Volume 8: January 07

Dear friends,

Just when I thought I had gotten so used to New York that I had nothing new to write to you about, I was proven wrong. To get you up to speed on our window situation, so this story will make more sense to you, I'll let you know that Scott and I bought some new drapes last month. We have blinds on our windows but they're white and tons of light still gets in, so we bought some drapes to go over them and they've been oh so helpful in the sleep department! However, Scott was finding it difficult to get out of bed in the AM because it was so dark, so I told him I'd open the drapes in the morning to let in the natural light. This was quite helpful for him.....

So it all began last Wednesday I believe. I was finishing a bowl of Kix, and in a hurry as I usually am in the morning. I walked over with my bowl to open the drapes for Scott, and God only knows what happened next, but the rod that holds the drapes came crashing down directly onto my bowl of Kix...Kix and milk are EVERYWHERE! On the drape, on the blinds, on the couch, on the floor, on my clothes. Plus there are little Kix rolling around all over the place. And I was actually on schedule that morning to get to work on time before that happened...so much to my chagrin, I had to wipe up my mess before I left for work.....moving on.......Last night I didn't get to sleep until about 12am for various reasons, and I woke up at about 2 to use the bathroom, which is quite common for me. Scott was just getting ready for bed, so I did my thing, got back in bed, and got all annoyed when he asked me to turn the lights on for him so he could see his way to bed and get his phone plugged in, etc For some reason, Scott goes over to the sink on his way to bed and yells out "Cockroach!" Now...I've gotten used to the occasional cockroach (remember when I cried after I killed my first one? Yeah, I'm past that stage. I just want to rid the world of those little bastards!).....but then Scott yells "2 cockroaches.....3 cockroaches....4 cockroaches....5 cockroaches...10 cockroaches! OH MY GOD! WE'RE INFESTED!!!" There I am, laying in bed, just flinching every time he says he's found another one, and then he's freaking out, I yell at him to get the raid, and then we're in for a 2 hour raid spraying, drawer emptying, cockroach killing, dish cleaning, garbage emptying nightmare. Quite frankly, it was a night from hell....and honestly, Scott is the only person I would want to go through that with! I know someday we'll look back and laugh...and I hope you're laughing now, because I'm sure its quite humorous to anyone it didn't happen to. However...it was creepy...gross...and thats not even the end of it........so due to the excess of Raid we sprayed in our Apt, we're practically high off of cockroach poison, and we crack open our window and turn on all our fans to try to get the smell out. I even sat by the window, trying to breath fresh air because the smell of raid was beginning to make me nauseated. Finally, around 4am, we had done all we could do, killed all the ones we saw (most of them were babies, but in a way, that's even grosser because that means they were probably just born recently, BLECH!), had dishes soaking in the sink, and I closed the window (the one which only has 1 drape on it right now because the other one is being washed this evening because it got some milk splashed on it in the Kix incident). I started lifting up the blinds to lock the window, and what happens? You guessed it.....the entire set of blinds just falls off the window onto the floor! We had only half the window covered by the drape, and the other half looking out into the street from our first floor apartment. I was ready to cry. But we're able to get the blinds back up despite the fact that half of one of the slots the rod goes into is broken off. Oy vey.

So here I sit at work, exhausted because I didn't actually fall asleep until 5am because I was afraid Scott and I would die from the Raid fumes if we fell asleep. I am dreading going home because about half of our dishes are sitting, soaking in soapy water in the sink, and I'll have to clean them all. And I am really hoping to avoid the smell of Raid for the next couples decades, as I think it will make me nauseated from now on. End of story.

In other news, Scott auditioned Saturday morning for Santa Cruz Shakespeare, which is a summer Shakespeare festival in Santa Cruz, CA. He got called back on the spot! So I'm hopeful this will work out for him. This would get him some professional theater under his belt, and that would be wonderful for his resume. However, he doesn't want to get his hopes up because he knows how the industry works better than I and doesn't want to be let down if he doesn't get cast. But we're proud of him just for being called back. What a stud!

Work is going fine for me, despite the fact that I have 2 highly neurotic bosses (seriously...I have stories which can be shared another time), which really adds a damper to an otherwise nice position. However, it just lets me know that this is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, and inspires me to keep my butt in gear on the road to nursing school (which I'll hopefully be starting in Summer or Fall of 08). I can't wait!

Scott and I have also discussed moving once he is done with school in the spring of 08. Manhattan is quite expensive, and I wouldn't mind being in a little bit more slow paced area. So we're going to look up in Riverdale, which is a nice little community in the northwest corner of the Bronx, right below Westchester county (which is like the suburbs of New York. Nice and expensive!) And we're also going to look in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as it is a up and coming little artsy area only a few subway stops from Manhattan. It really depends on where I get into school, and if Scott gets a NY or LA agent. Who knows. In 2 years, we could be headed for LA, though I think we'd prefer to stay on the east coast where things are quite so California. Who knows what the future has in store!!

I hope all is well for all of you. For those of you I saw over my trip home in December, it was great to see you!! And I will be back April 18th-22nd. Pencil me in your calenders! Also, thanks so much for all the well-wishes about my dad. He is scheduled to see the oncologist this week, so I'll keep those of you interested updated on how he's doing. So far, he's getting his good spirits back and feeling more normal (especially thanks to our family MD, Pam Cain who we love). Keep in touch you all! I love hearing from everyone and miss everyone dearly! Love from the city,

Lauren

p.s. One more thing I'd like to share is that one night after work as I was walking to the subway, some guy actually said "Hubba hubba" to me. He said this in a flattering way, yet I was in shock because I had just worked out at the "Bee-Fit Fitness Center" at the VA, was sweaty, and stuffed into my brown puffy winter jacket like a stuffed potato. But whatever. Apparently guys in the Bronx...or maybe NY in general, have lower standards. Or maybe they just like girls who look like sweaty potatoes. MUCH LOVE ALL!