30 Sep 06

Time:

?

Money:

$0, because I don't hit the ATM again until tomorrow morning.

More interesting things:

Took the train downtown so I could go to the gym, and watched a lady interact with a little boy in his stroller. The boy dropped his toy, a plastic Transformer-ish figure with appendages that looked kind of like crab claws. The lady picked it up, figured out how to work the claws, and gently moved toward the kid, doing the claws as she got closer. The boy would pull his hand back and laugh, and they'd start again. The thing is, the mother was sitting behind the stroller watching - this was just a random, mom-like lady who finished the exchange by handing the toy back to the kid and saying, "Here, Papi."

Changed from Erin Brockovich to CNN for a minute while I was on the treadmill so I could hear a segment about the first female Thunderbird pilot. The piece was great - the major seemed very cool, obviously loved her place as a role model, the whole thing - and then they get back to the studio and start making all these comments about how she's so SWEET! Now, don't get me wrong - she was clearly a very nice, friendly person. But would they go out of their way to call a pleasant male Thunderbird "sweet," for chrissakes? I think not. Retch. (And not that this has much to do with daily life in New York. But, then again, if I'd had perfect eyesight I might have been trying for her position right about now instead of doing what I'm doing.)

Sat across the train from another mom. This one sat with her two girls, a young-ish teenager and maybe a fifth-grader, holding art supplies and a Borders bag. The girls were coloring in these nifty Crayola things with black pages and a marker that turned the pages from black to multi-colored, drawing happy little landscapes - rolling hills and a sunrise, not exactly local stuff - and name placards for their room. Fifth-Grader asked Mom for a mint, got one, and said, "Thank you, mother DEARest," in the same way I might even now - and, come to think of it, she had on glasses and a ponytail, too. Then Teenager put her coloring away and rested her head on Mom's shoulder, while Fifth-Grader asked about Daddy. Certainly, I have no real idea of what their lives are like, but I got a tiny peek today, and it was enough to make a good reminder that it's pretty dumb to assume things about families just because they get off somewhere north of 96th Street.

Listened, for just two seconds as I rushed out of my station, to the 68th Street cellist from yesterday.

Hopped off the train and headed toward the stairs, passing a lady with a big closed-up cardboard box marked... North Shore Animal League. I worried for a second that maybe the cat was going BACK there, but then I realized she was on the uptown side, and that's the wrong direction if you need the LIRR, so Tiger returns.

Passed the significantly fancier vegetable market on the east side of the avenue on my way home. First of all, there are pumpkins, which is excellent, but there were also bunches of asparagus, gathered together by lavender rubber bands and lined up standing on their root ends (does asparagus come from roots?) All in a row, they looked like a short green picket fence, chest height on the produce rack.

Heard, for the second time in two days, someone shrieking "Taxi! TAXI! TAAXXXXIIII!" without even bothering to get a little bit in the street. If I were a cabbie, I would ignore these people just because they're annoying, and how effective is it to yell for someone whose windows, in many cases, are closed anyway? Lucky for this lady today, I guess, the one that happened to be going by at the moment heard her and pulled over, but come on now. Let's do this like people who didn't learn about it from reading a description in a book.

29 Sep 06

Time:

?

Money:

$5, the biggest cup of coffee - well, Banana Coconut Frappucino - I could get my hands on at the campus Starbucks.
$12, sandwich, pineapple, and Pepsi, Space Market (all of which finally got rid of the caffeine headache the Frappucino couldn't quite handle.)
$10, a great grilled cheese and some really good tomato soup, Say Cheese.
$11, Woodpecker cider and a Mountain Dew for Saturday morning (I mean, the soda, not the cider), the cool market north of my house.

More interesting things:

Discovered that the orange flyers marked "Sopranos" at the top that I had seen posted on light poles near my apartment throughout the week were not, in fact, an elaborate prank. Two movie trailers were on the avenue, maybe 500 feet from my door, waiting to shoot a street scene. I asked one of the guys standing around if James Gandolfini was coming. Nope. How about Uncle June? Nope. Okay, anyone? Yes - AJ. At that, even though AJ is FAR from my favorite character and is definitely not my favorite actor, I told the guy that it might be worth cutting school to wait around and see what would go on. I didn't give away that I was just kidding, so I got a response that I loved: "Nooo, no, no... go to school! School is much more important than this stuff."

Told a homeless guy I didn't have change as I walked from the market on Broadway (having bought some milk for the coffee we wouldn't get to make at school) to Greene. He was so polite in his response - "Okay, ma'am, thank you though, and have a great day," - that I wondered how often people actually talk to him as opposed to how often he just gets stepped over. (And not that I haven't done my fair share of ignoring these guys; sometimes it seems like that's not just the easiest but the safest thing. But even so...)

Had a class breakfast that was tasty AND hilarious. Professor Number Four announced that it was time for Waffles Round Two to begin, and that if we wanted one he would put it in the toaster for us. My first response, of course, was to crack up; my second was to tell him that although I didn't particularly feel like a waffle, I thought I might ask him to put one in for me just for the experience of having my professor fix my breakfast. This got a goofy smile, a wagging finger, and an "uh-HUH" of the sort that I come up with when I appreciate someone else's smart-ass comments.

Admired once again Professor Number Five's ability with the one-liners. This time, to get our attention back after some kind of work-related conversation or other, she interrupted by announcing, "Quiet, people, and listen to me... I'm a full professor."

Ambled past Lincoln Center on the way to the bus and was struck once again with a happy disbelief that I actually live here. It reminded me of a discussion I had with someone the other day. We agreed that, for some people, it would be very easy to get kind of down on the decision to up and move here, especially if the activity that gave purpose to that decision (starting school, in my case) ever seemed anything less than ideal. I haven't had to worry about even that, thankfully, but I can see where if I did, I wouldn't have to be concerned about any negativity seeping over to my outlook on city life; I was inoculated against that between 1980 and 1987, and I don't think the vaccine expires.

Rode the crosstown back home after waiting with a crowd, that, as usual, sort of packed in close to the bus as the door opened. I never really pay attention to whether people get on before or after me; I figure we'll all probably get on and I don't particularly care whether I get a seat or not, so it doesn't matter. I let an older couple board in front of me, and went to let a middle-aged lady do the same - but she stepped back, smiled, and said, "No, you go, I know you were here before me." That would be yet another addition to the New Yorkers ARE Polite Campaign, in case you were wondering.

Listened to a very energetic cellist somewhere under Hunter College. He was across the tracks, but it was loud (and lovely) enough that I paid more attention to him than the proliferation of gray signs there, and that's saying something.

Walked back from the restaurant with Ben and passed a grocery store, where I realized that thanks to the wicked low ceilings on city not-that-supermarkets, they probably don't have to worry too much about birds. At Publix it's practically a regular feature: The Daily Bird, flittering around a little disconcertedly, because what with the cavernous feel, it's easy to confuse the wild blue yonder with, say, the dairy aisle.

Identified, on the way home, a tall-but-still-Samoyed-looking dog as, in fact, a Samoyed; his person said most people didn't know that and then stood back as the pup in question shoved his head under my hand before trying repeatedly to leap into my arms. He was so cute, and so friendly, that I would have been happy to catch him and just keep walking.

More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Gone to Lincoln Center. It is definitely expensive (although I'm sure there are cheap ways to do it, if you take the time to figure it out), but I can afford tickets more easily than I can afford missing something like that for however long I'm here.

28 Sep 06

Time:

Actually started lifting (back day - after trying to hunt down the title of the mumbly "all right" song) 1127, left weight room 1201.

Caught local at Astor Pl 2004, switched to express, arrived home station 2017.

Money:

$1, Pepsi from the gym.
$not very much, chow for class tomorrow.
$13, "Fajita Pita" from Caliente Cab Co. (It was pretty darn good.)
$10, cinnamon PB sandwich and PB cookie, Peanut Butter and Co. (Of course.)

More interesting things:

Added one more message to my New Yorkers ARE Polite Campaign when a middle-aged guy in a suit dashed through the door at Trader Joe's and nearly gave himself whiplash trying to make sure that I didn't need him to hold it for me too.

Spotted - since I did not, in fact, need to go through the Trader Joe's door at that particular moment - a very tall leprechaun. He didn't have red hair, and if there was a pot of gold involved I didn't see it, but: he wore a vivid pinstriped suit (and that's impressive, since it was just black with white stripes), brown velvety-looking shoes, a BRIGHT green-and-purple striped shirt, a kelly green tie, and... a green fedora. You just do not see enough green fedoras these days.

Wished good luck to an ambulance that blew past me as I waited outside the store, and, on a happier note, realized that I probably knew where it was going. (To Beth Israel down the street. And I'm sure that's very good. But it was just kind of cool to realize my grasp of this town's geography is starting to get a little firmer.)

Perused the salt options at Trader Joe's, which were extensive - there were kosher, black, AND red (but, curiously enough, no gray, and that's the one "colored" salt I'm a little familiar with.) This was fairly interesting by itself, but Anne and I examined the black salt more closely and noted - out loud, which is important - that it had charcoal in it. I announced, just for GP, that it would be good to eat some if you had too much to drink, and a young woman behind us first agreed and then expounded on the topic, adding that it was good for any toxin, because your body doesn't process it. So I made a comment about fish tank filters, the charcoal-lecturer concurred and walked away, and Anne - with the best comment of all - finished the whole thing off by quietly intoning, "Only in New York." True story.

Stood by, highly amused and half-engaged in a conversation with Professor Number Four, as Anne threaded her way into his office and began sorting our chow supply into cold and not-cold. He was a little confused, so we took advantage of that to poke fun at him (gently, and he was enjoying the whole thing, to judge by the way he kept it up with us). When Anne's vitamin C jar appeared on his table, he asked if she was getting sick, she told him it was just preventative, and then Professor Number Four went to his desk drawer and pulled out his very own supply. He offered one to Anne, which (after asking whether they were really chewable and having Number Four underline the word with his finger) she took, and then to me, whereupon I sort of stepped back and shook my head. But Anne convinced me that they tasted fine, and he shook one into my hand as well before taking one himself. So: this was a long story about educators' attempts to prevent colds, but well worth recording; I can't say I've ever eaten a faculty-endorsed and -provided vitamin before, and who knows if it'll ever happen again?

Stored the cold chow not in the refrigerator at first - it was occupied by going-away party supplies - but, at her enthusiastic and very carefully considered suggestion, on top of Professor Number One's air conditioner. She was quite invested in helping us out, and even left the door unlocked so we could get back in when we could move them to the fridge. Very... well, cool.

Visited Professor Alpha, since we were waiting for Jenn on that floor. He invited us in, telling us to "Take a seat! Well, first get my shit out of the way." So we chatted for just a minute before the third amigo arrived, but it was long enough to find out that Professors Alpha AND Bravo "need [my] help" next week. I'm definitely looking forward to this event, but I'd bet that, because I am a tremendous nerd, my hands will be a little sweaty right about 1000 on Thursday. Okay, but I'm still looking forward to this event. (I wanted to mention that last because it really, really outweighs anything else... I wonder what I'm going to do? What THEY'RE going to do?)

Stood with the two amigos in the always fascinating campus Starbucks line. Jenn ordered an iced chai, which I said I'd never tried, and the Line Commander jumped in with, "Oh, it's really good! It's the only kind of chai I'll drink!" Since I have a strong tendency to barge into other people's conversations myself, I always appreciate a chance to be on the receiving end of the barging. It goes along with that Big and Definitely Un-Lonely Apple thing I was talking about a few days ago.

Walked to the train from the peanut butter store, and got the first good look at the (bright, crescent-y, three-dimensional) moon that I can recall having since I've been here.

27 Sep 06

Time:

Started lifting (chest day) 1040, finished 1126.

Left locker for shower 1234, back at locker ready to leave 1258.

(And I know how fascinating this is for those of you who are not directly invested in the timing of my gym visits... of course, that would be everyone but me.)

Money:

$12, Mountain Dew, fruit salad, and Caprese salad sandwich, Space Market.
$4, pre-class caramel macchiato, Broadway Starbucks.
$6, eight chicken-and-mushroom dumplings (they were good) and soda, Vanessa's Dumplings.
$1, peach to chop up for my breakfast tomorrow, Annie's.

More interesting things:

Incline-pressed next to a girl wearing precisely the same sneakers as I had on - they were even from the same, like, season (the electric blue season, I guess.) She had noticed it too.

Smith-benched next to a guy wearing a Gator shirt of the variety that usually indicates the wearer actually went there rather than rooted for us on TV: it said Alltel on the back, which, along with blood donor, Gallop, and Greek shirts means you probably did something in Gainesville to get it. He was very nice, and told me he got a marketing degree there in 2005 and was now in dental school (!). Forget transitional schools, forget genre identification... I'm distributing a census and counting alligators.

Waltzed inattentively across... Fourth Avenue I think it was, and very nearly tripped on a big fluffy husky. This is still an improvement over the situation with my own huskies; they're so spaz-tastic and skittery that I tend to trip on them even when I'm watching where I'm going.

Parked once again on the bottom floor of Pless. Well, to be more exact, I started off at one of the tables, so I could eat and read all at once, and that was nice, but I grabbed a leather chair when I was done. But anyway - since seating choices were not my point here - I watched as an older man and a lady who seemed to be his wife sort of trailed to a halt outside the building. I figured he was an alumnus by the lavender Oxford he wore, the purple sweatshirt he had tied around his waist, and the bookstore bag he swung at his side, and just a minute later I found out I was right. They came into the building and obviously explained to that nice guard who they were and what they needed, because he very loudly responded, "For alumni? Sure!" and pointed them in the direction of the restroom. So a) I love getting to see nostalgic old boys, even if they're not dressed in pylon orange and b) it's good to know that $28,000 a year at least gets you permanent bathroom privileges.

Found out that Professor Number Two knows CEDRIC! I mean, I guess I'm not surprised - in fact, I'm definitely not; it just hadn't entered my head. But maybe even better was the story he told about telling the Cedric story... to a class Cedric himself was in. Yikes.

26 Sep 06

Time:

?

Money:

$42, a non-purple (and largely nondescript, for that matter) school sweatshirt, but a) it does look pretty cool, I think, and b) I was FREEZING.
$5, Pepsi, yogurt, and fruit salad from... oh, I actually think I know the name: Epicurean Market, near school.
$8, the good-but-oniony salad I like so much, although it had some mild self-consciousness repercussions later.
$4, a big ol' mocha from campus Starbucks.
$13, an excellent gyro platter from... well, it starts with a "k," I'm pretty sure.

More interesting things:

Gave rather more thought than perhaps was strictly necessary in my most recent sweatshirt-purchasing decision. And I still really like the other black one with the REALLY bright purple letters on the front, the school name running down the arm, and "31" at the top of the hood. (I'm going into such detail so I remember which one it is I want next time I need to buy a largely superfluous garment.)

Watched from a comfortable chair in the Pless lounge as one of my classmates from the writing course drifted by the window and waved - and then turned around, planted herself directly in front of me, violently slapped one of our textbooks against the window, and drew her finger across her throat decapitation-style. First I had to control my laughter; then I gestured at my own copy of the book (though she probably didn't know that's what I was doing, since it was still in my bag... duh) and nodded furiously. It's good to know harassed graduate students will always find a way to express themselves, even if it's in sign language.

Watched some more from my chair in Pless, this time as a girl who looked like one of my best students from last year - Cassandra - breezed down WSq East. This was more uplifting than the time I thought I saw Jessica walking across Norman Field, because the chances of someone like Cassandra making it to a place like this are (unfortunately) much greater than the chances of someone like Jessica making it to a place like Florida, but it still made me feel weird. At the very least I wanted a chance to talk with both those kids, and Chris and Sam to tell them I always think of them when they play "Lean Wit It" at the gym, and Myia and Jonathan when I want to say "I don't caaaaare," and Damilia when I see someone with a slick hairdo, and....

Watched yet again as a girl in one of those REALLY bright orange-and-blue sweatshirts paraded down after the Cassandra look-alike. It made me wonder how many of us are here, and whether anyone down there knows (or cares) that in a fair number of people Gatorness has morphed into (or at least must co-exist with) Violetness... okay, Bobcatness. (But still: you're turning Violet, Albert!)

Talked with Professor Alpha (having finally left my chair) for a few minutes about Professor Bravo's plans for me. I do always enjoy talking to him, but next Tuesday - since that's when I have an actual REASON to lurk on his floor - I will NOT eat onions at lunch.

25 Sep 06

Time:

Left 0901, leaving gym 1132 (I think that was with an hour of running.)

Money:

$3.25, pet food (just a Zone bar with my Pepsi this time, even though I really do like that strawberry-peanut one).
$4, chai latte at Think, which is the most study-friendly coffeehouse we've been to yet, although it was kinda loud in our particular corner.

More interesting things:

Saw a bearded collie (or a bearded collie-ish mix) trotting first ahead of, then just behind, then right alongside his person. He knew where he was going at least as well as she did.

Finished almost all of my written work for the week. (And this would be yet another admittedly boring ploy to lengthen an otherwise puny entry....)

24 Sep 06

Time:

Less than I thought it would take to accomplish the things I needed to do!

Money:

$76, new Metrocard [didn't come from weekly budget]
$0, because I'm trying to leave my weekly budget alone until Tuesday if I can.

More interesting things:

Caught the bus near my train station to go across town. I was waiting pretty close to the back of the crowd, but a workmanlike-looking kind of guy stepped back and gestured for me to get on first. Seriously, I will never as long as I live understand the claims about rudeness in this town.

Sat, once I had actually gotten on the bus, behind a lady reading a sheaf of emails she was resting on top of her bag. Now, normally I do not make a giraffe neck in an attempt to read over the shoulders of those around me, but in this case I simply could not help it: from what I could gather, this lady worked for a company with the sole purpose, judging by its name (which I will not repeat here), of going around to (presumably) rich people's houses and ORGANIZING. Like, there was a comment about one of the kids - whose name was one of those preppy shortened surnames - having a ROOM for his STUFFED ANIMALS. This room, furthermore, was located at the house "up in" some area that was not Manhattan... he has a captain's bed here, not that I'm sure what that implies for the organizing lady.

Learned, from a hand-lettered posterboard sign in its front window, that Harriet's on the UWS "may well have the best effing burger in town." H yeah, Harriet.

Passed a pub called the Dead Poet. Clearly I will have to visit.

Also passed a guy wearing a Gator basketball championship shirt - and he wasn't even at the Gin Mill. (Well, he was pretty close. But he was on the sidewalk and I don't even think that's where he was headed, so it definitely counts for my list of Gator sightings.)

Visited Zabar's for lox and bagels (duh.) First of all, belly lox is unbelievably good - nice and salty without being too much. (Of course, it would take a lot of salt before I would say it was too much.) But I didn't find that out until I got to Anne's. The purpose of me mentioning Zabar's already is that as I waited for my lox, this lady behind me was collecting pre-made sandwiches, and as she moved purposefully past the counter, she held one of them up and asked the deli guy (although it seemed like a question for the general assembly) whether it was okay to bring the food on the plane. I really, really love that: the New Yorker who cannot possibly bear the concept of facing the inferior cuisines of inferior locales and so steadies herself (and her kids, I think) with nice items from the "appetizing counter" (not that I have come to understand why it's called that.) I can see a day in the not-too-distant future where I will be inclined to do the same thing; in fact, as I told Anne yesterday, I think I'm already there.

Enjoyed a salty meat sample - prosciutto - as I awaited my salty fish packet. I can definitely get with a store that gives prosciutto, even one slice, away for free.

Decided to take the crosstown bus about twenty blocks south of the one I usually grab. It had the immeasurable advantage of speeding past not the Central Park Police Precinct (important and appreciated in its own way, of course) but the Delacorte Clock, with all the wrought-iron animals.

Waited for the train near Hunter College and decided that the gray-and-white signs ostensibly detailing nearby institutions of public interest but which in fact usually tell about hospitals are a little ominous or something. I mean, it's not like Sloan-Kettering, the Hospital for Special Surgery, or the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital are places you end up after, like, a ride in a screaming ambulance - for the most part I think you pretty much have a while to accept it if one of those is a place where you need to go. And furthermore, it's not as if when you're in need ANY hospital seems ominous in the least... if my arm fell off, say, there wouldn't be anything I'd rather see than a hospital. AND the signs DO mention stuff like YMCAs and all that. But still. They weird me out a little, even if it is in a way that makes me want to keep looking at them. And 68th Street has the biggest collection I've seen yet.

Walked past a wine store on my way home. The doors were open, the signs for an evening tasting were inviting... and a Labrador Retriever took them up on it. He stood quietly next to his person, waiting for the decision of Cabernet or Pinot Noir, I guess. We do have some cultured dogs in this town, that cannot be argued.

23 Sep 06

Time:

Four-page response to a textbook, about four hours with time for eating, drinking, complaining, and mail-checking, so that's pretty good.

Money:

$1.50, diet Pepsi from yet another market (this one - north of my street, first one on the left - is quite cool.)
$87, groceries because I was even out of peanut butter.

More interesting things:

Listened to the end of the Kentucky-slapping. Excellent. It was particularly cool because on Yahoo you can listen to it from either school's perspective, so of course I got Mick Hubert and a better-than-network chance to hear what was going on in the actual stadium... I do love the Swamp.

Did schoolwork the rest of the day. It's not that interesting (to write about, I mean; it is pretty interesting to actually do), but this seems like an awfully curt entry so I thought I'd go ahead and stick that up there too.

22 Sep 06

Time:

?

Money:

$6, "New York" crepe (with apples, honey, and walnuts - awesome) and Framboise Truffle latte, Crepe Creations (I guess they make up for the slight heavy-handedness in the chow names with a goofy one for the restaurant.)
$5, chai latte and not one - not two - but three! maple cookies (ah-ha-ha!) from Starbucks, because the cool girl working there decided that $1.85 for just one was a ripoff.
$10, Dry and Spicy Pepper Chicken thing from Grand Szechuan - and it should have been called Red Pepper Death Squadron Inferno Numb Tongue Intestine Blaster Chicken from Hell. (It DID taste awesome, for as long as I was capable of tasting. It just was not, as Anne noted, the kind of thing you could suck down a whole plate of.)

More interesting things:

Got a call from the Colonel. I always appreciate hearing from him, because I think about him all the time and I really miss him, so that was a great start to the day.

Passed this lady who often has her own personal small-scale book sale on my corner. Usually nothing much there catches my eye, but today the closest book to the actual corner of the building was none other than My Family and Other Animals, which was first one of the funniest books I'd ever read and now one of the funniest and most familiar (and therefore comfortable) books I know.

Studied in a Reserve-a-Room at the library - this time, the people we had to evict were very pleasant about it - for SIX HOURS. This was good, though, because I got done with a textbook I didn't really feel like reading and was all ready to write about it. On an even more positive note (so to speak), I was spinning some classical on my iPod when Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland came on. It was weird, because of course the last time I listened to that song while doing schoolwork I was also in a computer lab (the study rooms are by the computers) and at times, even, in a library lab. And needless to say, the best thing of all is the lyrics: 'tis the gift to come down/where we ought to be.... I'd say that's about right, Shakers.

Walked with Ben to the cool Italian place pretty close to our apartment that we like so much. It's cheap, and it's good, and tonight it had the particular advantage of taking us past a honking argument between a bus and two cabs. Everyone wanted to go first, but it appeared that they were grudgingly going to permit one cab to go ahead (that required two or three honks), then the bus (that took several more honks plus a threatening sidle into traffic on the bus driver's part), and then finally the last cab (who strictly speaking had no one left to honk at but went ahead and did it for good measure anyway.)

Crossed one street or another on the way home from the Italian place and stepped over three pennies that must have been pressed into the asphalt the last time the road was redone. I've heard of the legends immigrant hopefuls used to tell about the streets of New York being paved with diamonds (and I understand the silica-related explanation for that story), but I never knew about this penny thing.

Passed a car parked between a dumpster on the front end and another car behind with a plate reading "I FIT." In the interest of accuracy, I'm sure, whoever ordered that plate had attached it to his Mini Cooper. (Obviously.)

More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Gone to my eye doctor's favorite place for meat sandwiches, Pastrami Queen on Lexington Avenue.

21 Sep 06

Time:

Left the house 1216, left gym 1422.

Money:

$1, diet Pepsi, purchased from the closest market-bakery place clockwise from my apartment (I can't even come up with an idea of what it's called) while wearing a) pajamas and b) a purple sweatshirt.
$9, my favorite salad and some iced tea, All About Food.
$5, caramel latte and lemon cookie, Oren's Daily Roast (good stuff.)
$10, Y2K soba dinner from the not-sketchy Dojo (that would be the one on W. 4th.)
$4, mocha (which was okay) and cake thingy (which was outstanding) from... Beard Papa!

More interesting things:

Forgot my Metrocard when I left my apartment. This was especially irritating because I only figured it out when I couldn't find it in my pocket as I rushed down the station's staircase. However, it ended up having two positive consequences. (Well, two that I know about, anyway... you can never be sure if the extra time it took to go back and forth allowed me to avoid some negative event.) First of all, on the track where you usually find the local sat a very unusual-looking subway car - it had only a few small windows, one narrow door, and a sign reading (duh) "NO PASSENGERS." The really weird part, though, was what was attached to the back: a long line of, like, flatbed cars, each loaded with what appeared to be miniature dumpsters. It was, essentially, a tow-train, but for the life of me I cannot fathom what it was doing or where it was going; as I told someone tonight, it looked like the Seven Dwarves made a wrong turn on their way to the mine. The second good result of having to come back for my card was a little more mundane, maybe, but very pleasant all the same - I got on the treadmill just in time to enjoy the Cosby Show, which always makes a half-hour of heffing (not huffing) easier to stand.

Recognized the personal significance (to me, I mean) of some of the observations Professor Alpha made while we talked on the train awhile back. At the time, I didn't realize how they applied and could even have taken them as unsupportive commentary on his part (although, miraculously, I refrained from engaging in that particular dimension of over-analysis.) Knowing what I learned today, however - and bearing in mind that he may well have thought I knew it back then too - drastically changes my interpretation of the things he said; in this light they seem to serve not only to dismiss a situation he doesn't appreciate but to indicate that he's "got my back" (and the backs of some important others) within that situation. Interesting, and encouraging on an unofficial level.

Got startled - still and again - on the train at the sound of an approaching train's horn. I don't know if it's the way the walls are built or just the fact that a subway tunnel - even a station - is very much a closed-in environment, but you absolutely cannot tell where exactly a sound like that is coming from, and it's always a little disconcerting to consider that it might be, say, on the track right behind you. Which would not be a good thing. Of course, the fact that it hasn't happened - and probably never will - IS a good thing, so I guess I'll just go with it and enjoy that occasional little bit of creepy-crawly.

20 Sep 06

Time:

?

Money:

$1, diet Pepsi from Annie's Vegetable Market.
$5, breakfast for my "pets" - an excellent peanut-butter-strawberry protein bar and lemonade Vitamin Water - from the gym.
$10, fava bean hummus and mint-rose lemonade, The Hummus Place (duh.)
$4, chai latte, Broadway Starbucks.
$7, six outstanding chicken dumplings, The Dumpling Man.
$4, mocha at my Starbucks.

More interesting things:

Got an email from Professor Bravo - and it looks a lot more promising than I thought. Like, WAAAY more promising. He mentioned grants and databases and research (and "clerical tasks," but that's okay), so I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Visited (with Anne) Professor Alpha. He is just so bad-ass that I can hardly stand it. For instance, when his phone gave a single abrupt ring, he a) responded to the fact that it cut off with a fairly loud "Shit!", b) told us what the message was about - it was Cablevision, being difficult, and c) offered a slightly quieter but still full-voiced "Fuck!" in answer to the cable guys. Seriously, I'm going to sign up for one of his classes and just, you know, fake being unaware that he would be the one teaching it. And to go along with this regression in personal integrity and uprightness, it would appear that I'm going to have to admit to a direct and causal relationship between the amount of cursing a professor does and how cool I think he or she is.

19 Sep 06

Time:

From bed to leaving the gym (and bearing in mind it was a no-run day), two hours.

Money:

$5, fat-free raspberry muffin and iced tea at the blue-and-white bagel store (although I'm quite sure that's not its real name.)
$6, yogurt-and-granola and pomegranate-blueberry juice (what else is new?)
$9, gigantic salad and bread from what may be the winner of the lame-name category, All About Food.
$6, coffee - very important.
$15, some VERY spicy chicken at Cafe Spice.
$5, Jamba Juice.

More interesting things:

Spotted a small white dog with his person in Union Square this morning. Usually I probably wouldn't have noticed him, much less felt the need to talk about him here; I don't even like little dogs. I have to give this one credit, though, because he was stylin'. His tail was bright pink. You got the impression that if he'd been a person he might have had a mohawk.

Charged through the Union Square station to catch the express (which I did), and sang along to Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" as performed by... well, as performed by some guys in the Union Square station.

18 Sep 06

Time:

From bed to gym to lurking and back again (well, to my desk, anyway) in less than 4 1/2 hours.

Money:

$2, diet lime Coke - not that great - from Glendale Bakery, since I have not given in to purchasing an inferior home-caffeine supply just because it's convenient.
$5, Mud mocha and tip.
$4, nice fresh Gristede's salsa for the tacos I was invited to enjoy at Anne's.

More interesting things:

Remembered two things from yesterday as I got on the train. One was that as I went past the remains of the street fair a vendor's tent inched towards me like some kind of plain white Chinese dragon. The guy who was at once moving it and closing it up all by himself was obviously well-practiced - it was a good-sized tent - but I bet he wasn't making it dance on purpose. The other thing was that on my way back from the gym, two guys who gave the impression that they firmly believed they were hot stuff jumped on the train behind me. The skinny tough guy slid into the seat next to me; the chunky tough guy knelt in front of him and waited while Skinny took something from his pocket. From the kind of sneaky way they were moving and leaning in together, one might have expected it to be either a joint or a switchblade. They reminded me so much of my students, though, that - maybe naively - I figured it would be something more innocent, and I was right. It was a USB thumb drive. The secretive conversation: Tough Guys review how to set up a wireless home network. Awesome.

Got on the train today and wondered yet again what my brain finds so darn tantalizing about the address "Nereid Av." It's in the Bronx, for crying out loud, and not there aren't nice places up there, but.... I think it's partly that I just like the look of the letters together, and partly that it sounds as if someone educated was really thinking hard about what would make a good street name. I want to see this place, but I'm a little concerned its reality will clash unsupportively with my imagination.

Rode the escalator to the surface behind one distressed-looking lady on a sit-up stretcher and her paramedic and police officer escorts. The back of the medics' shirts read NYU, which was cool, but even better a) the AM Metro guy sort of pulled back to get out of the way and offered "Good luck!" to the group, and b) the cop asked the patient for a cell phone number so she could call and check on her. (This was my first practical experience coinciding with a notice I once read on the train explaining that if a customer gets sick on the subway, a police officer or MTA person will stay with him or her until first responders take over. And I realize, of course, that this is very much borne of liability issues - you probably wouldn't want to be accused of abandoning someone who was ill enough to require medical attention and just, like, TELLING them help is coming - but even so. It was good to see that it really works like that.)

Lurked about in search of Professor Alpha (not a number because I don't have his class; Alpha 'cause he's the first one I ever talked to) this afternoon - his office door was open, and I could hear him somewhere on the other side of the floor, so I knew he was around. I was waiting in the lobbyish area, first pretending to be interested in the Chronicle Review and then actually reading an good column on plagiarism, when he appeared, stopped, made some kind of sweeping arm gesture in my direction, and pronounced: "You don't have a job yet!" Well, thank you, you're right, I don't... was there something we could do about that? You bet. "GORDON! GORDON, come HERE PLEASE!" Gordon complied. Now there were two distinguished faculty members bellowing across a meeting room - "DAVID! DAVID! COME ON OVER!" David advanced; I retreated. I felt really goofy. Especially since David (hereinafter referred to as Professor Bravo) clearly did not expect to be bestowed (saddled might be a better verb) with his own personal gofer today. Professors Alpha and Number Four shooed us out, having very clearly decided that Professor Bravo was no longer needed in the meeting (although he himself didn't seem so sure) and encouraging him loudly to show me his office etc. We didn't get that far, though. We stopped long enough in the lobby of his floor for me to write my contact information in his appointment book, and that was it. The momentous occasion was there and gone in the blink of an eye. The benefit there, of course, is that it was so quick I don't even have any material to overanalyze.

Read a sign in a bus windshield on my walk home from the station: NO PASSENGERS - TRAINING BUS. I wonder if the driver felt like I did the first time I worked the SNAP van: excited and not just a little afraid I might forget I wasn't driving my little truck.

Realized that although I am deeply appreciative of the distinctive qualities of this side's line - it's clean, bright, and EXCEPTIONALLY easy to tell where you are and where it's going - there's something to be said for the other side's trains, where, after all, I did do most of my formative subway riding.

Also realized that it's not Gristede's as a whole that's unlovely, it just happens to be the one on my block which is not so fabulous. I inspected a couple others today, both of which were well-stocked and wide-aisled. Yeesh. (On the other hand, my Gristede's DOES have Sticky Toffee Pudding Haagen-Dazs to recommend it, and of course it's closer than any of the others.)

17 Sep 06

Time:

Left home 1853, left gym 2108... and didn't bother to record what time I got home, because I had a major open-doors-at-the-Grand-Central-platform interlude after I got on the (so-called) express.

Money:

$6, banana coconut Frappuccino and pumpkin muffin.

More interesting things:

Turned off my street, onto the avenue in the direction of the bank and the caffeine store, and Ben and I found ourselves in the middle of a street fair. This is far, far beyond the reaches of "cool." That's because, when you turn off Chipmunk and onto Ponderosa, you might see some 'bladers. You might see a Rottweiler. You might see a baby carriage. You might even see all three moving as a single unit. But I can pretty much assure you that you will not be coming across wire sculptures from Short Circuit, men cutting French fries, or blue police sawhorses indicating that if you cut through where you're not supposed to you will be endangering the lives of crepe sellers (or possibly cigar makers.) I didn't stay down there - Ben did, for a little while, but I needed to work - but it was just nice to know it was out there.

Realized - speaking of Chipmunk and Ponderosa - that it's less sketchy walking home from my train station at 9 on Sunday night than it is waiting in my truck for my little sister to come out of Publix two hours later (and 1300 miles south.) Now, for the benefit of anyone who might be inclined to worry about this, it isn't that I don't pay attention to where I'm going, or who seems to be going with me, or anything like that, I assure you. (J.J. Bittenbinder wouldn't be happy with me.) It's just that even on a Sunday at 2100 - probably significantly later on Friday and Saturday - people are out getting things done around here.

Decided that this is as good a time as any to record something I've been thinking about. A friend of mine says he likes this city because it's a place where your luck can change on a dime, which has not been his experience in other places; Peter Mayle says much the same thing when he comments that he has a "soft spot" for Manhattan because "it was once kind to [him] when [he] needed a break...." I think it's true, and it kind of goes back to what I said the other day about not feeling alone here. New York will surely feed your angst and separation if you want, your cynicism and hard shell if that's what you are trying for, but your connectedness and awe and pride if you'll only let it.

(And now back to the normal commentary...)

Had a nice conversation with a 174th Street-bound, rum-swigging friend across the car on my way back from the gym. All it took for us to get along was a shared inability to discern what the heck the conductor offered over the PA as his explanation for our unusually long wait at Grand Central. I asked if he had any idea what the announcement had been, and of course he told me that's what he'd been about to ask ME, so we both just shook our heads and settled back. He asked if I'd gone to the game (part of the earlier crowded-car insanity had to do with the Yankees, I think), and I said no, just the gym, and then I added that if I had stayed on the local I would have been halfway home. He asked where I got off, and I told him, and he laughed and mentioned where he was headed, so I said he definitely beat me out. As I got off the train I threw a "have a good night, man" at him and got a "you too, now" tossed back. The LTC does not know what he is missing.

16 Sep 06

Time:

?

Money:

$71, groceries (which I had to drag myself through purchasing at Gristede's), beer, and deodorant for the gym (I mean, it's FOR me, but to be USED at the gym. I hated the scent of the one I had before.)
$20, half-olive, half-cheese pizza from Ray's - nice and salty with the olives. (And I get half that money back.)

More interesting things:

Found myself perplexed as a lady came ambling up to the conductor's door in my car, which he opened as she moved near. They talked for so long, and the conductor seemed so unsurprised, that I figured they were related or something. But no - the lady just wanted to know how to get somewhere, I don't know where, but I found out a few minutes later that it definitely involved the Q. I got that information because she kept repeating the directions silently to herself, and then she stopped all of a sudden, so I felt compelled to ask if she knew where she was headed (like, maybe she had confused herself as I have done on many, many occasions. And furthermore, as if, on finding out it required the Q, I would have been able to do anything more helpful than knock on the conductor's door for her.) She laughed, and said, "Oh, I just have to take the Q... I'm not used to this side!" Of course, I agreed - said something about getting all confused with the 1 and the 2 and the 3 and the A and the C and the E - and she laughed and agreed back and thanked me. Then - and this is what really started my day off right - she added something about, "But it's always good when you get to talk to nice people on the train." And I thought: that's right, because we're New Yorkers, and we ARE nice.

Learned a useful and potentially embarrassment-thwarting piece of information: to quote the guy at Mister Wright's Fine Wines and Spirits, "In New York you either get a license for wine and the hard stuff, or beer - not both. The markets and grocery stores get all the beer licenses." Weird, but whatever.

Found out a few minutes later that he should have added pharmacies to the list - well, at least those associated with grocery stores. The Gristede's drug store had more refrigerated beer and stuff than the notsupermarket part did! I mean, so much the better for me, because as noted above I did need deodorant - but I still want to know how they're going to have like 63 different varieties of one brand of English stout and no diet lime Pepsi.

Enjoyed a 21-20 smack on Tennessee, particularly as there was pizza, readings, Woodchuck cider, and joking around with Anne and Ben to carry me through the scary parts.

Got drawn into at least the occasional trip to Trader Joe's after Anne brought over this yogurt dip that tastes exactly like Alouette but is, needless to say, much better for you.

15 Sep 06

Time:

?

Money:

$5, banana shake and blueberry muffin, Glendale Bakery (which is awesome.)
$5, gigantic cup of coffee from Oren's Daily Roast.
$51, purple sweatshirt, finally. [didn't come from weekly budget]
$4, shish kebab sandwich from a new favorite hole-in-the-wall, almost literally: Mamoun's.
$5, a really good almond cappuccino from Caffe Reggio, which is 79 years old.
$5, two falafel sandwiches and a 7Up from Mamoun's again (but this time was with faithful roommate and fellow chowhound Ben, rather than my classmates.)
$1, student-discounted cupcake from Tonnie's.
$5, Peanut Butter and Co. parfait (what is it with the dumb names for recipes involving yogurt?)

More interesting things:

Sat during the train ride. That alone would probably be interesting enough, since I never get to do it, but today in particular was amusing because an American businessman, who had obviously been put in charge of herding some of his British counterparts around town for awhile, stood talking with them very nonchalantly. The problem with being nonchalant on a train is that eventually you get to the sharp curves before Grand Central, and you tend to fall over at that point. From under the brim of my rain-deflecting ball cap, I saw this guy wobble fairly violently, so I stuck my hand out, and he laughed out loud, good nature all over the place: "Oh, you were going to catch me? I was going to end up in your lap! Thanks for looking out for me." And so on. I told someone tonight that such experiences mean you'd have to have kind of a pessimistic view of life to feel alone in this city.

Felt all included and cool when Professor Number Four announced the door entry code for Jenn's and my benefit. The funny thing is, I'm actually lame enough that as I sat waiting for him (or someone) to come up there and open the door, I'd wondered whether we would be told.

Found out that Professor Number Five isn't cuckoo; she is, in fact, wicked cool. We got some comments out of her today that are not, as Dave Barry would say, material for a family newspaper, but man were they funny. And it's important to note that while I would have thought all of the above in any case, it's always more likely to happen if aside from being cool and funny you think the person appreciates you, too. (Take the case of Sid, for instance. I loved Sid, I really did, but I think after the flag stuff the feeling was definitely not mutual. So that was kind of like watching the Cool Animal at the zoo, whereas this is Participating in Coolness. Much more fun.) Anyway, overall, I think that class is going to be an ideal Friday thing: REALLY smart, REALLY friendly classmates; all four of us English peeps (who are, needless to say, at least as smart and at least as friendly); good reading; briliant professors; and a lot of nearly helpless laughter. Oh, plus chow. My kind of school.

Bought my purple sweatshirt... yessss!

Almost enjoyed the rain today, if that's in any way believable. The thing is, of course, I actually do love gray and damp; I just don't feel like schlepping through it. Today, however, with my blue jacket and the aforementioned protective baseball cap, I was quite well sheltered and not totally overheated. (Oilskin in 50 rainy degrees: good. Oilskin in 74 rainy degrees: less good.) I'll have to keep that in mind for future otherwise-yecch days.

Remembered as I'm writing that last night I heard a kid - a little one, a girl - behind me on the walk home from the train station singing like a maniac. Well, that might be the wrong way to describe it in this region, what with the actual singing maniacs one occasionally comes across... what I mean is, she was awesome. I don't know if Mom was walking her home from voice lessons or what, but the exact sentence which occurred to me as we all tromped along was, "She couldn't hold on to a note any longer if you gave her safe deposit box to put it in." Seriously. Then she started kind of sing-whining in this goofy tone, which was nice because it added that pleasant hint of normalcy, but it didn't make you forget what she'd been doing two minutes before.

14 Sep 06

Time:

Too much, as far as walking around getting rained on.

Money:

$2.50, bottle of Frappuccino at the gym so I could take my antibiotics.
$6, yogurt-and-granola and pomegranate-blueberry juice (talk about antioxidants!) from Space Market (duh.)
$8, cold peanut noodles and tip at The Noodle Bar.
$3 (I think?), vanilla chai latte at Grey Dog.
$21, burger, fries, and tip at Rare.
$1.50, cupcake on the way home.

More interesting things:

Hit SEVERAL of the places on my things-to-eat list, and all were excellent. I'm going to have to try lunch at the Grey Dog one of these days.

Remembered that I neglected to mention the purple-haired lady yesterday. We all know the stereotype about BLUE-haired ladies, and the one in this case was old enough to fall into that category, but a) it was just a streak in what would have been her bangs if they hadn't been so curly, and b) it was definitely, purposefully purple. So I guess she doesn't need to go clothes shopping in order to follow the directions in the poem. (Although she might still need a red hat.)

Really enjoyed spending a little more time with my classmates today. I like them a lot, and I think it's going to be a good situation for all of us.

Sent Professor Number Two (in terms of class order during the week) a link to an Inside Higher Ed article on low-income kids and college, and, consequently, started the day off feeling real high-speed.

Slowed down a little with this spitty, rainy, too-warm-for-the-oilskin, too-wet-to-do-otherwise weather we're having. On the upside of that... well, it does make you really appreciate when you get to go back into a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment!

More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Continued my explorations of the area west of campus. (Which is reasonable, because they just started today.) There are a TON of cool spots over there, even if they no longer include the no-pigeon-feeding sign in Father Demo Park.

13 Sep 06

Time:

Missed the express out of home station 1035, caught the next one four minutes later.

Money:

$2, pretzel from a street vendor near Union Square.
$2, PT-recovery chocolate milk from Space Market.
$4, excellent pressed toast sandwich from... PressToast.
$4, a warm and revivifying mocha latte from the Broadway Starbucks.
$2, miniature cup of Dulce de Leche Haagen-Dazs from 88 Lex.
$20, mushroom pizza and tip.

More interesting things:

Ate the first soft pretzel since I've been here. It was perfect, really: the pretzel was warm, the air was cool, and that smoky smell from the vendors hung the way it only does in fall.

Caught up on some reading and waited for Anne on a bench in what appeared to be the "quiet study corner" of WSq Park. I don't think someone would have avoided parading into, say, the middle of the Plaza of the Americas just because people studying there would have been disturbed by a loud cell phone conversation, but that's exactly what I saw today. One person - I think homeless, but still - slept, several others conversed quietly, many ate lunch, and lots read and wrote. All of which took place mostly undisturbed, because the lady on the phone didn't go back to her bench until she was nearly done talking, and was carefully quiet even then. Impressive.

Answered my own phone - quietly! - when I saw it was Ben calling. He invited me to join him at a Barnes and Noble in Union Square to hear... a presentation by Art Spiegelmann! This is not exactly the kind of thing that just blows through my hometown on what you would call a regular basis, and even if it did, you would hardly expect it to be followed five days later by a visit from BILLY COLLINS! This I really cannot miss.

Appreciated the generosity of a dachshund mix's human, who shared her chair at a Macdougal Street lunch table with said dachshund mix. She - the person, I mean - scooted over the way anyone would who found that there wasn't a chair left for her best friend, only in this case the friend wouldn't be considered rude if he slurped right out of the bowl.

12 Sep 06

Time:

?

Money:

$4, "pet" food - Pepsi and a protein bar - at the gym.
$5, yogurt-and-granola and lime green tea, Space Market.
$6, mocha and muffin at the genuinely insane campus Starbucks (the caffeine and sugar were worth the wait, though.)

More interesting things:

Walked past a cute little brown-and-white dog - he looked like a Shiba Inu, actually, and in THIS city, I guess it wouldn't surprise me - tied up outside the infirmary... and spotted him a little later, trotting across WSq Park with his person.

On the subject of cross-park propulsion, incidentally, watched a young woman, probably about my age, probably also a student, SKIP down the path in front of me as I ate my lunch. Occasionally, she sort of stumbled into just plain jogging, so maybe she had to get somewhere fast and the sandals she wore made skipping more comfortable, but I hope not. I hope she just likes to enjoy her movement from place to place.

Came across one of my Wednesday classmates in the library computer lab (but didn't recognize her - oops), and met one of my Thursday ones in Space Market (I did recognize her, but we had to remind each other of our names.)

Realized that not only did I not stick out in my dark brown cowboy boots but was in fact rolling with the trend, to judge by about 14,000 undergraduates in the Starbucks line. Even if I had tried to make a point by wearing the boots outside my jeans, I would just have been among the slightly edgier 25% of the school population.

Started feeling as though I were aging right in my coffee shop chair when Anne recognized a student from her first year of teaching - SIXTH grade, might I add - in the line. Of course, Anne IS a little older than me, and it's not as if she taught kindergarten or anything, but still. It was very weird (and I can only guess what combinations of surprise, pride, comfort, etc. were hitting HER over the head), but the freshman Violet seemed very nice, and really it was a neat experience: I'm always glad to be reminded not only of what it was to start one of life's most distinctive adventures but also that it's teachers who help us get there.

Decided that maybe above all other professional characteristics, I most appreciate a professor's ability to present materials that not only somehow go with what we're supposed to learn that week but are markedly interrelated. I always admired that in Dr. B. (Johnny B.? Just plain John? I don't know), saw it many times in the Proteach folks, and now find myself assailed with evidence - on at least three fronts! - that the same will happen here. This is the quality I most want for myself as a professor, so I hope it's borne of a familiarity with the literature. (Then again, if that's all it is, how did Dr. B. divine that Wittgenstein would be exactly appropriate this semester? I don't know what trick I have to learn in order to pull that stuff off, but I hope someone will teach me before I'm done here.)

More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Gotten coffee from the Mudtruck at Astor Place. You've got to love the roach-coach air of something like that, even though I'm not a steelworker. (Neither's anyone else in that line, for that matter.)

Changed the title of this section to "More interesting things I haven't EATEN yet." I mean, I'm not going to, because one of these Saturdays I'll go out and find stuff I want to DO, not just stuff to chow down on, and anyway in this town making use of all the food-related options IS positive action. But it does occur to me that mostly I'm making a list of things to chew.

11 Sep 06

Time:

Well, I made it from my door to the infirmary (although that's not what they call it) in 35 minutes on the local, so that's pretty impressive.

Money:

$0, so I can spend a little more freely the rest of the week - tomorrow starts my three-days-out-of-the-house routine, and there are LOTS of good places for breakfast and lunch by school.

More interesting things:

Made my way to school in the coolest weather I've seen yet, under what might have been the bluest sky so far. Especially in the shadows of buildings or walking across the wind tunnels they call "streets near the river," my way-too-big-but-still-just-right NYPD sweatshirt was very comfortable.

Hopped on the treadmill, only realizing then that of course the usual dose of Regis and Kelly would be replaced by the List of Names. I happened to plug in my headphones just when they read Marie's nephew's name, and I was glad for the timing.

Saw two police officers and a Coney Island firefighter, all dressed in their Class A's. The cops were headed downtown - that was first thing this morning - and the fireman was walking down Broadway in the afternoon. I've told a couple of people today that it's just good even to be in the same city as these guys, to see them in person and have that much stronger a knowledge of their presence than I would if I were still seeing them on television.

Re-read Dave Barry's column from one or two days after the attacks, and appreciated it all over again.

On a (much) lighter note, moved pretty expeditiously through one of my articles, only to discover in the middle... a full-page shot of Matthew Fox from that show Lost. I have been amused by the large-and-wacky-family-shares-appliances nature of the school computer lab printers, in which you just hit "print" and then stand on line behind your Violet brothers and sisters, hoping you get your hands on your stuff before somebody goes and accidentally yoinks the whole bibliography (or whatever.) Well, today, obviously, rather than missing something important I had an added bonus, and it almost made me fall out of my chair. After thinking about it for a minute, though, I decided that maybe professors should do that for us on purpose.

During the ride home, watched a grizzled, rough-looking kind of guy in a Special Forces ball cap - I don't want to resort to stereotypes, maybe especially with this group, but he looked like a Vietnam vet - make a mom's life easier by standing to offer her two little, little girls his spot on the bench.

Just a moment ago, heard strains of "...where at least I know I'm free!" floating up to my window from an open car window below. It reminded me to run downstairs and check whether the Towers of Light are visible from this area; they aren't, as it happens, but I do know they're glowing not too far away, and that's good enough for me.

And now returning to our normally scheduled programming...


More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Gone to Beard Papa, which as best I can determine is a French smoothies-and-pastries place. Whatever it is, though, it smells really, really good.

10 Sep 06

Time:

Don't know, don't know, don't know. I think this section is not terribly useful - or interesting - unless I'm trying some new and exciting form or direction of transportation. Originally I'd hoped to sort of average out trip times, but I haven't had to benefit from that yet, since I build huge amounts of leeway into my schedule left, right, and center. (Of course, the problem is that when I DO need a decent estimate, I won't be able to come up with one. Hmm.)

Money:

$8, fava bean-and-egg hummus, The Hummus Place (okay, they're starting to recognize me, which is how I was led into the fava bean thing. But I can't help it - it's cheap and really, really good.)
$5, Nutella crepe from Crepe Creations.

More interesting things:

Walking across WSq, spotted a pretty little boy with fluffy, spiky white hair. I told Ben I really hoped the kid's name was Dandelion, because that is definitely what he looked like.

Saw an old-school red Chevy bopping down Macdougal. It contained a driver and two heavily made-up middle-aged women (the visitors, presumably) and sported a sign on the door reading "New York Fun Tours." I'd never seen a tourist operation quite like that before.

Admired a sign in Bleecker Bob's Records admonishing promoters etc. to leave their flyers in a neat pile, otherwise "it's going to make me mad and I'll throw yer shit out." (Signed, Bob, is what I suppose it could have said at the bottom.)

Spotted a hard-core biker Schnauzer in front of the law school. He was in his little milk crate, tied carefully to the back of his human's moped, and wore one of those leather helmet-like things. You could tell he really enjoyed the whole thing.

Saw a guy in a "Port Seniors" shirt at the gym... it's a whole six-degrees-of-high-school-separation game in that place.

Recognized one of my classmates - not English, but education - on the train on the way home. I don't think he knew who I was, but I'll see if I can figure it out on Wednesday.

More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Gone to Press Toast, across from the famous hummus store.

9 Sep 06

Time:

Not sure exactly, but from home to the Gator bar was a MUCH shorter bus trip - maybe 20 minutes, including walking - than I'd expected.

Money:

$26, drinks and wings at the Gin Mill, dinner at Fred's.

More interesting things:

Traipsed over a pastel-chalk hopscotch board on my way to the bar.

Found the place in part because there was an orange-and-blue flag over the door... and LOTS more orange-and-blue stuff inside.

Had an outstanding time watching a 42-0 whipping of UCF.

Learned that Fred is the name not of a weird bald guy who decided to open a diner (as I thought when I first passed the restaurant) but instead of a black (female!) Labrador retriever guide dog. When we first walked in, I WAS kind of wondering about all the dog pictures everywhere, but the front of the menu cleared the whole thing up. Plus, as befits a place named after a carnivore, the burger was great.

8 Sep 06

Time:

Woke up 1030, UPS arrived 1200. (Not bad at all, especially as I learned that I don't have to worry about waiting around for them any more.)

Money:

$0, since I would like to be able to buy a beer during the football game tomorrow AND stay in my budget.

More interesting things:

Really enjoyed The Saber-Toothed Curriculum. It was a good start to my school reading.

Got to watch the Cosby Show as I huffed through my hour run this afternoon, and saw that a girl behind me, on the elliptical, was laughing just as hard as I was.

Felt a little surreal when the second Cosby episode opened with a shot of Theo's trunks and suitcases, all sporting purple NYU stickers. That brought me back to one of my favorite thoughts, that there are lots of people and things and places you know, or maybe I should say know OF, and you never know what role those already-familiar things are going to play in your future life. It certainly isn't as though I didn't realize this school existed; I could have put my four-year-old finger on its name in the back of my dictionary very easily. I just didn't know how important it - and lots of other things - would become.

7 Sep 06

Time:

Left 0716, arr station 0722, local train arr 0724, arr Astor Pl 0744, arr infirmary 0749.

Left weight room 1012, left gym 1047.

Money:

$3.50, yogurt-and-granola thing (I really don't think I can keep bringing myself to call it a 'parfait') from Space Market.
$6, what amounted to a Caprese salad sandwich and some (flavorless, I later found out) organic limeade, also from Space Market.
$4, iced mocha from the Starbucks at school.
$12, hummus with egg, Turkish coffee, and baklava at The Hummus Place (once again.)

More interesting things:

Met a Tisch junior at the gym, because he was wearing a Lake Brantley t-shirt.

Thoroughly enjoyed just being outside, waiting for my roommate and my friend to go to dinner. I (and then we, after Ben arrived) sat at the edge of WSq; the weather had gotten beyond its afternoon too-hotness and into a beautiful golden evening.

6 Sep 06

Time:

Didn't keep track today, but that's because I was all over the place and a record wouldn't have been indicative of anything particularly useful. So at least it was purposeful.

Money:

$6, Starbucks mocha and a (not-low-fat) blueberry muffin. (It was good, though.)
$42, a sweaty trip to Bed Bath and Beyond... but at least they had not only my shower bucket but all the stuff I needed to put in it as well.
$5, green tea and a yogurt-and-granola parfait (chintzy name, great chow) at Space Market.
$7, my favorite chicken, portobello, olives, and some-kind-of-onion salad at All About Food (talk about lame names.)
$4, banana coconut Frappucino before class.
$8, Peanut Butter and Co. dinner - the Nutella kind, although I really liked the one Anne had, too.

More interesting things:

Took notice of a girl walking in front of me near school because she was limping slowly along, a crutch under one arm and a cast on her foot. (I mean, she was moving SLOW.) I wouldn't have considered it too much, except I was just the other day thinking that it would be an incredible hassle to be of limited mobility in this city. What really caused me to look twice, though, was her orange-and-blue jacket, of the windbreaker kind favored by UF sorority girls. So I sped up and got around her; sure enough, it was a Florida jacket (though not a Greek one). We chatted all the way to the library, which was nice. I hope I'll see her around some time, which wouldn't be likely if she weren't in the same college as I am.

Caught (well, Anne did, really - I only followed her) two of our professors with their feet up, just chatting in one of their offices. They're just... so... COOL - and I'm just so lucky.

5 Sep 06

Time:

Left 0726, arr station 0733, express train arr 0733, arr Union Sq 0745, arr gym 0749.

I wasn't paying attention on the way back - see comments below - but it is useful to note that when I got to the platform, a train was just leaving; the one I rode arrived about three minutes later.

Money:

$130, year's locker rental and towel and laundry service [didn't come from weekly budget].
$5.25, momentary supply of caffeine and protein (diet lemon Pepsi - not as good as lime, of course - and a Revolution bar, to be more exact) to sustain my "pets" during the locker-line wait.
$6, Veggie Delight sub for dinner.

More interesting things:

Thought about my discussions with Tyler regarding the concept of large muscle groups as household pets, with all the associated requirements for food, water, exercise, and rest to be provided by their owner (see above.) I don't believe this will ever fail to make me giggle and/or snort.

Appreciated a couple of those affirmative signs about my current situation when, first, I was assigned a laundry pin (an actual pin, not a P.I.N.) numbered 521, and second, found that THE classic first-day-of-school challenge - opening your locker for the first time - would in my case be performed to the tune of "New York, New York," sung by Frank and Tony. I'm talking about the SECOND I started spinning the dial... and how often do I wear headphones off the treadmill? I am always very grateful for this sort of indication.

On the way to the train, caught a whiff of peaches (well, they could have been nectarines) and was whisked back to my Gym-Nats days of brown-bag lunches warmed up in the sun. That's very much a summer smell to me, of course, but the funny thing is, it's the first day of school for me and all the kids around here too.

Got irritated during my evening trip to KMart: I was rained-on, in need of a shelf for my gym locker, and tense-muscled after nearly slipping three times on my way into the store. But it turned out that I spent precisely enough time fruitlessly wandering the three floors in search of a shelf; I stood for just a minute in the train station across the street before my professor came bumping up to me. I hadn't seen him standing off to the side, and not only did we enjoy a VERY pleasant conversation from there to Grand Central, he also a) mentioned a grant I might get to work on, and b) demonstrated - I think - that I haven't been too irritating (or else, I hope, he wouldn't have volunteered to talk to me that whole time.)

4 Sep 06

Time:

To fit in with my new method of keeping track of time (one might argue that it's the FIRST method of keeping track of time), I'm posting in a different format.

Left 0744, arr station 0750, express train arr 0759, train arr Union Sq 0808, arr gym 0812.

Left gym 1042, arr station 1045, express train arr 1046, arr home station 1055, arr home 1103.

Money:

$0, in deference to my plans for staying out of the house from dawn till dusk (okay, not quite) for the middle three days of each week.

More interesting things:

Walked a big, uneven square today, just because the weather was so lovely; in fact, it was Christopher Morley Park-ish.

3 Sep 2006

Time:

I'm going to put a sign on my door to remind myself to CHECK... MY... WATCH! before I leave the house.

Money:

$17, Bananas Foster French toast brunch at Blue Water Grill.
$45, groceries at Pioneer [Not-Really-That]Supermarket.
$40, groceries at Pathmark, a genuine supermarket [didn't come from weekly budget].
$6, mesclun mix and portobello mushroom slices at Annie's Vegetable Market.

More interesting things:

Enjoyed a really, really lovely brunch at Blue Water Grill on Union Square - with pecans AND a complimentary Screwdriver involved, I'm not sure how you could go wrong. Plus, somehow, the atmosphere was like that of Houston's would be if they were open during the day. And to top it all off, the bar is made of copper.

Realized that a) the trip to Pathmark is not bad at all, and b) I actually kind of like being in there.

More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Found a bright yellow-gold Polo shirt like the one I saw someone wearing at the restaurant today.

Visited Max Brenner, the Bald Chocolate Man (or whatever he's called), which I plan to do even though it didn't get the best reviews.

Gone back to the site of this morning's excellent brunch. I'm thinking it would be a good spot for the GP's.

2 Sep 2006

Time:

I really do not know, because for the life of me I can't remember to check what time it is before I leave the house. I'm gonna have to tie a string around my finger or something.

Money:

$16, student admission to the Museum of Natural History and its Snakes and Lizards exhibit.

More interesting things:

Got a quick reminder that NYers are further from rude than most Floridians are when two or three or four of them quickly offered paper napkins and things to clean up the coffee someone spilled on Ben's arm.

Rode in the front car of the E train (which, incidentally, we caught only because another one of those "rude" New Yorkers in iPod and baggy jeans stuck his heel in the door to keep it from closing in our faces), with a very cool view of the tunnel - better lit and maybe a little easier to navigate than I would have imagined seeing it from the side windows.

Followed the animal mosaics (in the walls) and sea creature tiles (in the floor) from the museum's subway station into the museum itself.

1 Sep 2006

Time:

Home to gym - ?
Leaving gym hallway to my front door via the express, app. 1030hrs - 24 min (at last!)

Money:

$66, two lamps from Home Depot.
$8, Quizno's on 56th (yes!).
$6, this insane peanut-butter-chocolate frozen thing at Dylan's Candy Bar, which I accidentally found this afternoon and visited during our walk back from dinner tonight.
$.90, a hot and lovely Krispy Kreme donut.

More interesting things:

Just in time for the first game, walked behind a student (I guess, since he was headed into a dorm) wearing a bright orange cap with a big blue "F" on the front. (Dooooo-doo-doo-doo-doo...!)

Finally caught a subway conductor throwing what seems to be a peace sign at the zebra board over the middle of the platform. (It helps him remind himself to make sure he's lined up with the center.)

Saw many, many boxes of Krispy Kremes destined for... the US Open. I didn't know tennis players ate donuts.

Visited the truly ridiculous (and sublime) Dylan's Candy Bar, where they even have candy in the stairs.

More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Gone to Kee's Chocolates, home of the one-bite Creme Brulee truffle thingy. Heh.

Gone to McKeown's, a pub on Third Ave. with a bar facing the street - and no glass in the windows.

Read Nosetalgia, a book I saw at the candy place which lists all these "old-school" smells.

Purchased one of those Sesame Street university t-shirts at the gym (or, for that matter, a sweatshirt).

31 August 2006

Time:

?
?
and more ?, because I'm a moron.

Money:

$10, hummus and pitas (yes, again, and theirs were really good) at none other than... The Hummus Place.

$6, two of my oatmeal cups (hooray!) and a pint of the world's greatest ice cream - Haagen-Dazs Sticky Toffee Pudding - at Gristede's.

More interesting things:

Had a good conversation with half of our professors. We were in there for, like, 45 minutes, but it definitely didn't seem that long.

Realized that there seems to be an excellent chance that this group, though much smaller, will be as cool as my last 17-man-troop.