Juliana Says...

Last Friday I stayed at the office…until 11PM. Now, normally not only would that NEVER happen (ok, maybe I’d stay late, but not that late) but I certainly wouldn’t mention it on a public blog – I mean, really, how pathetic is that?? But that said I’m damn proud of myself. You see, my office has been in a state of perpetual chaos for the past three years. With school & then transitioning into new responsibilities but still doing the old ones while we went through 3 different people to take my old job, my office’s organization was the last thing on my mind. However, I just couldn’t handle it any longer. The entire place was made of piles upon piles of mushrooming papers that needed pushing, that had been pushed or that someday might be pushed. I needed to get my act together. So, after about seven hours (I know – that’s insane right… 7 hours??) I’m happy to say that everything’s in order & has a place to be… so, whoo hoo!

Afterwards, I went home & rewarded myself with two movies: LA PUTA VIDA (which was translated as “The Tricky Life” but for the record, is totally wrong – it’s closer to “a whore’s life” but really is like saying “for f*ck’s sake” – it doesn’t quite make sense but is said for the raw, blunt forcefulness of the curse. Not surprisingly, it’s pretty common in Argentina -- & as I've discovered now, also in Uruguay) and THE CLAIM. Both were pretty good actually. “La Puta Vida” was set in Montevideo, Uruguay about a single mom with two kids that starts working in a brothel to make money to open a salon & then gets trafficked to Barcelona. I think it was supposed to be a drama but it was pretty funny. [When the actors’ first started speaking I totally thought it was set in Argentina from their accents – I thought maybe it was set in one of the outer provinces. Completely forgot that Uruguayan & Argentine Spanish are super close in their accents & expressions (Chile’s up there too).] The other one, “The Claim” starred Wes Brentley (or Bentley?? from “American Beauty”) and let me just state for the record, that boy is handsome with a beard! Funny enough, this movie also had women as working prostitutes in a very matter-of-fact way (but this was 19^th C. WA or CO?? Somewhere west…) Anyway, I wanted to see them before returning them to the library. (As nerdy as this sounds, I recently discovered that the NYPL in my area by work has all these cool movies so I stopped doing Netflix until further notice… I’m only sharing that last part because if Artie reads this he might care as we used to send each other recommendations & reviews on it.

Anyhoo, Saturday I woke up late but not too late… organized my place a bit… made myself a kick-@ss omelet… got my dirty laundry together & my rollerblades, dropped off the former & practiced on the latter. It was a gorgeous day out & perfect for humiliating myself in public. Mind you, I haven’t been on these things in TEN (yes, that’s right, 10) years… what possessed me to get back on them? My BF. He’s been getting into them so I figured it could be something we could try to do together. Fortunately, he wasn’t there to witness my humiliation. A couple of things about roller-blades: 1.) what’s up with only having ONE brake?!? Dude, anytime a human being is on wheels, there should definitely be more than 1 brake involved! 2.) And it’s not quite like riding a bike, but you do remember… or at least I thought so until a carriage driver passed me by and yelled, “Just learning?”… Um, wow Sherlock, I wonder what gave that away? Perhaps the flailing arm motion or was it the “Woas” coming out of my mouth as I tried to brake. In any case, it was pretty silly looking but kind of fun. Fortunately, I have very little shame.

Afterwards, I headed back to my apartment, fixed myself up & headed out to Park Slope for a friend’s b’day who I hadn’t seen in ages at some bar whose name I forget. I haven’t been in Brooklyn in quite some time & forgot how freaking long it takes from my place by subway (1hr & 35 minutes!!). The girl of the hour was looking lovely in red, chatted with some of her very lovely friends & had a less-than-mediocre Bloody Mary (I’m picky though). After a bit, I noticed the hour & realized I had to head back to Manhattan for my dear friend, Andreas’ 40^th b’day at the B Bar where my BF was to meet up with me. We had said 9PM & since I've turned over a new leaf in my old age, I knew I had to jet. Beforehand though I changed into a fresh cute red sundress for the evening festivities in the not-so-cute-or-fresh-bar bathroom… aah, the things a girl does for beauty! Got to the bar (on time) & lo & behold I was the only one there for quite some time… As folks slowly started trickling in fashionably & not-so-fashionably late, I had to wonder what is it about NYers always being late? I mean, I can understand fashionably-30-minutes-late either -- but what’s up with the 1-1½-2 hours late! Did a memo go out that I wasn’t aware of?? The thing is I can't say this out loud to anyone because I've always been late in the past (although I don’t think always that late) so it would be the pot calling the kettle black, but still… I guess I’m getting old & want my bed earlier.

Anyhoo, haven’t been to the B Bar in ages either & was surprised to see that they now have all those tables in the outdoor area for dining only which really kind of sucks actually. After being forced to get our eat on if we wanted to sit at a table, we all then headed back to the limited standing room space there was out back & got our drink on. If you're wondering I've noticed that my drink of choice lately has been vodka tonics with extra lime – feels summery to me for some reason – it could also be because there are no danger of spill stains, its low in carbs [or that’s what I’m telling myself] & are quite refreshing – what effects it may be producing on my liver I do not want to know… After several of them and a couple of witty (& one not so pleasant) drunken conversations (aren’t they always witty though when you're tipsy??) it was time to head home…

Sunday woke up late & hung out with the BF – he watched Bruce Lee movies while I talked on the phone catching up with friends on the west-coast. Eventually, I headed back to my place where I went to my fancy local “gourmet” market to re-stock the fridge (I love that place but I buy like 6 things & end up spending $50!!!) & then just chilled for the remainder of the evening. (I realized later that not only was it Pride weekend, but the Coney Island Mermaid-or-whatever-it’s-called-Festival – I totally missed it!! I think it’s the last year they're doing it now that they're going to develop C.I. no? Anyway, wanted to catch it before it disappeared forever, damn it! Hopefully next year it’ll still be around after-all…)