Home on Friday night, fighting off a horrible hacking cough and nursing a migraine while my friends are out at a pub crawl/going away party. I won’t bother to pretend that I was looking forward to bouncing from bar to bar tonight, but I was psyched for a chance to go to the only male strip club in town, just for shits and giggles. I’m 99% sure I would have been grossed out (after all, what’s attractive about guys in man panties?) but still. Anyway, I’m going to keep this short, since the bright white light of the WordPress backend is making my face want to split in two right now.

Saturday, May 11th was a very busy day. I went running, got a great massage that has kept my back pain at bay for almost a week now (!!!), ate a great sushi lunch, then met up with my coworkers for an event called the Champagne Stroll on Magazine Street. Afterwards, we all went bar hopping, and then my friend Gary and I went to see The Essentials play at this club called The Maison.

 

Sunday, May 12th was low key. I woke up to a lovely bath from Murph (really a reminder that his food bowl was almost empty – he only “loves” me when he needs something), then later walked through the CBD to the movie theater to see Iron Man 3. I’m one of the minority who happen to not hate Gwyneth Paltrow, so for me, Pepper Pots is one of the best things about the Iron Man series. There was one particular scene in this last installment that made me cry for happiness. I won’t ruin it for you if you haven’t seen it, but it’s a small part of a pivotal action scene, where you see that even though Tony has been consumed by his work as of late, he didn’t neglect to take every precaution to make sure his most precious asset, Pepper, would be safe. Yes, I’m a total sap. Sue me.

Monday, May 13th I watched workmen putting some of the finishing touches on the building that houses Peche, the new Donald Link restaurant at the corner of Magazine & Julia Streets. I also discovered that you can revive wilted asparagus by snipping off the ends and putting the stalks in water overnight! It’s a miracle! I was also in a short video about the nature of sanity.

On Tuesday, May 14th I was in a bad mood most of the day. I was in a bad mood most of the week, but I was also very tired, which later I found out was because I was getting sick. Sick sucks. Anyway, I walked around in the CBD in search of the elusive UPS Store (which I guess is hidden inside the Roosevelt Hotel, but I never found it). On my journey, I found this lovely sign that reminded me to chill the eff out.

Wednesday, May 15th was all about going to see Star Trek Into Darkness – whoot! I went with Gary and Nathan from work, plus six or seven of Nathan’s friends from Mississippi. We saw it at the IMAX in 3D, and even got a free commemorative poster that glows in the dark. So cool. True to form, I forgot to take photos at the event, but I did take some cute snapshots of Nathan’s two dogs, Otis and Nola, beforehand.

Last night, (Thursday, May 16th) my friend Caroline and I went to watch the Tibetan Buddhist monks construct a portion of the sand mandala. It was gorgeous, and my photos do it no justice. I’ll have to write more about it in another post, because the coughing is back and I kind of want to wrap this up.

I spent most of last night awake, coughing up a lung (or so it seemed). Today I made some changes on my blog – sorry to keep messing about with the template, but the old one was malfunctioning – then Gary and I went down to the convention center to meet up with Caroline and watch the monks destroy the mandala. Unfortunately, the crowd was so thick that I couldn’t really see much, but I did get to hear them chanting and playing instruments. They sound like giant bullfrogs when they chant, and the instruments sounded like 2nd grade music appreciation, but I know that’s just my Western ear. I loved it! Afterward, I bought an altar cloth and a book of the Dalai Lama’s sayings. Tomorrow morning I’ll get to hear him speak in person!