Day Twenty-One
After my disaster of a day Thursday, I decided to take it easy yesterday and find something to do around here. So I spent the afternoon lying on a blanket in
Central Park.
First, however, I had to go to
Barnes and Noble to finally pick up an LSAT prep book, as these two weeks were supposed to be devoted to early preparations for the October test. I've decided to retake it in the hopes that I'll do a little better when they're not Monday of finals week.
As I was looking at the books and trying to decide which one to buy, some man came up to me and started talking about the LSATs when he took them 20 years ago. However, I guess he was having serious problems, because his face was COVERED in snot. Pools of it had collected in the crevices of his face. I thought I was going to be sick. I kept staring determinately at the books in front of me as he droned on for the next TEN minutes, pausing only to occasionally wipe his nose. Then he wrote the names of some books he recommened in a child's handwriting and I grabbed the first prepbook I could and RAN to the check-out counter.
On my way to the park I found a nice little yarn store - good selection, prices aren't too bad. I'll definitely be back soon with my patterns so I can actually buy something.
Once at the park I ended up setting up camp in the same area Elke and I were last time - right next to
Turtle Pond, which sits just below
Belvedere Castle - quite a nice view, very peaceful. I wore my bikini underneath my clothes in the hope that I wouldn't feel too trashy sunbathing while taking my practice LSAT and reading. When I got there, it turned out most of the people there were doing just that, so I stripped down to get some sun.
The next few hours were wonderful with only a few minor glitches. It turns out the
prepbook I got SUCKS ASS. I guess I should have done my research, as every reviewer on Amazon.com said roughly the same thing. The questions are just really, really poorly worded. Obviously whoever wrote that crap factory has never even heard of semantics, much less studied it. But
Necklace of Kisses was a wonderful read for an afternoon in the park (but I'm not yet done, so don't ruin anything!). I have a feeling it could end up being my saving grace.
As I passed the baseball fields on my way home, a man stopped and asked if I would be willing to join their team for just one game so they didn't have to forfeit. Sadly for him, I had been in the middle of reminiscing about the last time I played baseball. It was in summer gym in high school, and they had a rule that everyone had to hit the ball - no one could strike out. I believe it took 29 strikes with the pitcher 10 feet in front of me throwing the balls AT my bat for my teacher to finally let me give up and sit back down. The retarded girl in our class went after me and she hit it after only 8 pitches. So I made up an excuse and hurried away. But I almost wish I had said yes. If nothing else, I could have met some people. Oh well, baseball playing people aren't really my kind of people anyway.
When I got home Elke was taking a nap, so I just kind of hung out. We were going to go to the club Shannon works at that night, so we just sat around until it was time to leave. Then, just as we were putting the finishing touches on our outfits, Shannon texted Elke to let her know that there was no point in us coming. By this time it was midnight and too late to find something else to do, especially since the Upper West Side nightlife is mainly geared toward frat boys and old people. So we picked up some beer and Doritos and had our own private party here.
Day Twenty
Yesterday was a bit of a disaster. Of course, it wasn't anyone's fault but my own accident-prone ass.
I decided to go trinket-shopping in Chinatown. I broke my sunglasses and needed a new pair and I want some NYC stationary and I have a couple people to buy presents for, so it seemed like a good place to go.
I got off the train at the Canal Street station, but when I climbed out of the station I had no clue where I was. Chinatown was nowhere in sight. Using my usually dependable sense of direction, I just picked a street and started walking. I actually ended up in not only an area I recognized, but one from which I knew the direction of Canal Street.
I was in SoHo, so I spent a bit of time shopping along the way. This is when the disaster began. I don't remember many of the store names, as most of them were little boutiques and stuff. I didn't really see anything I liked until I entered this one store, but I ended up having to rush out in embarassment after I mistook a mirror for a doorway into another room and RAN INTO THE MIRROR. So that's special.
I went into a couple other stores, still not really seeing anything. But then I walked into a store that looked pretty promising called Dirty Jane's/Sloppy Joe's, which is affiliated with
Yellow Rat Bastard. Unfortunately, one of the first things I saw was a wife beater (for lack of a better description) that actually had the words "Wife Beater" written on it. I immediately walked out and will NEVER go back in there OR Yellow Rat Bastard.
I ended up buying two shirts on clearance at Chill on Broadway, one white tank top with pretty silver bangles on it and one light pink t-shirt that's kind of sheer, so has potential to be very girl-next-door sexy.
And then I reached Canal Street.
It turned out most of the sunglasses were absolutely ridiculous looking - most of them were knockoffs of those awful huge things that are hot in Hollywood right now. You know, the ones that the Olsen twins wear that make their heads look even tinier than they already are. I didn't find any that weren't completely ridiculous AND had brown lenses (VERY important - black ones make the world look ashy) until over an hour later.
At one point I was looking at a rack of sunglasses when this HUGE woman (we're talking Roseanne size) decided that my foot was a nice place to rest hers and she just STOOD THERE for like a minute. I continuously informed her that she was STANDING ON MY FOOT, but she didn't speak any English or something, because she didn't budge. Finally, in huge amounts of pain, I shoved her off of me (a mere nudge would not have worked) right into the rack of sunglasses. She knocked it over and took my toenail with her. She started yelling at me in some foreign language, but I just told her to fuck off (English I'm sure even she could understand) and got the hell out of dodge.
Keep in mind that it was over 90* out and nowhere in Chinatown has air conditioning, and now not only was I SOAKING in sweat, but bleeding from the foot.
Being the die-hard shopper I am, I decided to continue on my quest. However, I was too fed up with the day in general to actually decide to buy anything. I saw a couple shirts I liked, but didn't want to dig through all of them looking for my size or the size of those I wanted to buy for. Then I found a really cool necklace I liked in a bunch of different colors, but by the time I figured out what color I wanted, I was too lazy to search for matching earrings (a must for me). Also, I was dragging my feet, and so I kept stubbing my already-injured toe every time I entered a "store" that had a one-inch entrance step. Elke wants to go purse shopping down there one day, so I'll buy all those things I missed out on when I go back with her.
I worked my way back to Spring Street station - finding the Canal Street station just didn't seem like an option at this point. I stopped in a few other stores, but it just wasn't in me anymore. I've been looking for the perfect pair of brown dress shoes and the perfect pair of flats, as heels aren't an option here because there's too much walking and not an option in Athens because there are too many hills. As I was entering the station I saw a woman wearing
the most perfect shoes I have ever seen in my entire life and then I proceeded to chase her down so I could find out where she got them. I looked them up as soon as I got home I looked them up. Sadly, they're $90, but I think I might actually splurge and buy them tomorrow, just as long as they're not TOO uncomfortable. And believe me, they're much cuter in person than they are in the picture - the butterfly flaps when you walk.
When I got home I was so tired I was ready for bed, even though it was only 7.00. We went to
Cleopatra's Needle for dinner and listened to the jazz show for a bit afterward. Then I got some fries from McDonald's on the way home, as I had a very, very serious craving for them.
I was still exhausted, so I was sound asleep by midnight (very early for me) and ended up getting 11 glorious hours of much-needed sleep.
Day Nineteen
I had been looking forward to yesterday since before we got here. It was the night there would be an Irish dancing troupe in
Union Square for free as part of the
Summer in the Square series. I planned my day accordingly - I was going to get up by 10.30 and be down there by 11.30-12.00. I would take the B train to the Broadway/Lafayette stop so that I could shop my way to
The Strand and then spend aaaalllllll day there, just browsing. Then, at 5.00, I was going to meet Elke after her class and we would grab dinner together and then watch the show.
I was very, very disappointed when I woke up at 2.00. Somehow my alarm didn't register that I wanted to get up and did not go off. So I rushed around like a maniac and was out the door by 2.30, grabbing an apple on my way out.
I hurried up Broadway, stopping only at
American Apparel to see if they had gotten anymore of the dress I wanted in my size. They hadn't. Then I spent two glorious hours at The Strand. Unfortunately, this was not nearly enough compared to the FIVE hours I had originally intended on spending there. I made it all the way through the fourth (and final) floor and partially through two others. I didn't even touch the carts and carts of $1 books outside.
I ended up buying
Necklace of Kisses (for half of the cover price) and a knitting book. I also snagged one of their last brown hoodies. I knew that my one piece of NYC clothing was going to be a Strand sweatshirt, but I didn't like the black ones they had in stock, and I thought that was all they had. But I asked and they said that altough they're not getting anymore in because they don't sell very well, they did have THREE brown ones left (which is the color I was holding out for) and one of them happened to be in my size. I bought it immediately. It made my day - I've been looking online for one since I first saw the black one. I would have taken anything, but brown was my first choice.
Then I met up with Elke and one of the girls from her class to watch some Irish dancing. Now, I have never seen an Irish dancing troupe and I LOVE Irish dancing. I even dated an Irish dancer when I was in 8th grade (later I found out he was gay, but wasn't TOO surprised). My family owns the two Riverdance tapes and I'll just watch them over and over - the only video downloaded to my computer is my favorite clip (Cry of the Celts).
The show itself was actually really good. I was surprised to see how many different things they did. Also, they had a "junior league," which was 4 girls and a boy, all about 8-10 years old. The little boy was so cute - he was half the size of the girls. The whole show was just great and I was so sad when it ended. They're having an Irish dancing "Fesh" on Staten Island the day AFTER I leave, which makes me sadder than it probably should...
We didn't want to go home after that, so we walked around the area for a bit. However, by that time we were both starving. I was so hungry I was weak - all I'd had was an apple and it was nearing 8.00. Since we had TONS of leftovers at home, we came back here with intent to go to a bar near us after eating. However, Elke decided she was too tired to leave once we got here, so we just stayed here for the rest of the night.
Day Eighteen
Yesterday was one of the more interesting days we've had so far. I planned out a route of exploration of the
Lower East Side for the day, so I set my alarm for 11.00 (yes, it was necessary). I was busy playing the "five more minutes" game with my snooze button when someone knocked on my bedroom door. I freaked out. Not only was no one else supposed to have access to the apartment, but I was completely naked - I had even kicked off my blankets while sleeping.
Thankfully, it was just Elke, who, if you remember, was supposed to be at her
Second City class. But she never made it to her classes that day. One of the trains she was on magically turned into an express train to Brooklyn (it happens more than it should) and she ended up going 20-30 minutes in the wrong direction. Then she got on the wrong train and went even further into Brooklyn.
When she finally got on the wrong train she started talking to the man next to her about her morning and it took an entire minute before she realized she was sitting in a HUGE puddle of what appeared to be piss.
And all this was before I woke up. This is why I don't understand people who try to tell me I'm missing too much by getting up at noon - waking up early just gives the day more time to go wrong. Not as many things go wrong at night, for some reason.
Anyway, Elke showered and vowed to stay in bed for the rest of the day. I woke up, but it was a very groggy morning. Because I was so upset the night before I barely got any sleep. I ended up having to take a nap after my shower as well. But when I woke up, Elke still wasn't up.
At 3.00 I burst into her room and demanded that she get out of bed. I figured if anyone needed some retail therapy, it was her. If nothing else, she needed a new pair of pants to replace the ones that got soaked in urine. So we got ready and set out to the Lower East Side.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the Lower East Side is a seedy little part of town with very few places worth going into. However, one place about which I was very excited (which is actually the reason I was so excited about going down there) was
Babeland. It's been one of my favorite websites for years. I didn't get any toys, but I did get a really cool-looking book,
Erotic Fairy Tales. I prefer historical romances (erotica or not), but they didn't have any, so I figured this was certainly second best.
Then we stopped by the
Lower East Side Tenement Museum gift shop, but the only thing we got there was this week's issue of
Time Out New York, the main story of which is called "Stoned in the City." It has a bunch of things to do when you're stoned. Unfortunately, it had no listings of where to buy the stuff that makes you stoned in the city and we are out until tomorrow. Then we went down to Henry Street, which is where Barbra Streisand lives in
Funny Girl,which is Elke's all-time favorite movie - she's seen it at least 8 million times and knows every single word. And she sang "People Who Need People" while I tried to figure out the easiest way out of there.
Then we got on the subway and rode 3 stops and then got off. Much to our delight, this led us to
Greenwich Village, where we haven't really had a chance to go yet. We walked around for a bit until we realized we were hungry and then I got all excited because I remembered Chumley's was in the Village and it is this literary mecca of a bar.
Chumley's used to be a speakeasy, so it's hidden on a residential street. There's no sign or anything - you just have to know it's there. The food wasn't fantastic and the service was AWFUL (we left a $2 tip on a $40 bill and I though that was being REALLY generous) but the place itself was really cool. There were book covers all over the walls, all of which were written by people who ate there. There were also pictures (some autographed) of the authors themselves. It was a huge hangout during the Beat Generation, so of course there were pictures of all those guys. I went to the bathroom and got really excited about the prospect of peeing where Jack Kerouac had peed (a bit creepy, I know, but I thought it was cool).
After leaving Chumley's we walked around a bit more. We didn't want to go home but we didn't really know where to go. There was a jazz concert on one of the streets, so we watched that for a bit, but then we felt the need to keep moving. Then we made the genius decision to walk home. From 14th Street. And we live on the Upper West Side.
We actually ended up making it pretty far. But by the time we reached 42nd Street it was starting to get really dark and Elke had to pee and after all, we'd been wandering around for hours by that point. So we hopped on the train at
Bryant Park and headed home.
Day Seventeen
Yay for getting my first comment! Thank you very kindly. Oh yeah, and Delivery.com has McDonald's, but not the one that delivers to my street, so poo on it.
Yesterday was the first day of Elke's classes and so I was completely on my own until around 5-6. She doesn't like touristy things, so I decided to take the opportunity to play Audrey Hepburn on Fifth Avenue. I mapped out a little route for myself and headed out.
I started at
Bloomingdale's (where they had a skirt I MADE on sale for like $100) and worked my way down to
Grand Central Terminal. I stopped in
Barney's for a bit and felt like a jackass because I couldn't even afford to shit there if they charged for toilet paper. Then I went to the Plaza Hotel and thought about Sex and the City (one of my favorite episodes is the Season Two finale, "
Ex and the City," where Big has his engagement party at the plaza and he and Carrie have a
The Way We Were Moment afterward).
I stared sadly at the place
F.A.O. Schwarz should have been because I heard it had closed. Thankfully, I was wrong - it had just moved to the store next door. Sadly, it was very disappointing. The toy soldiers were still standing outside, but the robot from the inside was missing and I couldn't find a single Lego in the entire place. What a crock of shit.
Times Square Toys 'R Us is MUCH better.
And then I pretended I was Holly Golightly while wondering around
Tiffany & Co. trying to look as though I belonged. I wanted to pretend that I was getting engaged so someone would help me pick out a ring, but most of the sales people were busy and the ones who weren't didn't take me seriously... I wonder why...
I also went in
The Disney Store (where I spent forever looking for a present for a friend that just did not want to exist),
American Girl Place (I got Samantha for my 8th birthday),
H&M (to return a shirt and buy some jewelry),
Mexx,
Zara and
Saks Fifth Avenue. I decided not to bother with
Macy's since they're all over the place now.
I had written down that Grand Central Terminal was at the corner of 42nd St and Fifth Avenue, so when I saw a gigantic building at that intersection I figured that's what it was. But as I got closer I noticed "Library Zone" signs, which I thought was a few blocks down. I walked even closer to the buildling.
I stopped.
Across the top of this enormous, beautiful building were the words, "
The New York Public Library." I got really, really excited for about 3 seconds and then became very, very sad. I had to meet Elke back at the apartment at 6.00 and it was already after 5.00. I knew that my first day in the library will have to be a long one where I had no other plans, and I didn't want to ruin any of the surprises by even just peeking in.
So I pried myself away and walked down to Lexington where the Grand Central Terminal actually was. It was a beautiful building, but I was in a hurry to get home, so I just walked around for a bit and then caught the train at Bryant Park to head home.
After my long day and lack of sleep from the night before (I have serious problems getting to bed before 4.00), I was exhausted. Thankfully, Elke was just as tired as I was - she had to be showered and out of the house by 9.00. I decided to take a quick nap, and when I woke up 45 minutes later, she was asleep as well. I was hungry, but I waited as long as I could before waking her up to ask her if she wanted to order Chinese. We ate it while watching the
Miss Teen USA Pageant (go Miss Teen Ohio!) and it was delicious.
Elke went to bed early-ish because she had to get up early today again for her classes. I stayed up and watched TV and played around on the computer, trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself today. And then, when talking to one of my friends, he said something that made me very, very sad. I got a big headache and very little sleep.
But I am better now, I think.
Day Sixteen
I was hungover yesterday, so this is going to be short.
I didn't wake up until 3.30. By this time, Elke had already woken up, eaten breakfast and gone back to bed. I wasn't TOO terribly hungover, but I just felt extremely sluggish. However, I showered and washed my face (because of course I slept in a full face of make-up, mascara and everything) and we decided to go read in the park.
But somehow reading in the park turned into walking a million miles in the park. We made it all the way to
Belvedere Castle before settling down with our books. I'm rereading
Dangerous Angels in anticipation of the new Weetzie Bat book,
Necklace of Kisses. It came out at the beginning of the month, but I had to finish
Anna Karenina (my self-appointed summer reading book) before I could attack
Dangerous Angels. It was a very beautiful and quintessential Sunday evening in the park. There were children and dogs and sunshine and green grass and all those nice things. Adding my favorite book to the mix just made life perfect.
But, all good things must end, and about 20 minutes into twilight we abandoned our patch of grass in order to visit the castle, stop by
Shakespeare Garden and get out of the park before dark ('cause that's when the coyotes come out, I am told). We walked along Columbus Avenue looking for somewhere to eat dinner and finally settled upon Cafe Roma Pizzeria, a Kosher pizza place right around the corner from us.
And then we came back here and watched Sunday night television - the excursion through the park took most of the little energy I had. However, I promise more exciting things in the future. Elke started her classes today, so I have to entertain myself and I've come up with a bunch of New-York-style activities to keep me occupied.
Day Fifteen
Elke had NO clean clothes left by yesterday, so she couldn't even shower until she did her laundry. We agreed to be up by 1.00 to get it done early enough to still be able to do something in the afternoon, but she didn't get up until after 3.00. Then she spent an hour playing with the children who live down the hall (she loves kids), so I knew we were probably going to be stuck at home for a while. I watched a couple movies on TV and worked on the hat I'm making my younger sister for Christmas (a little early, I know, but these things take time and I'm making things for a couple of people, plus I have stuff I have to make for my Halloween costume).
We finally got our laundry done and Elke showered and that meant we could finally go somewhere. However, just because we could didn't mean we had to. Elke's friend Seth, who's been interning here all summer, is leaving Monday, and we have yet to hang out with him, so seeing him was our first priority. His brother was throwing him a going-away party at a private club downtown, so we were going to meet up with him there. So Elke and I got all gussied up and headed out for our first REAL night out around midnight.
The party itself was the most fun night we've had so far. It was in this really dimly-lit room filled with plush tables and chairs and a DJ. We immediately got drinks and sat down at a table by ourselves. Thankfully, the alcohol quickly started working its magic and we became comfortable enough to socialize. We mainly just talked to Seth and his college roommate, who also knew no one else there.
As the alcohol continued to work through our systems, we even loosened up enough to dance. There were a couple other people dancing, but no one danced as long as we did. We requested a bunch of fun songs (Shoop, Prince, Whitney, Paula) and the DJ played all of them. We even got Shaun, Seth's really, really shy roommate to dance with us. It was great fun.
Just as we were leaving, the rum in my fourth drink started to kick in. But not much harm was done as we quickly jumped into a taxi and drove away. Some guy tried to sell Elke a bag on our way out, but she told him we were fine. I don't really remember much about the rest of the night - not a complete black out, just a bit fuzzy - but we basically just went to bed as soon as we got home.
