Melyssa-with-a-Y

(ok, I sort of do hate losing) ... it's just that I can't stand losing to people who CHEAT!!! Two girls sat at the bar (that sounds like the start of a joke, doesn't it?) and called or emailed their friends for ALL of the answers! We (Clueless in Clarendon) had a great night -- only 3 wrong answers in all the question rounds, and 1 wrong photo -- we beat the 3 third place teams by one point! But these girls cheated. Grrr.... We complained bitterly to Patrick when it was over. Elizabeth was even thinking about cursing at them and giving them the finger -- which is something she would NEVER do. ;) No, seriously, that'd be completely out of character. She's very genteel. Patrick promises to outlaw cellphones next week. :) He loves us. And we also love Dylan, our waiter, who gave us one or two answers, and got a nice tip in return. He also has that fabulous Irish accent. So without further ado, here are some of the questions from tonight's quiz: What is th...

Did you ever wonder how the closed captioning people indicate curse words? I just found out! "The Rock" is on one of the HBO's (I'm at home sick, remember?) . I muted the TV when I was on the phone with mom, and I just noticed that whenever the actors curse, the closed captioning says F### or BULLS###. heh. I guess that's better than having the voice-over curse words, like "freakin'" and "shoot" Hmm... I wonder if the closed captioning reads differently on TNT or TBS? Anyway, I'm feeling much better, and I might even venture outside today. (at the very least, to walk over to 7-11 and get some more Gatorade...)

The weekend was lovely... Saturday was a birthday party for Kelly and Jeff (born within 3 days of each other, 34 short years ago) at Micki's house, and it was a beautiful day! ( pictures posted here ) Sunday was work-and-laundry at mom's, as usual, and dinner with Dani at Front Page (and ice cream from Cold Stone! yum!) Of course, I was a bad girl and didn't take my lactaid before I ate my ice cream, so I was totally expecting to be sick on Sunday night.... and very surprised when it didn't happen. I'm still not sure if the lactose debacle (which did hit me Monday morning) is related to the fever I ended up with on Monday afternoon. We may never know. I went to work, but I came home after an hour (my boss put me in a cab and gave me money!) and passed out on the sofa. ugh. Since then I have just been wiped out (the fever broke before I woke up on Tuesday morning). I went to work for a while on Tuesday, and again for a few hours today... but there were moments when I...

I couldn't bring myself to write this blog entry... Clueless in Clarendon didn't manage to win, place or show last Tuesday. :( Much as we love Patrick, he jinxed us ! In the middle of the second round, he said, "Clueless in Clarendon is back to defend their title, they're the ones to beat!" -- we got BOOED when he said it, and that was enough. It wasn't that the questions were awfully hard... it was more that we kept second-guessing ourselves, changing the first answer we came up with to something that turned out to be *wrong*. Oops. See what happens when Dani doesn't come along?!?! By our count, we tied for third, but somehow they took away one of our points. If we do better next week, I'll post the questions. grrr..

I started working on this "Friendship Stars" crochet blanket a million years ago (well, maybe ony two years ago, but it seems like it's been draped over the back of my sofa forever)... and tonight I finally sewed the last of the twelve big squares onto the blanket! The last thing to do will be to do the edging (in maroon, I think). It's 66" x 88" - covers my double bed nicely. I think maybe I'll give it to my mother for Mother's Day this weekend. Which of course means I'd have to do the finishing between now and then. hmmm, on second thought...

Clueless in Clarendon (with a slightly different crew) won again on Tuesday night! The photo round was the hardest yet... it was close-up pictures of animals. We thought the pheasant was a goldfish! And the music round... Patrick went for harder rock this time - Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and how could you not have U2 in an Irish pub?! A smattering of the questions: By what name is Lord Greystoke better known? Omar Sharif holds international standing in what game? Who was well-known for bending cutlery in the 1970's? Name the 6 actors who have played James Bond (not including the new guy, Daniel Craig). Where would you find the smallest bone in the body? Who played 'Spartacus'? Where were the 1908 and 1948 Olympics held? Who played 'Bugsy' in the 1991 movie of the same name? Who played the lead role in 'Taxi Driver'? What is the official airline of the Republic of Ireland? What is the longest running radio program in the US? What was the first feature-length...

Well, ok, I wasn't actually a bridesmaid this time, thank goodness. (the bridesmaid dresses were celery-green and strapless, I don't think that would have looked that good on me!) Anyway. The wedding was Sunday. The new Dr. and Mrs. (or is it Dr. and Dr.?) Miller are in Hawaii already, for two weeks. The wedding was at Washington Hebrew, in the little chapel. The huppah was beautiful, it was made from a 14th century Indian scarf (or something like that... I have to find the little program booklet to be sure) that Becky's mom found in an antique shop many years ago. It has become a family tradition to use it for the huppah when they get married. The rabbi was ok... I liked the woman rabbi who did Kenny and Melissa's wedding better (but that was six years ago, and she's from Amherst). The party was at the Fairmont. It's a beautiful hotel, it's really too bad we couldn't be outside in the garden, the weather started sprinkling. I had a great time sitting w...

I know I've said this before, but I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend! Friday night we went to the Nats game... and they WON! :) Having been to the longest game ever with Jen on Wednesday night (Nats lost to the Marlins 6-5, but it wasn't over until 11pm), it was nice to go to a relatively quick game, win 6-0, and still be home by 10:30. Oh, that sounds bad. Yes, I'm old. This was the first time I got to sit in my 1/4-season-tickets seats, and they're pretty darn good -- just past the first base line in the lower section of the upper deck (408, if you're looking at the stadium map). Next game I get is Memorial Day Saturday. :) But it was so damn hot in my apartment (over 85 degrees) that I didn't sleep well at all, so Saturday seemed way too long from the start. To be fair, though, the day was much longer for Dani , who went to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival for the first time. I'm sorry I missed it, I'll have to go next year!...

Clueless in Clarendon, against all odds (and much to our own surprise) came in FIRST at trivia night! Wooooo hooooo!!! Let's see. It all started with Joan *abandoning us* to sit with the Mayor of Svenland and his team. (As it turned out, they came in second...) But she didn't particularly enjoy her time there, so I think she'll be back with Clueless next week. ;) After the photo round, which was all pictures from musicals and thus very easy (May gave us Starlight Express and Oliver!) the questions were terribly difficult. We even complained to Patrick (who got himself an adorable haircut between last week and this). :) The "tuchus point" (aptly named as E. pulled the answer from somewhere where the sun don't shine) was on the question about a singer arrested for alleged indecency in March 1969 in Miami -- who was that? Jim Morrison. There were a lot of geography and history questions tonight. To what country does the island of Zanzibar belong? [Tanzania] ...