"M" marathon!

Martes. El martes por la mañana. I have to admit, I started off my marathon feeling a little moody. After a week emerged in the Midwest summer heat, back home in the “sunny” Mission, the clouds and crisp air was making me feel melancholy. So I started out by mailing my friend Mar a letter. I miss her, just like I miss all of my amigas back in my second madre tierra. It made me smile.
Next up, I walked up towards Market street and caught MUNI (SF public transportation) to a movie matinee in the mall on Market and 4th. Me and six other people (three of them women on their own with bags of popcorn, just like me!) enjoyed the film, The Kids are All Right, starring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore. Maybe it was because of the time of the month, or perhaps I was tired and still in the midwest time zone, but this movie made me cry. Me gustó mucho. My favorite kind of movie: memorable character development with a non-cheesy, slightly-awkward portrayal of real life. The music (including MGMT at the end) rocked. Afterwards, I meandered a bit through the mall, walked to Macy’s and contemplated buying makeup at the Mac counter, but decided I didn’t really have the money for such a meaningless purchase.
So I made my way back to the Mission on Bart, direction Millbrae. I grabbed my MacBook and moseyed over to Maxfield’s House of Caffeine (across the street from Mission High) for a single soymilk mocha, where I finally solved the mystery of the word myriad.

This word has plagued me for some time now. I remember being told that it should never be used with the word “of.” I would refer to Interpol’s accurate usage on this one, from the song Slow Hands: “You make me wanna pick up a guitar and celebrate the myriad ways that I love you.” But then yesterday, I was browsing Chris’ guidebook on the windy city (long story), and, noticed this: “The best times to come to Chicago are when the myriad of city-sponsored music and food festivals... (p.6)” Hmmm. If the ultimate grammar geek is using “of,” I need to get to the bottom of this!
So, I consulted the master, the Merriam-Webster online dictionary: “Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun, both in the plural form myriads and in the phrase a myriad of, seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally and is still properly only an adjective. As the entries here show, however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century. The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English. There is no reason to avoid it.”
I feel much better now, thank you m-w.com!

Next thing on the agenda, to finally cancel that pesky Myspace account that I tried to get rid of about six months ago. This time, within minutes, they followed through, and just like that, my relationship with myspace is all over.

After a mini-siesta to maintain my energy, I met Molly for a beer at the Monk’s Kettle, where we both had Belgian beers (a McChouffe for me, a Maredsous Blonde for Molly) . Then more peeps came and our group multiplied to five and we headed to our favorite Mexican joint in the Mission for some famous margaritas and a meal (I had the torta milanesa: a breaded steak sandwich? Next time, definitely the mole.) The service was mediocre, but the margaritas were magnificent and the company was marvelous. Our last stop, a nightcap mojito. Minty goodness. Then it was off to sleep by midnight. I felt tired, almost like I had just run a marathon.

M musical melodies: Modest Mouse, Maná, MGMT, Joni Mitchell, Madonna, the Magic Numbers, Matisyahu, the Mendoza Line, M. Ward, Laura Marling, Marvin Gaye, Ida Maria, Bob Marley, Lisa Mitchell.