Godard, Alligators, Pianos, & Bathing Caps

Here are some more signs I saw while I was about town.


On the wall of a public bathroom: "Godard is overrated."


Thu: Sex w/ alligator. I will no longer look forward to Thursday.

My aunt is leaving the hospital tomorrow. Here's a short video of her playing the piano for us, with Brian singing quietly along.

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. Have to get ready for our trip. And I've been so tired. Now that I'm nice and old, it seems I can fall asleep just about anywhere.

I've started knitting again. The other day, I fell asleep mid-stitch. A few days before that, I was on the subway platform waiting for a train (it was pretty late at night), and I fell asleep just as I was — standing. I experienced that odd sensation sleepers sometimes have of feeling like one is falling forward. Suddenly, I jolted awake. Which was good, as I had been, in actuality, falling forward. Horrible, crumpled mess on the tracks — that is something I do not need (to be) in my life right now.

Brian seems to think we need to bring bathing caps to Iceland. He says, "They are very clean people. It says in the tour book that you have to take a shower with soap, and without your undergarments on before going into the lagoon."

Do I need a bathing cap? I'm praying not. I was game for a wig, but a bathing cap is really just too much.

Photos & Frustration

Our friends William and Roxcy were in town this weekend.
I took some pictures with my giant, heavy camera.

Last night, Valerie exposed us to some more culture. We saw/heard the New York Philharmonic Concert In the Park. It was a gorgeous night and the concert was beautiful, but I kept getting distracted by other people's elaborate picnic accouterments. One group had on top of their picnic blanket a low table with a lantern on top. Another appeared to have brought a server with them who came with trays of prepared food, cloth napkins, a floral centerpiece, a large cake, and beeswax candles. This annoyed me.

While I was on line for the port-a-potties, I overheard two fellows talking behind me. They had just waved to a passing couple. When the couple was out of earshot, one guy said, "I don't get him. He spent $400 on shoes."

The other guy said, "I know. And he makes, like, half what we make. Like, a third or fourth what we make."

"Yeah. He makes like a third or a fifth what we make, but he spends half his paycheck on clothing."

Both men appeared to be in their mid-to-late twenties. One said to the other, "So how do you know those girls?"

The other said three girls names, and then said, of the first, "I know her from college. So we go back. Way back. Like, I've know her for, like, seven years. Or ten years or something. We go back." The second girl he knew through the first girl, and purported to have known her for almost as many years. The third girl was a different story. "I've only known her for like two or three years, maybe, but we have a total crush on each other, you know."

Eh.

Then one asked the other whether Mayor Bloomberg was a republican or an independent. The other said, "Well, I'm a registered republican, and I get his mailings, so I think he must be a registered republican."

The other guy said, "I'm an independent, you know — I don't want to be tied to either party — but I get his mailings too."

Shoes, money, pretending that girls like you when they don't ... and now you're political conservatives! Of course, I hated them and I hated being trapped on line with them as I waited for the inevitable grossness of attending a port-a-potty party.

I had brought our little camera to the concert to snap some pictures. But, all of a sudden, it didn't work. I kept replaying the last things I had done with the camera before taking it out at the concert. I had charged the battery, inserted it in the camera, then dropped it into my purse. Did it bang against something. Had I spilled water on it? The camera was completely dead.

Today I was about to call Canon tech support. But I noticed that when I took out the battery and looked inside the slot, I could see a small, silver piece of vaguely foreign-looking material. After some maneuvering, it became apparent the silver piece had actually originated as tin foil from a gum wrapper. The camera works fine now.

Which is good. Because we will need it soon. Brian and I are headed to Iceland at the end of the month. We'll be there for a week. Anyone have any suggestions?

Weekend Photos

Here are some pictures I took this weekend with my crappy camera phone.

"We Still Carry Answering Machines."

Don't walk ... Hang ten.

Creepy baby doll in a garbage bin.

Rooftop laundry and graffiti, as seen from the pedestrian walk of the Manhattan Bridge.

Happy Monday!

Remarkable

My friend Valerie had an extra ticket to the ballet.
She invited me to come along. It was Romeo and Juliet, a story I've never been too keen about. And by the time I got home it would probably be around midnight. I hesitated, but decided to go.

The ballet turned out to be pretty fun. The costumes and the sets were really gorgeous, and I guess I don't mind the story so much if people are bouncing around and nobody's speaking. I was a tiny bit embarrassed by how scantily-clad the men were. Big, frilly shirts on top, but on the bottom, not much more than a jockstrap. I kept thinking, Someone should really say something to them. Someone should let them know....

We bumped into my friend Ann and her friend Erica, which made the evening even more enjoyable. I think I like ballet.

I can't remember why I thought mentioning the ballet was notable enough to blog about.

Our July 4th festivities were a little less notable. I did witness a really substantial pot hole with an orange traffic cone shoved into it. I liked it so much, I took its picture.

The other day, there was a smear of something that appeared to be blood on the subway seat next to me. I took a picture of it.

I got a few curious glances. I think people thought I was doing this so I could report it to 311. But I was just doing it because I thought it was funny and gross. And notable.