Not that it was busy. More like one minute it was morning and I was vegging in front of my computer, and the next it was five hours later.
Thursday and Friday were pretty busy, between coming back from the meeting in Chicago, my office move, interviews, and a semi-big meeting I ran Friday afternoon. By Friday night, I crashed and just did laundry, then chilled with my book and TV.
Saturday was the day I managed to do almost nothing till about 4. My one accomplishment was cleaning the bathroom, no small feat I guess. Late afternoon I ran a couple of errands. It was so hot and humid, by the time I got home, the last thing I wanted to do was go back outside. Cleaned more.
Sunday I was finally able to get it together and write a little, though not as much as I wanted. Another humid day, though cloudy and not as hot. Had lunch with SB and company. Was going to go to the Park to write, but it was pouring by the time we left the restaurant. Went home and finished cleaning. Cleaning my place really kills a whole weekend.
I finished up around 5, and by then the downpour had slowed to a drizzle so I headed out for a run. Since I hadn’t had one since Tuesday, it was fairly manageable. Plus there was no sun. I’d rather have a steady drizzle than sun. I was going to run the Reservoir but there were too many giant puddles. The lovely Loop instead.
Didn’t pull any muscles, but I did have some stomach issues. Literally had to sprint home and up three flights of stairs. Made it in time! Whew. That would have been really embarrassing, not to mention disgusting.
Watched The Two Coreys last night. It wasn’t that entertaining. Corey Feldman’s wife came off as really uptight. Corey Feldman looks kinda good, I have to say. Corey Haim looks like a washed up frat boy. Both still look pretty young though.
I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since The Lost Boys. That’s so wrong.
Had my last interview today. Four for one position. I’ll hear at the end of the week.
Sushi for lunch. Wholly unsatisfying. I need something dessert-like, and yogurt’s not gonna cut it.
weekends
30
Jul 07
What weekend?
22
Jul 07
Sunday quick-scramble
Gorgeous weather makes all the difference in the world.
Yesterday morning I did the writing-at-Starbuck’s thing, getting there earlier than I usually do, by 9:30. About an hour later, I looked up to see – Derek Jeter! He was on his way out with big iced coffee in hand. No one in the cafe seemed to notice, and if there was any hubbub beforehand, I didn’t hear it since I had my headphones on.
At first I thought, That guy looks a hell of a lot like Derek Jeter. Then outside someone came up and shook his hand, and then someone else asked for his autograph so that pretty much guarunteed it.
Later in the afternoon I had my Loop run. It was quite sunny so the run was a bit tougher than usual. But my knee and hamstring didn’t bother me much at all.
I had my first encounter with an annoying fellow runner. He was pretty far ahead of me, but when we hit a hill, I was able to slowly close in on him, not on purpose or anything. I wasn’t even paying attention, but suddenly I was right behind him. I know it’s annoying to have someone running in your blind spot, so I pulled ahead.
Then he decided we were competing and caught up to me, and ran right next to me. It’s like, dude, either go slower or faster, I don’t want you as a running partner, thank you very much. So I forced myself to pull ahead again, going faster than I wanted. Luckily I didn’t poop out towards the end.
On my walk back home, I saw that SB, her hubby, and Ellie were sitting outside their building, eating popsicles. The Manhattan equivalent of sitting on a porch on a summer evening. I had a popsicle too – which surprisingly hit the spot – and suffered Ellie putting her freezing cold hands on me every two seconds.
This morning is writing and maybe some pilates if I can squeeze it in. This afternoon YP and I are heading to Central Park to take pictures.
I wish I had my camera yesterday when I was in the Park; I had to make do with my cell phone when I saw this dog sitting on a bench like a person.
You can barely make out the German shepard on the left. He has his back to me.
I have to get back in the habit of carrying my camera everywhere.
16
Jul 07
Quiet week into a quiet weekend
Which was fine by me.
Saturday morning I headed out to my favorite Starbuck’s and wrote for a bit before SB called. It was such a beautiful day, we took a walk, Ellie in tow of course, stopping at Sephora’s to ogle beauty products we didn’t need.
Afterwards we had lunch at her place – well, SB and I did. Ellie licked cream cheese off pita bread (gross) and then resisted her nap, getting crabbier by the minute. When she finally ate, the faces she made while immensely enjoying some delicious banana were hilarious. Are all kids this expressive?
That afternoon I spent a lot of time in the Park – wrote on a bench and ran the Loop. 6.1 miles! Woohoo! While I was running, my left hamstring and knee were achy, but today my leg feels okay. Maybe the pilates is working.
There are some excellent hills on the Loop. It’s interesting to see the entire jogging/biking/rollerblading population start to move in slow motion when we hit a steep one. Suddenly we runners are pulling ahead of rollerbladers, and some cyclists start walking their bikes. Then of course when we reach the downhill portion, everyone’s zipping past us.
I love the Loop because it takes me to parts of the Central Park I don’t otherwise see, like who knew there was a giant public pool? Probably lots of folks, just not me.
I was thinking yesterday how it’s taken me two years to really begin exploring the city. My first summer I was caught up with getting used to this new life, post-divorce, living on my own again. I spent most weekends wandering up and down 3rd or Park Avenue, visiting the same museums over and over.
Last summer I was caught up with dating DK, but I did start to get to know the Park a little then. Sometimes we’d meet at the Bandshell, and since he lived almost directly west from me, I learned to maneuver across the Park, rather than taking the very slow bus.
This summer I’ve finally gone out of my way to delve into this huge playground just a few blocks from my place, whether it’s reading by the Alice in Wonderland sculpture, climbing up Belvedere Castle, or trying to find peace in Shakespeare’s Garden.
On July 4th, I went running in the rain, and on my way home, I passed the little pond where people sail miniature boats. Usually that area is packed, but that day of course it was empty, and I was amazed at how peaceful it was with the rain falling on the water.
Yesterday I did some more exploring, this time walking to the East River. It’s pretty nice from the low 60s to about 75th Street, but after that you’re pretty much on the FDR, which between the fumes and kicked up grime, is not so fun.
I also woke up with a sore throat yesterday and was feeling kind of run down. So I didn’t mind staying in for most of the day and working my writing. I ended up revising three pieces, two of which are close to being finished, one of which kind of stinks.
This morning I was hoping to get up early and go to the gym, but last night some idiot stood below my window and screamed into his cell phone for a solid hour. I didn’t get to sleep till after midnight.
My throat hurts today too, and I still have that fatigued feeling. Lots of liquids and vitamin C, and a light workout at lunch. Hopefully, it’ll go away in a day or so, and not grow into a full-blown cold.
09
Jul 07
Monday blues
Sometimes it really sucks to be back on work.
Had a good weekend though. SB called on Friday all excited to have the weekend to herself, what with husband and daughter at her husband’s parents. But what did she want to do? Have dinner at 5 and go home at 6. I guess that’s what having a kid does to you?
I, on the other hand, headed over the Central Park and hung out at Belvedere Castle, the Turtle Pond, and Shakespeare’s Garden for a couple of hours.
The garden was totally peaceful. I started to read, but then these trio of unbelievably noisy kids came around. The place was empty but they ran right towards me, came to a screeching halt, and started screaming to other people at the tops of their lungs. Had to leave after that.
Saturday I waited all morning for the exterminator, then finally left around 1 for the ‘rents’. As always it’s nice to get away from the city for a bit. I had my computer so I wrote a lot. PL gave me some helpful feedback on one of my stories.
Sunday I was back by 3. I thought about going for a run, but it was awfully hot and I didn’t really have enough time since I was seeing a 7 pm show of Transformers, which by the way sucked big time. Some parts were cool, especially to those of us who used to watch the cartoon, but overall it was full of plot holes and hokiness.
I didn’t get to bed till midnight but was wide awake at 5:30 so I hit the gym. Now I’m tired though in a good way, a relaxed, post-workout tired.
02
Jul 07
A nice weekend in the city
On Friday, I was able to take advantage of summer half-day Fridays and leave at 2 to hit the Container Store for some sort of storage facility for my collection of shopping bags that I simply cannot part with.
Before, they were stashed in other bags under my table in the kitchen. Then earlier this week, a cockroach the size of Danny DeVito zoomed out of my bathroom, into the kitchen, and behind those bags!
The roach was so big it made rustling sounds as it passed behind the bags, and moved so slowly – relative to that type of vermin – that I was able to contemplate for a moment whether or not to take a picture of it before finally killing it with an old Time Out New York magazine (the cheap issue!). That’s a long of saying I felt I needed to remedy the shopping bag situation.
After much musing at the store, I finally settled on two folding mesh cubes, one large for big bags and one small for little ones. At first I wasn’t 100% sure about them, thinking I needed something with a cover, but after going through the bags and not finding a squirming, hairless nest of baby mice like I’d been imagining, I felt better about my purchases. It also helped to throw about 2/3 of the bags away.
What’s cool about the cubes is that I can fit one inside the other, and also when I’m not using them, they can be folded and stored away without taking up much space.
While I was organizing my kitchen, I thought I’d clean it too. Also did a load of laundry and read quite a bit of The Kite Runner, which by the way is AMAZING. I cry about every five pages.
Saturday my plan was to write a lot, but I didn’t get as much done as I wanted. I wrote a scene for my memoir and had also wanted to start revising a couple of pieces, but I didn’t get that far. Instead I cleaned my bathroom, then walked down to Home Depot for a shower curtain liner.
I also stopped in Sam Flax for some fabric paint and brushes to finish the T-shirts I started in DC last weekend. I found the fabric paint but not the brushes, so I inquired.
“Oh, those are new,” the salesgirl said dismissively. “You’ll only find those in a big store.”
The Sam Flax I went to was pretty darned big by Manhattan standards. “So a regular brush would be okay?” I said.
“It worked for Rembrandt,” she responded.
I wasn’t sure if she was being snide but my gut reaction was feeling wounded. I put back all the fabric paint and decided not to buy the laptop sleeve I was thinking about.
As I walked back uptown, I started to get more and more pissed off. Later that night I dashed off a complaint, saying that I’d probably never shop there again. To their credit, they wrote back pretty quickly, apologizing, wanting details (who, when, where), and giving me a $10 gift card. Sweet! Though I’d have to pick it up at that store. Eep.
Sometimes I don’t know if I’m being sensitive or if someone is really rude. Usually I think the latter, but there are times I doubt myself. I think customer service in NY is pretty sucky overall. When I go out to L.A., I’m amazed at how nice everyone is.
Anyway, I wanted to clear my yucky feeling so I walked up to the Met and took a quick look around. Being in a museum always restores a feeling of peace for me.
By the time I got home it was already 5. I was seeing a movie with YP later so I only had time to clean the bedroom before getting ready. (Cleaning takes such a long frigging time.) We saw Nancy Drew, which was cute and fun. It’s nice to see a girl as an action hero – and an action hero in penny loafers! Her outfits were so adorable. I want every single one.
Sunday I finally was able to get a lot of writing done. I find I get more work done if I’m sitting in a cafe rather than my place with all of its distractions. In the late afternoon I went for a run in the Park. Five miles around the Loop, yay!
This run was much better than my first one, when I pooped out after just a three miles, having not hydrated properly and starting out too fast. This time I made sure to drink a ton of water beforehand, and to begin very slowly. It helped that there was this guy in an ING Marathon shirt in front of me. He was going much faster than I was, but I was able to keep him in my sights. Little did he know he was my rabbit.
The weather couldn’t have been better. Cool and dry. Running in the Park is so much fun. I’m totally doing it again over the days we have off this week.
At home I finished cleaning my place – finally! Now let’s see how little work I can do this week. ;)
25
Jun 07
A D.C. weekend
“I’m sorry I have to pee.”
On Friday the train ride down was semi-nice. It was sort of crowded, and unfortunately I got stuck with a snotty seatmate, ie, when I had to get by her to go to the bathroom – very politely saying, “Excuse me” – she stared at me like it was a huge inconvenience. Hey, you pick an outside seat next to someone, that’s the risk you’re gonna take.
Still, I was afraid to go to the bathroom again. I waited till my bladder was near-bursting, then did gymnastics to get over her without her having to move.
SG picked me up at Union Station, and after dropping off my stuff, we had a delicious dinner of of wood fire pizza at Ella’s Pizza. I had the four-cheese one – sometimes I feel like I can eat cheese all day long – and we ended up getting free dessert.
The manager had very kindly asked if we could move tables so that he could put two two-persons one together to make one four. It wasn’t a big deal since there was an empty two-person right behind us. Plus chocolate pudding on the house! Woohoo!
That’s a damned good breakfast roll.
I told SG the one thing I wanted to do was to visit the Amish market we went to last time. It was funny because she had been thinking she needed to go there but that I wouldn’t want to.
Saturday mornings, the place gets pretty crowded, but the food is oh so very good. I had a vanilla latte and this bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast roll. Let me make this clear: it was no ordinary breakfast roll. The outside was made out of this pretzel dough that is at once salty and sweet, not to mention buttery, and the ingredients were all good and fresh and the perfect melted-ness and temperature. I wish I had one right now.
Getting crafty
Later that afternoon we went to SG’s friend’s T-shirt stenciling party. I haven’t done arts and crafts since junior high when I made a pillow in the shape of a surf board (don’t ask) so I was a bit nervous.
When we walked in, everyone was already hard at work, heads bent over stenciling like they were taking the SATs. Someone very quickly explained the how-to’s, which to us sounded like, “Blah blah blah, exacto knife, yadda yadda yadda, iron, etc etc, paint.”
I realized the print out I brought was way too complicated, and opted for a very simple graphic instead. SG finished hers first, and seeing the stencil in action, I finally got it.
It was pretty fun. In three short hours, I made one shirt with an octopus that kind of looks like an alien, and another with a row of penguins. I want to add to the octopus shirt – perhaps other sea creatures as one of the more experienced T-shirt makers suggested – and fix the penguins with another coat of paint.
Please excuse me while my mouth burns down.
Saturday night we went to this Korean restaurant that SG has been wanting to try. Overall the food was excellent. SG got bibimbap, while I had a spicy beef soup. While for some reason I could handle the soup, the seafood pancake we shared was almost unbearably hot. The pajeans I’ve had are usually mild.
A funny thing happened on the way to the library.
While we were driving around on Saturday, I told SG my possible plans for a career change, among them getting a degree in library science.
At one point we drove past the convention center and saw these sort of nerdy looking folks still wearing their nametags on the street (which I do at conventions as well, then wonder how complete strangers know my name).
The next morning SG found out that it was the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. Weird!
Now before anyone protests about librarians and nerdiness, I have one thing to say: evening wear and birkenstocks.
Yeah.
11
Jun 07
A Pinkberry kind of weekend
Friday night was PL’s lit mag’s monthly reading, for which I was about 15 minutes late. I had gotten home from work around 4 and then had a really hard time getting myself together. I called PL around 6 to let her know I’d probably be late.
“I’m about 1/3 of the way there,” I assured her.
“So you have pants on at least,” she said.
Hm, maybe a 1/5 of the way there.
At the bar I got a drink for a change – a gin and tonic – and drank half really quickly so that I was totall bumping into furniture when we left (so I’m a lightweight). Then we had dinner at our usual place, Paladar. We were seated in the front for the first time and it was LOUD. We couldn’t hear each other without screaming ourselves hoarse, but the tables on either side of us were for some reason ear-bleedingly noisy.
For dessert we went to Pinkberry, which is apparently all the rage. It’s nonfat frozen yogurt, original or green tea, with an assortment of toppings. It’s more sorbet than fro-yo, and has a tangy flavor. I like it.
And so does everyone else cuz there was a line out the door Friday night, like we were waiting to get into some chichi club.
Saturday I wrote and then hit MoMA. I was there over Memorial Day weekend but somehow missed the Richard Serra exhibit. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I managed to sneak one in.
I know it’s blurry but I still like it, especially how the girl’s red hair matches the sculpture. Totally by mistake.
Sunday I had to leave at noon to meet up with PL again for a literary journal festival at Housing Works. My morning was very productive, writing and going for a run. PL and I talked about how if we have the whole day, we both just piss the time away and get maybe an hour’s worth of writing done. But if we have a limited time, we’re very productive.
04
Jun 07
Book Expo, Day 3
On Sunday there were just two events I attended, the Book and Author Breakfast and The Crisis in American Book Pages.
Rosie O’Donnell, Alice Sebold, Ben Karlin, and Ian McEwan were the authors at the insanely early breakfast at 8 am. When my alarm went off at 6, I almost didn’t get up, but I did finally, at around 6:15. Then I thought I was going to be late, but I was surprisingly on time.
Rosie O’Donnell has a new nonfiction book, Celebrity Detox, and was very funny, as expected. She had to go right after her talk as her kids had a soccer game. I was kind of ready to hate her, but I didn’t. She was self-disparaging and acknowledged the “real” writers at the table.
I’ve never read Alice Sebold. I have The Lovely Bones sitting on my shelf, and as well now I have a bound galley of her new book, The Almost Moon, which isn’t even out yet.
Ben Karlin, a former producer for the Daily Show and Colbert Report, apparently replaced some other guy, a well-known Brazilian author. He was pretty hilarious. His new book is an anthology, Things I’ve Learned from Women Who’ve Dumped Me. Good premise.
Finally, Ian McEwan spoke, and unfortunately a lot of what he said was just a repeat from his movie from the day before. Of course everyone has sort of canned speech about their new books, but it was even more obvious because of the film. I did get a copy of his new book, On Chesil Beach. Score!
The next session, The Crisis in American Book Pages, was about the state of the book review and print media in general. The debate was interesting but I feel sort of not knowledgeable enough on this subject matter right now to go too deeply into it.
Bascially, some newspapers have been forced by their corporate owners to cut their book, art, and film departments, due to the perceived threat that the new venue for all of that is the internet, namely blogs. Everyone basically agreed that the threat is only perceived, that blogs hardly replace quality print journalism but rather supplement it.
There were several readings after this, but I felt sort of pooped out and anxious to work on my own writing. I parked it in the food court for about an hour before the fried food smell overwhelmed me. Plus the meeting rooms were for some reason ARCTIC yesterday, which caused my unpredictable hives to break out.
It wasn’t even that hot out. In fact it was quite lovely if a bit cloudy and, dare I say it, chilly! I wrote for a couple of hours in Bryant Park. During the work week, it’s a mad house, every table taken, but I guess on a Sunday, and a gray one to boot, it’s not exactly the place to go. I mean, there were plenty of people, but also plenty of empty tables.
My brain has been stirring with ideas for short pieces.
02
Jun 07
Book Expo, Days 1 and 2
If you don’t already know, Book Expo is an annual convention for “industry professionals,” ie, publishers, editors, agents, book buyers (distributors, book stores, libraries), book sellers, and authors. I had a feeling authors and writers would play second fiddle in the book madness, but still thought it would be interesting to hear ideas and hobnob with who’s who in the publishing world.
First off, it was a frigging mad house. Never have I been at a venue with so many people. Plus the Jacob Javitz Center is completely overwhelming. For the first 40 minutes, I just sort of aimlessly wandered around. There’s this horrible food court that was teeming with people and reeks at lunchtime of fried food. Luckily, most of my sessions were in one corner of the center, on the other side of the food court.
Yesterday was hardly a full day for me. I wanted to go to a Walter Mosley talk at noon but couldn’t get away from work. So I settled for just the afternoon session, A Mighty Heart: From Manuscript to Screen.
Maybe you’ve seen previews for this Angelina Jolie flick that chronicles, from the point of view of his wife Marianne, the kidnapping and eventual killing of American journalist, Danny Pearl, right after 9/11. I’m not sure how I feel about Angelina Jolie – for one, I think she takes herself far too serioulsy – but the movie looks pretty engaging. The whole writerly/journalist aspect intrigues me as well.
The program said that Marianne Pearl was supposed to be there, but she wasn’t, to my great disappointment. At the time her husband was kidnapped, she was working for French public radio, and now I believe she’s doing a series for Jane magazine on atrocities against women around the world.
It was still a pretty interesting discussion, especially the writing process. Marianne tried for a long time to write the book herself, but she couldn’t, not only because it had been such a harrowing experience, but because she had just given birth to her and Danny’s son. She needed someone to help her.
She’d go to her editor’s house in Brooklyn, and together they’d write all day. English is Marianne’s second language so she’d write in French, email that to her jazz musician friend in Paris who knew English and who’d translate, email it back, and then her editor would edit it.
As for bringing it to the screen, that was a lot more straightforward. Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, approached them, and after some initial reluctance, they agreed.
I believe Marianne Pearl is biracial so at first I had a problem with Angelina Jolie playing her. But from the way they described Marianne – and seeing Angelina play her, even in the short trailer – they seem a lot of alike.
A big problem the American media had with Marianne was that in interviews she wouldn’t cry, like not even on Oprah, which apparently was a huge disaster.
She wanted to remain strong in the eyes of the kidnappers and not show her husband that she was upset. Plus it was just the kind of person she was. That reminds me of Angelina Jolie, like she comes off as this ice princess in interviews. You kind of want to hate her, but then you think maybe she’s just not pandering to the media.
Today was far more packed. The first session I went to was on Nancy Pearl’s book (totally off topic, but I got so confused with all the Pearls at the conference: Marianne Pearl, Nancy Pearl, Crazy Aunt Purl who apparently has a book now), Book Crush, which is a volume of book recommendations for teens and kids. Her other two books, Book Lust and More Book Lust, were aimed at adults.
Seems like a fun idea. She also said that there’s an essay contest connected with Book Crush on “your first book crush.” But I can’t find any info on it on her website. Maybe it’ll be updated soon.
The population at the conference is interesting. Unlike writers conferences, there aren’t any freaks, just sort of sloppily dressed, middle-aged book professionals, except for the sales people. Those folks are all in suits and ties. This is very unlike the sales meetings for my company, where everyone is super polished, even in their business casual attire.
But in the second session I went to, The Leap to Debut: Transitioning from Short Form Periodicals to First Fiction, I felt like I had stepped into a bar in Williamsburg. The audience was far younger and hipper than that of other sessions I had been to. Maybe because “debut-ers” (debutantes?) are usually younger, or maybe because the periodicals represented – The Believer, Granta, and A Public Space – are aimed at a certain audience.
(And hey, PL, if you’re reading this, One Story totally got a shout out as a good place to find excellent fiction, and that was one of just a half a dozen props. Yay One Story!)
At the end this older gentleman raised his hand with not a question but some “obversations.” You know me: I immediately rolled my eyes. Turned out he was the editor for the Antioch Review, which was also been cited as a go-to lit mag for up and coming great writers.
Before my next session, I wanted to get a water. The convention center is full of places to buy eats and drinks. Convenient right? Think again. A 16 oz bottle of Poland Spring cost $3. Three dollars! At Whole Foods it’s 50 cents. So I said forget it and walked three blocks and found a deli, where I got a liter for $1.99.
At 1 I went to NYC Visions: Fresh Authors and Portrayals, where five authors talked about their New York-set novels. After this I was hungry and managed to snag a free lunch that I don’t think was intended for attendees but for exhibitors only. Oh well, no one stopped me.
At 2:30 I went to Editors’ Buzz on Debut Fiction, where five editors talked about books they were very excited about this season. The best thing? They gave away bound galleys so I got five free books. Well, “free,” considering the attendance fee.
The one that sounds the most interesting to me is Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, which has been described as a literary Grey’s Anatomy, but from the way the guy talked about the book, doesn’t seem to do it justice. It’s already huge in Canada, having sold over 200,000 copies, winning the 2006 Giller Prize, and being lauded by the likes of Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro, two of my favorite authors.
When the editor said the author’s name, Vincent Lam, I kept thinking it was “Lamb.” Imagine my delight to find it was a brother.
The last thing I went to was Out of the Book: A Short Film About Ian McEwan, which was basically a promotion for his new book, On Chesil Beach. I’ve read just one book of his, Atonement, which I LOVED so I want to read more of his books.
I have to say the convention center had the worst A/V support. About 1/5 of the microphones weren’t loud enough, and they took forever to get the lights down and then back up during the Ian McEwan film. At other events I’ve gone to, say at the Small Press Center, mediabistro.com, or the PEN Center, there’s always someone on hand to deal with that stuff immediately.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to an “author breakfast” with Ian McEwan (so I like the guy), Rosie O’Donnell, Alice Sebold, and others, I think. That’s at 8 so I have to get up pretty early since it takes me a year to get out there. Then there are a bunch of readings, of which I’ll probably go to a couple.
I didn’t get to finish my memoir in time for this weekend, but I’m not sweating it. I had more changes than I anticipated, and the ending is not q
uite there and it really needs to be. In fact, it needs to be frigging amazing.
Hearing all the ideas and experiences today was very inspiring, as I expected.
28
May 07
Some Memorial Day weekend observations
Rather than bore everyone – and myself – with an exhaustive weekend update, here are some Memorial Day observations (which have nothing to do with the holiday):
Waitress was an incredibly sad movie.
An actor who looks nothing like H. can totally remind me of H., just because of his eyes and mannerisms.
After watching Waitress, I will be stupid enough to look for said actor’s MySpace profile and add him as my “friend.”
I am now apparently *not* allergic to seafood, having successfully scarfed down sushi Friday night.
Half a bourbon and water will make me hungover.
I will go into withdrawal if my internet is down for more than 24 hours.
I can think of a use for everything in the Container Store.
Even after properly hydrating, running in the sun will dry me out.
Walking in Central Park is much nicer in the late morning than in the late afternoon.
The winding stairs at the Apple store on 5th Avenue make 3 out of every 10 people trip (me included).
The customer service at the Apple store is very good.
I scarily have no problem plopping down my credit card for a MacBook.
Hooray, I have a MacBook!
Some of the best public restrooms in New York are at Takashimaya.
Wearing a hat really does a good job of protecting one’s face from the sun.
Wearing a hat on wet hair results in the worst hat hair ever.
Sitting in the sun, listening to your iPod, after a 3.5 mile run and a 1.5 mile walk, may induce drowsiness.
If you happen to take a 9 PM train from New York to New Jersey the Sunday before Memorial Day, every Indian person in New Jersey will ride in the same car as you, and they will all get off at one stop.
I apparently have the gall to say, “Is he going to keep doing that?” to the mother of a boy jumping on the seat we’re sharing.
Birds chirping in the morning isn’t nice. Birds chirping in the morning is annoying.
Coffee makes for some good writing time.
If you happen to take a 2 PM express train on Memorial Day from New Jersey to New York, it will be empty (yay!).
But the subways won’t be.
Apparently six foot two tourists’ elbows have no feeling. How else to explain jabbing said elbow into my shoulder three times?
I need a haircut.
Wah, it’s hot.