Subway riders beware

The glare is back... You know, that NYC commuter's glare that strikes some of us at times, especially at certain times of the month.

That familiar combo of the evil eye, disgust, irritation, and impatience, with a touch of testiness.

After disappearing for a few weeks when I was floating through on the exciting happenings in my life, the glare is back. It's back, and it's evil as ever.

So if your near the 4 or 5 train, watch out! If you even think of pushing me so you can squish into a full train, or if you yell in my ear, or even if you cut me off on the escalator... Expect a look that you may never be able to shake. Ever. In fact, I would not be surprised if someone burst into flames from the mere site... Consider yourself warned.

Oh dear... What would Ms Subways say?

Hat me baby, one more time

Who was it who thought that it would be a good idea to take cardboard and make it into pointy cones to put on top of the heads of children at birthday parties, and then attach them with tight elastic bands under their chins?
And why?

**My nephew, pictured above, is turning three next week...
Happy Birthday Sammy!**

HNT: She's got legs

These are my legs and the legs of my friends, who may never want to see me again after last night... Or at least not for poker. I think I may forever be off "the list."

It was a nice night... Drinking. Playing. Eating pizza. Fun and games, until someone got hurt. That "someone" last night, was a defenseless folding chair. All because of one hand, one single motion, that will forever be emblazoned onto my memory.

The five other people at the table had folded, so it was just the fiancé and me left in the hand, head to head, mano a mano... And that's when he did it. The move that caused the ruckus. I went "all in," assuming that he would lay down his cards and not want to face me, especially knowing that I am PMSing, which I had announced to the entire room the moment I walked in the door, but he didn't heed the warning. That silly, silly man.

In seemingly slow motion, he pushed his chips into the middle of the table, and suddenly, the beast within me erupted. My cards went flying across the table, there was a loud bang, and a defenseless chair ended up in a heap on the floor with my coat. Suffice it to say, it was not pretty. But, at least everyone had a good laugh over it.

Everyone, except me and the poor chair.

**To join in the HNT/Half-Nekkid Thurs fun, click on the sexy sidebar link.

A word of advice...

...To any potential new homeowners.

Before you sign on the five hundred dotted lines at your closing, you might want to make sure that the dryer actually dries, the doorbell indeed makes a sound (preferably something relating a ding or a dong), that the toilet doesn't run, the shower stays hot, and that the commute doesn't take double the time that they tell you it will take.

A long few weeks

Yippee... I'm back in action. I have my precious wireless internet again! The cable guy came by this weekend, which also means that my DVR is working again. Phew. I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to fast forward commercials again, and to be able to record two shows at the same time.

It is so hard to choose between shows these days. Crap, crap, or more crap? Hmmm. But no matter how bad they are, they all seem to suck me in. How do they do that? Especially the performance reality shows, and the crime/medical/political dramas. I watch one episode, and then need to know what is going to happen next.

But even with all this TV to catch up on, and everything else that I should be doing, now that I will (hopefully) not be kicked offline every two minutes, I promise to make time to write... I'm finally starting to feel like myself again, and I'm glad to be back!

Growing up

What exactly is it that defines a grown-up, and when does one cross the threshold into being one?

I was having this very discussion with several friends on New Year's Eve. Then, all of a sudden, it happened... One week later, and I've got a home, a mortgage, and I'm going to be someone's "old lady."

It's not that I have problem with being a grown-up, or that I'm
scared or anything, it just kind of snuck up on me.

Two years ago, I was renting my friend's guest house in LA, going out to clubs, and my idea of making dinner was nuking a bag of popcorn and de-corking a cheap bottle of merlot to the sounds of Sex and the City, with no idea where my life would take me. But then again, I was also painfully lonely, over-medicated, and almost completely devoid of hope. I'd definitely rather be grown-up, content, and even, dare I say, predictable, over any of those things.

And just because I may be perceived by some of my friends as the G word, it doesn't mean I have to act like one... In fact, I think for my MLK day off of work, I am going to unpack my clothes while dancing around my new place in my Honeydew panties and belting out tunes from Madonna's Immaculate Collection into my hairbrush. That whole grown-up thing can wait, well, at least until my next mortgage payment is due.

Moving on up...

Why is it that moving companies are not capable of telling the truth up front? Is it really all that hard to give an accurate estimate? I guess so. They did a nice job though, no casualties, but it did end up costing a few hundred dollars more than the estimate... no surprises there!

I still have some unpacking to do, and my internet may be down for a few days during the transition, but I won't be away for too long.

A NYE to remember

Went to the beau's parent's house in the 'burbs to party in 2006....
With friends joining in the fun...

And Audrey, in her "shayna punim" shirt ("pretty face" in Yiddish)...

Flutes clinked...

The ball dropped...

The beau and I returned to our park with a view...

and then it happened...
my real eighth Chanukah gift.

HNT: Moving Week

The dot to my right in the first photo is the Statue of Liberty's torch. She's waving goodbye, as we prepare for the big move this Saturday.
But we are having fun procrastinating for tonight.
Or rather, I am having fun, the dog is a bit freaked out! If you have a moment Half-Nekkid surfers, my 103 things post is below, and to see more Half-Nekkid Thursday, click on the sexy sidebar link.

T.M.I. aka 103 things about yours truly

Here I stand, raw, peeled, visible... undressed before you.

1. I love living in New Jersey.
2. I do not have a Joisey accent, or big hair.
3. I'm a total Scorpio... intense, creative, and deeply passionate.
4. I also have been known to hold a Scorpio-style grudge.
5. I would like to be my own boss some day.
6. Gritty and edgy photography gets me excited.
7. Nikon is my camera company of choice.
8. I always lose camera lens caps.
9. The beau got me a lens leash for Chanukah, so I will stop losing his caps.
10. I love painting (especially flames) with my fingers.

11. I also love to sing and play guitar.
12. I played a few open mics when I lived in LA.
13. My first was at Canter's Kibitz Room.
14. Unfortunately, I only know about 6 chords, and have had a broken string for over a year.
15. My favorite time to sing, play guitar, and even write songs, used to be 2AM, at the top of my lungs, on sleeping pills.
16. My bro, who is 9 years my senior, is the real musician of my family.
17. He can pretty much pick up anything with strings, keys, or percussive elements, and play it like a pro.
18. He lives in Brooklyn and fronts a band called The Pimps of Joytime.
19. I really love their funky sound and hope they get signed. Got any connections?
20. I have trouble falling asleep most nights.

21. Thus, I am NOT a morning person.
22. I was a cinema/photography major in college, with a writing minor.
23. I primarily made hand-painted experimental short films in school, and wrote countless poems and children's stories.
24. A 1-week intensive workshop with poet Sharon Olds changed my life.
25. I would like to publish a children's book one day.
26. I went to the Cannes Film Festival in 2000, through the American Pavilion/Kodak student program.
27. I also spent a semester in LA, during which I interned on the set of the TV show "Friends."
28. I was an extra in the episode with Monica and Chandler's wedding.
29. If you blink during the episode, you will miss me.
30. I also interned for George Clooney's production company.

31. I wanted to do "Semester at Sea," but didn't want to be across the world when my dad was sick.
32. He had Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS, to which he succumbed in 2001.
33. My dad is why I now love the Yankees.
34. I have season tickets to all the Friday home games, with the beau and another friend.
35. My godfather and former neighbor is the doctor who delivered me when I was born.
36. He also was the doctor who also delivered Yankee Derek Jeter.
37. I did an ALS Walk in May of 2005 with my Mom, the beau, and my dog.
38. You can see my Walk site here... We raised over $3,000.
39. I really miss my college roomie Lauren, who lives in England now.
40. I failed parallel parking on my driving test, and still suck at it.

41. I have always wanted to voice cartoon characters.
42. I was an extra in a Saturday Night Live parody commercial called Cookie Dough Sport.
43. I studied theater when I was younger, including several summers at Interlochen Arts Camp in MI.
44. Some of my friends from there are now famous.
45. I am not… but still dream about it sometimes.
46. After college, I went back to LA, where I worked at a talent agency and for a talent manager, and dealt with many celebs.
47. That pretty much killed the dream.
48. I still crave the theater at times, and miss the rush of being on stage.
49. My favorite thing about acting was making people cry.

50. I died in almost every play I was in.
51. I went to a mostly Jewish all girl sleep-away camp in PA for 7 summers before Interlochen.
52. I was not a big fan of the camp, and would often get lost in my own fantasy world.
53. I still do.
54. I was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe through high school, and have numerous collectibles.
55. During high school and college, my hair went from brown, to black, to bleach blond, to red, and back again.
56. I modeled for temporary tattoo packages when I was a teen.
57. I still see myself through store windows sometimes.
58. I wish I could be as thin now as I was when those photos were taken.
59. I didn't think I was thin at the time.
60. I am very self-deprecating.

61. I lost 30 pounds both times I moved to LA (and then gained it back when I moved back East).
62. My New Year’s resolution is to lose it again, in a healthy way, and for good this time.
63. I hate New Year’s resolutions.
64. "My Girl" is the only movie that makes me cry every time.
65. I have 2 tattoos inked at 3 different times.
66. I personally think animal heads hanging on walls are barbaric.
67. My mom recently had earrings made for my sister and me from the stones that were in her wedding band from my father.
68. My sister, who is 11 years older than me, lives in Texas.
69. I stayed with her and her hubby at 2 different times for over a month.
70. Once was the summer after my dad died, and I became a cocktail waitress.

71. I loved that job, especially the attention I would get from customers… And the tips.
72. The other time, was when my nephew Sam was born 2 months early.
73. He was in the Neonatal ICU for over a month, and I drove her to see him every day, and watched them through the glass.
74. He pulled through, and is a very active and adorable toddler now.
75. My sister taught me to make a flower with my tongue.
76. I have a thing against treadmills, but stationary bikes are okay.
77. I hate being shushed, especially when it is because of sports on TV.
78. My sister calls me Smelly, Stinky, or Stench, but says it started when I was a baby and she would sing-song, "Danielle smells like caramel."
79. I used to collect snow globes, and have a collection of over 300 in storage, perhaps for a future baby's room.

80. I melt to the touch while having my back rubbed/tickled.
81. I hate to clean with a passion.
82. I regularly play Texas Hold 'Em poker with friends on Wed. nights.
83. I still like giving and getting 8 presents for Chanukah.
84. I love getting snail-mail, and always hope there will be a post-it note on my mailbox indicating a package.
85. Sometimes I'm afraid that I'll fall into a depression and not come out.
86. My favorite thing to do is to sleep late and sit on the couch watching TV and movies.
87. It would be very difficult for me to live without a DVR ever again.
88. I watch way too much TV, especially crime/medical dramas, animation, and performance reality shows.
89. I can watch "A League of Their Own," over and over again.

90. I adopted my dog, a long-haired chihuahua mix, from a shelter when I was living in LA in 2003.
91. I named her Audrey after Audrey Hepburn.
92. But I think Audrey Tautou is a fabulous actress too.
93. Her movie Amelie is one of my all-time favorites.
94. I can't help but smile every time I pass a baby or puppy, no matter how cute they are.
95. I started studying Kabbalah when I lived in LA.
96. It changed my life and brought light to some very dark times.
97. My biggest celeb crushes have been on early Johnny Depp (Gilbert Grape era) and Angelina Jolie.
98. Most likely, if you meet me, I will be wearing black.
99. I may also have a long silk scarf tied in my hair like a headband.
100. If we play Super Mario Cart for Super Nintendo, I will kick your butt.
101. But that is contingent on me being the Princess.
102. I write best when I feel depressed.
103. I'm not feeling depressed at the moment... Sorry.