Boston Chronicles 1.0

So life in Boston has settled into its own easy pace. Cambridge is being kind to me for now. Every day brings with it some sort of new discovery. Now if only I could find more permanent, affordable housing, everything would be perfect.

The hobo, contrary to all expectations remains in my life six months in. 

Friday: After a pretty unproductive day at the lab, I was supposed to go out with AH and two of her friends for a girl's night that promised to be wild. Her friends decided to bail on her however (blasted flu), and I decided to rescue the night and have a girl's night with a completely different set of girls. So I recruited J and P, and the four of us decided that it was Friday goddammit, and we were going to have some fun. After some mulling over possible places- drinks and good food without breaking the bank seems to be a tall order- we decided upon 'Brown Sugar'. Token American aka the boss suggested Bon Chon but AH dismissed it as fast food, thoroughly upsetting him. So Brown Sugar it was, and we set out on the shuttle, clutching our coats, ushankas and scarves. We waited in the lobby for a good ten minutes, making eyes at the puffer fish, and violently coloured snaggle-tooths in their aquarium before we got a table. The food was excellent, and served in preposterous quantities. I ordered Fishman's Madness which was basically an explosion of scallops, squid, shrimps, mussels, mushrooms and peppers in this delicious chilli-garlic gravy. I have discovered that I really dislike scallops- they remind me of the pork fat that hobo and company tricked me into eating, and taste like nothing but blandness and blobs. The texture itself puts me off. The squid was for some reason carved like pineapples, but the mussels were great. Post-dinner we dragged our Garfield like selves to this tiny Japanese place where I experienced the deliciousness of mochi for the first time. I liked it so much that on Saturday I walked for half an hour to Trader Joe's to buy myself some, which sadly turned out to be nothing like the real deal. I now have a pack of mochi lying in the refrigerator, covered in flour , all gooey and gross.

Saturday was spent waking up late, frantically running to the dysfunctional T and reaching Boston Commons nearly an hour late for my ice-skating date with the labmates. The weather was unexpectedly warm and sunny, the speakers at Frog Pond played old 90's music, and we spent a good three hours there. Now this was my very first time on the ice and considering that I can't even walk in a straight line, ice skating was really... interesting. My labmates were super patient though, and the scene wound up being something like one at each side, holding my hand while the third skated behind us. Every time I would wobble, the three would zoom up and huddle around me. By the end of the day, we'd all become a lot more physically intimate than we would have expected. Good first date, I'd imagine.

So after ice skating we grabbed footlongs at Subway and then I ran to Vanderbilt Hall at Harvard for choir practice. I got roped into it by AH. Here's how it happened: Hey, you should come see my acapella group. It's gonna be a shitshow, but it'll be fun. Hey, what's your range like? Hey, you should do liptorrals and sirens. Hey, you're a soprano. Great, our group needs help.

And so I'm singing 'Fields of Gold' in harmony with the Harvard Heartbeats at their cadaver memorial on this Wednesday. What's a cadaver memorial, you ask? Well, people donate their bodies to science, see? And this Wednesday the families of those dead bodies along with all of Harvard Med School are going to come to this program at Harvard and watch me sing a solo, and harmonize with 5 other girls (it's going to be a complete shitshow, since very few of them can actually sing and we're getting roughly one and a half rehearsals in before the show). Random, but it's a thing.

The other highlight of Saturday was the walk to Trader Joe's where I bought Green Tea mochi, a pack of three dark chocolates imported from Belgium, and Trader Joe's own smooth peanut butter cups made of dark chocolate (Dear Reese's, nothing compares to you). Came home to find a note on the fridge from the second roomie saying, "Help yourself to banana cake if you like", which I obviously did, and boy was it delicious- full of pecans and almonds and chocolate chip and dusted sugar. 

Sunday has been pretty useless, in a not so terrible way. Woke up late, stayed home, talked to the hobo, and finally made my new year's list. What I hope to do with the rest of my evening: shower, laundry, read papers and come up with a list of relevant questions, finish the new year list.

Other highlights of the week include visit to Rodney's Bookstore where the guy at the counter, who is writing a book and draws comics for an indie newspaper, directed me to the underground music scene and gave me recommendations on where to live (Allston, baby!). Also lunch at cafe Au Bon Pain, where Robin Williams and whatsizname played chess in 'Good Will Hunting'. Lunch consisted of rain and a salmon-wasabi bagel which was both delicioso and affordable. Trek to Somerville to look at a potential house which turned out to be completely unsuitable. Trek to Inman Square where I discovered the Bukoswki pub which I definitely intend to visit. Also multiple visits to Flour which is close to work, has hipster baristas, and  the most beautiful lamb sandwiches- gigantic, fresh and dripping with cranberry sauce.
In other news: I bought a guitar, and I'm getting a tatoo in March which is when T comes to visit. Life is definitely having a 'What R did' moment right now.