the disco hotspots hold no charm for you

I've had Indian food twice in the past 24 hours. Not only that, but I've had lentils--which, if you've ever heard me go off about lentils, may surprise you. However, in Indian cuisine, lentils are called 'dal'; and 'dal makhni' sounds similar enough to 'murgh makhni' (my favorite stuff) that I can almost convince myself that I'm not eating butter-covered dirt. Mmm.

Anyway, tonight I went out with Subz (known more formerly as Lauren), and we attempted to reclaim our Indian past by finding some tasty South Asian cuisine. We tried this restaurant called 'Southern Spice' in Mountain View. Let me tell you, it was the perfect place to go for our reclamation mission--the decor had the same weird mishmash of Christmas lights and Ganeshes that most Indian buildings seemed to have, and the restaurant was strangely empty. The music was also appropriately annoying. However, the place gradually added customers as the night progressed (we did get there absurdly early, since it was our excuse to leave the office), and the food was awesome. I'm always pleased when the clientele match the food being served, since it indicates that the menu items are authentically prepared; I feel the same joy at seeing Mexicans at Pedro's, or at seeing v. elderly white people at Marie Callendar's. Anyway, we went veg because Subz doesn't eat meat, which explains why I ate dirt instead. You know a restaurant is good if I think the food is tasty even without the added benefit of once-living flesh. Also, hanging out with Subz was awesome, and the dinner was a great way to start the week.

Last night, Vidya and Tammy came over to watch the Academy Awards. It was supposed to be a slightly larger tea party, but Claudia and Terry both cancelled due to illness; I was going to bake and cook, but I cancelled that due to illness as well, so Vidya and I ordered a pizza. Tammy showed up much later, and she wanted Indian food, so we ordered some takeout after the Oscars were over. We were going to rent 'Crash' to see what all the fuss was about, but neither of us could find our Blockbuster cards--so we watched the first half of 'The Return of the King' instead. You have no idea how happy it makes me that I watched part of it with Tammy--she makes fun of me all the time by claiming that I watch the Lord of the Rings movies all the time (okay, possibly valid, although I haven't seen any of them in at least six weeks). She also likes to bring up my lust for Aragorn (also valid) and the fact that I lust after the fictional character, rather than the actor (but come on, Aragorn vs. Viggo Mortenson? No contest!) So, of course, I was quite amenable to watching 'Return of the King' with her--but since it's like ten hours long, she's going to have to come over later this week to finish it.

Saturday night, I went out for dinner in honor of Lisa's birthday; she'd flown up from LA with her fiance, and went to dinner with me, Claudia, Terry, Terry's sisters, and a couple of her former residents. Lisa's getting married next year, and Terry will be the maid of honor, so I had quite a bit of fun making fun of that. I tried to blame all of my loopiness on overingestion of DayQuil, but it was clearly just my normally-effervescent personality going haywire, as usual. Since that was the first time in two days that I'd left the house or seen anyone, it was v. exciting.

Now, it's back to the grind at work--I panicked slightly when I realized today that I only have fourteen work days left in the Mountain View office. Where has the time gone?! Oh well, soon this will all be over and I will be in the verdant emerald land across the sea. Or, alternatively, in a depressing apartment block in the middle of a dreary Socialist spring. Either way, it's going to rock my socks off.