Last Night we Saw Crazy Claire

By now you all know that I am in an epic battle against my neighbor, that we lovingly call "Crazy Claire". I've been sleeping with earplugs lately, so I've been waking up less (although it irritates Sadie, and her movement often stirs me from my deep slumber). Well last night, I finally got a photo of the elusive creature that we call my neighbor. Here's how it went down.

Corrie & Sean invited me to dinner with their family last night. The original plan was to pick up the food and eat at their house, however because Corrie is awesome at her job (she works for the mayor) she had to work a little late. So Sean and I were just chillin' at their house, and waiting for the rest of the family to show up. It was then that Sean made the executive decision that we would meet Corrie at Mai's, a great little Vietnamese restaurant in Midtown. So we all hopped in Sean's car (I call it the Rich Man Car [weird inside joke], which may or may not have caused me to perform an entire medley from "Fiddler on the Roof". Yes, I take song requests. No, you probably can't afford me). We arrive at Mai's, where Sean thought the car behind us was Corrie (in his defense it was the same car, except it was driven by a man that very much resembled someone that might be currently living in Guantanamo) and went up to the car door, where he peered in (thinking it was his wife) and noticed that the check engine light was on. Then the man rolled down the window and asked Sean if he needed anything. Obviously Sean was confused and explained that he thought that he (the man) was his wife, and it was now apparent that that was not the case. Thankfully for Sean, Corrie pulled up and the man understood that he was not crazy.

We sit down to eat, and because I had looked at the menu already (there are like 194893 choices), I had learned how to say what I wanted (number 72a, small) Com Chien Tom. So I looked to our very Vietnamese waitress and told her what I wanted. Turns out she has the ENTIRE menu memorized, it was really amazing. This was her cue to teach me how to say a myriad of things in Vietnamese, which brought about many laughs from our table. Below is a sampling of my new linguistic skills:

"thank you"- Cám ơn (which is pronounced like Gaa-bow)

"happy new year"- Chúc Mung Nam Moi (which is pronounced like chuck mong na mo)

"your welcome"- Đừng ngại (which is pronounced like dung ma)

As we are sitting there, a couple sits down behind Larry, Sean and Corrie. The girl looks really familiar, but I can't quite place her. Then it hits me. . .IT'S CRAZY CLAIRE. And because I'm so good at being discreet (please not the heavy sarcasm), I do a little freak out, because other than myself and Yuri, none of my friends have ever seen her. I hiss to Larry "IT'S CRAZY CLAIRE". Then I turn to Allie and tell her "take a picture of her with your phone". Well I think they heard me, but I didn't let that stop me from taking out my phone and taking pictures anyway- I tried to act like I was taking pictures of the entire table (which I did), so she wouldn't get suspicious, but she was quite obviously trying to dodge out of the photos. But do not be dismayed my blog readers, I took her picture. Behold. . .CRAZY CLAIRE, and her hipster boyfriend.

That face Larry is making?! I think it's excitement to see Claire. Or maybe he was just enjoying his dinner.

Well we left shortly thereafter, and in the parking lot Corrie had the BRILLIANT idea that I should take a picture of his car in Mai's parking lot, and then also of one this morning (because of course they were going to stay at her house). So behold, a picture of the Hipster Boyfriends car in the Mai parking lot at 8 pm last night.

Hipster boyfriends black VW wagon. It's hard to see, blame Apple for not having a flash on their phone.

His car as I was pulling out of my driveway this morning. Same license plate.

Then we went back to Corrie & Sean's house, and watched The Hangover with everyone, including Corrie's mom. And I stayed awake for the entire thing this time (I fell asleep in the theatre this summer when we went to see it). It was really hilarious, although it's weird to watch it with parents because it's so crass. Then I drove home, and low and behold, Crazy Claire and the Hipster Boyfriend were "playing the flute". Thankfully, I didn't get a picture of that.