12 Jan 07

Time:

?

Money:

$6, yogurt and protein bar, the red place.
$18, the usual Pita Grill chicken sandwich, this time with corn on the cob, Pita Grill (but delivered to my apartment, thank you....)

More interesting things:

Went to the "Cooper Square Post Office" (that is to say, the one on Fourth Avenue at 11th) to send off various jars of fruit-related items and interacted not only with Superfly Postal Clerk Man, in short 'fro, blacked-out brass-rimmed aviator shades, chin-length sideburns, and large diamond pinky rings but also Mr. I'm Really Having Fun Being a Postman, the length of whose ponytail was matched only by the width of his smile; these two guys were absolutely the nicest, most accomodating postal workers I have ever met, and I'd like to know what they're smoking.

Walked back to campus on 9th Street and passed those little sidewalk tree-holes, which is not exactly notable, except that there was, like, a whole NEST of holly branches, pine branches, and pine cones around the base of each tree. I don't know if it had been a series of Christmas decorations that fell, but I kind of hope it wasn't, first because decorating the ground is a pretty unusual idea (and it looked cool), and second because it reminded me of when I used to set out pine needles to feed Hawkeye, my old imaginary falcon friend. Hawkeye really would have liked to sit under these trees.

Spent a significant chunk of time with Professor Number Four. I really only made such a point of catching him without someone else in his office so I could let him know I'd read the George Kelly, but then he started handing me stuff either to pitch in the recycle bin behind me or to bring home and read, and I ended up standing around with him for... well, half an hour at least. He is SO funny, and in a different way from the other SO funny people here - he really does remind me of my grandfather, and although I don't know where he got it from, he seems to have a very good idea about what (in the grander sense) I'm doing here and how I tend to go about it. He knew that I wouldn't be intimidated by his classical music "quiz" (which I failed even though I did recognize that it was a film score rather than something old), that in my opinion he can say whatever he wants and I will gladly keep listening, that I'm a "serious kind of person," and that I know about - and really, really value - the "apprenticeship" aspect of becoming a professor myself (which takes us back to the "I'll keep listening" part, because he opened that topic up with the line, "Well, that's why they don't learn much science in Africa!" I was glad he explained that in terms of laboratory vs. classroom, because that wasn't one I was going to figure out on my own.) On top of all of which, I appreciate his dry humor and straight-shooting commentary: he showed me a stack of "really important" cassettes and told me that if, you know, he had a heart attack tomorrow, THOSE are the ones I should worry about for archival purposes, because they're the recordings from the first England summer program. (As far as that goes, I guess he reminds me of my mom, too!) In any case, he sort of suggested something about "now that you come by every now and then," so if he enjoys it even half as much as I do, I'll have to make a point of catching him a little more often.

Sat highly amused on the train back uptown, across from and next to a group of five - three grown-ups and two kids - none of whom seemed to be from New York... and I made that call before they started talking about FAO Schwarz. The more talkative of the kids - blonde, braided, and in a Baby Phat puffer jacket - had to be from the south... and I made THAT call before she responded to my comment that I was from Florida (which I'll explain momentarily) with, "Ohmigod! I'm from Florida too! I'm from Sarasota!" Ha: a few months here turns you into a subway anthropologist. Anyway, the reason I told her where my family lived was because just a minute before she had taken out from her shopping bag this positively ENORMOUS black ball cap, lavishly enlivened with some ostensibly New York-ish pattern, and plunked it sideways on her head without removing the tags; I started talking because when she insisted to one of the adults that "NOBODY takes off the tags... that's, like, the style!" and the adult in question just sort of snorted in disbelief, I felt I had to add that I had seen the same thing as a teacher: that really IS the style, strange though it may seem. Before they got off en route to FAO, the Florida girl gave me an exceptionally enthusiastic "Bye!", which the woman followed with, "Well, I guess that was your entertainment for the day, right?" Hey, absolutely - tourists are a lot more amusing here than they are in Florida, where they manage to get in the way when you're driving even more than those people with blue hair and phone books on the driver's seats....