85 Degrees. Feels Like 86.

Last summer I had only one encounter with a minor celebrity. Bobby Flay. And he was a jerk to me and Laura.

This track season I expect I will have a few more since I am now working in the restaurant biz.

I had my first last night. Server Scott came up to the host desk and asked me if I had ever seen Happy Gilmore. I told him, yes, but that it had been awhile. He asked if I remembered the character Striker, or Slider, or something like that. The bad guy. I said I thought so, wondering why he would be brining this up. He told me to go look at table 11. He was pretty sure that Sniper was at his table. The guy looked familiar and I returned to the host desk to IMDB it. Surely it was Christopher McDonald. Shooter from Happy Gilmore.

(He was also on the "hit" show Veronica's Closet and in over 50 other movies, including The Faculty, which is coincidental because it seems as if every celebrity my high school friend Katherine and I have encountered post-high school is somehow linked to someone we mildly obsessed over in high school...Bobby Flay is an exception to that rule.)

So, later in the night, Shooter decided to buy a piece of art that was on display at the restaurant and wanted to do some calculations. He asked me if I had a calculator and someone suggested just using the one on the laptop. I said sure and then realized the browser was open to his IMDB profile, so I kept the computer closed and told him it would be easier to just use the one on my cell phone. So we used my cell phone calculator.

That's my story.

In other news, Emily was here. It was nice. Except we reminisced too much about last summer.

According to weather.com it's 85 degrees today, but feels like 86.

Instructions for Leading Obnoxious, but Mildly Entertaining Conversations

In a small crowd of self-proclaimed hipsters (if they are real hipsters, they won't proclaim this), follow one of the two following paths:

1. Ask which Cat Power album they like best. Whatever they say, insist that the last album, The Greatest, was truly the greatest Cat Power album. They may agree, they may fight you on this, but defend it with zeal and using only the words "great," "greater," and "greatest." It's fun.

2. Ask where they stand on the Mars Volta vs. At the Drive-In debate. If you are really brave, claim you think Sparta should be given some credit, too. They might even be the greatest. Wait for someone to say they had this debate already in 2003 when Deloused came out.

(Inspired by real events... last week)

Peachy

I have this fear that if I talk too much about the good things that come my way, something really bad will happen. (I guess that's pretty common...like HPV). But, I'm happy right now and I'm gonna write about it.

I am happy because I just returned from a pretty hastily planned Chicago trip. I now have a rad apartment with a rad roommate named Lauren on a tree-lined, brick-building-lined street between Ukranian Village and Wicker Park. My interviews were good, but I am going to spare details and let my superstition rule me on this one. I saw Chloe and Chelsea. I saw Amanda before she goes to Paris. We drank wine outdoors on Bastille Day and watched little boys play baseball in Welles Park. I stayed with Maggie and Peter and had a lovely time with both of them even though they took me to a really shitty Thai restaurant on my first night, but made up for it with great falafel, my own key, Office DVDs, a comfy couch, train and bus assistance, a good cereal collection, drinks at Bluebird, and their proximity to Trader Joes (45 second walk!). I learned that Jewel is to Dominick's what Price Chopper is to Hannaford's. I had dinner in Andersonville with a family friend I haven't seen in years. I walked miles and miles. I got tan and freckled. I sunned, read, talked, and walked on the beach and waded in Lake Michigan. I found an Amy Hempel book for $3. I made friends with the owner of a vintage store and got a large discount on a dress and sandals. I ran into one of my favorite clients from ex-job at Midway and shared flight back to Albany with him. I remembered I had beer and cable in my room upon my return and just watched last night's premiere of Project Runway. I am really excited about everything. Especially my beautiful apartment because it's the most tangible object of all this right now.

Don't worry, tomorrow I will probably go back to whining. I forsee an influx of slow walkers on Broadway and an increase in craziness at the restaurant....Woof!

What Dave has done

DM and DMB have brought oh so many people enlightenment. Really, I have heard them say that. It could also be really good pot, but whatever.

Yesterday, DM finally helped me open my eyes.

I was walking down Maple Ave towards the house where I am house/catsitting and heard music in the distance. It sounded blocks away. Band practice, I thought. Wonder what Skidmore kids I'll pass by... As I came closer, I realized they were covering "Crash." (Yes, even though I do not like DM & DMB, I can identify a few songs. Duh.) But no, it was no live band. It was a recording. A really jazzed up, almost elevator music version, but with lyrics intact, blasting from someone's porch speakers. There was no one on the porch. No one in the yard. No sign of anyone in first floor of the house. Just Dave, as the true fans call him, blasting for the listening enjoyment of the entire North Broadway neighborhood. Gee, thanks, neighbor.

But really, gee thanks, Dave. I have been getting quite sad lately about leaving Saratoga. Each summer day, I think, shit, son, this will be a hard place to leave. Just like that. My words. Summer here is magical. And this is my fourth summer at that! And I'm still loving it. But because of this experience yesterday, I am ready to move on. Call me a snob, call me naive, but I am convinced this will not happen in a city. This will not happen where they have guns. Nope.

Thank God for Friends

Last night, I accidentally purchased Mr. Brightside as my ringback. Not knowing what a ringback was, I also accidentally set it as my default ringback. Little M then called me on speakerphone and I heard what everyone would hear when calling me. Yikes. I then freaked out because I didn't know how to change it back. Little M said I shouldn't. I mentioned the whole phone interviews, grandparents thing, and BC said I should probably change it to the standard. After lots of searching through VZW's crazy applications, I succeeded. Really thank God for friends though. Had I done this by myself, accidentally still of course, I wonder who would have been the first to call and hear "I"M COMING OUT OF MY CAGE AND I'VE BEEN DOING JUST FINE!" Funny enough the first person to call me after Little M was former Boss Man. Turns out he accidentally called me whilst sitting on his BBerry.

It was a great 4th of July filled with BC cooking our whole meal on the grill, watching LS's cat kill a mouse, and talking about who would grant our deathbed wishes. Fun times.

Plus, I won a foosball game!

My Independence Day

Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in this history of mankind.

Mankind: that word should have new meaning for all of us today.

We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.

We will be united in our common interests.

Perhaps its fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution -- but from annihilation.

We're fighting for our right to live, to exist.

And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice:

We will not go quietly into the night!

We will not vanish without a fight!

We're going to live on!

We're going to survive!

Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!

And also, we celebrate Upstanding Citizen Lily Gedney's personal Independence Day. She will no longer report 9:00 to 17:00 at her Franklin Square post any longer. Congratulations, Lily. Help kill the aliens and enjoy a burger while you're at it.

Countdowns

I have so many countdowns going on right now.

2 more days of work in this office.
4 more days in my darling little apartment.
12 days til Chicago trip.
2 more months in Saratoga.

It's all very exciting, but I am ready to do something, be somewhere with no expiration date. Ok, go ahead and tell me life is full of expiration dates, but you know what I mean... I would like to go into something not knowing when I am coming out of it.

What's it gonna feel like when all of these approaching countdowns hit zero? Late last week, my countdown of Gossip Girl episodes I had left to watch hit zero and I was quite sad. If Gossip Girl episodes count for real life experiences, which they most certainly do, these are gonna be some interesting months.

Ugh. What has this become? Livejournal c. 2002? I'm sorry, nonexistent readers.