Blogging to ya from the 813....

So I stayed with my friend Stu during Hurricane Wilma up in Weston and after 3 days of no power and increasing temperatures, I fled to Tampa like a lameass. According to my answering machine, my power returned on Friday, but I'm sure I would have been terribly bored at home all alone. Despite all of the inconveniences associated with the hurricane, I must say it wasn't all that bad. Lots of trees down (pictures will be forthcoming), but most of the homes in Stu's neighborhood did pretty well. Fantasy Fest was postponed to December 10th, which falls right in the middle of exams for me, but I'm still planning on being there. Unfortunately, the reschedule date doesn't work out for some of our guests, which really sucks. I got to spend some quality time with Chad up in Tampa, which was very nice, but I'm kind of freaking out about returning to school. I already feel like I am behind in some of my classes, plus, I have to take the MPRE this Friday, which I'm really not prepared for. Furthermore, I missed a week at work, so I'm really not happy about missing most of Friday for the damn test. ....deep breaths.....Valium.....Xanax.....something...please.....

Batten down the hatches....

Looks like we've got another hurricane headed our way, folks. Not particularly looking forward to it, especially since it appears that it will be interfering with the weekend plans. Why do these things always seem to come just in time for the weekend? The power was out for 3 days when little 'ol Cat 1 Katrina pulled through, so I hate to think what will happen this time. No A/C and cold showers get old really fast. At least I did make it to the gas station and the grocery store last night before the hispanic panic fully set in. Unfortunately, I need to pick up a prescription at Publix tomorrow. Fortunately, last hurricane I sweet-talked the bag boy into giving me the code to the elevator so that I could park my car on the second floor of the parking garage with the Publix employees.....hehehe. If you know the Publix I am speaking of, and wish to have the code as well, perhaps you should drop me a line and let me know what you have to offer.
;-)

The sounds of my apartment building....

I am very sensitive to noise--hence, why I prefer to live alone rather than with a roommate. When I first moved into my apartment building, it was like heaven. Nice, quiet neighbors...no noise....perfect place to study. When my building converted to condos last year, things changed a bit. People bought units and decided to remodel them. During exams, conveniently. I figured this would be temporary, and for the most part it was. Lately, though, there are a few things that are just driving me up the wall. First off, there is the neighbor who likes to play this one particularly repetitive dance-music song every morning, over and over and over again. This has been going on for a good two weeks now. The same fucking song. Again. And again. And again. I can't figure out exactly where it is coming from, which I guess is a good thing for the neighbor, because if I could, they would regret they ever heard that song. Now, apparently I have another neighbor who either has a baby or a very loud, insistent cat. I get to enjoy the crying noise of this whatever-it-is every evening. Fortunately, my walls are actually pretty good at blocking out noises. The walls in my boyfriend's old place were a lot worse. Still, I find it incredibly distracting and annoying. Perhaps I should play the "Numa Numa" song for my neighbors' pleasure a few times before I go to bed from now on. Grrr...

Apparently, Emeril thinks we take onions for granted....

...he's probably right.

So, needless to say, I'm hopelessly bored. Chad left town today and I had my MPRE review class, which was rather torturous. Imagine 4.5 hours of filling in the blanks on a handout while listening to a woman on a videotape. Kind of like Mad Libs....but not fun. Instead of coming home afterward and doing something productive like studying, preparing for class, or attempting to make some headway with my overflowing laundry basket, I decided to vegetate on the couch instead. Both Desperate Housewives and Curb Your Enthusiasm were disappointing tonight, so now I've flipped over to my old standby, the Food Network. Unwrapped just finished a program on the Easy Bake Oven. I never had one as a child and now I feel an overwhelming desire to own one. Apparently someone published a cookbook featuring actual recipes you can prepare with the Easy Bake Oven. Who'd have thunk it? And now Emeril is on exalting the joys of onions. Yuck. Only for "flavor" or carmelized, folks. Don't let him brainwash you!

Addendum: Emeril says Americans consume 20 lbs. of onions per year. No way, man.

I have a sneaking suspicion......

.....that I'm not going to do very well on my Con Law II exam. I can't seem to concentrate for more than about 15 minutes in this class. On top of that, Prof. Con Law has an attendance policy. I'm not crazy about those. Plus, I know of at least 2 occasions (including today...) on which he hasn't passed around the attendance sheet. Now, I know, I know, it is a Jewish holiday.....but, what about my personal holidays? Anyone know if 'ol Prof. Con Law actually counts your absences at any point?

In other news, I went to see Henry Rollins' spoken word show last night. Henry was great (as usual), but conditions at the theater left a lot to be desired. It felt like they decided to leave the A/C off for the entire show, and then when the show was over, I don't think they opened the exit doors for a full 5 minutes. I wound up climbing over the seats to get out. (Unfortunately for the exit, I had a great ticket down front.....I should have just lied to security and told them I needed the emergency exit because I was incredibly clausterphobic). Anyway, if you get a chance to see Mr. Rollins, I definitely recommend it. Hot topics from yesterday evening included: vomiting in the 'people's toilet' on the Trans-Siberian Express, his USO tours in Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, etc, Spina Bifida boy and lecturing a 19-yr-old beggar, and of course, our fearless leader's command of the English language. Favorite quote from the evening: "We're all going to die, I just hope not of mediocrity!"

Where can I.....

...go ice skating in Miami?

...find a Vienna Beef hotdog in S. Florida?

...get Scaciatta around here?

...find a nice beach with no one else on it?

...go to a Ford dealership where they speak English and will fix my car without ripping me off?

Hard to believe I've lived in Miami for going on 7 years now and can't answer these questions. I guess Tampa does have a couple up on Miami. (Then again, Miami probably has more than a couple up on Tampa....)

In other news, Emeril made Russian Tea Cakes on his program this evening. They looked excellent and easy to make....perhaps that will be my project post-bench trial. (Of course, I don't plan to make a big mess by throwing my cookies in powdered sugar when they're done. Must be nice to have someone to clean up your giant messes, eh, Emeril??)

Happy October!

I love October in Miami.....still warm, but there are the occasional days, like today, where the sun is shining and the humidity subsides for a bit. It may be time to pull out my hammock again after our long, hot, dismal summer. People have started putting up their halloween decorations already and I was quite amused by a few displays that I saw today on the way to school. A lot of people in Coral Gables have been left with knarled stumps of Banyan trees in their yards thanks to Hurricane Katrina and one particular yard took advantage of the creepy stumps to hang decorations on. Way to make lemonade out of lemons, folks. Maybe I'll take a picture for you readers later today. Fantasy Fest is coming up in just a few short weeks and that's always one of my favorite events. (Though I still don't have a costume idea yet--$20 to anyone who suggests a great costume that I wind up wearing!) It's hard to believe that this will be my 7th Fantasy Fest......it makes me feel a little old. No matter-- we should have a great group of guests this year (all FF virgins, if I recall correctly) and I am certainly looking forward to it.

For those of you where it gets cold--I'm sorry; For those of you in Miami--take some time to enjoy this lovely day today!