Okay. It's official.

Moving sucks.

I mean, I always knew that. But this one in particular is difficult because I can't seem to get my body to get to a normal schedule (i.e. I continue to sleep in against my will). Sure, you say. But it's true. The alarm goes off at 9 or 10am and I don't hear it. I sleep through it. And then I hear it and I try to get up after shutting it off and I fail miserably to get out of bed and pass out again until 1pm.

Everyone says I earned it.

But I'm gonna need something else to get me out of bed so that I have more time in the day.

As for moving and packing, well, it just sucks. I'm busy just sorting through shit all the time and remembering random things about them.

Plus, I'm sad as hell to be moving.

So tonight, So Young and I went for a drive around Manhattan, since it's our last night here for a little while. We drove by Rockefeller, we drove by St. Thomas Moore, the Met, got Tasty D-lite, and drove by the WTC Site.

Fabs and So Young and I also went to the Lincoln Center Tree Lighting where we ran into the same band I marched with at the year-afer Iraq protest. We then went to the Olive Tree Cafe. Nice evening.

Now I'm back, packing.

I should also mention that on 39th Street, we saw a bar where there were a group of hot guys at the bar watching...

...ice dancing.

They were all watching, too.

Only in New York.

Awww.

Happy post-Turkey day, everybodee!

So I tried to blog last night, but there was something wrong with the server. Damnhellass.

We had a fabulous turkey day, complete with fabulous turkey. So much food for four people, but we sho' did enjoy.

So I'm sitting here, attempting to pack up my room, but immobilized in front of the TV. When I woke up this afternoon (yes, this afternoon, So Young and me were running interference friend intervention last night - don't ask, but we got home around 4am), I turned on the tube in an attempt to focus my eyes, and saw college football was on. I thought to myself, "Yeah, I never get to see the Syracuse games."

Guess what? Orange playing BC.

And kicking some serious ass in the last game of the Big East. Of course, as I write that, the Eagles intercepted a punt to Syracuse and scored. Motherof! I don't usually have poison tongue, turns out that BC has good special teams, but whatever. Either way, I'm blogging while I watch my home team plizay.

It's so strange, coming from a college town. You catch your hometeam playing seven years after leaving home and you still feel like you are back home and it reminds you of watching games with your family and friends in the fall. Good memories. Awww.

But I did learn that not only is my grandmother a cutie-patootie muffin, but my grandmother is also a rank-and-file member of AFSCME, which is for whom I work. Pretty neat!

Oy. Apologies if this isn't very titillating right now, I'm distracted by football and I've got to start packing again. Oy. Moving ain't fun. Especially this move since I feel like I had just taken my stuff out of boxes before I left for Seattle. Gah. But everything happens for a reason, ain't so happy to leave NYC, but sometimes you've just got to. There's a whole world out there, I gotta keep reminding myself. Even if it means going to live in what Fabs fondly calls "the toilet god forgot to flush."

In the meantime, I'll hang in the armpit of the East Coast at our home in Delaware and play "While You Were Out" with So Young. Argh. Packing to do!

Ahhh, good to be home.

Welcome to the new and improved Monkeehaus!

The Monkeehaus is back and better than ever and all of your favorite links are here. I am, of course, assuming that someone reads this thing. I have found that since my experiences on "The Trail" that I have quite a following of people who actually want to read my thoughts. Well, that's good to know. So I have included links back to "Tales from the Trail" as well as pictures from the trail in the sidebar on the right. I am also now keeping track of folks who are visiting and will include a guestbook soon. Of course, my next project is to update the website which is so old now. But small steps, folks.

So here's a pseudo update on me and I will be back to posting in no time!

Some thoughts I've had recently:

1. Apparently, Megan was having a to-do because some woman has a knitting blog named "monkeyknits" and Megan thought I should sue. I would sue the girl for using the monkey as a prefix, however, upon further inspection, it seems that I have no grounds. I am, afterall, MonkEE and she can still retain MonkEY. So we’re all good in that hood.

2. Coro events are still a lot of fun and good networking opportunities. Apparently, I made some sort of splash at last year’s Selection Day (the day the finalists for Coro are chosen) that many of the current Fellows remember me and want to talk to me. Yipes. This is a good thing, right?

3. What is with the new skinny scarves being in? What does that cover? A mole above your throat?

4. I am in the process of moving out of my apartment - it's a loooong story - and I haven’t been packing to move out of my apartment not because of sheer procrastination, but because Noel’s two-year old nephew is in town and the child in me has come out. On one hand, I see myself procrastinating the inevitable. On the other hand, I’ve made a two-year old friend. Nesting syndrome. Nesting syndrome. Warning. Warning. No need to panic. I have a hard enough time choosing what jacket to wear, let alone find a man that I wish to marry and have cute babies with. One thing at a time.

5. Won’t be going home for Thanksgiving because I have to pack. But Fab makes a fabulous (her-bulous) turkey. I’ll be picking up my grandmother in Brooklyn on Wednesday and from Wednesday to Friday, it’s hang out time in East Harlem with my best friend, my adorable Korean roommate, and my adorable muffin of a grandmother. Can you say Blockbuster Video?

6. If you have food left in your fridge from before Seattle or Iowa, throw it out and don’t cook it. I learned the hard way. Your stomach – and colon - will thank you. Don’t ever say that I didn’t give you good advice.

7. Having a best friend as a manager of a restaurant in the West Village is adventageous. Freebie drinks and dessert. Been twice already. Which is good, ‘cause I had to throw away a lot of food (see number 6).

8. Ani DiFranco is AWESOME solo. Fee-fi-fo-fucking douche bag behind me wasn’t. Look, if your girlfriend drags you to an Ani DiFranco concert, your penis will not get ripped off. So stop being an asshole and ruining my sixth row aisle listening experience by talking through the concert, booing when she says that we should be proud of the work we did during the Presidential election, and groping your girlfriend during a song about coveting another man’s wife shamelessly. Assjack. I knew I should have turned around and punched him in the neck.

9. I have successfully taught my roommates, Korea and Pina Colada (psudonyms to protect the innocent) how to knit. In return, I will be learning how to crochet. Hmmm. Perhaps this is what we will do when my cutie patootie grandmother is over here for two days.

10. Walking tacos are still disgusting. If you don't know what this is, check out the "Tales from the Trail". Okay, to save you some time, imagine a taco in a Doritos bag without the taco shell and you have a walking taco.

11. However, Frito pies are good. Went to the Cowgirl saloon the other day and in honor of Iowa, ordered up a frito pie, which is essentially a walking taco. But since I was in NYC, it felt different. Quite good.

12. Sims 2 is awesome. I highly recommend it. Of course, it is contributing to my lack of packing up my apartment, but what the hell, that game rocks. Oh yes, that game will be mine.

13. My Lance Armstrong bracelets haven’t arrived yet and I’m moving out of the city in a week. Of course, I also made a mistake and had them shipped to the old apartment down the hall. Smooth move, ex lax.

And finally, what I will be doing very shortly

14. Why is New Jersey called the Garden State? Because they couldn’t fit oil and petrochemical refinery on the license plate (name the movie. Seriously. Name it). I find that since I have had a dalliance with AFSCME, I find myself saying things I never would have said otherwise. So here’s one to add to the books along with “I’m going to Iowa. On purpose.” - Move over Big Apple, Jersey, here I come.

That's right, I'm leaving the bright lights, big city for the state that is in it's shadow. So the Jersey jokes officially stop from my end because I'll be working with AFSCME to ensure that the state stays in Democratic hands. Remember what I said in Tales from the Trail? That's right, the fight begins anew. One state at a time if we have to - we will regroup and take back our country.

So in the meantime, I will be spending a month at the house in Delaware playing "While You Were Out" and cleaning and repainting and doing all of that fun stuff. I will miss NYC terribly, but there is work to do out there in that big world and I will be able to return to my beloved city in a much better place financially and mentally. So here's to my city that I sadly leave in a week. Time to pack. Or sleep. Whichever comes first.