shallow thoughts by csolly: October 2001

Oh - and - looking out a window to the hallway during a meeting, a coworker and I saw the mailroom manager walking around wearing a surgical mask and rubber gloves. Scary.

Oh man ... I just told a coworker where to find my web site ... And now my boss has it ... Guess I can't complain about my job on here any more. Damn. ;)

Woo hoo! My car is already fixed! It's ready to be picked up any time! Yeay! Hey, Amy and Nora, want to come to Maine with me on Saturday? We can ask Kameel to dinner ... ;)

I just saw a sign on my way to work for a concert by Boz Scaggs and it reminded me of my Rolling Stone internship. Boz' son Austin was also an intern there the same summer. My friend Jen who was an intern with me had a huge crush on him. (He was really hot.) That was a pretty fun time, even though I didn't learn anything there.

Happy Halloween!

First, I just got home from work. I have a feeling there are going to be many more late nights over the next month or so, but that's OK. It's still better than my last job, where, even though I would leave the office by 6:30 or so, I would be at home working until 1am most nights. And on the weekends. And in my sleep. This is way better. Second, I have this incredible cough that I just can't shake. Corey gave me some wonderful meds for my cold while I was in Boston (Thank you Corey!), but they're all gone now. And I am left with this hacking cough that is so bad. It doesn't hurt and there's little phlegm involved, but I just cannot seem to cough enough to satisfy the tickle in my throat, so I end up bent over half the day trying to get it out. I don't know what to do. Keep taking cough syrup, I guess. And third ... I don't think I've been spending enough time with Ozzie lately, so I am going to get offline and cuddle with my cutie pie. (Actually, he is liking sitting on my hand while it's on my mouse, which makes it really hard to do anything. It's getting frustrating and that's really why I'm getting offline.) (Now he's knocking my earrings off the dresser ... Jeez ...) G'night.

Hilarious ... Launch is currently playing "Asshole" by Denis Leary ... Makes me think of drinking in the dorms freshman year.

Isn't it funny how listening to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" can perk up your whole day? I find it fascinating, but let me tell ya, I'm not so bummed to be at work anymore. :)

Oy! What a trip! Let me start off by saying I had a great time. It was so great to see everyone in Boston. In this travel diary, however, you will read how I testified in a court of law, got Justin Timberlake drunk and laid, fell head over heels in love and why I have to travel back to Maine next weekend. Wednesday, October 24, 2001 Left Boston late, around 9:30, after dropping off my keys at Heather's so she could watch Ozzie while I was away. (Thank you, Heather!) The drive was uneventful, which is a good thing. I crept into the apartment around 1am, fell into Eleanor's empty bed and slept soundly, except for the sniffles and cough. Thursday, October 25, 2001 The big day in court. We arrived at the courthouse and watched the slumlord that Jessi and Eleanor are suing, as we laughed at the prospect that he was going to get his ass kicked. There was a short hearing that I understood little of because of all the legal mumbo-jumbo that my puny brain can't comprehend. But, basically, Jessi and Eleanor's attorney had made a little boo-boo that might keep the trial from happening that day. The lawyers went to chat in a room together. Then we went back into the courtroom and the judge said we'd take a lunch break and come back at 1:45 and would have until 3:30 for testimony. Davos, the landlord, testified briefly. He was asked to identify the other people in the courtroom, more than half of whom lived in one of his apartments at one time or another, and couldn't say who any of us were for sure, except Jessi, and even that seemed kind of fuzzy. Then he told about the day Kari, my brother's girlfriend, was locked out of the house -- with no mention of the fact that he had spit on her. Then I was up first for the defendants. (Davos actually sued them first and they are countersuing, soactually I'm not sure if they're the planiffs or the defendants.) I put on extra deodorant that morning, but it didn't really help. The girls' lawyer seemed upstanding, as lawyers go. Before we testified, he told us that the most important thing was to tell the truth. Here here. Anyway, I did my best. I looked over at everyone else a few times, and they smiled and nodded at me, which was encouraging. I was up there for about half an hour. An interesting experience for sure. Then Kari testified about how she was spit on. She got a little worked up and had trouble breathing at one point, but she was OK. Davos sat in his seat in the front row, leaning forward to hear. His lawyer never tried to make it seem that Kari was lying about the spitting incident. Then Amy testified, too. She did great. Cool as a cucumber. :) Then it was 3:30 and we were done for the day. The trial will continue on November 14, when Jessi, Eleanor and Corey will all testify and Davos will be back up on the stand. And hopefully the judge will give the girls lots and lots of money. :) That night there was a pumpkin carving party which was oodles of fun and produced a plentiful patch of prettified pumpkins. Friday, October 26, 2001 I hung out during the day with Matt, my brother, and Kari, helping them get stuff together for their costumes. Then we all got ready and headed out to the party. Everyone looked spectacular. John was a medieval swordsman, wearing his sword -- and no one was hurt this time, thank goodness. Eleanor was a booty-ful medieval maiden. Jessi was Marge Simpson, complete with tall curly blue 'do, green dress, red pearls and red shoes. Matt was a great Harry Potter, and Kari was a sexy devilish character. (I was a doctor ... with a cold and smoking cigarettes ... ironic ...) And I met the infamous Irishman in Heather's life. (Nice catch, doll!) The party was great. (Thanks Lee and Tevis!) Had some drinks, laughed with friends, and took some pictures of my Justin Timberlake doll with various party-goers in scandalous poses. (Stay tuned for those.) Saturday, October 27, 2001 Matt and Kari said goodbye and drove home to upstate New York. Jessi and Eleanor headed to Maine early, and I slept in some. I got up, got my car filled with gas, got lunch. Came back to the apartment and realized I needed oil for the car, so went back out again. The crew going in my car got together and we were off to Maine for another Halloween party. Driving up 95, we passed a 3 alarm brush fire and could see the flames from the highway. Too bad that wasn't the only holdup we were going to have on the trip. We drove through Massachusetts and breezed through New Hampshire without incident. Mike H., Nora, Amy, John and I enjoyed pleasant conversation about John's dream island, where will all get to live. (His plans are very detailed and fascinating. Ask him about it if he hasn't told you already.) Once into Maine, everyone had to go to the bathroom, so I pulled off the highway toward a gas station. My battery light lit up and I got nervous. Mike said to turn off the radio, heat and lights. Once everyone had relieved himself or herself and purchased multiple varieties of chips, chocolate and beverages, we were off again. The car started without a problem. Around Portland, things were looking dim. Literally. My headlights were going low and the lights on the dash too were starting to go. A truck behind me kept flashing his brights to tell my lights weren't on. No shit. The kids in the back seat waved to him to let him know we were aware. I pulled over to the side of the road at the Falmouth toll plaza and the car went kaput. We got out of the car and had an amazing time finding the battery under the hood. (Pontiac does not make it easy, let me tell ya. We had to get the manual out to find it.) Mike has AAA, so he called to get a tow truck. I was a little upset that I was going to be making everyone late, but I was so glad they were there and no one was mad. It was an adventure, right? We weren't pulled over long before another car pulled over and a lovely man came back and asked if we needed help. We told him AAA was coming with a tow truck. He worked nearby and was headed to the same town we were, which was still 40 miles away. He was able to tell us of a Mobil station in Falmouth that we could tow to. He hung around as we waited for the tow truck. He introduced himself as Kameel, "Egyptian, but no terrorist" in him. (Raised in the U.S. and educated in Egypt, he works in Portland and lives in Augusta. That's stupid; he knows.) Nice guy. And cute to boot. The tow truck speeded into the toll plaza, scaring the shit out of all of us as he just missed hitting the guardrail. (Nora told me I should be glad that it was a flatbed tow truck, not one that pulls the car behind. Indeed.) Since the cab of the truck only had room for two, Mike and I went with the driver and Kameel offered to take Amy, Nora and John in his car to follow us. We get to the Mobil and the driver unloads my car. I make up my mind, after a long period of indecision, to leave the car at the Mobil to be repaired and would come back the next weekend to pick it up. Kameel had offered more than an hour earlier to take us all to Augusta, but we were resistant because there were five of us, each of whom had at least one piece of luggage, a pillow and a blanket, and Kameel was driving a Dodge Neon. We also had friends in Augusta who we could ask to come get us, and had friends coming up a few hours behind who could also give us a lift. While we're standing around trying to decide what to do, Kameel goes, "Come on, you guys. Just get in my car. I'll take you all there." (This is starting to sound sketchy ... it really wasn't. For a while, we weren't sure what to make of him, but he was really nice, we had two guys in our group who were both much larger than he was, and he had already spent more than an hour hanging out with us. We had decided that he really was a good guy who wanted to help us.) So, we all piled into the Neon. Six people in a Dodge Neon. Let's call it cozy. I was in an interesting bow-legged position in the back seat, and couldn't see the speedometer. We got to Augusta awfully fast, turns out, because Kameel was driving at, oh, about 100 miles an hour. We invited him to the party were going to, but he said he'd have to check with his girlfriend. (D'oh!) He got us all the way to Kayte's house and we spilled out of the car. I tried to give him money, but he wouldn't take it. Mike then left it on the front seat of the car, and Kameel comes back out and says, "Nice trick. Who put that in there? I'm not taking it." I gave him an hug and thanked him as much as I could. He gave us his phone number and told us to call him if we needed anything and to let him know how the whole car situation turned out. We entered the house, filled with stories of our knight in shining armor Kameel. We all dolled up into our costumes and joined the party. Another good one. More laughs, more drinks, more pictures of Justin partying. Good times. I fell asleep in the living room listening to my good pals play drinking games, a smile on my face. (Happy birthday, Mike! Sorry you spent two hours of it on the side on the road in Maine! ;) And thank you John, Amy, Mike and Nora for keeping me smiling the whole time! And I don't think I could thank Kameel enough.) Sunday, October 28, 2001 Woke up, brushed my teeth, said goodbye to our hosts. (Thank you John and Kayte!) There were enough seats in other people's cars to take back the five of us that had been in mine. Mike L. drove us to the Mobil that my car was at so I could pick up my suitcase and leave my keys at the station. I went into the service station and explained to the lady working there that I had broken down last night and had my car towed here and we had met this incredibly nice guy who helped us out. She said, "The Grand Prix?" I said yes. She said she knew, because earlier that morning, a man had stopped by and waited around to see if we would show up. He had told her what happened and left a message of good luck for us. She said he had left a note on the windshield. I ran out to the car and found, not a scrap pf paper with a few words scribbled on it. No no. An envelope, addressed to "The folks from N.Y & Boston that made my Sat. night much more interesting!" Inside was a letter to all of us, saying how "it was a pleasure meeting" us, and offered more help if we needed it. He wrote his work number and cell phone numbers again. He also wrote that he hopes to someday see us again because we seemed fun. Swoon! I am so in love. What a sweetheart. If only he didn't have a girlfriend ... then Nora and I could duke it out for his affections. We finished the ride back to Boston and then I caught a train to New York. What a ride. I had a great time, and despite the fact that my car's in Maine and I am going to have to drop a shitload of money on it to fix it, I am in a fabulous mood. I had such a blast seeing my pals. I really do miss you guys. And now, I am going to bed. I need some rest. Because I have to get up and go to work early tomorrow. :)

I'm in Boston and will tell you all about it when I get back on Sunday. Meanwhile, I'm having a lot of fun and hope you are too.

Don't have much to say today, but I just want to let all my friends out there to know how important you are to me. I love you all dearly. Thank you for reading this drivel and putting up with my craziness. I don't know what I'd do without each and every one of you. You each play a very special role in my life that no one else does, and I love you each for the unique qualities you bring into the world, whether it's humor, compassion, understanding, wisdom, comfort, fun, optimisim, cynicism, humility, confidence or anything inbetween. You know who you are ... I love you. A special link for you

Ugh! And I just realized that my web site looks hideous in Netscape. Don't look at it in Netscape. Don't use Netscape. I can't beleive I'm advocating using a Microsoft product, but use IE, please. (And, I must say, Outlook is fabulous for work email, and we don't have it here at my office. I wish we did.)

Oh! I forgot to tell you! I was on the subway this morning and we got stuck in some traffic. there was a police investigation at 34th St./6th Ave (Penn Station?). So a bunch of trains were being put onto our track to avoid the area. Everyone just sat, kept reading their papers, drinking their coffees, whatever. Except this lady next to me starts huffing and puffing. Smacking her mouth and sighing loundly. Kept checking her Beauty in the Beast watch every 30 seconds (I noticed because she'd stick her elbow in my chest every time she did it). I wanted to yell at her. "Hey! This is the way things are now! There are police officers and firemen working really hard right this very second to make sure we are safe. You can be late to whatever it is." But she got off before I could say anything. ;) (No joke, I was going to say something if she did it for much longer.)

So, I've been listening to Launch for a few days now, and it's getting much better. The more songs I rate, the better it can tailor it's playlist to my tastes. Very few songs I hate are coming up and quite a few I like.

I haven't been a very good conversationalist lately. Two common things to talk about lately are the war and work. Both occupy my mind, but I'm not interested in talking about either, for the most part. But because I'm thinking about those topics a lot, I can't think of much else to talk about. ...

Need I say more?

I'm going dancing tonight and I want to leave work right now! It's Friday! Let me outta here!!!

Phew! I've found a new 'net radio site to listen to at work: Launch.com. I listend to them a while ago and remember liking it ... but it's no NetRadio. *sniffle* Edit: Actually, Launch is pretty cool because when I signed up over a year ago, you fill out a survey and it will customize music to your tastes. And as songs play, you can rate them so it will play more like that more often, or never again. I'm just loyal to the sites I like, and I hated having to leave NetRadio. Edit 2: OK, right now I'm thinking it sucks because the audio doesn't stream smoothly at all. NetRadio was much better. Goddammit.

Waaaaaaaah!!! I am so sad. NetRadio has gone out of business. What am I going to listen to now???

I hate the New York Post. Close to two months ago, the Post called me and asked if I'd like to get the paper free for 8 weeks. I'm poor, I like to read the news. I said yes. So, I've been reading the Post, even though it is not one I had ever bought before. Then I started seeing front pages like this:

Now, of course, people who are peddling bottles of debris as souvenirs are lowlifes. However, I do not think it is the paper's place to be making that judgment call. They should be as objective as possible; report the news and let people draw their own conclusions. I know that no paper or news organization is truly objective. Almost every U.S. news source is pro-America now -- not that they shouldn't be. But recognize that that is a bias that will color the reporting. The number of victims from the September 11th attacks have been widely reported; I have yet to see a number of Afghan victims as a result of U.S. military attacks over the past two weeks. Then, today, I picked up my paper and saw this front page:

Wimps? God forbid they're cautious! These kind of alarmist headlines are doing nothing to calm the people of New York. If we're to do what Mayor Giuliani says and go about our daily lives as normal as possible, the New York Post isn't making that easy. It's perpetrating fear. And the Post is a widely read paper. When I look around the subway car on my morning commute, I see many more people reading these headlines than those of the Times. I wonder, how many Post readers are media-savvy enough to know what they're reading is so colored. I have a feeling that not as many are as I would hope. So, I'll have to call the Post and tell them I won't subscribe.

The girl who has the cube across from me at work has decided that I should unsubscribe from CNN's Breaking New Alerts because I keep freaking her out by saying "Oh my God!" several times a day when I read the startling emails. And, I noticed today that my building doesn't have a 13th floor ... Well, that's misleading because of course there is, but it is labeled "14" so superstitious people aren't freaked out and walk around saying "Oh my God!" all the time.

This morning on the train I stood next to an alcoholic. He wrapped a dark plastic bag around a bottle, and hid the cap, but I saw it before he took it off; it said Budweiser. He kept the cap in his hand the rest of the time, and kept the bag to his side. Before he got off the train, he spritzed breath spray in his mouth. All before 9am. :( . . . . . I went to a poetry slam last night. I hadn't been to one in a while, and this wasn't the regular venue that I attend. But it was a great time. Made me really appreciate living in New York. You never know what's going on in the little places you pass all the time. So much to do, so little time. . . . . . I can see how Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins. You ask, "Since when did being lazy ever hurt anyone?" What if firefighters were lazy? I ask you. . . . . . Did I ever tell you that we had a family whistle growing up? If Matt and I were frolicking in the cereal aisle while Mom was checking out at the register, she'd whistle and we'd come running. If we walked into the movie theater after getting soda and popcorn, Mom or Dad would whistle and we could find where they were sitting. Mom used it a lot when we were little, but she still uses it sometimes. I think it's kind of fun; it used to be kind of embarassing, but it worked really well. I wonder if I'll use the family whistle with my kids ...

I'm going to a poetry slam tonight, which should be fun since I haven't been to one since July. I can't wait for Urbana to get into full swing again, which won't be until December. :( This will have to hold me over until then. :) And I had lunch with some old About friends today, that was nice. And, um, I'm listening to NetRadio at work. I like listening to the stations that I don't get hung up on the words of a song, or who sings it. Just nice background music But my tastes vary widely. I like their Trance Acid, Starstreams (new age), Cafe Jazz and Symphony stations. (It will not surprise you at all if you know me that Teen Scene used to be one of my favorite stations about a year ago, but I think I have grown out of it now, you will be happy to know. But thatstillwon'tstopmefrombuyingthenewBritneySpearsalbum.)

I wonder ... How often do I tell myself the truth, or tell myself things that I want to believe to be true? How can I tell the difference?

I love you.

I just ran an errand to buy myself some headphones. I went to the Duane Reade right by my office, which is one of the biggest I've been in. It has two floors. The second floor is only half the size of the first and has a glass balcony rail overlooking the first. I went up to the second and scanned the signs above the aisles and noticed that the aisle that is right up against the rail, where shoppers are easily visible to the rest of the store, has all of the incontience-related items (diapers and so forth). Seemed kind of cruel to me -- As if people who shop in that aisle aren't embarassed enough. And I have the hiccups.

A few funny things: As I was walking back from getting my tuna sanwich for lunch, I passed by a furniture storefront that had a fancy flatscreen TV in it. The President was on TV, so several people, including myself stopped to watch, quietly. We couldn't hear what Bush was saying, but we were reading the news ticker running at the bottom. As the story rolled by that the hijackers might have spent their last night soliciting prostitues, the small crowd that had gathered giggled together. And, I was just getting tea from the little kitchen on my floor. I couldn't figure out how to get hot water out of the coffee-maker, so I stuck some water in the microwave. While it was heating up, I perused the various tea flavors offered and noticed that one is called "Sleepytime," a tea to help you go to bed at night. Is that one they really need to be offering to people at work?

When I was getting out of the subway this morning, I was walking up the stairs behind a man who had long hair tucked up into a turban, but had it covered with a matching baseball cap. I thought it was really sad if he was doing it to downplay his traditional dress.

Everything seems too trivial to post here. Sorry I've been slacking so much. Nothing that's going on in my personal life seems to be worth posting after all that's gone on. I guess I should just get over that and get back to posting like I was before, huh? OK. Today marks the first day of Week 2 at work. I had a good day. Got some work done, had lunch with a friend. A lovely, quiet day. Um, instead of recapping the past few weeks when I didn't post or tell you much, I'll just start here and now. Look for daily updates again. :)

shallow thoughts by csolly

Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Sunday, October 28, 2001

Friday, October 26, 2001

Tuesday, October 23, 2001

Monday, October 22, 2001

Saturday, October 20, 2001

Friday, October 19, 2001

Thursday, October 18, 2001

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Tuesday, October 16, 2001

Monday, October 15, 2001

Sunday, October 14, 2001

Friday, October 12, 2001

Thursday, October 11, 2001

Wednesday, October 10, 2001

Tuesday, October 09, 2001

Monday, October 08, 2001

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