Fail Island

I first met Carrie Anne three years ago. We were both working crew on a Woody Allen play at the local community theater. I’d joined in a sense of desperation– new to Boston, I needed an outlet for the artistic creativity that felt so stifled after 8 hrs. a day of science and technology. I also needed to meet new people. I’d gone from working with 9 or 10 kids all under the age of 24, to working with 5 people who were on average old enough to be my parents or even my grandparents.

Carrie Anne and I hit it off right away. One night we were working late at the theater, painting the stage floor a lovely shade of dark brown. At 2 in the morning you start sharing secrets and jokey gossip, and hyped up on caffeine and lack of sleep we decided that we would be friends even after the play ended. This decision was helped by the fact that we both lived in the same neighborhood, and would randomly run into each other from time to time. Three years later, we are still friends– perhaps not best friends, but good friends nonetheless, and I am so happy to have her in my life.

We try to keep up to date with each other every few months or so, and after a few missed connections and canceled girl-dates, we finally caught up tonight. Over pupusas and plantains at La Pupusa Guanaca we bitched, laughed, and moaned about life. Carrie Anne told me about Fail Island, which is the place to which bad boyfriends and dates are exiled. There are no beaches, only sheer, slippery glacial walls leading to the sea. The air is cold and snow covers the ground. Kodiak polar bears roam the island, and on one side there are deadly volcanoes. To get there you take a one-way boat ride; there are no return ferry rides. In addition to Fail Island, there is also Suck Island, which functions as a sort of Purgatory before you get banished to Fail Island. The people in La Pupusa must have thought we were crazy.

So tonight, I logged on and saw that one of my most searched for terms that people use to get to this site is ‘mojito fail’. All I could do was laugh, thinking of bad ex-dates and boys I cried over, drinking poorly made mojitos on Fail Island. I can only imagine why someone would type that into google, and all I can say to you poor souls is that I hope your next batch of mojitos turns out better than the last.

El Oriental de Cuba

Yesterday spent the whole day cleaning. My inner neat freak had been having hysterics over the state of my room and the apartment, and when the roomie mentioned that her parents were coming over I was spurred into action. I feel soooo much better now! The room is clean and organized, the winter wardrobe has been unpacked, the new clothes are put away, the floors are dusted, sheets are changed, tub is scrubbed and laundry is fresh and clean. Aaaaaah.

I also got to hang out with my favorite chica Carrie Anne last night! Carrie Anne and I have historically been really bad at keeping up with each other. Even though we only live a 10 min. walk from each other, typically months and months go by before we meet up. We are getting better though! Our last meeting (watching Light in the Piazza) was only a month or so ago. We were both feeling lazy so I went over to her place and then we walked over to El Oriental de Cuba for dinner.

I’ve been meaning to come here for the entire three years that I’ve been living in JP, but somehow never made it before last night. I was kind of mad at myself, because I’ve been missing out! The food was great. For a Sunday night, the place was packed. After a short wait we were seated at a small table in the back next to a drafty window. Unfortunately the windowsills leak air– a lot! (Note to self– next time ask for a table by the wall!) Carrie Anne got a Cubano and I opted for Ropa Vieja, which came with beans, rice, and fried ripe plantains. Yum! Carrie Anne also got fried yuca, which was amazing and I definitely want to try that again. We also got flan which appeared to be homemade and was delicious. The bill was very reasonable, and I am definitely going to go back there. Hopefully before another 3 years go by!

After our yummy dinner we headed back to Carrie Anne’s place and hung out for a bit. We started going through her closet and I had my own personal fashion show. That girl is hilarious; she has some of the most random outfits I’ve ever seen. I hope she wears her goth dress with the LAMB shoes for Halloween.

All in all, a great weekend. I have a lot of stuff going on this week and I am going to have to get back into the groove as far as business school apps go. Only a few weeks before 3 apps are due!!! Yikes!!! So, this week will be busy. And A. comes back this Sunday, so I’m definitely looking forward to that. Have been missing him a lot, and he is really bad at emailing. I have been getting these random emails once every few days: “Hi.” “Miss you.” “See you soon.” Haha. It’s definitely going to be a busy fall. ALSO I almost forgot, but the Phillies are playing tonight and hopefully they win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!