Observed on the train

+ A girl with a YOLO tattoo behind her ear. I wanted to ask her if I could take a picture of her tattoo but girl had total bitch face on and I didn't want mess with that. You would think someone with YOLO tattooed on their neck would be a little more laid back.

+ A girl brushing her hair for the whole entire trip from Copley to Cleveland Circle. Her hair will never have knots again.

+ A group of high schoolers blasting music from a phone and dancing on the train. When the doors opened one of the girls said "yo I think that's teach", her male companion who was holding said phone,dropping them beats yells out "YO! YO teach!!!!!" I'm not sure if this was an actual teacher at their school or some person called Teach.

It's a really small world

I went to a Boston blogger meetup last night and had a great time meeting other local bloggers. I also happened to meet two of my neighbors, Janee and Greg. We don't even live next door to each other we live in the same building! What are the chances of that? We've lived in the same building for two months and somehow have never run into each other. I told them that if they hear cats meowing that would be my apartment. Sorry about that. They have a cute little bird and hearing Janee talk about her bird I wanted a bird. That does not mix with two kitties though.

I met a ton of other great bloggers and I'm sure I'm leaving people out here but I want to mention a few.

Kristin has a really fun blog and we talked a bit about the Boston music scene. She was the blogger I was on a mission to meet.

Molly is super nice and fun. I mean just look at her about me photos. Obviously a good time.

Amanda is hilarious. She had me cracking up. She also lists egg rolls, Labyrinth and kettle corn as likes. Um YES. Yes to all those things.

Check out their blogs and go to your local meetups. You might meet your neighbors.

Happy half birthday to me!

Last night Derek and I went out in China town. I never really go out in China town and I don't know why. I mean they have a Chinese McDonald's. We did not eat a the Chinese McDonald's though.

Instead we ate a Chinese restaurant with an identity crisis. The decor was a mix of tiki/tropical island/Italian vineyard (fake grapevines not pictured).

The menu was strictly Chinese though which is what we came for. And I still suck at using chop sticks. It's a special treat seeing me try, especially when I'm starving and trying to shovel food in my mouth and I get like three grains of rice left on my chop sticks by the time it reaches my mouth. The food that made it to my mouth was really good.

Anybody want to see a show in Quincy? I think the Asian Kim Kardashian will be there. Too bad, this Superstar event was on July 22nd.

We wandered around the Park Street area and ended up at a bar listening to an Irish bartender's thoughts on divorce.

"I plan on having 12 marriages behind me before I hit the grave."

They had some radio station from Cork playing in the background.

We stopped by one more bar in Davis and then headed to bed. But not before I got a half birthday present!

Happy half birthday to me! I'm officially 28 and 1/2. Good thing I reminded Derek about this all last week (I did not actually ask for anything, so the roses were a complete surprise). I hate having a February birthday because half the time my birthday plans get ruined by snow. This is why I like my half birthday much better. I suggest you do this as well is you're not satisfied with your actual birthday.

Tall people down in front. The Our Lady Peace show.

I usually don't go this long without blogging but things have been busy in the life of Ginny. I haven't been home much and when I am home I'm sucked into the Olympics and forget about the internet unless it's to stream something Olympic related.

It's not all Olympic watching though. Sunday I went to see Our Lady Peace at the Paradise in Boston. I dragged Derek along but I think he enjoyed and of course Germana came, since we have been fans since 7th grade.

 
The show was awesome. OLP are great live, which a blog reader had mentioned in a previous post. You did not let me down blog reader. I agree with you! They played most of their more popular songs which made me and the crowd very happy. No Automatic Flowers but their acoustic version of Thief was really beautiful. Apparently it was written about a girl they knew who died of a brain tumor.

" I can't see that thief that lives inside of your head, but I can be some courage at the side of your bed."

The venue is small so we were pretty close but our view was still a little obstructed. That's because all the tall people decide to get as close to the stage as possible. You're 6' tall, there is no need to stand in front of everyone so you can block their view. It wasn't even just one guy, it was multiple tall guys. If I was a tall person I would stand near the back so other people could see. You can see over heads. I  can't see through them. And, the venue is small, so it's not like you're going to be far away from the stage anyways.

*I guess I should clarify that I'm referring to tall people who shove their way ahead of people. If someone is there before me I won't stand behind them if they're tall. If you're not there on time stand behind me.*

Ok- short girl rant over. Go listen to Thief and try not to cry.

RIP #WFNX

Boston's last alternative radio station is off the airwaves. FNX was bought out by Clear Channel, because we need another station that plays Katy Perry on repeat. I'm really sad about the loss of FNX and I know I'm not the only one. FNX was a really unique station that made me actually want to listen to radio.

I remember listening to the Sandbox every morning getting ready for work. I remember getting overly excited hearing a song on the radio that I never thought any station would play. I remember jumping up and down at the Orpheum to Franz Ferdinand at their yearly holiday concert. I have a lot of good memories with FNX.

RIP! Boston will miss you.

A little less yelling please

On July 1st the MBTA fare increases went into effect. No one was happy about this, especially a train operator on the B train. When I'm riding the T into work at 8 a.m., the last thing I want to hear is yelling. I like my morning train ride to be quite and usually it is. We're all in a morning stupor and talking takes energy. On this morning though the T operator was yelling at someone at every stop and if you've ever taken the B train you know there are a lot of stops.

"SIR! SIR! YOU NEED TO ADD FIFTY MORE CENTS! SIR!"

The guy is right there. He's going to give you the fifty more cents if you calm it down and let him. She was also pissy that people's Charlie cards were not reading on the first tap which is clearly the card holders fault. It has nothing to do with the machine.

Of course I tweeted at the GM of the MBTA. Of course I got no response. At least I got my frustrations out via twitter.

Really, there is no need to be so nasty. The customers are the ones paying more money for bad service. You'll get to retire early with a pension. I would be in a better mood if I got that deal.

Lightsabers, macaroni statue and Prometheus

I need another weekend to recover from this weekend. Luckily I'm only working two days this week and then I'll be hanging out on the beach and possibly (hopefully) going to the Adirondacks for the weekend.

But let's get back to this past weekend.

Friday was my friend Lil Anne's birthday party. She has a lightsaber in her apartment which is the best toy to play with when you have a few drinks in you. Especially when you make the sound effects yourself.

Fiona demonstrates for us

Apparently it was also strange photos with Ginny time.

I was really tired so we left around 1 and ordered Chinese food and passed out. The cats think it's the best think ever when there's two people to annoy for attention.

Saturday started off with the best of intentions but ended with meeting up with some of Derek's college friends and taking pictures with the giant macaroni statue that is now in Faniuel Hall.

You really think you can put a giant macaroni statue in Faniuel Hall, drunk town USA, and not have people climb on it?

I also rocked this new tank top I got. It's lace in the back so I bought a bright green bra to go under it. Classy. I'll have to take a picture the next time I wear it.

I also saw Prometheus this weekend. I had heard mixed things about the movie but I actually liked it. I think going into it not expecting it to be Alien helped. In the first Alien movie the crew comes across a skeleton with it's chest cracked open that was dubbed the "space jockey". In Prometheus you learn more about what that species was. It reminds me a bit of Season of Passage by Christopher Pike although Season of Passage was creepier in my eyes. Why has that not been made into a movie?
Anyone else see Prometheus? Thoughts?

A blogger meetup and my "Joan" pose

Last night I went to a Boston Bloggers meet up at Anthem Kitchen in Faniuel Hall. I didn't take any pictures at the meetup because I was too busy trying to juggle a glass of wine in one hand and food in the other. I really don't know that many Boston bloggers. There are a ton of fashion bloggers in the Boston area. I really had no idea. Please would ask me what I blog about and my answer was me because well that's what I blog about. I'm the selfish blogger!

Kaite from Modlychic took some pictures so here I am at the meetup in the middle. I don't know what that pose is. I think I was trying a "skinny" pose but really it turned into a pushing out my chest pose. Let's call it a Joan from Mad Men pose.

And here's Fanieul Hall from the steps at Government Center. I remembered to take a picture after the actual meetup which is very helpful.

I love living in Boston (except in February during a massive blizzard).

Just a lovely nor'easter

I woke up this morning after being off of work for four days. I've been dreading this week simply because it's going to be raining every day until Saturday.

Waiting for the T the sideways rain picks up. My butt is wet which is great when you're sitting on a humid train.

Once off the train I'm in a battle. Wind vs. Umbrella and me. Guess who's winning?

This means I will be getting soup for lunch. I'm guessing it will be broccoli cheddar and I'm predicting that I will feel disgusting after but right now it sounds like a good idea.

So yeah, just thought I'd share how my Monday is going.

The fun of #cityliving and sidewalk picnics

Walking home from the bar with Melissa last night we come across three people sitting in the middle of the sidewalk eating snacks. Of course we stop and talk to them. I offered them Cheetos, they offered us Doritos, it was a little city sidewalk picnic. That's what I love about living in the city. You can walk down the street at 2:30 a.m. and share snacks with strangers. I like to get away to the woods and the mountains to relax but I couldn't imagine not living in a city type environment. I like sidewalk picnics and being able to walk home after a night out.

Marathon Monday or what you do when you're not running

For those of you who do not live in Massachusetts, Marathon Monday is a big deal. The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon. I heard Paul Revere ran it a few times. It always falls on the third Monday in April which is Patriots Day. A lot of people have the day off, so what does one do when you're not working on a Monday and you're not running the marathon? You get over to your favorite bar and have a good time that's what.

It was hot. I'm talking almost 90 degrees which was great for me but not so much for the runners. I was in the Cleveland Circle/Washington Square area which is about mile 22 and 23. You could tell that the runners were exhausted at that point and they've just come off the Newton Hills which is a killer, or so I hear since I have never and will never run the Boston Marathon.

What's that? Picture aren't enough? Cool because I took video too.



For those of you wondering about the result of my apology which I posted about yesterday, the guy did write back and was really nice about. He even asked how I was doing. I feel much better now. Never be ashamed or afraid to say you're sorry.

Boston cracks down on "aggressive" dancing and Ginny goes on a rant

I have to laugh at this - Crack down on aggressive dancing

"Slam" dancing is now illegal in Boston. Would someone like to tell me how a club is suppose to prevent a mosh pit? If you're in a large venue and a mosh pit starts, good luck kicking out everyone involved in the pit. You'd have to cut the show short and people would probably riot. So clubs are suppose to put up signs that say "no moshing" and then if there is moshing they get fined. This is just laughable.

As a concert goer you know what you're getting into. If you don't like moshing then don't go to a metal/hardcore/punk show or you can be like me and stand off to the sides and avoid the mosh pit. The House of Blues has multiple levels and is quite large so I've never had a problem avoiding the pit. Neon signs are not going to solve this problem and doesn't the BPD have anything better to do then hand out a ticket to a club for a mosh pit? Maybe patrol the streets for real crime?

Boston is the most progressive yet puritan state there is. It just blows my mind what is legal and illegal here.

Gay marriage LEGAL (yea!)
Mosh pits ILLEGAL
Marrying your fist cousin LEGAL (?)
Tomatoes may not be used in the production of clam chowder ILLEGAL (well I agree to this)
Alcoholic drink specials ILLEGAL (I'll make my own then!)

There's a knife on this train - adventures in city living

I was taking the T home after a busy day at work. I was hungry and tired and still had many stops to go before I made it home. I'm listening to my ipod when I start to hear shouting over the music. I look to my left and see an older man clearly angry about something. I pause my music and hear this older guy yelling at an even older guy. "Fuck you I was in Afghanistan and Iraq! I will fucking stab you, I have a knife." (I highly doubt he was in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I think he's a bit too old for that.) And he did have a knife and not just some tiny pocket knife, he pulled out a rather large folding knife.

The guy he's threatening says something back to him that I can't hear but I can tell that whatever he says pisses off the guy with the knife. "Fuck America, fuck all of you!" A younger guy tries to calm the situation down but the knife is still out. The train stops, the doors open and the guy with the knife gets off the train.

At this point I'm not really sure what to do.  Do I call the police? Alert the T driver? While I'm thinking this over our train is suddenly surrounded by Boston PD. This was within a minute of the guy jumping of the train. The T driver let's us know that we won't be moving for a few minutes. Everyone pulls out their phones and starts tweeting, texting and updating facebook. After a couple of minutes the T driver makes another announcement "sorry about the crazy person". Why thank you for the apology.

The police finally realize that the guy has left the train so we are let go. As the train starts to roll away we see a cluster of police cars up ahead. There's a guy in the middle of about 6 cops, they caught him, the train cheers.

Sometimes you just get a vibe from someone and we all got this vibe. This guy just looked crazy. From what I gather the guy he flipped out on bumped into him. It's the B train at rush hours. If someone doesn't bump into you I'd be shocked. In all my years of taking the T I've never actually seen anyone pull a weapon. I have had my butt groped and a guy threaten to rip my head off for looking at him (fun fact, I hadn't even glanced at the guy) but never a weapon.

Living in the city is always an adventure. I probably won't tell my mother because she worries about my city living life which is funny because she grew up in a rough part of Boston and told me all these stories about how she took care of herself. I think she still thinks that Boston is how it was in the 60s and 70s which was a lot worse than it is now.

You never know who you'll find on the dance floor or what you'll find in Best Buy

I love fun sun glasses. The brighter and neoner the better. I'm making up words now. I'm really ready for spring but refuse to really get into spring mode until the end of April. New England weather is a sneaky snake.

This weekend has been a yucky cold mess. But I pulled on my rain boots and trudged on.

I had an interesting outing with Melissa this weekend. We sat down at the bar at Golden Temple and this waiter comes up to us and says that this guy wanted to buy our next round. We look over and it's this way older guy sitting at a table with a group of people. Of course it's some 60 year old man that wants to buy us drinks and not some attractive guy closer to our age. We did not accept the drinks. I feel weird accepting drinks from people when I'm not single. If I do accept I try to make sure they know I have a boyfriend.

We start chatting with this girl who is there with two of her guy friends. They invite is to dance with them on the dance floor so we do. One of the guys looked like a cross between a young Patrick Swayze and Robert Pattinson. He had some pretty amazing dance moves. I really had fun dancing with him. The other guy was really annoying and was not a good dancer. He kept trying to grab mine or Melissa's hand and spin us around. Is that your only dance move? The girl was nice but we think she might have actually been into young Patrick Swayze R. Pats. dude.

Patrick R. Pats (my new nickname for him) was actually a nice guy. He told me I looked like a classic lady with my super white skin and being tiny. News flash I am on the shorter side but I would not call myself tiny. So thank you Patrick R. Pats.

We ended the night at the Tavern as per usual. A quiet end to the evening. I ate a piece of pizza and I'm sure that I will pay dearly for that as I'm not suppose to eat tomato sauce.

I also took a trip to Target and Best Buy and saw this tacky keyboard for sale.

Welcome to Boston folks! Who would pay $70.00 for this crap? I'm sure someone has. I hope this keyboard has Tom Brady sound effects at least.

DJ leopard and winter warriors

I had a girls night out this weekend that was supposed to be a girls night in watching movies but turned into a girls night talk fest followed by a girls night drink fest at the last drop.

I stopped at my local liquor store/market for a bottle of wine. I don't know why I expected Chansky's to be run by a bunch of Russians but it's not. There was no reason for me to think this was a Russian market.

Chansky's has it's own wine it seems. I didn't purchase the Chansky's wine but I did wonder who the mystery Chansky's face was. I'm guessing it's a family member who first opened the market but who knows.

DJ leopard pumping out the slaughter-matic tunes. 

Babbette joining in on the fun. I know you've probably had your fill of cats on this blog but I can't control myself.

The Last Drop is quite the shit show and yet we continue to go there. I met this girl because I liked her shirt, even though this has been the mildest winter ever. In case you can't read her shirt it says "winter warrior".

She was wasted but managed to look somewhat sober for a picture which of course was taken for my blog.

We met some people visiting from Chicago and they kept saying how rude people in Boston are. I'm not going to lie and say Boston folk are all puppy dogs and rainbows but I don't think we're a bad bunch. City folk tend to be more leery of strangers and sometimes can be rude but in general if you try to talk to a Bostonian they will be nice to you. You just have to make the effort which is way different from the South where they will automatically be nice to you no matter what. I guess I'm use to it and try to go out of my way to be nice.

Lil Anne straightened my hair and I think I look pretty fab. If only my hair was naturally pin straight. My hair is fine and wavy and very much not straight. Usually I just blow dry it so it's semi straight, but it's nice to have someone do my hair for me.

So the Oscars are tonight. I'll be tweeting up a storm as I usually do for award shows. I really hope the horse from War Horse wins best actor.

Have a lovely Sunday readers.

I never knew a window display could understand me.

I pass this window of a store in Allston a couple times a month and every time I pass it they have a new sweet ass display that I literally have to stop and stare at it. I want everything in this display. Give me sparkles and skulls and call it day!

I'm going to take a photo and post it here every time they put up a new display.

Don't barf on the priest. My first confession.

"I've always wanted to go to confession."  Dave admitted.

"You've never been to confession?!" I asked, clearly surprised by this.

 "Nope, I'm Protestant.  What's it like?"

As a Catholic girl I have lost track of how many times I've had to go to confession.  When you're a child apparently you have a lot of sins to confess to.  Nothing a few prayers can't fix.  The first time you go to confession is right before your First Communion.  I was seven years old and terrified.  We all stood in line waiting to go into the box where we would confess our poor little hearts out.

When it was my turn I thought I would be sick.  I was that nervous.  I think this is why I remember my first confession so well.  I did not want to barf on the priest.  Surely God would be very mad if I barfed on a priest. We are given the choice of having the screen between us or confessing face to face.  I decided to face him head on.  No screen!  I thought hiding my face would make me seem more guilty.

"Bless me father for I have sinned."

"Go on child.  Tell me what you have done.  God will forgive you."

"Well, sometimes I'm not nice to my litter brother.  I should try to be nice to him."

"Go on..."

"And I yelled at my mom and felt bad.  She put me in time out."

"Go on..."

And I continued to spill my little seven year old heart out.  Everything I'd ever done wrong. From doing poorly on a spelling test to sneaking cookies before dinner.  I was as bad as they came.

"The lord forgives you my child.  In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit, amen."

"Thank you father."

The relief I felt when I was done was overwhelming. I made it and I didn't barf on the priest!  And God totally forgives me for sneaking cookies before dinner. What a great day!

The funny thing is, my mother was raised Protestant but converted to marry my father. My brother and I were raised Catholic (this is Boston after all) but I'm interested in learning more about the Protestant religion.

I found pictures online of the church I went to as a child where all of this took place.

photo credit

Over in the right corner is where terrified seven year old Ginny had her first confession. Catholic churches are beautiful but a little intimidating when you're a kid.  The church was built in 1858.  Old but beautiful.

If you're lucky I'll ask my mom to dig out my First Communion photo.  That photo is a real treat.  All I'll say is I loved crimped hair.  It was 1992!

My commute

My morning commute:

Walk outside just as the T rumbles by.  I always miss the first train.  Not to worry, another train will be along in five minutes.  I find my usual seat, crack open my book and zone out for thirty minutes.  Not a bad way to start the day.

My commute home is a completely different beast.  There's no relaxing book reading, just pushing and shoving and annoyance.  My solution to this is to take a different train that has fewer stops.  I don't mind the little walk if I get off the train faster.  Only took me a year to figure this out.  I still feel like I stumbled upon some amazing secret. 

And then a furry touched my butt

I am am massively hungover right now. I can't lay down because it hurts my head. I made myself some eggs because I've heard eggs are good for hangover recovery.

I went to a massive Halloween party last night even though we got hit with a Nor'easter. I put on my bee costume, a winter coat, some boots and froze my butt off! Seriously, I wasn't wearing pants, just tiny shorts.

This is how we roll in Boston. You can't make me wear pants mother nature!

The party was in a huge old house. There were servant stairs! I love old houses. My costume was a hit. Dave was a hit with the gay guys which had Melissa and I cracking up and at some point a furry touched my butt. Yep. That's what I call a good night folks.

I think my favorite moment of the night was when a guy dressed up as a Spartan gladiator stumbled to a cab and yelled "take me home to SPARTAAAAA!!!!!"

Costume pics ahead!

Dave as Bill the Butcher

Quail Man!

The butt touching furry

Bees don't wear pants

It's going to snow and I'm roasting red peppers.  I don't really know what to do with myself.  I'm just not ready for snow.  This is why I'm going to make myself a really good dinner because I need to make myself feel better by eating food.

My costume has no pants.  Bees don't wear pants.  I'm going to freeze.  Why do I live in Boston?