So, I had the most interesting of weeks, in which a number of noteworthy things happened:
1. David visited from Yale, straight off his finals. He and his friend Ethan finished their last exam and said "Let's go see pretty boys in La Cage!" and so they did, and arrived at my house at midnight positively gobsmacked over a pretty, pretty chorus boy whose muscular feats I was instantly shown on Jean Claude (David's new Mac powerbook). They were drunk on him, and I found it all very funny, especially since I had spent the previous hour in the dullest of ways, stamping and preparing about 200 envelopes with stickers for Get a Clue, and the night before that having a shouting match with my printer over the adorable little labels I made for said envelopes.
So, these two who had not slept for days had also just seen a show and made it, somehow, over the bridge to my house, and then crashed. Ethan left early while David slumbered and I went to work. I came home at lunch and there was David, lounging around like he was my kept wife. We made omelets and watched as Mike and Lisa struggled in with our new Christmas tree. Later we watched The Apprentice at Mom's (thank GOD fembot Jen didn't win), and came back laden with boxes of my Christmas in the City village, my ceramic, beautiful set that I've been collecting since I'm 10 years old. Mike had put out some of his Dickens village, and there was a whole space on the radiator left, so I brought over Radio City, the Capitol, the City Globe, the Times building, Hollydales, and a few more (pics soon). The front room of my house now looks warm and happy and festive, and I spend nights quite content in comfy clothes just watching the tree twinkle. David and I watched The West Wing and then crashed.
2. After dropping David at the ferry the next morning, I went back to my office (though it was my day off) and finally finished my teens-playing-poker story, which should have run by now but hasn't because I couldn't find a set of kids who would let me watch them play. I did finally find a set of kids, the previous night; David and I stopped there before going to my Mom's, and watched these 14-to-22-year-olds play like pros. The 16 year old has won $1,500. The 14 year old? $400. The 20-and21-year-olds are in AC every weekend, and prepping for a trip to Vegas. They throw chips like they belong in Ocean's Eleven. It was fascinating and also upsetting, because it was so good that I knew that Friday would be spent ripping my previously-finished story to shreds and starting anew. Which is what I did. For five hours.
3. Heidi D, who posts as Puffin on TLC, came over, and thank goodness, as I needed a NYC-based person who could help me package all these stickers. She sent me an email offering help, and I picked her up at the ferry. We are both lefthanded workhorses, I discovered, and in six hours had carefully labeled, stamped, stickered, taped and sent more than 350 orders (about 600 stickers). I've still got a few to do, but man, it was so nice to sit there with movies playing in the background, with a very nice and normal HP fan, chattering away as we worked like well-oiled envelope stuffers. I was shocked when we got through all the Pay Pal orders up to the 15th. My life looks incredibly rosier with that much off my plate.
4. I came back from dropping Heidi off at the ferry and settled in on my couch, lights off, Christmas tree's blue lights twinkling, the Christmas village sparkling, me in sweats and comfy beyond belief, to check email and enjoy. Well. There was this rustling sound. I turned my head. BOOM. The Christmas tree FELL. Scared the living crap out of me. Two inches to my right, it had fallen flat on its side, glass ornaments shattering, basically exploding glass all over the living room. I called Mike in shock, and he came home, and we spent the next hour picking shards up from corners and sweeping the hardwood floors, looking for Rudolph's lost paw and Santa's lost shoe.
5. I slept twelve hours that night, mostly because my phone, after waking Mike up with its YouHaveVoiceMail beeps, had died and I had never heard it once. So I slept, mercifully, and fully, and woke at 2:30 so refreshed I keep calling it the best night of my life.
And that is what passes for interesting in my life these days. This week: Last minute Christmas shopping with a friend, acting all New Yawk while we sip cappuccino and show each other what's in our bags. Ahh. :) Oh, and more on London coming too, but I wanted to take a break.
