It also took the new blog design to show me that there are horrible, icky little scribbles and extra letters dotting my blog entries. Apparently, if I write them in Word, paste them in Notepad and then post them here, that won't happen. Apparently. This entry I'm writing right on the site.. so we'll see what happens.
21. Back pain vanishes when stress is reduced and one sees a chiropractor twice a week for three weeks (thank you company health insurance).
22. Back pain is also noticeably reduced when one has a very attractive chiropractor.
23. Blog authors should know when to shut up about cute doctors when said authors' boyfriends are among readers of said blog.
24. This year, June and July became the New August and August has become the New September. This is fine since last winter was really the New Autumn and we barely got snow at all (I think there were flurries once). Maybe this winter will make a return with you know actual snow.
25. Yesterday would have been my grandma Thelma's birthday. She would have been 104. It was also my friend Kerry's birthday. We don't discuss his age.
26. I spent last weekend riding my bike around Manhattan.. got up at 8, checked mail, grabbed my bike, carried it four flights down to the street, rode from my apartment on W. 102nd, over to Central Park, down the roadway (closed to auto traffic on the weekends) to Columbus Circle where I enjoyed OJ and a chocolate muffin, then back down around the bottom of the Park and up to E. 72nd where I cut to the Bethesda Fountain (what is going on there by the way.. there are all sorts of plants growing in there... ugh!), then over to the roadway again and back down to Columbus Circle, then over to the West Side Highway bike path and rode from about W. 68th up to W. 96th, cut into a wider path and rode up to W. 119th, doublebacked to W. 96th, rode up to the George Washington Bridge at W. 181, took a picture of a couple tourists at the lighthouse, rode back down to W. 96th, bought a chicken empanada with the last two dollars I had on me and then cruised back home, carried my bike up four flights and jumped into the shower. Total ride time: four hours. Total distance covered: not sure. 102nd to 66th = 36 blocks, 66th to 72nd and back to 66th = 18 blocks (up, down and over), 66th to 68th and up to 96th = 37 blocks (three avenues equals nine blocks), 96th to 119th and back = 26 blocks, 96th to 181st and back = 170 blocks. Total: 287 blocks. I've been told that ten blocks equal a mile so that would be nearly 29 miles if true. But it was a long ride nonetheless.
Most surreal moment of the ride: riding up the path in the mid 100s and noticing train tracks to my right. I suddenly felt as though I was back in Mosinee riding down River Road from Linda or Sandy's place.. granted for most of the ride the tracks aren't that close to the road, but it definitely had that 'feel' and I thought, am I really just imagining this and I'm actually on my banana bike back at home?
27. There are movies for adults out there. I saw one: It's called Elegy and stars Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz. It's wonderful. But it is not cheery.
28. Every movie I see has to be wonderful now because it literally costs $50 for two people to see anything. Each ticket is $12 plus small popcorn and a couple small drinks.
29. It's a (I think) uniquely New York thing to be sitting watching a movie at the Angelika movie theatre and hear the subway roar below the floor. For movies that take place in New York City I think it's a total bonus. Filmmakers should pay to have their New York based films shown in that theatre for the aural ambience alone.
30. This weekend's trip to Fire Island can't come fast enough. Last weekend the bf and I barely got off this Island but we did. We took a free ferry trip to Governor's Island in the middle of the harbour. Beautiful and quiet, we had a picnic, took a long walk, sat and watched a dance festival for a few minutes and then returned to Manhattan. I may be trading islands when we go to the Pines this weekend and everyone there are people that are here.. but it is necessary to leave the city for even a couple days.
31. The view of the city from the ferry coming back from Governor's Island is breathtaking. I live here and have been in and out of the city since 1991 and the sight of the city still makes me well up. I can only imagine how it affects tourists or people who are just discovering it for the first time. More, I can only imagine how the city looked to immigrants arriving 100 years ago who looked to this land for their future (and found it).
32. ... but the rising rents of the city are getting out of hand. A friend just lost their bar because the landlord wanted to raise their rent up $13k a month to $21k a month which apparently the landlord feels is "market value" for where the bar is. So because the street has been 'hot' for the past few years, and despite the fact that every indication is that we are in the middle of what will probably be the worst economic depression ever, this guy is getting rid of a friendly neighborhood bar in hopes that someone will afford to make the outrageous rent in a small space that can be repurposed for very few things. Soon the city will have gotten rid of not just the lower class but the increasingly misnamed middle class too. Prediction for 2050: Manhatttan is resort for the ultra wealthy. Of course my question is: uhm who do these people think can afford to be their waiters at their restaurants? or their dry cleaners, or their actors, dancers, singers in the clubs, bars, etc? Short sighted!
33. And finally, I know that I might be entitled to two more vacation days after having spent a weekend in a photoshop class for work. A co-worker today mentioned that since I was in the class for work, that I might be able to get a couple extra days off. Well, wouldn't THAT be nice?
And that's all I know today.
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