overdue

does anyone remember research papers before the internet? card catalogues, the black computer screen in the library with the green type and blinking cursor? looking through indexes and photocopying pages? notes? outlines? writing drafts and bibliographies sans websites? my high school career was based around this. walking to the sharon public library, looking up books to use in my papers. i was an index searching fool - fastest eyes in the east. it was tedious but necessary. none of this pansy google business the kids do now. and no one pushed me harder in the research paper department than ms. pascetta.

we hated her, we loved her. she pushed us to our limits and we showed her it was worth it. her first year out of grad school and we were her guinea pigs. her love of the classics, her intelligence, patience and dominance over us was astounding. we all looked up to her, even if she was 4 feet tall.

the lacus curtis. senior year, that was my topic. sharon public library had nary a book on the subject, it was so obscure. when i went to find it in the forum in rome, it didn’t even have a plaque. but couldn’t let ms. pascetta down; the 5 pages had to come from somewhere. so i branched out. almost twice a week, my father drove me into copley while i frantically figured out how to use the immense card catalogue, the computer systems, navigate the shelves and the staff. it made me feel so small and grown up at the same time. i sat in those stacks and took notes, we scrounged quarters for the photocopying machine. i got lost. often.

my papers got a's (i didn’t settle for less back then) and were filed away in boxes in the attic, but the library books stayed with me. we had no reason to go back, so that last batch got shelved away and forgotten. i remember taking a handful back freshmen year of college and dropping them in the slot when we went out for lunch one weekend. one book, however, remained.

burial rites in ancient rome - yellow with black type. it sat in the family room the summer after my senior year; it sat there all through college. occasionally, i would go to get a cook book off that shelf and glance at it, silently reminding myself that i need to return that. i went to copley countless times and pictured that yellow book every time i passed the library. after a while, I just laughed. how many years now? 3? 4? i left it when i left for new york city. i left it when i packed up all my books and moved to watertown. i don't think anyone had even touched it since 1999.

then i needed to get my hands on rabbit run by john updike. barnes and noble in downtown crossing didn’t have it. i didn’t have time to order it online, to go seek it out at a mall. wait! the library is 2 blocks away! they will have it! easy peasy.

so i called. "do i have a membership there, or is it under my mother's name?" "you do have one, yes" "and are there any outstanding charges?" "yes, one that is several years old." "i see. thank you."

so off to sharon to pick up the book (right where i left it), then off to the library to drop it off, and $5 later, i can take out my book club book with a clear conscience.

it only took 7 years.

the anti-mullet

"its really long in the front and REALLY short in the back"
"you got a MULLET!"
"uhh-no."
"wait, that's the opposite of a mullet"
"yeah short in the back and long in the front"
"oh, that's cool. wait. really?"

like my sister, i too was shocked that i did it. i walked in, told her i just wanted a better shape and that she could take it from there. she ran this crazy haircut by me and i agreed. what the hell - it is just hair.

$16 and two and a half hours later, i looked like a movie star and the program instructor couldn't find any faults with her work - we were both thrilled. even after i attempted to get that sleek straight shine i had last night (and failed) i am still getting compliments at work. i had my usual day after doubts, but the style is growing on me. and i fell in love with the stylist. we bonded over tough instructors and crazy wedding planning. after almost 10 years, i found a hair/soul mate. can't wait for the 6-8 weeks so i can go back.

10.1 on the ick-tor scale

so last week, i had put some chicken in the fridge to defrost and when josh went to go cook it up, we found that it had been in there a bit too long and was giving off an unpleasant odor. so i asked him to throw it away. and he did and it was forgotten.

until yesterday.

for those of you who havent been to the house, there is a small back porch off the kitchen. on said porch, we keep a sealable plastic garbage pin with wheels. as our kitchen bin fills up, we put the bags in the bin and close the lid so no animals can get in and eat the trash. then every thursday morning, we roll the bin out for the trash collector and then roll it back thursday night and the cycle continues. ok, back to the story.

so we get back from the gym last night and start to put away the groceries when josh finds some of his old cooking things from school. "honey, do you want to keep these or throw them out? they look gross." "josh - i wanted to throw them away months ago. toss 'em."

so josh collects a few pots, some slightly burnt rubber spatulas and an old knife and vegetable peeler and goes to toss them into the bin on the porch. he quickly comes back with a horrified look on his face.

"there are maggots covering the inside of the trash bin. it smells disgusting."

my response is the usual "ew!". we come to the conclusion that it must have been the bad chicken. the conversation then moves on to what needs to be done about this. josh reasons that trash day is tomorrow and the trashmen can just empty it out and we can clean it up. i state that that is very cruel and we should do something about them so the trash guys won't need to deal with the mess. plus, i don't want to be on some trash black list for something like this. unlikely i know, but this is how i think.

anyway - after much back and forth, we decide to leave it as is, since there is not much we CAN do. josh sprayed them with the bleach and closed the cover and that was that, to my dismay.

so josh drags the bin out this morning. mind you, i have still not seen these maggots. my desire not to throw up and have nightmares trumped my mormid curisoity. so i go to work and ask josh to keep an eye out in case there are any problems (he is home today).

just called josh to finalize movie plans for tonight. we are about to hang up and he gets all excited. "oh! oh! i watched the trash guys take care of the bins today. after they opened our bin, one of the guys looking into the bin, reached down, took the vegetable peeler out and kept it!"

i repeat. he took out a nasty vegetable peeler, that had been nestled in a bin full of MAGGOTS, and KEPT IT!

NESTLED. IN. MAGGOTS.

there are no words.

as dan would say

this weekend was ALL about the relaxing. i actually woke up refreshed on wednesday morning for work. amazing...

thursday i practically ran out of work at 4:30 to make the 5:30 yoga class. i really like it and am headed yoga bound today. it means a slightly early departure from work, but it shouldnt be too big a deal. i hope. i like the instructor a lot, but her heavy chinese accent is sometimes hard to understand.

friday - ran errands and spent time with my mamma. did a lot of grocery shopping and cooked at home. i think. i cant remember now. it was a productive day all in all.

saturday - BEACH! got up at 6:30 to beat any main bount traffic since we wre going north on 128. got to the beach aorund 8ish and layed out and went swimming and ate sandwiches and watched all the babies for a solid 4 and a half hours. josh was getting a little restless, so we headed back. i really like this routine we have going. get up early and head to beach and sleep. we are back at the house and showered by 2 and still have the rest of the day to be active. needless to say, waking up early and the sun exposure totally wiped us, so even though we made it to eden's leaving bbq, both of us were falling asleep. i REALLY wanted to go out with everyone after my my eyelids were closing. so as the party left for government center to see beatlejuice and go drinking, josh and i fell alseep in front of the producers (SUCH a bad movie) and were fast alseep in bed by 10:30. lame, i know

sunday, we drive up to his mom's place for a nice BBQ where i didnt overeat but wanted to. got a free AC unit and a vaccum cleaner (although, the VC is quite ghetto, but it was free, so i'm not complaining). i can't even remember what we did sunday night, but i think the couch and TV were involved. knowing us.

monday, did some work around the house and went to verizon to do phone things with my mom. since josh and i dont use our phones at ALL, the $50 a month for his phone plan was being wasted. and since his plan was up, and my mom needed a bluetooth compatable phone, we added josh to the family plan and my mom got a new phone and blackberry, and everyoen was happy. although i must say, verizon is about the worst run places ever. i have a feeling it has to do with thier computer systems, but you have to go to 740584 different people for each step and it takes forever. we were there for 2 hours. then i napped at my parents place and hung out with my mom some more while josh went home to have some well deserved alone time. then he came back to my parents' place for dinner and we went home ful of pizza and soup. it was a good day - i really needed that. it also made me miss living at home and napping on the couch and eating my mom's cooking. sigh.

tuesday, law and order was turned on at 9am and save some work on the computer, cooking in the kitchen for an hour and a nap, i was parked in front of lenny and green and curtis and mccoy until 7pm. i made some valient efforts to get off the couch and go to the fireworks, but they just didnt take. then i watched house reruns and THEN i went to bed. my eyes were burning wednesday. i am not doing THAt for a long long time. but i dont regret it either;)

now i am rested and the five days off did a world of good. we should bring back the 5 day weekend more often. my productivity this week is through the roof!