earlgreytea68 | In Which I See Snow Patrol, Get Obsessed with the British Office, and Drink a LOT of DD Iced Tea (Reply)

In my first week or so back home, I have done the following:

Walked out of Logan Airport into brisk, cool, breathable air, with which I filled my lungs. Was met by my mother with a Dunkin' Donuts iced tea for me, because my mother is the best ever. Got so caught up in telling a story that I forgot to direct my father and so ended up having to drive straight through downtown Boston to get home. Which was okay, because this meant my mother got to say to me, "It's nice to see the brownstones, isn't it?" Which yes, it really, really was.

Took my nephew (who appeared to recognize me, so WIN) to an Easter egg hunt, where we basically waited in line for twenty minutes in order to spend ten seconds holding him while his father gathered up eggs. Luckily, we didn't have to pay for this privilege. The Easter egg hunt took place in a movie theater, and there was a moment when my sister decided to leave the carriage outside, draped with her Northface jacket, and I was like, "I drove all the way to Maine to buy you that jacket, you are definitely bringing it in the movie theater with you."

I drove up to Boston for a lecture at Suffolk. The lecture was pretty fascinating, because it was given by an older practitioner who basically accused academics of hating copyright and wanting to DESTROY CREATIVITY. Interesting to see that perspective. It was a quick little jaunt up there but Boston was absolutely gorgeous, all sharp and clear and bright with the promise of spring, and the radio was playing good music (Oh, FNX, I missed you so much), and at some point as I was speeding down the highway singing along to "Sweet Disposition" at the top of my lungs it occurred to me that I almost never sang while I was driving in New Orleans because it took too much of my concentration to deal with whatever was going on on the road in front of me. I literally find it more relaxing to drive in downtown Boston than I did to drive anywhere in New Orleans. That says something about me. But, whatever, I'm relieved to be back in a world of smooth roads and left-hand turns and speed limits I understand.

My sister had a Tupperware party. I have not been to a Tupperware party in years. Tupperware has so many awesome things these days! I love that I vowed to myself not to buy any more kitchen things until I was more settled, because I'm sick of moving kitchen things all over creation, and then promptly bought a Tupperware cupcake filler device. But I needed one of those! I need to make fancier cupcakes! I've advanced from the beginner level! I really think I want to have a Tupperware party once I am settled. Of course, this will only work if I am settled in New England.

I went back up to Boston for a long weekend of FUN. arctacuda and I tried out a wine bar I'd been meaning to try in the Downtown-Crossing-ish area, and then we went to the Snow Patrol concert at the Orpheum, which was AWESOME. I'd seen Snow Patrol once before, and I'd forgotten how Snow Patrol is actually better live than on any of their CDs. Every single one of their songs. Gary Lightbody is fairly charismatic when it comes to working a crowd, and their music is just made to be blasted. Even "Chasing Cars," which is not a Snow Patrol song I'm crazy about, is better when played live. Of course, I sat next to this touchy-feely guy who kept wanting to talk to me about the music, and I was annoyed (don't worry, he wasn't British or hot, I checked with arctacuda just to make sure, because we don't trust me to notice these things. We're convinced that, if Benedict Cumberbatch chatted me up in a bar, I would be like, "Ugh, why is this person talking to me?" and never realize it was Benedict Cumberbatch. I AM NOT OBSERVANT). Like, when Snow Patrol started playing "Run," he was all like, "Do you know this song?" and I was like, "Yes, it's my favorite," and he was like, "What album is it from? I saw them when they opened for U2. I think their music is made for stadiums. They're from Ireland, you know. What's the lead singer's name?," etc., etc., and I was like, "OMG WHAT ABOUT MY SAYING 'THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG' MADE YOU THINK I WOULD WANT TO TALK TO YOU WHILE THEY'RE PLAYING IT?" Whatever, "Run" was still pretty great, especially as everyone in the theater shouted the last verse together. Then we took the T, and, though we didn't see any goblins, we did see the fabulous wall at Park Street where people leave Sherlock messages, and where I left my own:

I know, it's not as perfect as it could be, but the T surprised us by coming in a timely fashion, so I didn't have time to make it beautiful. (Also, this photo was saved on my computer as "Photo of Meeeeeeeeeee." I suspect I was not quite sober when this naming happened.)

I got my hair done. It took three-and-a-half hours, but it looks respectable and I no longer look like a hag with wiry gray hair sticking out all over my head.

I had lunch outside in the sun at Cafe Pamplona and read "Mike and Psmith," which reminds me so much of my schoolboy saga that I'm writing that it's almost ridiculous. arctacuda: "There are worse things to resemble than P.G. Wodehouse."

I went to the Harvard Law Library, where they were super-nice ("glasz nice," as I like to say these days) to me and let me in without any difficulty, and then I promptly got completely overwhelmed by how enormous that library is, which I'd forgotten. But it was pleasant to curl in a chair and work with a book.

arctacuda and I went to Emack & Bolio's and then to the Christmas Tree Shoppe (because bscotchpuma-who-lost-his-LJ-name won't take her there) and bought a bunch of things we didn't need, although not nearly as many things as I wanted to buy there, let's be honest.

There was a moment when bscotchpuma (who had abandoned the house because I was annoying him by referring to everything as "glasz" and singing a lot) called to say he was on his way home, and arctacuda and I were eating Peruvian food and NOT WATCHING SHERLOCK, and we were like, "OMG! If he comes in and we're not watching Sherlock, he won't let us put it on!" and then there was, like, literal shouting panic that happened because the TV was being weird and not playing Sherlock and whatever, we are crazy people.

Bscotchpuma and I played Mario Party 9. Not as fun as whatever Mario Party version has all the raping that happens. (Please note: There is no version of Mario Party that has raping. These are the things I think when I'm drunk and continue to think even after I sober up.)

We ran lots of errands, during which we played Yellow Car (because YOU'RE ALWAYS PLAYING YELLOW CAR). Thing we learned: OMG I am terrible at Yellow Car, because the main talent you need to be good at Yellow Car is observation, and I AM SO NOT OBSERVANT. I think arctacuda's mother, who was on the phone with her while arctacuda was spotting yellow cars all over the place like Martin bloody Crieff ("I have been playing Yellow Car! And I'm winning! Yellow car, yellow car, yellow car!"), was genuinely afraid that I might have something wrong with me. When I finally got to triumphantly shout "Yellow car!" and pointed, I think I almost made us get in an accident.

On Saturday, I made this T-shirt:

Is there something wrong with me? Yes. Quite possibly. But, whilst making a Martin Freeman shirt, I requested we put something with Martin Freeman on, and arctacuda chose the UK Office. Here is what you need to know: I had tried to watch the US Office years ago and it made me so depressed I couldn't do it. Everyone told me that if the US Office depressed me, there was no way I could ever watch the UK Office, because it was a hundred times worse. You know what? I BLOODY ADORED THE UK OFFICE OMG IT WAS BRILLIANT I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. SERIOUSLY. I don't really know why that is. Maybe I'm just happier now? I no longer have an office job, so it's not as sad to me? I was watching it with a friend and not alone? I have this new potent crush on Martin Freeman? Or maybe it's that the UK Office is so much more over the top in a way the US Office wasn't. I worked in offices like the US Office. I never have--and probably never will--work in an office as completely insane as the UK Office. Anyway, for whatever reason, I loved the UK Office. And I didn't just love the Tim/Dawn thing, although that whole thing was one of the most perfect romantic arcs I've ever seen done on a show and was immensely rewarding and satisfying and made me feel warm and fuzzy and it's okay that in between it tore me to absolute pieces and what the hell, people, where are all the good UK Office fanfics, I can't find them anywhere, and Martin Freeman is so adorable I literally cannot stand it. Several times I made ridiculous noises and said things to that effect and arctacuda said things like, "All faces are sad that they are not Martin Freeman's face. His face got all the good things." But, anyway, I didn't just love Tim and his ridiculous adorableness, I loved all of it. I really laughed hysterically almost any time Gareth and David interacted, for some reason those two just cracked me up. There were times when I could not stop laughing at some ridiculous observation on the show, and that had nothing to do with Martin Freeman's face. And it isn't nearly as awkward and humiliating as I thought it was going to be. Sure, most of the time when David was talking I was like, "OMG, why doesn't he just stop talking?" But there is this odd affection for all the characters, including David, that is really very clear throughout the show, and I really respect that. I love when I can feel like a writer loves his characters as much as his readers/viewers love his characters, it's one of my favorite things, and by the end of what was really a very perfect finale, I felt all warm and fuzzy about all of them. The show made me laugh and it brought tears to my eyes and it made me, for the first time, respect Ricky Gervais, who, up until that point, I had always viewed as The Man Who Is Mean to My Husband Karl Pilkington. But, whatever, I think I would forgive him most things, because those 14 episodes were just absolutely flawless to me. I devoured the show and I loved it so much I would have started it all over again, but instead I've just been stalking it on YouTube. I am not a person who sits down and watches TV shows that way, off DVD, all in a row, which is why I don't have a Netflix subscription and why I never watch shows that aren't currently airing. Half of this is laziness, possibly, but the other half is just that, given time to myself, I'd much rather spend the time writing. So it was fortuitous of arctacuda to put the UK Office on and for her to be indulgent enough to sit and watch ALL OF IT with me, to the exclusion of Sherlock, which got totally pushed to the sidelines for a bit. Anyway, if you've been avoiding the UK Office, maybe give it a try? I'm very glad that I did. As arctacuda pointed out, I can handle watching almost anything as long as I know I'm getting a happy ending, and the UK Office has a happy ending, so keep that in mind as it's toying viciously with your emotions.

Having finished the UK Office, I then requested that we watch Nativity!, because I was interested in seeing if I can ever develop a resistance to Martin Freeman's face. (Answer: No. STOP BEING SO ADORABLE.) Anyway, Nativity! was pretty great, too, and it has a bunch of cute songs and kind of made me cry. STOP IT, MARTIN FREEMAN. JUST STOP IT. Then, naturally, we watched some Sherlock. So, when all was said and done, over the course of a weekend we watched thirteen hours of things starring Martin Freeman. I hope he's happy. (It does, I admit, make me happy, because I knew I was getting dragged to The Hobbit no matter what, so I'm relieved that now I have a Martin Freeman thing to make it worthwhile for me. I plan to make another T-shirt for The Hobbit that reads "I'm Only Here for Martin Freeman's Face," and then, on the back, "F!@# you, he won a BAFTA.")

arctacuda and bscotchpuma had a cocktail party, to which I wore my "Martin Freeman Is Made of Peeps" shirt. One of the attendees of the party was a college student who was like, "Sooooooo...you're a professor?" and then I realized that maybe I should behave as if I have a respectable adult career. Oops.

It was so fabulously hot in Boston on Marathon Monday. It was seriously like July or August. The Common was flooded with people enjoying the day. We went to brunch at Metropolis, which is one of my favorite South End places, and I spent the whole time we were in the South End being like, "I love it here. Have I mentioned I love it here? Guys, I love it here."

On Tuesday, I stopped off at the Gingerbread Construction Company for muffins (the second such trip of the weekend) and then drove up to see Local College Friend and her two kids while her husband was out of town. It was more gorgeous weather, and we spent a lovely afternoon walking around her cute little town, getting pedicures, and trying to persuade her kids to eat. Then we drank prosecco and played Bananagrams (I had never played before! So much fun!) and tried our very hardest to watch Sherlock. Oh, she also played the piano for me! That was pretty awesome!

My nephew has pink eye. I either also have pink eye, or I have some sort of psychosomatic reaction to his having pink eye.

The weather continues to be ridiculous. The lilacs are out weeks early, which is a bit scary, really. But there is nothing so lovely as watching spring bloom, bit by bit. It really is my favorite time of year, and I'm very lucky to be here for it.

I have had a Dunkin' Donuts iced tea almost every day since I've been home. Not even because we're making any special effort, just because literally almost every day someone says to me, "I'm going to Dunkin' Donuts, do you want something?" I plan to overdose on these things this summer.

I am so, so, so behind on comments, for which I apologize and promise to catch up. It's been strange to be so incredibly busy all the time, I'm out of practice with it! I also promise to eventually write an entry reflecting seriously on my first year of teaching, for which I know you are all WAITING EAGERLY.