P: Personal Calling Cards, Tim's Visit to Publick House, etc

I, too, apologize again for being remiss in my blog duties, which I generally look forward to as a nice break from the hectic nature of grad school. So it goes. As it stands now, my week is front-loaded; class, teaching, and class happen M-T-W respectively, so by Wed night I can breathe a big sigh of relief until the next week. Which is kind of awesome. Okay, actually, I have this hip-hop, LA style class on Thurs nights, but that doesn't really count.

After a hellacious 3ish weeks of long days and nights of writing JANE (my reinterpretation of Jane Eyre), which involved skipping the gym or cutting down my routine, endlessly shoving gummy bears (inspired by Diane's gummy cake!), pretzel nuggets, tortilla chips, bagels, muffins, and every other carbohydrate known to man, into my mouth to fuel my writing, while drinking way too many bottles of diet Pepsi, and eating out of the prepared foods aisle at our local supermarket, Johnny's (platters of mac 'n cheese, bowtie pasta and meatballs, chicken parm with spaghetti...sense a theme here?).

A classmate made a comment that our novel(la) process ages you, like the before/after shots of presidents, and that was a pretty depressing thought.

SIGH.

Before I kick off on another story due for my workshop with Daphne (this Monday), I shall recount a bit of what's been going on the past few days.

Sat evening: Tim arrives; we go to the Roadhouse, where we ordered, AHEM!:
-1 Jameson, neat (me)
-1 Whale Tail pale ale (me)
-2 Brooklyn lagers (Tim)
-Full rack of pork ribs, smoked
-Cole slaw
-Collard greens
-Hush puppies
-Buffalo-meat chili dogs (2)
-French fries

(photo snapped post-carnage)

Can we say red meat, heart attack carnage? Oh my heavens, it was delicious. Particularly the buffalo meat hot dogs with french fries, which was actually only $10, given how fat the dogs were, and how huge the heapings of chili and fries were.

Afterwards, we went to the Publick House, a Trappist monk gastropub known for their Belgian selections, as well as their beer-infused savory menu. There we were joined by my roomie Sheila and our friend Amy. (Amy with the bangs, Sheila in the middle!)

Then my friend Ian (a brewer at six point) and 2 of his brewer friends came to join us at TPH; they were in town for Extreme Beer Fest, which was sold out, so unfortunately, I never made it there.

In classic Patty style, that night I kept trying to increase my funness for the night, or maximize my production possibilities frontier curve, if you will. We started talking with this other kid who was applying for grad school in marketing research, and he was kind of dorky and maybe not the smartest watt in the bulb (err...consulting Morgan's cliche dictionary as we speak to correct that idiomatic phrase), but I was now drinking Wachusett IPAs (very tasty, btw), and I should've been talking with Ian and catching up with him, but instead, I'm talking to this retarded guy, and while I'm in the bathroom, Sheila tells me he said to Amy, "You're really tall. I have a friend who's tall and she can't wear heels. That must be really bad for you." And then he said to Sheila, "You look like you're the responsible one. And you look like you don't eat red meat" (she does).

WTF?

Clearly, I have no filtering system, as well as severe beer goggles, and then all of a sudden we all leave in a rush, and I find this kid's card in my purse. It's not a business card, mind you; it's a PERSONAL card. I know this phenomenon might be catching on (think I read something in NYT about it), but I couldn't help but think of that moment in "Mean Girls" where the captain of the mathlete team hands out his personal calling cards.

Anyway!

Sunday, Tim had a horrible hangover (not me, thankfully), and we didn't get moving until late, so we walked in the rain (boo) for half an hour to go for brunch at The Fireplace in Brookline. I had two eggs over medium with bacon and home fries, and Tim continued the hot dog theme with baked beans. Delish. Then it was a lazy Sunday, which involved Indian takeout, watching The Boondock Saints--Willem Dafoe was AWESOME in it...and it takes place in Boston! with Irish brothers!--and then waking up early to do another cholesterol laden breakfast at Zaftig's deli in Brookline (delish again!).

So, now I'm in a mad scramble to write a new story for Monday, and then I'll have to write another 50p for Ha Jin on April 1st, and then one more story, plus I read about 14 new stories a week from my classmates, students, and assignments.

I can't freakin wait until Spring Break--- South Beach style, holla!!