Road Trip to North Carolina: Part 1

So about two weeks ago I was sitting at my desk at work in Manhattan, feeling sorry for myself. I'd absolutely had it with everything and I just couldn't stand another second of my miserable life. Instead of jumping out the window from the 38th floor of a skyscraper, I did what any sane, normal person would do: ROAD TRIP!

I used to do these occasionally when I was younger and didn't have any responsibilities. Just pick up and leave and go somewhere, anywhere.... just away from the problem to sort through everything and come up with a solution. This has been a weird summer for Onil and I, and top of the list for me is that we're two years and counting that he doesn't have a job and that the financial burden for our family rests solely on me. We're doing alright, but I just want to quit my job and go home in the worst way. I hate living with my in-laws during the week.

I decided that I would go to Brevard, North Carolina. I'd never been there before. I only knew about it because I'm in an RP where two of my characters are from Brevard. (For those who don't know, an RP is a message board where you write as characters -- either made up or from a tv show or movie -- with other people to create a story. The best way I've heard it described is a living novel.) When I made up these characters I'd never heard of Brevard. I wanted them to be from one of the Carolinas and I wanted them to be from the mountains, and Brevard fit the bill on both counts. Over the past year I've been getting the itch to see the place I'm writing about, and so this past Labor Day weekend I decided I would take a road trip there.

I was going to do this all on my own. No husband, no kids, just me and a tent. I made a reservation at a campground and another one to go horse-back riding in the mountains on Monday morning. I left work on Friday intending to stop at the Walmart in Ephrata and then continue on down to NC, only stopping to catch catnaps on the road. But somewhere outside of the Lincoln Tunnel I had a change of heart and I realized that what was really needed was for Onil and I to get away together, away from the television and the computer, and hash everything out.

Y'all (and I can say that now that I've been in the South), I'm really glad I did.

Onil and I talked about a lot before we even left the apartment and came to an understanding of sorts. We were going to try to sleep a little but wound up hitting the road at 12:45 a.m. on Saturday. We stopped in Virginia at about 4 in the morning to sleep and then got back on the road. We reached our destination at 11:30 a.m. For not having been to Brevard before, I really loved it. It's a little town, kinda touristy, I suppose. The real draw is the Pisgah Forest which surrounds it. I had no idea the mountains in North Carolina looked like that. In Pennsylvania the highest point is 3,200 feet, but Mt. Pisgah alone is 5,700 feet, and that's not even the tallest point in the state. It was a beautiful place and I was sorry to leave.

Onil and I had a great time. We drove around to look at the scenery, went hiking, slept out in the woods, star-gazed, and ate awesome food. This was Onil's first experience with camping and he seemed to really like it. I was very proud when my boy from NYC made his first campfire. He started it Sunday afternoon and we kept it going until we left on Monday night. Most importantly, the two of us got away by ourselves and reconnected. We didn't realize until we were actually in NC that we'd never been away together, not even for our honeymoon (we just stayed in our apartment in PA for that).

I have a bunch of pictures to sort through and I want to do it this weekend, but I just wanted to update here to talk about our trip. Sorry this was so wordy, but there was a lot to say! Here are a couple of pictures:

Letters to Camp, Part 1

Every summer Amy and Anna go to sleepaway camp at Mt. Gilead in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. And every summer, without fail, Onil writes them the best letters ever. After years of laughing hysterically at these letters I finally decided to post them here to share them with you and to save them for posterity. He wrote three letters each. Sometimes he draws things and when I get into work I'll scan and post them here. Here are Amy's:

'Sup Amy?

Are you maxing and/or relaxing all day long? Any good Bible verses this year? Ooh! I hope you guys get parables!! Whenever you see the Lil' Lord, don't forget to remind her she has to poop at camp. For the both of you. If she doesn't poop you're BOTH grounded.

I'm writing this letter before we go to your Grammy's party in Virginia so I'm gonna do radio psychic. I predict you will poop your pants. I will have three pieces of cake, your mom will be all cranky by 12:15 and she will say chillax at least 37 times.

You should tell some sweet scary stories at the campfire. I just made that up. I invented it. Tell the one with the dudes hiding underneath cars with the slicing and the heels and screaming.

More radio psychic: I predict I will have to stop myself from slapping your cousin at least six times and your mom will have food in her ear this time.

I can't wait to watch Stepbrothers. It's gonna be so awesome! Better than Iron Man even.

Anyways. Enjoy the rest of camp. Always be alert. Keep your head on a swivel looking out for ganados. They're everywhere!!

Sincerely,

Jens Lekman

P.S. It's really me, Onil.

P.P.S. You smell!

*****

Dear scheiße kopf,

Are you having a killer time at camp? We're having the bestest time ever without you. We went mini-golfing and skydiving and bull riding and wrote our names on cement and spray painted Mighty Horse on the Wilbur building and had Rita's Water Ice every day this weekend. So much fun! Cuz you suck!

Did anything scary happen yet? Have you seen any Jersey devils or Nessie?

There's supposed to be a solar eclipse this weekend but it's not visible in the northeast. And it's all your fault. Cuz you suck?

Todd and Kitty both pooped on your bed. They were high-fiving and laughing the whole time. Todd also farted on your pillow.

We also went to Berlin and spray-painted "Amy eats!" on the Berlin wall and had our own personal Oktoberfest with the Chancellor and Megatron and Daniel Hood. Daniel Hood says you suck. And he's gonna name a dragon after me.

Also I bought Halo 3, beat the game and sold it and used the money to make 10,000 flyers with your face photoshopped on a monkey's butt and then passed it out at your youth group. Good times.

We miss you both. Hope you're having fun!

Sincerely,
O to the Nil

P.S. Jog on!

*****

What's up, Vanilla Face?

Can you believe it's camp time again? Time sure does fly when you're a buttbag. Your camp deserves a better class of buttbag. And you're gonna give it to them.

Are you enjoying the mandatory fun activities? Funtivities!! Are there sing-alongs? Maybe you can sing the Karate Kid song for everyone.

How are the horses this year? Maybe you can do some jumps. You can get like three feet of air if you try hard enough.

Do try to write to your mommy. She will cry like a fart face if you don't.

Remember the time you cracked everyone up with your purple feety pajamas? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Good times. Hold on, still laughing. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh my sides.

Scout out the berries while you're there. I wanna know where all the good spots are as soon as I get there. Mmmmm.... berries.

Also I hate your fat cat. He has become the bane of my existence, my nemesis. He is a total jerk. He is the engine of chaos. Some fat cats just want to see the world burn.

Don't lose your Transformers towel or else we will destroy you. DESTROY!! >:(

Last of all. Don't forget to have a good time. Have a pleasant demeanor always. If you start to feel down, just ask yourself: Why so serious?

Your friend in Christ,
Onil_1

P.S. I believe in Amy Fartface.

*****

Here's a letter from me:

Dear Amy,

Hello from my air conditioned living room, where I am rocking out to sweet tunes and surfing the nets! It's as awesome as you're imagining. How about you? How many bug bites have you gotten? Are you rocking out to sweet tunes as well? Do you get to see cool videos?

I asked my good friend Thundercrackers if he would swing by and check on you this week. He said something about terrorism and then gave me the finger, so I guess he's not going to. That's what I get for asking a Decepticon. Maybe Bumblebee will do it.

Speaking of flipping people off, our friend in the PT Cruiser sends his regards.

Speaking of saying hi, Colin Meloy says hi and he wants you to know that he loves your mom. <3

I hope you're getting to be a corral-aide. I haven't talked to Shirley yet so I don't know. How many bracelets have you made for Onil?

We went to see Stepbrothers yesterday (you're not allowed to see it -- weiners) and then to Five Guys for dinner. Yes! It was awesome.

Sincerely,
[full signature]

P.S. I had to ask Onil if Thundercrackers was a Decepticon. Of course he knew. Because he's a NERD.

Swear to me, buttbags!

Along with pretty much everyone else in the country, we were swept up by Joker-mania this past weekend. It started with a midnight showing of The Dark Knight which was a lot of fun. We all four of us went in our pyjamas. It was great to actually have a halfway fun audience in Lititz to watch a movie with. Of course, half of them were drunk teens sneaking swigs of Boone's Farm but still the audience wasn't just the same old boring hohum squares.

We loved the movie so much we had to go back on Saturday for the matinee. It was a great capper for the summer '08 movie season.

Summertime.... and the living is easy

June has been a quiet month for us. It started off with my niece's wedding (sort of -- she's been married for a year already and so the wedding ceremony was completely superfluous, but it was fun anyway) and has kind of meandered along. I turned 44 on June 3 and it wasn't a great birthday, but I knew that going in. Every seven years since I was 16 I've had bad birthdays, and this year was it. I spent the day at home on the computer, which was fun, but what made it suck was that 1) I got my period, and 2) I had to have the car repaired to the tune of $362. On the plus side, I'm good now until I turn 51.

Despite a bang-up start to the month, we haven't done much. We've gone swimming in the lake. We've gone to see a lot of movies. We've had several barbecues. Other than that... not much.

The summer movies have been a mixed bag this year. Iron Man was awesome, as expected. It's my second favorite comic book movie ever, taking X-Men 2's spot (but not ousting Spider-Man 2 as the best comic book movie ever). Konkles of Nonya was great, thanks to acting powerhouse Peter Dinklage and a sexy hott Caspian. Speed Racer was dumb and flashy. Indiana Jones made me want to commit ritual seppuku because of the insanely stupid and unnecessary relationship with Karen Allen and the cutesy family angle. We've also seen The Happening, which has turned out to be the worst movie so far -- so bad it's good. Marky Mark has used up a huge chunk of Boogie Nights goodwill by not only being in this turdfest but also by his hilariously bad acting (to be fair, he didn't have much to work with -- the dialog was laughable). We also saw Wanted, and that was okay. Kinda dumb. Next up is Hancock and then Hellboy.

I sort of decided not to do One Local Summer this year. I had a lot of fun with it last year, but since I'm only home on the weekends I'm limited to only two nights in which to produce a local dinner. To tell you the truth, I've been feeling extraordinarily lazy (even lazier than usual) and half of the time I've been like, "Oh, let's just Five Guys it up tonight." So, unless Five Guys counts as local food, I'm afraid I have to bail on OLS this year.

This weekend is July 4th, so expect a forthcoming post in which we have an Americue, shoot off fireworks, and laugh at Fat Ringo.

Spider-Man Makes an Appearance in NYC! (Stan Lee is nowhere in sight.)

I don't know if anyone has seen this on the news, but I wanted to mention this because I saw it happen!

You all know that I work in Manhattan and I walk several blocks to and from the train station, straight down 8th Avenue. Last night as I was walking home I went past the Port Authority on 41st Street and everyone was standing around looking up at the New York Times Building across the street. I was like, What the hell is going on, and I looked up. Some dude was climbing up the thing! It was great, everyone was standing around with their cell phones, taking pictures. All the old ladies were like, "Oh! He's going to fall! I can't look." and all the dudes are like, "YEAH!" or "God, what a moron." When I got there he was at about the fourth or fifth floor. I kept walking, stopping occasionally to see how far he had gotten. By the time I got down to Herald Square (34th Street) he was nearly halfway up the building. From what I understand he made it and they arrested him.

This was the second time in one day that the building was climbed. Earlier in the day (and I don't know how I missed it, because I'm up on the 38th floor of my office building and I've got an excellent view of everything below 50th Street on the west side) the French Spider-Man climbed the building to promote awareness of global warming. He made it and was arrested. Later that same day the man I saw was climbing the building, I think in a copycat move. He didn't seem to be promoting anything in particular. Maybe he was high. I don't know.

I'm only surprised someone hasn't tried to climb the building before. It's got rungs going up the side of the building like a ladder. The thing is a big jungle gym, I don't know how anyone's resisted it until now.

Here's a link to a Yahoo article.

More catching up: The Franklin Institute

It's no secret we're all four of us a bunch of dorks. Amy and I, however, go above and beyond the other two in our dorkiness. Hence, our recent trip to The Franklin Institute in beautiful scenic Philadelphia for the exhibit titled, "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination". We visited sans The Little Lord because she's a buttbag.

Basically, the exhibit had lots of Star Wars scale models, costumes and props tied together with the real world science principles that inspired the films' "science" principles. There was actually some interesting bits about the evolution of robots and artificial intelligence throughout the years. The exhibit was geared towards children so there lots of hands-on Mr. Wizard/Beakman's World type gadgets to play around with.

The movie costumes were actually very neat, as were the life sized replicas of some of the characters. It was interesting to see the details close-up.

All that is good and well but the real treat of the day for me and Amy was not the lightsabers and blasters behind a glass case. Nope. The best part of the day were the living breathing Storm Troopers courtesy of the 501st Legion. They had members of their group roaming around the place and taking pictures with anyone who asked. The funniest part was that more adults grown-up nerds than kids were asking for pictures. And not just the regular stand-next-to-you picture, the younger kids were happy with those. The hardcore older fans were asking the troopers to do all sorts of things like firing poses and pretending to be prisoners.

Amy and I (mostly Amy) had a field day posing with all the Storm Troopers and stray Jawas and Tusken raiders. The only one we missed was Boba Fett. We totally stalked him but he was off to his lunch break or something and wouldn't stop for pictures. Can't really blame the guy. I imagine he and Darth Vader would be the most mobbed of their group.

The highlight of the day was when Amy totally got groped by a Storm Trooper! She asked for a hug with her picture and the guy leaned in super super close and grabbed on extra tight. When it was my turn, the guy went back to his generic shoot-the-camera pose.

We also took the time to see some of the other sections of museum like the world famous giant heart you can walk through and the working locomotive.

It was a fun few hours on a Sunday afternoon.

Here is a Flicker set of the day.

Some catching up to do: Opening Day At Knoebels

This year's opening day at Knoebels was so much fun. It was one of the better times we've had at the park.

First of all, it was a beautiful day. There was rain expected but thankfully, it held out until we left the park. This year, the trees and flowers were all in bloom. So much so that it played hell on my allergies. My eyes were all bloodshot for the better part of the day but we didn't let that hamper our fun.

We got there around lunch time so that was the first order of business even before buying the all day passes. That's one of the better advantages of opening day. All day passes are buy one get one free. It's really quite a savings. We pretty much get to hit all the rides (except the haunted house - you still have to pay for that) multiple times. Faith and the girls rode both coasters twice in fact.

Speaking of the haunted house, there's a few new additions to it this year. Anna and I ended up going a couple of times in a row. She even persuaded Amy to go through but I don't know if Amy kept her eyes open or not.

The only rides not open were the Skloosh (still too cold for the major water ride) and the new Flying Turns ride because it's still under construction. We've been waiting over a year and a half for that thing. Hopefully, it'll be finished by the time we go back later this summer.

Knoebel's also has a mining museum because the land the park resides on was once part of a mining operation. For some reason, we've never gone in it before. The joke's on us, it was one of the funnest parts of the day. Many a dumb picture of us posing next to the strange exhibits were taken.

We always end the day on the train ride that goes through the woods. And this year because of the weight we've lost, Faith and I actually fit together in one of the cars comfortably. That was a pleasant surprise.

All in all, it was one of the better times I've had at the park.

Sad News

Sometime this morning Nutmeg died. Onil checked her last night and she was moving around a little bit, and when he checked her again this morning she was dead.

She hadn't been doing well for weeks. Every week when I came home from NYC she seemed a little bit worse. The last few days she just stayed up in her bed and didn't even come down to her wheel or her food, and we had to put her food in the top along with a wet paper towel for her to drink from. So I knew she was going to be going soon, and I even had a feeling it was going to be this week. I said a special goodbye to her and told her I loved her before I left for work yesterday morning. She's in good company, anyway. It was ten years ago today that Frank Sinatra died.

Goodnight, Crazy Nut. You were an awesome little haimstie, and you will be dearly missed.

Grilling Season has officially started!

We had plans yesterday to take Amy to The Franklin Institute for a Star Wars exhibit but we had car problems and had to cancel. We'll go next weekend but in the meantime we were stuck at home doing nothing. Nothing. :(

Fortunately, it was a very nice day so it was the perfect opportunity to lug out the picnic table and grill from out the garage for the start of Endless Barbecue '08!

It wasn't a major to do or anything. Just pork chops and bratwurst but still it was a good beginning for The Summer of Meats 2008.





The only thing missing is cornbread but that's only we didn't really plan ahead. Like all of life's funnest fun things, this was an impromptu dinner.

Poor Little Haimstie

This past weekend, our little hamster, Nutmeg, has been sick. We're not really sure what's wrong. She seemed okay on Friday night when I got home, if not a little bloated. I thought she was just getting fat. I mean, she was up and eating and running around in her ball, so I didn't automatically think "sick", you know?

But then Saturday night something seemed very wrong. She didn't get up at all. She spent the night in her little sleeping area, not getting up even to eat or drink. She also seemed even more bloated than she did the previous night. She did the same thing Sunday night, and I was really worried about our poor little girl.

Onil has been keeping an eye on her. He said that she didn't get up Monday night either, but he put a little food and a piece of a wet paper towel in her sleeping area so she could get a little nourishment and moisture. She seemed to be doing better last night. He said she was up and eating and drinking -- she even ran on her wheel for a little bit.

So if you don't feel completely ridiculous saying a prayer for a hamster, please remember our little Nut. Hopefully she's on the mend.

2008 Summer Movie Post

We're a movie family. Actually, me... not so much, but everyone else really digs them. Despite my usual ambivalence towards movies, however, this season is shaping up to be the best summer for movies in a long time. Last year we were looking forward to Spider-Man 3 (BLEW), Pirates of the Carribean 3 (BLEW), Knocked Up (BLEW), Transformers (AWESOME) and Super-Bad (okay). We were sadly disappointed. Onil probably had a bunch of other dumb arty brainy movies that he was all jazzed up about, but I don't go for that crazy bullshit. I'm all about the blockbusters, baby.

To that end, I'm here to discuss the summer movies that I'm looking forward to this year.

IRON MAN - The first movie up promises to be the most AWESOME movie of the summer. Seriously, this thing looks like it's going to rock. We've been seeing the trailers for a while now and every new trailer that comes out adds another layer of munchy crunchy awesomeness. Robert Downey Jr. is just killing me -- based on what I've seen in the trailers he seems to be finding the perfect balance between being tongue-in-cheek and serious in his role as Tony Stark. Amy and I were discussing whether or not this was going to live up to the awesomeness that the trailers are promising, and she made a great point. She said that last year, with the Spider-Man 3 trailers, we just kept seeing the same fights over and over and the movie wound up blowing. We're getting no such vibe from Iron Man. Every new trailer just gets better and better. We really can't wait for this thing -- it's our big New York movie this year (also because it happens to open on Free Comic Book weekend, but it will still is a great movie to see in NYC). Favs better deliver! Most Anticipated Scene: ROBOTS KICKING EACH OTHERS' ASSES. The end.

KONKLES OF NONYA: PRINCE CASPIAN - The trailers have been looking good for this movie, too. We all liked the first Konkles movie so we're hoping this one similarly rocks. Most Anticipated Scene: Aslan waking up the wood nymphs and the water naiads and gods. Also excited about the promise of werewolves.

SPEED RACER - The best thing I can say so far is that I love how bright this thing is. I wasn't so sure about a live-action Speed Racer, but the one trailer I saw looked interesting. I'm not so sure if they'll be able to sustain the storyline -- it may wind up being bright and flashy and not much else. But Chim Chim looks so damn cute in his overalls! Most Anticipated Scene: You know it's going to come down to a race between Speed and RacerX at the end. Are we there yet?

INDIANA JONES AND THE QUEST FOR THE KINGDOM SKULL MADE OUT OF CRYSTAL OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT - Honestly, does this movie have the longest motherfucking title in the world or what? This is another one I hope lives up to its promise -- but I'm not so sure. Amy's not feeling it at all but that may have to do with the fact that Shia LeBeouf is in it and she can't stand him. Frankly, the addition of Shia LeBeouf is the only thing making it for me. Most Anticipated Scene: Onil's all giddy because the trailers have been showing Indy in a warehouse. He thinks it's a callback to the end of the first Indiana Jones movie.

HELLBOY 2 - Loved the first Hellboy, the second looks good, too. I love Pan's Labyrinth and Guillermo Del Toro is bringing his fantastic creatures back to Hellboy 2. I can hardly wait! Most Anticipated Scene: None in particular, although Amy and I were all excited to see the creature with eyes all over its wings. Straight outta Revelations, yo!

THE DARK KNIGHT - Whooo! Batman is back! And he's... well... doing stuff! YEAH! Actually, I've seen a couple of trailers for this and it looks interesting, but beyond Heath Ledger as the Joker, nothing really stands out to me. Still, though... BATMAN!!! WHOOO! Most Anticipated Scene: The first creepy scene with the Joker. Because you know it's going to be motherfucking creeeeeeepy.

STEP BROTHERS - Will Ferrell + John C. Reilly = comedy awesomeness. I don't care if there's one joke in this entire movie and they flog it to death -- I can't wait. Most Anticipated Scene: The one with Will Ferrell in his underwear and/or naked. Come on, you know there will be one. The man simply cannot keep his clothes on.

TROPIC THUNDER - I watched the trailer. When Ben Stiller showed up I thought: meh. When Jack Black showed up: Meh again. But when I realized that the black dude was none other than motherfucking Robert Downey Jr. in black face I was totally SOLD! It's hilarious! You have got to watch the trailer just to see it. He's doing the best black accent, but it's not even like the dudes you hear on the street or the subway. It's like he was forced to watch 70s blaxploitation movies for a week and he decided to totally rip off Shaft or something! It's just great. Seriously, this is Robert Downey Jr.'s year. How glad am I that he didn't die when he was a huge cokehead? Most Anticipated Scene: Any with Robert Downey Jr.

So that's it. Those are my most anticipated movies this year. There are a bunch of other movies we'll probably wind up seeing. Kung Fu Panda comes out on my birthday weekend and we need a movie for that (come on, it's got Ian McShane in it -- Al Swearengen himself!). Onil is excited about seeing The Hulk, but he's the only one. Amy hates the Hulk and I hate Edward Norton. He is also intrigued by Wanted, but unless I hear better buzz about it he may just have to wait for the dvd -- and the X Files movie and The Mummy are dvd movies as well. No one wants to see Sex & the City, Zohan or Get Smart (seriously, Steve Carrell, get a new agent). Anna will want to see The Happening (or, as Onil typoes it "The Hapopening") because she likes the M. Night movies, and I might want to see it too because Marky Mark was awesome enough in Boogie Nights to make up for any bad movies he might do until the year 2014. I was disappointed by Knocked Up and Super-Bad, so the Judd Apatow backlash is in effect enough to make me not want to see Sarah Marshall or Pineapple Express.

We'll be sure to regale you with reviews when we actually see these movies.

Busy holiday weekend!

On Thursday, Faith, The Little Lord, and I were in Philadelphia for business and pleasure.

I had some INS business to attend to that went rather quickly because our lawyer gave us some good advice to schedule an appointment instead of just showing up at the INS building like some ham-and-egger off the street. We were done within fifteen minutes. But it would have been sooner because The Little Lord almost had the security come down on me like the Taliban on a woman driver. She brought a book (which was in my bag) and apparently her metal bookmark looks just like a switchblade on the x-ray. I came thisclose to being pepper-sprayed when we went through the x-ray!! But disaster was averted and like I said, we finished quicker than expected which was great.

After that we did some window shopping and had an early dinner while we waited to see The Mountain Goats at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. This was our first time seeing John Darnielle live and none of us could wait! Unfortunately, circumstances beyond anyone's control ended the evening on a disappointing note. But that's for later.

First of all, we were first in line so we were right in the front! The opener was a duo called The Moaners. They were great. The guitarist played a very bluesy but crunchy slide guitar technique which was about ten kinds of awesome rolled into one. But it was the drummer who stole the show. Everyone around us was pretty much crushing on her. She played an aggressive yet playful set of drums. She was mugging for the camera every time someone took a picture but never missed a beat.

As for The Mountain Goats themselves, it was a little bittersweet for the three of us. We were glad to finally see them at a show but John Darnielle was extremely sick. He looked pale and by the end of the show, I was afraid he would pass out on the stage. He had to call the set short because he just couldn't go on. It was a wonder they actually played. According to all the other previous show reviews for this tour, Thursday's show was definitely an anomaly. It wasn't as energetic because John really didn't have the energy to do the louder numbers from Heretic Pride. Even "Dance Music" was a very subdued affair.

Even though we all enjoyed the night, it wasn't quite a true Mountain Goats experience because of John's health.

*********

Friday morning:



FINALLY!!!

Four and done!

The Little Lord Visits the Mütter Museum

Since we usually take a trip to NYC and do fun stuff for Amy's birthday, we asked Anna what she wanted to do for hers. The Little Lord decreed that we would visit the Art Museum or the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia for the day. We had originally planned on the Art Museum but wound up going to the Mütter Museum instead (mostly because the Art Museum has to be the most boring place on the planet and her friends talked her out of it). We had a great day! The most awesome part of the day? I found $20 in the street on the way to the Museum!!!!! WHOOOOOOO!

Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed in the museum, but here are the pictures we did take of our fun trip. The museum itself was really neat, but not for the squeamish. There was a lady who turned to soap after she died and Amy got really freaked out by her face. (A picture of the soap lady can be found on this page.) There were entire brains and cross-sections of brains and skeletons and skulls galore, but the thing that really broke me was the multitude of pickled punks: deformed babies preserved in formaldehyde. It broke my heart -- all of these babies denied life or even a proper burial, to be gawked at forever by tourists and thrill-seekers. There was the skeleton of a guy who, when he was five, broke his leg and his entire body went crazy repairing the break. I felt bad for him -- if he's got a tombstone somewhere marking his life and death, his body isn't there with it. It made me really sad and I had to sit down and stop looking after a while.

Anyway, here are Amy, Anna and Onil standing in front of the Museum:




On March 20, we're going to see the Mountain Goats at the First Unitarian Church, which happens to be around the corner from the Museum.





We walked down Chestnut Street and stopped at Liberty Place to do some window shopping. We also went to the food court and blew some of the $20 I found on ice cream. Onil and I got ours right away, so we found a table and left Anna to wait there all by herself. Haw!!



Then we went out to Market Street and walked over to Chinatown. On the way there we took a couple of pictures of City Hall and the Clothespin statue (check out Onil with his cup that's bigger than his head):







Once in Chinatown, we visited some shops (lots of Hello Kitty stuff!) and took some pictures of the Arch and the Pagoda. We also laughed at some poor sap who got a ticket.







After we were done in Chinatown we went to Reading Terminal Market to get something to eat. Most awesome place ever. We went to Rick's Steaks and got a couple of cheesesteaks. I used to go there to get cheesesteaks a lot when I worked in Philadelphia, but I think it's changed. If I remember right, it used to be Oliveri's Steaks and the actual sandwiches were better constructed. Didn't really matter, though, because a bad cheesesteak in Philadelphia is a billion times better than the best cheesesteak anywhere else (and that includes Lancaster county who, although they're only an hour away from Philadelphia, can't make a decent cheesesteak to save their lives).

Onil found a couple of tables in the middle and while we were eating we were entertained by the most awesome piano player ever. He was great! He played some older songs but also a lot of Earth, Wind & Fire, for some reason. There was also a guy with him who kept an eye out to make sure no one walked off with the tip jar. He was also an occasional singer.









We took the train back to Jenkintown station and drove back to Lancaster county. On the way we stopped at the Walmart in Ephrata for a few things and found this atrocious car in the parking lot. So we took a picture of us laughing at it.



Fun!! Happy birthday, Little Lord!!!!

Good thing! Bad thing!

Good thing: Yesterday was my birthday. Yay! It was pretty quiet. Faith and I went to see Cloverfield (it blew! 9/11 porn, nothing else). Faith's sister Jeanne made a tasty tasty banana cream pie.

Here is me looking grumpy in front of my birthday pie.


Bad thing: Totally failed my driver's license test. Boo!! Stupid parallel parking!! Parallel parking can eat it! Now I have to wait another 3 weeks before I can take the test again.

Thank you, Mr. Mail Carrier!

Hurray for stuff being delivered!

It was over 60° today.

It will be over 60° tomorrow. So much for all those sweaters and long sleeve shirts I got for Christmas.