what i love about nyc
Undoubtedly, one of the best things about New York City is that EVERYBODY delivers.
There's delivery for every type of food, first of all. There's the obvious pizza, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, and Indian. Diners deliver too, so you never have to wait too long for a nice omelet or BLT. Even McDonald's delivers.
Besides restaurants, virtually all grocery stores deliver. Trader Joe's Wine Shop takes it a step further and delivers alcohol as well. Laundry places deliver fresh, clean and nicely folded clothes, and Barnes & Noble delivers book purchases right to your door. It really doesn't get much better!
sonnets and sims
Sonnets:
Several months ago I realized that I somehow became a reasonably well-educated adult without learning hardly any Shakespeare. It's a little embarassing, but my Shakepearean familiarity is pathetic, at best. However, I finally decided to do something about it. I joined this Shakespeare reading group, and last night was the first meeting I attended. It's essentially exactly what is sounds like... a group of people who get together and read Shakespeare plays. We don't act them out or anything. It's more of a table read, with everyone getting assigned a role or two.
Last night we did Henry IV, part 1, and I played both Hostess and Worcester. It was actually really great. I haven't read more than two lines of Shakespeare since my junior year of high school, so I was shocked at how easily it rolled off my tongue. The prose is really quite beautiful. I'm really looking forward to next month's reading, and am glad I now have this fun way to familiarize myself with Shakespeare's body of work!
Sims:
Maybe someone can help me with this. I've decided that I would really like to become wrapped up in some sort of game (preferably computer but maybe simple game system?) where I can create something and/or be in control. Ideally, I could play over the internet without having to really download anything, and I would be able to create a world, or a character/team or creature of some sort, maybe a society or at least some buildings. I don't really know. For some reason I just really think this sounds like fun. I've never really been into this sort of thing before, so I'm not sure what my options are. I know the Sims series has been popular in the past, but I'm not exactly sure what it is/how to play, or even if it's really what I'm looking for. My brother suggested a game called Civilization. I haven't looked into that one, but I guess it's a possibility. Does anyone have any other ideas/suggestions?
"Believer" book reviews
Last night I was reading my most recent issue of the literary magainze "Believer," and particularly enjoyed the one-page book reviews. Besides the review itself, each page includes some interesting info about the book and a representative sentence, chapter title, etc. Additionally, the theme/tone of each book is widdled down to a central question. These are often interesting and thought provoking. Here are this month's:
Are there any futures worth thinking about? - Love in a Fallen City, by Eileen Chang
Can sense and nonsense, melody and dissonance, together make a single work of art? -
A Fiddle Pulled from the Throat of a Sparrow, by Noah Eli Gordon
From this angle, does the world look tiny or huge? - All Over, by Roy Kesey
What does love look like when two unlovable people incapable of expressing love fall in love? - Laura Warholic, by Alexander Theroux
How many good poems can a person write about quantum physics? - Quantum Lyrics, by A. Van Jordan
Is there any such thing as continuity? - Zeroville, by Steve Erickson
Besides the reviews, I also liked what was written about art critic/writer Dave Hickey in the intro of his interview. I sometimes feel like this...
"His passions are idiosyncratic, he drives at no major thesis, nor is he seeking a revolution in taste or even acolytes. It seems he wants to construct an edifice of true things--or, at least, the least likely wrong things--that can be said about whatever subjects are most interesting and at hand."
calling all reality tv fans: i need help!
Ok, so I know there are a couple readers of this blog who are big reality tv fans. If that's you, please help me out! Apparently my parents have purchased the Deal or No Deal board game, and our whole family is going to have a tournament or something out at their house in California over Christmas. The awesome part is that on the last day we will be playing with real money -- mom and pops haven't decided on a final amount yet, but said probably around $250-300.
The problem is that my parents and my sister and brother-in-law are all fans of the show. I, however, have literally never even seen one second of it on tv. I have no idea how to play. Is it trivia based, do you have to win challenges? What is the strategy involved? I have no clue. This is way too big of a pot for me not to study up and master the strategy of the game before arriving out there next Sunday. If you are a fan of the show or know how it works, please please please help out and clue me in to the best tactics!
the real San Francisco treat
The following is an almost verbatim excerpt from a conversation I had last night with my friend Jenny.
Jenny: Hey do you want to run the San Francisco marathon with me this year?
Me: Absolutely not. No Way. Do you have any idea how hilly it is there?
Jenny: Yeah, but when you cross the finish line you get a necklace from Tiffany's put around your neck by a fire fighter.
Me: How much is the entrance fee?
I changed my tune pretty quickly!
weird
Today I:
- rode in a subway car with a half dozen Santas
- saw a grown woman who was wearing skorts
things i've realized this week
1. I think I should start wearing leggins or leg warmers under my pants each day to stay a little warmer.
2. I really don't like Katharine McPhee.
3. I am going to look into purchasing a hat.
4. Revolving doors are preferable because I don't have to take my hands out of my pockets to go through them.
5. Christmas is less than 3 weeks away.
6. My new goal is to go to bed by midnight at least one day a week. I think that may help a bit with my perpetual morning tiredness.
7. Facebook is sooo much better than Myspace.
8. "Gossip Girl" is the best new show this season, and while it can't replace "Gilmore Girls," it's a solid second place.
9. More websites should have free shipping, like Amazon.
10. You really can never have too many Christmas parties.
public space
I'm realizing that one of my favorite things about the city is the extensive public space system. Besides the obvious outdoor parks, there are many skyscrapers (at least in the area of town where I work) where the bottom floor is a giant space open to the public. There are usually plenty of tables and chairs, so people are kickin' back in there at all times. The public space in the building next to mine has beautiful indoor landscaping complete with a two-story waterfall, a Starbucks, and a piano player from noon-3 pm (like at Von Maur!!). The Sony building down the street has an Ilalian coffee shop and restrooms, so that's an important one. The strangest is one about a block away in the bottom floor of Lever House. This one is known for having sort of odd, modernist art, and the current display is an arragement of 2 or 3dozen sheep carcasses. It's actually a very interesting exhibit, and you can
check out the NY Times article about it here. It's just nice that there's still some interesting stuff you can check out around here for free!
ticket to pasadena!!
I almost don't really care that the Bears lost a tough one today, because Illinois is going to the Rose Bowl, baby! It's normally at least semi-fun to be an Illinois fan during basketball season, but this is bonus year because the football team is actually something to write home about too. We've won 9 games this year, which is one more than the total number of wins over the last four seasons COMBINED. I know what I'll be doing at 4:30pm on January 1st!
And the cherry on top is that Ohio State is in the national championship game. I cheer for and enjoy the Buckeyes, unless they are playing Illinois, but I wouldn't call myself a super dedicated or "true" fan. They are really the only other college football team I feel any sort of substantial affinity for, so I'm pretty excited for them too.
first snow
I've been pretty excited for the holidays since the day after Thanksgiving, but today I finally feel like the Christmas season is upon us. There's basically two reasons for that. First, this morning I woke up to a nice little snowshower. It was so pretty, and I was really suprised by the fact that I didn't really mind the cold all that much. I took a couple pictures... one is outside the door of my building, and the other is at the subway stop.
Second, our Christmas tree is finally up for good. It's a 7 foot live tree, so it's not the easiest thing to maneuver. We put it up last Saturday, the 24th, but on Tuesday it fell over. It leaned against the wall until late Friday night when my roomate and I were both home at the same time and could deal with it. We couldn't get it to stay in the stand without falling, so we decided to secure it by tying it up. We used 2 large 3M Command hooks and tied sturdy ribbon from one hook, around the trunk of the tree, and then to the other hook. This worked pretty well for a couple of hours, but then the weight of the tree pulled the hooks off the wall and it fell again. Yesterday I was able to pick up a different stand and get the tree standing upright without any sort of jerry-rigging. Then this afternoon I spent a few hours taking off all of the lights and ornaments (they were all messed up from all the falling and leaning) and putting them all back on again. Now, finally, our tree is up for good and our apartment officially feels Christmasy.
