a chef I am not

for the long weekend (Monday was Memorial Day here in the states, a dat to commemorate the members of the United States armed forces who were killed in war) we decided to host a barbeque at our new digs. we have been planning this day for about a month now...not so much that it required that much time, just that we were excited about finally having a party at our place.

Lulou came in from Queens to spend the night and rest of the next day with us. We all woke up Sunday, went to mass (10 minutes late of course) then to Whole Foods to do some damage. We bought fresh avocados for guacamole, nice lean meat for burgers (and veggie burgers for the vegans, which there are a-plenty in our circle), corn chips, salad ingredients, and of course good beer. We were so excited about our friends indulging in all this organic, tasty food that we were going to prepare! We picked up our other good friend JD on the way home, and the four of us began to prepare for the party.

DH made a delicious salad with strawberries (yum) and sweet peppers. Lu made cookies. JD prepared the vegan treats (he's a vegan so he knows the ropes). I made the guacamole (which was INCREDIBLE if I might say so!), and then moved on to slicing the pickles. We got a mandolin as a wedding gift (not the musical instrument, then slicer silly!) Because I am just so AMAZING in general, and especially AMAZING at knife/slicer handling, I found it completely unnecessary to use the guard to push the pickles across the blade. About 3 pickles into slicing, my thumb got in the way, and the side of it was sliced off as well.

That's right, a big hunk of thumb was sliced right off, save a half a millimeter of skin it was dangling from. My first words "AW SHIT!"...then "Make sure there's no blood in the pickles"...and "Thank God it was on the thin slice setting!" DH insisted on taking me to the emergency room. Of course I'm all "it's FINE, I'll just put a bandaid on and that will hold the skin on." Of course once I actually took the time to run it under water and felt the pain and saw the blood, I figured he had something.

The hospital was full of home improvement accidents, lots of broken ankles and deep cuts. Some looked perfectly fine...perhaps people lonely on a holiday weekend just wanting some human contact and attention. When we finally got into a room the size of a bathroom stall, my thumb was bleeding like mad and throbbing. The first doctor (b/c apperently it takes two?) made me run it under the faucet. I screamed "HOLY SHIT!" I swear, for a small cut it felt like I was having my fingernails ripped out. I then turned red when I saw crying boy sitting outside my door with a broken arm. He stopped crying, so perhaps I did him a favor, however I still felt like a sissy for cussing over such a minor problem!

3 1/2 hours and 2 incompetant ER doctors later, my skin-flap was superglued onto my thumb (yay dermabond, no stitches) and I looked like I was in constant need of a ride due the HUGE bandage on my poor crippled finger. [I changed the dressings last night and it looks disgusting] My luck my thumb will heal up, but I'll have a nice dent in the side of it forever!

We missed a few people who had to leave early, but overall the night wasn't so bad! Some of us walked to the beach at midnight. It was so peaceful and quiet, and there's something about walking in the dark through the woods.

The only frustration was Lu. She has changed. So long as it's just Adam, JD and I, she is fine, but according to JD, once we left for the hospital, she freaked out. She wouldn't talk to anyone and even disappeared to the beach at one point. And it's not like these people are strangers to her. As soon as we got back, we knew she'd be ready to go to the train station. All she said was "Why didn't you call?!?!?!" (there's a cell phone block in the hospital) and "they drank ALL the beer" (isn't that what it's for?) Our friend Gio volunteered to take her to the station so that we could stay and enjoy the remnants of our company. She refused and said "[DH] is going to take me" So in order to keep the peace and not totally blowup at Lu in front of company, Adam AND Gio brought her to the station.

WHAT GALL!!!! how could she do that? She is so goddam selfish, and this is really the last straw. I don't think that I can hang around with her anymore. It's sad b/c we've been friends for seven years, we're both from LA, and she's really my only "girlfriend," but this friendship has been fading for a while. I keep offering her a clean slate (As does DH, for my sake), but her negative attitude and intolerance for our friends, for whatever reason, is disgusting and hurtful. Much of her disdain for them is rationalized in her mind by her "christian" convictions: they drink too much, use foul language, and their conversations can be crass. But they are some of the most amazing people I've ever met: they'd do anything for us, and took care of me while DH was touring months at a time, yes they're a bit raw, but they are honest and open, I know them better than I'll ever know Lu. They flew to Louisiana for our wedding, and I can barely get her to pay for a train ticket to visit me. What's ironic is that if I don't call her/invite her out, she acts hurt and left out. GOD HELP ME!!!! what should I do?????