That pinched

For those who don't see me very often, don't creep people on Facebook, and don't look through people's flickr updates, this is the blog post where I tell you that I got my nose pierced!

I asked Ben and Anne about it, and got a strong "no" from Ben (surprised, anyone?), and an "ugh" from Anne Marie. And was also informed that nose rings had had their time, and I missed it. However, I've been thinking about getting a piercing of some variety for years. About....six years. So, to be honest, I think I've considered it long enough.

Ben told me that this is just some phase I'm going through. Of course it is. I'm not going to have this forever, I'm just enjoying it right now.

I went to Piercology on 2nd Ave to get it done. Their store is lovely; the girl at the counter was really helpful and didn't make me feel like an idiot for asking all hte basic questions I had, and being so un-pierced. The guy who pierced me (David) was really great about explaining everything that was happening, letting me have fun without rushing me through it, and was also really gentle and swift.

Kenny went with me, which was awesome. I attempted to convince him to get a piercing with me, but alas, to no avail. I think he could rock an eyebrow piercing. Or the tongue! He could really carry off hte tongue well. Aaanyways. We went together, and he took pictures with his camera phone (which has this weird feature where it takes a picture when it sees you smile), and held my hand during it. I was really happy that he took a picture of me in the middle of hte piercing, when I had teh needle dangling out of my nose, but unfortunately the flash washed me out so much that you can't really see it.

I'm glad that I watched videos of lots of piercings before I went, 'cause if I hadn't, then I would have freaked out when I saw the needle about to skewer my nose. God bless mental preparation.

So, yeah, I really like the look of it. Now that a few days have passed, I've rotated the ring so the ball's on hte inside, which I like much more. So, here it is. After about three months or so, I expect I'll switch to a different ring. I am not going to look forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa Callahan with this thing in.

Last night, in Boston

They charge for internet at the Hyatt, which of course I won't pay, so instead I'm procrastinating on my paper by writing excessively. Sorry. Overly long entry, feel free to bow out whenever.

In my short life, I've been blessed with uncanny luck regarding flying. Everyone, especially in the sibling pool, seems to have really (like, really) awful stories about flying. There was that time with Anne with the guy and the heart attack and the subway in New York or something. Or that time with Dad just recently with the million reroutes and delays until like a day later he got back to Boston at 4 am and got to drive the rest of the way back up to Calais. Everyone has these crazy bad stories!

And I still don't.

But I dooooo now have a good and proper flight cancellation, so allow me to describe it in excruciatingly boring detail. The closest I've come, really, to nuisance, was that once I got off a flight and my connection was canceled, and they pointed me to a gate 20 feet away, where I boarded after an hour. Haha, yeah. So today, I got to the airport wicked early. Like, 4 hours early. It was either be four hours early, or 45 minutes early, since I was taking the bus down, and I prefer to be on the safe side. So after bumming around the airport for four hours, I find out that the first leg of my trip is grounded in Boston because of a storm (pft), and will be two hours late, at least. That sort of sucked, since I had a 45 minuteish layover to work with. So I was like, le suck, and even more so when they told me that was the last flight from Boston to Columbus, so if I didn't make it, I would stay at a hotel, which they wouldn't pay for, because it was cancellation due to weather.

I really didn't want to pay for my room, since all the hotels (I love you, Google maps) seemed to be $159-$169. On the plane, I sat behind a girl I know from StFX, but whose name I can't for the life of me remember (she's very nice), and sat beside a law student from Dal, who was lots of fun to talk to. And miraculously, in the end, my flight got in only a little bit late, and my connection was running two hours late. Yay! Happy ending! No.

While I was struggling to ignore the Academy Awards (I wonder if they paid the airport to have it on that channel) and instead read my incredibly boring book, the time for boarding kind of came and went. And eventually they told us that a fuel truck had, in fact, run into our plane. And the flight was cancelled.

So I was like, that's cool, I get my hotel room paid for now!! And the very nice woman with a heavy Boston accent gave me three meal vouchers to use instead of one. But when I went to get my luggage, alas, it was missing. It turns out they already checked it through to Columbus for tomorrow. How efficient of them. So I told them, don't worry about it, it seems easier this way.

The woman next to me on the shuttle was really angry (we were all from the same flight, of course), and when she telling me how angry she was (she was from Toledo), I told her that I didn't really mind. She said something along the lines of 'aw, how cute.' But the woman from Delta only gave her one meal voucher. I wonder whyyyy.

The group on the shuttle was a really amusing bunch. We didn't have one repeat personality. There was an almost albino-looking slavic-ish older woman, a stylish young Asian guy, the angry soccer mom from Toledo, and a 30s business type. And me.

Somehow....it never really occurred to me that Boston's on a waterfront. And has a harbor. When I think of Boston in history, of course it's on the water. But when I think of the modern Boston that I've had limited interaction with, it's a crowded city with an airport and hellish roads, and water never even occurred to me. View from the dining room:

In an attempt to feel better, I've used every free sample in the hotel room. Every inch of me has been scrubbed with soap and moisturized, and I took an extra long shower to enjoy not runing out of hot water. I turned the tv on, and enjoyed some ...dammit...Germaine and Brett...flock...humans are dead, hipphopopotamus and rhymenocerous...this will come to me. Anyways, I'd never actually seen an episode of their show before, so that was fun. Flight of the Concords!!! Yes! Whew.

Unfortunately, my camera is in my bag, or you guys would have been treated to some very interesting single serving photography. The toothbrush was going to be a particular work of art.

My apologies to Ben, who I wasn't able to get ahold of to let know what was happening. When I have a job, I've decided to give in and get a cell phone. Oh, the horror. The fun, gadgety horror.

Oh, Boston, why?

I haven't woken up this early since....since I left Columbus for Antigonish during winter break, actually. Halifax Airport is one of my all-time favorite airports. It's small, friendly, accessible, and pretty. One of my favorite things about airports is all the windows. Even here, in the center of the room (at a convenient little counter with outlets for laptops), the entire room is saturated with light. Actually, almost the only part of this room not glass is the roof.

Upon further reflection, that's a little frightening. I would not want an action movie plot to happen around me. The chances of surviving all the broken glass flying around would be slim indeed.

I grabbed a cab to the airport today, and I feel like a bit of a wuss as a result. But I didn't want to wear my winter boots all day in the airport, and even though I only had my one rolly suitcase, I wasn't sure....well, I had my reasons! And I took a cab.

One of the best words I've heard recently is Trifluvian. I was reading about Trois-Rivières, and eventually the author addressed its residents, and out popped.... Trifluvians. It's almost worth reading this incredibly boring book on Local Responses to Canada's Great War just to get a happy little jolt every time I come across Trifluvian.

Well, all of these pleasant reflections on airports are coming crashing (lol) down around me, as I wait to find out what's happening with my flight, since the one I'm waiting for is grounded in Boston, and I'll be missing my connection. Not that bad, not that bad at all. I'll wait to complain until it's three days later, and I'm still sitting here. I just shouldn't have been so fast to eat that second peanut butter and jelly sandwich I packed. For some reason I stocked up on food when I came, though, so I still have granola bars, SunChips, an orange, and a couple of little pieces of chocolate floating aorund.

I should just view this as an excellent opportunity to be forced to work on my paper.

Our decision

Brothers, sisters, and friends who are interested... we, Anne and Mandy, long-separated by higher education and that silly U.S.-Canada border, will be reunited this summer when Mandy graduates from college and Anne finishes her post-bacc program. We have finally reached a decision about where to move this summer. Front running cities included Brooklyn and Seattle, but we kept coming back to:

Columbus!

Our apologies to all cities other than Columbus, which are undoubtedly feeling a little rejected. And to Brad, for our failure to make it across the Mississippi.

By the end of the summer, we plan to be somewhere adorable in the Short North, enjoying a low cost of living, re-establishing our residency in Ohio to enjoy low tuition rates later, going to yoga classes after work, hiking and exploring on the weekends, and stealing dinners from Ben and Julie. Most importantly, we plan to be around for a while as Ella and Sophie are growing up. Serious apologies to Moira and Evie for not being around when you guys were living in Columbus- our bad.

All will be welcome at our pad of coolness. (Mandy takes responsibility for this last line)

Mandy's Art Studio: XIII

So, I took a botanicals drawing class last semester. I decided to only include the non-embarrassing results of my efforts. 'Cause the embarrassing ones are pretty boring. Sort of like, oh, there's a pretty poorly done leaf...wow?.... This semester we're doing painting botanicals, and the color is awesome and fun, and I'll do another post with those when I get my portfolio back at the end of hte year.

Care to suggest a city?

I've found a projector I'm interested in. Of course, it's not being sold stateside. Hopefully it's only not being sold stateside yet.

Hark! (someone on engadget said "hark," and now I'm really into it) Heed the Good Word, in the world of Deodorant. I've finally found true happiness with an antiperspirant. And that's probably because it's RIDDLED with aluminum. 20% aluminum, to be precise. Anyways, I recommend: Mitchum Smart Solid. It feels light going on, doesn't have a sickeningly sweet smell, and works really well.

Everyone is probably wondering why I'm bothering to talk about deodorants. But I realize that I've complained about them...sort of frequently on my blog. So I thought it was only fair to praise a deodorant when one that was praiseworthy came about. Accolades, Mitchum!

Hmm...what else...I went to Superstore (a grocery store that sells everything) with Stephanie and Sarah, and blew some money (whoops) on fun clothes and earrings.

Anne and I are trying to decide where to move. We might do someplace new and adventurous (Brooklyn?) or go with an old standard (Columbus). However, there are, obviously, lots of cool places that haven't occurred to me to even suggest. So, if any of you have any particularly lovely cities you'd like to recommend that offer arts, beauty, cute apartments, and a low cost of living, suggest them. BUT. You can't suggest a city you're living in, 'cause obviously we will have already considered that (e.g., LA, London, Columbus, Calais :-P, etc.). I'm curious to see if anyone offers any interesting suggestions.

Phase II and completion, long and rambling

Phase II came and went. It lasted for two days, since I didn't succeed in getting the fabric until Monday night, so I worked until about 2am Tuesday morning, then sewed like one possessed until 2pm Tuesday, and even made it to my class on Shakespeare.

I was going to take some photos of the final product, but I wasn't able to get into the Inn (the campus bar) last night, 'cause they were at capacity like all night. So I'll just tell you, I made a banner with theu's logo on it to hang at hte back of the stage, and curtains for the sides. I also made a swag type of thing for above the top of the stage, but it was used instead to decorate the table seating the candidates for hte debate for the upcoming election.

...Days later I'm continuing this entry. I went to the Inn last night, and all my stuff was still up, so I was like, "sweet, picture time." In other news, the reason I was at the Inn is because Picnicface was performing. For those of you outside the area, you might know Picnicface from their Powerthirst video. I'd always liked the Powerthirst video, but not been too impressed by some fo their other stuff, and a video that I saw of them live, so I didn't really know whether to be excited abotu the night or not. Picnicface did not let me down, though. It was awesome. The student union has brought in comedy acts before, all of which I thought were absolutely horrifyingly terrible. They relied entirely on tasteless sex jokes whose only humor was in how off-color and embarrassing they were. I can take sex humor as well as the next guy, but this was beyond the pale. It was really only shock value. Anyways! So imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when the two guys from Picnicface were awesome and hilarious.

I was completely in love with the sweater one fo the guys from Picnicface was wearing. Before I even knew he was...damn, my shirt's on inside out. That's pretty embarrassing.I'm pretty curious about how long it's been inside out, since right now it's 1am. As I was saying, though, when I just saw hte guy in the bar before performing, I fell in love with his sweater. If possible, I would have stolen it. But that would have been preeeetty difficult.

So! The end of hte story is, I got to take a picture of the final product. I specifically didn't answer Edmundo's question about what I was making on my last post (on Facebook), because I wanted to have an "unveiling." But now it's really anticlimactic. Soooo, here's what I sewed. The "U" logo that I did is a lot bigger than it seems when put in context. :-P Since technically I'm getting paid for this, I wrote up an invoice just now. The template had a little spot for business name, so I decided to make up a business name for myself. But I'm not going to write what it is, 'cause I feel too silly for even having done it. :) Who knows, though, maybe I'll start a little shop on etsy for fun. Of course...it would be necessary to have something to sell. Tiny, tiny detail.

Brad posted his Snobfest 2008 a while ago on his blog in a convenient zipped folder. I really like most of the songs (with a couple of exceptions--Party Crashin'...actually, that's the only song on the whole list I don't like. I'm sort of meh about Set In Stone by Catfish Haven, though), but I thought I'd mention a few that I can't get enough of playing right now. First, Somebody Somewhere by Cazals is my favorite song of the moment. Also Bright Side (couldn't find a good video for this). The others are really great, too. Even the weird and surprising rap on there. So go take advantage of Brad's Snobfest if you haven't already!

This entry is dragging on into long territory, so I'll just wrap things up by mentioning that I spent hte last two days making a shirt from the scraps of fabric I used for the union, and the incredibly surprising thing is it looks pretty cool. I'll take photos of it when I wear it out. Probably for Sarah's birthday next weekend.

Oh, I went and saw Waiting for Godot tonight. MAN I hate Beckett. And then went and flaunted my terrible pool skills at Dooley's.