Boston, Massachusetts!

Before there was Lindsay in Denver there was Priscilla in Boston.

Lindsay enjoyed a blizzard in the mountains; I enjoyed sunny skies and three pleasant days.

Fresh off the plane my darling Melanie picks me up and masterfully negotiates through the patchy Boston traffic all the way home. Let me tell you how exciting it was to be in a three-story house: very. Can’t tell you why. I only got as far as the second floor, but it was great. AND! on my very own bed in my very own guest bedroom was what? Was “Eres muy especial,” the pillow with arms. What a promising start. Then I left my wallet on the driveway. Then I met Becka, FINALLY! The woman has a flight to catch to the other end of the country the next morning and is not-so-sidelined with a bad cold, but she still rallies and looks like one million dollars and hangs out. What a lady. Then we picked up my wallet, then we picked up Rachel! Yay, Rachel!
[I don’t tell a good story, I don’t and I know and there’s nothing that any of us can do about it.]
Can’t remember the name of the restaurant we went to [terrible] but they had beets and I had Sam Adams like any good tourist on her first night out in Boston Mass. Ah, then across the street to Queereoke.
Alright, I live in the Rocky Mountains. That’s high-altitude. I can run forever, walk for longer than that, dance my pantalones off, yet I get to Boston and I.am.winded. And everybody in there was, more or less, rocking the house. Nicki, I’m talking about you. And in Laguna at Main Street bar (or is it just called “Bounce” now?) and after several cocktails, I can hold my own. Um, not so in Boston. Maybe it was stage fright. It’s likely. I’m so bashful. But Melanie and her rad voice and pretty face saved me and the rest of the queereoke-ers from myself. And then Melanie put the o! in queereoke by performing a moving rendition of “Baby Got Back.” Rachel was beaming. I was awed. Everyone celebrated. It was wonderful.
Onward, Friday! Melanie gives me a map to get to Harvard Square while she was at work. I walked there just fine. I checked my e-mail at the law school. I walked back. The walk there took me about 20 minutes, maybe; the walk back took about 3 hours. I suppose that I took for granted the linear streets of Denver and D.C. In any case, it was a nice way to see things. I met a lot of people. Did you know that they have crossing guards for adults? Frankie was the nicest. He understood that I don’t like when people say “Priscilla? Like Priscilla Presley?” if I tell them my name. Thanks, Frank!
Then, warm tea, very necessary. Then, awesome dinner at a piano bar. As we’re waiting for a table, some guy just standing there exchanges a few pleasantries with us, then asks if we’re from here. I’m about ready to pour out our common life story, Melanie’s and mine, when Melanie just says, “No, California,” and I don’t know if it was the tone, which was still nice, or the mere absence of possible continuity, but the guy backed off immediately! I think we even got an “Enjoy your night.” Lesson learned. Awed, two-for-two.
Listen, then we go to this other bar. I meet Anastasia and her fiancée. The conversation naturally turns to tequila. Next thing I know, I’m doing Cristal body shots with very friendly strangers, Melanie’s grabbing onto one flaxen-haired suh-lut after another, and three of the Spice Girls, I kid you not, walk in and start dancing with Anastasia on the bar! It was a very memorable evening, and I use “memorable” about as loosely as…well…
the next morning I wake up with a rash on my stomach. And that’s the story. I despise lies. So the yarn before about citrus oils and prolonged exposure to the early afternoon sun is nothing more than a fairytale. And now I am free.
Sometime on Saturday, I’m going to say afternoon, Melanie and I find ourselves walking around a big tree park. I enjoyed it very much. I like huge trees because you can really access the wind that way, the noise and the feeling. Nice walk. Very good lunch at this place next to the Samuel Adams brewery! Big thanks to Melanie for causing us to snag a primo spot at the bar for the tasting part of the tour. She was telling me under her breath where I need to stand, stay at the back, ok, just stay right here in the back…and then we turned right around and were the first in line for the bar. Most people sat at big tables of about 10 people. We sat at the bar with 4 people. One pitcher per each such group. Subsequently feeling fine, Melanie and I take a nice walk around the town and get on the mofo green line. I make it about 5 stops out of 9 before I advise Melanie of the immediacy of the need to get the f out of there. Sweet, kind Melanie hangs out in some bar, drinking by herself, with a bunch of annoying chumps doing some kind of an annoying themed bar crawl while I get sick for a little while. We missed the museum, which both of us really wanted to see, and actually which my mom was also very sad that we didn’t manage to get to. But we walked some more, saw the big dig area, looks good, Boston! and made it to the North End where we enjoyed a slice of Europe, even to the point of, as Melanie pointed out, charging us for water.
OK, now we get to Two Women and This Dude. Melanie, you can tell this story if you want. For all you fans, it involves a tiger, a zebra, and Jiminy Cricket. And zoology.
After Melanie and I cycled around Boston the whole day, Rachel saved us from more possible physical ravages of unkindly metro trains and comes out to pick us up and we three watch “Flight of the Conchords.” It was a rerun for me because Melanie played it out for me earlier in the day while we were walking around. As always, I liked Melanie’s version best.
And so Sunday arrived, and we went to mass at this little convent, and there were all these kids, so many kinds, so much motion, and as the mass went on it seemed as if all the kids belonged to all of the adults. And we never saw the nuns, but we knew they were there. Then breaking bread over a super good breakfast with super good company, Rachel and Melanie and Anastasia and her fiancée. Afterwards I got to see some of Melanie’s and Rachel’s neighborhood which has some really cute and likely really addictive shops. Melanie got something from a cheese shop, Rachel got a doorknob, I got a sandwich and carrots.
Sad, then the airport. I’ve blocked it out. When I came to, I was still at the airport because my flight was delayed, delayed, canceled! But my quick-thinking mother had already called me with the info for alternate flights and alternate connections—and let me tell you, if you’re trying to get on another flight and another connection, you must know the flight number, the time it leaves, and the time it lands; otherwise, the United people will feign ignorance. Next to lies I despise that, disingenuousness.
Spring breeeeeeak!
And Melanie and I still have “Poker Face,” and I will check out the Watercourse restaurant per Rachels’ recommendation, and now I’m waiting waiting waiting for Mel and Rachem to come on out to the Rockies, for Leilani and I to have another Great American Pia and Leilani Festival, and for Lindsay to stop pretending that she hates the snow.
Fin.

Denver!

Hi friends.


My spring break was last week and I visited AMDG in Denver, Colorado. When I told people I was going to Denver, invariably I was asked a) was it going to snow or b) would I be snowboarding or skiing. My answers to above were "I hope not" and "hell no."


I think this attitude must have cursed me because it dumped a foot of snow on my first full day in Denver. I have never seen snow like that in my life. I mean, it really did snow allllll day. And let me be very clear about something: I hate snow. It's cold and wet--what is so cool about that? Maybe I shouldn't have gone to Denver, but I wanted to visit AMDG and when else was I going to get a chance to visit the Rockies considering my aversion for all things wintery?


The upside to the snow was that AMDG's law school classes were canceled that day so we had all day to try and avoid the snow. I really wanted to go to the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art for a Damien Hirst exhibit, so we set out after breakfast despite the blizzard. We decided to take public transportation, which would have worked out nicely if we didn't have to transfer from light rail to bus. By the time we got off the bus and were only like 2-3 blocks from the Museum, we were so cold that I made AMDG take me home. I think the conversation went like this:

Ninja: I'm cold, can we go home?
AMDG: We're only like 3 blocks from the Museum.
Ninja: I know, but I can't feel my feet. Can we just go?
AMDG: No, we're almost there.
Ninja: TAKE ME HOME RIGHT NOW OR I'M GOING TO DIE!!!
AMDG: Ok, let's go.

When we got back to AMDG's apartment we were greeted by the nice little suprise of snow inside the house. I guess that's what happens when there's a blizzard outside and you leave your windows open. Haha. I have pictures, it was amazing. Although not quite as amazing as AMDG cleaning it up and clearing off the balcony the next day while I watched. Heeheee.

Friday arrived with no more snow (horray!) and I managed to make it to Starbucks on foot. As AMDG found, I am incredibly unpleasant when uncaffeinated and so I will go to great lengths to obtain caffeine. And food, especially Jalapeno Cheetos, which are AMAZING and you must try. I introduced them to AMDG and some of her friends, and they are quite the delicious snack. Not too cheesy, not too spicy. Perfect.

Friday was also the Sangria Showdown. I will only say that AMDG was robbed. Sangria should not be so sweet that your mouth puckers. But the party was fun regardless, and now I know how to make quiche and a super-yummy secret desert that I can't share with you over the internet because it's a secret. All I will say is that Nutella + Marshmellows = sunshine and rainbows for your mouth.

We had big plans for Saturday, but considering we spent most of the morning watching Celine Dion in concert, we got kind of a late start. We did make it to the Coors brewery however, after eating some tasty burgers at Elway's, the restaurant owned by John Elway. AMDG tried to convince me to ask our waiter who John Elway was, but the waiter was French and I chickened out. I should have done it, but I'm lame. Sorry AMDG, next time.

Sunday was my last day in Denver and it was BEAUTIFUL. We went to Boulder, cruised around listening to the Beach Boys with the windows down (my favorite thing to do), and walked around a park. We ate icecream in the sunshine and it was awesome. Probably the best time all weekend.

Now I am back in rainy SF, getting my butt kicked in school and it's only the second week. I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for a great vacation, AMDG, and I can't wait for you to come stay with me this spring!

Love Ninja

HAY

Leilani! I'll be en el condado de naranja from Friday night and am hoping to see a special someone (you you you) until the following Thursday morning at which point
Melanie! and Rachem! I'll be in tu barrio from 7:08 post meridiem and am so excited (Jessie Spano) and I cannot wait! todotheFreedomTrailagainbutthistimewithyouguys and then I will leave on the 22nd in anticipation of
Lindsay! I will be at the airport at the time indicated by YOU to ME in your correo electronico of Sunday, February 8, a date 33 days before your phone interview tomorrow with big-time big-name pharmacological-relacionado entity in One Thousand Oaks, California.
There is much to do: International Tax at 6 pm tomorrow. It's ironic. I have the brew and I'll have the chronic and I don't give a shhhiiiiii about basketball. I do like the noises, though, so that's totally incorrect: I could watch basketball for hours notwithstanding my disdain for its business aspect at both the professional and collegiate level. Ms. Priscilla, tear down that wall and study into this good night. Good night!
Melanie! Tonight's Lenten undertaking is a dance party, your choice of music.