dreaming of appliances

when my laundry bag gets bigger than me, it's time to go to the laundrymat.

which i was going to get up early to do, but i was busy.

sleeping, people. i was busy sleeping. sheesh.

opening my front door further confirmed it.

This picture is supposed to depict rain. Not general miserablness. I won't argue with either interpretation.

i wasn't going anywhere. lucky, for me, i have a washing machine in my house.

also lucky for me, i only ever wear my work shirt. no wait, that's a not lucky for me thing.

damn.

oh well. happy monday!

settling-in

in april, i'll have lived in my apartment for 2 years. goodness has it been that long?

right from the start i never intended to stay long. it was temporary, so i never settled-in. i didn't decorate. i bought a bare minimum of furniture, so that i wouldn't have that much to move. where i was planning to move to, i have no idea. but i was resolute.

for two years, i've felt unsettled. what did i expect? i had a home that wasn't. similarly, a job that wasn't. and resultantly a life that wasn't. my current situation was one that just needed to be endured.

excuse my french, but it's been a shitty way to live.

yesterday, i made and hung drapes in my bedroom. or as seen from the picture above, back in the 70's i made and hung drapes in my bedroom. i'm also on the hunt for a small bookshelf or chest of drawers. (anyone?) maybe even a new couch.

i still tell myself that i won't always be living a subterranean existance. and i definately won't be working in a restaurant forever. but in the meantime, this is my home. this is my life. and it's way overdue for me to let it start feeling like one.

brain lazy

Who is this?

what was the last new thing you learned? truly, i want to know.

or,  if you're like me, what was the last old thing you re-learned?

i don't know when it happened -- before or after my move to new york -- but the older i get (which ain't that old by the way), somewhere along the way, i stopped learning.

granted, not completely. i've learned to make bread. a while back i learned to hula hoop. when i moved here i learned what greek yogurt was and i know a great chocolate chip cookie recipe from memory. maybe instead it's that i'm forgetting what i once knew.

on a slow night at work, we make up trivia for one another. it reminds me how much i've forgotten from elementary school.

name the first 7 presidents. (got it? now try the first 10.)

name the original 13 colonies.

what's the first letter on the periodic table of elements?

trivia recently caused a friend of mine to explore the origins of cinco de mayo. i asked to hear the story and, by golly, it was interesting. right there i learned and it felt great. my friend further said that's what he likes to do in his free time, scroll around the internet, learning things. yeah, me too, i said. trying to pretend that i didn't spend all my free time on the internet scrolling around facebook and look at bathing suits i'd never buy on jcrew.com.

another friend is getting president obsessed -- counting them in his sleep instead of sheep etc. at work he randomly asked me, "So are there lots of things named after Millard Fillmore in Buffalo?"

i could answer that question, but had he asked me what number president Millard Fillmore was? not so much.

learning. i've been trying to teach myself spanish for 2 years. my lack of retention is shocking. a year ago i drew little pictures (of like pork chops), put the spanish name on them, and stuck them to my bathroom wall. it's fair to say i look at those little pictures multiple times a day, but i still wouldn't be able to tell you off the top of my head what the word for place mat is.

i've become brain lazy. since i stopped trying to learn new information, i'm no longer good at retaining new information. but no more!

when i was in fourth grade, my teacher made us memorize all the presidents. it's not right that i was smarter then than i am now. so i'll start there. with the presidents. and maybe i'll move on to a little world history. the spanish retention has to get better too.

how is this useful? who the hell knows, but at least i'll be a tougher competitor at trivia. and i'll know that Millard Fillmore was the 13th president, Hydrogen is the first letter on the periodic table of elements, placemat in spanish tapete, and cinco de mayo is a mexican holiday that celebrates the mexican's (mainly the Pueblans) beating back a whole heck of alot of french (after they borrowed money from them to beat back a whole heck of alot of americans) from seizing control of their country.

there.

now it's your turn. tell me something i don't know.

this blog will eventually be interesting and uplifting again, but today it's just about recapping the party

tiny blurry picture, but someone (ahem me!) forgot to document having so many of her favorite people all in one room.

a success!

it is my new theory that you can tell how good a party is by the stories that people have from after they leave the party.

here are the best ones:

1. a good friend, who had been hanging out with the spanish speaking contingent at the party, leaves party feeling sentimental and nostalgic. as he walks home, he puts on his ipod and indulges his emotions by listening to nostalgic and sentimental italian songs from his childhood. (good friend is italian) 20 minutes later, he stands in front of his apartment building, belting aloud said songs.

good friend's wife wakes up to go to the bathroom. hears some nutcase singing outside her building. realizes the singing is in italian. oh my god, she says. good friend receives a call on cell phone that says come inside and go to bed right now.

wonderful.

2. another friend shares a cab with two other party goers, one of whom gets a little mean. friend watches as weirdly, wicked conversation ensues (mostly coming from the one who turned mean). that friend gets dropped off and cab driver turns to tell other two slightly baffled friends, "dude, don't worry. she's drunk." two remaining friends proceed to go inside and play drums loudly until much later (earlier?) in the morning.

3. girl throws party. girl begins enjoying party at 7:30 and doesn't stop enjoying party until 5. somewhere in the middle of dancing, girl forgets it's a bad idea to enjoy the party this much. girl cannot get out of bed until right before work. trips over many things through the ensuing evening, but still pulls it together rather well, says she. girl shall drink only water for the next week and swears never to enjoy a party this much, ever again.

until next time.

par-tay day

so i'm planning a little party tonight. or rather, i've been dragging my feet and now the party i wanted to plan is tonight.

here's what i have in way of party supplies:

cheese.

here's what i don't have: every single other item required to throw a party. oops.

i'm usually more organized than this. but the 'where' of the party wasn't even decided until two days ago (thank you, indecisive corrie). and though i wouldn't say i'm now scrambling, if anyone has a great tequila punch recipe in their back pocket, i'll indebtedly swap you my crab dip recipe. it's a family favorite.

20 to 30 people are coming over in ten hours? i'm not worried. it'll come together. sometimes the best parties are the inpromptu ones, right? besides that, parties are supposed to be fun, social, messy, silly events right? well, most of the people i invited fit at least 3 out of those 4 descriptors, so what can go wrong? right? (please, please say yes).

regardless, a party there will be. merengue dancing there will be. and no party can be bad when there's merengue dancing.

right?! :)

a loopy dayneswed

whew! it's that kind of day today. in a good way.

i have a best friend coming into town tomorrow which means today will be spent running, cleaning, laundrying, cheese shopping, etc.

part of it will also be spent at my first ever writing crit group. yay! even though i've been writing for a while now, i've never had my work critiqued among peers like this. it's a little terrifying, but also thouroughly exciting. though i dreaded going to, and dreaded while being there, that writer's conference, it now stands out in my mind as this incredible experience. partly, i think, because it was a new experience. so i'm really looking forward to tonight.

then it's hip hop, bread making, vietnemese sandwhich buying (a girl's gotta eat and i'm addicted). then the following morning my friend comes into town and the whirlwind really starts.

considering this past weekend though, that's nothing.

my restaurant was a factory of love and romance-making this weekend. i've worked valentine's day years past, but it never quite seemed so cattle-like. sorry all, i mean that in an entirely affectionate way -- because beyond reason and more than any other holiday (expect thanksgiving) i LOVE valentines day. the romance. the red and pink. the chocolate. but having worked it, i don't think i'll ever eat out on valentines day again.

in. sit. eat. gaze fondly. pay check. leave. in. sit. moo.

by last night, i wasn't sure i'd ever be able to smile let alone say chichetti (venetian style tapas) again. near the end of the night, preparing to special the gelatto and sorbet flavors -- there are six all together -- i sputtered out: "Butter!"

i'm still not sure why.

so butter and see you friday.

para mi corazones

happy valentine's day, everyone! thanks for all the love.

a week gone by...thank goodness

friday. the last of my days off. the day i reflect on how i spent the previous two days. through the insomnia haze that i'm in this morning, here's what i've got.

1. on wednesday i skipped hip hop class to go to something called the Breathless Reads Tour at Books of Wonder in the city. the tour is comprised of 5 penguin YA authors who all have popular books, make their rounds on teen's blog tours, and, in general, seem to have this social media thing down pat.

it was an interesting forty-five minutes. they were asked fun questions, and as well-educated, young writers, they all gave appropriately humorous and/or sage answers. what does it take to be a writer? my favorite answer from Kirsten Miller: "butt power."

even more interesting is that the bookstore only put out about twelve chairs (for the maybe 65+? people who came). also interesting was that the teenager sitting (damn her!) in front of me sent her mom to get her a cupcake from the cupcake cafe in the store. not one of the cool ones from the case, mind you, but a room temperature one from the open air.

when the mom brought it back and said, they only have ones from the case, the girl flinched and didn't accept it at first. looking at the treat like it was toxic. what's this? a not room temperature delectable? and the mom apologized!

now, i'm afraid to ask someone to raise or lower the heat to accomodate my own body temperature, so i had to look at this girl, who not only wrangled a seat, but was confident enough to stipulate the temp she'd like her delicious desesert, with something akin to admiration. i say akin, because it might have been some other emotion. either way, i should have been taking notes.

2. i went birthday card shopping for my dad, during which i realized i'm not smart enough to understand birthday cards. please will someone explain this to me:

homesock? is that like, holmes? even a day later, i still don't get it.

3. i did taxes. and kids, take it from me, if you work at a place that doesn't take nearly enough money from you, learn these words: QUARTERLY PAYMENTS. unfortunately, i'm only learning them now, for the 2011 tax year. which means, as in 2009, for 2010, i'm screwed.

4. never wear no-tread dog headed slippers when walking down stairs. you will fall. down all twelve steps, spilling your coffee everywhere.

i know this, because it just happened.

my upstairs roommate is gone for the weekend, and is such a sweetheart that she's letting me use her sunlight filled apartment to write in. whilst going downstairs to take my bread out of the oven, slip! followed by boom, boom, boom, boom (x3). i don't think i've fallen this badly, well, ever.

don't worry. my entire right leg and arm took the full brunt and what's not fun about giant bruises?

5. at least the bread was not harmed. ah, cinnamon raisin. my first ever attempt:

so in reflection, this was, all in all, a good weekend. i did taxes, fell down some stairs, got to see some successful authors at a book reading, oh! and laundry. how could i leave out my trip to the laundrymat?

this could be why every so often i look forward to going back to work.

some thoughts

there is no question i'm bad with change. especially change when it goes hand in hand with technology.

por ejemplo: for two years or more after they first came out, i refused to buy a dvd player. almost like it was a matter of principle. i thought they were a gimmick. a fad. what could they do that my vhs player couldn't?

i was similarly slow to catch on to the whole cell phone "revolution" (as i saw it). if only my glasses fixed that sort of short-sightedness .

perhaps because i am now a blogger, a (very lax) twitterer, and a social networker to the Nth degree, i've been spending a lot of time thinking about technology. for as my usage of it increases -- along with my time spent staring at screens of various shapes and sizes -- so does the creeping suspicion that i am handing away precious chunks of time spent living.

yesterday two friends came over after work and we started in on this subject (it actually began with doomsday 2012 concerns, but as is often the case when around this one particular friend, it shot off of that topic towards one of technology and youth).

as the boys por ejemplo'ed each other and the spanish began flowing too quick for me to keep up, the two sides of the debate were this: technology is simply the new means by which we get our information, not so different than how we did in the past versus: what happens to youth who interact with the world only through screens? when information is received in single google answered sentences? when play happens on the device in your hands and not in the actual world?

in any debate, the gray areas are most often left out. sure, i see more and more parents handing their children movie watching devices when they go out to dinner, but that doesn't mean those same kids don't go home and get lost in their toys. (please tell me toys are still popular.)

but i wonder about memory. when you spend so much time with technology, basically doing the same thing, what distinguishes one moment from the next? looking back, do you recall time in chunks? por ejemplo: my angry bird era?

i'm a hypocrite.

por ejemplo, i played with toys way past the acceptable age (i only just discovered barbies at 13), but still i spent countless nights playing dolphin, then super mario brothers, then super metroid, then final fantasy. and i turned out okay. i even like my chunky video game memories. so what if i have no abilty to retain information and my attention span is zip?

chill, right?

recently, i wondered allowed at work if there would be grammar obsessed freaks (and i say that with love) in the future who are so devoted to language that they are compelled to write the NY Times with arcane corrections. a friend replied, "there's this quote i like: the youth of today are disrespectful. they don't listen when you speak. they'll be the death of high thought and society." who said it? aristotle.

i wasn't able to find that quote on brainyquotes.com. (so much for single google-answered sentences) but you get the picture.

we will worry. we will be okay. we will move forward until it is someone else's turn to worry. but maybe in the meantime, to ease my mind, i'm going to shut down my computer to take a walk.

you know, after i check my facebook.

that kind of Monday

hi gang!

i've got nothing today. that's all.

see you Wednesday.

a TMI friday

ready for more health history about Corrie Wachob than you care to know?

no?

good. let's begin.

about a year ago i was volunteering at the brooklyn botanic gardens when my ear popped. immediately after the pop, my hearing felt stuffy and muted.

i told friends about it, and most commiserated that something similar had at one point happened to them. that it was allergies, pollution, aging, etc, but regardless, it would go away soon.

i waited. a few months passed. it didn't go away.

i went to a clinic. had an awful experience  -- cue doctor painfully cramming thingamagig into my ear, stepping back and saying with a befuddled laugh: "i have no idea what it is!" cue corrie bursting into tears -- did the netti pot for a few weeks, then took decongestants for a few after that, and then finally ponyed up the cash to visit an ENT.

* yes, i am among the millions of uninsured Americans who wonder exactly what is so wrong about the greatest country on earth having affordable healthcare for all its people. *

long story short, the ENT said all was normal. an audiologist said the same thing. yet the fuzziness and throbbing persisted. the next step was getting an MRI. which is frightening and expensive sounding, so when all else fails, what do you do?

explore eastern medicine!

which is how i came to be poked with lots of tiny little needles yesterday, as illustrated below:

that's right. those are needles poking out of the top of my head. they were supposed to help free the four (can't remember the real word, so we'll say spirits) spirits that reside there, thus letting my sleep energy flow smoother. (after an intensive pre-needle interview, in which i felt oddly important, he decided to try and help me with my insomnia as well). thus needles in head. or that's the way i remember my acupuncturist explaining it. for some reason it sounds hokey in my retelling.

have you ever had acupuncture? it's awesome. they actually tap the needles into you! i guess i'd thought they just, you know, poked you with them. but they're actually placed in a little tube, the acupuncturist taps it, and you feel this needle go tink tink and then it's in.

most felt like nothing. while the one right behind my ear and in my calf made me nicker. that's right. like a horse, except not in a happy way.

once i was fully stuck, the doctor left me alone for about an hour, which i thought was an absurdly long amount of time to be lying somewhere full of needles, but which drifted by in seemingly five minutes. then the needles came out and i was sent on my way.

i have to say, going in, even the acupuncturist wasn't very hopeful that this would help and well, i can't say that it did. my hearing still feels a little fuzzy in that ear, though in all honesty, i haven't really spoken to anyone today. it definitely didn't help with the insomnia.

so next stop MRI?

mmm. not yet. i might stop at the healthfood store around the corner and talk to the kindly Palistinian owner first. she's the one who told me that my bad skin upon moving to NYC was caused by pollution and that moisturizer in the morning and night, combined with foundation whenever i left the house, would clear my skin right up. and she was right.

at that writer's conference one of the speakers said she was dumbfouned by the amount of information people put in their blogs. too much information, she said.

i'm pretty sure this post counts towards that. but come on. it's TMI friday. so don't say i didn't warn you.

all hopped up

dance!

where would i be without that hiphop class? it makes me wonder how many other things are out there that i haven't embraced/discovered yet that i will feel are equally invaluable to me being me.

i have this thing in hiphop, where only on rare occassions do i actually look at myself in the mirror when i dance. i don't know why. it's like how i look at the ground when i walk. my feet are only going forward yet the world's passing me by. which is the better view?

so i'm always a little amazed when i see videos from class and realize i wasn't that terrible.

sure last night's spins were tricky because with my clunky running shoes i'm convinced my knee will stay while my body goes, but everyone else was wearing the same kind of shoes and they spun with elegance, so that's no excuse.  and sure i come out of those spins a little late, and you can see me frantically try to catch up to everyone else, but overall it's not too bad.

there's a lesson there (why all my blogs strive to find the manufactured lesson in all my experiences, i have no idea) and it's that it's never as bad as you think it is. so keep going, enjoy it as much as possible, and good grief, try to stand up a little straighter. ok, that last one's just for me.

since this is a dance post, i'm posting the Missy Elliot class too. i could dance this choreography every day for a month straight (Nicole Holst rocks!). not to mention, my thighs afterwards (seriously for over a week) felt like they had danced this every day for a month. i guess it's a small price to pay for getting down low.

hip to the hop

it's sleety, rainy, slick, and grey outside. which means it's definitely a day for blogging about hip-hop. check back this evening and i'll post footage from tonight's class.