Greener Seaweed

On Saturday, me and my parents and brother went to New York City. As we approached the "tkts" booth, we weren't really sure what we would be able to see, however, the night before I looked up the tickets that were on sale the day before, and at the bottom of the list was the Little Mermaid. So I got myself all excited and was only able to sleep for two hours that night. Despite being tired, I got out of bed at 5:30 in the morning and we made our way to the big city.

When we got to the half-price tkts booth, sure enough, the Little Mermaid was on the list. We got tickets in the orchestra section, seven rows away from the stage. Now, anyone who knows me knows of my love for all things Little Mermaid. So this was pretty much a dream come true for me. I remember having seen the little flyer in the mail last November, and saying "we HAVE to go see that." So I never expected to actually get tickets so soon, and without having purchased them ahead of time even.

Anyway, I can't even put the spectacularity of this show into words. It was amazing. The actors all played their parts perfectly, and were really into it. It put the movie to shame, that's how good it was. I truly felt like I was a "part of their world", pun completely intended. Rambling aside, it was a great day, filled with fun and exercise.

We went to a flea market entitled "Hell's Kitchen", which turned out to be less fun than expected, since it was pretty much all junk they were selling, and barely any kitchen accessories. Next, we headed over to an Irish bar where we watched football and had lunch. Although quite tasty, my Shepherd's Pie was way over-priced, and something I would not recommend ordering in New York City, as it costs pretty much nothing to make. We then walked through the famous Macy's which was seven floors vertical and like two buildings wide. In other words, it was big. And, we did not actually shop for anything because we spent the whole time we were in it riding the escalators up and down. It sounds funny I'm sure, however it was rather dizzy-ing. I'm surprised Mom escaped without motion sickness. Not to mention, the wooden escalators were slightly scary... they made creaky noises as they moved.

After Macy's we went to the show. In case I didn't make it clear, it was wonderful. I cried several times, it was so wonderful. Next, we headed over to the Virgin records megastore, where my dad was able to fuel his fetish: vinyl albums. After about an hour in there, we got on the subway to go to a bookstore that had relocated to Times Square, where we had just been. But the subway trip wasn't a complete waste; we went down to the South Street Seaport to look around and have a beer. A festively flavored one apparently. (I hate beer, so it just tasted like beer to me, however it supposedly tasted like pumpkin pie.) Finally, we got back on the subway and wet back to the car to go back to Brandon's, pick up Moxie, and eat some dinner. I don't even remember the ride home, since I was asleep as soon as I sat down in the car. But it was still a wonderful day.

The "Witching Hour"

This past Saturday night, I found myself in the extraordinary position of an early departure from work. As those who know me are completely aware, I work pretty much every weekend, unless I request off, and usually am closing (meaning I don't finish work until 10 or 11 PM). This Saturday, however, I was only scheduled to work until 6 PM. Since my parents were in Baltimore (Happy Birthday Tiffy!), I had the house to myself. So I got myself something to eat for dinner and proceeded to head home through the torrential downpours.

After arriving at home and making myself cozy, I sat down to watch the Penn State game. (We Are!!!) As usual, I got bored real fast (I don't really understand football and no one made a single point until there were only a couple minutes left in the first half). So I looked through the movie channels and chose a film called (The Exorcism of Emily Rose). It's about a girl who gets possessed by demons and doesn't really know what's wrong. When the doctors suggest epilepsy (the movements the demons cause her to make resemble seizures), the medication doesn't work, so she tries religious treatment. The story is told around the trial of the priest who exorcises her.

Well this movie was incredibly scary. Yet I found myself intrigued and decided to finish watching it until the end. When it was over I was wide awake and couldn't get myself to fall asleep. In the movie, all of the weird stuff that happens to Emily happens at exactly 3:00 in the morning. This is explained as "the witching hour, which demons use to mock the Holy Trinity."

So I kept trying to get myself to fall asleep and finally was able to at around 1:30 AM. But I didn't stay asleep for long. At exactly 3:00, I heard this really loud BANG, and was scared to the point of no return. I ran out of my room, only to find that the stupid cat had been drinking from a bowl in the sink, and her incredibly strong tail had knocked a pan out of the dish rack.

Might she be possessed? I'll keep you posted, readers.

Leaping into Leaves

Today as I was driving to school, I found myself looking out my window at the beautiful foliage on the trees. It is officially fall. Although the calendar said "First day of Autumn" about a month ago, I only began to feel its effects this week. It's getting colder, the days are getting shorter, and the smell of fall finally hits me when I walk out the door. I've always said they should bottle that smell up and it would be available all the time, however when I put my nose up to the "autumn leaves" Yankee Candle the other day, I told my mom, "this doesn't smell like leaves at all!" But then it occurred to me, that leaves don't really have a smell- they're dead. They smell more like dirt than anything else.
When I relayed this observation to my mother, she said they do smell like dirt, but that is a comfort to me. Living in such a rural area all my life, driving through the "fresh country air!" (manure), playing outside, and yard work were familiar pastimes that all happened quite often. The most comforting smells to me are of nature: the smell of flowers in the springtime, the smell of burning wood in the winter, the smell of trees and campfires in the fall, and the smell of mushrooms and cow manure in the summer. Although most people would consider these to be undesirable smells (or stenches), I find comfort in them.
As a child, I only remember raking leaves into a pile and then jumping into that pile one time. It actually hurt quite a bit. I learned that day that the leaves, however high you pile them, are not very cushiony. To make a long story short, I ended up with a bruised tush, and had to rake the leaves up again anyway.
When I saw all the beautiful changing colors on the way to school, I decided to take pictures of them while I still can, so tomorrow I will give myself extra time and go on a photo-taking excursion.

Save the Best for Last

I remember being a child, sitting around a campfire at Girl Scout Camp, making s'mores. It was one of the best parts of Girl Scout Camp. The only problem was, I didn't want to set my marshmallow on fire (the thought scared me, in fact). Alas, I was the last to smush my marshmallow with the two graham cracker halves, the last to get a piece of chocolate for the middle, and the last to enjoy my creation. I remember always loving the s'more despite the delay in enjoyment, however, looking back, the thing that pops into my head first is the fact that my piece of chocolate was always smaller than my graham crackers (there were a lot of Girl Scouts and only a six-pack of Hershey bars).

So to solve this problem, I shoved the chocolate to the back of the s'more, and started from the chocolate-free end. This proved to be a good decision, because when I took the last several bites, they were the parts I enjoyed the most. "Save the best for last," I always say!

Tonight, however, I was spoiled. My friend Christine and I were at work (the deli in Redner's) and a customer told her son that they would make s'mores on the grill that night. Well, once I heard that, I craved the campfire-treat like I hadn't had one in years. Which is because I hadn't. So I told Christine about my trip back to Memory Lane, and she suggested we make some on our stove. So she went on her break and bought the necessary supplies, while I stayed behind and worked (Work, shmerk!).

Later, when she returned, we turned on the stove and watched the flame ignite, thinking this was fairly close to a real campfire. We each placed a marshmallow on the tip of a knife and held it over the flame. Thinking I better finish this fast, I stuck my marshmallow right into the flames and watched it catch fire.

The blackened marshmallow didn't look quite as appealing as my lightly browned ones of the past did, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from enjoying my first s'more in about five years. I placed the marshmallow on top of a graham cracker and anxiously waited for my piece of chocolate. Surprised at having received an entire half of a bar, I wondered if they would be as good as I remembered.

Well, no... They were better! There was no saving the best for last, because the entire thing was good. Like I said... spoiled!