P: Maine, Re-remembered

Oh, thou cobalt-blue bay, stretching on for miles along the coastline, framed by sky-high maples and the tops of otter heads! MAINE--- you are the one that got away! Stella! Stelllaaaaa!~!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so despite the fact that I've been scratching myself to no end from mosquito bites, I had an amazing weekend at Jessi's Not a Bachelorette Party. Jessi's sister Karen, Jessi's former Somerville roommate Mara, and I were the first to arrive from Boston. The house was really cute, as it was right on the water, and I'll tell you, we were freakin' STARVING! Luckily Miri showed up about 5-10 minutes after we did, and as she is always prepared, she had five billion snacks, including this delicious homemade gingery granola. I proceeded to inhale my way through her sesame sticks and strange Canadian candy, while we waited for Jessi and Damien to arrive with the groceries and booze. For dinner that night, we had a nice BBQ of hot dogs, hamburgers, and Doritos. Then the NY minivan arrived, and the party was in full swing.

We played this game called Catch Phrase, which featured a hot potato electronic gadget that spit out "catch phrases" which you were supposed to describe to your teammates, Taboo-style. We were also playing to keep our minds off of Annie's flight status, because we kept hearing different reports on how it was going to be delayed, and she owuld have a 4 min window to make her connecting flight to Portland. Eventually we got on the phone with a dumb and superbly unhelpful Jet Blue employee, where Damien and I engaged in a little good-cop, bad-cop routine:

Me: "Just tell us if they can hold her connecting flight."

Superbly unhelpful JetBlue employee: "I'm sorry, ma'am, but without the passenger's confirmation #, we're not able to disclose that information."

Me: "Um, the aforementioned passenger is currently mid-flight, why else do you think we're CALLING?!!"

Damien (aside, while frantically hand-gesturing): "Patty, maybe that's not the most helpful way to approach..."

SUJBE: "Ma'am, we cannot proceed until we have the confirmation number."

Me: "Can you at least tell us if you can give her a hotel room if she does not make the connecting flight, since that's the last flight out and it's YOUR COMPANY'S FAULT that she would miss her connecting flight?"

Damien, diplomatically: "What we mean to say is that our friend is currently in the air, and if we had the confirmation number, we'd of course give it to you. Please understand our situation. I know you guys are also in a tough spot as well, but we just need to know."

SUJBE: "I'm afraid I'm not allowed to answer that question."

WTF? So eventually we get word that she made her flight, even though the status update says "taxi-ing." We're all imagining Annie sitting on a plane that is making doughnut loops around JFK, killing time just for sh*ts and giggles. When we get further word, Jessi and Damien cut off our hummus supply and pack a little snacky for Annie.

Around this time, we are all pooped out from CatchPhrase, so someone--I think it was Chava--has an idea to make a sash for Jessi. Our only supplies are a brown paper bag, a couple of pens, and some tin foil. Oh, and Q-tips. Chava laments that she didn't bring her school supply kit. Pretty soon the sash turns into a cross between a crown and a bridal dunce cap, with the words BRIDEZILLA emblazoned upon it. We are each invited to make a drawing on the hat, and there are streams of toilet paper coming out from the backside of the hat, which is supposed to mimic a veil. This is what happens when you get six people in a cabin in coastal Maine, with no TV = ). I thought we'd make a book club diorama as well, but alas, those supplies were lacking.

Pretty much from there, everything picks up from where Annie left off, and to cap off a wonderful weekend, I get to bring Annie home with me and we enjoy a beautiful run along the Charles, crossing my favorite bridge, the Mass Ave/Harvard Bridge. Que fantastique! The rest of this week has been pretty busy for me, with minimal work getting done, and going out every night. WTF I'm supposed to turn in a thesis. But Monday night is my rock climbing-2 hour language exchange double header sesssion from 7:30-11:15pm, Tues my friend Cloon from Swat was in town from ENGLAND, so she spent the night, and then we had lunch with Pam and Sarah T at PF CHang's, last night I had drinks at Zuzu with one of Jessi and her sister's friends, who is also writing a novel; tonight I'm having drinks with my friend Tim, a former colleague from Random House, and tomorrow night it's off to the Middle East (a bar, not the region) with Amy.

Also, I spilled soy-peanut sauce all over my manuscript today in the library. I was so pissed off.

So, I'm going to fight off sleep by going out tonight, when I really shouldn't, and then I will proceed to feel really guilty and add to the 3 new pimples on my chin.

love,
P