:: Pedantic Platitudes ::

:: Friday, May 05, 2006 ::

So my often-surly sister visited in the middle of this week because the touring production of the musical Wicked is currently in Boston, and she wanted to see it. However, it's been sold out forever, and we weren't able to get tickets, even trying out the pre-show cheap ticket giveaway lottery two days in a row. My sister is only a 13 dollar train ride away from New York City, anyways, so it's not so hard for her to go catch a matinee performance of the actual thing on Broadway.

My sister visited on Tuesday, and we chatted a bit before I had to go out to a senior event. She was actually really pleasant this visit. It was nice to hang out. On Wednesday, I had to go to the hospital to try to get some prescription cough medication for my "condition," which I like to call "tuberculosis," (cough! cough! Look at me, I'm a terribly pale Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge... I'm dying of consumption!!! Help me! Cough cough! Blood on napkin!), offensive as that may be... ("How dare you?!? My grandmother died from tuberculosis!!!"). It's really not that bad... it's just a bad cold with lots of coughing. However, after waiting forever to finally see a nurse, she took some vital signs and then said with a serious look and ominous tone, "We have to get you to a doctor."

So I waited an hour longer until a doctor was free to see me, and then she started doing all these tests on me to see if I had asthma or pneumonia, and I was thinking, I know I don't have asthma... I can breathe; I just cough a lot. The doctor then said, "OK, don't worry. You don't have pneumonia or asthma... it's just a cold with a cough. That's all." And I'm thinking, I know!!! I just want prescription cough medicine!!! There must have been some miscommunication between the nurse and the doctor, and she must have thought I was freaking out about having asthma or something serious. Alas.

So I said, "Yeah, that's what I thought... nothing serious. So, can I have a prescription for cough medicine?" And she says, "Well, I don't think cough medicine does anything at all; I would recommend lots of hot water, honey, and vitamin C." Ahh! That's what I've been taking, but clearly it's not enough since I'm still coughing like crazy every night, preventing me from sleeping at night and waking up all my roommates! So I said, "Well, I've been doing that, but it hasn't been working... I'll keep on drinking hot water, but can I just have a prescription just in case it doesn't get better?" And the doctor grudgingly complied. Augh. Health care. Well, I am grateful for actually being able to receive health care. I appreciate that I can get treatment for my "condition." Yay for merit-finding.

So after spending the morning in the hospital, I wanted to take my sister out to lunch, since she was visiting, and we went to Legal Seafoods, well, because it seemed like the Boston thing to do. I ordered that day's special: the Romano soft-shell crab dish. I've heard about soft-shelled crab but have never tried it, and it was exciting to finally try it. I'll try any food at least once. The concept of eating an entire crab, shell and all because it had just shed its old shell and now has a soft shell, sounds unappealing, but it was actually pretty good. My sister, being ever-so unadventurous, had fish and chips, but I got the butterfish appetizer just to get her to try something new... The remarkably tender butterfish, marinated in a ginger soy sauce, was served with white rice, a seaweed salad, and this delightful sweet wasabi sauce. It was a great lunch.

We then went on the Freedom Trail in Boston, which is a trail that takes you around all the historical sites in the downtown area. My sister was particularly excited about the Old North Church, home of Paul Revere's "one if by land, two if by sea" lanterns, because of high school history teacher Mr. Nerelli's tale of sneaking up into the church's steeple and holding up the lanterns. How he snuck up there to see the lanterns remains a mystery to me, as there were dour attendants watching everyone suspiciously on the main floor and glaring at anyone who walked anywhere near the back corner with the roped-off stairs leading up to the steeple.

We then made it back to downtown, and we waited outside the box office of the theater where Wicked was playing to try to get tickets, but nobody had any extras (we thought for sure there would be cancellations because it was such a terribly rainy day), so we went back to the campus, and after getting some snacks at Brain Break, we went to Finale, the dessert restaurant, and enjoyed desserts there because my sister wanted to try some. She got the signature Molten Chocolate dessert, which is a chocolate cake with a warm gooey center of melted chocolate, and I got the Caramel Apple Cheesecake, which was this wonderful cheesecake with an applesauce base and decorated with butterscotch sauce and a shaped pecan brittle. This was paired with a soft pineapple upside down cake and a caramel sauce. We then watched the hilarious movie Eurotrip, which reminded me of my fun/disturbing European adventure last summer. Oh, Europeans.

Thursday was such a nice day! Friday, too. The sun was out, and the temperature was above 70! Yesterday, I had lunch and then walked to work. I enjoyed walking through Harvard Yard, taking in the sun and warmth, looking at the pretty flowers on the newly green trees, and watching people playing around on the last day of classes. I had some extra Board Plus money from our dining plan, so I got a dark chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar and it tasted so good in the outdoors. I stopped by an a capella concert, and it was all so perfect and happiness-inducing.

Indeed, yesterday was a good day.

Quote(s) of the Day: "I've always wanted to go to a rave..." "Um... don't they do a lot of drugs at raves?"

"My friend's a ho, so he asks me for my advice."

"She leaves you wanting more, but then all you get is sex."

"Bangkok is totally the Netherlands of the far East."

:: SL 12:19 PM [+] ::
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