good times

When I woke up yesterday my ankle was a bit stiff, probably from being elevated all night, but it didn’t feel bad. I thought I would leave a bit early for class and that would give me enough time to stop somewhere and get an ankle wrap on the way. But I hadn’t realized that just puttering around my apartment (which I hadn’t done much of, anyway) really isn’t at all representative of how it feels to walk around on an actual street. When I heard the sound of the elevator in use, I thought I might try the stairs, but once I lowered my ankle to step down I realized I would never make it down. Down stairs are still a problem today, too. So I waited for the elevator. On the sidewalk outside, my ankle felt so weird, walking, that I despaired of going around all day in such a state, and considered turning back and canceling everything for the day. But I felt that option was even harder to face, so I kept going. As I walked, I began to learn how to walk on my wonky ankle so that I could do it without discomfort. By the time I got to the dance studio, I was doing okay. It was slow going, frustrating for someone whose walk is usually quick, confident and–something I didn’t know until now–careless. I went into the small studio (a side room, which also leads into the studio’s office) to explain to Marni about my ankle and why I couldn’t dance. Marni was helping Alex figure out his tilt, so I sat on the floor in a loose cross-legged position while Marni’s adorable little dog ran around exploring everything. The dog is one of those little tiny fluffy white ones, but clearly too old to be annoyingly yappy. Instead, she wheezed with every step, and followed longer runs with more wheezing and some hacking. “She’s an old lady,” Marni said. Her name is Tiffany and she is twelve. 🙂 She licked Alex’s toes while he was trying to tilt, licked both of my hands several times, and finally, when Marni came over and was asking me about my ankle, Tiffany climbed into my lap and made herself at home. A sweet dog, and I just love that her name is Tiffany! So I didn’t get to dance, which made me sad, but it was definitely interesting to watch our class since I don’t normally ever get a chance to do that! And anyway, I’m glad I’m not in poor Danielle’s situation. Danielle has pneumonia and her doctor recommends that she not dance for the rest of the semester. 😦

After dance, I didn’t go home as I normally do, so I stayed on campus and bought lunch (which I rarely do) and studied for Chinese. After Chinese, Tina gave me a small organic blood orange. 🙂 Then Xanthe picked me up and we went to tutoring. Mineisha and Rayneisha had gone to the corner store with their pocket money and each had some pure-sugar type thing, a pretty substantial $2 plastic-wrapped packet of salami, and a 99-cent bag of potato chips. Amazing what kids eat. Mineisha and I played with geoboards and then spent some time looking at the Macmillan Visual Dictionary, which is a fabulous pictorial dictionary full of words for things you never knew had names. I was particularly fascinated by the cross-section of an orange, and the different types of pockets. Xanthe, when I showed her the dictionary, drooled over the car engine. Mineisha’s comment? “Weird dictionary.” Truth be told, she was much more interested in her salami. 🙂 On the way home Xanthe and I discussed the girls’ taste in food, and reminisced about our favorite meats (we both eat seafood but not other meat). We both miss salami. I especially miss ham, and she especially misses filet mignon. Neither of us intends to go back to eating meat anytime soon, but I for one definitely enjoyed the chance to talk about such things with someone who has the same feelings.

Xanthe dropped me off at the bus stop on Durant and Telegraph. I was in a good mood, but wished the day wasn’t so gray. I decided to do something cheerful for Margaret and for me, so I went to the flower stand and bought us each a Gerbera daisy. On the bus, I ran into Amanda, which was nice because we’d been talking about getting together, only she’s leaving for Hawaii today so we couldn’t do it this week. 🙂 She has changed her hair style and color and she looks totally different. Still great, but the look it gives her is so different she seems like a different person. A little more edgy and urban, less bouncy and eager. Amazing what changing your hair can do.

Margaret and I had a great time at Far Leaves, as usual. My apricot black tea was lovely, and Margaret brought a huge bag of cookies! We talked to Antonio a little bit more, too. He remembered and asked how my Mellon interview went! That was sweet. Of course, when he heard us talking about it last week, I was discussing the possibility of my shirt buttons bursting open during the interview. That’s true, but I’m kidding, though. He’s a nice guy, and his presence makes our weekly tea ritual that much more enjoyable.

After tea, Margaret and I stopped at her apartment and then headed down to my place, where we met Maggie, then Jennifer brought us all to Andronico’s to get dinner supplies. It’s funny how this particular group worked out. Jennifer is currently in bioengineering and is an ex-pre-med, Margaret is applying to med schools, and Maggie is thinking about majoring in MCB (Molecular and Cell Biology). Also, Margaret’s sister has the same first and last name as Jennifer, a funny fact I had to bring up once I remembered it. At the market, we contemplated soft cheeses, while a couple of feet away, a guy with a recipe in mind considered the advantages of Gorgonzola. It has been such a long, long time since I went grocery shopping with girls for a girl talk, so I think I especially enjoyed the shopping.

Margaret unfortunately had to leave early, but she did get to have Brie and toasted Gouda on baguettes with the rest of us. After our bread and cheese, I made the same salad I discovered this weekend, and Jennifer and Maggie and I ate and had a great talk. After salad and more bread and Brie, we had addictive chewy peanut butter and Hershey’s Kiss cookies that Jennifer had made, then Jennifer relaxed with Halibut [my stuffed cat] (you won’t believe me when I say Halibut actually made his own way onto Jennifer’s shoulder, but it’s true) while Maggie and I made chocolate biscotti (with extra chocolate chips at Maggie’s request). We ate and talked some more, then sometime after midnight they left and I went to bed. I still haven’t done my dishes yet. ;b I’d forgotten how good it feels to get together with friends and cook and eat. Dinner with one friend is a lovely, intimate experience, but there tends to be something slightly more raucous and hilarious about getting together with more than one friend, and when you eat at home, also, the dynamic is different. We want to do more of this in the future, and now that I’ve added up all the money I spent in February, I think eating at home is definitely an option to keep in mind. ;b

While walking to campus this morning I realized I’d forgotten to grate Parmesan into our salad last night, which is probably why I thought it didn’t taste as good as it had on Sunday. Oops.

Today my ankle feels much better, and I finally got the wrap, so it’s been nicely supported all day too. After work I met Dana and we went food-hopping, getting blackberry and Heath Bar Crunch yogurts at Yogurt Park, an adorable clementine soda (no high fructose corn syrup, and a portion of proceeds to charity, amazing) from the Bear’s Lair for Dana, and fried sushi at Tako Sushi. What a great way to spend an afternoon.

Now I’m going to do some work, I really am. I’m tired, though, so wish me luck!

[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]