This was a weird week. I'm happy to have made it through without going completely crazy.
Monday - woke up so dizzy that I took some Meclizine and went right back to bed for the rest of the day. Totally wasted day. And wow. Meclizine is STRONG. No wonder they tell you not to drive or operate machinery when you take it. (And I was so hoping to operate my jackhammer that day too!). I could barely get off the couch.
Tuesday - much better, although still slightly dizzy. Just said no to the drugs and took myself to work...where I proceeded to feel fuzzy all day and almost completely lost my voice. No idea what that was about, but I was irritated...meetings were a treat, but the fuzziness did seem to dull the annoyance of not having a voice. Checked mail when I got home (hadn't checked since Saturday), and had no mail. Odd, but not completely abnormal. I mean, there's usually fliers and dentists trying to get me to come in for their fabulous services. Sometimes, someone even tries to sell my house...which I don't even own. Mainly weird because I was expecting a check which a friend told me she sent a week before. Didn't really think much more of it...just figured things were moving slow...maybe the postal service had a dizzying first two days of the week too.
Wednesday - voice completely back, no more dizziness, started off on the right foot. Was very excited to go to the Shark Tank and select my seats for next season...after already deciding to upgrade to season tickets with a few friends. I had never done this before so had no idea what to expect. I did not expect to walk out of the doors with NO TICKETS. That's right. None. When I got to the area where I wanted to get to the tickets, there were zero available. I couldn't afford to buy the next level of tickets, so I just stood there. Hoping maybe the Meclizine from two days earlier was having an effect on my brain and I just couldn't see the papers telling me seats were available. No such luck. Wow. I was not happy. I emailed my account rep to see if there was anything she could do. Then I went to Chipotle to drown my sorrows in a tasty chicken burrito.
Thursday - well, when I woke up, I had no idea what was going to happen as the day progressed. First the news that Farrah had finally succumbed to her long battle with cancer, then the shock of losing Michael Jackson. When death slaps you in the face like that, either from celebrities passing, acquaintances or the tragedies in Iran, you have to step back and think about what's really important. And I'll tell you, what became completely unimportant was my whining about being dizzy, losing my voice and not getting Shark tickets. Life is precious, and no matter how it's lost, it makes you think.
I was never a huge Farrah fan. I loved Charlie's Angels. I had the dolls. My friends and I played it at recess. But it was always about Kelly for me (hello, brunette). So I can't say that I was that sad about her passing, but, it was sad how she struggled, and I did feel that she had tried to get her life back together after a few pretty awful years.
On the other hand, I was a HUGE Michael Jackson fan. I own Thriller on vinyl. Maybe the best album of my generation. No question that he was a musical genius who was troubled most of his life. I hadn't listed to MJ's music regularly for years...just phased it out for some reason. However, when I got home Thursday night, I got on iTunes and began making a playlist of the MJ tunes I owned. And then I bought some that I didn't own. I have loved rediscovering his music over the last few days...both through my playlist and all the videos that have been playing all over the music channels. I really forgot how great he was. Now, Michael definitely had some issues...no doubt about that. We'll never really understand all of it. I'm choosing to focus on the good...the music. Genius.
By the way, checked my mail again today - and still nothing!!! I looked in the back of the mail box, and apparently, the post office thought I was on vacation. Um, what??? I reached into the little plastic thing that said vacation and took it out. Good grief.
Friday - FINALLY. End of the week. I wondered if the post office would actually bring me my mail...and hey, they did! A big pile of it. Awesome. I did get the check that I was waiting on, as well as, oh joy, my U2 tickets! Mail is good!!! And what else happened on Friday? My account rep from the Sharks emailed me with the good news that she found me seats!! Can I just say that Friday rocked???
Now it's Saturday, and I need to leave in about 15 minutes to go meet a friend for breakfast at Stacks. Let's hope next week doesn't have so many ups and downs. And let's hope that the next time the post office decides to hold my mail that I'm actually ON VACATION!
After four mornings of Waking up in Vegas (no, I'm not Katy Perry in my other life), I look forward to waking up in my own bedroom tomorrow morning. Vegas wasn't awful...it's just not my favorite place to be. It was fun to catch up with friends though and take a swim in my gigantic jacuzzi tub.
While in Vegas, I came to realize that most days, I live in My Own Personal Crazy. Things that go on in my world don't typically happen to others. Like what you ask? Read on...
One ~ Where I sit on Southwest planes I've known for a while that I can only sit in certain seats when I fly Southwest, but I didn't realize how big my crazy was until this weekend when I was explaining my seating options to a friend. See, I can only sit in either the A seat (left side window) or the D seat (right side aisle). Why? Seriously, why? It's all to do with the seat belt. Yes, you read that right. The seat belt. For whatever reason, and I absolutely can NOT explain this to you, I can only sit in a seat where the long side of the seat belt is on the right, and the short side is on the left. That's the only way I can make it clasp. The other way? Nope. Can't do it. Yeah. I don't get it either, but it is what it is. Uh huh. My Own Personal Crazy.
Two ~ I can't kill things that come uninvited into my hotel room (or any other room for that matter!)
It's a well-known fact that I don't do things with 8 legs. It's just not an option. Don't come into my house. You are absolutely not invited. Now, because I live by myself, sometimes, I have to suck it up and evict said 8-legged things. But I do not enjoy it. Not at all. And if I can just leave a room and pretend I never saw it? All the better. Anything else, I can usually take care of (praise God I do not get those nuclear war survivor cockroaches). Ants? Done. Gnat or Fly? Evicted. Small moths? Ousted. So, when a large moth...and I mean LARGE...appeared in my hotel room last night, I wasn't freaked out, but I also couldn't kill it. First of all, when it finally stopped dive bombing and making itself dizzy, it landed so high that there was no way I could get it. But I knew I'd never be able to have a relaxing swim in my tub or a restful night's sleep with it lounging in the room. Not an option. So, I called housekeeping/maintenance. I really wish I had video of what happened next. This gentleman (so nice btw!) came in with a bottle of some sort of Windex-like cleaning fluid and a towel. The strategy? Snap the towel in the moth's general direction, then when it moved, chase it and hope to slap it and knock it down. Seriously. This was one of the funniest things I've ever seen happen. I was trying so hard not to laugh, and he knew it was nuts, but he persevered and finally got the ginormo cousin-of-mothra moth. Done. Evicted. Now, when I posted a note about said moth on Facebook, my so-called friends started to mock me about the fact that I had to call someone to get it...that it was ridiculous that I couldn't catch it myself. I really wish I had taken a photo of this thing. I don't think any of them understood how BIG this thing was. Seriously. It was easily 1" x 2" without its wings spread, and it was flying all over the room all crazy...like it had eaten a power bar or was hopped up on one of those energy drinks. Seriously. Psychotic moth. I have no qualms about the fact that I called someone to help. Isn't that part of what I pay for? Yes. Yes it is. It was much worse a few years ago in Cambria when one of those evil 8-legged creatures made its way into my room. I made that call much more quickly. I know. My Own Personal Crazy.
Three ~ There can never be enough ice or enough lemon
As anyone who has ever eaten dinner with me knows, I love my iced tea, but I am pretty particular about how it's served to me. My standard order is: iced tea with lots of ice and lots of lemons. It seems simple enough, but time and time again I am forced to ask for more ice and more lemon when they bring me the first glass. Is it really that hard? Really? What I usually get is a glass of iced tea with about 1/3 of the glass containing ice. No. Not enough. Fill the glass with ice, then put the tea in. And when you refill my glass? Make sure there's more ice. Refilling on top of the original ice doesn't do me any good. If the original glass comes with one lemon, what do you think lots of lemons means? More than two? Yes. It's more than two. A normal size glass needs two lemons. One of those giant glasses needs three...sometimes four. And guess what? EVERY glass needs the same number of lemons. I don't just want them for the first glass. Seriously, that's hard why? That's right. My Own Personal Crazy.
Well, I think that's just about enough of My Own Personal Crazy for one day. Another day, maybe I'll share more. Because this is just really a tiny thread that I started to pull for you. I probably could start a whole separate blog with this title (oooo, interesting idea) and just share something new every day. Because in my world? Every day brings me a whole sort of crazy to get involved with.Ciao!
Or as my friend Shawn calls them, ben-it-is-yays. I think I like that better. Because the beignet is, in fact, YAY.
I first had a real beignet at the best place in the world to get them, Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. The order was handed to us in a paper bag loaded with about 3 1/2 pounds of powdered sugar...most of which ended up on my face and clothes and the floor. I actually think there is someone employed full time just to continually sweep. The experience was, in a word, awesome.
While at this fine, powdery establishment, I bought a box of the beignet mix for myself...thinking, "Oh yes. I'm good. I can deep fry dough with the best of them." Yeah. I so can't. But I can sure make a big fat mess.
Distraught with my total failure of being able to reproduce the beignet, I began my quest to find a place that served them so I could experience the joy again. "How hard could that be?" I said...foolishly.
Okay, a lot of nice Cajun/New Orleans style restaurants serve beignets as a dessert. With toppings. On a plate. This is so very wrong. They're too snooty. Too fancy. Too devoid of powdered sugar. Beignets were intended to be a breakfast food. They are, at their most basic, a fried donut. DONUT. That means breakfast. Not dessert.
I soldiered on.
And then...I found them. At the most unlikeliest of places. Downtown Disney in Anaheim, California. That's right. Disney. Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen Express to be exact. They do it right. All the way down to the paper bag and powdered sugar. Oh. They are JOY. My sole purpose in ever going to Downtown Disney is to savor, let's face it, one of the world's most perfect foods.
Tonight, my friend Amy and I decided to have the ben-it-is-yays for our appetizer prior to dining at the Rainforest Cafe. It was a fantastic move, and the folks at the Jazz Kitchen Express gave us 2 bonus beignets (see photo above)! Could it get any better? When I grabbed the bag from the cashier, I could feel the warmth of the fried dough penetrating through. I barely made it to the table before diving in. I shook the bag, and stuck my hand in to retrieve the tasty goodness. There was powdered sugar everywhere, and it was heaven.
So kids, let this be a lesson. Beignets are best served warm, out of a paper bag, with tons and tons of powdered sugar. If someone tries to serve them to you on a plate with dipping sauces, run the other way...tell them you've got Disneyitis and need to make a run to Anaheim (or Florida...they have them there too). It's for the best.
Posts
