lady t

let's face it, no one offers up a close encounter with humanity's more colorful quite like the T. they really should work that angle in their advertising. 'ride the T & see some messed up shit'

this 'little' gem happend to be dancing up and down the aisle of the redline train i was on wednesday after class, stopping every so often to thrust and gyrate in a way that made me reach for my purell hand sanitizer just in case an unfortunate lurch in the T led to an unexpected lap dance. she was decked out in a 4sizestoosmallflashdancenumbah gone way wrong circa '82, complete with giant potbelly featuring a large horizontal scar. i'm sure she would have also had on matching legwarmers if they made them in size elephantankle.



you can understand why i wasn't bold enough to attempt a frontal photo. no need to take a chance on catching this one's attention.

(i think the guy on the left says it all.)

leg transplant, please

so i left the house this morning hoping to top my 7-mile longest distance for running... i tried the other day, but couldn't bring myself to do another lap past sullivan's snack shack where 300lb americana grazes on soft-serve and fries. there's a reason i don't bring my wallet with me when i run ;) today i thought maybe, just maybe i could hit ten miles without falling apart somewhere between here and castle island.

well, champagne flavored gatorade for everyone :) 10 miles it was.

sanity day

so after 10 straight days of work, or school, or on extra special days both work and school i finally started to crack yesterday. so i decided to treat myself to a mental health day before things got ugly and for the first time in forevuh did basically whatever i wanted. well, i did still get up in the am with j.mo and made a pot of coffee and as soon as i had a pulse cleaned the house. thank you caffeine. and after that was done i wrote a paper. again, thank you caffeine. so i got a lot done in addition to it being a day of whatever. after lunch i had a lovely walk in the sunshine on my way to the T so i could hit up the o.b.g.y.m and then feeling extra motivated when i was done with the gym i went for a seven mile run.

we've both been little running machines since we bought these:


and these:


i've run 23.8 miles in the past 11 days. according to the little man that lives inside my nano i'm on track to hit my goal of 60 mile in 4 weeks. here i am crawling across the finish line after my seven mile leg-punishing trek today:


i think before the weekend is over i might be able to do a ten mile run- we'll see what happens. i say that now, but i probably won't be able to walk to the train in the morning. whatever- it's been good motivation and there's something very zen about running. and running. and running some more. so as long as i have this crap job and crazy schedule with school i've got to try and stick with it.

it's amazing what a difference a day makes.

tickled pink (alternate title: signs of life)

tomorrow would have marked two entire months since my last post... i wonder if anyone even checks in for updates anymore?!?

i'm on vacation from work right now (which means waking up at o'dark hundred every morning to answer my bottomless emails and shovel around passengers as if i care) so i can take 3 summer courses to make up for time lost last summer- immigration law (handy, though noitceably unthrilling), intercultural management (pretty good overall) and another on racism. the racism course was the last one i picked for this summer, and admittedly, it was ultimately chosen because it required the least number of days off from work. i would have never imagined it would turn into the experience it was. everything i thought i knew about the topic got spattered around the microwave like a certain ex-roomate's penchant for annihilating sticks of margarine in the name of baking. every once in a while you run into someone that's a true teacher- someone inspired and passionate... someone that teaches from lived experience and doesn't insist on an all you can eat buffet of half-cooked wordymumbojumbotheorypie. i feel incredibly grateful for all of this and have had so much to think about and question. at the risk of taking us all down hallmark boulevard, i'll stop crapping on and just say it was a moving experience on every level imaginable... one that is gonna be with me for the long-haul.

speaking of long-hauls... j.mo and i are about to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary on monday. it sounds kinda funny to say it's our first wedding anniversary since we've been together for seven years now, but it will soon indeed be one year ago that we were sticking two plastic grooms in a cake and getting all teary-eyed.

and what a lovely way to celebrate:

'A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was swiftly defeated today by a joint session of the Legislature by a vote of 45 to 151, eliminating any chance of getting it on the ballot in November 2008. The measure needed at least 50 votes to advance.... "We’re proud of our state today, and we applaud the legislature for showing that Massachusetts is strongly behind fairness," said Lee Swislow, executive director Advocates & Defenders. "The vote today was the triumph of time, experience, and understanding over fear and prejudice."

I too am proud of my state today. After a difficult and uncomfortable week of questioning so much about what I thought I knew about racism, identity and living in the US... And seriously wondering what (if any) impact I can have after all this time and energy spent learning about intercultural relations, I'm feeling a little bit better that maybe things can change. That maybe we really will have a chance to be parents and raise kids in a place that respects our family.

As I heard all week long-

learn, unlearn, relearn

one down, one to go

someday i'll blog again. promise.

i finished a 24 page paper for one class on saturday. and have another one of the same proportions due soon.

may 7th is a-comin'

a fabulous little getaway...

j.mo and i just got back from a couple of days of sunshine, sleeping in late and tons of good food. we flew down to florida to for some much needed R&R on the cheap. my good friend mojo's parents recently bought a place right on the water and my oh my, it sure was lovely...

here are a few of my pics:


me&mojo






















mojo's friend claudia was also there- she's a professional photographer and her pics are amazing!

hope all is well-

biglove,
g

5 weeks since i last touched my e-gspot...?

wow- has it really been five weeks since the last time i posted anything?

i'm afraid so.

but tonight the stuffed shells are already in the oven baking away and school stuff is more or less done for the week... and the oscars are on. so the window of bloggingpossibility has briefly opened and like a doomed shuttle landing, i'm going for it. now i know you're probably scratching your head in bewilderment... the oscars are a required highholygayholiday, man-sandwiched between cher's never ending farewell tour and thursday's eyebrow waxing. but somehow, someway i missed out on that fruitysprinkle doublehelix twist with a kiss... and the gayhollywoodgene skipped right on over me. i don't know my helen hunts from my diane keatons. come to think of it, i'm damn lucky i'm not sitting here in a flannel bathrobe listening to k.d lang while my s/he motormomma cooks me up some dead cow.

so yeah-- the oscars are one of many annual phenomena that send me to bed early. once they wheel out joan rivers and top her up on anti-freeze i'm nowhere to be found:

she is looking a bit extra crisp this year, wouldn't you agree?

so what's happened the past few weeks? nothing too noteworthy. work is working me over. i just started a research project for school that lasts for two semesters and ends with a 60 page paper a la thesis in disguise. and i also turned 29 a few weeks ago. a couple of random pics from that night's pahty:





i'm now on a mission to matchmake william with my friend ny's daughter...


blimpers is still lahge and in charge in case anyone was concerened:


and this weekend i was more american than i have ever been- i went TV shopping. the TV j.mo and i had was a good ol' fashioned 19 inches of no-name kmart brand that my sister gave me when i graduated college (the first time). so for the past 8 years i've carted around this old tele:


but this weekend we went all out and got this (don't mind the gypsy home furnishings on wheels... we're going to west elm on friday to take care of that situation...)


42 inches of plasma goodness. next you know i'll be driving a hummer and tossing big mac wrappers out the window...

hope all is well with everyone.

biglove,
g

the cheese flavored gods are smiling down on me today....

j.mo and i happened to notice a sign at the much dreaded big e's vermont building a few months ago professing aged cheddar was lactose free. we were both so desperate to get the hell outta there we didn't pause to investigate.

well what do you know....?- from the cheesemasters themselves:

Cabot Products and your Diet
Can those with lactose intolerance (ie me) enjoy Cabot cheeses?All Cabot cheeses contain zero (0) grams of lactose. (0 grams bitches!) Eating any aged cheese should not affect those with lactose intolerance (i'm getting moist), regardless of how much is eaten (!), because lactose - the major carbohydrate of cheese - totally disappears within 3 to 4 weeks after the cheese is made.



this is major news folks. i-heart-cheese.


i can totally relate to john's twin sister when she was a little kid, dancing around the kitchen with a slice of american cheese, doing the ancient cheesedance and topping her pasta with an entire can of so much 'stinky cheese' that the sauce disappeared. me too! but unfortunately anything with lactose started making me disgustingly ill around the time i started college (j.mo too). so i've been coping with soy cheese for 10 years now. in light of this recent groundbreaking news the block of sharp vermont cheddar i bought at the supermarket today doesn't stand a chance.

if i don't make it to morning, i guess this is my last blogpost. at least i went out with a cheeseblissbang :)

mira! three weeks without a new post...

howdy...

somehow three weeks have passed since the last time i posted anything here. that means i've got three weeks-worth of randomness to ramble on about. lucky you.

so this is month number 2 of the new job and the dust is finally starting to settle. my last job was very comfie- it didn't pay all that great, but there were lots of opportunities to travel and it was insanely quiet most of the year. so there was ample time to do homework, take 2 hour gym breaks and i rarely had to stay late... my new job is the complete polar opposite- from the moment i arrive in the am until i finally give up at the end of the day it's a whirlwind of triage, training, and general airline-related craziness. but anytime i start to question my decision all i have to do is remind myself that it was a raise of sabado gigante proportions and it's a profitable company that isn't about to go under/be bought out/have the electricity cut off for non payment. so i guess fair is fair.

this past week we had a quarterly corporate meeting- since there are about 180 employees, there's no space big enough for all of us to get together in our own building. so we all headed over to a swank-y function room at one of the nearby buildings in the financial district. seeing the early am sun coming up over the city was gorgeous:

i had a choke-hold on my stahbies the rest of the morning. not exactly riveting stuff whe you're knee-deep in fresh squeezed corpricana in the early am.

having the past month off from school has been bliss. i've been able to enjoy the holidays and real weekends again and not be exhasuted 24-7. but that's all about to end again on monday- it's back.....

one of this semester's classes will be lovely: international education exchange. the other, however, isn't going to do much to raise the pulse: dimensions and methods of cultural exploration 1. yup, that's right- this is part 1. next fall will be part 2. i'm already yawning. oh well- not much you can do about required courses.

this coming week kristin hersh has a new cd coming out and i couldn't be more excited- she's been my favorite for quite some time now and never fails to disappoint. froggie, this is for you:


so that's about all i suppose... my parents are on their way up to boston to spend the day and celebrate my birthday. it's not actually until next weekend, but they like to do things early ;) i'm still not entirely sure how i feel about turning 29. 3-0 is getting close. real close.

hope everyone is having a good weekend. i'll try to drop by more often.

biglove,
g

football wives

after i crawled out from under our paralytically excessive brunch i managed to get up off the couch and shower myself. today was one of the last football sundays of the soon ending season, so i decided to join all the other bored wives and go grocery shopping.

super88 seemed to be having some sort of flood control issue today. there was a team of men in rubber boots with hoses everywhere pumping water out of one of the freezers (no doubt all of the once frozen food is presently being re-frozen for re-sale). there was also a large puddle that stretched across 5 aisles of the store. so you could get halfway down an aisle and then had to put it in reverse and loop around to get to the other end. i had to put my floaties on to nab two cans of baby corn.



this week's sale:


and nothing says refreshment quite like a nice cold can of wax gourd juice:


still, it's my favorite place for foodshopping. 4 huge shopping bags full of fresh produce for $18- there's no beating it. tonight we're having a little thaifoodfest. oh my, the bliss that is being off from school for a few more weeks.

hope y'all had a good weekend...

06+1=07

wow- and then it was new year's eve. the holidays (actually all of 2006) was more or less a blur. since it's been a little while since i posted anything, let's have a little xmas recap. it was really nice of babyjesus to invite us to his birthday party once again- in spite of the whole living in homo-sin/eternal damnation technicality, no one seemed to mind that we were around to munch on festive jesuscookies and drink our fill of jesusjuice.

and nothing says christmas quite like the annualholidaybendah my mum goes on... here's the first clue as to the scale of what i'm talking about:


yeah, i wasn't joking. but you have to admit it does look pretty spectacular at night when it's dark out and the living room is ablaze- next year i'm going to get them a gift card from the electric company to help with the bill. i think it would also be wise if someone bought them a fire extinguisher as well.

there's a christmas tree under there somewhere:


thousands of beady little holiday eyes watching your every move:


and switched on:


lights off:


lights on:


the happy parents:


grandma and her boys:


you'll notice that j.mo and i are down to our t-shirts thanks to all of the heat being given off by xmasgroundzero:


after the weekend in CT, j.mo and i returned home on xmas eve so that we could wake up in our own place, gorge on vegan brunch and open some gifts.



little johnny, in the zone:


me with my new vegan cookbook:


blimpers, official miss massachusetts holidaycat 06:


so christmas was really good and lots of fun. until j.mo and i both got knocked on our asses by various viruses. he has had some pretty hardcore 'tummy troubles' for days now. when i woke up at 4am friday morning to the sound of him throwing up i knew we were in serious trouble. john has titanicguts. this never happens to him. so he's been on the couch for days. every once in a while i drop off a new bottle of gatorade and a car magazine. poor guy. and i got hit with a nasty cold/sinus infection which everyone in CT had. i'd so take my ailments over j.mo's though, so i won't complain.

needless to say, it's shaping up to be a rockstar new year's at our place. pass the kleenex.

before i go (yes i still have more to ramble on about)... 2006 was a pretty crazy year. so much happened in the span of 12 months that it kinda makes my head spin to think back on all of it. we have a new home that i love (and a mortgage that i could do without), we both changed jobs, i started grad school, j.mo's mum had surgery, my mum dealt with a whole summer of chemo and radiation and on and on. it's been quite the ride. there were moments during this past year where i felt completely overwhelmed and wondered what else could possibly happen...? but i would look around and see this amazing love i share with my guy- and i would see all of our family and good friends. and the next day would come and somehow it was all ok.

i'm so thankful for everything we've got, for everyone that's here.

i hope everyone has a happy and safe new year's eve. see you back here next year :)(:

biglove,
g

heatwave

anyone else agree that it's a little strange when it's december 16th and also happens to be 55 degrees out...? we went walking at castle island and didn't have to bundle up- no hats or gloves or even jackets for that matter. just a big blue sky and big blue water and strange spring-like weather. the wickid bizzah part was feeling warm, but seeing the sun so low in the sky.




i slept until the blissful hour of 10am today. can you tell school is over for the next few weeks? last night j.mo and i celebrated the end of the semester in true fatboy style by walking over to our neighborhood indian place and gorging on the yummiest of curries, naans, and fried appetizers. if i can have that every semester i'm never gonna stop going to school :P

tonight i've got a tray of rice krispy treats at the ready and we're going to a holiday party at our friend lynn's in bridgewater (bridgewater was address #3 for us in our quest to live in every nook and cranny of the greater boston area)... and tomorrow is shaping up to be an entire day spent on the couch- football watching and snacking. truth be told what i'm really holding out for is monday... i've got the day off and am finally doing my xmas shopping. now that my brain doesn't hurt from deconstructing the culture concept i can think about more important things like stocking stuffers...

hope everyone is having a good weekend.

biglove,
g

10+ white cosmos = a 2 day hangover

i think our annual holiday party has become my favorite time of the year. here are some pics (finally-!) from this past weekend when we had about 30 people over for tons of drinks, tons more food and a small mountain of xmas cookies.

oh xmas tree oh xmas tree


sprinkles!


i was up until 2am the night before putting all this together


williams holiday craft session... (please go easy on your drunk uncles that made the runny icing for you.)


oh so innocent...


the mums:


big g, working the crowd:












apparently shun didn't get enough to eat, so he started on the tree:








william was in charge of taking pics...


and by far the higlight of the evening... william and the leftover icing, taking care of bidness: