For this, Rage over MySpace photo leads to arrest, and so many, many others, I hate MySpace.

Seriously, this thing is a blight on the Internet landscape.

So here’s something else to add to my “just don’t” file…

Don’t try to have two cell conversations, at the same time, while attempting to walk back to your car in an unfamiliar area.

Particularly if you’re in Cambridge (with roads designed by drunken Irishmen) and you’re tired and wearing heels.

I had to call the Porkchop and have him pull up a map… I was oh, say, around and about where I wanted to be, give or take 10 blocks. Erm. Yeah.
Yes, I realize you are laughing at me wendy, but it WASN’T MY FAULT.

Five years ago…

I still lived on the West Coast.

I had just graduated from high school

My sister had just gotten married.

My Nana was still alive.

MSNBC is running a “living history event,” where the actual footage from this day in 2001 is being broadcast in real time. In other words, it’s like seeing it happen all over again.

One of the hardest parts for me is that I clearly remember watching this happen with my Nana, who was living with us at the time and undergoing treatment for cancer. I remember her looking at me and saying, “You know, the world is going to change now. It will never be the same.”

My family didn’t lose anyone we knew that day. I think to some of us on the West Coast, it seemed surreal and incredibly far away. Once I moved here, and met people who had lost someone, and spoke with those affected, it crystallized and became real.

I was down at the site six months later, then two years later, then four years later and I’ll probably be down there again sometime this year.

If you’re in NYC, and you get the chance, go down to the site.

It’s the only place I’ve ever been in New York where the silence is only broken by the sound of tissues and tears.

According to my mom, the Porkchop is “very nice and very cute,” and “as long as he’s good to you, I have no problem with him.”

Oh, and dad thinks he’s “funny” and is glad he can hold his own with the family.

Part of me is thinking, “Duh. I told you all of that. And what, you think I don’t have good taste?” And the other part of me is just thinking… “Phew.”

All in all, it wasn’t a bad few days.

My parents flew into town a couple of days ago, and after I picked them up at the airport, we went to dinner (at Great Bay… so very, very good).

The Porkchop has been sick (and working) so I left him at home.

The night did not go well.

A sample:

“You’re the rebound.” (Said when questions were raised about his previous very long term relationship.)

“Why does he love you?” (My mom’s one foible, which sounded so off when she asked it, even my dad looked at her askance.)

“Is he a Christian?” (Answer: no, don’t want one, thanks. Response: loud huff)

“Does he realize cheating is genetic in our family?” (Nice, hmm?)

“We don’t approve of you moving in together. And just so you know, it will be the biggest regret of your life.”

So anywho, dinner was a P-A-R-T-Y.

My mom and I went out last night and she spent most of the time trying to explain that my dad doesn’t mean to be an asshat, it’s just that he loves me so much that he doesn’t want me to make a mistake.

Oddly enough, his snide comments at dinner didn’t really come across as love… but that’s just me.

Anywho, the Porkchop is still sick, so we’re home tonight.

Tomorrow’s the big meeting.

Should be a riot.

A few weeks ago the man from MN was here visiting and we went to a bar to hear my friend J’s boyfriend’s band play. We stayed for a couple of sets, he met most of my friends out here and all went well.

Later that week, after he had returned home, I was picking up J at her boyfriend’s (aka, FryDaddy’s) place. [Sidenote: every one of us has nicknames and they’re all hysterically random and nonsensical.] J informed me that she and FryDaddy both liked the MN boy and were looking forward to him living out here and oh, by the way, FryDaddy says that he knows why you two left early.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“‘Cause he says you spent the entire night looking at MN like he was the last porkchop on the plate… and you were hungry.”

And much hilarity ensued. Now FryDaddy (so named due to the cooking appliance, don’t ask) calls him LPC and I just call him the Porkchop.

Odd, I know… but also highly entertaining AND it means I didn’t have to come up with an odd name for him here on the blog. 🙂

Smiles all around.

Satisified Miss Wendy? 😛

Home at last… and it’s a lovely thing. Even though the cats made a mess.

On a good note, my friend J decided to rearrange my apartment while I was gone and I came home to a completely new place… and it’s cute, very cute. 🙂 And it leaves space for the new person. Erm. 🙂

My momma called. She wanted to make sure we made it alive, and to tell me that she and my dad DO NOT APPROVE of what the Porkchop and I are doing and blah, blah, blah, she still loves me and she’ll meet him and we can do things but she wants us BOTH TO KNOW that they DO NOT APPROVE.

Good times over here. Makes me just feel dandy.

Verizon has finally deigned it time for me to get a new cell… woot!

But I now have to decide: a) do I want to stay with Verizon? and b) if I do, which of the 3432598 phones that they are offering me do I want?

So people… Verizon? Yes? No? Why?

And the phone list, which I’ve narrowed down considerably…

LG VX5300
Motorola RAZR V3m in Silver
Samsung SCH-a870
Samsung SCH-a930

Any suggestions?

We crossed rather uneventfully into Canada earlier this afternoon, driving along the lake for the most part. Entering Canada is rather easy.

Hi, yes, we’re just driving through to get to the other side. Thanks, have a nice day!

Canada: no worries, we aren’t worried you’re trying to bomb us.

On the other hand, entering the US at the Niagara Falls bridge is a smidge different. First we waited for around twenty minutes while the customs guy gave the car two cars ahead a hard time.

During this time the Porkchop displayed his impatience by alternately shaking his fist and grousing about the customs official.

“Identification.”

We handed it over.

“Take off your sunglasses.”

I did.

“Where were you two born?”

After answering, he looks at us quizzicaly.

“And how do you two know each other?”

Followed rapidly by… “What do you two do?” “When did you two meet?” “Where are you two headed?” and our personal favorite, “Do you have anyone else in the car?”

Bear in mind, we are driving a Jetta that is so packed we pull the luggage out through the back windows when we stop at night—plus there’s a cartop carrier up above.

“Um.. no.”

He looks at us sternly.

“OK.”

USA: HIGH ALERT! We know you’re bringing Osama in, buried under that luggage! We will ask you the DUMBEST questions… and if you’re really lucky, we might just let you slide in. Grrr…

Day two and we’re still in Michigan… albeit around 380 miles from where we were this morning. Tomorrow we’ll cross into Canada and then Niagara Falls—the reason for our roundabout trip.

We managed to drive almost the entire Upper Peninsula without eating a pasty. (I’ve had one before and I wasn’t impressed.)

However, we did: stop and take pictures on Lake Michigan, cross the Mackinac Bridge, debate stopping for deer jerky (him) and at every single zoo (me) and wonder about a restaurant called the Hair Burger (erm.. it was actually Halo, but for about a five miles, we were sure it was Hair).

And Project Runway’s on.. gotta go. 🙂