*stands up and faces fellow bloggers*

My name is Glitzy and I am a work voice mail avoider.


*choruses of 'Hi Glitzy' echo through blog-o-land*

I seriously forget to look for a voice mail light. I've had people hunt me down asking if I've gotten their voice mail. On the plus side, I rarely get voice mail messages so I'm rarely hunted down.

Labels: Work MI

Myspace.com has really become my place to check out music as of late. Here's where I've been today. Some artists I've liked for a bit. Others are new to me.

Avenged Sevenfold
DJ HeavyGrinder
Hooverphonic
OkGo
Portishead
Steven Lynch (Funny, funny guy)
The Capricorns
Yeah,Yeah, Yeahs
VnV Nation
South Park
Depeche Mode
Cake

Labels: Music

... so if you like to party get on and move your body ...

Labels: Music, Nostalgic Glitzy

Heh

Labels: Blog Spotlight, Unfriendly

My parents are from Central America. They came to the States in the mid-sixties and never really caught on to the American tradition of Thanksgiving. We never had a big huge turkey with all the trimmings, though I think my dad bought some frozen Louis Rich turkey product with gravy one year. I think you just stuck the whole deal into the oven - a turkey loaf of sorts. We weren't really a family to have meals around the dinner table so it's no surprise to me that I'm drawing a huge mental blank over home memories related to Thanksgiving.

The first actual Thanksgiving-like dinner I sort of remember took place when I was eleven-ish. I had befriended the kids who lived across the street - four sisters ages 2, 4, 6 and 8. Their mother was from Lansing, MI. Dad was from Karachi, Pakistan. Dinner was a mix of both cultures but I can't really remember it. What I do remember is that later in the evening after their guests had left, their father fried up the leftover turkey with a mix of different spices and lemon juice.

At the time, their dad was trying to make a profit at a local flea market on weekends and holidays. Since we were kids, there was nothing more exciting than heading there with a couple of dollars so that we could find treasure. This meant leaving from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale at the crack of dawn.

After a hard morning of treasure hunting mixed with huddling inside of their dad's Astrovan for warmth, the three older gals and I looked forward to lunch - Pakistanized leftover turkey on white bread. Tasty and definitely better than any deli turkey sandwich I'd had at that point. I remember the hot spices on my tastebuds and the cool November air. It was enough to energize us for the best part of flea market day.

Most folks would pack up and start to leave by around 2 or 3 pm. Usually, there were boxes of unsellable junk left behind. We were such little Templeton like scavengers. I think one of my best finds was a coin bracelet.
When I was around twenty, I had been friends with Magic Munchkin Manager for more than a year. I had met his folks by then (please call me Mom and this is Guy) . When his mom realized that I had never actually had a true American Thanksgiving dinner, it became of grave importance that I be a guest at their house that year. So, MMM picked me up and told me that Mom had invited Pilar, a friend of hers that I think worked in fashion design and costumes for some playhouse or something and her live-in boyfriend, Alan.

Apparently Pilar and Alan were going through some issues because they were late. Pilar eventually called and let Mom know that they had just had a snit and were on their way. I vaguely remember that the turkey was taking longer than expected, so their lateness wasn't really a big deal. They were a bit of a mismatched pair. Pilar was probably in her forties but attractive and a bit more golden shaded than me. Alan was bald on top and reminded me of an accountant. (No disrespect to any hottie male accountants out there)

Dinner was set up on a table outside on the covered patio. MMM sat next to me, Mom and Guy were at opposite ends of the table, Alan was across from me and Pilar was across from MMM. The spread was just lovely. I recognized the cranberry, stuffing and veggies but did not recognize the orangey stuff with the marshmallow on top.

Dinner was fine except for one annoyance; throughout all of dinner Alan did not stop staring at me. It was so noticeable that MMM had to hide his amusement and made sure to hold my hand after dinner and play up the boyfriend act. To add to Alan's creepiness, he didn't even care that it seemed that I was taken. It didn't matter that he was there with Pilar. He leered. I ate...and was eventually distracted by the mysterious orange food. That was the first I ever tried sweet potatoes. Heaven. Talk about perfection. Mom got such a kick out of my reaction and I momentarily forgot about the stare marks bored into my forehead.

The disfunctional couple left soon after dinner. Mom and MMM started laughing about the awkwardness of the situation. Mom had tried her best to direct conversation to him in order to distract him from the divine glory of Visage de la Glitzy which I appreciated. What was even more odd was that Pilar didn't really notice any of this.

MMM and I topped that evening off by seeing Bullets Over Broadway.
My first Thanksgiving at Unfriendly's was daunting due to the amount of food served. There was ham and turkey and several side dishes. Though dinner with Mom, Guy and and MMM was traditional, I don't think I felt the true stuffed nature of feast of Turkey Day until this particular Thanksgiving. I don't even remember what we did after dinner. I do remember that there was lots of pie. Pumpkin. Apple. There was probably cake in the mix too. I probably just passed out.

Now that Unfriendly and I are away from Florida, we've never really gone back just for Thanksgiving dinner with his family. We'd rather spend our two weeks off during the Christmas holidays. Luckily, UF is not one stuck in Thanksgiving day tradition. We've had dinner at the few local restaurants that open for dinner, but it's never quite as tasty as the feast his mom prepares. It also doesn't make sense to whip up a turkey for just us two. So, last year, I decided that I wanted to do something completely different dinner-wise, so we went to Ashoka in Canton, MI.

Indian food. Yummy, yummy Indian food. I'm thinking this year we will go back and reclaim our title of The Only Non Indian Folks in Ashoka on Thanksgiving.

It's nice to be able to do our own thing. We don't have any of that driving stress to appease two sets of family members. And most importantly, I won't have to do any dishes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Labels: Ethnicity, MagicMunchkin, My Former Gays, Nostalgic Glitzy, Turkey Day

Carne asada steak.

Carne asada translates to grilled meat (or roast meat). Taking into consideration what you're eating, it's understood that it's steak and I think it may be what Mexican folk refer to when speaking of steak that goes in Mexican style cuisine.

This all translates to grilled meat steak. Is the non Spanish speaking population not able to handle the fact that carne asada is enough? Stupid Taco Hell marketers.

Labels: Ethnicity, WTF

Two weekends ago I was flipping channels and happened upon the end of 'Mona Lisa Smile'. At the end of the movie, Julia Roberts leaves Wellsey and all of her students follow her car on their bicycles. Julia Robert's character weeps with emotion. So what did I almost do? I almost started weeping. Openly. "What the hell is wrong with me?" I thought. I don't think this movie is particularly fabulous. I'd even seen it before, ending and all. At the time, it didn't even cause me to feel slightly sad.

Freaking hormones. I blame it all on The Pill.

When I started taking it years ago, I was put on a triphasic pill, which seriously messed with my mood. I was working at my college's library at the time. One day after being on it for a month or two, I just started crying while shelving books. No reason. So, my doctor switched me to monophasic pill which was fine. It had been fine for nine years. Then last year, I noticed other side effects which made wonder. I was either not paying attention to the time I took it when I did or my body had changed in some way.

So, my doctor put me on a different monophasic in April. I've given it a good six month trial. Things haven't really changed and now I'm so moody that so-so Julia Robert's films are making me want to weep. I've also been snappy and irritable so I've been put back on a triphasic, which I'm hoping will help.

Hopefully I won't lose it and do something insane like attempt to go to those after Thanksgiving sales. With the way my mood swings have running, I'm liable to end up on the front page due to using an on sale scarf to hog tie some hapless shopper who made the mistake of getting in my way.

Labels: Hormonal Glitzy, Movies

• Got our new Comcast DVR on Friday. It's been fun. I've been feeling that we don't really watch enough t.v. to justify having cable, especially since I'm not always in the mood to watch a show when it airs. This way we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want it.

• Unfriendly and I went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner on Friday and then stayed up all of into Saturday watching House M.D.on DVD. I think we got to bed at 10 am on Saturday. He was on call and had to deal with an issue after we came back from dinner so I don't think we started watching it until 11 ish.

• My friend Vee called me up on Saturday to see if we had seen the new Harry Potter yet. We decided upon the 9:15 pm show. It had its entertaining bits but out of the four movies, this one has strayed from the universe in ways that were just annoying and stupid. It's also pretty much two hours of action and very little character development at all. It was fun to watch but there were things that were omitted that I wonder how they're going to bring back in later movies. I'm not talking about the house elf thing either. The movie also felt jumbled together and choppy. This is pretty much my least favorite of the four.

• Sunday was a lazy day filled with knitting and World of Warcraft. There was very little tidying up this weekend. I wish I had some house elves. The apartment is glaringly messy.
  

Labels: Lists, Movie Review, Movies, Television, Unfriendly

I think I have avoided mentioning it here, but Unfriendly has a fan club. During the 12 years I've known him I have seen him visit past places of employment and have people that he has never met know of him by word of mouth. They're so happy to meet the legendary Unfriendly. People are usually really impressed with him and think that living with him must equate to there never being a dull moment around him.

Throughout the years, this trend has grown. The effects of his popularity have ranged from crushes to a mix of different levels of worship (which has been somewhat odd for me to grasp sometimes). Work-wise, he amazes folks by being able to solve problems and by being able to explain how things work and by being 99.5% right about everything. He's also extremely funny and not very politically correct about anything at all so usually while folks are amazed, there are some that are probably offended to some degree as well.

His actual title cracks me up - Sr. Internet Administrator. So, the next time the Internet 'is not working', you'll have to blame Unfriendly since he administers the Internet according to his job's stupid HR job classification. Though his title may sound lame, his actual work efforts are not. His work environment is extremely stressful due to knee jerk management decisions, lack of enforcement of rules and guidelines and lots of break / fix work. But somehow, he manages to get through it.

Recently, one of Unfriendly's work buddies has told him that when (not if) he wins the lottery that he will give UF the maximum amount of gift money you can give someone without having to pay taxes on it. I don't think he's worked with this particular chap for a full year. Do your co-workers offer you large amounts of money because of the awesomeness of you? Mine don't. Lottery Guy has joined the ranks of Unfriendly's Fan Club.

Lottery Guy told UF last week that he had to watch House M.D. it because of how the main doctor reminded him of UF. So, we watched it and were fully expecting a crap show. We were pleasantly suprised when we found it was good. Really good. So, Lottery Guy was on the money. Dr. House's work personality is very, very similar to Unfriendly's work personality. However, Greg House is pretty much an acerbic ass. People don't really seem to want to hang around him whereas Unfriendly has a bit of a following.

We watched the show again this past Tuesday night and I actually remembered to look up the show Wednesday while at lunch. As I started reading the cast list, I audibly gasped then laughed out loud. Dr. Gregory House is played by Hugh Laurie. Hugh Laurie. Anyone out there love The Black Adder shows? Talk about playing a character so different than the B.A. version of Prince George and dorky lieutenant from Black Adder IV. I didn't recognize him at all what with the lack of British accent and complete buffoonery.

I was so pleasantly surprised that I did an impulsive sort of thing for me; I went out and bought the first season on DVD last night.

So, my theory is that if Unfriendly really wants for his fan club to die down a little, he can take a cue from Dr. Greg House and be more of an intolerable ass....just not around me!

Labels: Television, Unfriendly

Oh I have to rant. I cannot believe this Monday of mine.

• When I got out of my car this morning I put my newish coffee mug on the hood. While I was fiddling with my bag to get my work badge, it fell. It missed me by a hair but half of my coffee spilled and the top that clicks open and closed broke off.

• I forgot my stamps at home. I then forgot to get stamps at Buschs. Now I have to get them on the way home.

• I had to explain to CNfH how ear wax removal kits work. In detail mind you. *Heavy Heavy Sigh*

Glitzy - ...after the drops have been long enough to soften the wax, you use the bulb syringe to flush it out
CNfH - Bulb syringe? Like the kind you use for babies to clean out their noses?
Glitzy - I guess.
CNfH - So are you sucking the wax out?
Glitzy - No, you fill the syringe up with water and use it to flush the drops out of your ears.
CNfH - Well, wouldn't you get all wet?
Glitzy - *laughing at him with no shame at all* Well, you would want to put head over a sink or something I imagine.

This man has three kids and has been alive longer than me. Why does he not know about ear cleaning kits?

Hmmm.
I can forgive that point.

But why can't he LISTEN to what I am SAYING. Since when do the words 'flush' and 'suck' have the same meaning? And the getting wet comment...isn't that just proof that common sense is just not common?

• I went to the ladies room before lunch. As I was sitting there I moved my feet and noticed my sneakers were sticking to the ground. There was a yellowish stain on the floor.

"Wtf, did someone MISS the toilet? Is pee sticky?" I thought to myself.

Ugh. So I'm guessing I stepped in dried out pee. Ugh.

• I had this for lunch and added some pre cooked chicken for extra protein and flavor. Having this was against my better judgement. I had tried the Kung Pao version last week and felt sick after. Granted, I felt kinda sick before so I just chalked it up to me not being well. So, like a fool who totally tempts evil Monday's sense of sadistic humor, I had it. And now I'm nauseous. Everything in the ingredients seems on the up and up so I'm confused as to why I feel like tossing my cookies. It's gluten free. Maybe I need gluten like crazy.

Tuesday, you better be the best damn day ever.

Labels: Bad Day, CNfH, Food, Lists, Rant

The days prior to our departure to Charlotte were filled with the noise of the belt sander and drill press. The very pungent smell of lucite from the gem of Unfriendly's staff had permeated our little townhouse. Unfriendly was exhausted. I was also tired but my lack of energy was due to little sleep and frazzled nerves. The almost constant sound of sanding had aggravated my nerves and stressed me out. The particles I inhaled when I did venture down into the basement also irritated my sinuses. I didn't think about how that would affect me until our plane started its descent into Charlotte International Airport.



At first they itched a bit but then that itch turned to pain. Searing pain. Since my ears didn't really readjust themselves until the next day, that night was spent with me sounding like a little old lady. "What? What did you say?" Unfriendly was trying to direct me to the baggage carousel for our flight as we wheeled our carry on bags behind us. I didn't reallly feel like weaving in between all the folks and as soon as I spotted some unclaimed seats ventured toward them to sit. As I was about to sit, the gal next to me squealed. Tired and confused, it took me two seconds too long to realize it was FormerBlondie™.

There were hugs all around. Per usual, she looked very stylish. That was one of the things that struck me when were roomates in college. Her outfit was always well coordinated and nothing ever seemed out of place. Talk about us being complete opposites since at the time, my style was probably thrift store chic mixed with Lerner's. That evening's outfit was a neat brown crochet like long sleeve top with flared sleeves, jeans and cute brown shoes. Her jewelery complemented her look and she had her Louis Vuitton inspired bag to complement her ensemble.

We headed toward the Outback for dinner and caught up on some things. We keep in touch pretty regularly so there wasn't that much new news to talk about other than Halloween plans and me teasing Unfriendly. He completely threw me by having a margarita of all things. He usually has a rum (Captain Morgan) and Coke or a Long Island iced tea.

After dinner, we headed to her lovely house. Unfriendly got to meet her kitty cats, Kit Kat and Ginger, and Winston, the ultra spoiled Basset Hound. Winston had a very hard time with Unfriendly's presence. As we looked at all of the Halloween decorations FB™ had gotten thus far, Winston growled, barked and whimpered.

After a bit, we retired for the evening. The next day's plans were for FormerBlondie™ and I to get ultra pampered at the Ballantyne Spa.

Labels: FormerBlondie™, Halloween, Spas, Vacation

So far:

• Found all three left gloves to my 3 pairs of gloves. Right gloves are MIA. Had to invert a left glove for use this morning. (29 freaking degrees this morn)
• Could not locate the First Aid box for band-aids this morning. I need a band-aid for my big toe :(
  
• Overturned gravel truck on the highway on my way to work. Got to work half an hour later than expected.

*sigh*

Labels: Lists, Winter

Unfriendly and I went to the local comedy club and then to our favorite pub after the show.

I ordered a Lindeman's Framboise


which is an appetizer type beer but also goes well with chocolate cake. It is SWEET. If you're not one for the taste of beer but love sweet drinks, I highly recommend it.


I also tried a different Scottish Ale which is brewed in the oldest inhabited Scottish castle, Traquair House.

This is very tasty Belgian Ale that I ended up helping Unfriendly finish. As I was savoring my initial taste of it, I searched the menu for its description. What I read completely cracked me up. I didn't even have the excuse of being tipsy. My guffaws were straight from the land of sobriety. UF did me the honors of penning it into his Palm / phone so I could share it here:

"Slate-infused fruits with thick black skins appear immediately. Smart yeast here using one grain to impersonate another. As it warms up, it brings palate-heated aromas of raw cocoa, vanilla, new leather. Wonderful texture - think of whipped cream melting furiously from applied heat"

The first sentence was enough for me. Slate infused fruit? How often does one try slate infused anything, much less fruit with 'thick black skins'? I was laughing so hard. I think whoever wrote this also might have had that 'Colorless green ideas sleep furiously' sentence stuck in his / her head. Can whipped cream melt furiously? And of course, we can't forget grains that impersonate one another either. Smart yeast. Clever, clever grain.

The Chimay was very, very tasty and did have some hints of vanilla of cocoa. There was a good richness to it but I can't say the copy for it in the menu did it justice. It did give me a good, belly-hurting-gasping-for-air laugh though....and perhaps that was the point of it after all.

Labels: Comedy, Glitzy: Alcoholic, Linguistics

A couple of people have told me that they just left candy out on their porches in a bowl for trick or treaters. They've done this before and usually have candy leftover. I can't imagine having that as a course of action. Perhaps it's because I'm originally from greater Miami. In my hometown of Opa-Locka, that candy would have been taken by the first set of trick or treaters, bowl and all.

Labels: Halloween

Pumpkin sporting her nickname-sake Halloween collar. She tolerated it well and seeing as how I had no cat puke or turds in my shoes the next morning, I'm guessing she's not holding a grudge.


I hate that damn flash

Pooky sporting his ghoulish collar. He actually loves it because I make a big fuss over how handsome he is.

I am the most handsome orange kitty.

Meet Kit-Kat. He is FormerBlondie™'s boy kitty. He is HUGE. He is also super cuddly. He groomed Unfriendly's hair regularly and spent a couple of evenings as our bedroom guest while we were in Charlotte. He is good at inducing Kit-Kat-Komas.


I had to eat him but at least I propped his bones up nicely on my leather recliner.

The party went really well in spite of some pre- party craziness which needs its own entry.

I leave you with the results of Unfriendly's costume and a quote of his party hijinks from his Halloween blog.

[At the party] I spent some time outside at the front door acting as a doorman. I would stand perfectly still and people thought I was a prop. As they reached for the door handle I would scare them by saying "Welcome" in a deep voice and open the door for them. I later overheard one man tell his wife that if I had reached out and touched him instead of the door he would have ran off leaving her with me and whatever fate I had in store for her.

Labels: Halloween, Other Kitties, Pooky, Pumpkin, WoW