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November 24, 2002
Catching up, again
Hey there. I've been meaning to update for ages, but I've been... I don't know. Too lazy. Not in the mood. Feeling the winter doldrums setting in, which makes me cranky and anti-social.
I'm looking forward to the holidays -- on Wednesday, I'll be catching a Greyhound to Vermont to spend Thanksgiving with my mom. My brother will probably have to work, so it looks like it will be just the two of us. My mom's neighbor usually has Thanksgiving dinner with us, since she doesn't have any family in the area -- I had to laugh when I talked to my mom this afternoon, because last year, her naighbor and I had a lively debate about the Harry Potter books. I've read them all multiple times, and love them -- she hadn't read them, because she'd read all the articles proclaiming that the books teach kids to become Satanists. I tried to be gentle with her -- personally, I think people who think that of those books are nitwits. Today, my mom told me that her neighbor read and loved the books, and has the first movie on tape. Hee.
Speaking of Harry Potter, I saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets last night with some friends. I can't wait to see it again -- I thought it was excellent. Much better than the first (and that's saying something, since I loved the first a lot). We met in Kenmore Square to get dinner before the movie -- I took the T, and was very early, but I figured I'd just browse the used record stores I used to frequent when I was in college (those same record stores bought the majority of my high-school tapes and CDs, since I was dreadfully broke in college and would sell just about anything for a few bucks). I got a rude shock when I got off the T, though -- all those places are gone, torn down to make way for a luxury hotel. People were looking at me funny, because I was standing on the sidewalk with my mouth hanging open. The record shops? Gone. The restaurants where my friends and I sat drinking coffee 'til 2 a.m.? Gone. The cheesy sock store/body piercing place? Gone. The only things I recognized were the Store 24 (which has a fond memory attached to it -- I accidentally elbowed Henry Rollins in the butt while in line, in 1992 or '93. I had no idea who he was at the time, but the friends I was with nearly had heart attacks) and the Citgo sign, which looks like shit now -- half the bulbs are burnt out. I understand that things change, but for fuck's sake, I only graduated in 1996. Everything that gave that neighborhood character is gone now, and it sucks.
Anyway. We went to Pizzaria Uno's for dinner, and then hurried off to the theater, getting there just as the trailers started. Lots of crap -- Roberto Begnini (sp?) starring as Pinocchio gave me a bad case of the creeps, and what's with the movie about the kangaroo stealing money? Amidst the crap, though, was the trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The music started, and we all did little happy dances in our seats. I can't wait for December.
We were in the third row, so I got a stiff neck about 15 minutes into the movie, but I didn't care. It was great fun -- I had to cover my eyes at a few points. There were loads of kids in the theater -- the very, very tiny girl sitting next to me had to hide in her mom's lap a few times, but the little boy in front of us fell soundly asleep halfway through the movie. I envy being able to sleep so soundly, no matter where you are, but I bet that kid was disappointed when he woke up in the morning and realized he'd missed the movie. I want to see it again -- mom and I are going to go on Thanksgiving night, I think. She's currently reading the books, since she only read the first one before. She also made me promise to bring my tape of the first one, so we can watch it Wednesday night.
Hmmm, what else... oh, on November 2nd, there was a 3WA gathering in Cambridge. I met up with Claire, Josh, Jeff, Joanne, and PlaidRabbit in Kendall Square, and we headed off to the Cambridge Brewing Company to see Brian, Kethrai, Scarlettbelladonna, Trilobite Cookies, Ethan Quick, Lucy Rhombus, Dancing Fool, and Lucky Strike. (I hope I haven't forgotten anyone, there...) We had way too much fun -- Joanne has photos here, including one of me with at least one chin too many. I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone, alas -- I was too busy catching up with Claire and Josh and Joanne and Plaidy. I miss them a lot -- they're four people who I desperately wish lived closer to Boston. Seeing them once a year isn't enough. I want more!
Work has been a pain in the butt lately -- a couple of weeks ago, we caught a stdent worker fooling around with his library record. He worked for the Humanities library, and would borrow Reserve books from us, keep them for ages past their due date, and then go into his record and delete the overdue fines (something no one is allowed to do, especially the student workers). He also kept changing his permissions so that anything he returned late wouldn't generate a fine. He did all this after stealing his boss's password to the system -- we're hoping he got fired, the little weasel. It's been very busy, and I've been wishing I worked elsewhere, but I haven't seen any good job listings. I think I'm going to wait until the spring to start hunting in earnest -- by them, I think I'll feel better about possibly moving out of New England. Right now, I feel like it would be unfair to my roommate -- he only moved in in August, and I worry about screwing him over by moving out too soon. Plus, I can't afford to move out of state, but that's a whole other ball of angst.
Posted by Mary Ellen at November 24, 2002 10:52 AM