A Nice Quiet Life

I have not posted much because it has been very quiet in our apartment. Brian and I have been staying home a lot, watching movies and eating in. I thought I would give everyone a list of things that have been happening:

• Brian and I finally got New York driver's licenses. I had to get my name changed and Brian just wanted to switch to a New York ID. Now I won't feel like such a tourist when I get carded at a bar.
• I got a new social security card with my new name. Dull, I know, but I was proud of the fact that I went to the Social Security office at 7am to do the paperwork. According to the woman behind me, I bypassed the 3 hour long afternoon line. I was second in line at 7am. Oddly, I still had to take a number.
  
• Brian installed a new operating system on his old, original Xbox. Now we can stream music and movies from our desktop computer to the TV in the livingroom. Our apartment is very technologically efficient.
  
• Brian and I signed up for zipcar, a car rental service. You can reserve a car online. Then just go to the car and unlock it with your membership card. There are a bunch of zipcars parked within walking distance of our apartment. Brian and I reserved one for an hour and just drove it around for fun. We also took a car to CostCo. It is nice to be able to buy massive amounts of cheeseburgers, cat food and garbage bags without have to carry them on the subway.
• We got a Playstation 3 and have been having a lot of fun playing games and watching movies on bluray. I daresay Brian has turned me into a gamer because my first instinct when we got the system was not, "Let's go get a bluray movie!" Instead, I marched us straight to the nearest open Game Stop and bought myself Fallout 3 and Little Big Planet. I waited three whole days before I bought a bluray movie. Just so you know, I got The Dark Knight and Coraline on bluray and they are totally awesome in HD.
  
• We celebrated Livia's birthday (Oct. 6) with tuna and many renditions of "Happy Birthday." If we go by the vet's assessment, she is four years old. We have had her for a year and she is still amusing. I've started calling her "the panther" because of the way she stalks Leela.
  
• I'm excited for my birthday. Tomorrow's plans include walking around Prospect Park, going to the Brooklyn Public Library, seeing the gourd display at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and carving pumpkins. On Sunday, Tanya and Jorge invited us over for a free birthday dinner. This means that I get more of Jorge's famous margaritas. If you have never had one, you have never had a margarita. :)
• I got an orange KitchenAid Stand mixer. So far, I have made pumpkin bread and ground bologna sandwiches (with the food grinder attachment). I plan to make cookies today and butter when I can get my hands on some good cream.
  
• I have been reading books at lightening speed lately. In the past few weeks I have read and recommend Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces (this book was particularly excellent), Stephen Kings' Just After Sunset, Ian Mc Ewan's Enduring Love and the Best of Nonrequired Reading for 2009. I do not recommend Dean Koontz's Frankenstein trilogy, John Grisham's The King of Torts, Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels or Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby (if you have seen the movie because they are exactly the same).
• My personal, annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon is back this year. Basically, it is my excuse to watch as many horror movies as I want. This year has included so far: Dawn of the Dead, Midnight Meat Train, Last House on the Left, Scream, Final Destination, Arang, Hit and Run, The Bodysnatchers, and more.
• I already have my Halloween costume and the apartment is decorated. I'm going to be a witch. I love Halloween.

That's about it. Like I said, it has been quiet. Hopefully, I will have exciting news or pictures after the weekend.