SueMoe

An Homage to Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangrously

First off, let me tell you that the book JULIE & JULIA is inspiring. Well, not so much inspiring as mouth watering. It makes you want all those dinners with too much butter and cream (who wouldn’t??). And it’s like a really funny version of the cooking chanel meets some lame-ass reality TV show like the girls next door. I sat there for two days, reading this book, and drooling over the nasty French dishes she’s cooking, that no matter how disgusting she describes the making of them, I still wish I was in her shitty apt in Long Island City eating them with her (and drinking copious amounts of alcohol that always seem to accompany her dinners).

So here I am on the first gorgeous afternoon for a week, just went on a bike ride, should be out suntanning on the dock doing nothing but reading trashy magazines - and what am I doing? Sitting on the couch doing suduko puzzles, playing Donky Kong on my ancient super nintendo (well, it’s only 2 years old for ME), and reading my book, Julie & Julia. That’s when I got fed up. Not with reading or futzing around, but with the box of strawberries and old plastic bag full of rhubarb that have been wasting away in the fridge for days and days. Probably weeks.

My mom was supposed to show me how to make her delicous rhubarb/strawberry jam that is really just goo because it can never get thick enough to actually jam/jelly up, but we eat it every time anyway because it tastes so good. Finally, this afternoon, I decided it was time to make it. But in the process of making a GIANT pot of it (seriously, the pot was giant. Anyone need a jar of delicous goo? I’ll give it to you for free.), we both got ravenously hungry.

MY MOM & I STARTED OUT WITH TWO INGREDIENTS:
One chosen by me: frozen baby scalops I’d dug out of the freezer when I went out for a shitty lean cuisine this lunch. And one from my mom: zucchini that’s been in the fridge for a while, sauted it goes well with ANY meal, and it’s about high time we cook it up. Y.U.M. Seriously, this was really appealing to both of us.

I wanted to eat the scallops as our friend had made some time before, with butter and waaaaaaay too much garlic. I mean painful amounts of garlic. (literally, it upset my stomach. But it was too delicious to stop eating.) However, we only had most of one mangled stick of table butter in the house. Oh well! With a little oil and butter simmering on the stove, I threw in my freshly chopped (minced?) 4 cloves of garlic. Ha! And we thought that was enough. I’m sorry, friends, it takes more than 4 cloves to combat that slight flavor of freezer burn that lingers on those scallops from Sam’s Club from a month ago.

So there we were with way too much watery substance (oil, butter, melt off from the frozen scallops), and a ton of not-so-cooked-scallops we refused to waste but didn’t know how to save. Well, after staring at it for a minute, we decided to just transfer all the scallops to a fresh pan sans their water that neither of us could justify dumping down the drain & continue to fry them up. I mean, there had to be something we could fry up in the water that would be made better by tons of butter and garlic, right? Aha! Zucchini!

So in went the zucchini (+onions, and yes, more garlic) into the 1/4 inch of watery stuff we had simmering. The scallops appeared to be browning nicely-but as I’m an expert in sauteing zucchini, I knew that they have more water in them than anyone unfamiliar with the vegetable would suspect. This water was not going to boil off anytime soon. In fact, it was just going to get worse.

As we stood there, staring at our two sizzling pans we lazily discussed what “starch” would go best with this. The scallops tasted a little freezer burned and needed more butter. The zucchini was going to end up more boiled than fried, and that’s not ideal. My mom suggested rice, but I’m NOT a fan of rice. Then I suggested a bit of pasta and our eyes lit up. (I’d hazard to say that our stomachs lit up, but I think that’s a very seldom used idiom that I’ll stay away from.) Only, you can’t just throw in a bunch of uncooked pasta and hope it’ll cook up nicely in time with the rest of the ingredients.

We turned off all the burners and boiled some water. Once the suggestion of adding pasta to it was ignited, we couldn’t think of anything more perfect. This was going to be a pasta concoction dish, god damn it, and that’s all there was to it.

Except the problem is, neither of us are big fans of those oily, garlicy pasta dishes you find at cheap italian restaurants (yes, Olive Garden, I’m thinking of you. You aren’t Italian. NY does Italian. You don’t.) They upset my stomach. Buuuuut, the other day my mom showed me how to make Beef Strogonoff. Who knew it was just sour cream to thicken it? I had NO idea. But I do now.

So after throwing the mostly cooked pasta into the simmering-again zucchini, I looked at it and realized I wasn’t going to like the garlicy glaze going on. But sour cream didn’t seem to be quite the way to go with it. My mom wanted to throw in the precious (delicous and dangerous to my lactardedness Goat Cheese) and I didn’t want to waste it. Finally, after rifling through the fridge for a bit, we found and compromised on cream cheese and half & half. Seriously, you have no idea how perfect of an idea it was.

We started out with 2 ingredients and ended with one of the best meals I’ve had in a loooong time. I’d been drooling over the French dishes in Julie & Julia for a couple of days now, and never suspected I would get a dinner that would be as satisfying as the ones she described. But it was seriously fun arriving at it, just as she said.

In the end we took our organic red wine that tasted a lot better on its second glass, our plates of really really rich Garlic Scalops and Zucchini over Pasta Concoction out to the end of the dock, and enjoyed a fabulous meal. Ahh to be baked in the late sun while eating a meal you made up. I hope I made you drool as much as Julie Powell does.

June Reads - Suemoe's reviews

I’ve been traveling a lot this month, and when traveling I like to read. Who doesn’t? I hold no distinctions between ebook, trade paperback, or audiobook. I consider absorbing them in any way is still “reading.” So here is my list of what I’ve read and partially read this month - after which, I want to know what YOU’RE reading too and where I should go next.

Books I’ve finished in no particular order:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES (amazon)
OMFG I loved this book! I’ve read a lot of Austen rewrites, knockoffs, and attempts in my day … but this is truely amazing. And here’s its secret: it leaves Austen’s words intact. I would venture to say at least 50% of the writing is hers, but it feels more like 60-70%. All of the moments, all of the classic lines, all of the scenes that we fanatics love so much about P&P are there. Some are just … embellished. The premise is that about 100 years before Elizabeth’s birth, the Zombie plague breaks out. So that’s what Wickham’s militia is doing: fighting the unfortunates who roam the countrysides in herds. Oh, and Lady Catherine and Elizabeth are noted warrirors trained in The Orient and Darcy, instead of swimming in a pond and emerging all wet and rugged, rides a white steed with a smoking gun all gallant atop his horse. Even the match between Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins is made better by Charlotte’s affliction. It is ridiculous, but fantastic in its ridiculousness.

THE RED TENT (amazon)
I liked this book mostly because it took me right back to my Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies in college. It brought back the memories of first discovering that the people of the bible back then didn’t necessarily not believe in mulitple gods, they just thought El/Yahweh/God was the best and the only one that should be worshipped. Lots of people only followed one god, but still believed in many. If that makes sense. There was also a lot of strong feminism in THE RED TENT that made me love the main character and narrator, Dinah, even more. However, the downside to the book is that there is a LOT of discussion about birthing. She and her mothers were midwives, after all, and well, as a non-mother myself, I thought that was a little too much for me. Unfortunately, I’m a “read every word” type of girl instead of “skim the annoying parts” kind of reader. The relentless birthing scenes did get a bit tedious.

MY SISTER’S KEEPER (amazon - yes, I’m reading the Movie Tie In mm paperback. Blech.)
Technically I haven’t finished this yet. But since I’ll finish it tonight, or even a few hours after this is posted, I’ll just say I finished it. It’s official: I like Jodi Picoult. I knew I would, but I thought it would be a gruding like, like Dan Brown or something. No, I think she really got at a serious topic in an easily digestable way. Kind of like a woman’s John Grisham. At least, that’s how I see her.

THE DESERT SPEAR (news of when/how it’ll be published)
As this is an unpublished book, I am not allowed to comment. Nor will I. Other than to say that I devoured it last week and intend on rereading it soon. My reviews are reserved for the author.

JSA: THY KINGDOM COME (amazon)
This is … ok. It is nowhere near as good as KINGDOM COME, and I’m also reading it completely out of order. I remember reading Part 3 a long time ago in my cubicle at Random House. And when I finished this Part 2 I was so annoyed that i didn’t have the full story. That’s why I get trades in the first place!! Oh well, as for the story, the story is great. The art is nowhere near as good as Kingdom Come. It’s not even because everyone looks the same like Ross’s art usually does. It’s because there are some truely terrible shots of superman. I took a picture of one cell where he’s hideous, but don’t feel like taking the time to embed it right now. Trust me it’s bad. But whoever did Power Girl in it, did a great job throughout. Luckily she features prominently in this part. Did I mention it was a good story line, though? I also like that there are a million characters I’m unfamiliar with but there are enough guides and explanations at the beginning and throughout that it wasn’t a problem at all.

THE DARK TOWER: TREACHERY (amazon)
LOVED IT. Not much more to say. The story of the Dark Tower and the people in search of it is sufficiently confusing enough for me to be unable to share any of it with you. But this graphic novel is a good background to The Gunslinger that I liked and appreciated. However, as usual with anything associated with The Dark Tower, I’m left with far more questions than answers. I bought myself a used copy of The Gunslinger so I could go back and read the whole thing from the beginning. But I have so much more New stuff to read that I don’t think I’ll plough through the whole series this summer.

Books I started but haven’t finished:

A WOLF AT THE TABLE (amazon)
I like the book. It is impeccably written. I heard someone say Augusten Burroughs isn’t a good writer but his memoirs are so compelling you can’t put them down … I disagree. I think he is a fantastic writer. It is the subject matter and the course I am expecting it to take that makes me put it down. This is such a serious book, with such an unchangeably sociopathic father, that I can’t stomach living this poor kid’s life for too long. I don’t see justice being handed to this father in any way, so I’m not eager to reach the disappointment I’m sure to feel upon reaching the end. However, I’ve been assured there is closure of some sort that is kind of satisfying, so I’ll finish it very soon. I don’t have much more to go.

THE SIRENS OF TITAN (amazon)
My duties to interviews and to other books I was reading before this took precidence and I had to stop reading Sirens. It is a very Vonnegut book. It reminds me more of STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND than SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, but it has the same flippant acceptance of the weird that I have now come to associate with Vonnegut. I enjoyed what I read—it just didn’t grab me and strap me down to my chair the way I expected it to. However, I’m thinking that once I finish it, it will stay with me for a very long time. Kind of the way SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE did.

4,000 QUESTIONS FOR GETTING TO KNOW ANYONE AND EVERYONE (amazon)
I carry this book with me wherever I go. It is permenently stuck in the back of my blue goiter (my teal blue canvas purse that is basically attached to my hip and comes with me everywhere). It is fun and funny to ask people questions from the book. When the questions are taken seriously, the answers usually surprise their audience. When not taken seriously, the answers are usually hilarious. Thus it’s a win win situation and the best ice breaker I’ve ever found. Not to mention a great flirting tool and/or excuse to ask the penetrating questions I’m usually too shy to ask early on in a relationship.

Next Up:

MIDDLESEX (amazon) - been on my TBR for a long time
REBECCA (amazon) - recommended by my sister in law
ATLAS SHRUGGED (amazon) - audiobook lent by my brother. Probably the only way I’ll be able to slug through Ayn Rand.
THE RED WOLF CONSPIRACY (amazon) - also been on my TBR forever. Can’t wait to read it, but things keep popping up. Sigh.
THE GUNSLINGER (amazon) - my reasoning was previously mentioned. WTF is going on in this series??
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY & POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY (amazon) - I’ve heard a lot of good things about it and want to check it out. I almost bought it during my 5 hour layover in NY, but I bought MY SISTER’S KEEPER instead since I wanted to read that before I saw the movie.

Ok, that’s my month in review.

WHAT ARE YOU READING?
Anything I need to add to my list?
Anything I need to kick off my July TBR list?

Amazonfail theories

If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, you might have noticed a lot of talk about #amazonfail this weekend.

A few days ago Amazon.com started stripping the sales ranking indicators, or deranking, books they arbitrarily deemed to contain “adult” content. The action was first blogged about in late Feb by Craig Seymour. Then this weekend Mark Probst author of YA, gay themed, THE FILLY, started a shitstorm on twitter with his post about receiving the same response. He used his publisher access on Amazon to query the action and received this statement:

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

After more searching by authors, and a LARGE twitter community, a startling trend emerged: Amazon.com appeared to be considering a narrow scope of Erotica and GLBT books as adult, while leaving other glaring “adult content” books ranked. (more on that in Theories later)

The reason deranking a book is making everyone so angry (leaving out the implied prejudice on behalf of the company) is because those sales ranks determine where a book will appear in searches, whether it will be included on Bestseller Lists, on suggested reading lists (i.e. those handy R/L scrollable lists that give more by the author and similar subjects), and in general the accessibility of a book. We buy books from Amazon for the ease of finding a book. The first page search return is the equivalent of “front of store” placement in a Barnes & Noble or Borders store. So messing with the ranking system has serious consequences for an author, publisher, and thus the consumer.

Kicking a dead horse: No rank, no show. How often do you search Amazon for a specific title? Often I can’t remember the title, or even the author. I may remember that the book my friend suggested was a mystery novel about homosexuality, but if I type just homosexuality in the search my first hit is “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality.” The first 2 pages are almost exclusively Christian-based books about “healing” or “overcoming” homosexuality - referred to by many as a Jerry Fallwell collection of books on homosexuality - and it isn’t until the third page that fiction books are listed, which are “And Tango Makes Three” and “One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads.”

THEORIES THAT SURFACED ON SUNDAY ABOUT HOW AMAZON WAS CHOOSING WHICH BOOKS TO DERANK:

THE CONTENT IS EXPLICIT IN NATURE.

Response: There’s still a slough of conflicting ranked vs. deranked lists about this one. Where Heather Has Two Mommies and The Joy of Sex are deranked, The Anarchist Cookbook and Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds (an art book with many explicit photos) are still ranked. THE SUBJECT TAGS LISTED THE BOOKS AS GLBT PORN OR EROTICA. Response: Let’s tag every book as “gay porn” and watch Amazon implode! Yes, the King James version of the bible was tagged as such. As was A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. I don’t think think that had much to do with it. Or the people originally tagging gay-themed books were wise to the trick and detagged them just as fast. But is was really fun to watch Nicola Griffith (@nicolaz) and Colleen Lindsay (@ColleenLindsay) throw back and forth titles to sabotage!

THE BOOKS WERE DERANKED BASED ON THE LEVEL OF COMPLAINTS AMAZON RECEIVED

Response: I actually liked this article’s theory on how Amazon could’ve interpreted this as a glitch. Basically it says that anti-gay groups were targeting pro-homosexual books of all kinds and spam-complaining about them. Twitter Reponse: It is difficult to believe that pro-homosexual books are the only books receiving the level of complaints required to derank them in that glitch-blamed way. Especially really unpopular or little known books that are mysteriously deranked, while Mine Kampft and Playboy’s Centerfold picture book are still ranked.

AMAZON BLAMES A “GLITCH” FOR THE PROBLEM. THERE IS NO NEW ADULT POLICY.

Publishers’ Weekly reported that Amazon’s response to them was that it was a glitch. Twitter Response: the hashtag #amazonfail was soon accompanied by #glitchmyass and many many examples of how the glitch excuse doesn’t quite hold water. The glitch doesn’t at all explain how a computer program could have chosen only (fic AND non fic) pro-GLBT themed books like The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. Glitch implies technology is at fault. However, if the glitch is in the mind of an employee, the excuse might be more understandable. Conflicting Blogs: Author Probst and Craig Seymour received the same “Adult Content” responses this weekend and back in FEB respectively. They were told a YA book and a memoir about a “journey from grad student to stripper to entertainment journalist to college professor” are ADULT. Not glitches.

WHAT DO WE DO?

Boycotts have been called.
Petitions have begun (with a goal of 100,000 signatures. It was 20,000+ the last I checked)
Many Many links for independent online booksellers have been passed around. I didn’t know there were so many online resources for books, but I should’ve. Now I won’t forget!

But some are still reserving judgement. Mitch Wagner wisely warns at Infomation Week to hold off on the boycotts. This “glitch” occurred on a HOLIDAY weekend. Easter and Passover on the same weekend. The same people who were grumbling about having to go to work on Mon, are assuredly the same people who would not want to be dragged out of family time on a Sun afternoon when the twitter storm erupted. Before the pitchforks are hefted and the tar boiled, let’s see how Amazon responds. At least give them that (during normal business hours). Hopefully we can get some sort of explanation we can understand. Even it if is the dreadful human error everyone is assuming.

Yes, I’m angry as hell. Infuriated. But after working in a corporate world, unfortunately sometimes the left hand really doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Twitter is being used as a social watchdog at the moment. This makes me happy. Hopefully it will be the instrument of rectification.

However, a system overhaul appears necessary, whether that be company “human” policy, or computer programing — I’m willing to give them the chance to fix it. Maybe I’m just being an optimist, but I’ll still wait till Wed. Then I’ll fling stones.

HOW TO FOLLOW
hashtags (#amazonfail, #glitchmyass) make searching easy on twitter.
Just go to twitter.com and search for amazonfail. You’ll see a running list of all tweets including #amazonfail. It’s that easy.

Sales Ranks are near the bottom of “Product Details” on amazon pages. —— morning update —— YA and children’s books appear to be recovering their sales ranks. Heather Has Two Mommies and The Filly were reinstated among others. As of noon, I haven’t found any other official response from Amazon. Please comment if you have links!

The troll is a hoax?
The glitch is possible?
What are your prevailing theories?

On April 19th you shuld be awll up in mai concert, stealin mai goosbumps

I already posted how awesome and amazing The Sweet Remains concert was in March. Well, now is your chance to go see them!! Sadly, I won’t be in NY for the Sunday, April 19th show (I’ll be at a Twins game in MSP) but I wish I could be there!

The recording from the March show is online now. I’ve been listening to it on loop for almost a full day now and as promised, here’s the link http://ow.ly/2D42 There are a few free downloads from their new album too.

DETAILS

http://www.myspace.com/thesweetremains

An Intimate Evening With The Sweet Remains
Sunday, April 19th at 7:00-9:30pm
Canal Room
285 W. Broadway (at Canal)
$10 advance, $12 at the door

Here’s the Facebook Event They’ll be playing one cover request per show. You can list your requests on their FB Page, or at the event. I’m hoping for a Floyd cover when next I see them, but the cover request is all up to you for this one.

So, grab a friend and head down to the Canal Room for a relaxing night of cocktails and effing amazing music. You won’t regret it.

How We Lost the Trailer in Queens

THIS IS A TRUE STORY …

I MOVED OUT OF NYC (ASTORIA) ON SATURDAY. My parents, who are pretty awesome, drove all the way from ND to NY with their van and trailer to help me move. Since all the seats were removed to hold my far too large assortment of shit, my dad had to fly home after helping me pack everything up. In order to bring him to the airport (a 5-15 min drive to LGA), we had to unhitch the trailer. UNHOOKING THE TRAILER WAS A BIG MISTAKE.

See, finding a parking spot in Astoria is a pretty difficult feat. Finding one where you need it is nigh impossible, and finding TWO TOGETHER directly in front of my apt was something that was a one in a million chance. We didn’t want to lose it. So while I drove to the airport, my mom copped a squat in a camping chair where the van used to be, read The Warded Man, and held the spot. We were so proud of ourselves when I returned, it was so difficult to park/align the van properly to reconnect, and it was so freaking cold that we didn’t do as thorough of a job hooking up the trailer as we should’ve. We also didn’t double check anything like the lights or the chains.

A few hours later after a good shower and some sweeping, we decided not to sleep on the cold hardwood floors in my empty apt or to leave my unattended/unlocked trailer in Astoria overnight – and we got on the road! It was only 5pm after all, and we figured we’d be able to get to a good resting point in Pennsylvania by midnight.

Our first stop was a gas station a couple blocks away on Steinway and 30th Ave in Astoria. After some idiot moves trying to use the 75cent air to fill up the trailer tires, we gassed up and left the station. Upon exiting the little driveway there was a brutal metal scrape, but we just figured it was the big dip and kept going. We COULDN’T SEE A THING out the back windows because the van was so full, so we figured the trailer was there. We drove as if it was there, took turns as if it were there, and continuously told the toll cashiers that we were a car “and a trailer!” Seriously, no one questioned this statement by us. (but they also didn’t charge us for the trailer)

THERE WERE PLENTY OF SIGNS ALONG THE WAY THAT SHOULD’VE ALERTED US. But we were concentrating so hard on figuring out how to get from Astoria to the George Washington Bridge and trying to navigate a route between the conflicting iPhone/GoogleMaps directions and the GPS directions. Those highways, intersections, bridges, and turn-offs are stressful!! We had our hands full and gave it our full concentration.

Once we got on 78 out of Jersey we sat back and relaxed. I read to my mom, we talked on the phone, and I wasted my phone’s battery checking email/Facebook. So I turned it to airplane mode.

About 9:30pm we got a call from my (very recent) ex, Tad. On my mom’s phone. He said “I got a really weird call from the police. I guess they found a trailer all slashed up at a gas station and if you don’t go get it, they’ll tow it.” We couldn’t understand what the hell he was talking about … “Uh, that’s not us!” we laughed. “Our trailer is right there behind us, not slashed up, and certainly not in Queens.”

But just to be sure, my mom pulled over to make sure, since we really couldn’t see it out of the windows or out of the rear-view mirrors. “HOLY SHIT!!! WE DON’T HAVE THE TRAILER!!!”

Yup. We were in the middle of Pennsylvania after driving for a good 3-4 hours. And we didn’t bring the damn trailer with us. We are idiots.

So I freaked out, turned my phone on, and found a TON of messages from friends, police, and even a Facebook Messg from an old co-worker at IEEE telling me they found my trailer. I called back the Sheriff who gave me the low-down and I assured her we were in the process of turning around (in Pennsylvania) and heading straight back to Astoria.

We got back to Queens around 1am (stupid traffic on the GW!). I apologized to a bemused gas station clerk who kindly allowed me to plug my dying phone in. And we hooked the trailer up … PROPERLY. We checked and double checked the links and got the hell out of dodge! Again!

The big problem was, that we still had all the same problems at 1am as we did at 5pm. We didn’t have a place to sleep, and even if we did, we didn’t want an unprotected/unattended trailer to sit outside anywhere in NY overnight. So we had no choice but to drive back out of the city. Reaching my grandma’s in Ohio was now completely out of the question. So we pulled into a rest area back in Pennsylvania (that had a big sign stating “No Toilets” – seriously). After a couple hours of Z’s, we realized it was too cold and waaaay too uncomfortable in seats that wouldn’t lie back to get any useful rest and just kept going. At least driving at 4am is better than at noon.

Our Savior: The Warded Man. Radio stations were worthless. We managed to catch a couple AM stations that gave 5 second blurbs about the flooding in ND, but nothing really more useful than I was getting on Facebook. And my iPhone couldn’t hook into the speakers on our ancient town & country van. So the ONLY thing that could keep us awake after that shitty shitty night, was reading about Arlen fighting corelings in The Warded Man. (see, my fan-girl obsession is well, placed. It literally saved my life)

Things to be grateful for:

1. The police found our trailer. Sure, they slashed up the tarp & it was raining. But they were able to contact us before we got any further, and we didn’t end up at some hotel thinking WhereTF is our trailer? WhereTF did it fall off? HowTF did we not notice? HowTF do we get it back?? We knew where it was, we knew it was safe, and only had to deal with retaping it every 3-4 hours.
2. I wasn’t alone. My dad is already spreading this story all around Grand Forks. He said his priest about peed himself when he told him … so I’m not looking forward to returning to small-town society. BUT at least I wasn’t alone. I’m not the only idiot in the car. My mom and I can share the blame and I don’t have to go down in history (alone) as the stupidest mover in history.
3. Nothing was stolen. None of the hookups (esp the lights) were damaged. It was the most perfect of separations possible with the exception of the slashed tarp.

Yes, I am still asking myself WTF every few hours. Yes, I am an idiot. No, I will never not double/triple check my trailer hook ups again. No, I’m not home yet and yes, I plan to have NO MORE crazy mishaps. No, I will not be returning to NY with this much shit. I hope to return with about 2 suitcases and a smile. I might end up somewhere in the middle of what I left with and the 2 suitcases plan … but it will be less, regardless.

Ok, I’m open to ridicule now. Let’s hope as few people as I imagine are following this blog. But at least instead of telling the story repeatedly, I can just refer ya’ll to this blog. Sounds good, right?