What You Will

Call it greed. Call it impatience. Call it stupidity. Call it what you will, but on Wednesday I finally bought myself a copy of the latest Harry Potter. And finished it this morning. I enjoyed every second of it. I already have a copy in the states, but I decided that I didn't want to wait anymore. So that's one less thing to ask my parents to bring with on their visit.

Foreign Guests

Chicago is a so far away. I wonder if I can get this written before they are off the train in Amsterdam? I just returned from drinks and dinner with Julia, Drew (my ex) and Amanda (his girlfriend). We had a wonderful time. I was a bit nervous, and asked Julia to join me as my wing man. But it turned out quite well. I really enjoyed meeting Amanda and was very excited that Drew finally got a stamp on his passport. And the fact that they brought me some presents from home really helped (a bridesmaid dress, a portable hard drive and a book in exchange fro some candy and stroopwaffels - I think I got the better end of the deal). Anyway, it was very nice to chat and catch up and I can only hope that they enjoyed it as much. Well, I can also hope that my heat rash goes away soon too, but at this point it seems to be a pipe dream...

Waiting by the Phone

I am waiting for the doctor to call me back. I am waiting to find out if I will need to take, yet another course of antibiotics. Penicillin this time, I think. I am waiting to talk to the doctor because sometime overnight my heat rash has spread from my body to my face (I don't really know how it could do that, but it did). I now have the neck of a lacrosse player, the lips of Angelina Jolie, eyelids that seem under sedation, and skin like sandpaper. Oh, and now that group work has begun, I now have the responsibilities of a $60k/year consultant (without the money, of course). Today I would rather be a have not.

"Where is My Grappa?"

On Saturday we had a Brazilian BBQ. It was organized primarily by Julia and Marquinhos, with help from Carol and a decidedly un-Brazilian Bin and me. In the morning Julia, Marquinhos, and I went shopping to Makro, which is a bulk goods store, like Costco. But the selection there was amazing, cuts of meat from every country imaginable. We were actually able to get some nice cuts of Brazilian beef to grill, and it cost almost nothing. We spent hours chopping, cutting, marinating, carrying tables and chairs, running to the store for that last bottle of sherry. We grilled for hours, adding cuts of meat, chicken, and prawns here and there, just nibbling through the afternoon and evening.

Then night fell. The party moved inside. The beer was fading and the samba was starting. And then the grappa disappeared. Bin's grappa, his pride and joy, was gone. It was consumed without his permission by some of the guests. There was some commotion, some words, some trouble. At almost 2AM, Julia, Alejandro, Marquinhos, and I were with Bin in his room as he was ranting, "Where is my grappa? Where is my grappa?"

At 10AM on Sunday we began the cleanup. It took almost two hours and I must have lugged half a dozen bags of garbage to the bins. It was a good party. A great party, except for the last hour. After our clean up we went to the beach, to Scheveningen. This weekend was the nicest of the year, around 90F on both Saturday and Sunday. Though it took a while to get to the beach, once we were there it was perfect. We lounged in the sun, drank some prosecco from the bottle, swam in the sea, had some ice cream, laughed, and gossiped and for a brief moment, believed it was actually summer.

But not for long. Today was much cooler and it rained for hours. I woke up this morning with a slight rash on my arm, that soon spread to the rest of my body. I freaked out a bit and called Julia, I needed a second opinion. She thought it was allergies, I was trying to figure out what plant I had brushed up against yesterday. Heat rash, the doctor said. My arms and stomach have the color of cotton candy and the texture of braille. It should subside within 48 hours.