I Wanna Hold Your Hand

This week has found me more wiped of energy than usual--so I guess it's a good thing I'm going to the doctor on Monday to talk about my chronic sleepiness. But! Since last we blogged, much has happened.

The Green Team (my kickball team) won the division championships! We got a trophy and everything. And we're still doing really well in our fall season. Yuval and I went to see his friend Elaine perform in a cabaret concert that was raising money for a new piano at a UU church. The amazing thing about her performance was not only her voice, but the fact that just the day before she had been bedridden from a spinal tap (lumbar puncture for those of us who watch House) gone wrong. That's right, the hospital messed up the endgame and spinal fluid started leaking into her back, which they had to stop by forming a blood clot via 9 tubes inserted at various places on her body. Oh, and she still had the migraine she'd been living with all week before that. She almost passed out a few times during the show, but she managed to make it all the way through--but she couldn't bow at the end, because it hurt way too much to bend her back.

Talk about dedication to your art!

The week of the 21st wasn't packed full of activities, though I did see more of my Boston crowd than I have in recent times. I continued in my new swimming routine, much to my delight. Yuval and I hunkered down on that Thursday to watch the presidential debate, which turned out to be much less exciting than everyone was anticipating. All polls pointed to Obama as the winner, but even if he hadn't been the "clear victor", a tie in a foreign policy debate would have been a win for Obama and a loss for McCain anyway. Both debators made good arguments at points, and both succumbed to punching out a few low blows. Overall, though, I was more impressed with Obama because he stayed cool and collected and, unlike McCain, didn't begin all his answers with an insult about his opponent.

That Thursday was also Tani's (Yuval's mom) birthday, which meant that Saturday morning saw us over at his parents' house for the delicious brunch that has become their traditional way of celebrating a birthday. Lox, bagels, eggs, bread, mackeral, tomatoes, cheeses, and pastries--so yummy! That night we had planned a movie date night so we could watch one of the movies on our Movie List: The Godfather. I had never seen all of it, and he found this to be a crime, so I got it from the library. I loved it, but for my full thoughts read my review. We also started watching Arrested Development on Hulu, and now I'm totally hooked. Why the show was cancelled I'll never understand. The movie watching continued on Sunday, when we watched Brazil, Terry Gilliam's most famous film. Again, I loved it, and again, you can read my review for my deeper thoughts. Of course, more Arrested Development was watched.

Having a fairly lazy weekend was a nice change of pace after having completely full weekends for so many weeks. I highly recommend it.

Monday the 29th was supposed to see me at my first Chinese class, but it was Rosh Hoshannah and I celebrated with Yuval's family instead. And I'm so glad I did! It's an awesome holiday, very happy, and filled with yummy food that all revolves around apples and honey (the theme foods for the holiday). I discovered my new favorite (healthy!) snack: apple slices with honey. Delicious! We retired early because it was a school night and both of us were exhausted to boot.

Tuesday I was supposed to see a free sneak preview of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist with Margaret, but even though we got there at 7:15 for an 8:00 show all the seats had been taken. It was a promotional event that I found out about in the Metro, and they warned that more seats were "sold" than available, but still! 45 minutes before the show! It was especially disappointing because, since we've both read the book, we were so eager to see how it was adapted to the big screen. Discouraged but not disheartened, we instead purchased tickets to The Duchess (with Keira Knightley), expecting a fun, corset-ripping costume drama. Well, it was corset-ripping, but fun and a costume drama it was not. However, it was extremely good and I highly recommend it, despite the media's lukewarm reviews. It will certainly make you happy you are not a woman living in 18th century England. For my thoughts, again, read my review.

Kickball got rained out last night, which was fine for me since I had the worst of all days yesterday. I signed up for Peapod, a grocery delivery service, since there is no (open) grocery near me that's T-accessible. Not understanding that I had to be physically home to accept the delivery, I scheduled it for the night Mags and I were to see the movie. I left a note for the driver as well as a tip, but came home to find the note/tip gone and no groceries. I called Peapod the next day, expecting to arrange another delivery attempt, only to be told that I would be charged a $50 restocking fee for not being home and forcing them to take the groceries back. What?! I explained what happened, the lady I was speaking to sympathized, and she managed to find out that driver had in fact left my order at my house. Now the only explanations were that it was stolen (not likely in my neighborhood) or one of my housemates took them inside by mistake. She said she would call me back when she had spoken to the driver and found out exactly where he had left my order, but only after did I realize that my phone was nearly out of battery and my charger was at Yuval's, across town. Oy vey! I resolved to get it after work.

I got home, and discovered that my kindly upstairs neighbor had merely moved my groceries inside the front entryway of the house so they didn't get rained on. Yuval came over to lend me his phone for the night, but there was no longer an urgent need to have a cell phone. I called Peapod to let them know everything was fine, but decided, since I rented a Zipcar anyway, I could just drive Yuval home, get my charger back, and drop off some overdue DVD's at the Newton library. All went well, until I left Yuval's house: I got turned around trying to find Route 16 West, wasting 20 minutes in rush hour traffic. I got lost several times down streets that had the same name as the ones I was looking for, but finally made it the library at exactly the time I was supposed to have returned the car. Knowing that no one had booked it after me, I decided it would be fine if I was a little late returning it--the library isn't far from the rental garage. But of course, as I had forgotten to print directions from the library to the garage, I got majorly lost, crying in traffic, and ended up returning the car 34 minutes late. I thought it would be fine, no one was there waiting, but Zipcar must have a transmitter or something because they knew exactly how late I was and charged me the $50 late fee accordingly.

I wouldn't have made it back to garage at all if it weren't for Yuval and his patience with giving directions to his hysterical girlfriend. He even left me a message after my phone died (but I had already found my way), making sure I was okay. Have I mentioned how much I love this man? After I got home, plugged my phone in to charge, and had a bowl of cereal (since I hadn't eaten dinner), I watched the season premiere of Ugly Betty, which cheered me considerably. Then I washed my hair with my new, totally natural shampoo w/vinegar rinse (it's really good, I highly recommend it!), and went to bed at 11:30pm.

I'm exhausted today, but in relatively better spirits. And the VP debate is tonight, so that should prove entertaining/infuriating!

Oh! And for those who are still at Kenyon or around the area: I will be visiting February 13th-16th. I wish I could come the following weekend so I could see Ken and Griffin's theses, but I can't. So put it on your calendar, Kenyonites! :o)

Seen
The Godfather
Brazil
Arrested Development: Season One