And the Score Is....

Most people I talk to now are surprised to hear that Houston is the 4th largest city in the nation. I guess if you're not having to deal with it, you'd never really know it. It's not pretty. It's not really very pleasant. It's not what anyone would term a tourist hot-spot.

But one thing Houston does have going for it is the food. Some of the best food and restaurants around. The numerous grocery stores where you can find anything at all, and more than you can imagine - the Fresh Markets, the Central Markets, the Whole Foods, the Specs. I wouldn't have believed it. I didn't know that going in, but I sure miss it coming out.

I now work at a small firm in a smaller city, and most of my coworkers come from even smaller towns and cities. I'm not exaggerating when I say I get to hear stories of their childhoods, playing games with siblings in the barn. Stories of graduating with 11 people in their classes, and we're not talking about a small, prestigious, private schools. I love it. It's a world I didn't experience, and I'm amazed.

Naturally, I shouldn't be surprised that Nashvillians don't know good Tex-Mex. And I really shouldn't be surprised either, when they see something like humus and ask what it is. But it does make me sigh now and again. We've found a good pizza place and a good sandwich place. There are passable Greek and BBQ places, but that's about it. Even the American food leaves much to be desired. Everything tastes canned, pre-packaged and reheated. There's no kick or creativity to the food around here. Tennessee doesn't do beef like Texas does, of course. And the size and population of Nashville doesn't lend itself to the variety of other cultural cuisines and fabulous signature restaurants that Houston has, understandably. *Sigh.

The other day, Michael and I went to THE Fresh Market in Nashville. (Yes, the only. We looked it up.) The sights, the smells, and the feel of the place was so wonderful and familiar. It was just the same as it is in Houston, and the idea of culinary variety and adventure was so exciting.

We were there on a quick trip to pick up coffee beans before making a couple other stops.

"Can we stay here for a while?......" I asked.

"…..Maybe move in?...."

Still, as far as I'm concerned, Houston: 1 or 2, Nashville: many more.

September 19th

For all those who need a reminder, it's:

International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Enjoy!

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

For a bit of instruction, check this out (courtesy of the coolest brother to find and send this to me...)

http://loadingreadyrun.com/showmovie.php?x=480&y=360&url=talklikepirate.mov

Years of Dance and Taxes Have Warped my Brain

Believe it or not, this actually came up at work a few weeks back. I've been a bit hesitant to post it, unsure if it would shock or upset people; but seriously, it's just too amusing to me not to share.

True confessions: I have been to a Vegas male strip show. What do I have to say about that? It is probably one of the funniest memories I have.

Now here's the 'obligatory' disclaimer: Do I recommend this? Of course not. But here’s my goofy experience.

I was working in Alpharetta, GA for a few months, towards the end of my time with Deloitte. Instead of flying home one weekend or visiting family in Tennessee, I went with 3 other girls on a Girl’s Weekend to Las Vegas. My first trip to Vegas. We walked the strip, played some casinos, toured the amazing hotels, visited piano bars, rode the enormously high roller coaster at New York New York, and splurged once on the renowned all-you-can-eat buffet at the Belagio.

We also “took in a show.” We looked at ticket prices and availability of different comedians, musicians, and dances, and decided on Australia’s Thunder from Down Under - the male dancing group themselves - to go with the Girl’s Weekend theme. I debated on whether I would actually participate in that outing.

If the other girls had wanted to go to a strip club, I wouldn’t have gone. I would have found something else to do by myself. But because this was tickets to a ‘Vegas show’ in one of the hotels, I thought I’d give it a try. Perhaps it’s a hair-splitting difference to you, but it made a big difference to me. We were in something like Conference Room A, 3rd floor of a hotel and casino. It looked more like one of those Learn How To Make $80,000 A Year And Never Get Out of Your Pajamas seminars.

We got there too late to get a ‘good seat.’ The other girls were disappointed, but this was key for me. I was fully prepared to go sit in a back corner by myself anyway. When it comes to these things, I have a You-Touch-Me-I-Hurt-You policy.

The venue for people-watching was absolutely priceless. The room was packed, and there were more than a few bachelorette parties present. Women of all sorts were in attendance, from college-aged to grandmothers. The emcee was a stitch, and the guys genuinely seemed to enjoy performing. Among the 5 or 6 who did solo performances, you could tell one had previous gymnastics experience, one was a Justin Timberlake/Michael Jackson copycat, and one looked like Fabio but sounded like Mickey Mouse. I was amazed at how crazy these women got over this show. All I could do was laugh.

Because here’s the kicker of the whole thing: I’m watching all these women scream and cheer and cat-call and shout, “He’s so hot!” and I’m sitting there thinking, “He needs to point his toes.”

I’m not kidding. After more than half my lifetime in gymnastics and dance, I’m counting out the music, noting travel moves and use of stage space, recognizing style similarities and taking off tenth deductions for things like sloppy arms. Am I a nerd? Yeah, I’m pretty sure. But the same thing happens in my head when people say they really want to win the lottery. Being the tax accountant all I can think is, “yeah, but there’s a lot of tax you have to pay on those prize winnings and most people claim bankruptcy within a year and a half because they don’t know how to handle the money.”

Kinda takes the excitement out of it. Even though I thought the entire situation was hysterical, I guess every party needs a pooper. That’s why they invited me.

On a side note, if anyone hasn’t been to Las Vegas, I’d definitely recommend it. It really has a fascinating beauty of its own, but there’s also no mistaking the under-current of deep sadness and misplaced hopes. It’s an experience.

Tiffany at 5 1/2 months

Okee dokee, so here I am at 5 1/2 months. Camille is starting to make an appearance!

I survived the double-shot glucose test this past week (see previous post Needles, Needles Everywhere). And the orange "soda" was not bad at all. They've come a long way in making it better, I've been told. I even had a choice between orange and fruit punch. I chose orange, though, because 1) I'm not too much a fan of fruit punch, and 2) like Jake once said, orange always wins.

I do have a bruise with a couple red spots and inner-elbow soreness. The actual blood-lettings were not bad, the second even less so than the first. But I chose to do both in the same arm. The double insult to the vein made my arm ache like the dickens 30 seconds after it was over. Yes, like the dickens.

Note to self and anyone else getting stuck twice - switch arms.

Macbeth-son

The other weekend, Michael and I went to Shakespeare in the Park. The theater company was doing Macbeth for this year's park performance. I had read Macbeth as a sophomore in high school but hadn't seen or read it since, so I was keen on going. It was enjoyable for the most part, but the artistic twist this theater put on it made it slightly odd.

The staging used big screens with bamboo painted all over them and the costuming was entirely Asian. It was sort of like the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon version of MacBeth. In the final battle scene, even, one of the banners for the good guys was a "crouching" lion, and the banner for the bad guy was a dragon. Yet the troupe changed none of the dialogue, so every geographical place mentioned was part of either Scotland or England.

For the most part we would get caught up in the story, and the costumes would fade into the background. But then we'd notice the silk kimonos and ninja assassins again when the actors did some sort of genuflection that you'd find in Memoirs of a Geisha or the like. By the very end, the characters are shouting, "Hail, King of Scotland!" while dressed like last samurai.

Michael dubbed it the Scottish-Asian Fusion Theater. And we agree with one of his classmates - we're a bit more of Shakespeare purists than that.

On a side note, the other thing that made the evening amusing was watching these Nashvillians fan themselves with cardboard fans bought to help raise money for the theater. It was a nice evening - high 80's maybe low 90's. A bit warm, but almost no humidity. Very pleasant, actually. And these people were behaving like it was hot out or something. Yeah, Michael and I don't miss the marathon Houston swelter.