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Cape Cod & P-Town Weekender

[REPOST from my MySpace blog on Jun. 20, 2005]

Ohhhhh sweet recovery! I just drove over to Cape Cod to visit a friend for the weekend and I somehow made it back alive. lol The first day was reserved for hanging out at her restaurant and helping her cook dinner for her patrons. The restaurant sits right on a big marina near Hyannis and Yarmouth overlooking a river that comes off of the Atlantic Ocean. Must be tough going to work, day in and day out, getting a tan, feeling a nice breeze off the deck as the water in the marina twinkles with each ripple.

Anyway, for the first afternoon/evening on Friday, I helped her out at the restaurant and got to know her employees. They are a great group of people and they've all been with her for all 8 seasons. For dinner, I had Alaskan King Crab legs, special-ordered for me (plus she got a great deal on them thru her supplier) and, since she got several pounds of it, she also made it a dinner special... and it has been a hit with customers so far. When her over-the-top flamer gay guy friend stopped over at the restaurant around closing time, he gave my friend the keys to a little resort room nearby so we wouldn't have to stay at her cottage with her roommate and another friend who is sleeping on the couch (going thru a bad breakup). Apparently her gay guy friend uses that room from time to time because there were no towels for a shower or the jaccuzi and his swim shorts were sopping wet on the floor of the shower. Oyyyy... LOL Before heading to the room, though, we stopped by a couple of bars. Her best friend's car was parked outside of a chinese restaurant/bar, so she turned around to go see him. Some drunk guy from South Carolina tried flirting with me with no success. Her bud was in a crabby mood so we left to check out another bar she knew well. There was a cover band playing and I wished I had taken pictures of the musicians -- the electric guitar player and lead singer both looked like they were straight out of an '80s hair band, the drummer looked 80 years old and the bass player was as nerdy as they get. They were pretty bad but after two drinks and two large Cuervo shots, they were sounding damn good. LOL By the end of the night, I can honestly say I have never been so drunk!

The next morning, she got in touch with a couple of her friends and we drove up to Provincetown (aka: P-town...aka: Gay Town USA) at the end of the Cape, which was only maybe 40 miles tops. We all got a room above the Vixen night club (which, btw, only has a one-night minimum) right smack in the middle of downtown. Wow, was that a shameless plug or what! After walking up and down Commercial Street, checking out shops and bars all day, we decided to go back to our rooms and take naps. My friend napped but her friends and I didn't... so when my friend woke up, she was ready to hit the clubs again but we weren't. We ended up getting talked into going out for a little while but our friends went back to the hotel after only half an hour or so. So while the bars and shops were closing up, my friend and I decided to walk around a little more. She saw a big ship at the end of a pier that she wanted to check out earlier in the day, so we walked out there to see what it was used as. The night watchman at the marina there told us that it was a soldier's barracks boat in WWII that was pushed or pulled by a tugboat where ever it went. My friend tried and tried to let the guy allow us on the ship to look around, but to no avail. While chatting with the marina guy, another man who was hanging around found out that my friend owned a restaurant that he knew of... so despite his wanting to go to bed, he instead invited us on his yacht where his wife and another couple were aboard just winding down the evening. We took our shoes off before entering the "livingroom," they offered us a glass of wine and we sat down to chat for a good hour. My friend and everyone on board had some mutual friends and enemies, so they talked about that for much of the hour. It seems like everyone I met while in Cape Cod owned some kind of company or business. I suppose that's how they afford to live there. I think I was the only one who had a regular little job, but that was cool with them. I didn't sense any snobbery...really nice people, all the way around.... even if some of them were on the tipsy side.

I woke up the next morning on Sunday before my friend did, so I took a shower and went into town for breakfast at the Post Office Cafe. Met up with the other friends while walking around and we shopped for swag. After my friend woke up and our other friends had left P-town for an appointment, we hopped in her truck and headed to a couple of beaches...wishing we could've used the firewood in the back of her truck for a beach fire under the stars with our friends, but due to fog, we cancelled those plans.

All three days on the Cape were, for the most part, absolutely gorgeous and I hope to go out again soon. They're trying to contact their friends with boats so we can have a big party out on the water one of these days, and I am SO in! I'm happy to be back home, though. It was a wild weekend and it's just nice to be back to some normalcy again but, unfortunately, back to the grindstone, too.

O Canada!

[REPOST from my MySpace blog on May 9, 2005]

Took my first roadtrip to Canada (specifically Quebec) last week. Val met me at the border around midnight or 1am to have me follow her to her house about 45 minutes towards Montreal. The weather was pretty crappy most of the way, but I made really good time, considering. What was so cool about visiting Quebec was that it felt like I was somewhere in Europe instead of North America because of the french signage. Basically, I was able to visit "Europe" in 5 hours' time without crossing the big pond... and that's really convenient. lol

That Sunday (my first full day there), we took a trip into nearby Montreal to check out her stompin' grounds. We parked in a vacant lot and walked to the subway station, passing a poor and unfortunate discarded umbrella in the lot garbage can. *sigh* First stop was the old port of Montreal where we strolled the cobblestone streets, took pictures of the old (very french) architecture and had lunch at a quaint little place with a hot waitress. Again, we both witnessed yet another gruesome discovery; a skinless umbrella laying lifeless in a dry fountain. *shakes head* Not far off in the distance, I saw some blue and yellow-striped big-top tents -- Val said that's where Cirque du Soleil is based, and where they practice their routines before touring...which I thought was super cool. I'm pretty easy to impress that way.

The second half of the day was spent in the Gay District down St. Catharine's Street. She took me to her favorite club, The Drugstore, where I commenced to kick her booty at pool and she returned the favor with a mean game or two of foosball. The rooftop bar/balcony seemed like a great place to relax and get a tan while cruising for unsuspecting victims.

On the way back to the subway station, we stopped in Mado's club (infamous local drag queen) to see if the bar served Buttery Nipple shots. Actually, during the whole trip, we couldn't find a single bar that carried butterscotch schnapps. Val still has yet to try one, but I'll probably end up making her one the next time she visits Boston. Muuwahahaaa!

I forgot to mention that, while walking from one end of the city to the other, we encountered a huge Union protest march, though it wasn't exclusively for Unions, apparently. There were labor Unions, teacher and student Unions, political groups and just plain hate groups. Once this group of "Communists" wearing red bandanas over their faces, holding red flags (with the old CCCP hammer & sickle) chose to occupy the corner we were standing on in order to spout their banter over an amp. Val and I thought it best to start walking elsewhere. Down the street a ways, a separate group of Anarchists, wearing black, decided it would be fun to throw rocks at police officers. Large numbers of police in riot gear were convening at the intersection we ended up at, so we (along with other innocent bystanders) stood still, under the cover of a construction walkway, until the coast was clear. What fun!

On Monday, Val wanted to take me to an "Artsy" area of town where I had yummy poutine, saw numerous futon stores and had pie to die for. "What's poutine?" Well, I'm glad you asked. Poutine is to Quebec as chili cheese fries are to the USA. Simply put, you generously pour special hot brown poutine gravy over cheese curds and hot french fries. What you get is this enormous pile of fries under hot, gooey deliciousness. Try it sometime. The "pie to die for," by the way, was at a little place called Rockaberry. A friend of ours on a chat program told us that we MUST go to it and have some pie, so, naturally, we did. I'm thinking that I'll visit Montreal every month just for the pie and poutine alone -- no offense, Val. I can't remember what she got at the shop, but I had something called the Chocolate Cheese pie and brought home a slice of the Caramel Fudge Cheese pie *drool* Val brought home Chocolate Truffel pie and it was JUST like the inside of a truffel. Sooo rich that my taste buds were almost in pain. Mmmm. Got Milk?

Tuesday was spent mostly relaxing and watching movies. We did a lot of walking the first couple of days; more so than we did in Boston. Wednesday was relatively short, since I had to drive back home in the afternoon. Val's parents are wonderful people and I hope to meet up with them at least once while they're visiting Boston soon. Her mom makes the most incredible hot dessert EVER - seriously, EVER. I pigged-out up there, so I'm in for a grueling health/exercise regime ahead, I'm sure. Must... keep my mind... off... of.... Rockaberry.... and...mom's...hot....dessert.... (help meee)

MA Blizzard of '05

[REPOST from my MySpace blog on Jan. 31, 2005]

Is it any coincidence that just after I move to Boston that the Red Sox win, we get a record blizzard and the Patriots are poised to become an NFL "Dynasty"?? Hmm.... yeah, probably just a coincidence. Here at the house, we had 36 inches (3 feet) of snow...not including the snow drifts....over a matter of a night and a day. Two days later, Mother Nature dropped about 7 inches more on top of that.

Needless to say, the city has been a mess. No where to park!!! Even still, a week or so later, the mountains of snow that the plows have pushed to the curbs of the streets are sitting there on top of good parking spaces. Salem got a ton of snow, too. In one day, they blew through their entire snow budget for the year. And poor Cape Cod... I feel for them. Some might say that 3 feet is a drop in the bucket compared to the snow you might get if you live right by one of the Great Lakes. That lake effect snow is a bitch, I know. 90 inches of snow in one night up at Lake Tahoe is impressive, also, but they aren't at sea level, either. We are, and it's highly unusual to get this kind of snow out here. My mother tells me that we made front page news in the Idaho Statesman newspaper. Now the New England Patriots football team is going back to the Superbowl for the third time in 4 years. Stop the insanity!!!!!

Anyway, I still can't get out of my back door, but at least the driveway was plowed. There is no effing way that even a couple of us using "ergo" snow shovels would've tackled that task without getting broken backs in the process. I think even a snow blower would've gone on strike. It's times like these that makes you really appreciate having a two-car garage... among other things. I will hand it to the people of these bitterly cold and snowy states -- they know how to make good out of a nasty situation. On my way in to Cambridge the other day, two ladies were nordic skiing on the sidewalks around here. In any weather, people will be out hiking, biking, walking their dogs, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, kayaking or jogging. It makes me smile. Smiling is all I'll do right now because I haven't gathered the guts to do these things in this kind of weather yet. For now, we have a home gym in the finished half of the basement to use until the weather gets slightly tolerable in the Spring. Maybe by the time the nasty weather comes back for the next round, I'll be in good enough shape to brave it recreationally.

Cheers from the Great White North!

Catie Curtis & Patty Larkin: Music To My Ears

[REPOST from my MySpace blog on Jan. 28, 2005]

Well, I just got home from a Catie Curtis & Patty Larkin concert at beautiful Sanders Theatre on the Harvard campus. We took the "T" in (subway), tried not to slip on the sidewalks walking through Harvard Yard and I somehow made it to the venue without my ears falling off or my cheeks enduring frostbite. (Note to self: Remember to have a scarf handy on Winter nights here) Fortunately there was hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies waiting there for this tired and hungry girl before the show began.

We got front row center and I managed to not get a kink in my neck from looking up for so long. Sometimes I prefer 3rd row over front row for that very reason. I don't know why, but I had thought Patty Larkin was opening for Catie. Turns out, it was the other way around, but I convinced Lisa to stay and watch the second half (Patty). After my ignorance had worn off, I realized that Patty Larkin has something like 20 years on Catie as a singer/songwriter, AND she's on a major record label. What was I thinking!? This was our first time seeing either of them, and I'm sure glad we decided to go.

Catie did a full set and her special surprise guest was Mark Erelli. He's one of the few male singer/songwriters that I really enjoy. Catie gave us the news that she and her partner were able to adopt a 7 or 8 month old little girl last week, an addition to their other 2 year old daughter. Coincidentally, Patty Larkin (who is in her 50's) also has a little one... and they were both oogling throughout the night about their kids. Now, I'm not one for mushy stories about people's kidlets, but some of them were downright hilarious. Patty had me ALMOST falling off the bench onto the floor laughing with her tales of the recent blizzard here in Eastern Massachusetts (she lives out on the Cape) and other subjects. If it weren't enough that she was a virtual "comedienne," she is also an amazing guitar player and singer/songstress.

I got to meet Catie and Patty after the show, too. I also couldn't resist getting a couple of things signed by them. It must be the kid in me. What a great threesome of musicians tonight, though! The only thing that almost ruined the evening was when we had to wait for the "T" for 45 minutes afterwards. Grrrrr!!

Michelle Malone Sleep-over

[REPOST from my MySpace blog on Nov. 4, 2004]

Michelle Malone, her drummer and her roadie spent the night at our house last night after their concert in Boston. Linda and D took the two guest rooms upstairs and Michelle crashed on the futon in the livingroom....too tired to go upstairs. This morning we distributed computers and laptops so everyone could check their email, we tinkered around on my collection of guitars and other instruments, then I cranked up some Aretha, Etta, Ella and Billie and we got to watch Michelle sing and dance around in her jammies. Come to find out, Linda is multi-talented...she can play the guitar, drums, mandolin and sing all quite well. Last night at the show, she had a mandolin in her lap, one foot was doing the kick drum, the other foot was doing the high hat cymbals, she was singing backup vocals AND she was playing the drums (when she wasn't jammin' on the mando). All she needed was a flute and then why have Michelle around? Just kidding.

Aside from getting lost in Boston trying to find our way to the venue and getting our car towed, everything went smoothly. Word to the wise: If you ever travel around Boston, DO NOT use MapQuest.com or a GPS unit -- neither will get you where you need to go...I promise. Do the old fashioned thing and consult an updated map and give yourself some extra time to drive around aimlessly.

Thanks for such a fun Wed/Thur. gals!

After the Euphoria

[REPOST from my MySpace blog on Oct. 21, 2004]

It's 48 degrees on a dreary Autumn day here in Eastern Mass. By now, the clean-up crews have tidied up Kenmore Square outside Fenway Park in town (Boston) and a couple of unfortunate merchants have begun to place orders for new signs outside their businesses, after a handful of immature knuckle heads decided it would be fun to destroy some property while celebrating the Red Sox victory. There were a couple of cars overturned in the streets, as well - poor bastards -- is there insurance to cover something like that? Under the title of 'vandalism' maybe?

Anyway, it's almost 1pm and I'm still barely waking up after a couple of weeks of late nights and up & down emotions. I've never been known to be a sports fan. Well, men's sports. Personally, I'd rather PLAY than watch a sporting event. That all changed since I moved to Boston....a bit. This is a baseball city, no question about it. It was easy to get caught up in the excitement of the Playoff's when your hometown boys are fighting ever closer to the title.... but battling the Yankees?!? Sit down, my children. The biggest baseball rivalry in the history of the sport (or just about any other sport, for that matter) is held between the Boston Red Sox and the NY Yankees. By now, that's a pretty well-known fact. Even though I'm still generally not a big pro baseball fan, I have never ONCE liked the Yankees. I think they're arrogant, whether they win or lose a major game, they still get plastered all over the television in their Visa commercials, they pay the highest dollar for the best players in the world and they are USUALLY in the playoff's, if not the World Series. If you ask me, I'd call that pretty unfair. Once in a blue moon, though, the Yankees get their tushies kicked by the underdog, like the Arizona Diamondbacks or the lowest-paid team in the MLB, the Florida Marlins. That's always a joy to watch. Yeah, I know the Yankees pay that much because they "play to win" but give someone else a chance once in awhile, will ya??

On a similar note, Yankees fans are frightening. (present company excluded, if that applies) Not as scary as Raiders fans, but scary nonetheless. If you root against their team, it's like saying something negative to George W. Bush about the way he's handling Iraq. Run fast, run far....and lay low for at least a few more days if the Yankees were to lose a major game or series. Word to the wise, don't start an argument with a Yankee fan - you will NOT win. You'll either lose their friendship or they will whack you. LOL Just be careful, ok?

Back to the subject at hand. The Red Sox made history on Tuesday night by being the first MLB team to force a Game 7 after a 3-game deficit in a series. Last night, they made history yet again by being the first MLB team to win a Playoff after a 3-game deficit. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll explain in plain English: There are 7 games in a Playoff game before you move into the World Series (another 7-game series). In order to win QUICKLY, a team has to win 4 times in a row and then the whole series is over. If both teams win back and forth, the series will obviously last longer until one team wins 4 total games out of 7. The Red Sox lost the first 3 games...badly. All NY had to do was win one more and they were headed to the World Series. The Yankees and their fans were convinced that they would easily win, while Red Sox fans were going in to work everyday moping and embarrassed. Something happened, though, and the Red Sox finally showed up to play some baseball. In order for Boston to win, they had to win 4 consecutive games, period. Guess what? They did! I almost feel a little sorry for the Yankees fans.

So the Red Sox are headed to the World Series this Saturday and we're waiting on one more game to find out which NCLS team (Astros or the Cardinals) are going to play against us in the Series. I know I shouldn't think too far ahead, but IF the Sox won the World Series, it will have been the first time since 1918. That's a long-ass time. So, even if you could care less about baseball, or your favorite team didn't make the cut this year, join us in watching the World Series and root for the underdogs. That's always fun.

GO SOX !!!