it is halloween, it is halloween

Had a fun time this weekend, don't remember too much of it.  Today meghan and I at lunch on the upper east side and then had a beer at that german place on 86th and 2nd, so we saw lots of kids in costumes.  It was really sweet.  Having been in nyc for so long now I've grown accustomed to the trick or treating at stores that kids in the city have to do, but meghan was still amazed by it.  I guess it is wild to think how different those memories are than for those of us that grew up in the suburbs.  It's like when you think about how no other countries celebrate thanksgiving.  It's just uncomfortable.

The best costume I saw all weekend was a man walking down 77th street dressed as the pillsbury dough boy.  He was a rather portly gentleman so he was able to go without a shirt and just have white body paint on and he pretty much fit the description.  And I thought my costume was revealing.

slacking off

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I have been terrible lately!!  The past couple days I've felt like haven't been real.  I think I've been distracted by Halloween and the fact the the 31st marks another death nell towards my impending move and I still don't have any idea where I'm going or what I'm doing.

And as a result, you have to suffer, and that's just not fair.

Last night we watched Halloween II.  I had no idea that it was so graphic and scary, I thought it was going to be a romp down camp lane like nightmare on elm street is.  I was not prepared for him to kill the hooker by smashing her face in to a mirror over and over.  That's not really the kind of halloween movie I like.  The kind of halloween movie I like goes a little something like this:



True to form I fell asleep before midnight anyways so I didn't end up seeing more than like 20 minutes of Halloween II.  I feel that's all I really needed to see anyways.

I woke up to a very cold nyc this morning that is making me question if my barely there costume is going to turn out to be a mistake.  updates to follow.

Groundhog Day

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I apologize for my absence yesterday but I was stuck in groundhog's day. 

Before I left for work yesterday those two nice guys were being adorable and hugging each other.  I took a couple pictures and went on my way.  I downloaded an app on my phone that uses google maps to chart your walking and tells you how far you've gone, what speed you walked, and all this other cool stuff.  I was all excited to use it so I ended up walking to work again yesterday.  It was a completely different day, rainy and gray, which made the leaves seem even more vibrant.  Even though i wanted to keep up my naomi campbell walk for the sake of my workout app I still stopped and took picures here and there. 

When I finally got to work I realized that the things I had to post were pictures of kitty followed by pictures of leaves in central park...exactly what I had posted the day before. 

I decided I couldn't do it.  If the point of this blog is to make my life interesting I can't post the same things over and over again.  And I foolishly thought that something interesting would happen to me after work anyways. 

Instead I just cleaned the kitchen all night and then looked at pictures of kitties online until like 1 in the morning.  Not exciting at all. 

But it's halloween weekend so hopefully I will have interesting pictures to post and things to say for the next couple days. 

Wish me luck.

walking to work

I guess the leaves changed this weekend while I was away.  Today's walk to work was beyond beautiful.  These were the first trees I noticed on 3rd Ave and 96th St.  I actually know a New York Times journalist who went to school at this school right here.  I don't know if you knew that. 

My walk to work took my through central park where it was just incredible anywhere you looked. 

Right here at the great lawn is where I ran in to Meghan one day so now every time I walk past it I see her in the face of every passing stranger.  I was convinced that I saw her three different times today before I finally let go of the dream.  But if ever there were a perfect day for Meghan to be sitting on a park bench in Central Park it would be today.  

Further down in my walk I got to this spot, where I took a picture a few weeks ago.  I thought it was cool how much the landscape has changed in such a short time, with all the new colors on the trees.

What do we think the seating is for?  The NYC marathon?  Is that coming up?  I know I've seen a lot of subway commercials about how Jared is running it.  I can't ever keep track of these things.  Isn't there also a bike race right around halloween?  I feel like I got stuck in the middle of that last year while wearing a really embarassing halloween costume. 

This tree was so vibrant I think it overloaded my camera.  It looked like the leaves were made of gold!  I wanted to take a video because there were gold leaves swirling all around in the afternoon light, but there were a lot of annoying people around me and I didn't want their commentary on my video. 

Sadly all good things must come to an end and I eventually reached the end of my walk. 

Out of the park and back in to the jungle.  I always feel slightly intimidated looking at the buildings here from the edge of the park.  I just want to run back and hide in a tree, I know what awaits me as I go further in to that mess.

Actually I had no idea what awaited me today.  When I got to times square there was a team of zombies roaming around.  It was really cool, you would see a group of people standing at the corner waiting to cross the street and then realize that a couple of them were just stumbling around with blood covering the entire front of their bodies.  I was going to take a picture but I was afraid that if I engaged them they would turn on me and attack.  Better to play the cool new yorker, too busy to be bothered by the living dead. 

For all I know maybe they really were zombies.

oh excuse me

I hope I didn't disturb your really important nap with all my cleaning and handstands.  After stuffing his face he promptly made his way to the center of my bed and settled in for a good 2 hour nap.  None of the things I was doing disturbed him in the slightest, he was just off on a magical trip to dreamland. 

At some point when I was in the shower he must have woke up though.  I came in from the bathroom to find him here, where he definitely doesn't belong. 

When I asked him why he was there he made it clear that I wasn't to speak to him or look at him.

I guess he was working on his evil halloween kitty impression. 


How is that comfortable?  He's like falling off the edge of the dresser.  It's all part of the psychological torture that he's putting me through as punishment for leaving him all weekend.  Oh he's angry, don't worry about that. 

cool

mariska?

she clearly needs to have a movie made about her where she is played by Queen Latifa.

does anybody else do this?

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I watch the today show so I can see what people are wearing outside on the plaza so I know how I should dress that day.  Does anybody else do this?  When I think about it I realize that most people, especially in places other than nyc, watch the today show for the actual stories, not to see what people are wearing.  But it's such a useful tool!  I don't really see a lot of people out my window so I never really have a good feel of what it's like outside.  And when i'm flying back to NY from somewhere else it's really helpful to help me prepare for what I should wear/have handy to put on once I get out at JFK.

Anyways I always wonder if I'm the only person that does this.

nice guy

This is the jawfish in my dad's saltwater tank.  It's just one fish, he's right by the surface so you can see his reflection.

So in the tank there are also too tough clown fish that terrorize all the other creatures in the tank.  The jawfish normally makes his home in the sand at the bottom, digging himself a little hole in the sand and then being adorable and popping his head out to look around periodically.  But due to the constant harassment by the clown fish he has now made his home here, against the drain for the filter.  He's literally being sucked up against the grating where he just stays all the time because the clown fish don't bother him there.

It's kinda sad but also kind of funny looking.  I guess the water flowing past him is enough for him to be able to extract air from it because he doesn't seem to be upset or panicked by the situation at all.  He kind of just hangs out there.

nathanael?

i didnt realize he was posing for halloween costumes now.  He needs to add that to his resume right after the freelance hot stone massage therapist position and the handstand rollerskating waiter.

to build a fire

It was a frigid 86 degrees out (not kidding) so we decided that we needed to gather round the campfire for warmth.  My brother made it in his backyard after dinner, it was really nice.

I love a good fire, it's like a lava lamp.  There is something so soothing about watching the flames and the embers.  And nothing satisfies the soul like giving a fire a good poking.  My brother uses a golf club sans head for a fire poker.  My sister made fun of me for my obsessive poking, until I gave her the poker at which point she immediately started jabbing it in to the fire like her life depended on it.

As the fire continued it eventually got this really cool bed of embers on the bottom.  They of course made me think of one of my favorite stories of my childhood; the time when I stood in hot coals.  We went to the beach when I was a toddler and I guess there was a pile of coals that hadn't been put out.  I walked through them, stopped, and just stood in the burning hot coals screaming my head off.  I don't remember any of this, or the weeks after when my feet were completely bandaged, though there are pictures.  It kind of makes me want to try walking on hot coals now, knowing that i've already done it and survived.  I wonder if my feet are hyper sensitive now.

Oh and if you were wondering where I get my sense of humor here's a video I took that captures my brother being his classic self:

nestled like a gem

My brother doesn't like these buildings but I think they are so cool.  They have this weird design down the sides of them in bronze that's like some kind of palmetto leaves or something.  They are kind of hideous and 70's-esque, but that's why i like them.  They make me want to have a swinger party.

My sister and brother took my to the beach today.  It was incredibly nice, especially since it's just gotten cold enough in NYC to merit the heat coming on.  It was cool enough at the beach that the water was only bearable for a little bit, but laying on the beach it was perfect.  Just sunny enough to toast your skin but not so hot that your beer got warm before you could finish it.

And check out this guy!  I think he knew the sound of the compostable sunchips bag from a mile away cause as soon as we opened it he was right there just staring us down.

sounds about right

moon

i think my favorite part of this story is that they shot garbage at the moon.  i want that job.

walkin' along, singin' a song, butt to butt

I came home last night to a dead silent, pitch black apt.  I don't have an overhead light in my bedroom so I have to walk all the way in before I can turn on a light.  I thought I saw some shadow beasts lurking in the darkness but I didn't realize what was really going on until the eco bulb actually brightened up.

Believe it or not they were actually even more adorable fast asleep before I could take this picture, but at least they were still positioned how i found them with their tails intertwined.  I like that they won't actually sit with each other, just near each other annoyingly hitting the other one with their tail.

It's scary how much weezie is taking after the detective, right down to his signature 'laying on the bed with my head hanging off the end so it looks like i'm actually dead' move.

why are they so lazy?

beautiful gug

I was walking home from work last night and came upon this peeking out from around the corner.  I couldn't even begin to imagine what it was when I first saw it from farther away.  I thought it was like a movie theater or something, i couldn't figure out how the 5th Ave neighborhood association would allow such an eyesore to be built.

But once I got closer I figure out that it was the guggenheim.  They had some kind of projector set up across the street and they were dispaying the colors on to the exterior of the building.  Once I got closer it was more obvious, there was even a copywright logo at the bottom in the corner, but from far away it was really fantastic.  It totally looked like the building was covered in colored lights.

One of those i love new york moments.

nyc with meg

It's been hard for me to find time lately to see people i want to see, and as it gets colder outside I can feel myself preparing to become a hermit for the winter.  Meghan has been sweet and walked me to work and things like that as a means to see me so on Saturday we planned to hang out for real for reals.  

Our day started with some good old fashioned people watching in Union Square.  I think it's one of the best places to people watch in the city because I feel like it tends to be more new yorkers than tourists.  In front of the Met is always crawling with tourists but there's not really too many reasons why they would make a point to go to union square.  I mean, there's the numbers that don't make sense and the bullet hole that smokes, that's about it.  

But for locals it's a treasure trove.  You get such a fun mixture of new yorkers, from the bouj who shop at whole foods to the fly girls who shop at forever 21.  Sometimes there are farmers markets or tables set up which can be cool, but it's just as fun when nobody is there cause you can sit on the steps and watch people to your hearts content.  

One treasure we found was this guy who was either working at one of these tables or just hanging out with the people who worked there:

So from what we could figure he was basically wearing a floor length skort.  You might have to click on the picture and see it bigger to get better detail but the legs of his pants, while clearly separated at the shoe, are connected only a few inches higher where they become a voluminous skirt.  Now I thought this was awesome and that I bet it was really warm having all that heat caught in there.  Meghan on the other hand said that it seemed like you wouldn't be able to take very long strides and would, rather, have to walk like a geisha.  I don't think that's necessarily true, I imagine they have more stretch than she is giving them credit for.  I mean there is a lot bunched up by the shoe.  I imagine they're more like hammer pants; providing the ultimate mobility with the maximum amount of fabric.  

After people watching we walked down a few blocks and had ramen.  We still hadn't formulated a plan for the day, we thought a good bowl of stew would inspire us.  Apparently all it inspired us to do was eat more.  We decided that the best plan would be to make some kind of fall bounty and watch Hocus Pocus.  

On the way uptown we walked over to the river to enjoy my favorite park in new york city.

The old Carl Shurz.  I've been coming here since I was 19 and lived on 85th St.  I like it for a lot of reasons, but I definitely think the views of the water are a big part of why I'm drawn to it.  There's something so calming about watching the water, especially for somebody from Florida.  I feel like seeing the edge of manhattan like this really puts in to perspective how big and how small the city is.  

We walked the rest of the way uptown by the river, getting home at the perfect time to start carving pumpkins and making rice krispie treats.  I think I've been trying to deny that time is going by so quickly and that it's actually almost halloween, but it was really nice to get in to the spirit of it.  

seedeater

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I love the auto correct feature on cell phones.  I don't ever use them myself, I prefer typing out each word the old fashioned way.  The American way.  The way that won the war.  But I enjoy when other people use the auto correct feature because sometimes they send hilarious mistake texts, like all snouts eve.

This time it was jon's phone correcting "Awwww" as "seedeater".  I don't see the connection, but I like it.  I think seedeater is kind of sweet, especially after google image searching and pulling up a lot of nice birdies.

stop trying to make seedeater happen, it's not going to happen.

this is a slippery slope

Last night before I walked meghan to catch a cab we caught part of a golden girls clip show that included them dancing at the charity dance marathon.  If you're not familiar do yourself a favor and youtube it.  I think my favorite parts are; the way dorothy wiggles her fingers and walks like a penguin when she first starts, blanche's actually amazing dancing, and the look on rose's face when she shimmies.

When I went to youtube to find this clip I typed in "golden girls dance".  I'm going to be honest, the results were shocking.  Apparently there is some college cheerleading team that calls themselves "the golden girls" and fancy themselves a dance squad so the majority of the results were for them.  Even then the first actual golden girls clips that came up were really strange.

Then my eyes fell upon this gem.  Oh how I have always and will always love this scene.  I don't even need to say why i like it, it's pretty obvious.  I will say that I never noticed how much the detective looks/acts just like dorothy when they throw the roses at her face.

Of course once I watched this video it listed other videos that i might be interested in, including when they are rehearsing for this number, "Dorothy!.... .... .... Go Dorothy go!"

If you need me i'll be watching golden girls clips on youtube for the next 10 hours.

yesssss

I have had this stuck in my head for the past three days since jon sent it to me. I can't wait until halloween to see some skanky ass ho droppin it to the floor to this song.  This song makes me want to make it rain all over a for the love of ray j stripper.

I wonder if this 8 year old knows what she has unleashed.

i whip my hair back and forth i whip my hair back and forth

all paths of hope end at craigslist

ahh sweet lady craigslist, i knew it was only a matter of time before I was enveloped in your perfumed decolletege once again.

The only job I ever got from craigslist that ever amounted to anything (no not a handjob, get your mind out of the gutter) was at the raw vegan place.  And even that was a little suspect.  I think everyone understands that when you cast your net on craigslist you draw in quite a variety of things, both as the poster and as the responder. 

Everything on craigslist is always shrouded in positive spin.  It doesn't matter if you're looking at an apt or a trick, they usually end up being about 10 years older than the picture would suggest and are riddled with bed bugs. Though I can't complain too much as I do the same thing.  I won the prestigious golden key at marymount manhattan!! 

That's ariel's favorite memory, at graduation when they called my name to receive the golden key.  The crowds parted with a gasp, the spotlight illuminated a single empty chair, "reserved" hung limply from the back. 

So come on craigslist, that doesn't impress you?  Who do I have to sleep with to get a job around here?  I guess I should take a meander through the personals? 

thank goodness for svu

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For some reason i'm just not feeling it today.

I am thankful for Law and Order SVU marathons.  Today's theme is dysfunctional family.

a topic i may know a thing or two about.

yay

this just about sums it up.

it begins

omg its already so good!  And you know that she's redoing all i want for christmas is you.  It's going to be epic!!!

My only problem is that it doesn't come out until novemeber which means i'll only have a good month/month and a half to listen to it before it will be inappropriate to listen to christmas music.  This really should have come out on the 4th of July.

wtf is this?

These were at the weirdo new store that opened up near our apt.  They really gross me out.  I wonder if they are in some kind of tray inside or if they're just loose in the box.

scary or fascinating?

scary

i think.

definitely scary.

cool dad

pancakes!

i'm a little grossed out by the accessories made of pancakes, but the other ones are cool.  Especially like the birdhouse, and the dinosaur is amazing.

it can tell when its raining

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The weather application on my phone is so janky.  It takes forever to update the location and even when it is the right place the forecast is usually painfully wrong.  Like right now it shows some vaguely scary grey clouds accumulating as if there might be some trouble brewing on the horizon.  In reality it's pouring down ice rain outside right now.

I wonder if Karen Smith is responsible for the programming of the weather information.

still amazing

best online game

if you're a fan of online flash games this one remains my favorite to date.  It's simple enough that you get hooked easily, but then you can actually get really invested in the strategy of it too.

It starts to lag a bit as you get to the higher levels because the ants get stronger and stronger, it takes longer and longer to accumulate money, and the better cannons cost a lot.  This part of it kind of sucks but it's still fun to try different strategies.

My personal best is level 74.  I feel like you start to plateau around level 70 so if you don't have a solid defense with several slices of cake left then you won't make it much further.  I looked up what other people said about the game online and there are claims of getting to level 100 and further.  This seems like a lot of it would depend on the luck of the ants.  Sometimes all 6 ants make a bee line for that sweet sweet cake, and sometimes they just wander around like idiots forever. 

Anyways, if you're bored and want a fun game to play try it.  I want to know what other people's strategies are. 

get outta here ants

i know what i want for my birthday!

these

so if you guys want to pool your money i'd understand.  You can't break up the set.

best friends

I came in to my room and found them both snoozing together.  I guess it makes me feel better that the detective has to have his big butt in everyone's face, it's not just something he does to terrorize me.

They are too cute.  It was hard to get a good picture of their adorableness because of the usual reasons.  Most of them turned out like this:

like the shadow monsters that take the bad people away in Ghost.  Just those evil eyes, pulling you to hell.

I'll be sleeping soundly tonight...

check out these nice ladies

I found them at work, at a separate desk from wooly willy.  You know how willy gets with the ladies.

Anyways, nesting dolls will always make me think of Leah, and make me miss her fondly.

ok who do I have to thank

which one of you bought this for me?  I stumbled upon it on my walk home and it was the perfect tuesday gift.

but seriously why would you park this on the street?  I feel like I should make a citizens arrest, and commandeer the vehicle...

i stand by it

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This morning while I was cleaning I had my itunes set to shuffle through all of my music.  I rarely do this because I have a lot of really random stuff on there that doesn't really work when taken out of context (stephen colbert's "I am america and so can you").  I know that you can uncheck things and they won't play but i'm too lazy.  

Anyways, a song from the Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack came on and I was reminded of what a great soundtrack it was, and what a great movie.  

I scoured the interwebs (10 minutes of actual looking, with lots of breaks to give kitty nice pets) looking for my all time favorite clip but couldn't find it.  It's when Parker Posey is wearing the choker with the feathers coming out of it.  It's too good to describe if you haven't seen it.  

When I first think of this movie my mind always goes to the amazing Parker Posey moments, so it isn't long before i remember that Alan Cumming is in it as well and is beyond good as usual.  The picture above pretty much sums up their roles in the movie.  I love when he chokes on the m&m.  

The soundtrack is actually pretty good for the movie too.  I was under the impression that they had hired a real band (I always thought it was the veronica's for some reason.  maybe because of veronica lodge.) but according to wikipedia the lead singer on the tracks was some chick from the band letters to cleo and all the back up singing was actually done by the three girls.  Pretty incredible that Tara Reid was doing things like that at one point.  

I never knew this either but apparently the main producer was babyface.  It makes sense, all of the songs seem plausible that you could have heard them on the radio.  Especially the DuJour songs.  Those are too amazing.  The only thing that gives them away as a joke are the lyrics, but otherwise it sounds exactly like something from any one of those boy bands of our youth.  

This is why it's good to listen to all your music sometimes.  You rediscover something you'd forgotten all about.  If you haven't seen this movie you should check it out.  

"that was close...to being a really nice moment between us..."

he's helping

The detective was being a terror all morning.  If you're wondering what those sparkles are around his eyes they're drops of water.  At his insistence I turned the water on for him and he just kept sticking his whole head under it and letting it run across his cheek.  When he finally did start drinking it he got so eager that I guess water went up his nose.  He sneezed like 8 times in a row.  It cracked me up.

But he really decided to be a good boy and help me when i was trying to make my bed, as referenced earlier in the mariah post.

Once I had gotten the bed stripped he immediately flopped down in the very center.  He did look very adorable so I wanted to give him some nice pets.  This was his response:

I feel like I always look like a cutter because of the gashes along my forearms.  He gets such a faraway look in his eyes when he bites me and kicks me.  It's kind of creepy.  Like rage is his drug of choice.

Well I finally couldn't take anymore and went to picking up my room, hoping he would get bored and leave my bed.  He didn't, but his best friend came to join the party:

One of these days i'm going to take a video showing how these pictures are not me catching kitty with a funny look on his face.  He literally sits completely still like he's pretending to be dead but really just waiting for the right moment to attack.  In reality he's just weird and lazy.

I finally got them both off my bed and put the fitted sheet on.  I am not kidding when I say I literally turned around to get the sheet, turned back and found this:

I don't even know where he came from.  I thought I had seen him leave the room altogether.  He was not pleased about me taking so many pictures of him:

I decided that if he was going to insist on being on the bed I would just have to make him in to the bed.  At first he played my game of chicken, acting like it didn't bother him in the slightest:

But once we got to this point he couldn't take it anymore.  He stayed under there for like 30 seconds before he finally ran away:

At one point when I was doing yoga I looked over and there was a pile of dark fur sticking out from under the door to my room, but I haven't seen him since.  I guess maybe he got called in for a case? I'm sure he's figure out some way to retaliate against me.