Barb's Burblings

Don't you forget about me

Much as I don't like Jimmy Fallon, I just might have to watch the MTV Movie Awards this year, as it will feature a reunion of at least 4 of the 5 members of the Breakfast Club. That's right--except for Emilio Estevez, the gang will all be there. It's time to catch up with the brain, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal.

Welcome, summer

It's Memorial Day, the traditional beginning of the summer season. Which means, of course, the traditional swapping of the winter wardrobe for the summer wardrobe. And an evening spent ironing (apparently being shoved into a large plastic bin makes clothes wrinkly). What could be more exciting?

Actually, it's been a nice day. I know it's a good day because I never got out of my pajamas, spending most of the day (er, afternoon) reading magazines and watching Broadway: The American Musical on PBS. Mmm. It's a good way to end a weekend.

It was odd, though; for part of the afternoon, it rained quite hard (and thundering at one point, sending Colin running under my bed). I flipped over to the Nationals game, where it wasn't raining. As far as I can tell, it didn't rain downtown. At all. Weird.

Current song in my head:
"Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper

A trip to Tysons

I headed to the mall at Tysons Corner today because I needed to get a present for my cousin's bridal shower and because my khakis fell apart. The present was easy; the pants, not so much. This is why I hate shopping for clothing. I do OK with tops and skirts, but pants? No. I hate trying on pants because rare are the pants that fit properly. It's a long, frustrating process. The folks at Eddie Bauer were super nice, and I found some cute tops (...I know), but no pants. I felt kind of bad about it, because I had these two people running all over the store looking for pants, but none of the styles fit properly. (Which I don't understand, because Eddie Bauer jeans fit me.) Anyway, I headed over to the Gap after and tried on a pair of khaki capris. I put them on and it was like there was a light shining down on the fitting room. These pants fit! Well! They didn't look at all odd! I was in heaven. Sure, they were capris, which always look a little odd on me, but I don't care. They fit where they're supposed to! I can hopefully order the full-length pants off their website. I bought the pants and skipped joyfully away. Oh, happy day!

Current song in my head:
"Let's Get It Started" by the Blacked-Eyed Peas

Theatre geeking

So last night I got my mailing from The Kennedy Center listing upcoming performances. Usually I just notice what shows are coming through, but I happened to notice one particular event: An Evening With Brian Stokes Mitchell. Oh, how I love Brian Stokes Mitchell. His is, quite simply, fantastic. His voice is amazing. His acting is phenomenal. I hear he's a nice guy. I'd say that I want to have 10,000 of his babies, but I wouldn't want to risk them getting my Crappy Voice Gene. I got to see him a few years back in Man of La Mancha, which was a definite highlight. But this will just be him, singing. What could be better? Anyway, I am SO there.

(Oh, man, I just saw that he'll be performing with Audra McDonald in July at the Hollywood Bowl. They were in Ragtime together and man...let's just say that the two of them should have children, because they would have the best voices ever. Audra McDonald is stunning. Love her, too.)

I'd also like to see Take Me Out at the Studio Theatre and Big River at Ford's. Maybe I should stop blowing my money on baseball games and concentrate on going to plays. Both of these have gotten raves.

Current song in my head:
"Muddy Water" from Big River

Update: I just got a ticket for Sunday's performance of Big River. Memorial Day discount, too, and I got a front row seat. Sweet! And I have until the end of June to see Take Me Out.

The Orange-Shirted Trolls Strike Back

Yesterday was Photo Day at Camden Yards, where the first 5000 fans can go onto the field (i.e., warning track) and the players come around and you can get your picture taken with them. It was really very cool (except all the standing, because good God, the lines). Anyway, the only problem is that I was standing on the opposite side of the field from where Brian started, so by the time he got near me, his Evil Orange-Shirted Troll/Handler was totally rushing him along, allowing him only to take a couple pictures with small children. Argh! So I couldn't even really compare heights. Ah well. There's always next time.

I did get my picture taken with Melvin Mora, and Javy Lopez (who...yum), and Jeff "Screech" Fiorentino. There's a kid who's having a good time. He looked ecstatic to be there. Which was nice to see.

(And in other good news, my fantasy team won its match-up last week, breaking a 2-week losing streak. My offense came through in the clutch! Here's hoping that the O's pitching does likewise.)

Anyway, the weekend was good. Very, very quiet. I spent most of it watching Scrubs on DVD. Which really wasn't a bad way to spend time. Now I'm just trying to make it to Thursday. Friday is my compressed day and Monday is Memorial Day, so 4-day weekend, baby. Woo!

Current song in my head:
"Twist and Shout" by the Beatles

Half a decade

It was five years ago today that I graduated from college. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not where I thought I would be.

I certainly didn't expect to be working for the same place that I started working for right after college. I mean, that's not a bad thing; I like my job for the most part. But I feel like we aren't supposed to stay in jobs that long, if that makes any sense. (Though technically I'm not in the same job; I was promoted a couple years back.) I feel like I should be looking for another job. But then it comes down to the thing that I'd really like to edit fiction, or nonfiction that interests me. But to do that, I'd pretty much have to move to Boston or New York, which I don't particularly want to do.

That I'm still in the DC area isn't surprising. I wanted to move here, and I'm happy here. I don't want to leave. Though I wish I could afford a better apartment. Or, you know, my own apartment. I feel like I should be thinking about buying a place within a few years, and I don't know that I see that happening.

I am driving a car I love, which rocks.

My friends today are pretty much the same as my friends five years ago. Sure, I know more people, and occasionally hang out with these "new" people, but the folks that I hang out with on the weekends (for the most part)? Went to Gettysburg. And it's not that I don't love having these people in my life, but I would like to have new friends. I try; I volunteer, take classes, participate in a book club...but it's just not happening, for the most part. Which is frustrating, but I'm sickly comforted by the knowledge that this is apparently a very common problem.

Which leads to the fact that I'm still single. It's not like I sit around brooding about this, crying, "Why, God, why?" but it would be nice to have a boyfriend. Or, you know, a date. There are times when this gets exacerbated, as I watch more and more people I know hook up and get married. It just gets to me sometimes, you know? As I left Gettysburg, I know I wasn't thinking that five years down the line I'd be as single as when I left.

This is not to say that I'm unhappy with my life; on the contrary. I've done lots of cool things: celebrated a new year in Edinburgh, traveled around England alone, volunteer at the Smithsonian, had room service, learned to tap dance, bought a car. And I'm really happy that I am such good friends with people from college.

Five years later I'm not where I necessarily thought I would be, but really, who is? And it's not like I don't have plenty of time left to get where I want to be. Which is something that changes. Frequently.

Rainsong

It's a wet, dreary day. The skies are gray and spitting. I have a list of books to pick up at the library. It'd be really nice to grab them, go home, crawl into bed, and spend the rest of the day alternating between reading and sleeping. But alas, it is not to be. At least it's my short day at work. And since it's Friday, it's pretty quiet, which I always appreciate.

On the negative side, my horoscope yesterday promised me smooches, but that didn't happen. If I can't believe in my horoscope, what can I believe in?

Tappa tappa fft!

Turns out like half my tap class was gone last week, so I didn't miss anything. Most of my class is really passive, so I decided that if I'm not getting a step, hey, I'm gonna say something. So the teacher would be like, "OK, do we want to move on?" Me: "No. Can we do that again? And again?" This new routine is really hard. And I'm not alone in my struggling with it, which is nice.

Carrie's friend Mel dropped off her two cats for us to watch for the weekend. There's an awful lot of hissing and growling, but it seems to have settled down a bit. That's not so fun at 1 in the morning; you're trying to sleep and it's all "*grrrr*" "*ssfft*!" But it's worked out so far with all the other cats who have come to stay, so I have faith. At the moment they're lazing around various parts of the apartment, which is kind of cute. Aww, kitty cats!

Sorry this isn't terribly coherent. My head is kind of clogged; I think it's allergies. In any case, I'm not too good at focusing at the moment. Sorry!

Current song in my head:
"Mr. Caribbean" by Peter White

Riddle me this

Frank Gorshin, the original Riddler, died yesterday at the age of 72. It seems like an appropriate to whip out the old Batman movie (which I have on DVD, thank you very much), with such classic moments as not being able to get rid of a bomb (some days you just can't) and the timely use of shark repellent.

Long Beach: The Two Places I Saw

Long Beach was lovely--both the Convention Center and the Renaissance Hotel. And if you get a chance to stay at a Renaissance with the renovated rooms, grab it. The beds are heavenly. It's like you're surrounded by softness. Anyway, Conference was good. We somehow managed to exceed our revenue goal at Marketplace, which was very gratifying. My legs still kind of hurt from all the standing, and my throat is vaguely sore from the talking and schmoozing. I was only somewhat traumatized by seeing various staff members totally smashed at the club we went to Friday night. Anyway, it was a good time, totally exhausting, and lovely.

The only sightseeing I got to do was Sunday morning, when a few of us went over to the Queen Mary. We sadly didn't have time to do the Ghosts and Legends show, but it was still very interesting. One night we talked with some college kids who were there with their mother. They went on about the places they went: Disneyland, Universal, Angels game, etc., etc. I'm jealous. It would've been neat to stay a few more days, but I lack the funding. Ah well.

In other news, my fantasy team is plummeting: I'm down to #3 in my league. But Brent will be happy to note that I picked up a member of the Red Sox--Bronson Arroyo. He just better do good things for me. I missed my boys while I was away, but they did fine without me. It was extremely bizarre trying to follow baseball from the left coast; when I had a minute in my room before dinner, I would flip on ESPN and it was so strange to see that games were already in the 5th or 6th inning.

On a sad note, it looks like Scrubs isn't on NBC's fall schedule, which completely blows. Particularly with the way this past season ended (I managed to catch the end of the season finale in CA). The press release says that it will return "at some point next season." I guess as soon as a new show fails. Anyway, the first season DVD came out today, so go buy it. On the positive side, Arrested Development got picked up (as did The Office), so at least some network execs have taste.

Current song in my head:
"Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2

Rockin' the accordion

There are times when you have to put up with the soul-killing in order to get to the good stuff. Last night was such a time. I went with Becca and Steve to the Ben Folds concert. Ben rocked. He was, quite frankly, awesome, as was expected. The problem was his opener.

(Well, in addition to the 10-year-olds standing next to us. Well, maybe they were 12. In any case, they were wearing homemade puffy-painted shirts. You read that correctly. The shirts said "Ben Folds" on the front, along with the date. On the sleeve they had written 9:30 Club, and on the back, "Rockin' the Suburbs." It was horrifying, quite frankly. Why???)

Right. The opener, a guy who goes by Corn Mo. He played the accordion. (And apparently I'm psychic, because on Saturday night I had a dream that we were at the concert and Ben Folds actually asked if anyone played the accordion.) It was...it was like he was trying to be so bad he was funny, but it didn't work. At all. The three of us stood there whimpering during his half-hour set. Totally traumatic. His last song wasn't actually that bad, but it SO didn't make up for the rest of the time.

(I just went to his website. Good God. The man has released albums. I'm shuddering at the thought.)

Then Ben came out, which made everything good. And since we got there early, we were in a prime location, on the balcony right at the railing. It rocked, and was a blast. Of course, I didn't home until around 1 (and much love to Steve for driving me back to my car so I didn't have to miss any of the concert). My contacts are absolutely killing me. I'm tired, but tonight I have to deal with packing for the California trip, which I hate. (The packing.) There's proper business attire that's more formal that what I normally wear, and also trying to figure out what we'll be doing at night and what I should bring for that. Argh!

And just to update you on my fantasy team: I lost my first match-up 7-5, so am now in second place in my league (down by half a...game? point?). Oddly enough it was my offense that absolutely sucked and my pitching that was doing awesome. Huh.

Current song in my head:
"It's All For the Best" from Godspell

Sushi smorgasbord

I had this major craving for sushi yesterday, and the heavens smiled down upon me, and today some coworkers suggested we go for sushi for lunch today. There's this place with a buffet; there's a bunch of sushi, but also stuff like fried rice, chicken, etc. And for dessert they have fried bananas or apples dipped in cinnamon. Mmm. They had apples the first time I went, and they were fantastic. Over time, I grew to believe that they did that just to taunt me, because every time since then, there were bananas. Which, still good...but not apples. Today, however, I sat down at the table, bit, and found that it was an apple! Hurrah! I told the others, and suddenly I was alone at the table as everyone stampeded away. Excellent.

It was also nice because we took an hour and a half, and I went with my boss and my department director, so no guilt about the long lunch. Plus, Fridays just seem to call out for long lunches. But I'm also realizing that I only have one day in the office before going away for Conference, so now am obliged to actually be productive. On a Friday afternoon. The horror.

But I'm just happy that I got the stupid "Orioles Magic" song out of my head. All morning I was hearing "O-R-I-O-L-E-S! Magic, magic, Orioles magic!" Argh. But my brain decided to recollect last night's Daily Show, so...

Current song in my head:
"Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul

Playing hooky

So I skipped work yesterday afternoon and went to the Orioles game. (And when I say "skipped work" I mean "asked my boss, who gave me time off.") It was, let me say, awesome. I got Brian's autograph again when he came right up to me before the game. Totally cute. But anyway. Great game--great pitching and finally they came through with some clutch hitting. Thank you, Sammy! And 12 Ks from Bedard. Most impressive. (As a side note, you should read this article from the Sun on the handshake that Mora, Tejada, and Roberts do after victories; it amuses me that it's getting so much press attention, as I've been enjoying it since they started last season. But then, the team itself has been getting a lot more attention than it did last season. My favorite quote from the article is Mora explaining how he and Tejada let Brian in on it:

"Yeah, we include Brian Roberts, too," Mora says with a laugh. "'Cause he's like" - and here Mora makes a wistful face, like the kid who doesn't get picked for dodge ball in gym class - "so we're, 'Come over here.'"

Anyway, it was also nice to just get away for the afternoon. I head off to Conference next week, so work has been a bit crazy. It was good to just get away and not think about anything, really, other than baseball. It's a good escape, which may explain why so many of my entries lately have been about baseball.

Plus, the game length was perfect (the game ran 2:39), and I arrived for tap just on time. I'm really going to have to start practicing; we're learning this routine and I'm just like, "...huh?" much of the time. And I have to miss next week's class because I'll be away, which kind of bites. But she gave us the write-up of the routine, so as I stand around Marketplace, I can annoy my coworkers with tap steps. Yay!

Current song in my head:
"Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane

Love Baltimore, love the crab

It's not quite crab season (which comes, I believe, later in the summer), but here's Miggy, showing his love of Baltimore:

How can you not love this man?

And for the curious, my fantasy roster looks like this:

J. Posada (NYY - C)
S. Casey (Cin - 1B)
B. Roberts (Bal - 2B)
A. Huff (TB - 3B)
M. Tejada (Bal - SS)
J. Guillen (Was - OF)
C. Figgens (LAA - OF)
D. Newhan (Bal - OF)
M. Young (Tex - Util)
V. Wells (Tor - BN)

E. Loiaza (Was - SP)
R. Harden (Oak - SP)
R. Lopez (Bal - SP)
M. Mulder (StL - SP)
B. Radke (Min - SP)
D. Bautista (KC - SP)
T. Hudson (Atl - SP)
B. Ryan (Bal - RP)
M. Rivera (NYY - RP)
E. Guardado (Sea - RP)

It's fairly AL-heavy, seeing how I'm not very familiar with the NL (but working on it!). My draft was kind of random, but I'm certainly happy with the way things are turning out. Of course, it is only Week 5.

Sweeeet

Guess who got AL Player of the Month...

"Hey, congrats..."
"Naw, Miggy, you deserve it..."

Fantasy is right

I joined a fantasy baseball league this year. It's the first time I've ever done that and a lot of my picks were random. But it looks like they were pretty good. At the end of Week 4, I have yet to lose a match-up and am currently in first place in my league. I am excessively proud of myself. But then, who knew that Roberts would be such a good pick? Man, I'd be doing okay if I just had him and Tejada.

Slightly waterlogged

It was a good weekend, in large part that I had a lot of time to just hang out and not do anything. That's always appreciated. Of course, there was some stupidity on my part. I went to Target on Friday, in part to look for sandals I can wear that go with khakis. I wound up buying two other pairs shoes that I needed. I got home and realized that they were the same shoe--one pair in black, one pair in brown. AND I forgot to use the $15 gift card to Target I had. *sigh*

Yesterday I went to Carrie's gradumatation, which was neat. And involved free food, so, bonus. Then I met up with Dave, Brent, and Becca to watch the Nats take on the Mets. It was a lot of fun, if very wet. The seats were awesome and gave us an excellent view of the horrible grounds crew trying to pull the tarp onto the infield. Becca and I listened to the play-by-play of the crew trying to pull out the tarp. It took them something like 40 minutes. Pathetic.

Today was another quiet day. Colin is loving this weather. I've had the door to the balcony open, and birds have started perching on there. He'll be drowsing on my bed in my room, hear the birds on the balcony and bolt for the living room. I'm just grateful that he doesn't attack the screen door or anything. He just stares outside very intently. It's totally cute.

Tomorrow is back to work. But a week from Tuesday I head to Long Beach. That really snuck up on me.

Current song in my head:
"Atlantic City" from Ragtime