Belly dancing?!

Yesterday I took a day trip up to central New Jersey to go to my great uncle Nate's 99th birthday party/6th wedding anniversary. That's right, he was married to his third wife at age 93. Please raise your hand if that also applies to you. His wife, Helen, is only 80, a baby by comparison. So this party went from 12:30 to 4 or so. The average age was around 75. It was full of family I did not know for the most part (I got an entire new section of my family 6 years ago!) and Nate and Helen's friends who I definitely did not know (because I was not an adolescent during the Great Depression). At 12:55 pm, my cousins and I decided a drink was required. Do not judge. We also got Nate a stiff martini which he promptly downed. Did I mention that he is 99? What a baller.
In the middle of from making polite conversation with people at least two generations my senior, it was announced that there would be dancing. Belly dancing. Helen's friend's daughter is apparently a belly dancer. She is also around 50. She did a couple of dances by herself before asking for volunteers to join her. She pulled up three 80-year olds, gave them silk scarves, and taught them rudimentary belly dance moves. If you haven't seen geriatrics shake their midriff, you are missing something. Something ridiculous, to be specific. It was just an absurd situation and I was completely unprepared. I could only sit there covering my mouth with my hand from a combination of disbelief and laughter. I was just going to see family and be a good great-nephew; I did not know I would be getting a free show.

The past week was fairly writing intensive because my note is due soon. This week will be even more so. I'm not saying the writing will be good.
On Friday, I took a break from writing to have lunch with Asher who was in town briefly. We went to a fairly nice restaurant in Dupont and upon sitting down Ash immediately says "Happy birthday, sorry I missed it," and pulled out the sketchiest looking package ever. I have a picture:


That beauty is a bottle of Nicaraguan rum wrapped in tape and a ziplock bag, just in case you couldn't tell. Clearly the most appropriate thing to be whipping out and placing on the table in the middle of a nice restaurant. Thanks Ash! I am glad to see he has not lost his touch.

I refuse to watch Sportscenter for the next week. The Patriots forgot the cardinal rule of sports: don't suck. I'm not even sad that I didn't get to watch the game because I was in Jersey. Though I like to think that maybe if I had watched and provided that little extra boost of positive energy then it could have changed everything. A kind of butterfly effect (not with Ashton Kutcher though). Does anyone else think like that ever? I got made fun of for saying that before, so I really hope I am not the only one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So here I am in beautiful, desolate New Paltz for Thanksgiving with the family. As with last year, this was "the family's" decision. I'm along for the ride at this resort-y thing. I've already seen Alan Alda here. He was trying not to crash his car into mine as we passed each other on a particularly narrow stretch of road. That is not a euphemism for anything, by the way, I really saw Alan Alda - from MASH, West Wing...uhhh he played Jack's father on 30 Rock last season. Also, his iTunes library shows up on the shared list. (Now I am entering into stalking territory, but how could I not be curious?) It contains lots of classical music, the audiobook of his book, and voice notes from his iPhone. Happily, I cannot access his voice notes so I am left to imagine what they sound like: "Alan Alda, this is Alan Alda. Please remember to buy a quart of milk at Stop & Shop tomorrow. Thank you, Alan Alda."

My cousin told me a fantastic story. Her friend goes to Brown along with Emma Watson, who plays Hermione in the Harry Potter movies. Emma Watson was in a big lecture class. One day she got called on by the professor and answered a question correctly. Someone in the back of the room souted out "Ten points for Gryffindor!"
That was clearly planned out. The kid thought he was so clever; and he was right because that's hilarious.

Why does this blog post seem like it could be in Us Weekly? I think that's all the celebrity gossip I've got.

Dear North Korea, could you please NOT do that anymore? Kthanksbye. 143.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I am thankful for your friendship. And here on this blog, for your readership. I am also thankful for goat cheese and pumpkin pie, though not together.