Tuesday 29 January 2008

Unfortunately the image is imprinted on my retina

I’m struggling to post this week. It's only Tuesday, yet I feel the weekend and the work week have already left me battered and bruised. By the time I got home yesterday I could do nothing more than collapse in a heap on the couch. Last night was particularly worrying as I watched the entire State of the Union address and all the commentary and analysis afterwards because I couldn’t summon up the energy to reach for the remote. I’ve also noticed that while at work - listening to the radio of course, to block out the cacophony that is my neighbour Jose on a conference call. Man does he have some decibels – I can’t even manage a bit of chair dancing when a good tune comes on. It’s very disturbing. Usually I’m fairly energetic and full of beans, but not this week. I feel old and I am not in the least bit happy about it. Sigh!!

Perhaps I’m sickening for something. It wouldn’t surprise me; it seems that every other person that sits near me has succumbed to some germ or other, Emma, my other office neighbour, has had flu-like symptoms for over a week now and in the ladies the other day I had the pleasure of hearing someone wretch. Ugh!! Hopefully it was a case of morning sickness and not something viral. Touch wood that other than blocked sinuses which have been giving me headaches these past few days I feel fine, well except for the tiredness of course.

I’m hoping this weekend will be a quiet one; I think I need it, if I recall correctly I’d resolved to lay off the partying in January after the excess of Christmas, but instead I just seem to have continued the festivities into January. Maybe I’ll have better luck in February. All I have planned for this weekend is dinner and drinks with Melissa at
Bar Blanc, a fairly new restaurant in the West Village, so I should have plenty of time for recuperation.

Not so this past weekend, it was the hen party/bridal shower/baby shower extravaganza in Princeton to celebrate Ash’s impending nuptials at the end of March and Val and Sigrun’s – who flew in from Iceland no less - impending Spring babies – a girl for Val who’s due in April and a boy for Sigrun who’s due in May.

These weekends have become something of a tradition of late as one by one the others get engaged and married. There are only two of us left who are single now. We had our usual trip to a spa where we had either facials or massages and then for lunch after which Susan whisked away the bride and moms to be for an hour or two so that Andrea, Steph and I could go back to the house and gussy it up with bridal, baby and phallic themed decorations including a pack of todger balloons I’d bought at a shop on 6th Avenue and W 4th street – I think it was called Fantasy Palace should any of you New Yorkers be in the market for things of that ilk, beware though as these particular balloons were extremely difficult to blow up. Not that I can say I’ve blown up many balloons recently, so it could be that I’ve lost the knack or perhaps the lack of exercise over the last few months has significantly hampered my lung capacity, but these seemed to be much harder to blow up than normal balloons. I managed to fully inflate one, but couldn’t manage to inflate a second any further than the testicles before I ran out of puff, so instead of struggling with the rest of it I knotted it where it was, snipped off the excess and turned it into a heart. Ahh what I lack in the handling of phallic balloons I more than make up for in the arts and crafts department. Andrea fared no better, in fact she was worse than me as she managed to explode the one she was inflating and gave up after that, however Steph was our champion todger balloon blower after managing to inflate three. Yes, THREE. In fact she did it with such ease I suspect she must practise a lot in her spare time.

Anyway the bride and moms were thrilled with the decorations and cakes we’d had made for them and while waiting for our dinner to cook we cracked open the champers – grape juice for the moms to be – and had the bride moms open their gifts. It’s the first time I’ve been to a baby shower, or a bridal shower for that matter. Last time I was living there we didn’t go in for all that shower gubbins in England. In fact as I recall it used to be considered bad luck to buy baby gifts before the baby was actually born, but maybe things have changed. Ditto on the bridal shower, not that it was bad luck, but we didn’t do a separate hen party and bridal shower, we just do the hen party. It costs you a fortune with all the additional parties to pay for over here, but it was fun to watch them opening their gifts. As you can imagine there were oodles of baby clothes for the moms to be as well as lots of nice undies for the bride, plus a few novelty items including a classy set of ‘pecker maracas’ – also available from the Fantasy Palace on 6th Avenue kids – and a set of candy pasties per the photo above. A pair of candy pasties which the bride to be decided would be a good idea to try on after a few too many glasses of champers. She failed dismally on the Mr & Mrs style questionnaire we tested her with scoring a pitiful 6 out of a possible 30 and so was required to take a sip for each of the 24 questions she got wrong, so was understandably quite trollied, still it was a bit of a shock when she streaked into the living room wearing only her knickers and the candy pasties as the rest of us were finishing off our drinks, it was funny though; especially when we showed our hungover bride to be the photos the next morning, although we were nice and let her delete them…well, we did after emailing one to the groom ;-)

Anyway kids I shall leave you with that image in your heads and a word to the wise should you ever be considering your own candy pastie purchase. Apparently they are a bugger to remove…in fact in Ash’s words ‘they almost ripped my nips off’ so be very careful ;-)

18 comments:

Flowers said...

ha! digital cameras...good if you're in control...not if you're not.

massive vitamin surge is what's getting me going and staying going these days. lots of different fizzy vitamin tablets all in one glass. bubble, bubble etc

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hey Flowers, yes she was lucky she had friends who deleted the photos. I may follow your example on the vitamin splurge, I feel it's only a matter of time before the lurgy gets me ;-)

Heather said...

okay, i wasn't as taken a back by the candy pasties as I was by the fact that you watched the entire state of the union AND all the commentary....

i'm just saying...

Heather said...

okay, i wasn't as taken a back by the candy pasties as I was by the fact that you watched the entire state of the union AND all the commentary....

i'm just saying...

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Heather, I KNOW!!!! I must be sickening for something right? I'll go see a doctor ;-)

Blur Ting said...

Oh, the bridal shower sounded like alot of fun! I've not been to one yet. During my time, we didn't have such things.

I have days of lethargy too and I always blame it on the hormones. I mean, how is it possible that I'm perfectly energetic one day and totally sloth-like the next day?

Hope you feel better soon!

Amel said...

Interesting story about the party, not about your work. Sorry to hear that you still have to work so much and endure your loud next door colleague!

I'd LOVE a massageeeeeee he he he he...*drooling*

And I take a vitamin C every day plus a multivitamin for women (one tablet a day) during my menstruation or whenever I feel a bit weird he he he...

Anyway, here's an award for you:

Biggest Heart Award

And go check out my latest adventure: cutting my own hair. Do you think it's a disaster? Go ahead and tell me the truth. I posted a picture of my new haircut HI HI HI HI HI...

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Blur Ting, the bridal shower was fun, drunken fun which I regreted with my hangover the next morning, but then it's not every day your friend gets married so I gave myself a pass ;-)

I think my lethargy is weather related. One day it's hot, the next it's freezing cold, then it's hot again. It always gives me sinus headaches until it settles down, so I am hoping my lethargy is related to that and not an illness. Fingers crossed :-)

Hi Amel, I should follow your lead and take a daily multivitamin. I like to think I get all the nutrients I need from food, but I am sure that's not the case, especially when I am working late and not eating as well as I should.

You cut your own hair??? Okay I have to check this out NOW :-)

Sister Sassy said...

I don't take very good care of myself..I should take vitamins too. But get some serious sleep- you should have been sleepign and not watching the state of the union.

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Sassy, you are so right, I should have been sleeping. I plan to catch up this weekend :-) Thanks for stopping by.

Sid said...

I might have to work this weekend. I've also been feeling pretty tired, depressed and stressed. But not too tired to change the tv station. hope you feel better soon.

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Thanks Sid, I probably just need to get more than 6hours sleep a night. That would probably help. Sorry to hear you might have to work this weekend :-(

Flowers said...

Lurgy: I love that word! Reminds me of my school days.

So, The Tuesday Tune #12 over at my place is Mirror from Michael Andrews' Me and You and Everyone We Know.

It is great, isn't it?

Stay well, Fish :)

Kitty said...

haha.

I think this must have been the first time ever that this fragment has appeared in print: 'but couldn’t manage to inflate a second any further than the testicles'

Take care of yourself, Fish. Airborn helps greatly against being run down. Good that you're listening to your body!

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Flowers, lurgy is a great word. One of those words whose meaning is clear. Thanks for popping back to let me know the name of the Tuesday tune. I loved it, very mellow.

Hi Kitty, I'll have to get some Airborne, I keep hearing how great it is. Stay warm, it's nippy out there in NY today.

Agnes Mildew said...

Blimey - I thought they were earrings! I guess that is one invention which is yet to cross the pond (thank God!). You do come across some strange things there, don't you?!
Any updates on the elusive Tel Aviv? Has he vanished for good now? Just promise me you won't internet date. Promise?

Victorya said...

hahahaha, oh, those poor candy pasties, the image, the omygosh image seared in my imagination.

illness is going around my office too, pinkeye was one, then flu-like, then etc etc. I take Viactiv for my multivitamin, a little chalky but still chewy and chocolately enough for me to remember it (so far)

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Vic, I think there's no escaping the lurgy, but I might give those chocolate vitamin thingies a try. Stay dry today, it's awful outside :-(