Zoophiles

Last night I met my friend Mike to catch up. We met in Soho and had some snacks and just gossiped a little about what has been going on. He is a freelance photographer who does a lot of travel work so it hard to get time with him to sit down and see each other. Well he had asked me if I wanted to go see the new film Zoo at the IFC with him, I looked It up:

A hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival, this ravishing documentary sprang from a shocking true-life tale. In 2005, a businessman abandoned at an emergency room in rural Washington died from internal injuries, and the investigation into his death uncovered a nearby horse farm that hid a dark sexual secret. But ZOO is anything but lurid. Through impeccable camerawork and interviews with the exposed men, filmmaker Robinson Devor explores a hidden subculture forced into public view to craft a subdued, poetic and ultimately deeply compassionate portrait of people who live at society's outermost boundaries. The film explores the ensuing media coverage and public outcry that uncovered a secret community of zoophiles, who call themselves “zoos.” This expressionistic rendering of how apparently upstanding citizens banded together and videotaped their journey into the most taboo realms of behavior, reveals the enormous gulf between what we appear to be and who we really are.


Oddly enough I had seen the video that circled the Internet along side the story. It was one of those moments where friends come over to your apartment and grab the closest laptop to bring up a web site that you just have to see. So we watched one of the videos from this collective group of people, it was a video of this man known as “Mr. Hands” that this film is based around but it was not the video that killed him contrary to what everyone thought. It was painful to watch in all ways possible. My introduction to it then was very crude and one dimensional, it was only a sensationalist video that was the big sexually deviant 30 seconds going around. But watching Zoo last night totally changed my perceptive on it, I mean seriously change it. The move is very quiet and the cinematography is stunning, what the director had done was simple but had a huge impact. He had the people that were involved (the ranch hand, another individual who partook in this subset of sexual culture, and a few other key members) and he had them tell their stories over the scenic views of Washington State and actors reenacting that story as it was told. I was shocked it was the voices of the actual people not a script of what was thought to have happened. The way the material is approached allows for more of an understanding to it rather than a brush off of generalization of sick sexual prowess. I am not saying that I bonded or felt any affinity to them or what they and done but when you view their story in conjunction to the media and what had gone around via the internet and major new stations there is definitely a second side to the story. I would absolutely recommend going to this with an open mind, there are no sexual scenes other than a quick few seconds of them reviewing tapes found in the home where people would meet up from the internet to explore these ideas. Because of the content it feels weird to say, but this really was a very beautiful movie that I am glad I took the opportunity to see it.

Lunch Hour

This afternoon I went to lunch at PINCH (416 Park Avenue South) across the street from my office, I had a craving for pizza coupled with a need to pay way more for pizza than anyone should. The concept is very kitschy and its nice think crust and the workers are always really friendly (I’ve gone a few times for their chopped salad as well as the walnut/apple/goat cheese salad). You order square pizza and you specify how many inches you want instead of a slice. I got some goat cheese and broccoli, so I knew I was delving into luxury. I will however I would rather do my best to find something else in the neighborhood that will satisfy my urge for pizza with a sloppy 2.00 piece or cheaper slice of square sicilian style heaven. I used to work in Soho when I first moved to NYC right next to the Original Rays pizza (now I know all of them say “original ray’s pizza” but this was the actual first one on Prince Street, they have the news paper articles to prove it! Regardless I will continue to believe they were the first), that pizza was amazing and cheap. Since I was a Soho shop girl slinging shoes for $10 an hour I was more than satisfied with that.

Regardless my original intention to bring up what I did on my lunch break was the rude intrusion to my day that I had over-hearing another patron’s impatience while waiting for his order. I was standing in line going over my endless combinations of what I could have on my 8” slice, so far size was all that I had decided on and the place is PACKED ! Lines and lines of people waiting to sit, waiting for their take out, and waiting to eat in at the take out/eat in tables they have available. I am talking tons of people waiting, why because its “take you child to work day”(which answered my question of why the hell there were 6 million little kids running around and why the hell they weren’t in school- because when corporate dad/mom has little jimmy with them at work and what are you going to do to shut him up when he says he is hungry and you have a TPS report to attach to something before you turn it in… you stuff his face with pizza…even if its over priced pizza). So visually picture lines of people and the staff behind the counter doing everything they can no to run into each other, and this guy just leans over and says to the man behind the counter who by some miracle has managed to take down 10 orders simultaneously with out screwing them up. Anyway the guy leans over and asks if his pizza is still coming. The absolute nerve! Do you not see the influx of people waiting as well for their orders? Do you believe if you ask this question it will speed up the cooking process. I just shook my head; with Eric working in the restaurant industry I hear countless stories of people and their attitudes when they come in to dine. I would have loved to stand over this dudes desk and ask him every 30 seconds if his report/email/anything was ready yet. From working as a hostess and waitress in my formative years of high school I could appreciate it when customers are kind and considerate, so I do my best to be patient as a customer. Lets not even get started on the patrons of park slope and other Brooklyn areas and their chips on the shoulders and need for superior attention whist eating when they have their scraming dirty-faced bratty children at the table with them. If I got started on the yuppie parents with obnoxious children phenomenon I would be ranting for hours.

Basically the man made me mad, be nice to your server be it as a pizza place to a 4 star restaurant. It’s their job to serve you your food not deal with your shitty attitude. I however may need to buck up just a little bit since I feel rushes of guilt when I get something burned or with meat when I asked for it to be vegetarian friendly and I have to red-faced ask for it to go back and be redone. Better that way than a pompous asshole that obviously enjoy digesting spit with his sandwich or else maybe he’d be a little sweeter.

Oh and by the way… an entire website dedicated to pizza in the city of NY. Hey why not.

With great power comes great responsibility

I got tickets Spiderman 3 tickets for its opening day on May 4th. Fandango started selling the tickets early this morning to the showing and I couldn’t resist getting them. I am already anticipating standing in line at union square a good hour before we can go in just so that we don’t get those seat way up in the front where you have to crank you neck at a 180 degree angle from the rest of you body just to be able to see what the hell is going on but unfortunately you are too close to the massive sized screen to have any idea what it is that you are looking at. It’s going to be loud and it’s going to be crowded, but there is just something about seeing a big blockbuster movie like this on its opening night in Manhattan. I can’t wait…only 10 days to go!

Oh well I guess I mustn't grumble, I suppose that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Last night we went to the alumni event at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), the school that Eric went to earlier this year and is finishing his certification for right now. It was good, they had very yummy food which was a blessing since I went right after work and thought I was going to end up flat passed out on the ground because I was already feeling light headed from low blood sugar and being hungry. The evening was all right I saw a lot of the kids that were in Eric’s class that I had met before, very nice people. It was just a little awkward because I couldn’t really contribute to a conversation about the amazing ways the have been cooking rare lamb or roasted chicken. So, I just really ended up standing there and stuffing my face full of whatever came around and was offered that was vegetarian. It was classy.





Annnnnnnd…I finally got tickets to see Lily Allen! (Very excited) I am also planning to try to see Gwen Stefani (it looks like this might be turning out to be the summer of outrageous Pop music for me! Ha-ha). I have this sneaking suspicion that I could be developing a takes for hideously awful radio music. Honestly who cares, it's fun to listen to.

Partly Cloudy ...Feels like 80 degrees

And it’s Monday after what felt like a really long weekend, so perfect! The weather was absolutely top notch, I can’t even think about the fact that it’s supposed to go back to 50 degrees next weekend with rain! I absolutely love the weather in the springtime. However, I can’t lie my favorite (as awful as it is) is the heat of summer and the hot nights that just seem to permeate ever inch of you. It’s amazing, well amazing if you have an AC in the window and a decent amount put away in the bank to be able to afford your electricity bills during the humid months. I love going out in a dress and flip flops and just feeling the heat all around, its definitely not for everyone but summer in the city is without a doubt my favorite time to be here (alright I‘ll be realistic, minus the sweaty subway and the smell of cooked garbage and the humidity, well there can be some not so glamorous aspects to everything you love!)

Lets get into it cause there was a lot!

Friday: Last week at work was brutal. We are in the middle of the 2 issues a month cycle, lots of work not very much time. So it was go-go-go all week. Friday I was exhausted! Earlier in the week Eric and I had decided to try Grimadli’s since I had never been there and he had been once for lunch years ago. So I came home from work and we started our walk over here, mainly because I was starving but we were also hoping to miss the treacherous line that forms around the corner. We figured the odds were against us: Friday night, beautiful weather, dinner hour! We were pleasantly surprised to round the corner to not one person in line! It was great. We went in and ordered a small pizza some anti pasta (with out the meat) and got ready to taste “the best pizza in Brooklyn”. The antipasti was great, I was afraid of what I thought were roasted red peppers in t he middle but they turned out to be marinated (I don’t have much of a taste for the smoke flavor that roasting gives peppers, any other way they are cooked I love to eat them). We got olives, mushrooms, and extra grated cheese on the pizza. It was delicious, we left with two pieces left over in a bad and fully bellies for the walk home.






It was really nice to walk around a bit in Brooklyn Heights, especially with the setting sun. Watched Employee of the month, which was ok. Surprisingly enough Andy Dick was the funniest aspect to the whole movie. 11 pm I was done and in bed, but its nice to get a good night of rest on the weekend after a hectic week.


Saturday: got up bright and early! I met Christine out front of my apt and jumped on the B71 Bus up Union Street to Grand army plaza and Prospect park. We met up with two of her friends from Yale and we ran the perimeter of the park. Yes, the whole park, and I did not realize how long that would be when I agreed to do it! It felt like forever until I saw the huge arch way of the Grand Army Plaza entrance, but I was so proud that I only had to catch my breath once going up on of the hills, other than that I ran/jogged the whole thing! So it looks like I will be in ok shape for the 5k I am doing the first weekend in June. It was so nice out and awesome to watch everyone in the park, I think when the weather permits: a run in Prospect Park every Saturday is going to be mandatory. I can’t wait until they start having concerts in the park for summer; it really is a great area in Brooklyn. I remember when I lived for a summer on 16th street we went to the park to watch the symphony followed by fire works, and nothing can top Yo La Tengo last year accompanying old French sea documentaries.


Then I came home and had brunch with Miss Xeller at Alma, funny thing is I lived next to it for 3 years and never went for brunch. If anything it cant be that bad to be eating your breakfast to such a beautiful view of the lower Manhattan skyline.

Afterwards we ran errands like it was our job! We ducked into the little dry cleaners across from Naidre’s and searched through until Cate found her dry cleaning she had dropped off about a month ago! Then we wrangled the beast (aka my car which is in a steady decline in health due to old age and rough handling, just make it through the summer to get me out to the beach on the weekend please little guy!) headed to the Atlantic center where we did a good sweep through of Old Navy and Target. I got some great things for the apartment (PUR water filter, new bed pillows, doggie toys, etc) and even found a great little planter of forget me not flowers with seeds and little soil pod in the dollar bin. So I got him and planted them on Sunday. I hope that they’ll come up soon. I know it was silly but it was a dollar and made me happy. We also ran into my friends Jay and Melissa who had come to return a cookie sheet that was took big for their over (oh the quirks of big city living!) but the return items line was too long so they ended up giving it to me as a gift, I returned the favor and gave them a lift back to the neighborhood. Cate and I then took our whirlwind to Fairway where I bought supplies of dinner and she bought enough groceries to feed a small army! We talked about the benefits of bringing lunch to work rather than buying and how we have to get better about it for the office during our respective lunch hours. Went home and piled the armful of things into the apartment, walked Murphy and gave him a pink octopus that squeaked (he has already pulled out all the stuffing and the squeaker, the pink octopus now lives in the garbage, so sad he was cute too!). We made dinner and went out for a bit, everyone headed home early and I met Eric and some of his co-workers from Tocqueville at Bar 151 on Rivington. Home and bed.

Sunday: Again up early and met Alex and her boyfriend Cory for brunch at our secret brunch spot on Henry Street, Eric and I still get excited when we plan to go and ear there. We really should try to go sometime for dinner or some meal other than brunch. Cory and Alex loved it as well!

So we all piled into my car and headed towards Flushing to get a piece of furniture that Alex had gotten from craigslist. Good deal, brunch for car services. Except we got lost in the middle of nowhere queens and took a little bit to eventually find out way.It was very creepy, we pulled up to this huge house that had a wrap around porch filled with couches and various furniture and inside the house are just huge rooms filled with furniture much like you would image the thrift store furniture room. None of it was in particularly good shape and he kept mentioning that EVERYTHING was for sale. Creepy. Hoped back in the car and had a easier ride home (no getting lost) headed to Brooklyn after we dropped Alex and Cory in the lower east side where they live, and then we picked up Kristen went back to fairway and got some sandwiches and sat in the back on the water just enjoying the beautiful day. We headed back and got in touch with my mom who was coming into town from California decided to make spaghetti at home for her and my brother, made some delicious home made sauce! It was nice to have my mom and my brother over to the house and make a good homemade meal. Everyone headed out and Eric and I power walked to 132 Degraw (my old apartment with Cate and Kristen before I move in with Eric) since we had already missed Sopranos and wanted to at least catch Entourage. Afterwards headed home and powered through the sink full of dishes and barely made it to bed. It was quite a weekend let me tell you!

Tonight I am going to an alumni event for the culinary school that Eric just graduated from. And my whole week is almost already full! Just trying to make enough time to run for a few of the days, I really would like to get in good shape and when I run with other people I actually really do enjoy it.

'Cause it's Friday; you ain't got no job... and you ain't got shit to do.

So it’s been a pretty quiet week, nothing huge to report back to the home front. I did however realize I was skipping day after day of update and that is not good to do, slippery slope. The week was full but nothing huge:

Wednesday we had decided we were going check out the launch party of Missbehave magazine. Cate and I hit up red bamboo before hand which was nice since Mo was working, we got some fabulous vegan ice cream and vegan cheese cake as a very nice treat. I never really realize how much I don’t eat there very often anymore. I have kind of adopted this new way of wanting to eat and (by living with Eric) have actually unconsciously adapted my diet to the idea right now. The basic idea is to know what is in what you eat, to eat things that haven’t been processed beyond what they are intended to be, a sort of purist approach to food. I mean a little treat once in a while (like un-chick’n nuggets or some veggie sausage at brunch) is nice, but something that should be done in a little less than in moderation. I can really feel the effects of eating overly processed and overly fired food on my body (although I’ll never give up my French fry habit!). And I must say I am doing pretty well on avoiding the high fructose corn syrup…so continuing on form the PSA for eating stupid healthy food. Well, we ended up not going to the Missbehave Party, and not for a lack of trying. We stood in line for an hour, slowly making our way to the front with all the too cool for school American apparel looking (making me feel old at 25) NYU party kids. Then we just gave up. There were 10 million people in line and from what we had heard inside was very small, so we were basically standing in like to get into a room to be smashed into everyone we don’t know and more that likely I am going to guess it wouldn’t have been that fun. So Sara, Cate, and myself bid ‘adieu’ to the corner of 8th street and McDougal where we had wasted a good chunk of our lives waiting in a stupid line.

Thursday we had a meet and greet with the reps from Getty Images. It was good to actually see the person I talk to on the phone so much, and probably face to face be able apologize for the “actually, I needed to get the high res 15 minutes ago” panic in my voice at the end of closing. Eric came with me after taking the night off from his externship from Tocqueville and we sat down with Alex and her friend Laura in the perfect place to pounce on the servers with trays of food cut in to itty-bitty pieces. Lets see if you don’t have enough food for an event don’t cut it up smaller to last longer, that’s just insulting. After the event we went down to Chinatown and to this place I think it was called Joes… not sure. But it was RIGHT across the street from Vegetarian Dim Sum, it took everything I had not to tell my group that they could eat there and I would meet them after my scrumptious meal of veggie things. Oh I love that place to death. But I didn’t. I went to Joes and had some yummy bamboo shoots and mushrooms while everyone else sucked down duck and pork dumplings. We home early cause it was a school night! (As in work not really school)

Tonight I have some hot plans. Well they are relaxing and I get to spend sometime with Eric, which honestly is very rare. So in the three years I have lived in Carroll Gardens (west- yes that area just above red hook, just west of Carroll Gardens that just doesn’t really have a name but I think it was the best decision I could have made to call it home when I first came to NYC) I have never been to Grimaldi’s Pizza place. It always has a line stretching out the door and has a reputation that definitely precedes it. Eric and I have seen the lines while walking around or after visiting the Brooklyn Ice Cream Company under the Brooklyn Bridge, but I have never ever actually gone. So tonight that is my plan. To eat there, then either go home and enjoy the intellectual stylings of Jessica Simpson and Dane cook via Employee of the Month courtesy of Netflix. See now let me explain something, this is why I don’t have a open account and add friends to mine and Eric’s Netflix account, because I know you WILL make fun of my movie choices- so ashamed like I am I hide my secret addition to watch movies that peek my interest but not peek it $10.75 worth. See I admit it openly! Then we might try to make some plans to see Bob and Courtney, because it’s been a long time since we have all gotten together and they most defiantly are good company to keep.

Will do my best to bring out the camera some more, esp. since Saturday is supposed to be beautiful! I like taking pictures and having them with what I do even if it’s mundane, just been too busy to keep up on it.

Have a good weekend!

we have a new neighbor in the Gowanus

A whale swims in Brooklyn

sludgie!


This is crazy! Although it would be awesome to have a resident whale in the Gowanus with us, I can’t imagine its terribly healthy for him in there.

585 Crew

I had one of the best weekends ever! I felt like I was in college again around the best friends ever. It was seriously such a good feeling.

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR JASON WOZ



Friday: Nothing super special, went running with Christine and then Eric and I went to the spa in the neighborhood so he could get the message I had gotten him for Christmas. We then headed in to the city and had dinner at Supper. They have this amazing mozzarella dish that I had tried at Becky’s birthday and was dreaming about getting again. Came home exhausted and just crawled into bed.

Saturday: woke up, Eric got ready and went to Tocqueville for the day, I went running after walking Murphy and then spent the rest of the day watching lifetime movies and watching Lucas the movie, I haven’t seen it in forever! Saturday night Kristen and I met up with my friend Jason and his lady (I know I’ll spell it wrong) Shaula, who were in town to celebrate Jason’s birthday.



We all headed up to the Montrose stop off the L and that were the beginning of the best night in how ever long I can remember started. I saw people I haven’t seen in years! Jimmy and Erich came out from Rochester; I haven’t seen them in so long. Seriously it felt like a lot of the social sessions of senior year at RIT. AMAZING! I saw Brandon, whom I didn’t know lived here and I have to hang out with way more often. And Ray! And Ryan! And my favorite Nicole Killian whom I NEVER see. Even though Matt and Chewy have moved to Carroll Gardens (west) I never get a hang out so that was awesome as well. It was great; everyone was on a good vibe. I am so bummed that when I go out to Rochester that the boys that live there will be in Kentucky I’ll just have to make another trip out here ASAP.


We went to a party at a friend of Jason’s that he had gone to school with in Cleveland before transferring to RIT where I met him. This kid was insane and so was his apt. That’s bushwick for you. Seriously felt so good to be around kids that I can relate to. I haven’t been to an overly artsy kid party in way to long. I can’t tell which was more fun, the actual party or the subway ride home ...



Good people, good vibe, good catching up, and good night. Defiantly not going to help me not romanticize Rochester, sometimes I seriously want to go back but I have to remind myself that I was there during a certain time and it will probably be very different. Anyway I’ll be glad to go visit Adam and molly. So bedtime was 4 am, but I was so happy it didn’t really matter.

Sunday: After going to bed at 4 am both Eric and I slept in a bit. He had made reservations to go to the body exhibit at the South Street Seaport, and the tickets had already been purchased. So when we woke up and glanced upon the Nor’easter that had set its sights on NYC and was not willing to let go for anything, well lets just say we were less than excited to venture out in to the pelting rain and the gusting wind. And I didn’t have anything other than some falling apart (but I love them too much to throw away) Vans slip ons, let me give you a quick lesion in the smart shoes to wear in the rain to keep you dry and not on the verge of phenomena….these shoes are so not it. So we trekked it to the train and walked around (well I should say squished around in wet shoes) the exhibit, which was really cool. I couldn’t really think of them as being real people so I didn’t really get grossed out. The blood vessels room and the fetus rooms were probably the most interesting to me. Unfortunately no pictures allowed, and since every employee there had been so incredibly rude to us I wasn’t going to push my luck and try to pull out my camera.



So I gave in when we decided to head home. I had heard that the rain was going to continue for 3 days. We probably should have looked into building and arch to keep Noah's one comapny with the amount of rainfall, anyways back to the point... I couldn’t survive the next 3 days in slip ons! So we ventured into a couple stores in the South Street Seaport area and came across some Wellington boots. Let me just tell you about my preconception on these when I used to see girls wearing them on the train. I though that they were the dumbest fashion statement ever, almost as bad as uggs. But I have turned, I have seen the light, and my feet are still dry after wading through the seas of the Brooklyn streets. I like my boots now, they are utilitarian to me (and have a cute design) but I see them as for the rain not to say, “looks its shity outside but my feet are cute”. Nope all that matters to me is that my feet are dry!



Got home and got some lunch from Chickory (truffle mayo!) and relaxed. Met up with Cate and Kristen for dinner, Cate told us all about the week she’d spent out of town down south visiting her brother and his wife (well only he wife since Dan was out of town). Watched the Sopranos and Entourage and then went straight to bed.

Venti Half caf-mocha-lotta-chio frap please, don't forget the whiped cream.

All right, it’s finally happened. The after effects of working in a coffee house for 3 1/2 years during my college career are beginning to surface. There is a coffee shop that just opened up in the neighborhood, a sister store to the two original stores in park slope (because our neighborhood is confused and trying to be the new more expensive park slope so many identical stores and eateries are opening up). Anyways, back to the story. Well I have gone to tea lounge a few times with Kristen to catch up over some tea and relax. Well if you order a drink that requires frothed milk (or soy milk) or hot chocolate they “dust “ the stop of your drink with a stencil of a heart in cocoa. Well I have officially lost it because I want one of these cappuccino decorators. Who the hell needs one of these, apparently I do even though to be honest I can’t remember the last time I even made coffee. I don’t even drink coffee much at work past the 1/2 a Dixie cup of the office kitchen sludge I can choke down in the morning. I’ve become more of a tea person in my old age.

I am still tempted. That deranged Martha Stewart lurking below the surface in me need to add smiley faces and flowers to my caffeinated concoctions which I would be serving to all my guests (lets be honest my coffee parties would consist of Murphy….the dog). Maybe its the girly side of me that wants to get a squiggly at the sight of a heart on my home made chocolate drink which I attempted to make once and it didn’t taste like it did at the trade show probably because I refused to use cream in argument of my arterial health. More than likely I have lost my mind and if this is any indication of where I am going with my mental health I fear for what I might put my future children through.

Garbage

Part of my job is to work with the weekly News updates on the website. This was the story we put up the other day…it about a company that takes your leftovers and uses them to fertilize growing vineyards, the guy from the company called me this morning with huge enthusiasm that he wants to send through as more pictures of the leftovers on the vines for me. Hey whatever works, I just thought it was an interesting concept to share.

Norcal uses the discarded trimmings and processes them into organic fertilizer that's designed to help grapevines grow stronger roots and develop greater disease resistance. The compost de cuisine is then shipped to more than 100 vineyards in Northern California. According to Norcal, in the last four months of 2006, participating vineyards ordered more than 450 truckloads--or 16,000 cubic yards--of compost made with food scraps collected from more than 2,000 San Francisco and Oakland restaurants and private homes that provide 330 tons of the dinner leftovers every day. Of course, the next time the sommelier tells you the wine has meaty flavors and aromas, it's not because some guy couldn't finish his steak. But don't feel bad about not finishing yours--it's going to greener pastures. (Excerpt by Eric Arnold/winespectator.com)

Fox train to Brooklyn

On my in this morning I was thinking I didn’t have much to write about and I was disappointed since I have been doing very well at keeping up posts. I had a pretty good night nothing out of the ordinary; came home, walked dog, moved car, met dad for dinner (it was his birthday), met David after dinner (to go out for his birthday), and went to bed too late. Nothing of note to talk about really.

But then this morning on the F train in we stopped at Jay Street where the A and C trains comes across the platform. And I was reading my book and all of a sudden the conductor to the subway train comes over the loud speaker “Waiting for a connection! Waiting for a connection, A train coming on Center platform”. And I though to myself no one does that, first of all they usually just sit there with the doors wide open you know just hanging out for no good reason, possibly with in the 10 – 15 minutes you are sitting there some vague descriptions of “congestion ahead” or “ momentarily being held in the station” might come across the scratchy system while you sit there wonder what the hell is actually happening. And the trains certainly never wait for each other, it is almost soul crushing when you are on the train and you pull into your stop and you see that the transfer train you need is right there and you can get on and continue on your way with out having to sit in the station waiting. This is an amazing fleeting feeling of hope that the train is RIGHT THERE! So you stand against the doors getting ready to propel your self forward from your train to the one you need, then the conductor keeps your trains doors shut just long enough for that train you need to close its doors and leave the station. Thanks buddy. Or the best is when you get off of you train and within the seconds it takes you to cross the 30 foot platform the transfer trains doors close in your face and it starts its way out of the station without you. Usually this happens too frequently during the late night service when the trains come once every millennium to take you home (read: its probably really more like once and hour, but it sure feels like a lifetime when all you can think about is getting home and crawling in to bed to go to sleep).

But not the guy who I had this morning, he takes his job seriously (possibly a little too seriously). It made me realize how you tune out the daily mundane announcements on the trains but when you have someone who takes the time to make it personal or something that they seem to genuinely enjoy it really does help to start the day right. Sometimes I get a conductor who will wish that we all have a good day, or that we stay warm in the cold weather, and there is the one guy who when you are up near the 40’s will give you a little bit of trivia for each station you come to. Then there is my favorite guy, in the 3 years I have lived here I have only gotten on his train two times. One time was when I was interning here at PDN magazine during the summer of my junior to senior year of college and Cate came to visit. He closes the door (and I promise you my description will not do it justice because it definitely needs to have an audible example given) and he comes on the loud speaker and says each time” FOX TRAIN TO BROOKLYN__west 4th stop___ Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeext”. It’s truly amazing.

Happy Birthday David Schmidt

what a weekend

What a weekend. Sorry, I had meant to update yesterday (Monday) but I was a little too busy to be able to get to it. It’s been insane since we have been two people short, but there are interviews and such in the making, which makes me very happy to have more people around since the workload has been nothing less than hectic.

Friday- Steve (my brother) came over late Thursday night so that we would all be in the same place Friday morning since I wanted to leave pretty early to beat the traffic and get a good day of errands done in Albany. So we all got up around 6:30 and pulled everything together, walked the dog, went to 3rd avenue in Brooklyn and picked up our hot little red Jeep Liberty rental to get us all the way upstate. By the way, even though it was a little light on the pick up and get go when you hit the gas, I really like the jeep liberty. I do have to think about the fact that the pick up is probably fine its just that I have become used to driving my gas guzzling v8 for so many years I cant quite grasp what I might feel like to drive something that isn’t reminiscent of a Monster Truck. The Liberty was really great on gas and a really nice car. If I am ever in need of a car somewhere in life this could definitely be a consideration.


Steve and Murphy dogs on the way home!

We got to Albany at about 11 am and went to Target and the Christmas tree shop to get some odds and ends we needed for the apartment and of course we needed some Easter Decorations. Ah I just realized that I forgot to take a picture of the cheese lawn ornament we got for my mom for $7.00. See, my mom actually despises that huge blow up lawn ornaments that have become popular in the past year or so during Christmas time, you know the type with the 9 foot blow up snow globe with the blow up Santa inside and the loud obnoxious motor that is spitting up fake snow inside of it. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it! They have become a staple on the stoops in the neighborhood and I guess upstate as well. So Eric and I did our best to find a cheap imitation one for Easter. Only wish I had taken a picture, she loved the gesture but hated the 4-foot tall light up bunny rabbit adorning our front door step.

Then we went to dinner at Ta-Ke restaurant near Albany. There is back-story to this as well. Eric and I were watching the Food network channel a while back and the were having a network challenge for teppanyaki (a type of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word "teppanyaki" is derived from teppan, which means iron plate, and yaki , which means grilled. In North America, it is also known by the name of hibachi.) You know the chef performs a small show for the customers. The show can range from juggling utensils, flipping a shrimp into his shirt pocket, tossing an egg up in the air and splitting it with his knife to a flaming onion volcano. Well, we decided that it would be awesome to go out and check out the skills of our local places in NYC, I mean come on this is New York you gotta be good to make it here! So we did some research and came up with the famous Benihana which made the Americanized style of the traditional Japanese style very popular in 1964. So we go into to this time warp of pictures on the wall of super celebrities from 1980 and the food as well as the experience was awful, and expensive to boot! Our "chef" Jimmy was terrible and I think I added 1/2 a can of sesame seeds just to make my noodles somewhat appetizing.


So I had to show Eric what I had grown up with in Albany as Hibachi, Eric was skeptical but definitely enjoyed our 2nd teppanyaki experience.



mmm noodles!



We even joked about it loudly that it was Eric’s birthday (which it was not) so that the waitress would pick up on it and do their usual birthday celebrations, which involve a gong and the entire restaurant singing happy birthday to you while a waitress grabs your arms and makes you waive around in the air like an idiot. It as hilarious to say the least!


Eric’s “Birthday” dessert

We went home and then met a few of my friends from high school out and had a nice evening catching up.


Saturday: Went to one of the best hole-in-the-wall diners, the Window Box. We always get my neighbor Mary Leigh as our waitress; we have lived next to her since I was 8 (17 years!). I remember going over and playing Barbie’s with her daughter and hide and go seek with them and the Montisanos and the other kids in the neighborhood.



More errands and spring-cleaning and we went to my favorite place in the whole world. I practically grew up here especially when I hung out down town for shows and such…Bombers! I am pretty sure I have eaten over a million of their burritos and not matter what the slight changes they go through with different staff and slightly different food techniques I think it is more the romantic and reminiscent experience of eating there for me more so than it is the food, even though the food is usually good-better when bob worked there but that was years ago. I remember meeting Matty there once when we were first getting to know each other and eating before going to see MPB play at Valentines. Oh how i miss Valentines and hanging out at shows...some really great memories.





Eric got a “Red Stripe” Burrito, some sort of play on a Jamaican pork sandwich. Get it "Red-Stripe" eh-eh ! ha.



I got my usual veggie burrito, no salsa, no tomatoes; little bit of BBQ sauce...it’s been the same order for almost 10 years. Its not that I don't like tomatoes, i just learned that they add a fair amount of liquid to the Burrito making it an extremely messy experience. Plus I think it tastes better with out them. To give you an idea of the size of these thing this particular burrito is probably 2/3 of the way in my belly!

Sunday: Was quiet, Eric made a great Easter lunch then we rounded up the troops and headed out (again early to miss traffic). Made good time and didn’t get caught up in the usual holiday gridlock in and out of the city.



GW on the way back in to NYC to take Steve home then on to BK

When we got back we unpacked and then got into watching one of our Netflix picks, Fast Food Nation.



If anything it definitely firmed up my vegetarian beliefs. I haven’t eaten meat since I was 13, and to be honest I was really young to understand why I went vegetarian so I never really have much of an answer to people asking me why I went, it just never felt right to eat that stuff. Much like it doesn’t make sense to most people to eat paper it never made sense for me to eat meat (I don’t know if that is a good analogy, they have never really been my forte, but I try). Even though this is strictly put to the tune of fast food restaurants I didn’t really feel that there was much of a difference between what could potentially be in any meat. Yuck. Hey it’s for others to enjoy not for me.

Afterwards we snuck over to 132 (my old apt) and watched the Sopranos and Entourage (eric and i don't have HBO). They both were entertaining but nothing gripping. Went home and right to bed. It was nice to be out of the city; although sometimes I think I need vacations from my vacation!

Happy Easter weekend

I know its no life-size chocolate jesus but here are easter wishes, so looking forward to going upstate and getting out of the city this weekend!
Happy Easter!

Happy Spring Babes!!

I got flowers are work because its spring! Even though i think eric may have jumped the gun a little bit since weather.com says to expect snow friday and we'll be upstate in Albany so we can assume it will be that much colder. Even so he is just so sweet all the time!

Spring Clean

Tonight was very leisurely. Got some sushi from Cube 63 for dinner after I went running with Christine. We went up to the Promenade and then back, we are both getting better although I don’t know how I can feel old at 25, but I do since my knee is bothering me more and more every time we go out running. I made an early morning trip on my way into work to the Duane Reade and got a brace, hopefully that will help.

We spent the rest of the evening going through closets and old cloths and throwing things away that we didn’t need. It was nice to get organized especially since we are going upstate this weekend (with about 90 pounds of laundry) and it will be nice to come home to a place that is better organized and clean.

I am very much looking forward to getting out of the City for a few days, it will be nice to see my mom and do what feels like “regular people things” such as taking 1/2 hour trip to Target or the mall without having to make it an all day event with intricate train transfers and figuring out what you can and can't buy depending on what you can and can't carry back on the subway with you. Plus I am missing my mom a bit.

I have been reading this book called “The History of Love,” the way it was written doesn’t lend itself well to be an easy read but I find as I continue to the end it all slowly falls into place as much as it can. One of the main ideas in this book is that you meet someone and you fall in love with them for the rest of your life. The characters meet other people here and there and have other relationships and marriages but they never really move from loving that original person, I think it’s a brilliant as well as a very sad concept. I would hope that there is more than that one person out there and you have the ability for a second chance at love. If not I think we are all going to have a pretty miserable existence depending on the mistakes we all have made while growing up and what may have been the right and/or wrong decisions with the people we had young relationships with.

And with all of that heavy stuff said there is nothing that can be done but moving on with life and finding what you want and what is best for you, I constantly wonder is the city hinders this ability with its sensory overload everyday to the point that you are lucky to remember your own name and what train it is to take to your too small apartment. We’ll all keep going I suppose, until we feel like we figured it out again and do our best not to screw it up this time around.

This is what I am going to tomorrow. You should come and check it out.

yikes!

BrianVan on Flickr

I forgot to mention that we walked by a huge amount of ambulances and fire trucks on the way to bowery for Becky’s birthday party. We finally figured out why 1/2 of Houston Street was closed off when we walked by a building that had partially collapsed. Honestly with this and the building in Harlem collapsing last week, and hearing about others collapsing since have lived in New York City for the past 3 years makes me seriously nervous at the structural stability of all the buildings in NYC. At least I don’t live in an apartment that has a floor that was at almost a 45-degree angle from the kitchen into the center of the room anymore. Scary stuff.

http://www.gothamist.com/2007/04/01/and_to_collapse.php

I love you in the morning...

I came into work to actually get caught up from the horrific day I had last Friday, but this seems like a much better idea. It was a pretty busy weekend.

Friday- had a very busy day at work since a lot of people were out sick so a lot of my work got pushed aside to deal with more pressing matters and by 5 pm when I had some time to pay attention to my research I was so mentally done I just decided to let it go to today. Left work and went back to Brooklyn, while unlocking my door I turned around to see my friend Matt walking past my house. He moved into the neighborhood over the weekend with his girlfriend, it just goes to show how awesome the neighborhoods are since more and more of my friends are moving close by.

Eric and I got ready and jumped on the A train to 175th street (yes Harlem) to this amazing church (I am totally guessing it has to be some kind of gospel place they way it was set up, that or a Evangelical place, but that doesn’t really fit to be in Harlem). Block party was great even though I think we were in the last row in the place but we were able to see. We missed the 1st band since it took an hour to get up to the venue and didn’t pay too much attention to the 2nd but were silly and danced in our aisle during block party. The nice part was the demographic was pretty similar to our age group, unlike when we went to see Death Cab last year and it was us and 9 million 14 years olds. That was depressing. Just headed home and ate some nachos and went to bed ( I may or may not have fallen asleep on the train on the way home, luckily I had Eric who was battling to stay awake so we wouldn’t miss our stop).


Saturday- I woke up nice and early and met Kristen. We headed into Park Slope to go have Brunch at 2nd Street Café since Eric was there instead of at Tocqueville covering a shift. On our way we were apart of the local little league parade(see picture) and Kristen broke out the artistic nature on the table, which could have contributed to the cute manager at the place picking up the tab (or the fact that the cute manager happens to be my “room mate”), We stopped by the book store and walked around a bit, We went back to my old apt and fell asleep watching True Hollywood story: Brittney and Kevin! (you can tell how intellectually stimulating it had to be for us both to be passed out within 10 minutes of it). Met up with Cate at the nail place and got to listen to this crazy woman who was trying to bring her dog into the salon (big health no no!) so she ties it to the door (so sad!) then all you hear is her screaming while they waxed parts of her I am sure I would never like to know about.

We met up later and headed out to a restaurant called Supper on 2nd street between A & B for a really tasty birthday dinner for Becky then off to R bar on Bowery for birthday partying. Went home pretty early since I knew I had plans early Sunday morning.

Sunday- Laid in bed for a good hour trying to get out of getting up at 9 30 am and meeting Christine to go running. Finally told myself to stop being lazy and get up to meet he. So in the rain we went running, we’ve been doing 2.5 miles so far since we are both just starting out but I think when we go again today we will try to push that a little further since I feel like we are getting more comfortable and should push further. Christine says she is training for the marathon, I said I will say that to myself for motivation but will probably not being doing those 26 miles come November. I have however agreed to do the Freihofer's Run for Women with Becky in June (its only about 3 miles) and have given a tentative yes to Cate to do the half marathon in October (we will just see if I can handle 16 miles in one stint by then). I don’t mid running, I actually really like doing it outside, so hopefully I will stick with it. I have never been the best with the workouts but I would always like to try to find my niche and enjoy it. Like jump roping at my gym, I liked that just never found the time to be home for it when the classes started. Other than that had a quiet Sunday, I got home and Eric got up. We made French toast and veggie sausages for breakfast and then went into the city to Best Buy because Eric is looking at a new computer (I keep trying to get him to get a new I-MAC but he wont convert from a PC), and looked at some cameras (I think he’s jealous of my new one and wants one for himself). Came home and made some dinner and tried watching Tallendega Nights but I fell asleep with 20 minutes to the end. Went to be bed at 10 pm.

Today is spring-cleaning for the apt. It will be nice to get some thing organized and put away.