December 29, 2005
Under The Tree
Look what Santa had left for me under the tree. Unwrap! Sweeeeeeeeet!
Posted by Milen at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)
Boy With a Squirrel
After pleasantly celebrated Christmas Eve and Day, on the 26th - Monday - we went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Kate came to pick me up around 8:30am and we departed the quiet Cape to replace it with the busy City. I'm the king of getting lost in Boston and I suppose I menage to do it even when I'm not driving. Paul, Kate's son, concluded that it was my bad luck that got us lost. When elaborating on the subject, however, I think it is Boston, not me. See the thing is… driving through Boston always contains tons of interwoven streets, roads and avenues, what gets me are the innumerable highway exits. I call it "the eternal New Hampshire threat," you make one little mistake and the curse is allover you - cars honking, sweat running down your crack, intimidation and paranoia, and then the worst of it - you are on the interstate for NH. But then again, there is the "Angel of the lost," I always, somehow miraculously, end up on the right place.
Kate and Paul had tickets for Ansel Adams (A master of Black and White) but it had sold out so I couldn't get in. we parted and I wandered away with the general admission. I started with Tibet and China, then Egypt, I had just made it in ancient Rome when they called and joined me. We revisited my track and I gave them the highlights of my journey so far.
We broke for lunch at the restaurant in the museum - fancy, fancy place. After leisure luncheon, for about 40 bucks a piece, exhausted and reluctant we returned back to the exhibits. Despite our tiredness we dove right back at it. Up until that point I had not seen any pictures but then I saw an entire hall devoted to the Cubists and that was it for me. I was examining every single piece, reading thoroughly the descriptions; I spent extensive amount of time on Pablo Picasso, and I was most impressed wit the Bull and the reduction of the Bull.
We were wining down when I saw it - the boy with the squirrel - I saw a portrait of my self when I was sixteen. I couldn't help it but to ejaculate "Guys it me!" Kate and Paul seemed to not be impressed with the resemblance so I had no choice but to approach the picture and stick my head in front of it, imitating the innocent face of the boy from 1765. The effect was stunning; Kate was laughing so hard that she had to step away and sit down. We spent quite some time evaluating the similarities and the dissimilarities such as "the eyes, the lips and the jaw line are very similar but the nose and the fingers are too refined and the ear is definitely not mine."
I'll have you judge for yourself:
I don't know how much more time we had spent there but soon after we left Kate suggested that we hurry off to the gift shop. I didn't wanna go but apparently she had something in mind. We were in the gift shop for only 5 minutes when, as Kate calls them, "the ugly lights went off." I knew that she was plotting something so I stepped out. She came out with a gift bag and said, "here, happy Hanukah," and handed me the bag. It was a reproduction of John Singleton Copley's "Henry Pelham (Boy with a Squirrel) 1765"
Posted by Milen at 01:15 AM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2005
Cliff's Birthday
This is how a Birthday invitation should be conducted, click HERE!
Posted by Milen at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2005
The Christmas Return of Deuce
I received couple of packages from Ron for Christmas. He is Joan's sister - Debbie - best friend. Ron is very generous, I mean very generous. He always sends us gifts for Christmas. The last 2 years he sent me a $100 gift certificate for American Eagle. He is also notorious for his sense of humor. Both packages had a little note saying:
Milen:
Sorry. I just couldn't resist getting you this.
Ron L.
You can open the packages with me by clicking HERE.
Speaking of Ron's generosity, in august he took us all to see the "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway. He had gotten 8 forth-row tickets - The chandelier flew above our heads and almost caught Joan's hairdo; I could conduct the band, we were that close to the stage.
The second Deuce Bigalow (European Gigolo) had just came out. The entire city was covered with posters and an enormous billboard of the movie on Time Square. May be a month prior to that various, random people had started telling me that I look like him and I grew increasingly disturbed. I had the longish curly hair and everything. When I told them about my struggle with Deuce, Ron got a total kick out of it. He kept on giggling every time we passed by anything with Deuce, and let me tell ya - Deuce was literally on every corner of the city, every buss station etc. The image was haunting me; I even kicked one of the buss station posters at some point. I insisted however that I'm way handsomer!!! Regardless, I thing that the inevitable resemblance hugely contributed to my change of hair back to short.
Posted by Milen at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2005
Christmas Parties
Examining my own blogging behavior I realize that my entries have been reduced to weekend activities. In this manner I wold like to share about the weekend of December 10th. I was invited to a charity function in Villa Victoria, Boston. It was a drive for toys for underprivileged children. The invitation came from George and Carl who were on the committee of the raiser.
I was on the guest list and was allowed a "+ 1." I invited Omar to join me. It was a formal dress code, not a tuxedo formal but a dress-up formal. We arrived at Villa Victoria unfashionably late - the event starting around 8:00pm and we made it about 11:30pm. Sure I had to work that day and drive to Boston afterwards, but still. I was hopping that no one would notice or care, but alas we saw Carl at the door and the first words he said were "hey, how are you? You guys are late!" Couple of other friends of Carl, who were also part of the organizers, noticed our late arrival too. And finally, if I'm not mistaken George said something about it as well.
I was utterly impressed with the place. It is a beautiful building on the outside as well as inside and it was decorated amazingly well - everything was white, from tablecloths to Christmas trees, garlands and ornaments. I loved the fact that everyone, almost to the last person, had dressed properly. The best part was when we saw the stage covered with toys, pilled up to the ceiling. Everybody had to bring 5 unwrapped toys. I loved the atmosphere; everyone was in such an uplifted mood of festivity and benevolence. I suppose that's why I kept on saying, "I feel so benevolent," and I thing that people didn't find it funny, but you know me, I always have to say something insane over and over again, otherwise it wouldn't be me, would it.
I was surprised to find that the event provided an open bar. I don't know if it was the suit or the seriousness of the place but I didn't feel like taking full advantage of the open bar or I was just too busy mingling. I behaved on few beers, nothing embarrassing, for once - LOL. I left the "disgrace of open bar" to other people (I'm definitely not mentioning names). You know, the mumbling, the lack of coordination and the untactful comments and questions. I'm ought to mention that the music was span by Richie Rich, he is the best DJ in New England I think. I actually saw a lot of people I know and had great time talking to them; it seemed though the night flew by in 20 minutes. The very end was the time that most of the people I knew had gathered together, everybody with a fair buzz and dancing. The best music was at the end and it was a regretful adjourning.
Next day, on Sunday, was my work Christmas party. This is the second year that our regional manger is organizing and sponsoring a Christmas party, very nice of him. I never liked the work parties, for various reasons, but given the effort put I felt somehow obligated to honor it. I'm breaking the blog rules talking about work, but that's about a party. Since we were discouraged from bringing spouses I decided that Kate and I would go as a date. I also decided that Kate should do curly hair. She liked the idea but instantaneously rejected it saying, "my hair do not hold curls." I love Kate's signature straight hair but I just thought that it would be a lot of fun to dress up "to the nines" and go to the party. We continued arguing over her hair in the next few days. Kate held the position that there isn't a way for her to work till 3:00pm in Sandwich, go back to Yarmouth and then show up on time - 5:00pm - for the party in Hyannis. We actually went back and forth a lot more, and at the end I seemed to have dropped it. In the mean time, Kate called me, on Saturday, at work to tell me that she is picking up an outfit. I took off for Boston on Saturday, but I was back on time on Sunday to get a hair appointment for Kate. She came to pick me up and said that she wasn't sure if it was worth it; I told her that it's not for the party but it is for a good mood and fabulous memories. We made it just in time for the appointment; it took 1 hour and 15 minutes and the result was fantastic, beautiful, natural curls. We both looked great and had an awesome time.
Posted by Milen at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2005
Songs That Would Turn You Gay
One of my favorite moments from the morning show is when Dan and Stephanie sing. I remember a long time ago, when I wasn't yet hooked on the show, thinking "those people have so much fun singing and laughing." They use to do the singing game on Fridays. If I recall correctly this time they were doing songs that would turn you gay. Steff sang ABBA and Dan was accompanying with the ti-tu-tu, ti-tu-tu, ti-tu-tu. I called in to see what kind of insanity that is. Steff was trying to thing of a song to make Dan sing. At first I suggested Gloria Gainer but then I changed my mind and figured Cher, what's gayer than Cher? I thought that "If I Could Turn Back Time," with the Jack's (from Will and Grace) "Wuoohh" would be most appropriate. You can listen to the actual performances by clicking on the following:
Steff's Dancing Queen and respectively Dan's "Wuooh."
Posted by Milen at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2005
The Weekend After Thanksgiving...
Jose called me the day before thanksgiving to say happy, and asked me, again, "Mileeen, so when are you coming to Nu York?" I said that I was looking into the following weekend, to which Jose replied "that's good Milen, it's Tony's birthday [Tony Moran, the DJ] this Saturday and he will spin at the Roxy." He said that they are going to San Francisco for thanksgiving and are coming back on Monday.
It wasn't easy getting hold of Jose next week, but I had already taken the weekend off and Friday as a vacation day so I was predestined to go to NYC. When I finally spoke with Jose on Thursday, the day before I left, he told me that his place is preoccupied because he has a friend of his - a Katrina victim - staying with them. We both realized how crowded it was going to be, but I had already made plans and Jose felt bad because he had already invited me - so we decided that I'll go and we'll play it by ear.
The trip to NYC contained the usual - book on CD (the Bleachers by John Grisham), first stop in Connecticut McDonald's (Big Mac), coffee and a Snickers bar. Made it in Chelsea, 8th and 18th, in 4.5 hours. Parked at the usual spot. It was 4:30. Jose called asking if I remember how he used to mispronounce my name (ironic in conjunction with a recent entry) and to tell me that he is getting his hair cut before the gym. I met him at the barber and together we walked to my car to find, for my disgust, an orange parking ticked for $65.
Friday night I hung out with Jose and Nick and kept it low key. Saturday was long and eventful. First we went to the Jersey mall so that the boys can renew phones, and other mall doings. Meanwhile I was on the phone giving hourly updates to Kate. The clerk at the Gap was asking Jose whether he is wearing "Fierce" cologne. Jose flattered by the question answered with a story:
"The other day I was walking on the street, and this woman ran after me, she finally caught up with me and breathing heavily said 'what type of cologne are you wearing?' Fierce I said. 'I know it's fierce but what's it called?' It's called FIERCE that's the name of it! 'Oh, really?' she said and we both started laughing."
I suppose it takes one to know Jose and to have heard him saying FIERCE in every other sentence to understand the significant laugh this whole story gave me. As soon as I heard it I called Kate thinking - "I'll say: Guess what cologne is Jose wearing? To which she would probably say - aaaahh, I don't know. And then I'll give her few tips such as what's the fist thing that's coming to your mind when I say Jose? What's Jose's favorite word? Etc." In reality, as soon as I said, "you'll never believed it! Guess what's Jose's cologne?" Kate's answer was faster than a lightening - FIERCE - she said and we both exploded in uncontrollable laughter. How scary is that?!?!?!
I continued the daily shopping adventure with Mark. I called Mark and Gary who had recently moved from Time Square to Harlem and are still unpacking. Gary staid home but I met Mark at "Bed Bath and Beyond," the beginning point of an insane home-goods shopping spree. We were looking for few common things - 3-and 6-inch white candles, a plastic mat that goes under the desk to protect the hardwood floor from scratches, some shelving and specific alpha crates, halogen light bulb and, I thing, couple of other tings. I was surprised to find out that there is Staples, Home Depot, Office Depot, and even K mart in Manhattan. I suggested K mart for the candles; although they only had Martha Stewart, the candles at K mart were still the best buy. Somewhere in the middle of the shopping trip we brought up food and started obsessing. Mark suggested some new burger place that we decided didn't have "atmosphere" and under the slogan -"we are looking for atmosphere" we looked around, evaluated for atmosphere, till we picked "Elmo." The place not only had atmosphere but also served the best chicken pot pie - mmmmhhh, delish! I hate to rave about "New York" cuisine but in addition to the food I had the best drink - I don't remember the name of the cocktail but it was definitely a derivative of Mohito - soooooo goood. Mark told me the best story over dinner, a love story. After dinner we continued with the shopping; we shopped till we dropped.
I wasn't planing on going to their house because they were in the middle of box-land but I wanted to say hallo to Gary so we took the metro and went. Nice neighborhood Harlem is. The new apartment is beautiful and spacious, toll ceilings and gorgeous woodwork. Gary was scrubbing, polishing and sweating. They gave me the tour of the house and then we retired for a couple of cocktails and stories. I finally got to see the pictures from Central Park and the Gates. We recollect the story and laughed. I don't know what came upon me but I told them a story that I haven't told anyone and we laughed through tears. That's how I extended my, supposedly, 15-minutes visit to few hours. I then took the metro back to Jersey City - an intense experience. This trip brought back buried memories from my home city and the public transportation - people jammed in the cabin, stench, discomfort, uneasy body positions and yes, LOUD teenagers. I felt overwhelmed. After two connections and an hour of insanity around 11:00pm I made it back to Jersey.
The dynamics at Jose's house had drastically changed. The peaceful atmosphere of the last 2 days was replaced by pre-going-out hysteria. I was late and I felt guilty. Despite the guilt I couldn't help it but to wonder "what's the rush for?" people don't go to the Roxy until 1:30am, at least!
The Roxy. This was my third or forth time and I just never had good time there. Purely circumstantially but a fact. It started good but then around 3:30 I lost interest and wanted to go home and sleep. I sticked around because I wanted to hear Tony spin. He started aruond 2:30 and I thought that he might play the better music later. The main problem was that I was exhausted from runing around the entire day; and the worst part, the blisters - the size of a beer cap on the side of both my heels. I staied thogh - till 5:00am. I suppose it was worh it, I was I "+" on the guest list, after all. I wasn't a primary VIP but a "+" to one; it went Revera + 1 and I was the "+1." LOL.
I slept till noon nexet day, not nearly enough, had coffe at the house with Markus, who had lost everything to Katrina and was staying with Jose till he gets back on his feet and establish him self in NY. He said tha the has to go to the city to buy couple of stuff. Without thinkig I said I'll go with him, I felt compeled to keep him company. Detouching from bed was an extremely dificult task for me. I regreted my compation when I got up on my blistered feet. Never the less I showered, dressed and was ready for action. We actually had great time and I didn't feel that tired or at least not untill I ate. We had late lunch, or early dinner at "the Dish." I have no idea how exactly we did it, but we spent good 6-7 hours in Chelsea. Well, Marcus at least got most of the stuf he wasnted to buy - gloves, hat, 180's and I don't remember what else. Oh, in the mean time we got together with Peter and Ricardo. How could've almost forgotten about the funnes part! Everytime I see Ricardo and Peter we just laugh and laugh forever. I can't think of anyting in particular but we just laugh on everyting.
Marcus and I got back to Jersey City on time for "the wives," watched the show and I passed out. Getting up at 7:00am was hard. The drive home was easy though. On the way back I listened to "The Last Jourer" by Grisham, again.
Posted by Milen at 03:55 PM | Comments (1)
December 08, 2005
LUX (Batko)
I promised a view from the new, luxurious home. And here they are:
And my room is decided in a bit lighter arraignment:
Posted by Milen at 10:47 PM | Comments (2)
December 01, 2005
My Name Is
My name contains only 5 letters; but despite the simplicity of it, is highly debated in pronunciation. I've heard many versions of it such as Mulan, Malin, Milton etc. and it is upsetting to have 5-letter, simple name that people always mispronounce. If I can name one version that I hate the most that wold be MILAAAN (like the city in Italy with prolonged aaaaa), I hate when people call me that! What's really weird, Dan has always known my name because of Stephanie, but even people that say my name right get confused sometimes. Dan even had the nerve to accuse ME in saying his name like a Jamaican. You can actually hear the debate over my name on the air, just click on My Name Is.
Posted by Milen at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)