New York state of mind
Yesturday was the best NY day yet! I met TS in Brookline Heights for a promenade along the promenade and then headed uptown for a very tasty lunch at
Island Burger. We continued our afternoon with a jaunt through the park and rented boats at the lake. As we rowed around the rather bizarely shaped lake we were serenaded by a random saxaphone and brush snare duo sitting on a near by bench.
Later we headed back downtown, braving the tourists at Times Square before going to see Avenue Q!* It was hilarious!
All and all a very NY day, a great day.
*TS had surprised me with tickets to the show the night before
I hate to quote Meg Ryan movies, but . . .
A mere season or two ago there were several fabric stores along B'way in southern Soho. When I stopped into their "clearance" sales, I never thought why fabric stores were having sales . . . I mean a blue toile never really goes out of style. . . But then today as I veered south of Grand, I noticed a new Starbucks. And a new Scoop. And a Z Gallerie, of all things. There is only one fabric store still open and "soon it will be something really depressing, like a 'Baby Gap'. "
real numbers
Recently I was in a conversation on the train about "real" numbers vs integers.
I thought real numbers were counting numbers and integers were whole numbers that could be positive or negative. TS thought the reverse. We both were unsure if "0" counted as either. Now, I've taken some math classes in my time and feel like I should be able to remember these kinds of things. (Although I really do only use math on a daily basis to calculate tip and if 25% off Miz Mooz shoes makes them affordable.)
Nerd that I am, I decided to figure out what those "real" numbers were and as I searched online I discovered that Crate and Barrel's spin store,
cb2, sells Math shower curtains. ingenious!
for folks that care:
real numbers = any whole or fraction of positive or negative numbers, including zero, that is not imaginary (like then number e)
I "heart" Chelsea
Last night SD and I met up after work at
Tello's on 19th St. This place is awesome! Go there, dine in cliched Italian cozy decor, eat delicious pasta, but most importantly ask for Greg! He is the best waiter I've ever had, hands down. There we were, 2 optometry gals heading straight from work, and Greg couldn't stop complimenting our looks, taste in clothes and menu choices. I will be going back, if only to see Greg again.
As we ventured out for a post-dinner drink we came upon
Porter's. This place looked rather low-key from the outside, but it was a very odd mix of people inside. They all seemed to be circle flirting, and this one old man in the corner was buying drinks for the entire group. We snuck a glance at one of the gal's text to a friend "Trust me, its only pimps and hookers" hmm, thats what we had thought, but to see it thumb'd out like that . . . .
On our exit of Porters, while deciding if we needed a post post-dinner-drink drink, we saw something that has to be "least expected thing to see in Chelsea" and really, thats saying a lot.
You know how in the south they have "double wide" houses, where 1/2 the house gets driven around the interstate with the "wide load" signs? Well, half a house was cruising down 23rd st last night. Where was it going? How/why does a house make a pit stop/tour through Manhattan? Was it a cruel divorce settlement? one may never know . . .
So long soother and smoother
Today I finished a bottle of lotion.
This may not sound like a feat, but 'tis indeed.
I have had this bottle of lotion* for years. I took this lovely sea-green bottle home from the Watertown Target to began its journey on Cambridge St in Allston. It went cross country to Denver with me, shaked up with the roaches and psychos in Montrose, returned to Boston, where it became a promenant feature to the Southie health clinic lounge, retired to Brookline where it was temorarily put aside for snazier "bronzing" lotion, but has been living its own golden years on a prominent bureau in the slope the past few months. Dear lotion, as I place you in your final resting place of the recycle bin and cover you with a layer of yogurt cartons I will think of how many "tough" times you smoothed over for me. adieu!
*ok, not the one in the image but the target brand version of it . . the best investment of $0.66 I've ever made
the new job . . . a doosy
Well I started a new job yesturday at a private practice in BK. All you Fendi fans out there, dont worry, I'm still working in Chinatown too; I just added a day a week of "real" work. I've heard AH and LD tell stories about their busy clinics, but wow, it was non-stop. And non-stop crazy patients. I mean, most were sane, its just that they had a lot of health problems . . . I guess the head doc was right, not a 20/20 clinic.
blog backlash
The good thing about writing a blog is that you only have tell your lame stories once, and all who care to read about them, know about them.
The problem with writing a blog is that one is never sure who has read which post, or if any. I feel like I start some conversations with "tell me if you know about this, . . . " which seems rather presumptious of me.
Yesturday I talked with a highschool friend, CC, and she seemed to know a lot about whats going on in my life currently. I havent seen CC in about 9 months, not talked to her on the phone in probably over a year, rarely emailed her . . . could she be reading my blog? I asked her how she knew about my new job, T, and all . . . "in the letter you wrote me" was her response. ohh. how antiquated of me.
Fairytale frogs
As you probably know by now, I work a mere block from the Chinatown open air fish market. Despite the fact that walking up Mott is usually the direction I am headed on my daily jaunts, I will walk a few extra blocks just to go around it, as I inevitably will step on something squishy and be slowed to a snail's pace by the throngs of people looking at all the goods on display.
But the other day I was in a hurry to get back to the office and I had to go through the market. I put my head down and started weaving through people, when I noticed a large blue barrel to my right. In the corner of my eye, something green moved in the barrel. I stepped closer.
The 3 foot diameter barrel was half full of large, bright green frogs*, all hopping over one another and spashing back into the water surrounding them. I have NEVER seen frogs this big, nor this vivid green. No one seemed to be buying them** I am going to try to get a picture of these bad boys today, honestly, they were something out of Hans Christian Anderson's tales.
Oddly, just last night I saw a different sort of frog, from a different sort of fairytale, playing a banjo and ridding a bicycle. . . he didnt seem slimy or as plump as his cousins in Chinatown.
* The use of the term "frog" in common names usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic with smooth or moist skins, and the term "toad" generally refers to species that tend to be terrestrial with dry, warty skin.-wikipedia
**I have seen turtles for sale once, and they didnt last long . . . i guess they do indeed make a mean soup.
on the road of life
I have been covering a lot of Rt 95 the past few days, down to NC, up to Boston and back and let me just say there are some bizarre billboards out there. First of all, exit 33 in Virginia has billboards for Starbucks. I'm not talking NJ Turnpike mini signs for their pitstops, but full boards for the coffee shop. I'm caught in a state of turmoil over this because at that point of the drive, I could have used a skim latte, but in my heart it seems ridiculous that they have a billboard (but if Cracker Barrel can have one every mile, why not the bucks?)
Another interesting billboard was for Tofutti Cuties. To be honest, I dont remember where I was when I saw this, other than a small town with only 2 gas stations. But glad they are enjoying their tofu.
Finally there was a seemingly pro-America propaganda billboard just outside of the city . . . it was like a multiple test question, only with just the answers . . .
a. Nashville
b. Amityville
c. Margaritaville
d. all of the above
"d" was circled and then in the lower right-hand corner it said "only in America."
weird.
when an appendix attacks
For those of you who dont know, my brother, BK, has not been doing too well. He had an appendicitis which burst and the spreading infection/ his immune system battleing the infection has led to him acquiring Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). He is in the ICU down in North Carolina. If you wish to keep abreast of his recovery, check out
The Budge Update. Either GK, CR, or myself will be updating daily.
Yes, now the entire clan has a blog. We are either an entirely hip or entirely nerdy family.
coolness tax
I recently rented a car to drive down south. I ended up taking various forms of transportation out to the Newark airport*, renting from
Dollar. I had picked out the car online and knew the approximate cost before I got to the desk. When the lady asked my address, I gave her my BK address. "Oh! Brooklyn! hmmm!" was her response. ummm. not good. Does she have a grudge against the borough or something? Well, as it turns out, there are added fees if you rent a car and are from one of the outer boroughs. In Brooklyn, it is $55 a day additional. what the hell? If I lived in Queens it would only be $11. Why the discrepency? I have come to the conclusion that Newark must just be jealous of Brooklyn and is charging a coolness tax to smite us.
Luckily the lady accepted my "permanent" address of MD, and there were no additional fees. . . proving the uncoolness of Columbia.
*thankfully with T's company and guidance
Dance party?
Saturday night I "Finally" made it out dancing in NYC. Why has it taken me this long? I know not.
Certainly D being in town was a reason for to shake it, especially as its been a freakin' year since I've seen her! We were out with some other Jersey girls at
The Evelyn Lounge. This place is like a cave ( stone walls, lit only by candle light) well, a cave that serves very stong drinks. To be honest, I dont really think it is a "dancing" bar, but there was a lot of open space and loud music, so what else was a gal to do? The odd thing was the music choices . . . Ce Ce Peniston and Billy Idol among them . . . hmmm . . . perhaps it was a "90s" night?
the mixed tape
Mixed tapes, and their cousins, sampler CDs, are a gracious gift . . . the "flowers" of modern times.
I agree with
Rob Gordon about the design of a quality mixed tape, start with something intriguing, lure
the audience in, "You
gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules"They can take forever to make (well, the tapes did at least). You have to plan it out: interweave oldies but goodies with new tunes to expand one's collection. Something to remind you to the recipient, and perhaps a quirky cover by an unexpected artist. For the first 15 years of my mix-tape making experiences I had to include a song by either Madonna, DMB, or Bob Marley and have only receintly switched this over to new bands (Augustana, The Fray, or Kayne West)
I have been blessed with a few good mixed tapes (ok, CDs) over the years. AH, whose taste in music is mine, with a rock-a-billy shirt on, has been instramental in building my itunes. But last night I was presented with my first mixed CD by a boy (well, one that wasnt a brother) and well . . . it totally melted my heart . . .
* point of interest there were once warning stickers on records and cassettes, stating: HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC! article from NPR
exhibit excursion . . . modern "art"
Lesson for the day: modern art is not for the science-minded. I think we needed a right-brained person to sooth us, prevent us from the near constant rotation of our eyes.
SD and I went to the Whitney, at 1pm on Wed. It was packed. Apparently the new biennial exhibits were "released" last weekend and all the artsy folk wanted to catch a first glimpse of "Day for Night" and "Down by Law" exhibits.
We started with the permanent collection on the 5th floor and worked our way down. The top floor had a lot of Hopper's work and a couple of O'Keefe's work. But people were gathered around this big white rectangle, talking about it, so we went over to take a look. It was white muslin and looked like there was light streaming in from behind it. A few people were discussing the illusion of depth that this light created. When we searched for the little box that tells you what you are looking at, there wasnt one. hmmm. turns out we were all looking at a window that had been covered up. great.
Downstairs there was a violence exhibit that had more than a few Bush-mocking pieces. I understand this is art. I understand that people dont like the President, but it seemed, at least one piece (a short film) , was created so that NYers would laugh at the people in Texas who were tickled to meet Bush. I guess I feel like while it is OK to laugh at Bush himself, the poor waitress on the other side of the country who knows he preferes onion rings to fries doesnt deserve the howls she was getting in the museum.
Further on there was, well, a lot of weird shit (one piece was a rock with different colors of gum all over it on a base of wood in which was carved "eat shit and die"). and a lot of porn. actually, a ridiculous amount of porn . . . films, slides, photos. I probably shouldnt call it porn if its in a museum but a lot of naked people with other naked people.
There was also a tall lanky fellow with messy hair and an ill-fitting suit strutting around with a blow horn, shouting out something or other about a designer in the room every few minutes. He walked alone, and seemed to descend the stairs with us. We couldnt decide if he might be an instillation himself, or just another NY eccentric.
*photograph: Marilyn Minter: Stepping Up
musings of the day
Is this where pandas go for a trim?
ECTO 1 is alive and well, enjoying a new career in aboloshing 6-legged terrors
Why the discrepency? Are NYCers more sensitive to the freshness of their milk? Or is the 
storage not as cold, so they need to sell earlier?*
*"Sell by Mar 17, In NYC, by Mar 14"
decorations
One of my roomies is an interior designer and likes to create little "art pieces" around the apt. This usually involves something like 20 glass colorful ornaments in a large pink bowl on an embroidered placemat on the kitchen table surrounded by 10 small candles. Whatever it is, it wont usually be there for long, as it seems she mixes things up weekly, furthering the effect of a museum-like apt. The Art is usually pretty or intersting to look at, but perhaps a little over the top or at least maybe not ideal for it's current surface space.
Take the current decorative combo. It is a mini fawn in a bowl with a tiny porcelain "Happy Birthday" cake, all on a metalic plate. This is an unusual piece in and of itself, especially as it is no one's birthday. But when you look where in the apt this instillation is, you realize that there are some places only a professional will go.
bright whites or a mellow yellow?
I recently went to the dentist. I trekked up to G-point on the advise of my brother that his dentist was a competent one. I was not disappointed. It was the most thorough dental exam/cleaning I've ever had.* Dr. Amy had asked what brought me up to northern Brooklyn and when I told her my brother recommended her, she asked the obligitory question, "who is your brother?" When I said JK's name, I expected her to say, "oh, ok." and leave it at that.
but no.** She asked how he was and went on to comment that we have similiar teeth.*** I wanted to roll my eyes, she had to be making this up, how can she remember one patient's teeth from 4 mos ago? But she went on to comment that we had similiar taste in bright sneakers too. wow.
*Often my patients will comment that I am very thorough, and I usually just feel bad for these poor souls and their previous eye care, as I do only the minimum (medicaid required) entrance tests, wondering why they put up with sub-standard care. Now I know, people just dont know what doctors are supposed to be doing . . . there is a lot of trust the public puts in the health care field . . . probably far too much . . .
**I have G-famous brothers. I have accepted this.
*** While as a rule, my bros and I dont' share a "familial" look, we've noticed the teeth similarity too, but think it is more an attribute of having the same orthodontist than anything else.
modem woos
Internet has been down chez moi for the past few days. Amazingly enough I got it to work again, by installing a new wireless router, all without a phone call to JK or GK, my version of computer specialists! i've got a backlog of blog post to write . . .
