broken_gizmo

"Mom! That lady's neck is dirty in a circle!

I'm getting really good at this whole "wait at National Airport" thing. The US Airways terminal is becoming entirely too familiar, and I think it's a sign of some sort when the kiosk vendors start recognizing you. But, the wait was largely uneventful. I stopped at one of the kiosks that sells random Asian trinkets, and I saw a nifty silver yin-yang pendant that I really liked, so I picked it up. I showed her the tattoo on the back of my neck, and she ended up giving me a discount. Huh. Maybe I should go get tattoos of really neat expensive items I've always wanted, and see if the same tactic works. Seems rather drastic, though...

The flight was largely uneventful, though that didn't stop me from having one of my first flight-panic attacks in quite a while. Luckily, my row-mate (there was nobody in the middle seat) noticed, and just started talking to me, and that worked to distract me pretty well.

You can't get there from here...

bouncingleaf found me at the airport with minimal effort, and then we proceeded to try to find our way to Cambridge. Hee! leaf has a very Zen driving style, which worked out surprisingly well, and had the added bonus of allowing me to see extra bits of Boston! ;) We finally found our way to where we were going, and met up with hamlet and went for delicious schwarma and falafel and hummus for lunch (so. much. food.). It was really need getting to see hamlet, as she doesn't much like crowds, and it seems that all the things we do when I come up involve mobs, so I don't get to see her so much. But the three of us had a great lunch and fun chats, and then we ventured off to <http://www.grandopening.com/">Grand Opening</a>, where I had entirely too much fun browsing books and toys. Ok, more than just browsing, I guess, as I did end up with a bag of loot. But I was remarkably restrained! (Erm. So to speak.)

Pardon me? Could I just get this store to go?

From Grand Opening, we went to Formaggio Kitchen, a horrible trap of a store that jehanna had told us about. We had a wonderful time picking up cheeses (with the assistance of some incredibly friendly and helpful staff), and cake and pear and granny smith sorbet. So much time browsing so much good food.

Sadly, hamlet was not able to join us for the rest of the evening, as she and hop already had plans, so we deposited her back home, and then leaf and I began the long trek to the house of jehanna and solipsistnation.

A whole dairy farm full of cheese.

We got to the house safely, and what a lovely house it is! Really, ford and mute have an awesome house. It was a great setting for an evening of sitting around and eating piles of cheese and crackers and grapes and drinking wine. I had a terrific time, though I'm not sure that any of us had more fun than mute did. :)

And as an added bonus, ford and mute have a very comfortable guest room.

jer made my butt wiggly!

The next morning, mute deposited me at the house of usagijer and slarti, where I was to spend the day. I putzed around for a bit until it was time for me to join my 11AM concall of doom, and then proceeded to sit and try to stay awake during the concall. jer is a wonderful human being, and fed me toast and kept bringing me tea. Yay!

At some point during all of this, I learned that the red pandas at the National Zoo had died, and this made me very sad. So, jer brought out JR bunny for me to snuggle with, and she licked my nose, and this made me very giggly. Yay, JR bunny!

After this, Jer and I wandered into downtown Worcester, where we went to Seoul Leechi for very yummy Korean food, and then over to Jelly's Discs (which will always make me giggle), where I picked up a handful of CDs, and then next door to That's Entertainment, where I... completely failed to buy anything.

Huh.

After this, it was time to head back to jer's place, and so we did. I showered and repacked all my crap, and when delenn showed up, they gave me my Christmas present. I must say, they rule a lot. I mean, they got me a plush panda purse. It kicks all sorts of ass. They are great. :) Yay, jer and delenn!

And then, it was time go drink.

Does anyone know the maximum safe capacity of this balcony?

The pissup was... impressively large. I think we ended up with something like 34 people total. And the poor poor wait staff put up with us very well, considering the fact that there were only two of them on duty for the whole night. There were lots of people there, many of whom I rarely get to see (ok, even more rarely than I see most of my Massachusetts friends (yes, I know I come up here a lot; I still see them rarely, ok?)). I delivered and received a number of silly presents, and the Giant Pocky was a hit. I think everyone had a grand time, and I promise to put up pictures soon!

It was very very silly, and really, I don't think most of it can even be attributed to the booze. I mean, when we have the Youngest Gweep saying, "Well, someone has to be the mature one..." (hi gizmoek!) you know it's going to be that kind of evening.

After the gathering dispersed, I went back to p's place, where we sat around and made fun of each other until we realized we were falling asleep, and then crashed.

Orcs, and then sushi.

Yesterday, kviri, frozencapybara, audiogeek, slarti, lagaz, and doug invaded the steve-o-plex and we watched the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, taking frequent breaks to allow people to get up and stretch and move around and trade seats, as the steve-o-plex doesn't actually have enough seats for more than say 6 friendly people. The movie was suitably impressive on the gigantic projector screen, and I think all survived butt numbness successfully.

Then, it was time for food, which took us trekking to Sudbury to go to FuGaKyu. We realized that we probably should have called to get reservations when we got there and the place was packed. Sadly, audiogeek had to head home, so it ended up being just the five of us waiting around for a table. It wasn't all bad, though. staralashain and I got to giggle madly at the young girl who proclaimed "soybeans, ew!" quite loudly.

Dinner was quite tasty, and dinner conversation was quite entertaining. And, FuGaKyu had Choya on the menu, so I bought a bottle for the table. Mmm. Choya.

Driving home, p was once agian freezing his hands since he forgot his gloves and has a metal gear shift knob, so something in my pocket came to the rescue. The ribbon on the present from jer and delenn had a little teeny stocking cap tied to it, and it was very cute, so I kept it. It turns out it was the exact right size for our purposes, so p's car now has a green gear shift knob cozy. Hee!

And that's pretty much been my trip thus far. I should probably go shower and get dressed and repack all my crap so that we can be ready to head out to today's festivities (Orcs and Tacos) this afternoon.

Aloha!