Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Urban Poetry

Today's New York Times reports that the subway poetry, which has been present for fifteen years, is going the way of the dodo bird. I’m sure there are great quotes from history, science, and literature that deserve to be read, too, but I’ll miss the poetry. As a society, we don’t read or write much of it and as an individual I don’t either. My work haikus are the extent of my poetry creation in the last two years. I liked that this was one way it stayed present in the lives of New Yorkers.

M.T.A. Derails Poetry

By ROBIN POGREBIN
Published: April 30, 2008

Those poems on the subways are going the way of the No. 9 line — that is, coming to an end after 15 years. Poems may still be posted now and then, but mostly the quotations seen on subways and buses will pertain to a number of different subjects, including history, philosophy, literature and science. “We’re expanding the breadth of the program to include other areas,” said Jeremy Soffin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Fifteen years is a long time. We had an opportunity to diversify things a little.” The content — formerly selected by the Poetry Society of America, which started it in 1992 — will now be determined by the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Alice Quinn, executive director of the Poetry Society, said she would try to find a new sponsor, adding, “We’re going to try to keep poetry in the public eye.”


And just a little inside joke for Rena: You know, they killed the 9 train because it was notorious for skipping stops. :)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Elevator Adventures

Did you all hear about the guy who was stuck in one of McGraw-Hill's elevators for 40 hours? This actually happened a couple of years ago, but it's top of mind because the story has gotten a lot of press lately.

It resurrected one of my old quirks: for a while a few years ago I was convinced that I'd get stuck in an elevator at some point; every time I got in one, I'd think about whether it was good or bad timing, relatively speaking. If I really had to go to the bathroom: poor timing. If I'd just picked up lunch and had a book with me, it might not be so bad.

Well, I was leaving work around 6:00 tonight and almost had to face my fear. On the way down, somewhere between floors one and two, the elevator gave a HUGE lurch and a really sudden stop. It really shook and then just stayed put for a few minutes. The other woman in the elevator and I hadn't gathered our wits yet to formulate a plan when the elevator went back up to the second floor of its own accord. All in all, it wasn't such a bad stuck-in-an-elevator experience, but now I'm totally convinced that it's going to happen again. I tell you what: I'm not getting in that elevator again without a gripping novel and some trail mix.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Bobo the sex maniac

Listen, y'all, I'm totally down with whatever unconventional things you want to do in your spare time, and this includes sex with strangers named Bobo. So if any of you are looking for just such an adventure, I can hook you up. I just randomly got the below message:

Hi! Am Bobo (for Roberto), 34 yrs old, looking for a partner to play cybersex (sex online), safe, discrete and... COOL! I have a webcam and can speak also French and Italian


I particularly enjoy that Bobo doesn't want to leave anything to chance regarding the various ways "cybersex" can be misinterpreted.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Biking

Success! I bit the bullet yesterday and got a great new folding bike for myself. I liked the idea of a used one, but I decided I really wanted one that folds up, and those were hard to come by used. I take that as a good sign that people who buy them really like them and hang on to them.

I had considered getting a regular-sized bike, but I heard so many horror stories about bike theft that I really hated the idea of leaving my new toy chained up outside my office building every day; it was just asking for trouble. With the folding bike, I can take it upstairs to my office each day and keep an eye on it. It'll make it easier to store in my apartment, too, which is great. And even though it cost more to get it new, the money I'll save on unlimited metro cards will offset the expense in just a few months.

Todd already had a bike, so once I was ready to go we hit Central Park. It was a perfect day for riding, and we started out on the bike loop and then veered off to chart our own course. After noshing on an awesome sweet potato knish by the Harlem Meer we left Central Park and headed over to Morningside Park instead. After that it was a cup of coffee and a a quick ride (after the big hill that kicked my ass anyway) back to Todd's. The bike folded up beautifully and is now taking up about a third of the space Todd's is.

I was very focused on not mowing down pedestrians when Todd took this picture, so I'm not smiling. I really was having fun, though!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

It Was Beyond My Control

A couple nights ago I saw Dangerous Liasons, or Les Liaisons Dangereuses as the French and Roundabout would call it. It started with a bang, and for the first act—90 minutes long—it really worked. The pacing was good and the humor ranged from witty to bawdy with stops everywhere in between. Ben Daniels, a newcomer to Broadway but extremely accomplished in the West End, brought energy and enthusiasm to his role of sexual conquistador extraordinaire. Mamie Gummer brought just the right shyness, idiocy, and playfulness to her role as a sheltered, convent-educated pawn.

And our star, Laura Linney...I’ve loved her in many movies and liked her in Sight Unseen. She brings just the right humanity to flawed characters, allowing us to almost always relate and often times like them despite their shortcomings. But as La Marquise de Merteuil she is something of a nonentity. The role is certainly a challenging one, because her character orchestrates a whirlwind of deception, manipulation, and devastation but doesn't actually do much of any thing. She offers a great deal of exposition, none of which is riveting. It’s disappointing to see a truly talented actress serve as nothing more than a plot device. Plus, for a big chunk of the show a very cruel intentioned (See what I did there? Cruel Intentions was the movie based on the book on which this play is based) costume designer has her wearing a yellow gown that, accompanied by her blond hair and the gold-toned set, just makes her look jaundiced.

By the time the second act was wrapping up, the play’s length and endless exposition had taken it’s toll and I was struggling to stay awake. I hate to admit it, but for a moment or two I even dozed; it was beyond my control. I’m glad I saw this, but I wish the creative team had tightened it and made better use of Linney’s talent.

Friday, April 25, 2008

A Netflix bitchfest

Netflix is fucking my shit up this month. About two weeks ago I sent a disc to them on a Monday. Normally they’d get it, process the return, and send my my next disc on Tuesday. For some reason they were jacking around and didn’t process the return until Tuesday. Then, when finally decided to send me my next movie, it took them a whole day to realize that they didn’t actually have it locally, so they were going to ship it to me from the west coast on Wednesday. Of course, it took longer than one day to get it since it was now coming from Oregon, so I didn’t actually get the disc until Saturday. A week to get a disc is bullshit. I wanted to complain but could find absolutely no way to contact them via their website. All they allow you to do is report problems via radio buttons, none of which fit my circumstances.

This week I’ve been waiting for a disc that was supposed to arrive on Wednesday. It didn’t come Wednesday or Thursday, but they wouldn’t let me report it until today. I did it as soon as I got up with the hopes that they’d ship my disc out today so I’d have something to watch this weekend. They have their thumbs up their asses again, though, and won’t ship my movie until Monday. So the movie that was supposed to arrive Wednesday of this week will actually arrive Tuesday of next week. And I have to pay full price for this quality service. I’m so irritated right now that I’m considering looking into the Blockbuster equivalent. Has anyone else used that one? Do they suck less than Netflix?

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Nobody said it had to be a solo self portrait

I neglected to bust out the camera this week, which means I don't have any new photos to choose for SPT this week. So, I'm reliving my Paris glory days and giving you this picture of Tina and me at the base of the Eiffel Tower. I did, in fact, take this picture Thelma and Louise style, so it totally counts.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Disappointment

Very sadly, I am not getting the Craig's List bike. It turns out that the bike is a single speed, and I'm not totally happy with that. But, in my usual way, now that I've decided to do this I want it immediately. There is a bike shop near work and another one a few blocks from my apartment. I think I'm going to pop into both of those over the next few days and get a sense of what they have and what will work best for me. If anyone has bike-buying advice, bring it on.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Earth Day

Today is Earth day, so I’m trying to come up with ways to be more green. In some ways, living in New York makes it pretty easy to be earth-friendly: taking public transportation everywhere is hard to beat in terms of being kind to the planet. But to go one step further, I’m trying to score a bike from some woman on Craig’s List. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Oh, and maybe I’ll finally take that giant stack of magazines down to the recycling bin in the basement today...

Monday, April 21, 2008

Choose a position, please

I really do think that Hillary can be a great president. I didn’t vote for her in the primary, but if she ends up being the democratic candidate I’ll rally around her and be very glad to see her in the White House. I am, like so many others, eager to see if she pulls off the sweeping victory she needs tomorrow to stay in the game. My prediction is that she’ll stay around for a while longer whether she remains viable after Pennsylvanians vote or not. But she needs to stop talking such shit.

In response to Barack Obama’s weekend comment than any of the three candidates for president would be a better commander in chief than Bush, Hillary shot back, "We need a nominee who will take on John McCain, not cheer on John McCain, and I will be that nominee."

Ok. True enough. The democratic nominee needs to be ready to throw down.

But not that long ago, she was so eager to take down Obama that she offered up this doozy: "I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."

So to sum up: in the world of Hillary, it’s ok to say that McCain would be a better president than Obama, but it’s not ok to say that McCain would be a better president than Bush? The fuck?

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Jen and I took in the latest Apatow-approved comedy last night. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was written by and stars Freaks and Geeks alum / How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segel.

It’s not the most side-splitting comedy I’ve ever seen, but I laughed out loud several times and was moved by the humanity Segel brought to his role of heartbroken dumpee. His willingness to embrace the awkward as a means to laughter is really something, and his commitment to the cause is evident from the very first scene of the movie: mistaking his girlfriend’s announcement that she’s on her way over for a bootie call, he instead gets dumped while totally naked. I mean, full-frontal naked. He keeps his clothes on for most of the rest of the movie, which was no doubt a relief to the cluster of If-I-Don’t-Yell-“EW!”-It-Must-Mean-I’m-Gay guys sitting behind us. Seriously, what’s wrong with so many guys?

It’s hard for me to recommend any movie for the current New York City price of $12 per ticket. But Segel and his supporting cast (Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, and Russell Brand especially) are definitely worth checking out at some point.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Further proof that grapefruits are for suckers

As a follow-up on the Great Grapefruit Debate of '08, I bring you this:



I'm not 100% convinced of its accuracy (bananas are most certainly more tasty than blueberries, am I right?), but I do appreciate that grapefruit has been placed in the absolutely worst corner of the worst quadrant. Take that grapefruit lovers!

Thanks to Kimberly for bringing this to my attention!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Take Aways From Paris

The flight home from Paris on Tuesday was 8 1/2 hours long. That, plus the airport time, runway taxi time, and subway ride home offered some serious opportunities for reading, napping, and reflecting. In mentally reliving my trip, a few things kept coming to the top of my mind:

  1. I want to learn another language. Tina really impressed me with her French language skills, and it’s a good thing she had them, too. I had good intentions of learning a little conversational French before I went and did a few lessons on Babbel. I didn’t invest the time or energy needed to really learn much, though, and I was sorry for it once I got there. I could keep going with French, but I’ve decided to take up Spanish instead. It’s more practical here in the city, and I’ll have a better chance of practicing it, which is always good for learning. I’m going to do a bit on my own for the next few months and then sign up for one of the language seminars always offered at the school.
  2. I love bikes, biking, and everything to do with cycling now. Well, ok, maybe I’m still intimidated by the idea of biking around NYC taxis, but after my bike tour of Paris I really do want to start biking around New York. I thought it was a wonderful way to see the city, and I have a feeling that my life will be that much more satisfying if I start each day with a ride through central park rather than crammed onto the subway. And, in case anybody reading this is going to Paris soon, I really can’t pimp Bike About Tours enough. It’s a small company run by two ex-pats (one American and one Kiwi), and everything about the experience was fantastic. Paul, our guide, was personable, knowledgeable, and totally committed to giving us a great experience. And at only 25 euros for a 4 hour tour, it’s an absolute steal.
  3. I have a seriously annoying coworker from France. He hasn’t yet been the subject of any workplace haikus, but I have a couple projects with him this summer and I feel several poems coming on. My limitless irritation with him notwithstanding, though, it turns out that the French are, by and large, extremely nice. They have a reputation for being rude and intolerant of Americans, but our experience was just the opposite. People were friendly and helpful and completely killed the stereotype.
  4. It’s worth spending the money. The dollar to euro conversion seriously bites, and if you do the math you’ll no doubt feel that you’re paying way too much for everything. But I really think it’s worth forgetting how to do the math (for numbers-challenged me, it was really quite simple to do) and just go for it. With our economy the way it is, waiting for the dollar to rebound before going on vacation could mean staying home for a long, long time. There are, of course, great things to see stateside, but as someone who has been itching to get out in the world, it was really worth spending a little extra. There are always good excuses not to do big trips like this: work will always be busy, I’ll always worry about leaving Camilla home alone, and I never really have that much just hanging around begging to be spent,. But at the end of the day, I realized that all the work just waited for me to get back (unfortunately), Camilla was in good hands with Todd (thanks, Todd!) and sleeps 65% of the time anyway, and it’s just money. I’m a little broke now, but I’ll recover and start saving for another trip and spend it all again. And it will be totally worth it all again. If someone who can fix the economy gets elected in November, all the better. But I’m not going to sit home waiting for all the stars to align before I see the world, because it will just never happen that way.
  5. Skinny jeans (especially on men) are not all that. Despite a good effort on Tina's part to get me to reconsider this trend, I remain resolute: I don't like them.
  6. The French really do make a better croissant.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Self Portrait: Paris Edition

Self portrait in front of the Louvre! Our hotel was right across the street, so Tina and I were able to walk through the Louvre courtyard every morning and take in the museum's architecture, both new and old, as well as the beautiful gardens. Tina wasn't so taken with the giant spider sculpture recently erected in the gardens, but I guess they can't all be favorites. I'm putting together a "best of" album this weekend (I doubt most of you want to shift through my 500 photos), and you'll be able to see the massive arachnid then. In the meantime, here's my first shared Paris photo:


Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Sleepy

Today is my first day back in New York. It's good to be home, but it's not so good to be back at work. It was tough getting up this morning and definitely not fun sitting at my desk all day instead of eating crepes in some little cafe.

I'm going to bed early tonight.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Last day in Paris

I had to say good bye to Tina last night, as she had promised to be back at work this morning. It was sad to say good bye and realize that our vacation was really coming to an end. Instead of holing up at the hotel after she left, though, I wandered around our neighborhood some more and popped into an internet café to confirm my flight details. I had quite a surprise waiting for me when I got back to the hotel, though: Tina was there! We never checked her train time and remembered the London arrival time as the Paris departure time. It meant that she had a horrifically early morning ahead of her, but it also meant that we got a few more hours to hang out.

I said a bleary-eyed good bye to her again this morning around 5:00 a.m., and then went back to bed for a couple of hours. I had a leisurely morning eating croissants and drinking cappuccino in the Louvre gardens before hopping on the metro to check out La Mosquee de Paris. Unfortunately, I thought it was a bit of a let down. The courtyard was much smaller than I thought it would be, and though I could see it from the mosque’s entry way, I wasn’t allowed in. Instead I wandered around the Jardin des Plantes (botantical gardens) that were right near by. They were beautiful, and I could tell that they’ll be even lovelier in two weeks when everything that is just a bud now will really bloom. I left there and just started wandering; I was lucky enough to stumble upon Rue Mouffetard, which is one of the oldest streets in Paris. It’s a narrow and windy street that doubles as an outdoor food market. It felt so quintessentially Parisian! Much of the city, obviously, is fast-paced and modern, but walking down this street felt a little like I’d gone back in time.

Then, sadly, it was on to the airport and back to reality.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Paris Day 4

Today has been mostly about wandering and shopping. We returned to the area we found on Friday and have been ducking into little local jewelry and chocolate shops. I've so far resisted buying any jewelry by doing the euro to dollar conversion in my head, but I have definitely not resisted the chocolate. That's what I get for going in hungry!

Our afternoon will likely be spent at the Picasso museum, which a couple of you have recommended. Then it's off to an early dinner and back to the hotel so Tina can pack. She has to return to London tonight, sadly, and then I'll be on my own until my flight home tomorrow. I'm eager to be among my friends again, but I don't really feel like leaving Paris behind.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Paris Day 3: Versailles

Folks, I did not know it until now, but let me tell you: Versailles is the biggest tourist attraction Paris has to offer. The trip out takes only about half an hour, and the castle is packed with opulence and history. History most tourists can take or leave (really they just pretend to care) but opulence and extravagance never go out of style.

Tina and I got out there yesterday around noon; we had big plans for an early start to our day, but I'm not a morning person, not even in Paris. Luckily, Tina wasn't bright eyed at 7:00 a.m., either, or she probably would have been annoyed with me. Anyway, by the time we got out there it was tourist central. As we walked with a herd of other visitors from the train to the grounds I was actually embarrassed to have insisted we make the trip--it just made us feel somewhat unorginal and entirely un-Parisian. And when we checked out the length of the line and heard that it was estimated at over an hour and a half just to gain entrance, we changed the gameplan a little. All along I thought we'd do the full shebang: interior of the palace and the gardens. Instead we skipped the line and paid 8 euro to go directly into the gardens. In some ways it was a shame to have come all this way and skipped the hall of mirrors and all the rest, but our wanderings around the garden were so satisfying that it's hard to feel disappointed. They're so huge that in three hours we only saw a small portion of them. Admittedly, a good chunk of time was spent on a bench in our favorite part, Le Jardin du Roi (Garden of the King), eating a picnic lunch of baguettes, chevre cheese, and macaroons (from La Duree). It was so pretty there, and we soaked up the sun when it was kind enough to emerge from behind the couds, people watched, and chatted. Shuffling from room to room through the palace itself really could not have been better.

The rest of the day was spent on the streets of Paris. We saw the Eiffel Tower, where we took about one million pictures, and stumbled upon the Arc de Triomph, where we took not one single shot. It was a bit rainy, which wasn't ideal, but we never got soaked, even though we'd forgotten our umbrellas (I carried mine all the way from NYC just to leave it in the hotel--brilliant!).

I can't believe there is only one full day left!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Paris: Day 2--with bikes!

Tina and I just finished a bike tour through the city. Doing this tour was possibly the best choice we'll make the whole trip. Bike About Tours is fantastic. It's a small company founded and run by just two guys, both expats. Our guide, Paul, is from New Zealand, and his partner, I think, is American. They both live in Paris now, which means they know all sorts of off-the-beaten-path places and city history but can conduct tours in English with no language problems. We biked with about eight other visitors through the city for about four hours and saw some icons, like Notre Dame, and the Louvre. We actually got to cycle through the Louvre courtyard, which was fantastic. The great thing about this tour, though, was finding secret gardens, hidden courtyards, and narrow cobblestone streets that we'd never discover on our own. We could find the Arc or Eiffel Tower on our own if we feel so moved, but Let's Go would never have lead us to these places. It's a small company and needs to grow, so if anyone is planning a trip to Paris, please set up a tour with Paul. He was a great guide, and this is an exciting and new way to see the city. Bonus: Paris is pretty flat, so you won't even be huffing and puffing!

After the tour Paul gave us directions to the internet cafe we're in. We couldn't find it, though, and had to ask four other people along the way how to get here. All gave similar directions that varied in very important ways (i.e., four of the five sets didn't get us here). The fabulous thing, though, is that at each turn we discovered a wonderful little boutique, beautiful side street, or window bursting with chocolate for us to gorge on. I'm loving Paris!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Paris: Day 1

After an easy and (as much as possible anyway) flight, I met Tina in the heart of the city and off we went for our first Parisian day. It included, of course, a lot of eating. We had lunch, complete with wine and dessert (fondant au chocolate for me--yum!) and then wandered around the city for a bit. We saw the Louvre, which is stumbling distance from our hotel, and walked across the river to make a visit to the Musee Dorsay. I loved it! It reminded me of smaller museums in New York in the sense that it was manageable in only a few hours. We started at the top and worked our way downstairs seeing Monets, Manets, Degas, Seurats, and all the other impressionists on the way. There is so much beautiful work captured there! The Musee Dorsay itself, as an old train station, is also wonderful.

We went to dinner at Au Virage Lepic which Josh and Todd highly recommended. A big shout out goes to them, because it was wonderful! We had a chance to wander around Montmatre for a while before eating (ok, really we really went the wrong way down Rue Lepic at first) and got to see the anticlimactic Moulin Rouge. And when we finally found the restaurant, it was heavenly. Josh and Todd did not steer us wrong! Thanks, guys!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Self Portrait 10

The second picture from my time at Ricky's with Shannon: This wig was actually pretty cute--it looked a bit more red and a bit less yellow in person.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Boo to American Airlines

All I can say is, thank goodness I’m not flying American Airlines. They have stranded thousands upon thousands of travelers over the past few days, and I’m so glad that my trip to Paris has nothing to do with them. I called Air France this morning to make sure my flight wasn’t affected, and they said everything should be fine. If anything, I hope that the lowered air traffic means there is less chance of a delay. My fingers are crossed.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Prepping for Paris

I’ve been collecting recommendations from friends and coworkers in preparation for my big trip (leaving Thursday night and can’t wait!). There have been a few museum recommendations, but mostly people are all about the food. Crepe cart suggestions abound, and no less than three people have suggested that Tina and I hit La Durée. They provided all the treats for the movie Marie Antoinette, and apparently their macaroons are to die for.

One of the other ones that caught my eye, though, is Cafe de Flore en l'Ile, where we can mix our own hot chocolate from a silver pitcher of thick bittersweet chocolate and another of steamed milk. Tina rightly described this as sounding “like a little slice of heaven on earth.”

I suspect I’ll come back from France both fat and happy.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Bathing With Bierko

This is too weird.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

No Freedom of Information Act here

Just when you think George Bush and his administration have become just about as abhorrent as is possible, they do something to remind you that the depths of their manipulation knows no bounds. As this Wired article details, a government-funded health website now refuses to return any search results about abortion. It’s being billed as “the world's largest database on reproductive health” and it produces no results on abortion!?! Even if it was ideologically biased (and I’d expect nothing less from an agency of GWB’s), you’d think something would come back. But to simply pretend results don’t exist just seems outrageously eastern bloc to me.

It reminds me of something I heard about a search engine (this was a word of mouth story, so I’m fuzzy on the details and not even 100% sure it’s true) giving you that, “did you mean...?” thing whenever someone searched for “abortion.” Instead, you’d get: “Did you mean ‘adoption?’” I don’t know for sure that this is true, but given this Wired story, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Update: I checked out the site and it does, in fact, return some results. Maybe the press shamed them.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Joey's first visit to NYC

Caryn and Larry brought Joey in to the city today to hang out, eat a lot, and enjoy the perfect park weather. It was Joey's first time in the Big Apple, but we spared her the standard first-timer sight seeing. At just a few months old, Central Park seemed like a better choice for her than Times Square, a Broadway show, and the Empire State Building.

Seriously, this kid just gets cuter every time I see her. I feel like I see Caryn and Larry pretty regularly, but when I stop to think about it, often a month or two goes by between visits. This didn't necessarily always seem like a long time before Joey was born. She grows so much between visits, though, that I'm more aware than ever of how much can change in a such a short time.

Here are a few pics of our day together:



Friday, April 4, 2008

Patti’s Turn

Gypsy is back on Broadway, only a few years after the recent revival starring Bernadette Peters. I saw the BP version, and it left me cold. By that time I’d also seen the movie and listened to the original cast recording with Ethel Merman. I very much felt like I should like this show. It has all the right ingredients, but every time I saw it, I just felt a little bored and underwhelmed.

I’m very happy to report that this new production is nothing short of wonderful, with a cast that really brought the whole show to life. Laura Benanti, for instance, really stood out for me. In the past, she’s been something of a wallflower. I was always more interested in watching those around her, rather than her. You’d think that if anything she’d be totally dwarfed by the other talent on stage at the St. James, but instead she rose to the occasion. Her transformation from second fiddle (does it get any more second fiddle than playing the rear end of a cow?) to the stage-commanding Gypsy Rose Lee is remarkable to watch.

Truly everyone in the cast is great, but the show belongs to the fantastic Patti Lupone. I’m not sure when exactly I started loving her so much, but somewhere along the way it happened. I resisted her a little in Sweeney Todd but she won me over, even if I was reluctant to admit it. I love her on the Sweeney CD, too. And I have to say: she completely inhabited Mama Rose in a way I’ve never seen before. Her performance of the final song, Rose’s Turn, is incredible. This show is definitely one to see.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Self Portrait 9

Another weekend with Shannon: another wig. We were at Ricky's checking out wig options for her living statue costume and decided that the whole process would be much more fun with both of us trying on new styles. Next week you'll get to see a similar 'do in more of a strawberry blonde.


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

If the 1 train were a person I would punch it in the face

Seriously, words cannot describe how much I hate the 1 train. I only take it when I'm running late and fool myself into thinking that by walking two minutes to the 1 train, instead of 10 minutes to the C train, I'll actually get to work faster. You'd think I'd have wised up by now, but I'm either a total idiot or a masochist. This morning I got to the platform to find it absolutely teeming with other miserable commuters. An express train came and went, so full that half the people waiting couldn't fit on it. Two more trains later I finally was able to squeeze onto a 1.

I am fully aware that none of the people on the train are any happier at this point than I am. We all just want to get to work without much commotion. But as the dude next to me continues to let his hand slip down the bar until it's touching mine (this wasn't some gross train cop-a-feel; there are seriously a whole mess of New Yorkers who just find their own arms too heavy to hold up); and the chick behind me keeps shifting her purse and elbowing me with every adjustment; and the pre-teen on the way to school regales her cohorts with absolutely hilarious stories about being a vegetarian and how, in an apparent surprise to her idiotic friend, ham does not come from a turkey and, hello, both are meat anyway, I began to hate them and the 4,002 other people in the car.

But more than I hated those people, I hate the MTA. Is it just me or have they been sucking more than usual lately? They should be fat with cash right now, since I and the eight gazillion other New York subway riders just got socked with a fare hike. Maybe they could spend that money on actually getting us all to work without intimate knowledge of each other's body contours.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Blog weariness

I think I’m going to take a break from the blog. It’s been fun while it lasted, but trying to keep up with it every day is simply too much. I think trying for Blog 365 was a mistake, because I feel a lot of pressure to post something every day. I can’t always get to it, and then I feel like a failure. I started on this as a way to keep in touch with people, but it now feels like more of an obligation than anything else.

Suckahs! It’s April Fool’s Day. I love blogging and will be here posting daily for the rest of time (or until I really and truly feel the way I claimed I did above).