So, as you know, I’m reading a series by Stephen King. And one of the characters was trying to describe something he was seeing and described it like “a scene out of The Shining”. Okay, good description, I knew exactly what he meant. It wasn’t until later when he referenced it again and in more detal (little boy riding trike down the hallway and seeing creepy twin girls) did I realize just how funny it was that Stephen King was referring to another book he had written. But, in an ever odder turn of events, he didn’t reference the actual book. The scene he described wasn’t actually in the book, it was only in the movie. I found that quite strange and funny on Stephen’s part. Just another reason I love this series so far. It’s good stuff and occassionally and unexpectedly ironic. Well played, Mr. King, well played.
If you are thinking this photo of gollum from Lord of the Rings is another random photo, it is not. It’s to tell you that Stephen King used the word “tricksy” in the book I am reading. And as you all know, I love the word “tricksy” and have used it often since hearing it in the LOTR movies. “Tricksy little hobbitses.” It’s a quality word and I was happy to run into it again. Try to use it today. It’s fun to throw in.
I just finished book two in the Dark Tower series and pulled out book three. It’s called The Waste Lands and has train and a skull on the cover. Is there a better recipe for good reading?
Saturday night, as part of the see how much culture we can cram into one week week, Lisa and I went to the ballet. We had a great time. The second part had costumes designed by Oscar de la Renta (only in new york city, folks) and they were beautiful.
It was also the first time since Lisa has been back that we at a meal “lisa and brianne style” which means we go to a restaurant, order 3 or 4 dishes and drinks and see just how much of our table space we can cover. We had an awesome malaysian meal that involved some of the best things you can put into your mouth: curry, crispy duck, iced coffee, asian noodles and unknown spicy sauces. Yum!
After the ballet, we stood outside enjoying the beauty that is lincoln center at night. One of the best sights in the city. I know i said this when i was there last week, but i really mean it. You should see it.
Thanks Lisa for the great night. It’s good to have you back!
The other day I was sleeping and woke up due to some strange noise (children screaming or a chainsaw most likely-that sounds alarming in combination, but is sadly just the two things that annoy us most often while trying to sleep). But the thing was that I had been having such a vivid dream and such a coma-like sleep that when I woke up, not only did I not know what time it was or where I was supposed to be or what I was doing, I didn’t even know I had been sleeping. Seriously, the fact that I was laying in my bed was new information. Has that ever happened to you guys? It was a new one for me. (and in case you’re wondering, i had no adult substances in my system.)
Todays completley unrelated photo: Erica modeling the polka dot (childs sized) chefs outfit i got her as part of her christmas gift last year. Lookin’ good, Merica!
The nice thing about the fact that Zak has never read this blog is that i can tell my story about this picture and be honest. Back in the winter, when Zak was still living with us, our under the sink trash slidey outey thing broke (best $35 I ever spent-for serious!) and we made the mistake of having Zak try and fix it. So, a long period of time passed and he got frustrated with the process and then got mad at meghan for taking pictures of it all and there were tense moments in the kitchen. A good time was had by all. Finally, after about 45 minutes, he “fixed” it. Tip from us to you-don’t expect Zak to operate power tools effectively.
In a shocking turn of events, his repair job did not last too long. The screws all came out of the wood a little while ago and I decided to give it a go. I didn’t have high hopes considering what a horrific experince Zak had made it out to be. And then 10 minutes passed and not only did i fix it, but i fixed it much better than Zak ever did! That’s right, I’m ready for my tool belt. I think the best part of my handyman moment was that i did it in a dress. Take a moment to revel in my glory… and know that should my services be needed elsewhere, the drill and I are at the ready!
Does anyone know? Has anyone seen my best friend, Amber Rae Turley? She’s fallen off the face of the earth. She went on some mystery trip and I haven’t really heard from her since. We talked on the phone once, a few weeks ago and that got cut short due to a dying phone battery and it’s been zip other than that. I have several theories involving clones or a hostage situation or even some more complicated general hospital villan related ideas. So, if you’ve seen her or know where she is, let me know. I miss her. She’s pretty fun.
She may look like this if she’s in disguise. So keep your eyes peeled. She’s the one who isn’t maren in the photo below. Just in case you weren’t sure.
In addition to bringing me out of my book funk, Stephen King’s Dark Tower books have brought me a new vocabulary word and made me laugh. Unexpected but much appreciated on both counts. The new word is “lobstrosity”. In the prologue of The Drawing of the Three (book 2 in the series) the main character gets attacked by this creature that is unknown to him. He’s never seen it or anything like it before. It’s four feet long and the only thing it sort of resembles is a lobster so he decides to call it a “lobstrosity”.
What I appreciate about this moment in the book is that the lobstrosity is about to eat him alive and yet he still stops to think about a name for this creature. It’s a very me thing to do and therefore I like it a lot. I also enjoy his very dry sense of humor. He has had two fingers eaten off by the lobstrosity and says this to himself, “I see serious problems ahead”. Nice.
In case you were worried, I do know that the creature pictured above is not a lobster, but a crab. When we went to South Carolina last year, this crab got onto our blanket and we decided to take an up close picture of it and pretend it was giant when in fact it was teeny-tiny. But if it were four feet long we could call it a Crabstrosity. Or a Crabtastrophe. Watch out for freakishly large crustaceans. They are bad news.
Tuesday we ate super yummy Italian food in the park while listening to the New York City Philharmonic play some excellent music. We had a great time enjoying the music with the estimated 60,000 other new yorkers who were there. We snuggled up on the blankets and caught up and enjoyed the music and eachother.
This is one of our favorite yearly events. It’s mostly locals and it’s a great time. And, to top it all off, there were fireworks! You can’t beat a firework!
Earlier in the day I did one of my favorite things to do alone in the city. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought some new books and then went to see a movie by myself. I saw The Hulk to help continue the summer of action flicks. Good times were had by me and the 8 year old boys who were on the edges of their seats (literally) and cheering and saying “whoa!” during the big moments. I heart all by myself movies. If you’ve never done it, go out now and do it. You won’t regret it.
Monday in the park we…
waited in line for 3 hours for Shakespeare in the Park tickets.
got rained on for the better part of that time.
read articles from ESPN the magazine about ways to improve tennis.
ate dinner all together before…
watching Hamlet at the Delacourt Theatre.
Sadly, we did leave the park for part of our day. We ate lunch out of the park and saw The Happening. Tip to you all: Do not see a creepy/scary movie with Meghan and Lisa. Just don’t do it.
Preview of tomorrow: Philharmonic in the park. It’s a park filled two days for us.
