The cutest couple in Cambodia (a link)

If anyone needs a pick-me-up, please read this.

My former roommate with a gift for writing put this encounter into words, and it's beautiful.

Fun with a Pedometer

Today is the day I go from home to babysitting to school to home and my only exercise is walking in between all those places. So out of curiosity I put my pedometer on (thank you, CalSAC) and started walking. I arrived back home tonight and checked in with my new best friend, Mr. Pedometer, and this is what he told me:
20,002 steps, which translates to 8.5 miles. Okay, so I didn't do it all at once, and not all of it was all that fast, but still... 8.5 miles is 13.685 kilometers. That's no small number.

Speaking of kilometers...

Last week, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to do the Tufts Health Care 10K for Women. I hate running, and haven't been exercising all that regularly since moving to the east coast, both good reasons to say "no thanks." But somehow the invitation keeps creeping into my mind, and I'm actually considering it.

Now just to be clear, it isn't that I don't think I can walk the 10K (6.21 mi), but since my friends will be running it, I'm feeling like it would be more fun if I could keep up with them (even if I'm muttering and cursing under my breath the entire way).

So yesterday I got in my running gear and headed out, just to see what kind of shape I was in. Not being familiar with the distances between things around here, I used my handy dandy pedometer. Turns out, I walked/ran about 4 miles (6.44K).

Does this give me confidence in my ability to run a 10K in 2 weeks? No. not really.
Today, I am embarassingly sore, and acutely aware that I only ran about 1/3 of the time I was out there. But I'm thinking I might just give it a shot anyway.

No need to adjust your monitors...

So you may recall a previous posting about my new role as a test bunny for Gillette. Well, today (after 24 hours of not brushing), I got to go in for my "dental screening" where they required me to swish with this disgusting pink liquid that helped to show how much and where plaque built up on my teeth in that 24 hour period of time.

Only thing is, even after brushing my teeth for a full 3 minutes and then eating, my tongue is still tinted this frightening shade of pink.

During all the errands I ran this afternoon, I had to talk with a mostly closed mouth, so that I wouldn't scare people.

My Turn

While my friend, Burger, continues to have brushes with fame nearly every day in LA, I have not yet found any venues in Boston in which I can meet famous people... until tonight.

Tonight, a play opened in which my friend from high school is playing a role. She generously offered me a free ticket ("Hey - do you want to go on a date with my boyfriend to go see my play?"), and I enthusiastically said yes.

(It's a great show, and anyone in the Boston area should definitely check it out.)

At any rate, I saw the show, AND got to go to the after-party. Admittedly, not the same as a NYC or LA after-party, but still...

So the best part was when I realized that the woman who played one of the main roles in the play tonight is none other than Maureen Keiller. This is a name you probably don't recognize at all, but if you've seen "Fever Pitch" then you would recognize her as 'Viv' one of the season ticket holders. I even got to have a very short conversation with her at the after-party.

I felt so cool.

So now that makes 2 people I have met who have been in "Fever Pitch" and 0 people I have met who have been in any other movies.

Hmmm... perhaps I should work on that.

What did I expect, really?

So after it became fall overnight a few weekends ago, with evening temperatures in the 40s, summer made a surprise return over this past weekend. (That's a good thing.)

But then it got really humid and gross out, as it tends to do here in New England. And today was one of those sticky, gross kind of days. (That's not so good.)

I left my house this morning - in the usual rush to get to my babysitting job on time - and realized about half way there that I had forgotten to apply deodorant. What I also realized, in my train of thought thinking was "Hey - I think I forgot to put deodorant on this morning... It's a pretty sticky day out already and it will only get more so later... Wow, I'm gonna smell gross... I bet all this humidity means it's going to rain soon... Maybe I should have checked the weather before I left home, or at least packed an umbrella just in case..."

But of course, I was running late, and half-way there before these thoughts entered my head, so I kept going, and arrived at my job on time. The day didn't get any less humid, and my armpits didn't smell any better, and finally, just before class, I went to the bookstore to return a book and bought myself a stick of deodorant so that I could stand to be near myself for the 5 hours of class I had ahead of me.

Armpits properly deodorized, I headed to class... and then to my next class... and then headed outside with my classmates so I could walk home. As we approached the door, I noticed a few droplets of water on the glass. And then noticed that the pavement outside was looking pretty wet. Yes, indeed, it was raining.

Good news: it never rained all that hard, and it was still pretty warm out.

Bad news: It's about a 1.5 mile walk back to my house from school.

Could I have taken the T? Sure. But then I wouldn't have been able to take this photo:
Lending credibility to the theory that if you don't take your umbrella with you, it will most definitely rain.

You Want Me to WHAT?

So it's nearly 11pm, and I have been working on a paper since 2:30pm this afternoon. Admittedly, I should have gotten an earlier start than this afternoon, but what with my duties as Reverend this weekend up in Maine, there wasn't much time to be reading assignments and writing papers.

At any rate, the paper is one of the hardest I've ever had to write, and it's not because I've been out of school for over 6 years and no longer know how to write.

Here's the prompt:

- Who should the government help?
- Why should the government help these people?
- On what basis should eligibility for hlep be decided?
- Who shouldn't government help?
- Why shouldn't government help these people?
- Who should be responsible for those who government decides not to help?
- How should government decide who to help and who not to help?


Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it.

Well, then.

Ok, I swear I wasn't out hunting for this, but while on a search for the long-awaited Suri photos (yes, ok, I was hunting for those), I came across this.

And he really IS as bad as everyone says. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but for a former back-up dancer, he's surprisingly awkward-looking up there (in addition to the mediocre-at-best rapping).

If you can't torture yourself for the full 3 minutes and 43 seconds, skip ahead to around 1:25, where it starts getting really good.

And by good, I mean "more interesting to watch."

The Best a Man Can Get

So this morning, I drove over to Needham, to take a tour of the Gillette Testing Center, because I'm going to be a tester of all things Gillette (and in case you're wondering, that includes toothbrushes, razors, lotions, etc.).

For my time this morning, I got a gift card to Target, which I promptly spent. Future "studies" will give me random amounts of money here and there, plus I'll be able to test out products before they're available in stores!

I think I get a free teeth cleaning out of the deal too...

What a Weekend!

(... and it's not even over yet!)

My weekend started on Friday night with a Sox game. It was a great game, not only because we won, but because it was interesting. Many nail biting moments, a great relay play, and even a balk resulting in a run (oh, Mike, how I wish you were on the same continent to share that moment with me, since that is a baseball rule I learned from you!). Sarah and I splurged and got our ice cream in plastic, mini baseball caps, and then felt the need to pose with them on our heads.

Saturday, I spent the day in Wayland, working on my dresser. I found it on craigslist for $35, and though it was a little worn, it was a beautiful 100% wood (no particleboard!) piece that I decided was worth saving. My aunt & uncle generously offered me the use of their garage in which to work on this project, and so I began my work on Saturday. I purchased everything I needed from the hardware store (from a man of very few words who looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world than standing in front of me, answering my "how do you refinish a dresser?" questions), and then sanded and primed the dresser (thank goodness for power sanders!).

Saturday night was "girls night out" with high school friends. We had a great dinner at Antonio's where we (I) flirted with the waiter and got us free limoncello, and then headed over to McFadden's for post-dinner festivities. While there, we noticed signs all over the place for their upcoming "White Party" (champagne social). Not so sure what that's all about, but we're all hoping it's nothing like what it sounds like ("by invitation only...").

Today, we ate breakfast at Sound Bites (amazing!) and then I headed over to a bbq hosted by a friend I hadn't seen in years (a theme of the past few weeks - seeing friends I haven't seen in years). Post bbq, I headed back to Wayland to paint the dresser (photos to come) and I am now recovering at home after a much-needed, paint-removing shower. Hurray for sleeping in my own bed tonight (and hurray and thank you to my hosts for the past 2 nights)!