The Diva UPDATE: A few days ago I was walking to a morning rehearsal with the high school band (Did I mention that I am sitting in the clarinet section of the high school band for one piece to help out? It is not at all a blow to my self-esteem to be sitting in an ensemble of minors who could all play better than me when I was already in college...) and I noticed Reilly about fifty yards ahead walking towards me on the other side of the road. So, naturally, I crossed the road on purpose just to facilitate a possible (fingers crossed!) actual encounter with her. As we neared each other, I put on my best cheery morning greeting face (Do you even know how difficult that is for me in the morning before any coffee?? Do you see how much of an effort I'm putting into this, Reilly??) and was greeted with...NOTHING. But by "nothing" I mean the bitchiest most steely glare. I was actually so impressed that I started laughing before I even fully passed her. Which, in retrospect, probably just made her think that I was a psychotic loon, but it's not like I care. Anyway. The quest continues.
Super Happy Fun Picture Time!
Why do I always whip out my iPhone to take covert pictures in the cafeteria when I'm sitting across from Misha the Russian Monopoly Playa at lunch? Anyway, yes that is his shoulder again in the foreground. But do you know whose right profile that is in the center of the photo wearing the blue t-shirt? Why, that would be Keith Lockhart! Musical Director of the the Utah Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Pops and the BMC Orchestra. Also, future love slave of Sarah L. Woot!
Sarah, I apologize for bringing this up, but he and his wife just had a baby. He even went up to our table about a minute after I took this photo to say hello and introduce his little girl. I may or may not have joked that I wanted to pop off her toes and eat them (complete with "popping" sound effect).
So right above Cale's porch on his overhang, a bird decided to make a nest for her little birdie babies and they hatched! Now there are three little baby birdies living above his porch! There's the momma in the nest and one of the baby heads peeking up on the right. So cute.
What is not so cute is this mess of bird turds (burds?) directly underneath the nest on his porch. This is clearly a no-standing zone.
I own an iPhone camera, therefore I judge. For example: Oy! The mixture of pinks on this lady! A dusty rose salmon tank top paired with 80s neon pink shorts?? Gross.
And in What The Eff Do They Have At The Grocery Store in the South THIS Time?? news: Pre-boiled and peeled eggs in a bag. You guys. (And somewhere out there Sandra Lee is creaming her panties.)
So Dan and I went to celebrate payday in Asheville last Friday. The first photo-worthy landmark? The Hotdog King! I would like to meet this Hotdog King. And then I would like to have his babies. And then eat them with mustard and relish. Whoa, this got way weird way too quickly.
Have you ever wondered what the first meal you would buy would be if you had been eating cafeteria food for four weeks straight and then suddenly got a direct deposit paycheck in your bank account? Well, wonder no more. The answer is a slice of creamy gruyere, bacon and sun-dried tomato quiche (pronounced "kweech" for a fun little nickname for ladyparts if you want to gross out your friend Dan). The subsequent poisoning is most definitely worth it.
And then for lunch you will meet up with some friends of a friend at a Thai restaurant where they serve you a Coke with a cute little straw wrapper decoration.
And then you will order some Mussamun curry. Yoink.
Here is a beautiful Catholic basilica in Asheville. Dan damn near ordered me to take a picture of it because it is a pretty building and because I am Catholic.
We went back to Double D's so I could get this mug for Schmooblebuns. I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to get him one of these for a gift. Felicitously enough, tomorrow is his birthday! And I may or may not have written on the box: "Sorry I can't provide you with the real thing, but this will have to do." HA
And then a group of us went for an afternoon hike on Saturday. WHOSE BRIGHT IDEA WAS IT TO HIKE FOR FOUR GODDAMN HOURS IN THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS IN THE DEAD OF SUMMER IN THE AFTERNOON?? A hike that is virtually straight uphill the entire way. Anyway, here we are at the trail head. You know, before our bodies had gotten beaten up and before we had each sweated about ten pounds off our bodies. From the left: Sara, cellist from Boston; Stephanie, violinist from Florida; Dan, tubist from Michigan; Jessica, violinist from Maryland. Notice that the trail we hiked is called "Looking Glass Rock." Incidentally, the name of the DHARMA station where Chaaahlie died (*sigh*) was the Looking Glass station. I tried to make a LOST reference during the hike and nobody got it. I was sadz.
Note: About two hours in (when I wanted to just throw myself off a cliff), we passed by a nice older gentleman (okay, he was a hillbilly...but not a psychotic one) walking down the trail with two dogs. He tried to give us some encouragement saying, "Well, about fifteen minutes further up you'll find yourself at a nice cool stream. You can sit in it and cool yourselves off. It'll feel real nice." So we were like, "Awesome! Yes please!" And then about fifteen minutes later we came across this. And I was like, "Haha, what if this was the stream that guy was talking about? Wouldn't that be funny?" YOU GUYS, this was what he was talking about. It was the equivalent of a DHARMA polar bear hiding behind the bushes peeing and we could see the tiny little stream of piss trickling through the rocks. Well, thanks for the false hope anyway, old man.
Ah! But two and a half hours after starting our trek, we were rewarded with this view of the top of the Appalachian mountains.
The top of the trail just shoots you out to this rock overlook that is awesome. You can see the mountains for miles. We saw some hawks flying underneath us. We had hiked so far up that we were above where the hawks flew. It was all so satisfying and beautiful that it almost made me not want to throw myself over the rock ledge at the prospect of climbing back down the mountain. Also worth noting: We broke for snack/lunch time at the top and when I finished eating my apple, I decided that I wanted to throw it off the side of the mountain (you know, a nice present for a bear or something). I also decided that I wanted to take a picture of my apple core flying in midair above the mountains (don't ask, it's how my brain works). Anyway, if you've ever wondered what would happen if you ever tried to stand at the top of a mountain and coordinate a simultaneous throw-an-apple-with-one-hand and take-a-picture-with-the-other-hand maneuver, what will happen is that your brain will suddenly freak out and envision you falling forward as you throw the apple and meeting your untimely death over the side of a mountain and you body will instinctively lock up as the apple core flies straight upwards instead of out and you will yell, "OH, SH**!" as the apple lands about two feet in front of you much to the amusement of your hiking buddies.
Up there at the top were a few other people and their dogs. Look at the pretty doggies! One was a husky named Bruiser and the other was some kind of husky-German Shepherd mix, I'm guessing.
Look at the cool mix! Kristina, doesn't he look like a combination of Xander and Rebecca?
And the musicians shall overcome the mountain victoriously! Look at how normal-sized I look in the picture. Way to go, scarily sharply-angled rocky ledge! In reality, Stephanie (in the pink tank top right next to me) is about the same height as me, and the other three are probably all at least six inches taller or more.
Another shot, just because. I mean seriously. I hiked for over four hours that day. I deserve an icy cold dirty vodka martini for that. Also: I should mention that at least one of my fellow hikemates is a very sweet and very conservative young lady who may have been horrified at some of my during-hike commentary ("My ass had better be significantly higher and tighter by the time this is all done!!")
Funny story: So there the five of us are, four hours of grueling hiking later and we are back at the bottom of the mountain. I mean, LITERALLY, we were about thirty feet from the parking lot and I could see the sign at the trail head. And that is when my body decides to take a wrong step and I twisted my ankle. Go figure. I think even this worm was laughing at me.
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