attack of the soy sauce

i was wearing a white collared shirt today.  it looked pretty cute. then i went to lunch with some co-workers.  we walked through the doors of mandoo bar to enjoy some yummy dumplings.  i was grabbing the last goon mandoo, a delightful piece of pork and veggie heaven wrapped up and pan fried, when the soy sauce attacked!

i neglected to take into account that there was a sizable hole on the surface of the dumpling which meant the soy sauce i "dipped" it into filled up with a ton of volume.  i bit into it and SQUIRT! soy sauce all over my face, drops all over my shirt, and the most tragic of all - IN MY HAIR!  my hair was crunchy and best of all, smelled of soy sauce. 

thankfully this horrible attack doesn't make me anxious every time i contemplate eating another dumpling.  i'll be happy to walk through the doors of mandoo bar when the opportunity provides itself again.

and thank goodness my co-worker paul had a handy tide pen.

budding artists

my nephews greatly enjoyed the capabilities of my iPad. their favorites are the bubbles app and the penultimate app. they both drew me pictures which I'm willing to share with you. aren't they little budding artists?

me, blake and jaxon at the zoo

just call jaxon "mini jackson pollock"

blake's interpretation of where i live - aka new york city

time with the family

there is truly nothing better than spending time with my family. I was able to enjoy a fantastic Thanksgiving week this year. this is only the third time in almost 10 years that I have shared turkey, stuffing and most importantly candied yams with my Utah residing family members. i flew in on Tuesday night and am heading back today. as I sit in the delta sky club I'm so thankful for the time playing trains with Blake, parcheesi animals with Jaxon and watching baby McKay take some of his first steps. my mommy fed us well and the weather was perfect. all in all it was a spectacular week. it recharged my battery to be ready for the crazy week that is staring me in the face starting tomorrow.

thank you my family for always being happy to see me and for sharing your holiday time off with me. I love you bunches and bunches.

personal realization #7

if someone does something that is an exception to the behavior of those around him/her it seriously irks me.  no one should expect "special treatment".  if you are a receipient of "special treatment" then you should be excessively grateful because you didn't earn it or deserve it. 

i learned at a youngish age that i don't know how to keep my mouth shut when someone does something or asks for something that would give them a "leg up" on everyone else.  this personal characterization can best be explained in two personal stories.  one from my youth and one from yesterday.

YOUTH STORY
where:  disneyland in anaheim, california
when:  about 1994 which makes me in my mid-teens
why:  waiting for the Fantasmic evening performance on Tom Sawyer Island

my family and i found a place to stand by a very prominent rope that sectioned off a circular walkway with a tree and bench in the middle.  ropes were placed on both entrances to this small walkway effectively telling the disneyland patron that this area wasn't available for fantasmic viewing.  (refer to my drawing below)  as i stood directly behind the rope i watched about 8-10 people at different times duck under the rope and go stand by the tree.  a nice disneyland cast member would walk over and tell them they couldn't stand there.  the 8-10 people would then put on their best "i had no idea this area wasn't open for watching" expression and duck back under the rope and try to squish next to me.  i got more and more irked, annoyed, bugged by these people who thought those ropes were there to keep everyone else out except them. 

i finally snapped. 

this youngish couple ducked under the rope, cast member told them to leave, they put on the "i had no idea" expression, ducked back under the rope, tried to squish me and I LET THEM HAVE IT!

i distinctly remember saying with disdain dripping from my voice - "do you think i'd be standing behind this rope if i could be closer to the show?  what do you think this rope is here for - to keep me out and make your viewing better?"  then i gave them a very dirty look and elbowed more personal space for myself.  pretty sure the youngish couple was dumbfounded that they were called out on their bad behavior by a teenager. 

my mom and dad looked at me aghast but with some respect and a little bit of "you go girl!" in their eyes.

YESTERDAY'S STORY

where:  radio city music hall on the corner of 6th avenue & 50th street

when:  november 15th at about 3:05pm EST

why:  buying radio city christmas spectacular tickets for my friend physical therapist

got to the box office at radio city to buy the tickets and there were about 18 people in front of me in line.  bummer.  after about 10 minutes, the older man directly in front of me gestured to one of the ticket ushers to come over because he had a question.  he proceeded to start giving the usher grief because he was there to buy barry manilow tickets and everyone else was getting christmas spectacular tickets.  why should he wait?  he wanted to bypass the line to get his tickets for the manilow show happening in FEBRUARY.

...sidenote, i had already had a rough day when i exited my office building to go buy these tickets so wasn't in the best mood or have "what would Jesus do" at the forefront of my mind.  ok back to the story...

i spoke up and asked the man, again with disdain dripping from my voice, "why are your barry manilow tickets more important than my or their christmas spectacular tickets?"  the older gentleman, who was both shorter and smaller in muscle tone than moi, turned to me to berate me for listening in on his "private conversation".  this seemed ridiculous to me since we were standing on a sidewalk in the middle of new york city.  he told me how he hated people who butted into other's conversations when it didn't concern them.  i told him i didn't appreciate people thinking they deserved special treatment.  after a long minute of death staring at each other, he turned back around and i continued to listen to adele on my iPhone. 

the funny thing is that the usher who originally was part of this brew-ha-ha took off as soon as i said something to the man.  he let me fight that battle.  when i finally got to the front of the line the usher supervisor was there and made a grand (and almost loud in volume) apology for the rudeness of the man in front of me.  he hoped i had a wonderful day and would come back to see shows at radio city often.

here's where the personal realization kicks in.  i don't necesarily think that i should be going around berating people for what i consider elitist behavior.  i'm not their mother or father.  plus i don't want to get in a more severe altercation.  i do think there is nothing wrong with being annoyed or frustrated and perhaps asking them to realize that they aren't alone in waiting in a long line for tickets or trying to get the best view of something.  i just think that rules are made to be followed by EVERYONE! 

maybe i should go into law for my next career.  work to make sure rules are obeyed for the greater good.  uhhh, maybe not...lawyer hours are really long and too much school is required.

gift ideas for moi

joani made the dreaded call a few days ago.  it was the call asking me for ideas of what i would like for christmas this year.  i'm TERRIBLE at coming up with ideas for people to buy me gifts.  as previously posted i fully know that i'm a difficult person to buy a gift for.  i'm very specific in what i do and don't like.  i clearly know this about myself.  the other issue with buying me gifts is that i live in new york where space is tight and i can find everything on my own. 

must say that joani wasn't the first to request ideas from moi about gift giving.  moocher texted me a couple of weeks ago because she won the sibling lottery when i was assigned as her designated sibling to buy for.  sorry mooch.  in my own defense i did tell her what i wanted.  top of my list is an employed man to take me on a date.  really hope she's working on getting that present wrapped up under the christmas tree. 

i guess this blog post is really an apology to my mom at my utter lack of help when it comes to buying things for me that i might like and don't have to store for the majority of the year.  so sorry joani.  if i think of anything that doesn't involve the word "card" at the end of it i'll let you know.  until then inspiration can always be gleaned from my wishlist located on the left side of this blog. 

yanni, the cure for the common insomniac

joani told me today that she has been struggling with insomnia.  has to be one of the most frustrating things to deal with because you literally can't do anything about it unless you start popping pills which i DO NOT want joani to do.  that could just open up a whole nother can of worms.

as i was thinking of natural things to suggest to joani for her insomniac ways, a light bulb went off above my head (not literally mind you).  the answer was so great and perfect in its simplicity.  joani needs to embrace yanni in her life.  he can make the mind wander into a haze of bliss that is conducive to eyes closing and the REM cycle starting.  go ahead and tell me i'm wrong.  doctors need to start prescribing his music to insomniacs the world over.

to help motivate joani to embrace the yanni i've chosen my favorite slumber inducing piece of my greek buddy to demonstrate below.  i beseech you my madre to take one yanni "pill" and call me in the morning.

...please don't become fixated on yanni's perfectly coiffed mane of hair or groomed to within an inch of itself moustache.  really wish the director had focused on his hands tickling the ivories rather than his facial expressions as he "feels" the music.  oh well, i blame the 90s...

and good night.

and thus busy season begins...

yesterday i sent out the email to my co-workers detailing all of the holiday events happening at rockefeller center.  the rock center tree arrives this friday!  as in three days away!  then the biebs performs on the plaza in two weeks and one week after that we have the ceremonial tree lighting.  what has happened?  how can it possibly be the month of november?  i'm either in shock or feeling the effects of post traumatic stress disorder due to the rapid movement of time in my life.  anyone else feeling a bit of PTSD from the fact that it is november - specifically november 8th?

i'm really hoping to keep the blog posts coming but beg your indulgence if my relationship with new york suffers due to professional, religious and personal increased demands on my time.  please keep checking as i will do my best to keep the levity and pictures coming.