Bullet Bros
Yesturday I finally fulfilled my sisterly duty to take JK shootin'.
Yep, there he is with semi-automatic 9mm Baretta and stellar target. Me, I kept with a revolver, specifically, a Smith-Wesson 38 special.
Dad came too, but he kept to shooting photos.
Turkey Eve
Wednesday night TS and I took the train uptown to watch the filling of the balloons. Its kind of like the running of the bulls, except in super slow-mo and no one is gored to death.
Its a bit overwhelming how large these things really are, but the best is not just seeing the figures. Its all the kids running around, amazed to see Snoopy or BigBird come to life.
To get to the balloons we had to meaner north along CPW and then back south through the park. I hadnt been in central park at night before, but the misty atmosphere caused the old-fashion-esque lampost light to diffuse into rainbow halos every 15 feet. It was a magical stroll.
full circle
Somehow, this BK gal has come full circle. . . the blog's been up for a bit over a year now, and just in time for another Ben Fold's concert.
last year's concert was great, but this year TS and I went up to the Beacon theater to see the show. If you have a chance to see anything here, I recommend it! Its in the art deco style with lavish murals on the walls, a huge chandelier in the lobby, and a rather delapidated rear exit (it cant be perfect).
The opener was
corn mo. Nope, I hadnt heard of him either. I thought he was a rather self-effacing version of meatloaf, but TS enjoyed his wit and piano style.
Ben Folds was all over the place with some old, some new, banging on the Baldwin regardless. He had purchased a $2K synthizing keyboard and would play one hand on each instrument, and considering he had to maintain a large wing-span to do this, it was impressive. He was a little (too) involved with
ten hertz. Last night was the last show of the season's tour. Not to be mean, but one could tell. The musicans all seemed a little drained, and there was a lot of dead time (no music, fans just shouting requests). However, I think his best song of the night was actually a cover. A cover of the postal service version of Such Great Heights.
In other music notes, since I'm in that vein, we also caught a short gig of Tucson's
Ryanhood at the Rockwood music hall (my favorite venue in the city). This duo has one extremely talented guitarist, and one flirty, funny singer (AH deemed him the Jack Black of the group, and I concure). Before Ryanhood went on was a foursome playing ukulele, guitar, stand up bass, and that string instrument that one plays on one's lap. It was very 1940s Hawian-esque. Thats whats great about that place, you never know what you'll hear.
teepee?
Sadly, I did not have my camera with me to take a picture of the new structure under the arc at Grand Army Plaza*. However, there is a several story high conical structure made of wire mesh currently residing across the road from the BK central library. Perhaps this is the skeletal structure for a more "authentic" looking- larger-than life teepee that will be completed by Thanksgiving? If so, is this a random act of Native American awareness? Is this a government funded project? And why, UNDER the arc? wouldnt at least closer to the park, or near the botanical garden make more sense? Right now i
t kind of looks like
someone was trying to match the triangle in the oval space.
*you may be able to tell, but this is not a picture of a teepee taken in Brooklyn
there are only 2 kinds of people in this world . . .
At a party recently, I mentioned to a couple women who I had met 1/2 an hour previously, that I was moving to a new apartment soon, and looking forward to decorating. The lady on my left turned to me, raising an eyebrow, to ask, "So, are you a Pottery Barn, or Crate and Barrel person?"
Slack jawed, I turned, wondering so many things . . . is this a new defining characteristic, the leaded or unleaded of the home furnishing world? . . . why did she not ask Anthropologie? or Target? why did she presume to know* which catelogues I repeatedly flip through, a fantasy land of "fern" linens and walnut endtables?
After a moment, I smiled, "actually, I'm more of an Ikea girl at heart."
*accurately
it started
this morning, I heard my first Christmas song* on the radio: Go Tell It on the Mountain by Martina Mcbride. . . . I feel jolly already!
*umm, i have actually already listened to my Perry Ellis Christmas CD once or twice. . . even submitted poor TS to swirl of harmonous "ahhhh"ing.
Big Trouble In Little China
A few days ago, 3 dudes strolled into work, after looking around a bit, one of them stepped forward and asked for the store owner, flashing an ID card. One of my bosses told the gentleman that the owner was on vacation . . . indefinitly (this was not a true statement as one owner was in the office, and the other had stepped out to grab lunch). The dude that had asked explained that he was with Con-Ed and, pointing to a con-ed bill on a clipboard, if the owner changed plans, the store would get a discount, assuming that this month's bill was paid today. in cash. My boss, KH, asked to see his ID again, he hesitated, saying he had just showed it to her, but when he eventually let her see it, she remarked how there was no information on the back of the card, and under her breath, that the picture was cut at an odd angle. Now KH just told the 3 guys, no, no change of the bill and owner will call con-ed when he gets back. As the guys left the office, I was informed of the most recent scam to hit Chinatown . . . these guys tell their story, and if some of the shop owners dont speak english, they just point to this number on the bill on the clipboard saying that payment is needed now, and people give them cash (as almost everything is paid for in this neck of the woods). KH then went next door, to check on the elderly dried-mushroom-and-shrimp shop owner, and sure enough the lady had just opened her cash register, KH stopping her from retracting money, explaining the scam. Apparently the 3 guys left, heading south on Mott.
After much "call 911", "umm, how about YOU call 911", "should we call 311?", and "Con-ed should know about this" we got a cop to stop in the office . . . turns out another shop keeper called and the cop was just asking everyone who saw them, to describe the 3 guys.
The cop came back, saying he had 3 guys who fit the discription in custody around the corner and can someone come and ID them. again, a lot "want to go?", "no, you should go", and "well, if a patient comes in, I should really be here". I mean, its not that i didnt want to do a civic duty, its just that these guys were kinda big. kinda scary, not the kind of guys you want to meet in a dark alley, if you know what i mean. It wasnt like in the movies, where you are protected by the oneway glass, it was litterally on the corner. Eventually M went, riding in an unmarked car to the corner in question, and it turns out it wasnt them.
Today, there is word that the guys were back this morning, and the cops have taken pictures of the dudes they suspect, they should be coming by for us to ID photos later today . . . i'm glad its photos, but now, its been so much time, I only remember that they all had huge diamond earrings . . . definitly not something to make a definite finger point to . . . i'll keep you posted . . .
baby Hades
Last night I ventured to Babies-R-Us (oddly, located in Union Sq) for the first time. Equipt with my 9 page print out of a friend's baby registry, I was set to find a nice gift. Upon first glance, this seems not so different from recent trips to Crate and Barrell or Target for wedding gifts. But as I read through the list, I realize, baby world has a whole new language. For example, what would a "newborn starter set" be? a "baby relief kit"? "superyard XT"?
So I thought maybe I would just browse a bit to get my bareings. There was a lot of cute Christmas outfits, a whole wall of rubber nipples (there apparently is a plethora of shapes/sizes and your choice of 1 to 3 holes), and a large display of what seemed to me to be fancy fabric covered pillows.
Re-connecting with the list, I tried to find a "bouncer*", the location is listed as "second floor". Once up there, I ask for help from an over-extended employee with a spare second and am brought to one of 2 sections of about 20 different types of things that bounce, but which is
"wonder cradel swing"? it turns out, that particular type is no longer sold at the store (it went out of style 2 months ago!)
After another 20 minutes of scouring to find something on the list, only to find it sold-out, I am returned to the first floor in search of the last item on the list in my price range, a "Boppy Signature".
I find myself facing the wall of fancy pillows again. ahhh, the boppy.
I hope the newest R addition will appreciate my venture into Baby Hell.
*this is what you put the kid in, and the weight of the kid makes it bounce up and down . . . apparently a way to cut down on the crying
Barely Makeup
I know I am going to sound like an infomercial,
but
Bare Minerals is the best make-up I've ever had! I splurged and bought the starter kit at Sephora a couple weeks ago and have "swirled, tapped, and buffed" my way to a smoothly finished face. Seriously, not only does less 1/8 teaspoon of this powder cover better than any foundation of the past, the brushes really feel great on the skin, like a mini facial every morning. If that wasnt enough, it all has SPF too!
leaf work
Growing up one of the possible chores/punishments was raking the leaves. This was difficult because we have dozens of trees in the front and more in the back yard. If this has created an image of wonderful autumnal colors and a plethoral of climbing branches, you are sadly mistaken, for at the K house we have lame-o locust trees (think tall straight tree with quarter-size leaves).
I always thought one of the great things about living in the city is that one didnt have to do things like rake leaves/ burn leaves (as we occationally did, but more often saw along trips to far off places like Damascus, MD). But apparently I am wrong. This past weekend, while walking
around Prospect Park I saw 3 separate groups of kids raking leaves in the public park. To give credit, one group was raking to accumulate a soft landing for the follow up jump. But the other 2 kids seemed to be content with the raking of several small piles (the begining of city-savy OCD?).
The next day on my walk along Canal St, a woman had a 10gallon metal bucket. That alone is not so bizarre in Chi-town, but within this bucket, on the sidewalk, was a small fire. She was picking up leaves on the street and dropping them into the bucket, one at a time. . .perhaps she forgot her rake back in the apartment?
an excerpt
an excerpt from
Who Will Run the Frog Hosptial? by Lorrie Moore
"I often think that at the center of me is . . . a house in my heart so invaded with other people and their speech, friends I believed I was devoted to, people whose lives I can only guess at now, that it gives me the impression I am simply a collection of them, that they all existed for themselves, but had inadvertently formed me, then vanished."
