It Takes a Whole Lot of Beans to Make Up a Whole Town

Nothing says New Year's quite like Beef Lo Mein.

Er, yeah.

Hi there, Matt Smith. I just saw you barely a week ago and already I'm feeling the sad, sad broken feeling of you not living in Boston. In case you didn't know, there's a sad, sad broken feeling that I get when you don't live in Boston. It's not something I've always experienced, since I lived in Pittsburgh up until this past fall -- for the most part. I do think it has some connection to the fact that we simply don't see enough of each other. And even when we do see each other, we're trying to talk over other people and eat and drink tea and get the waiter to refill the teapot and figure out who owes for the bill at dinner.

All of that, I suppose, simply says you should hurry up and visit.

There's a lot of marriage and child-bearing going around. I found out when I was around for the holidays that there are three couples who have either gotten engaged or have planned to elope. And now, just today, a friend called me to say that his wife is preggers.* I managed to pull up from the depths of my emotion drawer (I keep them in a drawer these days... very convenient) some moderate excitement. I think I might have done better had I not a) been put on the spot suddenly with the information, and b) known before I returned the phone call what the "big news" was going to be. I'm happy for him, really. He's gotten what he's always wanted. An adorably happy pregnant wife and a life full of family and possibilities for the future. I wish I knew what I wanted out of life, the universe, and everything as much as he knew that he wanted to get married and start a family. Boy. Some people just have everything figured out. Others, like me, won't have anything figured out. Not for a long... long... long time.

One of the few things I seem to have figured out is how to use the damned fare machines for the T here. Frankly, I don't see what's so difficult about them -- unless you can't read, or you can't read English -- but the majority of people require assistance from the MBTA employees positioned inside the stations, the people near them in line to purchase their fares, or God in Heaven. People just are in too much of a hurry to use a touchscreen? Really? All they have to do is TOUCH THE SCREEN. And, well, read the signs that tell them that This Machine takes only cash, while That Machine will accept credit and debit cards. And the screen itself, obviously, when it TELLS THEM EXACTLY WHAT TO DO. How hard is that? The answer, of course, is not hard. It is not hard to use the machines. Get over yourselves, Bostonians.

I took next weekend off. You'd better be coming to visit. Otherwise I'm going to have nothing to amuse myself during both Saturday AND Sunday. Get on that.

Aloha-Oy,
Meredith


* Any abbreviation of the word "pregnant" is in honor of my roommate, Jenna. She hates "preggers" almost as much as Emma hates "silly" and "belly."