26 Oct 06

Time:

?

Money:

$7, "pet food," gym store.
$12, excellent Zen Noodles (I'm glad they could be so philosophical about getting eaten), some Thai place on W. 4th that Jenn will have to identify for me once again.
$2, tip for the bartender who gave Anne and me "tastes" the size of half a pint, Valhalla (and the beer wasn't free; I had gotten Anne's bill at Dojo the other night, so she very nicely got my Grimpenmire or whatever that fabulous stuff is called.)

More interesting things:

Stepped over Che Guevara. Well, anyway, his face as spray-painted on a West 17th Street sidewalk, and I'm pretty sure that's who it was. Where exactly do you get something like that? The Guerilla Leader Stencil Store?

Took the 1 because although it is true that 1/2/3, A/C/E DO go together, that's only really true at Penn Station - not West 4th Street. Duh. So instead I just guessed that Christopher Street would work out (and when we got there, the purple mosaic banners indicated I'd guessed right), and ended up having a truly enjoyable walk through part of the West Village.

Stood talking on my cell phone - and freezing - outside the East Building, and from the corner of my eye caught a girl wearing the exact same olive-drab-and-fake-fur jacket I had on; unfortunately for her she also carried a three-ring binder labeled with the name of that school a hundred-and-some blocks uptown. Heh.

Talked with Professor Number One, who with a "Take them, they're a present," gave me a stack of three books on teaching history. That was only the beginning of an extended and highly amusing series of exchanges, however. It continued when she told me she was "so God-damned angry" with another professor who wouldn't let a student teacher out of class to go to the high school's conference night; moved on when I told her about Professor Alpha's "out-of-sorts" introduction to the discussion the other day and received a "YOU?! Out-of-sorts??" in return; and finished up with a comment about what a long week it had been, and this was, let us bear in mind, on THURSDAY. (Just the same, since she could have substituted "career" for "week" I'm very much inclined to see things her way.)

Listened inattentively as someone at a corner urged her companions to "watch it, watch it, WATCH IT!" when a taxi or some such came around quickly; listened more attentively - and amusedly - as Anne added, "tourists, tourists, TOURISTS!"

Found myself left in the street-crossing dust with Anne as a guy on a cell phone blew by. This would not have been interesting except that as he went, the sole piece of conversation we were able to overhear was comprised of the following pair of sentences: "Oh, incestuous? I like that, that's good!" I'm thinking he was actually just approving of someone's carefully-considered word choice in describing some business argument or something, but still. As Anne said, you never know what kinds of things you're going to hear in this town.

Noticed that the doors on my doorman friends' buildings have finally closed over in deference to this new fifty-degrees-or-less thing we have going on here, but the one guy, from the first building I pass, spotted me through the door and waved animatedly. It's funny, because since I only go by two doormen on my way home, it's not at all surprising that I would notice them. On the other hand, how many people do they see float by in the hours of their shifts? I like that I get a nice wave.

More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Gone to the Slaughtered Lamb, featuring a wolf on its sign and what, according to Brenan, are not just Halloween decorations on the inside. It's on West 4th Street, as I recall, between the 1 station and, like, Sixth Avenue, maybe?