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October 31, 2004
It Only Took One Weekend...
For those who thought I'd have trouble adjusting to life in Southern Illinois this was my weekend:
FRIDAY
Dinner with girlfriends at mexican place in Collinsville where I ate a dish with cheese "sauce" and they served margaritas the size of a small child that only cost $8. Karaoke in the adjoining bar.
SAT
Went with fam to take grandfather to see a matinee of Ray (which was a great story, but the "film making", not so much), had dinner at Panera (aka St. Louis Bread Company). Went to Halloween party that had as many children as adults (though Kira and I did close the party down hanging out with the hosts, drinking beer and having an excellent political discussion). Kira and I took advantage of the extra hour to make a trip to Steak 'n Shake. Hell yes.
SUN
Church. Grocery shopping. Dropped 22 bags of clothing (Kira and cleaned out our closets) off at Goodwill. Got a key made. Took a nap. Attended the Halloween Chili Supper at church. Watched the beginning of the Edwardsville Halloween Parade. Went to the home of some family friends where more family friends were also visiting, watched 2.5 television shows and some football, ate more beans.
By the way, we DROVE to all of these things. Mostly in 2-3 separate cars.
Bah da dat dat daahh - I'm lovin' it.
The parade route pre-parade.
Posted by nikl at 11:21 PM | Comments (1)
October 29, 2004
Thank You, Janis
I will enver cease to be amazed at the power of "Bobby McGhee".
Tonight the girls from HS met for dinner at Zapatta's, a mexican restaurant in dear old Collinsville (the next town over from Edwardsville). Believe us or not, but we did not know that they have karaoke on Fridays when we chose the place. No, really. However, be not surprised that we couldn't resist, and after dinner we headed over the bar area to show them a thing or two - I mean, have some fun.
Now, it happens every time, but while I am 100% comfortable being the only black person in a room (though I will always remark on it and it's mostly just b/c I'm used to it), there is something about the karaoke setting. Something about my assumption that everyone expects me to sing Aretha or Whitney or something of that genre. And it hardly ever fails that when I find myself in a karaoke situation, it's usually a place that's a little on the country side. This uncomfortable feeling is what led me to learn the Janis Joplin song "Bobby McGhee" 5 years ago. And I tell you, it works every time.
Beth kicked it with "Wanted Dead or Alive" and Karyn tore it up too [Beth, help me out, what did she sing??]. The announcer at the end reminded us that there's a big contest on December 3rd, and that we should all come back and qualify. Dude, on Friday, we are SO THERE.
Posted by nikl at 11:57 PM | Comments (1)
October 28, 2004
Apparently, I'm in the Wilderness
I've been here not even 24 hours and there's already been a mouse incident, a deer sighting and a close encounter with a skunk.
Posted by nikl at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2004
what Have I Been Saying For the Past Year?
Nicole: Dude. I'm not going to get excited b/c they do this every year. They have a great season, then they get to the playoffs and they blow it.
Cardinal Fan: No way. This year is different. They are too hot, the bats are too hot.
I rest my case.
Posted by nikl at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2004
Smaller Every Day
Today I went in to Bitflip for the very last time around 3pm. When the 1/9 stopped @ Times Square, someone got on that I thought I vaguely recognized, but then again a. wasn't sure and b. was still officially a NYer in that way that the default reaction is to not make eye contact. But he was having the same reaction simultaneously and we totally did make eye contact and it turned out to be the once best friend one of my roommates from my freshman (and only) year at The Boston Conservatory who I hadn't seen in at least 5 years. We caught up, played the "who are you still in touch with" and ended up to be not only getting off at the same stop, but heading to the same block - seems that he's been living a block from where I work fort he past year and a half. Generally, it was nice, and felt like another sign from the city that never sleeps.
Even more so, that night the restuarant he'd just told me he worked at was featured on NY1, and I totally caight him on camera.
Posted by nikl at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2004
Hip Hop Nicole
I recognize that this has been going on for a while now and I recognize that I should be over it, but I'm just not. Every time I am up on stage with Maya and we're are doing G-Hetto, complete with guest rappers, I am floored at my participation.
What I got (what!?)
Is all I got (yo!)
In the G-Hetto
Yeah. That's me up there on the right, with the hard look on my face, doing the "what!?"s and the "yo!"s.
Floors me every time.
Posted by nikl at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)
American Dreams
Here I am again, crying at the end of another episode of American Dreams. Good stuff I tell you. Good stuff.
And for the record - the TIAA-CREF commercials? Nice try, but so not quite.
Posted by nikl at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2004
No Wonder We Can't All Get Along
This article in the Times this morning nearly broke my heart. To know that there are thousands of stories like this and that people are walking around with them. To think of all the stuff wrapped up in an incident like this and how good we are at not processing feelings or supporting the processing of feelings as a society. But it's great to see that he is using film and theatre to work through it all, and in the process maybe he'll let someone who can't quite bring themselves to face their own story a little bit closer to making the first steps.
Posted by nikl at 10:17 AM | Comments (1)
October 19, 2004
Hebrew Mamita
If you are in NYC, please try to check out Culture Bandit, the most excellent and insightful solo show by Vanessa Hidary playing at Makor for the next four Sunday nights. For those who saw Least Likely To Sing Gospel, it's like that, only about growing up Jewish surrounded by hip-hop. Good stuff.
Posted by nikl at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2004
The Stars Are Conspired to Send Me Off
Now that my 9 years in NYC is coming to a close it seems as if every moment is filled with some sort of message about how I can't wait to be OUT, or that there definitely things to which you can say nothing except "only in New York."
1. As I finally brought the printer I got back in December (of '03) home from Bitflip (where it's been since then) and dragged it to the subway, on the subway, from the 1 to the A, to my apartment, all I could think was that in a week, I will have a trunk.
2. As I lugged the printer on to the A train at 59th, I looked for the emptiest car. Found it. Then realized why it was so empty. There was a homeless duo (though here, who knows if they are really homeless), with a keyboard and a tupperware collection jar putting on a show. Grrrreat.
3. I can't remember what tune they were finishing when I got on, but as the train started off to 125th (and I'm accepting that I'm trapped until then, and weighing whether or not it will be worth it to switch cars - b/c this car is rather empty and a seat would be nice with all this stuff and they'll probably get off too, but what if they don't...) they start "Let's Stay Together." And the singer is pretty good. And some other folks on the train are starting to get into it. Then they go into "Love and Happiness." By this point, I'm singing along on the chorus. In harmony.
4. There's a guy sitting in the corner who looks religiously specific (in order to protect the innocent, I'll leave it at that). This particular religion tends to be a bit aggressive, demanding and intolerant of outside anything not to their liking. And he's making noises. That eventually start to sound like he's maybe singing in another language. Perhaps a religious song. Perhaps to counter the music everyone else on the train is starting to really enjoy. And it's getting louder and sounds _nothing_ like what the duo is doing. I'm annoyed.
5. At 145th (I stayed in the car @ 125th), the musicians get off and as they're leaving, the keyboardist says - "who was singing back here? I heard someone." The guy in question raises his hand, and says "thank you for the music. Thank you." The keyboardist says "thank you for the note - I was missing that one in my chord!" Everyone smiles.
6. I feel like a judgemental ass on many levels, and am ultimately warmed by the scene, the likes of which I'm doubting I'll encounter in my car during my new commute.
Only in New York.
Posted by nikl at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
Spamusement
I guess spam is good for something?
Posted by nikl at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2004
When in Rome...
Can't. go. to Chicago. without. having. WALKER BROTHERS.
I am a happy girl.
Posted by nikl at 05:42 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2004
Quote of the Day
"I actually think that he and Rod Stewart are the same person. It's one woman, who decided she could make a lot of money being two men."
- Beresford Bennett on Barry Manilow
Posted by nikl at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2004
Kraft Knows You Are An Idiot
On the tail of my month of complete and total abuse of my body, tonight I decided to have one of my 2 annual encounters with Kraft Mac n' Cheese, b/c hey, why not? In my 20+ years of making Kraft Mac n' Cheese, I have never done this, so I don't know why I opened the box and poured the entire thing in. Yes, including the "cheese" packet. Luckily for me, Kraft knows that we are idiots, and the PACKET IS WATERPROOF.
That's hot.
Goodbye Kraft Mac n' Cheese. See you in 2005.
Posted by nikl at 08:08 PM | Comments (1)
October 03, 2004
Celebrate Good Times
Today we spent the morning @ The Animal Kingdom. As some of you know, the highlight of this park is the African Safari "ride", which is actually pretty dern cool. Because we knew there'd be much Magic, but we knew we didn't want to startle the animals, we made the decision to clap using sign language.
This was almost as much of a hit as the actual clapping, and came in handy quite a few times over the course of the day. We know we are insane. We've had so many people ask us if we're college students. Nothing is more fun than telling them we're not even close :) (well, most of us aren't).
After AK, we headed to Epcot where we met up with Jason and spent the rest of the day. Josh, Travis and Dwayne were brave enough to ride Mission Space, and the rest of us made "Postcards from Space" while we waited.
The Food and Wine festival is going on @ Epcot, so there was plenty to do, see and EAT. The highlight of the entire things tho - perhaps the trip, was the surprise that Kool and the Gang was performing live. Jen, Callista, Josh and I attended all three sets. The last two down front. This video clip gives just a glise of the fun we were having. It was truly not to be rivaled.
Posted by nikl at 02:26 AM | Comments (1)
October 01, 2004
Too Many Rules @ Universal
On one of the thrill rides at Universal Studios, they have a pre-ride video that warns, among other things, not to raise your arms.
Now, what good really, is a thrill ride, if you can't raise your arms and scream like a ninny when it inevitably drops you x number of feet at x miles per hour into a splash of dirty water?
None, I tell you. None. There was even a sign towards the beginning of the ride that said "no flash photography, and no screaming." WHAT GOOD IS THIS RIDE? (Curtis got the best of them though. On the also inevitable "during-the-ride-surprise-photo-that-we're-going-to-try-to-sell-you-later" photo, he - you guessed it - raised his arms. Gotta fight The Man when you can.)
Today, after an amazing breakfast at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, we hit Universal Studios. Universal Studios is not Disney. This is made evident at almost every turn, and it's 99% of the time not a good thing. I mean, it's a fine thing, but nothing illustrates the level of detail that Disney goes to better than the lack of said detail.
We quickly realized that the Universal crowd was going to be a bit tougher than the Disney crowd when it came to our clapping joy. Because there's no Magic in Universal, the folks are a little less prone to random bursts of happiness. But we did our best.
On initial approach (after 9 miles of walking from the parking garage which they attempted to liven up with blasting pop music), I was ready to give Universal props over Disney for the fact that they had automated kiosk where you could buy park passes (mostly b/c I'm a technology whore). However, it quickly became clear that these were the most poorly designed kiosks in the free world and that, in the end, nothing can replace human interaction. Points back to Disney.
That said, the Spiderman ride is the most amazing theme park ride I've been on ever. The integrated use of all different types of virtual technology is not only cool, it's wildly successful. InCREDible.
Dudley Do-Right's Log Flume was awesome as well. Not only did you get soaked, as you float into the unloading dock, random people passing by on a bridge can pay .25 to soak you directly. No Kidding. While funny, that would never happen @ Disney. So Universal.
We encountered our first denial today. We were not allowed to ride the Jurrasic Flight b/c we were... too big. And not accompanied by a child. It had to happen sometime.
We had our first breakdown in pre-arranged plans today, and I'll say that it went smoothly enough to not even be called a break down! The boys re-visited all the rides @ Universal, while the girls headed to the outlet malls. Time well spent indeed.
As if to prove out point regarding our hypothesis on the link between The Magic and the Joy of Clapping, tonight during our dinner at Fulton's Crab House (on disney property), we succeeded in inspiring an entire room (no exaggeration) of diners to clap along. At what you ask? Nothing. Just the magic.
Scattered throughout all the Disney properties are these areas where water randomly shoots up from the ground. During the day, you're sure to find naked to half-naked children playing in them. Tonight, while Callista and Jen got ice cream sandwiches @ The Earl of Sandwich, Tom and Curtis dared Travis to run across. After some studying and hesitation, Travis ran for it, halting slightly in the first 3rd of the run, seeming to doubt his chosen path. As if choreographed, in the second of doubt, water shot directly into his face, soaking him through. We nearly wet ourselves laughing.
The other triumph of the day was that I got my iTrip working. Apple. Just. Rocks. Period.
Posted by nikl at 11:04 PM | Comments (0)