yulan, ny

in upstate new york for memorial day weekend.  the weather was gorgeous.  we were at the house of joe's friends, richard and peter.  all we did was relax and eat — mostly eat, really.  richard is an amazing chef, and he stuffed us full of homemade breads, pies, pudding, and ice cream.  how did joe and i repay our hosts?  by taking them out to dinner, of course!

dr. jenni

my sister is now the second doctor in my immediate family.  (my mother was the first.)  two weekends ago, she graduated from perdue veterinary school.  next, she and her boyfriend are moving out to northern california and then getting married in the fall.  2004 is a definitely a big year for her.

sigh

i hadn't watched angel in almost two years until the 99th and 100th episodes earlier this season.  i tuned in basically to send off the character of cordelia, the only member of the original first-season regulars of buffy to survive this long.  once she was gone, i figured i was ready to let go.

well, completely by accident, i tuned in for the series finale of angel this past wednesday night.  i figured i'd get some closure, but when that didn't happen (and those of you who watched it would understand why), i decided to check the various blogs and message boards to see what other people were saying about it.

everywhere i checked, fans were in mourning at the loss of these characters, moved to tears by wesley's death scene and amused to no end by spike's poem to cecily.  almost immediately, the inner geek in me was frustrated and full of regret, realizing what i had missed out on when i had left these characters behind — a sort of insider's view and appreciation of some secret treasure on network television.  now, because i quit the show, i was missing out on all the in-jokes as well as the closing-night cast party.

ridiculous, i know.  in the grand scheme of things, although the series is good for what it is, angel is basically a sci-fi/fantasy soap opera with adolescent drama, a mystery of the week, and battle sequences thrown in for good measure.  it's decent — quality compared to what's out there now, but not anywhere near what i consider classic (e.g., season two of buffy).

so now i'm a little depressed over the passing of a show that was like a long-lost friend or maybe a distant relative, and envious of those who stayed in touch.  i expect these feelings will last only for a few days — a week at most.  if the ache persists, well...thank god for dvd's.

more philly pics

photos of me!  (courtesy of joe.)

apologies

for those who have been wondering — just the one, who'm i kiddin'? — i've been out-of-town two weekends in a row and have had to work late during the week to make up for my abbreviated hours.  yes, i'm a slacker.

the pic above is from my trip to philly two weekends ago.  this past weekend, i was in lafayette, indiana for my sister's graduation from vet school — pictures of that to be posted soon.

anyhow, i'll write some more this week.  hope you all are doing well.

this made me laugh...

from this week's village voice:

SARI, WRONG NUMBER

Bombay Dreams — a tacky, corny Vegas floor show posing as a screed against crass commercialism — is to Indian culture what the Olive Garden is to Italian cuisine.  It's Hindi-scribable.

It's not hunky tandoori.  It's utter naan-sense.  It's dal as dishwater.  It curries no favor.  It's a potato ganesh with mustard.  It's untouchable and unwatchable.  But on opening night, I did enjoy the audience member bopping enthusiastically to the music — the show's producer ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER!  He's a complete vindaloo-nie!

michael musto rocks.

happy cinco de mayo, everybody!