Get your sh#t together

I'm not in the mood for this, Rome... get your shit together. Today is one of those days when I wish I could smack Rome upside the head.

After weeks of non-stop work, obscene temperatures, and August annoyances, I finally managed to find some time to do something non-work related! I pretty much missed all of the outdoor cinema events this year, but was very eager to go see at least one film that was part of the Unità d'Italia celebrations- not because I'm a patriot but because they were showing some damn good Italian classics.

So I made a point to take a break from work in order to go and pick up the free tickets* by 7:00 PM as it said on the websites that publicized the event:

"L’ingresso alla manifestazione è libero e i biglietti d'ingresso potranno essere ritirati gratuitamente entro le 19 a Palazzo Valentini. In più, il tagliando d’ingresso darà diritto, fino al 12 agosto, a cenare a prezzi ridotti all'Enoteca provinciale prima della proiezione. I film avranno inizio alle 21."

I get there and am told tickets will be available FROM 7:00 PM as opposed to until 7:00 PM. Now, I know my brain may be burnt out after redonkulous hours of work but I am far too OCD to mess up a detail like this so I whip out my beloved iPhone and show the "guard lady" the website with the info. At this point, after giving me attitude as if I were some fool, she finally says: "Oh yes, we know the info online is wrong but there's nobody here to give you the tickets anyway". Blood boiling (also due to the unbearable temperatures), I look at her and say: "This is ridiculous. People take time out of their schedule to come here and you can't even publish the correct info?". She shrugs her shoulders and says: "It happened to a lot of people". Yeah, real reassuring. That just makes you seems like bigger assholes because you knew the info was wrong but didn't bother to adjust it. So now, I will head back there again after 7:00 PM in hopes of finding tickets.

Grrrrrr.... just one of those days.

*someone has to explain to me WHY we have to go pick up tickets ahead of time for free events. If it's on first come-first serve basis anyway, then just do it right then and there instead of making people line up twice. It's such an annoying waste of time.

Cupcakes in the 'hood!

While walking home all sweaty and grumpy after a miserable bus ride (is it just me or has the bus service been horrific for the past few days?) I happened upon this:

Cupcakes? American sweets? Just what I needed to lift my mood. I stepped inside and examined the cases:

They looked damn good to me! At 3 euros a pop, they ain't cheap but I was willing to take my chances. I'm saving them till after dinner, I'll let you know the verdict.
Or else, check it out for yourselves:
Franky & Paul
Via del Moro #8
Trastevere, Roma
you can "like" them on the Facebook (yes, I said "the Facebook", it amuses me).

UPDATE: I tried them all and am sad to report they were disappointing and rather bland. I couldn't tell the difference between the red velvet, carrot cake, and white chocolate. A few of them fell apart as I was taking off the wrapper, and as we all know, a cupcake should not crumble that easily. The frosting was flavorless too, just tasted like sugar. Very unimpressive. They need to tweak their recipes because as they stand now, they're mediocre (hence even more overpriced). Oh well...