the veggie delight.

so, i'm a big fan of the veggie delight sandwich at subway (if i'm eating subway, that is).

it is quite tasty and consists of- you guessed it- veggies.

as a non-meat-cold cut eater (with occasional consumption of turkey), the veggie delight is obviously my best Subway bet.

so, each time i hit up the Subway, I go right on up there and say,

"I'll have a small, with the hearty italian roll."
and Subway employee responds, "what kind of sandwich would you like?"
and I say, "veggie delight."
and he/she says, "cheese?"
and I say, "no, thanks." ...

and they, inevitably, look at me like i'm crazy...EVERY time.

never fails.

as if cheese is necessary for the veggie sandwich. or as if cheese makes the veggie sandwich a "normal" sandwich.
a recap...
"cheese?"
"no."
CRAZY LOOK...not kidding you...then..

"okay, what would you like on it?"
"everything but pickles and hot peppers."
"dressing?"
"oil and vinegar, salt and pepper."
"you must like some chips with this?!"

and sometimes, yes, i would like some chips with that...but other times, i just feel i MUST concede, else who knows what would happen...so...

"yes, sure, chips, yeah."
"and soda?"
"umm, sure, yes, diet. thanks."

and then i proceed to run away, because i've now been deemed a freak for ordering a cheeseless veggie sandwich at the Subway.

is a cheeseless veggie sandwich not good enough? an unusual request, perhaps? (but it's ON the menu!)

i'm not sure which part of it scares them...but i tell you, you want a laugh, or a funny look...try it out...veggie delight...no, no cheese, thanks.

on loving love...and those who do so.

so, i'm a firm believer in a few things. one of them being the fact that there are several individuals out there that just plain love love. they fall in love with it and crave it and mourn it when it's gone...

and if i must say so myself, i find it quite amazing. or perhaps unusual. if you couldn't tell by my word choice and organization, i am not a member of the love lovers population. now, we could spend several hours, psycho-analyzing the reasons that I am not a love lover type...but let's just decide not to do that.

instead, let's discuss these love lovers. what typically happens is this...guy meets girl, girl and guy begin a relationship, girl and guy fall in love, relationship between girl and guy goes bad, and the true colors of the love lover(s) shine bright. now, when the loving love begins is difficult for me to determine, as i've never been a love lover or even involved with one, for that matter.

now, you might be wondering what the hell the difference between love and love loving is...well, in my humble opinion, it's huge. love is directed at a particular individual and everything that comes along with that individual. it's an admiration for who the person is now, what they believe in, hope for, aspire to be..it's all about the connection and adoration you have with and for another person.

love loving on the other hand, is directed at the emotion itself, the feelings that you get when you are in love, the comfortability that comes along with it, and the love lovers will take that feeling any way that they can get it.

this is where we get to the craziness. how far will a love lover go? incredibly far, i've learned.

those who are in love with someone, of course, mourn the loss of the person in their life, as they once were, how they felt about them, and i'm sure struggle with the thought of the required radio silence (according to experienced lovers) and what follows (or doesn't).

but, the love lovers...they handle it all differently. they want so badly the feelings, the emotions, the "feel-good," that they ignore the rest. they forget it all. put it all aside. they look past what caused the break up or who the person is now, compared to who they were, or EVEN who the person actually is versus who they thought he/she was. to me, it's simply amazing.

now, don't get me wrong, i'm not knocking it...alright, well maybe i'm borderline opposed to the whole idea...but i'm much more intrigued than anything else.

what is it that makes someone lose all rationale? throw all sane thought out the window for the "feel-good?"

maybe there is something out there, something more powerful than love for another...something i've not yet experienced, and something that i will understand only when i do. perhaps it truly is just a lack of experience on my part.

or maybe love lovers are more dependent or weak or various other descriptive words used when psycho-analyzing...

and maybe not. perhaps in a world stock full of forced reality, the love lovers are right. stand tall (or slightly leaning) with heart in hand, think think think hard about the feel good that comes with the love loving and wish and hope and dream, as only a dreamer or a love lover could do....

a tribute to some friends. that will probably never read this.

i have them...i know, it's hard to believe. but i do. all over the darn country, in fact. and for all those that i don't see often, i wonder about what they're up to and how they're doing and all that jazz. now, a forewarning- this is going to get sentimental. so here goes.

the great thing about friends that are really true friends is that in the times that you need them most, the times you just can't imagine how you'll keep on going...they just show up. from wherever it is that they were. and there they are. ready to take on whatever you are. to hold you up when you can't barely consider standing.

i feel lucky, fortunate, blessed, if you will, to have people like that in my life. to have friends that treat each other like gold, that drop their lives to keep yours going. i also feel fortunate that i haven't needed that type of support myself. but i have witnessed it through & through...and even lent a strong arm to help keep some standing...but because, geographically, of where i was and am...my efforts will never compare to those that i have in mind.

i guess what i'm trying to say here is this. beck, kris, jul...you define true friendship. and you don't even know it, nor would it effect you if you did. you're always there...from the happiest moments to the absolute lows...and you know exactly what to do to get through them. you love deep and it shows. i love you girls very much. so this is a tribute to you....even though you'll probably never read this...but that's not what matters. you are.

our 1 year. and the bronx zoo!

so, according to my standards...september 18th was the date of my one year anniversary...although some critics believe it was august 26th...and so we've agreed to disagree on that one.

anyhow..we decided that a trip to the bronx zoo would be an excellent way to celebrate, neither of us being the fancy dinner or roses type, it was just perfect...although somehow i did end up with a rose out of this. hmm.

so we took the subway right on up there and hopped off and in we went to the bronx zoo. memories of my last visit, in 3rd grade, with my mom as a chaperone for the school trip quickly flashed back. boy did i like that chris wystepek back then. ha.

we went big and got the "do it all" pack...meaning the monorail, skyride, gorillas, and all...which was well worth it. especially because i had never done the skyride, or tiger mountain! the gorillas were our favorite, especially my little guy. the kids that were there were banging on the windows and sticking their tongues out at the little guy and he came over to the window and did it right back to them! it was great. he was great, i was just about ready to take him home.

we also enjoyed the polar bear- who wil says is really mean- and i wouldn't like if i really met him. and the tigers! those on tiger mountain, that is, not to be confused with the ones on the monorail.

we took many photos and thoroughly enjoyed our day with the animals. an fantastic way to celebrate, in my humble opinion.

storm king!

so wil came up with the excellent idea of taking a voyage up to storm king art center in or around cornwall, ny. and an excellent idea it was. the place is a vast area, several hundreds of acres of land, sparsely decorated with immense, and not so immense sculptures. it is beautiful.

wil and i headed out early, to get a whole day in, stopped at a deli for a little picnic lunch and ventured into the depths of storm king. there are neat little woods trails off of the main grounds that we loved. as well as a picnic area for the lunch consumption, and a really neat old house, which they use to keep smaller sculptures indoors.

we pretty much walked the entire center and had a lovely time doing so..my favorites were this one over here on the right, as well as this really neat stone wall that an artist built, winding around through the woods and trees. it's really beautiful.

after our picnic and some serious amounts of exploring, we found a perfect spot for some much napping under a lovely little tree.

once re-energized, we continued the exploring and headed on home. a perfectly lovely day it was.

loren & labor day...

my summer went out with a bang...was quite an excellent, and welcomed, end to a blazing hot summer (although, unfortunately, the heat fights on). sept 2nd marked the long anticipated day that my BFF from SF arrived at JFK (holy acronyms batman).


we had a lovely long weekend, with time spent shopping for he-man, hulk, & ninja turtles at love saves the day, which is, in my personal opinion- the best store ever. it was quite excellent to have a buddy like lor finally be able to come and hang and experience NY my style. we had a super duper time involving serious amounts of laughter. as well as serious amounts of pizza and lots of village fun.




other highlights included the fabulous labor day roof party- attended by my warwickian buds, some UD friends, and various other fun folk. party involved a bar set up in the kitchen for mixed drinks, buckets o beers on the roof, and hors' d'ouvres made and passed out by the roomie. music was provided..although can't say i recollect much of what was played...and good times were basically had by all.


labor day also marked my last weekend of non-student status...as I began my first pre-MBA courses at Fordham that following week...there's nothing like statistics on a saturday morning at 9 am. it's quite lovely if i must say so myself. my math methods for business is actually working out well for me, but also happens to be on tuesday night...which is quite a bit more appealing than saturday morning.

and....i guess that...that just about wraps up the loren and labor day fun.

...and the never-ending trip home

...and so you may have guessed from the way the last update ended...the trip home was a far cry from normal. or easy...to say the least.

disclaimer/ warning label: lengthy experiences described in high detail found below....

it progressed something like this...

i de-boarded and asked the ferry ticket attendant where to catch the bus.
she responded, "well, you are supposed to catch it at the bottom of the ramp...but uhh..it's not very reliable."

hmm. not very reassuring...so i call Bonanza/ Peter Pan, to verify the time & they say "6:30pm".

with a little time pondering, i recalled that it really shouldn't be 6:30pm, so, feeling paranoid, I call again & decide i'll even make sure that they accept debit/ credit cards.

"6:35pm at the state ferry and yes, we take debit/ credit." phew.

6:30pm -- "LAST FERRY TO MARTHA'S VINEYARD, ALL ABOARD!"

6:35pm -- The ferry security guy pulls over and asks, "Are you okay? What are you waiting for?"

I let him know everything is fine, just waiting for the bus to NY.

His response, "Good luck."

Apparently, I should have taken that as a hint...

Well..around 6:40pm, i began to get nervous...this is the last bus to New York...hmm.

i decide that 6:45 pm is a good time to call up again...and...um, right...get hung up on.

Let's try that again... and after many minutes of holding, i get a "hello" and an update that the bus is running about 20 minutes late (well...by now it's running 30 min..but okay)...and wait a minute!

There she is...Bonanza / Peter Pan, rounding the corner. I gladly hang up with my friends at the call center, and quickly approach the bus pick up area.

As I board the bus with smiles ear to ear, the driver asks, "Where are you headed?"

"Well, New York (of course)."

From the driver, "I'm going to Hyannis (area near Cape Cod). The NY bus already came through. How long you been here?"

I respond, "Since 6 PM, there's no way I missed it."

He says, "Well, you know it's quite a hassle to come here and do this pick up here. I don't even understand why we have to do it."

"So, are you trying to say that it's very possible that the bus just didn't pick up here?!," I say.

"Anything is possible."

"Oh great..and that means I'm stranded here. Can you try to contact that driver? They said it was running late, maybe it's still just running late."

The Hyannis driver tries to contact the NY driver to no avail and then explains how he now must get going...

...and my thoughts: I am going to be stranded in New Bedford tonight.

The rest of the night proceeded with the sun setting...the phone calls continuing...until finally a 15 minute conversation occurs with a guy at good ole Bonanza / Peter Pan call center...and he tells me the truth...

"Bus left on time. 6:00 pm, from the Bus Terminal. Guess he didn't do the pick up at the ferry. No more buses tonight."

I believe it was the cracking in my voice that made this guy realize that he was leaving me stranded on a ferry dock, in the middle of nowhere...as I should have been en route to NY...so he made some calls, put forth his best effort and I ended up...right where I was...sitting on my bag on a dark, empty ferry dock, with the comfort of knowing that there are no buses within 50 miles...and none coming to town until 6 AM..and no train tracks that run through this said New Bedford.

Lovely.

I called my boyfriend, pretty distraught...explained the situation...and asked for some internet help in figuring something out.

By the time he called back I was in a car with the aforementioned Security Guard...getting a ride to the nearest taxi area.

I had decided to spend the night in New Bedford, which was, according to all, not a safe area.

My taxi driver was old and scary and talking to me as I kept my boyfriend on the phone, truly...for safety purposes.

After he pretty much refused to give me my change back, I jumped out of the taxi, frazzled and seeking a place to stay.

I checked into a Comfort Inn and walked to my room, which housed a fairly diisgusting stink, as well as a bed, missing one pillow. Special.

Well, my boyfriend called and had me all set to call another taxi company to get a ride to Providence, RI and he had bought me a train ticket from there to Penn Station! Yay, get me the hell out of this place.

The taxi driver approached, blasting hip hop music and into the cab I went (only after checking out about 15 minutes before checking in...and later being charged $97 to do so).

I asked the driver if I could stop at an ATM and he said sure...then proceeded to call several people on his cell phone.After hanging up, he asked if I would mind if we picked up his wife....sure, why the hell not, at this point.
So, off we go, to pick up his wife, and hopefully, get to an ATM.

As we drive, the taxi driver tells me of the dangers of New Bedford, of the time when his buddy saw his Mom get her head shot off, right in the street...and then, all about how he never thought he'd send his kids to school with guns...but, now that he's here, he's really considering it.

Wow, well now I feel a lot better. At least we're in a safe area.

After the wife pick-up, and an offer to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a Turbo Blast...we proceed to Providence, RI...in hopes that I'll actually catch this train.

After about 25 minutes, the driver asks me if I know how to get there.

Yes, really, he did. Now, at this point, if I were you, I'd be #1) tired of reading, and #2) amazed that this could all happen in one day/ night, to one person...unless you know me, of course, and understand the life of danielle, as i know it...oh so well.

Now, I, of course, have no f-in idea how to get from New Bedford, MA to Providence, RI...I had just found out New Bedford was in MA, not CT, earlier that day...come on now. So we travel onwards...his wife says a few words about which way to go...and then he asks me if I know which exit to get off at, in Providence......ohhh, okay...sure, let me just pull that one out of my ass.

No, kind sir (he actually was quite kind), I don't. we finally decide it's a good idea to call the cab company. phew. sigh of relief...and I make it there. and say my farewells to my new friends of New Bedford, MA...and only hope that I make it home, to NY, in one piece....

...and thank goodness...I do...the words of the Hyannis driver lingering in my head...I guess it's true.."Anything" really "can happen"...