Farewell dinner.

I regret that this entry doesn't contain any particularly stunning images. The weather this week has been quite disagreeable and I have spent most of my time sitting indoors looking forlorn. Oh, and reading.

On the whole I've been extremely distractible; I'm gearing up to leave in a mere five days. I haven't been bringing my camera with me (again), although this has been in an attempt to protect the books that I've been reading. They get beaten up rather badly by the presence of my camera and it makes me feel bad.

With the weather being rainy, windy and finger-freezing, coupled with my linear focus on my departure to LA this Friday, I've hardly spared a thought for blog content. Truly any photo thoughts have been dedicated to what my entry will look like next Sunday once I'm in LA with Andrew. Expect self-portraits of me smiling.

All of these factors combined couldn't completely halt the flow of, 'but what about this week's post?' thoughts. And so, as a better than nothing entry, I present cell phone images of last night. These serve as a documentary of the lovely evening I had with my co-workers. I believe I have referred to them as Philip and Aurora in the past, so I will continue to do so.

Bummed I only get one dinner here, but it was a spectacular one!

On Tuesday of this week, Aurora and I simultaneously asked one another if the three of us (three being Philip, but he wasn't present at this time) wanted to have dinner Saturday night. What a serendipitous moment! I told her that I loved Italian food, and hadn't forgotten that she mentioned there was a great place in Salthill called Da Roberta's. So she made a reservation for seven p.m. Saturday (last night) :D

The menus impressed me.

The three of us proceeded to have a wonderful time! Da Roberta's was a nice Italian place, crowded and friendly and a little on the expensive side. The two of them insisted on buying my meal, which was incredibly nice of them. The whole night was quite leisurely; we ate slowly, had plenty of conversation and even bought dessert!

I'm going to learn to make bruschetta. 

I had quite a bit of fun poked at me from them, seeing as I'm a very plain and simple eater. The menu was rich, varied and intricate. While looking over the options I thought of how many people I knew would revel in the decadence, and really I just wanted something simple :] I teetered briefly on ordering a pizza, but in the end decided on lasagna. I also had some spectacular bruschetta. It was worth feeling like vomiting afterward.

Huge fancy plates!

Dinner culminated in dessert, which I already mentioned, and that very rarely happens for me. When we entered the restaurant I saw the dessert case and spied a particularly succulent looking piece of chocolate fudge cake. It was at that moment that I decided I needed to order a dessert, no matter what I had for dinner. Once the dessert menu was looked over, I became super excited because I saw that they offered profiteroles.

This lasagna was amazing.

I have never had profiteroles, but I've wanted to try them since last summer. There's a scene in Half-Blood Prince where the characters are eating delicious looking desserts, and I assumed that it was vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate syrup. I was informed that they were, in fact, eating profiteroles; a French dessert consisting of puff pastries filled with cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup.

Aurora's seafood pasta had a teeny tiny octopus. T_T

They. were. amazing. One of the most satisfactory desserts I have ever eaten in my life. I hope I find a place that serves them in LA. I don't imagine that should be too tall of a request.

Profiteroles as they were presented to me.

Covered in chocolate. I went to take a picture of the empty container after I had 

devoured all of them, but the waitress took it away before I could!

After the hefty and excellent meal, we took Philip's bike to Aurora's house so that he didn't have to chain it up on the street, and then we went to have a drink at a place called Oslo's. At least I'm pretty sure that's what it was called. The rest of the evening was just as pleasant and enjoyable as dinner was. After one drink we went across the street to an 'amusement center' consisting of a large-ish arcade and a casino. Philip really wanted to play pinball (he kept singing 'Pinball Wizard', which was fantastic).

We played the middle Spider-man one.

We played head-to-head pinball, well I guess technically head-to-head-to-head (ha!) and Philip won by a rather large margin. I, in turn, lost by a rather large margin. *shame* But that's OK! Afterwards Aurora and I played two rounds of air hockey and we both won once. I love air hockey so much! Philip had a bad run-in with a busted Guitar Hero machine, and then we all played a game of pool.

You can see Aurora's arm there. Yay pool!

Unfortunately, I caused a spectacular loss for Aurora and myself. It had been an extremely long time since I'd played pool (I really can't remember the last time) and it was a sad show. The loss was entirely my fault, seeing as I sunk the eight ball while both teams had two balls left. Ah well. It was still fun!

The night ended with a few more drinks back at Oslo's and continued fun conversation. It was great to finally get an evening out with my co-workers who I have spent the last three months with. So, in that tiny way, this entry is slightly relevant to my photo life. Ha!

-MJ

Black Rock and around the court.

I've had a few positive photo excursions recently. The weather has been gorgeous and as a result enticing. I'm a little lazy, so even though I want to take pictures, I find it oddly difficult to drag myself out of the house to actually take the pictures. It's always very satisfying once I have though. Fortunately for me, I now have the added influence and encouragement of Andrew. He enjoys being indoors as much as I do (heh), but he also knows that photography is important to me and that I can use forceful nudges here and there.

This staircase is frequently engulfed in water from the tide.

So anywho, let's go to a few days ago. The sun was particularly blazing; I actually took off my coat for the first time in a long time. I was hot walking down the street back to the studio and that felt really nice. My boss took me out for food so we could discuss some organization restructure ideas of mine away from the bustle of the studio. He told me to take advantage of the beautiful weather and then dropped me off at Black Rock. I blogged about, and posted pictures of, Black Rock last summer too. It's a building/diving area on the coast along The Prom in Salthill. It's a fantastic place to be on a warm day, especially when armed with a camera.

Neat-o seaweed.

I sat on the edge of a cement partition for a while just soaking up the warmth of the sun. When I was in Ireland last summer I had only 3 legitimately warm days and I was honestly expecting misery and rain through this whole month. I've been very pleased. After mindless staring at the ocean I realized I only had a little bit of time before I had to walk back to work, so I set to work.

I wish I had had my 50mm with me. I had to crop this photo to get the perspective 

I wanted since my 24mm couldn't focus as close as I would have wished.

My first task set me to the staircase shown above. The few times I'd been to Black Rock before saw the tide up kind of high. I was fortunate this day because I was able to see a great amount of resilient sea life and rusted up old things on the shore.

My favorite from the day.

One wall was covered in mussels. So shiny, so abundant. Slightly luminescent. Speckled here and there were white swirling shells and I even saw some limpets. I almost leaned on a bed of closed up barnacles (that could have hurt) and I also found a shallow pool with a few glistening, closed up anemones. It was magical.

In this case the sun flares were perfect.

I'm not sure, but I think that's a small cluster of eggs.

Today I wrestled myself up and into a pair of shoes and out the front door. Everyday I walk past this odd cluster of tall, thin trees that's in a field adjacent to my house. It's kind of interesting, mostly at night, but I feel like it has potential. Today was the kind of day where Andrew's forceful nudging was greatly appreciated because I really wasn't feeling up to leaving the house >.>

Perfect opportunities for shallow DOF and manual focus practice.

Not too far down the street there was a semi-rowdy group of young adults sitting in lawn chairs on their driveway. They were loud and obnoxious and oddly distracting. I had a hard time focusing on my goals with them shrieking and honking with laughter in the background. Plus, I decided to wear my swishy/leafy skirt today and the tapered ends kept slapping against my ankles and making me jump thinking I had a bug or spider on me. Not to mention all of the thin dead twigs that were slapping up from my foot steps and poking me in the calves. It was an adventure.

Very spaced out.

I had an idea in my head of how I wanted to photograph this little copse of trees. I was seeing something sort of old, faded, maybe slightly out of focus. It's times like these that I wish I had an auto Holga filter, or a distorted lens. I need to save my money and get a lensbaby lens. Preferably the Composer. I loved the tilt/shift when I had my Techniques class, using a real tilt/shift camera no less, but the heft of the real camera was strenuous. 

I have a difficult time getting up tree shots that I like.

I'm calling today a successful outing. I wasn't feeling very hopeful about the shots while I was actually outside, but viewing them on the computer screen is always different. I was surprised by how many photos I was pleased with, and had to narrow them down to choose what would go up here. I didn't spend all that much time outside, but it was getting cold as the sun began to set and the hyenas in the lawn chairs were seriously bugging me.

Lots of brick over hurr.

Here's to another successful day sometime soon.

-MJ

I walk to and from work.

Solicitor doors just down the street from the studio.

This will be filled with photos of that.

Alright, it is serious blogging time; there is a lot to catch up on! I almost feel overwhelmed. Where shall I start? It'll be difficult to go about this in a linear fashion, so why don't I just start talking about things as I think of them?

A not in use church.

First of all, I'd like to give a shout-out to Herbal Essences, because their line of volumizing and shine-inducing shampoo and conditioners are amazing. My hair doesn't feel thick, per say, but it certainly feels less limp and pathetic. I felt that that was important to put here because I bought the shampoo and conditioner upon my arrival. I haven't used Herbal Essences in a while, but I don't remember them being this good. Is it special in Ireland, or have they changed their formula? I'll have to investigate once I'm back home.

The door of the not in use church.

The weather has taken a turn for the wet and dreary. Normally I'm not bothered, but walking to and from work has changed my tune. It is far too damp out there. Not to mention cold. No, let's mention cold. It is so cold here. I mean, March is a stupid month for weather anyway, but this is excessive. I didn't bring any shoes other than converse because I... hm. OK so I'm not sure why. Regardless, that was a mistake. I should have brought a pair of winter/snow boots. I own two pairs, so I'm feeling a tad foolish at the current. I'm interested in keeping all of my toes, so I stopped into Dunnes on the way home today to look for some inexpensive boots. Why is it that shoes are either dirt cheap and of shoddy construction, or off the charts expensive and practical? And by practical I mean they're not going to fall apart. There are plenty of impractical shoes that are well built. There are also plenty of impractical shoes that are pretty much made of paper and scotch tape. I've derailed myself a bit. I have a goal of obtaining my shoes that will keep my toes on my feet. Moving on.

Gate along the front of a church.

I started working at the studio on the 1st and I am happy to report that it's going very well. Peter is very nice and fun to work with, as are his two main employees. I shall call them... Aurora and Philip, haha! Philip is from England and Aurora is from Germany. There's quite the diverse environment in there! It's very fun. I've had a chance to work with everyone now and I'm liking it a lot. It's a bit laid back even though there's a lot of work to be done. I can definitely tell when someone is feeling a touch stressed, but things have (so far) remained calm.

Excellent vine skeleton along the wall of an apartment building.

Something particularly special about what I'm doing over in the studio is presenting new ideas for their existing systems. Workflow and digital asset management, to be specific. Peter really liked the few things that I said when we met last summer, and my first day in he took me to a late breakfast to discuss some of my ideas in more detail. So far I have had plenty of opportunities to share my thoughts and opinions, and we're all working together to implement them to see if I can have a positive impact on the studio. It's truly a unique experience and I am extremely fortunate to be here doing this.

This is about halfway to the city centre from the studio. I haven't gone in yet, but I plan on it.

Excellently blue building next to the comic store.

Just as an aside, I keep playing with my hair because it feels so nice. I've been keeping it completely pulled back with a clip the past few days because it has been so freaking windy, and since it's down before bed I'm having a hayday with it!

Just a bend in the road. I wonder why that Wired Gaming place closed down?

Anywho.

Back side of the Roisin Dubh and some of the Corrib River. 

The studio is in Salthill and fairly close to the Prom. It takes me about 20 minutes to walk to work, so I'm getting a nice little round of cardio erryday. Although, that get counteracted by how much tea I've been drinking at the studio. I'm not accustomed to it, and I don't really like the flavor unless I have 3 teaspoons of sugar. That's a lot. Most people do one or half of one or something. If I have more than one cup a day then damn, that's too much sugar. And that's not even touching on the fact that every surface is covered in chocolate biscuits! I know I don't have to eat them, but if they're there and I'm allowed then I am going to eat them! The candy here is horrible, but the chocolate is amazing. I've missed it and I have to be careful. So far I've only had hot chocolate from Butler's once, and that's saying something. I've managed to show restraint in that area. Also, I haven't had mashed potatoes for lunch everyday; another incredible feat of willpower. If I can stay away from the mountains of chocolate then I'll be golden. Oh, and if I contain Coke consumption to only when I'm having whiskey.

Owen works at the Daybreak and his brother-in-law owns Health & Fitness next door!

So, a bit more about work. Peter does a wide variety of photography. He's one of the top wedding photographers in Ireland and just about everyone in Galway knows who he is or is at least familiar with his name. He does family photos, modeling/portrait photography, commercial, architecture and also small editorial type stuff. He covers a lot of the Debs photos for the schools too. He has a modest studio in the center of town with a cozy and open atmosphere. I really enjoy being in there. Thus far I've been doing all administrative and design work. On the 18th there are two shoots that he wants me to help with; one is an engagement shoot and another is a family portrait with five kids. Yeesh.

Harvest was where I went with my friends last summer every time we bought some drink. They're all closed now :(

My largest concern happened to come up on Monday, I think it was. Peter asked Philip to setup the lights in the studio for a shoot that was coming in later in the evening. Philip asked me if I'd ever setup a studio before and I was all, "Psh, yeah. Are you kidding me?". Actually I modestly replied, "Yes I have, but it never hurts to have a refresher. I don't know what brand of strobe you use; they're probably all similar but please show me." 8-B So I went into the studio space with him, he hands me a light meter.... and I just stared at it. My mind was an absolute blank. Talk about embarrassing! He goes, "What the hell are you doing?" and I laughed and shrugged and went, "I know this looks bad, it's just been a while and I'm having a lapse at the moment!"He directed me and once I was finished I handed him the light meter and walked back to my desk in shame.

Rickety and closed off bridge. It goes from a car and foot bridge to that weird stand-alone building.

You're not allowed to walk on it. Obviously.

Today he asked me again if I had any portrait photography experience. I hesitated for a second, knowing that everyone here is notorious for their jokery, before asking, "...are you being serious?" and he said yes, then went on to explain that he meant studio portrait photography. I waited another second before saying, "I know that what happened in the studio the other day showed to the contrary, but I promise you that I'm very well versed in studio photography. It has been almost a year since I've done it, so the knowledge isn't at the front of my mind. I promise that up until that point I spent two years in the studio! I just need a refresher!" he laughed and seemed to believe me >.> I'd love to get in there and prove to myself that I still know what I'm doing!

This place is near Massimo's and the Roisin Dubh. Shockingly good fries. The burgers aren't very good.

As for business away from work? I spend a lot of time at home. I like my house and my room except for the fact that it's cold. I was thrilled when I noticed a space heater in my room. There's no heat to speak of in the house. I believe it runs on gas and, well, the gas tank is empty! We just wear shoes and long sleeves and keep bundled up at night. I'm greatly looking forward to nicer weather.  Aside from the house being cold, it's very nice. Everything works as it should and I think I've finally figured out the washer and dryer. It's furnished but there are a few things to be desired in the kitchen. A wooden spoon, cookie sheet and spatula are just a few items I can think of. Sharp knives, there's another one. Good thing I can 'survive' off of peanut butter & jelly and Frosted Flakes! Just kidding, I've been eating pasta too.

It's nice inside there. I've been with Owen and Ger a few times.

My housemates are very nice. We'll call them... Allen and Titus. Allen is a law student and Titus is training to be a hotel manager. Allen's girlfriend... Tyra... is around a lot and she's just lovely. They seem like great company and it's a shame that I haven't made time to socialize with them yet. I will though! I definitely will. The house runs very smoothly, everyone is quite considerate. Somehow we haven't run into any issues with the bathroom, which is amazing. No one is ever in there when I need to get in, and as far as I know I haven't prevented anyone from being somewhere on time by hogging up the shower. Everyone does their dishes, every time, and we even put away one another's clean dishes that are drying.  I don't have the hang of the garbage schedule yet, but I have sorted the trash/recycle/compost and put them in their relevant bins, so that's good.

The upper portion of some shop fronts in the Latin Quarter.

Earlier this week I tried my hand at real cooking. Andrew gave me a few suggestions on what to buy and make, then he talked me through cooking over video chat. I ran into a few problems. Namely the fact that I don't know how to cook. There are basic aspects that elude me. Mistakes were made. Frustration was present. Cheese was melted. Chicken was ever so slightly burned. In the end I had some damn delicious homemade macaroni and cheese, pan seared chicken and some vegetables. In case you aren't paying attention, that means that I prepared raw meat all by myself. I had my hands all up ins that boneless skinless chicken fillet. It was gross, by the way.

This is a great little grocer. It looks so authentic and old-school from the outside. I'd like to make time to go in and look around.

This has become a bit excessive so I think I'm going to wrap it up. I've hardly touched on what has happened since I arrived and I'm hoping to get into a regular posting groove again. St. Patrick's Day is next week. This'll be interesting.

And finally the studio! I have to cross the street twice to get to it. It's confusing because the cars go all over the damn place at this intersection.

I'll end this with a few 'creative' photos. Good? Bad? I'm not sure yet. I like them though, and I certainly had fun creating them.

-MJ

Ireland Day 72 - The Prom at Night

Today was uneventful. The sun was out, and that was nice. I ate at McDonaghs (oh gosh I forgot how it's spelled) and I liked their chips better than the first time.

I have this shot two different ways; one with the woman and one without. I feel like her presence lends more context and familiarity.

My biggest issue is that their chicken is super delicious but it's all on the bone and it's all over the plate and I'm hacking away at it in the crowded restaurant and bits of bone and skin and meat are flying onto the table and I get really self-conscious because I don't know how to eat chicken and then I get up and leave even though there's still meat on the bone but I'm too embarrassed and exhausted from trying and I'm full on chips anyway so I figure it's a wash.

To make myself feel better after the whole ordeal I bought another Snapple Apple =3

Fairly 'meh' shot, my favorite part is the very reflective sliver near the bottom.

My sights were set on going out this evening since I have tomorrow off (woo!), but that didn't happen. I pondered over how I would spend my Friday night when I remembered that I can always spend some time with Miriam! She live across the street from Steve and frequently hosts interns. She's very nice and I have severely underutilized her presence since I've been in Ireland.

We ended up going and getting dinner and then walking the Prom! We went to Supermacs because she was feeling like a quick meal. First time I've had it since my arrival, it was OK. She doesn't usually eat fast food and she was unimpressed with her sandwich and near the end of the meal a bug landed in her ketchup. It was hilarious.

Black Rock on the Prom. My favorite shot from the evening.

Our walk on the Prom was so so so great. It was a beautiful evening with a wonderful sunset and the tide was out. The moon was peaking through the small puffs of clouds and the light reflections on the ocean were plentiful.

Fortunately, she told me we'd go to the Prom before we left the house so I had my camera with me!

A very satisfying photo taking session did follow.

Looking down the Prom from Black Rock.

Salthill and the Prom: I love you.

-MJ

Ireland Day 71 - Series of Random Events

Really, the title could apply to any given day.

However, I believe that today has been exceptional in that area.

There have been a bunch of random things that have occurred that I find to be interesting and like finding a dollar on the ground or something. Quite enjoyable, but really not that big of a deal.

First of all: the bus. It was running late, as per usual, so I was unperturbed. However, once the red bus did finally decide to grace me with its presence, I saw not my 33 Knocknacarra bus, but the 36 Salthill bus.

"WTF?" was my initial reaction, followed quickly by, "Is it going to stop for me?"

It did indeed stop for me, and a strange bus ride did commence.

Apparently, the Salthill bus is much busier and crowded than the Knocknacarra one. This trip was, I'm sure, far beyond its legal capacity. I was intrigued because we went on a different route! This shouldn't have been as novel as it was, but oh well. I was all "New route! New things to look at!"

Although, the bus didn't actually go anywhere that I haven't already been. It buzzed past Joyce's, then down Knocknacarra, then went to the Prom! After that we hung a left onto Lower Salthill Road and ended up going out past NUIG. Next thing I knew we were overtaking Eddie Rocket's. What a ride!

But really, I enjoyed it more than I should have. Plus, this bus stopped I swear every ten feet and picked up at least five more people. Absolute madness.

The day continued on at a normal pace until I went to lunch.

And then, the most exciting thing happened to me.

Ok, that's an empty bottle, but the sentiment is still there. Do you have ANY idea how long it has been since I've had this flavor of Snapple?! It is entirely possible that it has been over six years. SIX. I used to have it every day at lunch in high school. I'll have you know that it was just as delicious today as I remembered it being. Thank you Cambridge's, I will be back for another one tomorrow <3

Just like with the Salthill bus, I was probably more excited about the Snapple than I should have been. I was standing and waiting to order a sandwich, the line was rather long. My eyes wandered over to the drink fridge that was close at hand. "Oh, Snapple" I thought to myself, "I wonder if they have the same flavors here". As I scanned the racks for Strawberry Lime, I froze on the word "apple" and I swear that my heart stopped just a little bit.

I reached out a disbelieving hand and read the label closer, then held the bottle up to the light to observe the color of the drink.

Definitely Snapple Apple colored.

HAPPY EFFIN' DAYS!

At the tail end of my break I decided to unwind from my Snapple high by reading a few blogs. My internet snooping brought me to something magical. She is a freaking comedic genius. Her posts had me laughing harder than I have in a while. I wish I had found her blog sooner! Although, reading the back logs is not a bad thing.

I promptly sent a link off to Cassidy, who I knew would appreciate the humor. Just another good thing to happen today.

The bus gives me really mixed feelings. Some days I just can't stand it and then other days it's really not so bad. Days like today though just give me something to think about and focus on.

My seat mate was an interesting fellow, I will say. He was young and in a nice looking suit. He spent the first few minutes of our shared journey untangling his earphone cord with a look of intense concentration upon his very Irish face.

After he finished, placed his earphones in and had his music playing, I assumed that he would cease being a point of interest for me.

I was wrong!

He appeared to be talking to himself. I see nothing particularly bad about this. He wasn't creepy or smelly or old and his clothing didn't have holes in it. What caught my eye about it was that he was reminding me of myself.

I wondered for a bit if he was actually on the phone. His music came from his phone and he had a mouth piece dangling down the cord a bit. This suspicion was put to rest when he received a phone call and he said 'hello' and moved the mouth piece closer to his mouth. Settled that one.

There was a moment where we were both sitting perfectly still and then, almost simultaneously, we both shifted and resettled and stopped moving. A second "WTF?" moment in the day.

Lately I've been wondering to myself if other people talk to themselves as often as I do, or if people will randomly smile to themselves all alone in a public place, you know, like I do. I look around the bus every morning and evening to see if I can catch someone doing those things but they're always obnoxiously still.

Actually seeing this guy do the things that I do was incredibly interesting. I had so many questions for him! He seemed distracted though, so I kept my headphones on and my mouth shut. I was slightly sad to see him go even though I knew I was never going to actually ask him if he were talking to himself, and if so, what about?

My departure from the red bus (it was the 33 Knocknacarra this time, no worries) faced me first and foremost with this.

I am alight with curiosity. Wind? Vehicle? Angry dog?

And speaking of angry dogs. I had an encounter! Now, I can't say for 100% sure if this dog was angry or not, but he was certainly formidable. Sadly (smartly?) I did not stop to take a picture.

He was coming at me at a fast enough pace, but not running. The big black mouth was open and there were small barks issuing from it. I looked at him once and kept walking. It was very difficult to not keep looking back, but I'm pretty sure if you do that then they'll be more inclined to chase you.

My only response was to not run, but continue my pace, and remove one side of my headphones to listen for growls, barks or rapidly padding feet. "Am I about to get mauled by a dog?" I asked myself. Once I was certain that the dog had dropped chase I said aloud, "No I'm good" and then I noticed someone standing next to their car about five feet to my right.

So I ran the rest of the way home.

After all the neat-o events of the day I am full of some wicked energy. To dispel it I am singing as loudly as I can with my headphones on and the volume up. I will only sing if I can't hear myself.

Oh, one more thing.

This didn't happen today, but actually last Thursday so I think it counts.

At Steve's birthday party I wore a hole in one of the knees of my jeans!

I'm done now.

-MJ

Ireland Day 62 - Canals

Saw these... reed things a few weeks ago and wanted to photograph them then but didn't have my camera. This is the first time I've been past this area since that initial visit.

So I didn't walk the Prom today, but I did walk around Salthill a little bit while I attempted to find a few places. I was surprised to suddenly find myself in front of the printing place that Brad uses. I just turned around and there it was! Mission accomplished. It's a closer walk from the city center than I expected. It was really cold/rainy/windy when I embarked this afternoon, but by the time I was heading back into the center to catch the bus home I was super warm. After shedding my zip up and scarf I decided that I really wanted some caramel galaxy bars.

I kept losing my balance near the water. For a second or two I thought I may fall in, which would have been bad. The water is a little gross.

My adventures took me to where Owen works and I said hi to him and bought four of the bars. Mmmmm. Now I am stocked up.

The wind was picking up again while I was taking photos of this area.

Back at home I just finished eating a ridiculously huge plate of pasta. My eyes were a tad larger than my stomach. I'm flopped in bed watching the last season of Friends and thinking up a to-do list. I may be in town tonight? I don't know yet. Feeling pretty lazy now.

-MJ