I’ve become even more impatient and have decided to start posting bits and pieces of my memoir even before uploading to Scribd. In case you’re curious, here’s the first installment.
I’m already finding myself revising this for blog writing – more immediate maybe? – than writing for print.
I still have the second half of the book to revise more extensively, but I *think* the first half is somewhat ready. I guess I’ll see as I’m posting.
Now off to enjoy the sun (and low humidity, yay!).
I have: work work, my independent study proposal, this delinquent blog post, but all I want to do is go shopping.
Had a nice long weekend, which now seems ages ago. Friday night we saw Terminator: Salvation, which, like Wolverine, had some good action sequences, but overall was pretty dumb. Saturday we spent most of the day outside, walking around the Upper West Side and having a picnic in Central Park. We also had a late lunch at Spoonbread, our favorite Southern restaurant. Short ribs, mac and cheese, and Spoonbread punch, yum!
Sunday was mostly a work day, coding for MB and writing (finally!) for me. Recently The New York Times ran a piece on Scribd, a document sharing system where authors can sell digital copies of their books. I used to not like the idea of self-publishing, or at least of having to pay to have my book published and handing out copies to my friends, like, “Look at what I did!” But I’ve gotten to a point that I just want to get my stuff out there, regardless of how.
For a while I thought I’d just throw it up on my blog, but since seeing that NY Times piece, I’m curious about trying Scribd out, once my memoir is done. It will be fun to market it via various channels. I don’t expect to make money off it. I just want see what happens.
Anyway, on Sunday for a break, we did a little shopping in Union Square, but it was so hot and humid, neither of us felt like staying at too long. That night AY and her boyfriend came into the city, and I met them for dinner (MB was too “in the zone”). We had tasty Japanese curry and then fancy Japanese desserts. I like Asian desserts since they’re not as sweet. I had a green tea Bavarian cream concoction. It was gooood.
Monday was more working, followed by a field trip up to the new Muji store on Port Authority. Wah wah waaaah. It was big but we weren’t too impressed with the selection.
~ ~ ~
Apropos of nothing, you know when you’re on Facebook and find a friend from high school or college, and you barely recognize them, aside from the fact that they’re trying to squeeze their three kids into their profile pic, and you look at yourself, and you look and feel and act pretty much the same as when you were in your 20s, and you think, What have I done with my life? and I kind of want to kill myself?
Imagine your relief to find that 37-year old Winona Ryder looks almost exactly the same as she did in Reality Bites, and she’s not married and doesn’t have kids, and is still talking about Johnny Depp, and unlike “frienemy” Gwyneth Paltrow, seems to be living a life similar to when she was younger, rather than a pretentious organic know-it-all-y one.
A lot of people of my generation feel like they grew up with Winona Ryder. I was 14 when I saw her in Lucas, and a senior in college when I saw Reality Bites. Our lives pretty much diverged after that – I think it was Bram Stoker’s Dracula that did it – but I’ve always felt like we were living parallel lives. Me, Winona, and tens of thousands of other women our age.
She couldn’t find the right guy (been there), and then there was that whole shop lifting thing (haven’t been there), but I think most of us can identify with those days that you feel you can barely hold it together, like the woman I saw yesterday in her good shoes and wrinkled coat and too much eye makeup, asking shakily for Vietnamese takeout soup in a paper container, not plastic, and when told again there is no paper, just plastic, barely holding it together as she walked back out the door.
I think I’ve been in a stable place for quite some time now, and I hope Winona feels the same way. But still it’s a great comfort to see that, after all these years, we’re in the same boat. Except for the rich and famous part that is.
This weekend was quiet and relaxing. Friday night we attempted to see Milk, but got to the theater early and decided to see From Within instead, part of the After Dark Horrorfest. Bit mistake. Cheesy and melodromatic. Only moderately entertaining.
They only had the gray one, which was marked down to $149 from $345!!! I mean, how ridiculous is that? Plus I’ve decided I really love the color, which is more like a matted silver.
The size is perfect. The backpack I was using before was huge, and my stuff would get lost inside. I have a million shoulder totes, but this year for some reason they have been hurting my neck and shoulder. This Tumi one is small enough to be like a purse, but big enough for a notebook for school. Plus the material is light and flexible.
This week at work I’m in our NJ office for a couple of days. I could have taken the train down Wednesday morning, but it takes about 2 hours to get there, and the meeting starts at 9. So I booked my hotel starting Tuesday night so I can take my time getting there. I’m going to try and get up early Wednesday and Thursday to hit the hotel gym before the meeting.
Then this weekend is a three-day, woohoo! YP and I have our first monthly photo outing of 2009 on Saturday, and then I have class on Sunday. It’s not till 1 so I can totally sleep in.
I can’t believe next weekend is already Chinese New Year. The year of the ox. I don’t know if we’ll go to my parents’ but we’ll definitely eat dumplings.
Mmmm, dumplings.
Some with lots and lots of snow.
MB and I hibernated practically all weekend. Friday and Saturday nights we thought about going to see a midnight showing of Gremlins at IFC, but the cold, yucky weather kept us in.
I did get out Saturday morning when YP and I had our monthly photo expedition. The theme was Photographing Each Other, to my consternation. I hate having my picture taken, especially when I’m makeup-less. My freckles tend to look out of control. But he just sent me some, and they’re very nice. I do still wish I had put on some cover up.
We decided to take the pictures in Harlem since we never seem to venture above 14th Street. The sidewalks were a mess and like an idiot, I wore sneakers. I have two pairs of winter boots, but for some reason they were at the office. Thinking I had another pair at the apartment, I neglected to bring any home. Wah! By the time we finished our shoot, my right pinky toe was completely numb. On my way home, I stopped at my office and got boots, yay! Makes such a difference.
That afternoon MB had a short gig tutoring a friend in programming so I chilled at home – or rather warmed up – till he got back. Never has a bowl of instant Korean noodles tasted so good.
That night we tried this new Latin place around the corner, A Casa Fox. The food was good but expensive! Not super hungry, I had a bowl of delicious tomato soup for $5, not bad. But the asparagus “salad” I got was just four pieces of asparagus with some cheese shavings. $8! Total rip off.
MB got this chicken rice bowl, which was tasty but way overpriced at $25. It should have been $12-$15. The selection of mini empanadas was more worth the $8, and were really good, and the empanadas themselves are $5 each. If we go again, we should probably just get a mess of those.
Sunday I was able to get a bunch of writing done. I’m almost done with this, hopefully last, round of revisions. I sent a query to my teacher’s agent a couple of months ago, and have heard nothing. Usually you get some sort of response in 6 to 8 weeks. I may check with my teacher if I should be sending to the guy’s personal email. She just sold her first novel – after a slew of nonfiction books – so I know they are both busy with that.
This winter break I also need to find more agents and send more queries, as well as find some contests for book-length memoirs. If none of that pans out, I think I will start posting sections of my book online. I do wish I could get it published, but I also want to be done with it. Putting a “final” version online will help me feel like the book is finished and then I can move on to the next thing.
On Sunday MB needed to work on this other consulting gig (ie, cleaning up some imbecile’s really bad code). Then he needed some stuff from the Apple store so we hoofed it over there. Luckily the weather was somewhat better. It was even a little sunny! that is till darkness descended at 5 o’clock. :( At least now the days will start to get longer again.
It was pretty icy out but not as crowded as I expected. Of course the Apple store was a madhouse. I swear people turn stupid when they get near the door – stopping completely, not looking where they’re walking, blocking the way.
Tonight we’re going to hear Les Paul play at the Iridium. It’s sort of expensive – $50 plus a $25 food/drink minimum – but the guy is like, what, 90? Better go hear him before he kicks it.
I mean, I usually feel pretty good, but it *is* Monday, which normally calls for the blahs.
Could be because my new boss has started, and I finally have some real work to do. Being bored really does take a toll on morale, even for lazy someones like me. Also, I’m all done with school assignments, and I have just one more class, this Thursday, which will be discussing a bunch of readings. Finally, I’ve had a good couple of conversations with my mom recently.
She seems to be holding back her worries, namely her vision of MB’s and my “future” – ie, getting married and buying properpty, contrary to *our* vision of not getting married (but still having kids, scandalous!) and traveling the world – and is enjoying the idea of my being happy for a change, or again her vision of my being happy which equals being with someone who treats me well. I was perfectly fine on my own, but my parents will never believe that.
My mother and I are so alike with our worrying. Sometimes now I wake up and think, Shouldn’t I be worrying about something? Before my worries mostly had to do with my job. How awful it was! The demanding, incomprehensible boss with career expectations for me that I didn’t want! The forced socializing with sales people! The high-pressure presentations! I’d wake up at 3 in the morning and apply online to random, low-paying jobs, that’s how bad it was. I thought about quitting and being jobless. I thought I’d like to do something completely non-stress, like being a crossing guard.
This weekend I had the chance to work on my manuscript. Rereading it is always like reliving the past, though not in a harmful way. They’re far enough away that I have some distance, and reliving them sometimes reveals more memories, more layers to add. I remember visiting my cousin in Portland shortly after she came from China, and how she and her husband were so lovey dovey, to the point I wanted to shout, “Get a room!” They didn’t make out in public, but they’d do things like blow each other kisses, write “I owe you one kiss”on a post-it and put it up, tell each other that they loved each other in front of everyone.
Yeah, actually, it was kind of gross.
But at the time, it also made me feel lonely. I was married and I knew my husband loved me, but we were never like that. We never got so carried away we forgot about the rest of the world. He was always very concerned about what others thought. But at the time, I didn’t let myself think that it made me lonely, watching my cousin and her husband. I just made snide remarks.
I’m also glad I never had a kid with my ex. One, I’d still be connected to him, and two, there was so much pressure from his family. “I want my grandsons to go to Eton,” my ex-FIL said one time. There are so many things wrong with that statement, I don’t even know where to begin.
~ ~ ~
Now the boring update! :) Friday night was lazy for me. MB suggested going to a late movie, but I was so tired, we just watched a bunch of stuff on Hulu.com, and I went to sleep before midnight.
Saturday I worked on my writing a little before we headed out to run some errands. It was freezing that day, and really hard to motivate myself to get outside. But I did, and that night we ate at this soba noodle place for the first time, Soba Koh, on East 5th Street. It was so good and perfect for that wintry night. We both had the early bird special for $19: a daikon salad, egg custard with crab (and other weird things), and hot or cold soba with a variety of tempura. We both got hot.
It didn’t look like a lot of food but it was pretty filling. The tempura was really good. I’m used to it with a ton of batter, but these were perfect. Also included is ice cream, vanilla or green tea.
Later we saw a midnight showing of Poltergeist at IFC. It was fun, not scary, since I’ve seen the movie so many times. As a kid it scared the shit out of me, especially that clown doll. Also, Jo Beth Williams and Craig T. Nelson are really good in it! If they weren’t so good, the movie would have been over the top and cheesy.
Sunday I was able to get more writing done, despite getting up at 11. We didn’t do much except grab a late lunch at 3. We went to one of our usual places, Zucco: Le French Diner, where I had for the first time, something du dimanche. Ack, I can’t remember the name! Anyway, as the name implies it’s served only on Sundays: a potato cake filled with goat cheese and topped with a poached egg, served with ratatouille and lamb sausage.
I totally just made myself hungry.
Some of my other favorite dishes are the pain perdu, or French toast; the pate sandwich, which is served with cornichon, these delicious little pickles; and the risotto des legumes. The coffee is really good too.
I need to eat lunch soon.
Information Technologies class, that is.
Last night we gave our site visit presentations, which was immensely boring. By the time class ended, our group still hadn’t gone. Most of us were relieved, thinking we’d go next week, but then the professor said, “Who wants to stay late and finish the presentations and not have class next week?” Everyone but us raised their hands.
In the end though it was good to get it overwith. I was the very last one, and so everyone appreciated my going quickly.
It’s over, it’s over! WOOHOO!!!
I think I still have my other class next week, but like I’ve said before, that is not stressful.
Last week I had a mild panic attack. While waiting for the subway, I ran into one of my former classmates. We talked about our schedules for next semester, and she mentioned an internship.
“Is that required?” I asked. I didn’t think it was but wasn’t sure.
“Yes,” she said. “To graduate, yes it’s required.”
This threw me for a loop. I had already planned my next two semesters, which would have me done by next summer. How could I fit in an internship?
On the train ride home, I kept muttering, “It can’t be required, I don’t remember seeing it with the requirements,” while MB made some kind suggestions about getting an internship at my company, although our only “library” is online.
To be sure, I emailed the adminsitrative office, and yay! an internship is only required for a museum certificate. Whew! Of course an internship would probably be better since I have no job experience. But it’s also 150 hours over a few weeks, and working full time, it’s just not feasible.
I also finally figured out how to subscribe to my department’s listserv. I had tried it a couple of times, to no avail, but it turns out I kept putting the wrong command. Dehr.
I’ve really missed out on a lot not being on the listserv, mainly scholarships. You’d think they’d make this kind of information more readily available. Last week in class someone congratulated someone else on a huge scholarship she got, and I felt so out of the loop that I 1) didn’t know she had gotten it, and 2) hadn’t known about the scholarship so that I could have applied for it! I actually have no idea what or who the scholarship was for; I’m just competitive that way.
~ ~ ~
This weekend, aside from doing the site visit for my other class and writing the paper, MB and I saw Synecdoche, New York. I can’t decide if it was good or not. It was definitely interesting and I was never bored, but I don’t know if that was because the whole time I was trying to figure out what was going on. Overall I think it was too self-indulgent.
We also braved the cold and managed to run some errands, like getting a curtain to put between the kitchen and rest of the apartment (ie, bedroom/living room/study, all in one!). Not that it bothers me, but MB is often up late praciticing or computering. The curtain doesn’t block all the light, but it does somehow improve the apartment to have that subtle separation. Also got a little space heater since our heating is erratic. The cold doesn’t bother me, but MB is freezing most of the time.
This weekend I won’t really have any homework, just a few articles to read for next Thursday. What will I do with myself, and over the next four weeks??? It’ll be the longest break I’ve had from school in a whole year.
Mainly I need to finish up my manuscript, that’s for sure. I’ve been “finishing” it for a good year now. Also, I need to follow up with the two agents I wrote to, namely my teacher’s, and write to a bunch more.
MB will still be on break so I hope we spend some weekends just walking around, like we did last winter, if the weather isn’t too bad.
I have been so lazy about blogging lately. This is what happens when I get caught up in my writing.
I think I wrote that I attended a “how to sell your first book” seminar, and that the instructor, a former teacher of mine, suggested I contact two other former teachers for advance blurbs for my agent letter. Well, I finally sent the revised letter about a week ago. One teacher returned a blurb that night, while I just got the other one. Yay! I didn’t think I’d ever get that second one. Problem is now the letter is too long. Time to cut.
I don’t remember if I already wrote about this, but I decided to restructure my book (again!). Right now it sort of alternates between what I’m calling the China and adultery stories, and while the China sections were pretty much chronological, the adultery sections were not. In a way it’s interesting because certain events resonate, but it was too confusing.
So I’m putting the adultery sections in chronological order too. But the whole books open with a pivotal scene so that readers will know immediately what happened. It’s not about maintaining suspense but about exploring why this and other events happened. Also, putting these sections in order is also helping me fil in the blanks with additional anecdotes and whatnot.
I’ve also been somewhat busy with schoolwork. I had a paper due last week, and a short presentation to give this Thursday, based on a resource. I was going to look at the book on Sunday, but it was at a branch of the library that was closed. :( So I have to go at lunch today. I totally could have done it on Friday or Saturday, but I was feeling lazy.
MB is deep in music-school-world now. This weekend he got a keyboard, 61 keys. It’s fun to have a keyboard in the apartment. He’s been encouraging me to play again and bought a beginner’s classical book, saying that it was for himself to learn out of. But he totally knew I’d want to start playing those pieces, which is what I did most of yesterday afternoon. Now I want to pick up some old piano books from my parents’ house.
The only thing about the keyboard is that you can’t play louder and softer. In that way Bach is more fun to play since he wrote for the harpsichord, which also was not adjustable in terms of volume.
This weekend we saw Quaruntine, which was pretty dumb but also pretty scary. Why is people behaving like animals so disturbing? This upcoming weekend I’m taking my parents to see Chicago for my dad’s birthday. It’ll be my fourth time but I don’t mind since it’s for my dad who has never seen a Broadway musical before, and it’s one I really like. Plus I got a special deal through my credit card, $100+ tickets for $60! Orchestra seats.
Okay, work time.
I started a couple of posts last week, and for some reason just couldn’t finish them. I think part of it was that I was under the weather with a cold (still fighting the remnants) and we had a two-day meeting. The presentations were somewhat informative, but I was really falling asleep at some points.
Now that MB is in music school, we’ve been going to hear lots of live music. Wednesday we heard a jazz band. Though I’m not into that kind of music, I can appreciate their skill and talent. But admission was $35, and not really worth it.
Friday night we went to hear a couple of MB’s classmates play in their rock/punk band in Brooklyn. I’m not into that kind of music either, but it was still fun. They are so young! Like 17 and 18. I kept thinking, I’m old enough to be their mom, though a very young mom. Also they are all so puny, but then I realized they all have several years of growing left to do. They were also very nice and looked like they were having fun, being goofy and whatnot, unlike the girl we listened to a couple of weeks ago who seemed to take herself very seriously.
This weekend we also saw the New York premiere of Midnight Meat Train, which played, appropriately, at midnight in a small, arty theater near us. There were a ton of people and we thought we wouldn’t get good seats, but it was no problem. The theater wasn’t even totally full. The movie was good. Not Oscar-worthy, but it was fun and well-done.
Saturday YP and I had our monthly photo outing. The theme this time was Public Restrooms. It was my idea and I don’t know why I came up with it. Funny how a lone toilet or urinal can look like an art installation.
Sunday I had an all day seminar on the “secrets behind selling your first book,” run by one of my former teachers. Her style is to have you read your piece aloud (if it’s short) and then she critiques you right then and there in front of everyone and in a sometimes brutally honest way. But that’s what I need at this point. Still, I was a bit nervous going in.
Right before I left the apartment, I read her email again, and only then did I notice, “Bring your agent letter,” meaning bring the query letter you plan on sending to an agent, which I hadn’t written! Ack! In about 15 minutes I threw something together, then rushed over to Kinko’s to print it out. Whew! Made it.
Overall the session was really good. It was from 2 to 8, and I thought, Holy cow, how will it possibly be 6 hours? But the time flew pretty quickly. Only in the last 90 minutes did I start to feel tired. M teacher talked a lot, giving advice and telling stories, but also critiqued anything that people brought in, which were mostly agent letters and short book descriptions.
I went first somehow, and she basically tore apart my letter, in a nice way of course. Also, she seemed to like the premise of my book as well as the subtitle, though she thought the actual title could be better so I need to think about that. When learning that my book was basically complete and that I had workshopped it in two classes, she said I should contact those teachers – one who she’s good friends with, the other whom she only knows in passing – and ask for advance blurbs for my letter, and after I got them that she’d write me one too because she remembered the piece I wrote in her class and that got published back in 2006. Sweet! And I was the only one out of about 15 she offered to write a blurb for, mostly I think because my book was done and it had been workshopped.
It shouldn’t be a problem getting blurbs from those teachers. One friended me on Facebook so I know she’s open to contact, and the other wrote my MLS recommendation and told me that he uses my book as a good example of structure in his other classes.
She also had an agent and editor come speak, and we had the chance to introduce ourselves and talk about our projects. I was nervous of course, and I’m not sure how they felt about my book. They reacted to the subtitle, so that confirms what my teacher said, but I think with my kind of book it really depends on the quality of the writing.
The only thing I didn’t like about the seminar was that the guy next to me had really bad breath. Every time he yawned it was like a toxic windstorm.
Tonight I must go dress shopping. Suddenly SG’s wedding is this weekend and I still don’t have an outfit! Well, I have a backup but 1) I’m not sure it fits that well anymore, and 2) I’d like something new. I bought the backup dress in 2004. Over the weekend MB and I stumbled upon this very cute boutique on Avenue B. The dresses were what I’ve had in mind, a little old fashioned, a little Audrey Hepburn. Hopefully I’ll make it there tonight.
So I feel a little pretentious today.
It’s been a semi-productive weekend. I’m not getting done everything I want, but I’m accomplishing some stuff.
Friday I ended up working a full day. I’m on this project that was supposed to be done that day, but of course I got a zillion last minute changes, so it’s not going out till Monday. Still, I had to get a polished draft done for the other people on the project for a call early Monday morning.
I don’t mind actually. Staying till 5:15 on a Friday is better than working on a Sunday, though I’ll still have to get in super early tomorrow just in case there are additional changes (which I’m sure there are). Plus it’s work I like (writing and organizing information in a presentable way), and quite frankly work I’d have done as a coordinator, which is the highest level administrative assistant. But if they want to pay me manager salary for coordinator-level work, so be it! :)
That night I went to Home Depot to find a mosquito repeller. Online I had seen a small, non-flame lantern, but the Home Depot I went to unfortunately didn’t have it. Next was Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a rice cooker. I had one for many years, but got rid of it when I moved in with MB. There were a lot of choices at BB&B, including fancy ones that could steam veggies as well. But I just went for something basic for $19.99. That BB&B is on the same street as this little Korean place I like, so I got some bibimbap for takeout, then hopped a cab home.
MB basically texted me all night. He kept seeing T-shirts and signs he thought were funny (though truthfully I didn’t get a few of them). To my delight, I discovered that some full episodes of Ghosthunters are available online, and texted him that. His reaction? Oh god. Watching a couple of shows, I realized how much I miss TV. It’s good company sometimes. But I’m still glad we don’t have one. God knows I waste enough time just surfing the web.
Saturday morning I was wide awake at 7:30. What the – ? That’s my weekday wake up time, and I always have a very difficult time getting up. I spent the morning writing and looking my blogroll and Gawker and other news. Then I headed over to YP’s to help him with some pictures for flyers for his upcoming gigs.
He had a very involved plan, which included photoshopping a picture of himself walking in front of a poster of himself, which also involved balloons and a green screen. Yeah, don’t ask. Also for some reason he wanted to take some of these pictures on his building’s roof. How to get to the roof? you might ask. By climbing stairs like normal people? Oh no.
He’s on the top floor and right now there’s scaffolding in front of his building, so he wanted us to go out on his rusty, rickety-ass fire escape, step over the railing, grab onto the scaffolding, walk up this metal pole that was like a tightrope at an angle, grab hold of this ladder, and climb up onto the roof.
Dude, are you fucking crazy?
YP tried to convince me that it’d be okay. “See,” he said, “the fire escape is nice and sturdy.” He rattled the railing, which promptly gave way.
“I hope you have a plan B,” I said, climbing back inside.
Plan B involved setting up the green screen (borrowed from his workplace) on various parts of the street on a very windy day. The poles, which were eight feet tall, kept falling over. Finally he had the brainstorm to throw the green screen over this fence, which worked pretty well.
As usual, while most people just walked by, one weirdo stopped to talk. He had a mullet and wore a T-shirt with the sleeves cut off.
“Do you guys have a card?” he said.
A card for what? He thought we were professional photographers. YP, friendly bastard that he is, started chatting with him, and of course he was a complete freak. It turned out he was supposedly pursuing stand-up comedy himself, though he had never done anything as involved as we were doing, gesturing at the balloons.
“Well, they’re just $12,” YP said. “A dollar a pop.” So to speak, haha.
“If I had $12,” Mullet Freak said, “it’d go to weed!”
Good luck with your career.
After our photo shoot, we got some Thai dinner and then saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I actually enjoyed it, though there were a couple of dumb plot points. I liked it better than the first one, which I could barely remember. I cried about every two seconds. And me with no tissues! By the end I was a complete mess.
I got home around 10:30, took a shower, and watched Ghosthunters, yay! I was tempted to watch a second one, but I was pretty tired by midnight and want to “save” a couple of episodes for tonight.
This morning I didn’t wake up till 10. I did, however, get in a good amount of writing, as well as catching up here, and now want to get out of the house and run a couple of errands. Luckily it’s so beautiful this weekend. I hate it when it’s sticky hot. Makes me want to stay inside all day.
Friday I had a half day as usual. After the gym I went to school to make yet more copies, and ran out of change before finishing completely.
MB was at a coffee shop in the area so I met up with him there. I like the food there, but what the place is famous for is its model-like waitstaff. Everyone who works there is tall and thin and gorgeous. The girl behind the bar wasn’t tall, but she was very pretty and knew it. She had a weird way of engaging people, both men and women, very flirtatious instead of just normal and down to earth.
Late that afternoon we saw Hellboy II. Another good movie! I love all the weird creatures that director thinks up, like in Pan’s Labyrinth.
Friday and Saturday were very much stay at home days, except for meals. MB was rather obssessed with a project he was working on. Plus I had a ton of reading to do for class and wanted to work on my memoir as well.
Sunday we left the house. Yay! Grabbed a late lunch, then took a long walk before settling in Washington Square Park to do some work. MB kept seeing people he knew, or at least recognized. First up was some eccentric older dude from a music meet-up, shopping cart full of musical equipment in tow. Second was this poor clearly anorexic woman. MB had seen her in Union Square a while back; on Sunday she was just wandering Washington Square Park, walking up and down, up and down.
Then as we’re about to leave, who do we see but YP on his way back from Hellboy. I almost never see anyone I know.
I’m finally at my correct pay rate now for work. Even though I officially started on May 16, till last week I was still at my old pay rate in the system. (Damn the system!) HR said I should get a check to make up for the difference.
Also will be getting my tuition reimbursement soon. Yay! I need to use that to help pay for my fall tuition, which I won’t get back till after the semester. It’s a bit of a challenge, to say the least.
This weekend I’ll be heading up to Boston to hang with ES. Another yay! Apparently there are a whole bunch of festivals going on, art and music and whatnot. I haven’t been up there in ages.