed drink and feel a bit rosy and sleepy already, even if I nursed that one drink forever. Sans medication, a vodka tonic here and a pour of rye there… and I was clear and good and not laughing inappropriately or anything.

Also that weekend, I saw Religulous. I’ve heard various criticisms - that said, I liked it. A lot. You sort of know what to expect from Bill Maher… he’s going to be asking questions, poking fun, potentially offending people… but all in all, he’s bringing forth some interesting truths, whether or not you enjoy the way they’re elicited. Here’s a clip from The Daily Show:

Finally, I also got to see Blindness. This got a bit of a negative response from film critics. One of those reviews was co-opted as my Facebook status message for a bit:

[Blindness is] supposed to work as an allegory for urban alienation, but soon begins to feel like an exploitation horror with pretensions of being more.

Let me first say that I read the book by Jose Saramago several years ago and re-read it a good 7 or 8 months ago when I heard the movie was in production. I really enjoy the book. I gave it to a work-friend as a Christmas gift and she liked it until a certain point where she couldn’t read it anymore, saying, “Eva, there’s just too much shit.” Meaning actual shit - fecal matter that the characters are forced to walk through/avoid. I advised her to view it as metaphorical shit, but I think people’s squeamishness and willingness to deal with quantities/levels of shit varies greatly.

That said, the movie was much cleaner than the book. I didn’t for a moment see it as an exploitation horror. It wasn’t “harrowing” or “difficult to watch”, which was other criticism leveled against it. I thought it was really well-shot (dare I say, beautifully?), with a good sense of the story; it did a fantastic job of heightening my awareness of my own sight while I was watching a bleak world of fumbling blind people. I thought it was quite good. Also, not one, but both of the friends with whom I saw it liked it. So there, critics. Moderately intelligent lay-people have spoken (and I even took a few film courses back in my NYU days, so I can throw that into the mix, if needed).

That’s some catch-up from a while ago. It’s been crazy lately. I’ve been feeling close to crazy lately. There’s much going on with work and home and friends and work (again). I’m traveling for work later next week and I need to borrow a laptop from one of my siblings (it’s something I need to buy for myself but cannot currently afford). I’ll be in Houston for work next Friday through Monday. Without a computer, I will be a bit of a wreck. For serious.

While some of the fun has been missing from shopping lately (and by lately, I mean the last three years or so), I generally find something to enjoy when I pop into a Target store. Tonight, I was happy to find these gloriously cool semi-ugly socks. Houndstooth AND argyle? I might take a page from my friend Sara’s playbook and wear an argyle on one foot and a houndstooth on the other. Or perhaps mix up the purple and orange. I just don’t know - it’s so crazy, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN.

was telling a friend at work about my weekend in Philly; she remarked (not at all unkindly), “you had quite the hipster weekend!”

I will recount the stories of my annoying travel at a later time; it’s over, I got there and back safely, with my head intact despite a voyage on a Greyhound bus. And a BoltBus. I did both and neither experience was particularly good. At all. ANYWAY.

After arriving in Philadelphia at 10pm on Friday night, that night was spent eating and talking with my friend Sara - and her cat Gus. Here is a small photo of Gus. He’s photo-worthy, despite his more than slightly cranky-whiny demeanor. He was also uncharacteristically friendly towards me this weekend; normally, he does a sort of bipolar thing where he’s all rubbing up on your leg, seeming to say, “PET ME!” - only to turn on you and hiss the moment you pet him. NOT SO, this weekend. I got to pet Fluffy McCrankyPants several times.

Saturday morning, Sara had a haircut at American Mortals. Their motto,”Mullets, not bullets” sort of says it all. Fun cool hipster hair styling. They’re a bumble & bumble salon, so extra points from me. While Sara got her hairs cut, I sat and observed two stylists figure out how to play rummy 500 or ‘Go Fish’, debate the finer points of cribbage (Ben Franklin’s favorite card game, FYI) and we also discussed knitting, childrens’ books (”Everyone Poops”, “The Gas We Pass”). It was good times.

Then, since we were in the area (that area being the Rittenhouse area of Philly, a well-known shopping area), we decided to do some shopping and get lunch somewhere along Walnut Street. A shop that caught my eye immediately was one called Ten Thousand Villages. They’ve a few locations, but we were at the Philly location. The idea behind this store is that it’s all fair trade goods made by village artisans. I’ll post photos tomorrow, but I found a lovely aqua shawl (to replace the sweatshirt I always put on at work when I’m feeling chilly - this is a far better choice professionally) and a chunky blue/turquoise necklace. Not real turquoise, but I’m OK with that.

We stopped at a few other shops including Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and the farmer’s market at Rittenhouse Square. The Amish were out in full effect with beautiful flowers and produce and brown eggs. I wanted to take photos, but I was conflicted; I wasn’t going to buy any produce since we were going to be walking around for a few more hours and it would get gross and wilted. Knowing that I wouldn’t be buying anything, I felt that photographing their wares would be a bit like theft. Also, I’m just crazy.

After looking at tables and baskets and boxes of beautiful produce and flowers (white eggplant including one that looked like it had a nose, all manner of apples, daisies that looked as though they’d been splattered with red paint - but weren’t), we were pretty damn hungry. Sooo… we walked back down Walnut Street to a lunch spot that had captured our attention later - Maoz Vegetarian. Think of it as Chipotle or Qdoba, but instead of a burrito, it’s falafel on a pita. There’s a fixins’ bar where you can top off your falafel and pita with tasty veggie toppings like pickled baby eggplant, tabouli, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro sauce, hummus, tahini, etc. You get a side of Belgian fries (yes, served in the paper cone; yes, served with the large crunchy salt crystals; yes, covered over with foil). Delicious. I’m excited to see that they have locations in NYC.

We did some more walking and it was getting pretty hot. If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen - or get some GELATO. In this case, gelato from artisans. That’s what the sign says, anyway. The artisans part. Not the kitchen part. Capogiro Gelato. They also have a location or two in NYC. They’ve got lovely flavors like fig, thai coconut milk, peach, blackberry, chocolate with caramelized hazelnuts, dulce de leche… incredible. I had the bolded flavors. Not all on Saturday. Nope. We went back for more on Sunday.

With our tummies full, we took the train back to Sara’s region of Philly. Here’s a shot of the Market East station. I love the color. Shellac-alicious red bench against the green tiles. Mmmmm.

That night, we went to Chestnut Hill, a slightly more yuppie shopping area in Philly. We walked around, but most of the shops were closed since it was after five. So we had dinner. Delicious dinner at a Persian restaurant—Shundeez Persian Restaurant, where I ordered Addas Polo, half of a Cornish game hen served with basmati rice, flavored with lentils, onion, raisins, dates, cinnamon and saffron. It was delicious. Absolutely delicious. Amazingly delicious. I will be working to recreate this dish using couscous. Tomorrow.

We also went to the Borders store there. Sara and I met and became friends when we were both working at a Borders store here in NJ (sigh, in our younger days). When walking out of the Borders, we started singing “Memory.” As in, “from the musical Cats“. As in, “immortalized by Miss Barbra Streisand.” We did it.

Thankfully, the streets were pretty empty and we didn’t end up with a string of alley cats following us back to the car. We went back to her apartment and talked to Gus, had some tea, and started watching Vidor’s Gilda (one of my favorite noir films and one about which I wrote a couple of papers in college film courses). But we were tired and I think Sara nodded off, and I soon thereafter. The next thing I knew, it was Sunday morning.

Speaking of Sunday, I’ll write about that tomorrow. This is a long-ass post and Sunday held magical wonders like the Reading Terminal Market and Laurel Hill Cemetery. And Target, but Target is a sort of everyday magical wonder.

Cleaning is boring me. But I have a few more hours to do this before I join my mother and brother for dinner - and then attend an evening of Chinese music and dance at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ, performed by Divine Performing Arts.

I’m also thinking that on Thursday night (the only night I’ll have free this week) I might do some blog redesign - because CHANGE IS GOOD.

Tomorrow is Monday and I’m already tired thinking about what I’ve got to do this week. I’ve got a conference Monday through Wednesday, and business dinners Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday night is rock-climbing, and Friday after work I’m leaving for Philly to visit my friend Sara. This week I will truly be working for the weekend.

Rather than driving to Philly and dealing with weekend traffic, expensive gas and scarce parking, I’m taking BoltBus down, so I’ll have to report back on that experience. It’s $26 round trip from NYC to Philly, which is about $10 less than what it would cost me in gas, but I’m saving myself some stress - I hope. My friend at work has used BoltBus before and said she liked them better than Vamoose; she’s taken both to D.C. - but only Bolt goes to Philly. It’s also got free wi-fi, but I don’t have a laptop. Ah, well. I’ll have to deal with being disconnected for a brief while. Or, I can update via email from my cell phone. There is a way. It’s magical.

Anyway - that’s what I’ve got heading my way. I’ll definitely be bringing my camera since there’s a beautiful old cemetery (Laurel Hill Cemetery) I want to photograph, as well as the Arboretum at the Barnes Foundation, and just the city of Philadelphia itself.

There, now. Thinking about that is making me feel a little less stressed. I’ll practice with my scripts for the conference when I get home tonight. I want to keep part of this weekend to myself.