Happy Birthday, America

What a gloomy birthday for the US.  Rainy and dark, and such a low pressure system over the whole city, that when the fireworks went off they just hung in the air like a beaten pinata.  We went to watch from my friend S’s house, and she had arguebly one of the best views in the city.  She lives on the Cambridge side of the Charles, and we were only a quarter of a mile down from where they were setting them off.  She had a gorgous rooftop view of the whole city, with the Hancock building and the Pru perfectly outlined. 

The only downside to our view, was that the air was so heavy, that soon enough, we were unable to view the fireworks.  The smoke from the fireworks would not disapate and would obscure the light show.  Very unfortunate.

 

It was still a beautiful show, and not too bad for my first 4th of July, back home.  Happy Birthday, baby!

Previous Week

So, I haven’t written much about it here, but the previous week has been a nightmare.  Everything that could go wrong has.  Trouble with money, trouble with landlords, trouble at work, trouble with friends, everything and anything you can imagine.  The number one problem that I was presented was that one of my co-workers died unexpectly.  He had only been working there for a short time, and he was only 29 years old.  It was a heartbreaking tragety, but I think the worse part was that no one ever told us how he died.  I got a call from my manager on Monday, my day off, telling me about what had happened, and I was dumbfounded.  It actually took me until a few minutes into the conversation to figure out what and who had happened.  We went in mass to the funeral, which I haven’t been to many, and my first for someone my age.  So, his death kind of set the tone for the rest of the week to go horriblely wrong.

By this weekend, I had been in arguements with both my friends, and even my sister.  I can’t take this stress right now.

Redline vs. Greenline

So I always post on Mondays, around 12ish, from my fave coffee shop.  So what?

It is time for more of Lys’s insightful observations.  Yesterday, even though it was a good day, I was terribly down.  There are many reasons, some which I won’t even admit to myself.  Anyways, I was coming back from Central, on the Redline,  and I noticed how many people riding back looked as miserable as I did.  I saw two different women crying, and everyone just seemed to be lost in their own tired and negative thoughts.  Maybe the stress of Cambridge, with Harvard and MIT right there, is too much for the fragile human psyche to handle.  As I looked around the train, no one was making eye contact, and shoes, fingernails, and blank space were very popular.

I get off at Park Street and switch to the Greenline, and the tone is much more peppy.  The train fills up with tired but happy students for BU and BC, and people are actually laughing!  I am trying to maintain a level of melancholy, but it is difficult with all these wise-ass students around.  What is the difference in mood between Harvard/MIT students and BU/BC students?  Less pressure?  More reserved?  I don’t know, but I seem to transverse between the two.

Playing catch-up!

So, my online existence has not really been very visable, has it?  Well, lets see… What has been happening?

–I quit my job.

–I got a new job, Yay!

–My ipod died.

–Mai parhnaa Hindi hoon.  (I am studying Hindi)

–I have been attending a wealth of Yelp events.

– Had 3 celebrity sightings (Ghostface Killah from Wu-tang, A member of Cornershop, and CRAIG T.NELSON)

–I am seeing Eddie Izzard on Wednesday!!

–I am seeing Amanda and Nanny and Granddad in May.

Yeah, that is about everything.  I see and think things everyday that I want to blog about, but time doesn’t really allow for it.  I have moved my computer out of my bedroom, in an effort to get more work done, but so far it really doesn’t help.  I am also really far behind on my reviews for Yelp.

I am alive, though!  My new job is 1000 times better than my old one, and actually interesting

This picture should keep you tided over until my next blog revelation.  It is my husband (Hrithik Roshan) on the cover of India Vogue:

On my doorstep

http://blogs.townonline.com/ABTAB/2008/04/11/public-safety-alert/

Scary!!

Moonlight.. Chand, Chanda, Chandi, Chandani

So, as I make my pre-dawn journey to work, through the urban sprawl and rancid tunnels of Boston, occassionally something pops out at me that reminds me that I am alive.  I was riding the B line, and it was 5 am, and still dark out.  A moodiness had over taken me, that I am not a stranger to, and I really was not looking forward to working.  Then maybe because I was exhausted, but I looked up, and I could see the full moon from the trolly.  The curious thing, however, was that I could see it from the other end of the train, through some bars.  I got this eerie feeling like I was being watched.  For a moment, I minorly flipped out, then I just enjoyed the pretty sight.  I went to grab my camera to get the shot, and when I looked up, the train had shifted slightly and it was gone….  Haha, what a parallel for my life, eh?

My energy level has been nil, but not because I am out all the time, but because I don’t eat correctly for a vegetarian. My work place does not provide for a veg lifestyle, so all I eat are salads and pasta.  I am dying for protein, and I think I am going to have to start cooking for myself again.

UncompromisingDefeat

I go through many emotional cycles in my life, most ranging from a few months to a few years. This used to infuriated my family, and I would bet it still does.

One cycle that I notice and that plagues me, again and again, is this one of good Lys vs. bad Lys.  I never know whether I am a good person or not.  At times, I strive really hard to be a kind and good person and to do right by everyone.  I feel good about myself at these times, and all is well.

Right now I am going through one of those bad Lys times.  I feel like a bad person, like no one would ever want to be friends with me.  What the crap am I doing here and doing with my life?  I have messed everything up and I have made irreparable mistakes.  I do not like people and people do not like me.  The last time I felt this was shortly after I moved to Cardiff.  There was drama between some new friends, and I always am in the middle of it.  I start out trying to help, and I always get dragged down.  It makes me feel low.

If I would ever put my life and status back on facebook, it would go something like this:

Alyssa is having an unshakable feeling that everything has gone horrible wrong.

*Edited:  I edited the second paragraph where it talks about messing everything up.  I originally wrote: “I am messing everything up” but it was in the present tense, and that bothered me.  I have already messed everything up and the time for change has passed.  I think that is what is also contributing  to this overwhelming sense of defeat.

Holy Freaking Crap! It’s cold!

I can’t feel my face, hands, or anything else for that matter!

It was so windy and cold today. The only thing that made it even barely tolerable was the fact that as soon as I stepped out of my door today, I caught my train. I didn’t have to stand out in it! Yay!

So..weather, work, thats my life. Here is a video from my new favourite band! Yay, Kit! I am now their newest groupie/hanger on!

VEG

The other night, I got to experience my first Kaze Shabu Shabu. A group from this social community that I belong to, decided to have a Vegan/Vegetarian night on Monday. I signed up immediately, of course, because I have almost no veg friends to eat with. I have been on/off vegetarian for 2 years now, and I have been trying to adhere strictly to the lifestyle since I moved to Boston. Over the course of the two years I have been vegetarian, piscetarian (who eats fish), and a omnivore. When I am in West Virginia, it is difficult to find vegetarian food, and my family is one of meat eaters. Steak, ham, or chicken every night. When I was in Cardiff, I occasionally had sushi or salmon, which lead to me being piscetarian, and I am having a hard time giving up fish.

Since coming to Boston, I have been a much stricter vegetarian, but I could never be vegan.  Anyways, the Shabu was really good.  It is like fondue, in that you have a broth instead of oil to cook your food in.  I had a hot pot with a Miso broth, and I got the Vegetarian delight platter, which included mushrooms, tofu, greens, and various other veggies.  It was a lot of food, and I was extremely please with it.  It was a lot of food, and it was fairly cheap, especially with the free green tea.

Boston has a lot more choices for me, and I feel like I can eat what I want now.  I just wish work would recognize vegetarians, and actually have food for us.  There are two vegetarians in my department, and we have a hard time finding food for us in the cafeteria.  We have decided to bring our own to supplement the salad they have.

Vanity!

I am WiFi-ing at Athan’s Bakery and being vain by taking pictures of myself! Also, the waiter keeps looking at me, and we have been eye-flirting…lol.

Here I am! I am listening the Scissor Sisters. God-bless Macbook and photobooth!