Category: Urban Family


I need some crack

Filed Under: Academic Office Monkey, Urban Family by Julie — 9 Comments
April 18, 2007

Icepick season is in full swing. I have a pile of audits to do on my desk, but can’t get to them because I have to proof audits I’ve already done so they can go on the list of candidates for graduation that I have to get together for Tuesday. I spent the morning compiling another list of students who have filed for graduation so that they can be put into a ticket distribution list for Commencement. And I have to basically herd cats to make sure my undergraduate auditors are where they need to be in their proofreading. Oh, the stories I could tell about that, but I just don’t have the time.

I’ve got a meeting with a playwright this evening and then I am supposed to head to Stitch n Bitch, but I might just go home and do some baking for the baby shower that’s this weekend. It’s a non-traditional shower, more like a birthday party for the little one who hasn’t been born yet, and as godmother I really need to get on the ball with it. I’m in charge of desserts and munchies. This basically means I will be stopping at the grocery store and getting a few box mixes and some cookie dough. And crackers and cheese and hummus and nuts. Because that’s my idea of a party, dammit.

It’s only Wednesday and I’m already exhausted. Wednesday, hell, it’s only mid-April and Commencement isn’t until May 31. I might just die.

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The Three Musketeers, back in action

Filed Under: Shorty, Urban Family by Julie — 5 Comments
March 26, 2007

Jordana: So, wait, how does it end?

Tony: Well, they fight it out…

Julie: Yeah, a gunfight.

Jordana: There’s a gunfight in Beauty & The Beast?

Julie: There is in my version.

Tony: Gaston gets his head blown off by a machine gun.

Julie: Exactly. Ratatatatatatatat!

Jordana: You guys are just wrong.

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Saturday night, high and…not dry

Filed Under: Urban Family by Julie — 10 Comments
February 11, 2007

I spent Saturday night out bar-hopping on the Lower East Side with two of the more mysterious inhabitants of the blogosphere. Well, not bar-hopping so much as bar crawling…because you know, sloths can’t move that fast. I now have dual citizenship: Slothville and Retropolis. You wish you were me.

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The potential to be the greatest

Filed Under: Urban Family by Julie — 14 Comments
February 6, 2007

Jordana and I just decided to have her baby shower on Cinco de Mayo. Womend and men are going to be invited and it’s going to be more of a “celebrate the new one about to be in our midst” party rather than a traditional shower. Jordana has okayed the plan of margaritas for everyone, but perhaps most importantly…

She has given an enthusiastic thumbs up to having a pinata.

This has the potential to be the greatest baby shower this planet has ever seen.

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Why I have the best landlady in the world

Filed Under: Urban Family by Julie — 14 Comments
February 6, 2007

I got into work on February 1 and had the nagging feeling I had forgotten something. Around 11:30, it hit me. I forgot to write my rent check. Worse yet, I wasn’t going home that night. I had a dramaturgy gig and then I was just going to stay at Rick’s. I called the Landlady.

Julie: Landlady, I am so sorry! I completely spazzed and forgot to write the rent check out and I won’t be home until tomorrow, is it okay if I write it then?

Landlady: Of course, you silly goose. What color carpet do you want when I replace it for you? The guy is going to come to measure it next week. Oh, and do you want carpet in the bedroom, too?

Yes, people. In addition to being cool with my spazzness (I have NEVER forgotten to have the rent check ready on the 1st, I have no idea what the hell was wrong with me), she is replacing the carpet that the Piss Crusader wrecked. To be fair, the carpet is at least as old as I am and it wasn’t all the Piss Crusaders fault, but hey! She’s replacing it! And to top it off? Yesterday she calls me and tells me she made a batch of marinara sauce and she wants to know if it’s okay for her to put some in my fridge. Okay? Is it okay to give me free sauce? Hell YES it’s okay to give me free sauce!

When I got home I looked in my fridge. In addition to two Gladware containers of sauce, there was a bag of pasta and a container of parmesan cheese. I love the Landlady. I am never ever leaving this apartment.

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The age of Aquarius

Filed Under: Urban Family by Julie — 12 Comments
February 5, 2007

I was at a birthday party for my friend Bongani this weekend, and there were a slew of people there. Bongani is a typical Aquarius: he meets new people at the drop of a hat and within three minutes they’re his friends and are invited to his parties. Literally, some people showed up at the birthday party that he had just met at Starbucks earlier that afternoon (they also gave him better presents than his old friends did…my present was “Hey, happy birthday, I didn’t get you anything.” Bongani, being Bongani, thought this was great.)

Among this slew of friends old and new that showed up, two brought children. One of them was a two month old, Zula, who slept through most of the party. The other was a two year old, Massai, who hung back and played shy for about ten minutes, then remembered that she likes everyone. She, too, is an Aquarius. The ultimate proof of this? At one point we gave her a cup of juice which she promptly clinked against Jordana’s and my cups and yelled “Cheers!”. That child has been raised right.

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Worst case scenario

Filed Under: Urban Family by Julie — 6 Comments
January 30, 2007

When I was in middle school, a girl in my class lost her house in a fire. Her family was away at that time, so they were all spared, but when they returned the house was gone along with everything in it. This in itself was inconceivable to me at age 11, but what haunted me for years was that they also lost their pets: a kitten and some fish. The fish were boiled alive in their bowl, the kitten was found right by the door where it had been overcome by smoke. This still comes back to me when I least expect it and wakes me out of a sound sleep.

One of my friends had this nightmare come true this week. Nanner has lost her house and practically everything in it to fire. She and her son are safe, but all of her indoor cats died and they were her babies. So far the insurance company is taking care of her, but insurance companies have a history of screwing people over. We are in the process of setting up some way to help her rebuild, so watch this space. In the meantime, head over to her blog and let her know you’re thinking of them. I’m sure it would mean the world to her and Nate.

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Trees

Filed Under: In Da Hood, Urban Family by Julie — 4 Comments
January 2, 2007

By the sounds of it, Lori and I were about 500 feet away from each other New Year’s Eve without realizing it. We both went to Central Park to watch the fireworks, but with different groups. This is what the email conversation we just had went like, as we tried to pinpoint where she was:

Lori: We went to the Park for the fireworks.
Julie: We were in the Park, too. Where were you guys?
Lori: I think around 72nd…
Julie: You are such a big tard, we were right near each other!
Lori: Shut up! Jndsjvnjdnbndfb Damn.
Julie: We were by the bocce court.
Lori: Jesus, I just remember we were by trees.
Julie: Dude, it’s a park. The whole thing is trees!

Obviously, Lori had toasted the New Year more than once by the time midnight rolled around. She makes me laugh.

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Bilateral Cock-up Splints

Filed Under: About a Julz, Assorted Ailments, Rick, The Girls, Urban Family by Julie — 6 Comments
November 27, 2006

That is my new favorite term, and it also happens to be what Dr. Edbert prescribed for my (wait for it) carpal tunnel syndrome. We caught the CTS very early, and Dr. Edbert thinks that wearing the splints every night for two months will get rid of it. Pity the cat and Rick, as I toss and turn a lot and at least one of them is going to get creamed by a splint during that two months. As it turned out, I didn’t have to have the much-feared EMG. Instead, Dr. Edbert hooked me up to some electrodes and then took a taser-like thing to my arm to measure how long it took the nerves to fire (it’s actually called an NCS). I now feel remarkably like the time I electrocuted myself trying to get a broken bulb out of a lamp with a potato, and this makes me very glad I took three Advil before I went to see the doctor.

Highlights from this weekend:

Seeing Lori lick Maxwell Caulfield’s head.

Meeting Rick’s Ex’s family. They were surprisingly nice and are Steeler fans. I am now their Terrible Towel hook-up.

Watching Rick teach Thabs backgammon, and then watching Thabs kick Rick’s ass at it. Apparently this did not happen (see comments). My perspective was understandably skewed, as I was watching the game from the kitchen, where I was helping to make the meal.

Seeing my knitwear on national television: the Youngest and her devil hat were on camera very briefly at the beginning of the Macy’s Parade.

Bowling with the kids Friday night. It was the Youngest’s first time without gutter guards, and she and her sister both did very well.

Learning that the Oldest has seen Rocky Horror. Which led to several choruses of “Sweet Transvestite.”

Playing air hockey for the first time in years. And even with carpal tunnel? I’m still pretty damned good at it.

Hope all of your Thanksgivings were just as good. Even if they didn’t involve cock-up splints.

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Countdown to tryptophan haze

Filed Under: About a Julz, Urban Family by Julie — 7 Comments
November 22, 2006

The menu’s set, the guestlist is done, the turkey will be picked up this afternoon, and Hillary Clinton just sent me a “Happy Thanksgiving” email. It must be the holiday.

This year I get two Thanksgivings. One with Rick’s family on Saturday (the scheduling was just better for all of us that day), one with my urban family tomorrow. Urban Family Thanksgiving is a much beloved tradition that started when I was in grad school and we realized that none of us could spare the time away to be with our families. So we invited everyone we knew and Urban Family Thanksgiving was born. Some years it was smaller than others, some years we had it the day after Thanksgiving to accommodate those of us who actually got away for the holiday, but it’s always been something I love doing. Thanksgiving with friends generally involves far less drama and yelling that Thanksgiving with any family members other than my mom. Those family meals probably would have been better had I been of legal drinking age, but since I wasn’t, I much prefer my Thanksgivings now.

I am missing one crucial New York City Thanksgiving tradition since my friend Ginny moved to Philadelphia: drunken Parade watching. The best way to survive the crowds and the colds is to bring alcohol with you (screwdrivers are especially nice since they just smell of OJ), but no one else is interested in going to the Parade with me, even if alcohol is involved. Tomorrow looks to be rainy and cool, so this year I don’t blame them. I’ll just TiVo the damn thing and fast forward to the good parts.

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