straight-laced slope
Wow, I live in an exciting part of town . . .front page, an article about a turkey and the lack of places to deposit your doggie bag of poo . . . I guess there were no stroller recalls this week.
giving thanks for Macy's parade
My family was all in town to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. And what better way than with Macy's parade and Irish coffee (and would be hot toddies had JK not been hungover Thurs AM)!
Later, after dinner (in which we forgot the canned cranberry jello/sauce, the BEST part of the meal), we left the slope to spend some time in the W.burg (W.berg?) M&S were gracious hosts to invite JK's fam. JK opened one of his 21 bottles of wine*, a 1985, it was delic! Of course I was tickled when M refered to something he read here (hee-hee, someone reads this!).
CR and BK (are they happy its over?
) BK and GK ( whose idea to get up this early?)
* JK's God mother has gotten him a bottle of wine for his birthday since 1 years old (stored in our basement untill he was 21) . . . wicked awesome, if you ask me.
nano nano
yea!!! its here! and it is SO tiny!
WTC sightings
As my family has come up to NY for Thanksgiving, many of them wanted to see the World Trade Center sight. So we headed downtown on the R and I managed to get us to the south side of the sight (less people than on the east side). As we looked at the big hole and some of the posters displayed, a mother was explaining to her 5-6 year old daughter what was here and what happened. At first I was shocked that anyone could not know what had happened, even a child. But then she was only 2 or so when it happened. After her mom pointed to a picture and described planes running into the giraffe-like sky scrappers, the girl's face took on a solemn expression. Her face reminded me of my thoughts while visiting the Vietnam memorial decades ago. An air of "oh, that's sad." Its so hard to grasp the utter tragedy of an event unless you remember your experiences during it. That there is already a generation that views September 11th as "history" just seems weird. and also somehow wrong.
the sky is falling!
unfortuantely, this is no little chicken.
Last night I was awoken by one of my roomies telling me the ceiling was leaking.
she wasnt kidding.
the ceiling isnt raining anymore, because they turned off the water in the building (apparently something happened on the 4th floor; we are on the 1st). But of course no water also means no heat.
Just in time for the snow and the visiting relatives!
Feliz Navidad
Long live the 24hour Christmas music stations! On a recent car trip I was taunted on various radio stations from NY to DC that the holiday tunes were coming soon, then on the way back to NYC I pretty much managed to flow from one city's station of Christmas cheer to the next. It was great! Now of course, there are some aweful tunes out there, Cyndi Lauper's duet with Frank Sinatra for Santa Claus is Coming to Town, for example. But without a doubt it seems Feliz Navidad is the most popular choice for Christmas music. I believe I heard it 5 times on the 4 hour trip, and recently on the station here in NYC (106.?). I am wondering if this is because people love the upbeatness of the song, or because it is the only "ethnic" Christmas song in pop culture. hmmm . . .
Bowling in the big city
I had my first experince in Bowlmor Lanes tonight. I must admit, it was my first bowling alley that had a bouncer (atleast, I dont remember a bouncer at the Milkey Way in JP) . Let me just tell you, strikes and spares aside, this place was awesome for people watching. I mean who goes bowling in NYC on a Saturday night? (this is being said very tongue in cheek) In any case, my $40 of bowling fun was enhanced by the various parties around our lane (#33).
Bud
Is the new Budweiser ad on the radio uber lame, or is it me? Apparently its a Detroit 80's flash back.
bud radio ad
Brooklyn gal for 5 months!?!
hmmm. I MAY be getting an offer to teach/precept up in Boston. I now know that this is what I want to be doing, professionally. But the job would start in Jan 2006, cutting down my time in NYC to a mere 5 months. There is also the problem of having signed the lease to start this December here in BK for a year. hmmm. I'm afraid that if I turn it down now, I wont get another offer there, at least for several years. I will know more details about the job in mid December, but I think I would have to pretty much have an answer for them pretty close to being ready . . . what to do? right now what they are offering is .4 full time equivalent, which means 2 days a week, but I think they are trying to come up with another day or maybe 2 a week (I'm hoping benefits would be included if its .5+ a week). aghh, what to do? I wanted to live in NYC to experience it and sort of prove to myself I could do it. The thing is, excluding the change of seasons, and ice skating at Bryant Park, and a few other random things, my "to do" list is dwindling. On the other hand, I've always said I dont want to live somewhere just because of the job . . . although this was before I was working full time and discovered how lame a slow job can be. what to do? please feel free to post any thought that might help . . . Of course, it hasnt been offered yet, nor have I met with the department heads, so perhaps I wont have any decision to make!
pesci de Babele
I went to look up how spell "grazie" for a set of thank you cards and got sent to
babelfish . What a great site! Non seulement peut il traduire un bloc de texte dans beaucoup de langues
(not only can it translate a block of text in many languages) , but Sie können eine gesamte Web site auch übersetzen
(you can translate an entire web site).
And of course, it is a web name with a sense of humor*. While this site isn't quite as fulfilling a method of wasting time as google earth, its pretty close.
*If you dont know the reference, please read the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Halloween, a "Jem" of a party
On Halloween I went to a party with LA and SJC. Here are some pics:
a dead prom gal Miss Universe (from an undetermined solar system), and the tooth fairy Miss Universe and a dead guy who didnt dress up for Prom
the panda, the life of the party
more dead people (was this before or after the stellar rendition of the "Thriller" dance?)
dead gal again with that Miss Univ.
Jem and Brad? (where is Maddox?)
High school science teacher and dead chics
Voltron*, defender of the universe
My father has a theory that everything in the universe balences out . . . like you win at Mohegan Sun then need to fork over a hefty sum for an emergency root canal or you win an ipod and your cell phone dies (sound familiar RW?)
So I wonder if it is the balence theory that is in work between my brothers. BK (not the one that lives in BK) has had the worst week ever. Everything from tickets to a burglery of his apt to his car being towed from the library, all during test week at school. God bless him. But my other brother, JK, has seemingly been having some excellent brunches of late** as well getting a job that is in two of his fields of interest (photography and advertising) Much kudos. (JK is also the one that inspired me to begin the blogging . . . although he refers to it as a virus infecting people . . . check his out at
northsideflyer )
* Can you believe Voltron is 21 years old?
**NYers brunch like there is no other meal . . . my working weekends has dampened this aspect of my NYer metamorphosis
Brussel Sprouts
Did you know how brussel spouts grow? LA and SJC recently tried to describe this to me, but I really had no idea what they were talking about. That is, until I ran into a brussel sprout tree at the slope farmer's market yesturday. Sometimes nature is just weird.
Phyllis
Do you ever have a memory overwhelm you? I was dining at Palacinka tonight and I'm not sure if was the smell of coffee, real butter, the perfume of a fellow dinner, the warm air or talking with strangers at least half a generation older than me, but all of a sudden I was in Phyllis' house. The little area between the dining room and the front room, where the Christmas tree would go for caroling parties.
Phyllis is/was my aunt. She was the one part of my mom's family that was always around. Well, not around in that we saw her all that often, but she lived in the area and I dont remember a time before going to her house for caroling or for Christmas lunch when we were little.
She was scary to me when I was younger, but sometime around college I started to understand her sharp wit, admire her courage and strength. As my brother has said, it was just when we started to appreciate her that she died.
But the caroling parties I keep referring to were these annual gatherings of the extended family of a bridge club from the late 60s. We would drive through Silver Spring to the homes of home bound individuals (shut-ins as we said prior to the PC revolution) and later to nursing homes, and sing Christmas carols. Inevitably most people would be underdressed and tucking hands in armpits as we sang, while whoever was 2-3 years old would have bells that they could jingle. The last song we sang at everyone's house was We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and all the tone deaf individuals would stand in the back of the pack and try to get us started with "Weeeee Wiiiissshhhh" as soon as possible. Then after we all returned to our minivans and drove over 95, through University Ave to Phyllis' house, there was a big pot luck dinner with plenty of bottles of wine. Eventually all the kids got a wack at a pinata filled with quality candy and all the non-tone deaf adults would try to harmonize and sing again in the dinning room, slurring one song to another.
Since there was a big age gap between our mom and her siblings, my brothers and I were somewhere between our first cousins (20 years older than us) and our first cousins once removed (10 years younger than us). Needless to say we were not thrilled to be there for most of our caroling party years. But, of course, now that there are no more caroling parties, and a good chunk of the attending partiers have died, I fucking miss all that.
the best F conductor ever
On my way slope side tonight I had the best F conductor ever. As we entered York station he welcomed us to Brooklyn, "the best place to call home". At Jay, he reminded us that the C stops at 10, so to take the A if we were transfering. At Carroll he highlighted the benefits of waiting for the Ghost train at Carrol (its warm) versus Smith and 9th (better view). So thank you mister conductor! You made my swirly, too many glasses of strawberry sangria, trip home the best ever!
Lovengood
Isnt it great to meet up with old friends? People who knew you when . . . ? I had drinks and a little concert dwelling with one of my college roomies, LR (formerly LT) tonight. I love how I can not see someone for 2 years, and its just like no time has passed. Of course, its old friends who remind you of events that one might have blocked from memory. LR was running through the list of people we knew way back when and what they are doing now when she hit upon Mr. Lovengood. Once she said his name, I remembered, but up untill that point I think I had completely forgotten about the good sir. Now most of you know that I have what may be the worst memory ever, but how does one forget about smooching a dude with the name Lovengood? whats wrong with me?
looking cool while in school
I am an eye doc. its funny that i only mention that now. Isnt one's profession supposed to define them? Anyway, I am presenting a poster at the Academy meeting next month about a patient I had over a year ago. Of course, I need to get the poster to the printer by tomorrow, umm, scratch that, today . . . why must I procrastinate so?
But the just of it is that I prescribed someone with low vision (cant see well even with the best pair of regular glasses) glasses that allowed her to read the newspaper that were the thickness of the ones on the left, as opposed to the ones on the right. ingenioius? not really. I think I got picked because my title was vaugley interesting (see today's title). Not that "Use of Yoked Prism from Training in Patient with Hemi-Spatial Neglect" or "Diffractive Optics versus Doublet Microscopes for Macular Degeneration Patients" arent good titles. (Actually, these sound kind of interesting, if you are into that kind of thing . . . hello AH, LD, JK the OT & ODs)
I had planned on writing about more exciting things today, but I guess I just have eyeballs on the brain tonight. see well!
too slow for the fast lane, too fast for the slow lane
I went for a swim at the Y today. Now, its a small pool, only 3 lanes. Slow, Medium, Fast. Since the slow lane was occupied by people standing, I turned my attention to the other lanes. The "medium" lane seemed to be going about kickboard speed for me, so I hopped in the fast lane. I'm not an awesome swimmer, but if there is one sport that I am at least decent, it is swimming. First couple of laps I'm keeping pace with the 2 guys in the lane. But then they must have hit their stride because all of a sudden I have to let them pass every 4 laps or so. Do I just hop over to the slower lane? no. I go for another 4 laps at top speed (and even manage to pass one of the guys myself) before I start to poop out. Hmm, I am about duck under the lap lane to join the slower paced, when I realize one of the "swimmers" seems to be more of a "drifter", kind of swimming a la GWK. So now my swimming speed has matched my social life, too slow for the fast lane and too fast for the slow lane.
Confidential: not for circulation
As I was riding the F into work today I happened to glance at the reading material of the man seated in front of me. For those of you not familar with the basic NY train seating arrangment, the seats are kind of like back to back L seats, so the person "in front" of you is actually seated such that you see their profile. Anyway, the top of the page the gentleman was reading was:
Northern Uganda Securtiy Council
Confide
ntial, not for circulationNow I will be honest, I had to google what was going on in Northern Uganda (umm, as well as where exactly it is . . . in between Kenya and DR Congo, south of Sudan). Sadly roughly 1000 people have died each week from rebel attacks, as well as many other horrors.
But my inital shock was not that security was needed somewhere in the world that I didnt know about, but that someone thought public transportation a wise place for confidential reading. But the more I think about it, the more I am glad he did. I've never been big on current events. Sure, washingtonpost.com headlines, the occational Metro, or perhaps "real" paper from time to time, but those that have shared a paper with me know to hand over the comics section first (thank you CC). But I think today is a bit of a wake up call. I am now officially subscribed to the NYtimes. And since there are no comics, I will try my hardest to read the news section fully. Perhaps I will uncover what the Northern Uganda Security Council does, and if it has plans to prevent further eatting of elephants by LRA rebels.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/464543
"Everybody knows it sucks to grow up" - ben folds
I went to see Ben Folds in concert tonight at Radio City music hall.
Still Fighting It is one of my favorite songs of his,
along with the obligatory Brick. He played both of those tonight along with a lot from his new album. I'm not used to being seated at a concert; I feel like that should be reserved for symphony concerts. Perhaps it was the summers of lawn dancing at Merriweather or being at the front of the crowd at Harpers Ferry (or basically being the crowd at the Choppin' Block). But live music is better when you can shake your tail feathers to it!
The opening band was The Fray. I had only heard one of their songs prior to this evening, but they seemed good. Although to be honest, if you played Coldplay, Five for Fighting and The Fray, I dont think I would be able to differentiate.
What amazed me was the breadth of ages represented tonight. There was a couple in their late 70s (at least) 2 rows ahead of us and several 7 year olds. This is surprising not only because the concert ended past bedtime but because of Ben Fold's affinity for the word "fuck."
So as I watched the virtually seizure-producing light show that accompanied both bands and listened to the rather melancoly tunes I thought about how it does suck to grow up. Not that it is now beneath our dignity to climb a tree, but that in the process of finding a different branch from which to swing our legs we get further and further from each other. But as I glanced at MB air piano playing I realized that we arent leading our lives away from each other; perhaps we are just on various sine wave paths, that will intersect again someday, and that doesnt suck.
testing
1 2 3 testing 1 2 3
Ok, so this is my first attempt at blogging. I've entered the wide world of gen Yers!
Picking the layout of the blog was difficult . . . I settled on this one because I believe the two pictures are from the public gardens in bean town (my home for the last 1/2 a decade). What do you think?
) BK and GK ( whose idea to get up this early?)
Just in time for the snow and the visiting relatives!
On Halloween I went to a party with LA and SJC. Here are some pics:
