Do they have a 12-step program for compulsive DVD buyers? I think I have an addiction. I just bought Pilates For Dummies on DVD. Oh well, maybe it will actually motivate me to exercise. Does anyone else have a hard time exercising when it's cold? It's like exercise would interfere with all my sitting around wrapped in a blanket time.
Dana and Myra flew back to San Diego yesterday. I miss them already. I was going to try and keep them but then I figured their families might get upset. Kidnapping is still illegal in America apparently. So on Friday we had a chill day hanging out in the village, followed by dinner at Divine Bar in midtown. The food was pretty good as usual, especially the goat cheese ravioli which was served in a light pesto sauce. On Saturday I took them to Bloomingdale's in the city, which is an evil evil place. I've never seen so many unhelpful salespeople, rude tourists and snotty rich people in one place before. Dana bought a pair of Dolce & Gabana jeans then came over to me, frowning at her receipt. Her problem was that they had charged her $256 for the jeans. I was still in the opening stages of my heart attack when she further elaborated that they were "only supposed to be $155." I was like "WHAT?!?!? You were willing to pay that much for jeans?????" But then again this is ME talking. I get annoyed when I have to pay $40 for jeans. I grumble at the $40 price tag and ask "Are they MAGIC jeans???" Anyway, we fixed the problem and she was happy again because now she had jeans to wear at our niece's barbeque the next day... which actually didn't matter because I didn't let her wear them. No one wears designer jeans to some public park for God's sake. "Dana, those are 'First Date Jeans'... or 'At The Club Jeans'... or 'Being Cute With My Friends Jeans.' Those are NOT 'Rolling Around In Dirt With My Niece and Nephews At Some Ghetto Park In Queens Jeans.'"
On Saturday night a bunch of us went out to dinner at Carmine's in the city, where the wait was an hour and a half. If it wasn't for the fact that Dana and Myra were tourists, I would have been out of there faster than you can say "Are they flying the food in from Italy?" Everything tasted really good, but I'm not sure if that was just because I was starving after the interminable wait. Dirt might have tasted good to me at that point. Incidentally, they don't have individual menus at Carmine's. They just list all the dishes and their prices in large letters on the wall. That was kind of weird, but you know how these swanky restaurants are always trying to be different. Personally, I felt it was a shrewd marketing move on their part. If people have a hard time reading the prices because they're so far away, they might order a dish that costs $49 without thinking twice about it.
Dana's (unintentional) Quote of the Day: "I guzzle everything." She was holding a beer though, so get your collective minds out of the gutter.
On Sunday, we headed over to Queens for our niece Marcella's 2nd birthday party. I played doubles with my cousin Yvonne as a partner but it was rough. We walked onto the tennis court and didn't even get to warm up before we started the match. I need at least an hour to warm up if I ever want to play well so the game was like a lesson in what not to do. I really really hate playing doubles matches too. It's so boring you almost wish for some paint so you can watch it dry. Thankfully I don't get dragged into doubles matches that often. Normally it's just me and Geo whaling on each other for 4 hours.
Monday we just did the Newport Mall-village-Chinatown thing. I had to take them to Hop-Kee before they left. It's like a rite of passage. Everyone who visits from the West Coast must partake of Peking-style pork chops, salt and pepper squid, garlic sauteed string beans and beef chow fun before they leave. I tried to get them to order the Cantonese-style snails but they wouldn't. Myra said she might be convinced someday, but Dana has a fear of anything resembling a worm, alluding to some traumatizing event involving her brothers during childhood. At 5:00 we dropped them off at JFK and now here I am, really sad that they're gone. Anyone wanna take a trip to Cali??