Lost Without Lost

Well, I missed Lost yesterday.
Why, you ask?
Because our damn $100 per month Time Warner Cable was out. And of course that includes the internet as well. So there was very little in the form of entertainment at the Lozer home last night. Don't forget everything is packed in boxes.
I am so pissed we missed it. A week is a long time to wait to find out the latest. Now we have to wait for the encore presentation on Saturday night. 3 more damn days.

So since we were totally without TV last night, there was only one thing left to do go. Go out to dinner and drink. Wine for me. Beer for him. At Itzocan. The GREAT restaurant on the corner that I discussed in a previous post. I had the roast duck and Bas, the steak. The decor in this tiny restaurant leaves a lot to be desired, but the food is fabulous. And I know fabulous food.

Something worries me. Our new landlord, Kim is not on top of her game. We haven't yet recieved the key for our new apartment and she doesn't seem to have a clear plan on when or how to give it to us. It's sooo annoying. She moved to Washington DC and she said she would be driving to New Jersey today and would make plans to meet up to give us the key. Well, it's 3pm and still no word. And if this was an isolated event, that would be fine, but it's not. We always have to end up calling her even if she says she'll call. Then we start to feel like pests. But she drives us to this behavior.
We need that key by Saturday, which is when we are contracted to move in. We have the cable guy coming and furniture being delivered. Today is Thursday. She lives inDC. She hasn't mailed it like she originally said she would, so SHE has it in her possession now. See the issue? It's too late to mail it. Today would be the very last day to FedEx it. She is a very, very flaky person. Really annoying.
So, I am going to stop typing for a minute and call her. Then I'll report what happened.....

Well, she now says that either she will drop off the key to our house tonight or tomorrow morning at my job. I don't trust that becuz she hasn't come through on her word yet. Not once. I even offered to come and pick it up but she said she wouldn't be home tonight. Sounds awfully fishy to me.
Bas read an article in the paper about a scam where people act as if they have an apartment available, collect the security deposit and first month's rent and then haul ass. With your money. And the fact that she already cashed our check is really quite unnerving. In my mind she shouldn't have cashed it until the 15th. But whatever.
So, I just called my dad, who is a house appraiser and had him check to make sure Miss Kim really owned this apartment. And she does. At least that is a little bit of a relief. But still, I could see her getting half way to DC tomorrow and saying, "Oh darn it, I forgot to drop the key off." This of course would be after we called her.

I have a pretty sound theory. What do you think?:

I think she smokes pot. And maybe that is a reason for her short term memory shit. When we looked at the place, I noticed some rolling papers on the table by her bed. Plus, when we met her fiancee, he was sportin' some long ass dreds. Not that either one of those things in-and-of-itself points to a pot smoker. But all of these clues taken as a whole are really starting to add up.
And as a reformed, habitual, daily pot smoker (for like 15 years), I am hip to the forgetfullness that stuff can bring to your world.
An example of just thatis this:
Back in the day, I would set something (let's say money for lunch) by the door five minutes before I was about to leave my house-so that I wouldn't forget it, of course. Go, brush my teeth or put on my shoes, and walk right past that money and right out the door.
My motto, which I actually stole from my girl Lisa was...."If I haven't come back, I haven't really left yet."
But good news to any habitual, daily pot smokers out there...when you quit, that fog head DOES go away and you will regain your ability to remember things.

On that note, I'm out.

How Thou Art Our Brother?

The rain is coming down so hard today in New York that it almost looks like snow. But it isn't cold enough to snow as of yet. It was raining yesterday too so Bas and I have had to postpone our car shopping excursion.

So instead yesterday we packed up a bunch more stuff in boxes.
We threw away a ton of stuff too. Including shoes and clothes. A feat that has been very difficult for Bas and I both in the past. We got rid of two huge bags of shoes. And when we took it out to the garbage, the junkies were there to scoop it up. With the quickness.
There is this one junkie Bas and I refer to as "our brother" because he looks like he could be mixed with black and white. And I am black, Bas is white. You see? So our brother was LOVING us last night with all his new shoes. He was dancing and singing a song while digging through the bag. He had all the shoes sprawled out on the sidewalk matching up the pairs. They were all in really good condition.
And we also threw out a down comforter. He was all, "is this down? I'm taking this to the cleaner." Getting rid of it was difficult too but since we haven't used the thing in the last 2 years, we decided to let go. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

And because of all the (good) junk, the other junkies were diving through the garbage late last night again. Remember my complaints about the noise? And I had to yell throught the intercom, "Will you please let us sleep?"
And the woman junkie was all, "Sorry. Let me just get a few things from this trash, then I'm out."
Ahhhh! These are the stories we'll be telling our kids about later.

Two really great shows on Tuesday night.....My Name is Earl and The Office. Both comedies that are different than anything made before. You should check them out.

Tonight's show is Lost. Very excited for that one. We didn't watch Lost when it first started. I wasn't so interested in it. Then, by default (becuz good TV was scarce in the summertime) we got sucked into the summer reruns. And we are now hooked.
It's nice to be able to watch some shows with Bas, because that man is one sports loving freak.
Football, basketball, hockey, baseball, golf.....and yes, even damn poker. Then once all the games are over he watches people talk about it. For hours.
I never in a million years thought I would ever be with a dude who watches sports. My brother and dad didn't watch sports and I never dated a sports watching guy before. Didn't think I could handle it. Actually despised guys who watched sports. And now look at me, I married the opitome of a sports addict. I guess you never know, huh?

i've got to take off and buy some candy. Having that craving.

My Inadequacies, Obsessions and Ailments....

My job is definitely feast or famine. Some days I am near tears because I am so busy. Other days I am messing around all day on the internet not doing a stitch of work. Today is a situation of the latter.
I just wish I could figure out this freaking blog stuff. I am so lost, it's not even funny. I've been trying to read all of the help subjects and I am just more confused now. I wrote a post yesterday and I can't get the damn thing to publish, for some reason. But I guess like anything else, you'll learn as you go along. But it is quite frustrating, nonetheless. The first time I posted, everything went swimmingly. I was all, "Wow. This is pretty easy. I can dig it." Then the second post causes all these problems. Errors. And I guess I don't really understand what a blog is. Is it the whole site-with posts on it? Or is each post considered a blog?
And to add pictures? Oh hells no. I'm gonna stay away from that for a while. That whole process lookes a little too daunting.
Well, onto my non-blogging life......Bas and I are going to go car shopping today. We will almost certainly purchase a Toyota. I believe they are the most relaible cars ever made. At one time 4 of the 5 driving age people in my family alll owned Toyotas. My best friend Anthony had a Tercel. My parents are still driving the ones they bought like 50 years ago. My favorite is the Toyota Avalon. I rented one once and I wanted to move into it. It was so large and luxurious. Like a small apartment without the old man biggness on the outside.
We are also going to get purchase our coffee table today. Finally. An all glass number we found at Jennifer Leather/Convertible. The same place we just bought a couch. However, the best furniture store in New York City (and we have visited MANY in the last 2 weeks) is Maurice Villency visit the website: http://www.mauricevillency.com/. Better yet, if you live in NYC, visit the showroom it's a real sight to behold. He makes the most delicious furniture. It isn't cheap but you would probably keep it long enough to pass on to your grandkids, so in that sense it's worth it. When I buy a home, I will purchase a piece from there like once a year or so. It's the stuff most folks have to save up for.
You know yesterday the landlord knocks on our door. And my husband I are so damn gay that we both ran into the bedroom laughing a rolling around on the bed like two idiots. Why? I just don't know. Finally, I pushed him toward the door to answer it. The dude wants to show our apartment while we still live there. Is that normal? We are paid up until November 1st, so in my mind-Keep out until then. Unless you want to give a discount. I don't want to have to clean my house (in the middle of moving) so strangers can come traipsing through our shit. I have an obsession to clean for guests. It could be my best friend, anyone in my family, the pest control guy, the refrigerator repairman. Hell, one day Bas had bad pains in his stomach and I had to call the ambulance. Before they got there, I was straight up running around picking stuff up. It makes me uncomfortable for anyone to see my house untidy. I prefer to keep that as our "dirty litlle secret." Get it? Dirty? Like the house is dirty? And so is the secret. He he. We said yes, but I think I am going to change my mind. I have enough to worry about with the move.

So okay this will be the last subject on this here blog. Or post. What the hell ever. I have been suffering from a cyst on my wrist for like the past six weeks or so. At first I thought it was carpal tunnel or repetitive strain injury. Until one day I flipped my wrist down and noticed a boulder in it. My mom, sister and brother all had the same thing. So, I went on the internet to do some reasearch on it.
By the way, internet researching of ailments can be a friend or a foe. I once convinced myself I had leukemia when I had really just (well not "just" because it was very painful) slipped a joint in my back called the sacrum. It's the joint that holds the tailbone to the spine. But because nerves were being pinched, I was feeling numbness and pain all down the backs of my legs and in my butt. WebMD said those were some of the symtoms linked to Leukemia. So there you go. I thought I was dying until I saw a real doctor and he gave me the real news.

So, the cyst. The cyst is called a ganglion cyst. They aren't sure what causes it, but apparently many people get it. You can either wait for it to go down and hope it doesn't come back, or have it surgically removed and it shouldn't ever come back.
Then there's the old fashioned method.
And that is to slam it with a book. Yes, really. That is how people used to cure this thing. Now of course surgeons want to make money off of surgery so they don't, uh hem, recommend that anymore. Instead they would rather put you under anethesia (chance of dying), and you have to recover for 3-4 weeks and hope when you heal everything is the same. And if you have a job that requires tying, like me-it's not good.
So my brother opted for the book method to got rid of his, at the advice of his doctor. He used a phone book and a friend who was willing to hit him really hard. He recovered in two minutes and hasn't had a problem since.
My mom's cyst popped while opening a bottle. My sister still suffers with it swelling up from time to time.
Me? I will not agree to surgery, but I am not opposed to the book method. It's alot less invasive. And my brother said he's extremely happy that he did it.
But I meet people all the time who have had the same thing. I am wearing a wrist splint and I am asked a lot, "What happened to your wrist?" When I tell them 4 of 5 people say to me, "Oh I had one too."
Thank goodness the swelling is starting to go away and I can use my right hand again to do simple tasks. Like sign my name. And just in time for the big move. Thank God. Otherwise my huband would have been cursing me silently in his head the whole time as he'd be packing and carrying everything himself.
I love him. He's the best.

Halloween. Cold weather. Moving.

It's right around the corner. My favorite holiday, ever! I love having the ability to dress up and be someone or somethinng else for an evening. I'm always contemplating my "character" at least a month before October 31st and I ALWAYS make my costume. I didn't dress up last year because my fiancee was apprehensive about it. Afraid he would feel like an ass. So I agreed to just go out without a costume (first time in like 10 years). And after we were out, he wished we had dressed up. Which is what I had hoped for. So, two years ago I was a can of whoop-ass. I made the costume myself and managed to win a costume contest. I won a free dinner once a week for a year at this neighborhood bar. And since I was a college student, damn that came in handy. This year I think I am going to go with the Corpse Bride. And my new husband Bas (we were married in May) will accompany me as the groom. My husband, Bas never dressed up for Halloween before me, but that will change. He's Dutch and they don't really make a big deal of Halloween in the Netherlands. My mission in life, well one mission, is to get him to love Halloween and getting dressed up as much as I do.

A Side Note......It was a cold and wet one in NYC over the weekend. I'm a Florida girl with very thin blood and this will be my second winter (brrrr!) in New York. I'm having major anxiety issues about the impending cold.

Bas and I are moving to New Jersey next weekend. The apartment is going to be larger and much quieter. Right now our crib is in Spanish Harlem and it really is the size of a baby's crib. And it's on the first floor in the front of the building, so we hear all the hood rats out on the stoop howling and yapping all night long. I know I'm getting old becuz now I'm calling the cops on the kids. But the most devastating about this apartment is the lack of a dishwasher. It's like living in the 1960's. And I hate, hate, hate doing dishes. The new place is equiped with a new dishwasher and an eat-in kitchen. Now we have to eat on our laps becuz we can't fit a table.

But I must admit I will miss our old 'hood. Oh, the memories. It does have it's charm. The junkies. The dealers. The shit on the ground from lazy asses that refuse to pick up crap balls after their dogs. The Mexicans with families of sixteen or more. And can't forget about rats that run before your feet when you are coming home at night.
But really, it ain't that bad. I've never seen any major trouble there. No shootings or robberies. And it's only two short blocks to a major subway line (4,5,6). It's a 1o-minute walk to Central Park. There is a fabulous restaurant-Itzocan right on the corner. Cheap launderers, so I don't have to do my second most hated chore. We outsource it. The delis are fairly inexpensive by New York standards. Grocery stores are everywhere. There is usually parking on the streets. And the rent is mad cheap. It's allowed us to save up a boatload of money for our future home. And that is despite spending about $9,000 on our wedding back in May.

We'll be refurnishing the new place. We bought an eggshell colored leather couch from Jennifer Leather-with reclining chairs on both ends. And a new beautiful area rug. It's from a line called the Andy Warhol collection. Given that he's dead, it's a given that he didn't design it himself, but it is inspired from his pop-art paintings. It's got cool shapes and colors. Very hip.

Check it out: http://www.rugs-direct.com/menus/colors_1.asp?Style=75701&Color=119464&Jump=No

Now we just have to get a coffee table, bookshelf and my husband's obsession-a fish tank then we're good to go. It's awesome getting new shit for a new home.
Oh and last thing to mention, we'll be buying a car in a few short weeks. That's gold. Nothing like being mobile. We'll probably be looking into a used Toyaota Corolla or Camry. Something that's reliable and cheap on gas. By the way, I don't know what the hell I'm doing on this blog spot, so I don't have pictures and I keep screwing everything up. Patience. Patience. I'll get it right some day.