Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus

I'm back! Let's see...

Friday's party at Purple Door was as grimy and debauched as it gets, although I felt like I was the only one dancing! Saturday night I stayed in, visiting friends in Bay Ridge and watching clips of the South Park movie and Moulin Rouge. Sunday was laundry and Wizard of Oz day.

Monday, Larue and I drove to Pittsburgh and narrowly avoided going to a strip club. We did find ourselves at a charming little (gay) bar/restaurant called New York, New York (oh, the irony) in Oakland. The Wyndham Hotel was lovely, and the shuttle driver was a godsend. Tuesday we drove to Cincinnati (Larue went on to Indianapolis), and stopped to eat at the Cracker Barrel in Zanesville. It snowed! I met my pretty niece Josie (or "Baba," as her mother calls her) and helped give her a bath. I didn't get hives! No, really, she's a cutie. Wednesday my father drove in to Cincy from Dayton and took my brother and I to a lovely dinner at Jeff Ruby's after a short stop at the new Blue Whisp jazz club.

(In 1982, for my ninth birthday, my father took me to the original Blue Whisp to hear Bob Dorough play. Bob Dorough was very popular in the Garanimals set at the time for "Multiplication Rock," the arithmetic arm of ABC's "Schoolhouse Rock." I'm convinced that my early visits to the Blue Whisp and Dockside VI contributed to my comfort level in bars today.)

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I helped my sister make combination napkin rings/place cards out of manilla package tags. I was crafty, but not in the Beastie Boys sense. I stamped, I embossed, I pigmented... As my sister said, I was a crafting fool, or just a fool. It was fun! I let my niece Nina help, which seemed to make her feel useful. My stepfather and brother-in-law tempted the wrath of the cooking brother-in-law by showing up late for dinner. Later, we played Scattergories, which I won. Ha! Friday, I rose early to color Nina's hair for her. I was scared that her medium brown, but fine, hair wouldn't lighten up enough to match the highlights she already had. In the end, I would have liked to do another box on Sunday, but it turned out a nice honey blonde. I gave her the benefit of my home hair coloring wisdom, so hopefully she'll be more inclined to tend to her roots now that she knows how easy it really is.

Larue picked me up at my sister's that afternoon and we loaded a box full of Barbies, a sewing machine, and a cappuccino machine into the trunk. That evening we arrived in Pittsburgh at the Omni William Penn. What a fancy hotel! It was covered with chandeliers and bellmen in woolen coats. Our room had lately been occupied by Danny Glover, according to the engineer who came up to turn on our heat (it was cold!). We were in one side of the Governor's Suite, la dee da. Larue did some hunting, and we found a half-used bottle of Johnson's Baby Oil under the sink. It was Danny Glover's baby oil! After we warmed up a little, we stopped by the Liberty Bar, which was fun and divey. The bartender called herself Sprout and I met a guy named Tutu. I think they like nicknames in Pittsburgh. Later we hit the dance club Pegasus, where they played disco and Madonna (yay!). The next day, Larue started to not feel well and asked me if I would drive. I steeled up my nerves and did it. You know what? I didn't do too badly! The last time I drove was in 1998, and that was just from Queens to Brooklyn. I drove for two hours, without incident. This is encouraging me to renew my driver's license. Or get a new copy or something. It was stolen last year and I don't know if it's expired yet (hence the limited driving Saturday). Traffic was great until we hit the New Jersey Turnpike, then what would have been a 20 minute trip turned into and hour and a half. However, we finally made it back to Brooklyn where we dropped off our stuff and jumped in a car service to meet friends at Pieces. Not surprisingly, Sunday was a day of rest, with brief visits from Scott and Larue and the Domino's delivery man.

And here I am! Back at work, done reading e-mail and just about to go to lunch. I love the holiday season! Tonight I have karate, Tuesday is dinner with my visiting cousin and her gaggle of country nurses followed by a re-entry into the Pieces Karaoke Kontest [sic], Wednesday is set aside for buying a new tree stand and setting up the holiday decorations, Thursday is more karate and Friday is Jingle Hell III, which I just found out about, but have to attend. Saturday is my friend Blair's birthday party (as well as Homocorps and Larue's slumber party, but it's first invitation first, you know). I think Sunday will be spent reading my book on sewing essentials and a lot of couch-sitting.