I Could Be the Fearless Leader

THING I’D NEVER DONE BEFORE: Barcade in Manahattan with Jill.

Also, eating at Fonda, wandering in Prospect Park with Sam and Marisa and morning coffee, observing the pride runners, musing on our respective roles in the Zombie Apocalypse, watching the World Cup with ultimate friends

MOST NOTABLE THING ABOUT EXPERIENCE: The Manhattan Barcade actually has a lot of space, which I was not expecting, and a similarly wide selection of interesting beers and microbrews. We also met a gay man who loved Jill and kept reiterating how much he loved her, which was gratifying for all of us, I think.

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE: This was a great day. I want to say something again about serendipity and synchronicity, and try, somehow, to avoid making it cheesy. Maybe a future post.

Drinks for Old Friends and Ear Rubs for New Ones

THING I’D NEVER DONE BEFORE: Gone to Windsor Terrace in Brooklyn, and Marisa’s apartment for laaadies’ night with Marisa, Heather and Sam

MOST NOTABLE THING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE: Good people, good food, good drinks – if that isn’t the best, what is?

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE: Marisa had a recipe for this amazing chickpea and cauliflower thing, and it turns out it came from GOOP, so *maybe* I will have to stop judging Gwyneth Paltrow quite so hard now. Maybe. Marisa has gotten into Inside Amy Schumer, too, now and we finished the night off with a few episodes of that, and then, because Sam and I were sleepy and slightly intoxicated and far from home, we had an adult sleepover. Which mostly just consisted of us all going to sleep.

 DOG OF THE DAY: Today in the park I saw a dogwalker walking a pack of seven chihuahas and then one regular sized dog named Bailey. I know her name, because I was staring at her, wondering if she felt left out of the chihuaha pack (they were all on one side of the dogwalker and she was on the other), and she turned around and saw me, wagged her tail, and then, after the dogwalker introduced us, came and pressed her face against my thigh and let me rub her ears for a bit. Bailey, it turns out, is not that concerned with chihuahas. She’s more into squirrels, and ear rubs.

The Universe is Kind and Mountains Made of Beef Jerky

THING I’D NEVER DONE BEFORE: Bought a copy of the New York Times from one of the newsstands

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE: I was not feeling great this day. Not sure why. Just felt a bit under the weather. So, I kind of took it easy, and then walked down to Columbus Circle in the afternoon. While I was there, I saw a huge Mount Rushmore made out of beef jerky.

Although, upon reflection, it's not really huge compared to the ACTUAL Mt. Rushmore. Really pretty tiny, compared to that. Beef jerky, I am not impressed.

As I was walking back, I realized I hadn’t eaten anything since my morning yogurt, and I got a piece of spinach pizza from Freddie and Pepper’s, which has great New York style pizza. I was planning to sit there and work on my crossword, but all of the seats in the small basement restaurant were taken, so I just went around the corner and started walking toward the park. My hunger and tiredness got the best of me, though, and I sat down on the steps of one of the brownstones and began to eat, hoping none of the residents would enter or leave while I sat there. It proved to be a tense experience, and, in fact, one resident did come up out of the building and gave me an awkward once-over and half-smile, at which point I decided to finish the rest of the pizza on the move.

Then, I went for a run and was starting to feel better when I got a call from an unknown number. I answered suspiciously. A man introduced himself and asked me if I’d lost my wallet. I was about to say no, and then I looked down at my backpack. Was it possible my wallet had fallen out of it, or I’d left it somewhere? I searched through it, but it wasn’t there.

Me: “Wow, I guess I did lose my wallet. I didn’t even realize it was gone!” Him: “Yes, I know, because I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for the past few hours. I didn’t know who to contact, because I didn’t see a business card in there. I ended up calling your mother, from your license, and she said she wasn’t surprised. She gave me your number.” Me: *inarticulate noise*

My license, you see, is still a Florida license. So, it has my parents’ address on it. To the fact that this man and my mother had conferred over the loss of my wallet as one would over a wayward child, I did not know how to respond. However, I was extremely grateful he had found it and sought me out to return it. We arranged a meeting and I got it back. I offered him baked goods and he refused, saying a good deed ought to be done for a good deed’s sake. And all’s well that ends well.

CHEESY THING: I couldn’t help but reflect on the kindness of the universe, and the goodness that can be found in our fellow human. And feel grateful to be a part of it. And also grateful to have my wallet back. Thanks, Universe, and Oury Marciano, who is a very honest broker, if you are looking for one.

A Suit Made Out of Cookies

THING I’D NEVER DONE BEFORE: Amateur Night at the Apollo with Heather, and eating at Sylvia’s beforehand

MOST NOTABLE THING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE: The Apollo was honoring a band of brothers, and two of the brothers showed up to receive their award. That was pretty cool. Here's a picture of them.

Except I can't remember the band name now, so maybe it wasn't the most cool part, but I'm behind, so moving on.*

MOST DELICIOUS THING I ATE: Everything at Sylvia’s: Ribs, cornbread, collard greens, mac and cheese. God, I love Southern food.

BEST PERFORMER: Heather and I both agree the little girl who won the children’s part of the performance was pretty awesome.

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE:

I’m pretty sure I saw the actor from Broad City walking around in a suit made of cookies. SOMEONE was walking around in a suit made of cookies:

I really hope it was him, and it was for the new season of the show. I <3 Broad City. *Why do I have the memory of a goldfish? :(

Hanging out in Harlem with this awesome lady

Touch a Tree Today

THING I’D NEVER DONE BEFORE: Visited Forest Hills, Queens and volunteered helping special needs kids at a horse farm there

MOST NOTABLE THING ABOUT EXPERIENCE: Forest Hills, Queens is actually incredibly beautiful. It felt like my grandparents’ old neighborhood in St. Louis to me. By which, I mean, suburban in a very calm, woodsy sort of way, with big, beautiful houses and quaint street signs.

It was also great to see how much the kids (most of whom were on the autism spectrum) loved riding the horses and came alive during the class, especially when they got to trot the horses. Without fail, the faces of all the kids, including the non-verbal ones, just lit up when the time came for them to trot around the ring on the horses.

BEST NEW FRIEND: This is a tie between Popcorn the horse, and Meryl, her trainer, who was a pretty cool lady.

BEST TREE: This one.

On Monday night, Sarah and I were talking on the phone, as we do, and the subject turned to our fear of our own mortality and wasting our lives, as it sometimes does, and Sarah said:

“Sometimes I get caught up in the details. And then I think about how I’m going to die someday. And it just makes me want to touch things.

You know that rubber thing on the escalator? Today, I just reached out and touched it and was like, I’m alive.” She also said, “I just think about death and how it’s nothingness. Being alive means so much; it means you can smell, you can taste and touch.”

Sarah also said, “DON’T TELL ME HOW TO FEEL MY FEELINGS!” But that was about an entirely different thing, and not directed at me. Anyway, I felt inspired by her wisdom, and I saw this tree, and I thought, I need to touch that. And I did. And I remembered I was alive.

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE:

I finished my book and ate a stuffed boureka (soo good) at Aroma Espresso, ran in Central Park and saw these goslings,

and SOMEHOW GOT LOST AND ENDED UP ON THE EAST SIDE OF MANHATTAN INSTEAD OF THE WEST SIDE EVEN THOUGH I WAS PRETTY SURE I WAS JUST RUNNING IN A STRAIGHT LINE NORTH. I thought I was exiting to Central Park West, saw the sign for 5th Avenue, and was just like, What?? The sad thing is, this is not the first, nor will it be the last, when Central Park will totally confuse me on what seems like it should be a routine trip. At first, I was angry, and I was grumbling to myself as I sprinted back across the park, but then, I just had to shake my head and laugh. Central Park, you still get me*. And you always will.

*In like, the aggressive, pranking sense, not the sense of understanding. Although, sometimes I feel like we’re friends, too. Right, Central Park? Right??

A ROOFTOP HOT-TUB MOVIE BAR

THING I’D NEVER DONE BEFORE: Went to Trader Joe’s on a morning weekday.

MOST NOTABLE THING ABOUT EXPERIENCE: How freaking empty the store was. HEAVENLY. There were still two long lines, but they only extended to the vegetable section and took about 5 minutes instead of the usual 15-20.

MOST INTERESTING CONVERSATION:

This one’s a tie.

First, I had a long conversation with the check-out guy at Trader Joe’s who told me about all the free events happening in the city this summer. He also asked me about my weekend and acted impressed by the uniqueness of my answer that I’d gone to a professional ultimate Frisbee game on Coney Island, but then when I asked him about his weekend, it turned out he had gone to a ROOFTOP HOT-TUB MOVIE BAR over the weekend. Yes, that’s right. He and his friends watched a movie, from a hot tub, on a rooftop, with a bar, while around them other people did the same in their hot tubs. This happened, of course, in Brooklyn.

I also had Heather over for dinner. Heather is leaving the city soon, too, and she was telling me about how suddenly everything about the city seems amazing and awesome and it’s so bittersweet to leave, and I was like, ME, TOO!!! It was such a relief to be able to talk to someone who is also experiencing LNYS* and feeling all this pressure to make the most of this city which you can never really experience all of. I also cooked us kale chips and peanut thai tofu and we booked ourselves a room in a windmill to stay in while we visit Amsterdam in July. Best. Decision. Ever.

A Deed a Day

One of my goals for this summer is to do something in the city I've never done before every day and write about it. Since I got back to the city on Saturday, I've been DOING the things, but not writing about them, partially because I have been focusing a lot on the platform/design of the blog and prioritizing that over the actual posting. Today, I'm say f&*% it. I'll figure that stuff out later.

Since I'm already in the position of playing catch up, I'm going to do abbreviated posts re: Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. What's already kind of amazing to me is how full the days are and how quickly they are passing despite my relative freedom. Which is not to say they are not also sometimes lonely and terrifying and overwhelming in how much unstructured time I have. There's definitely some of that. I am lucky in that I have a ton of stuff I both need and want to do this summer, though, and so far, it's keeping me pretty busy. It's also, no lie, pretty great not to be locked in an office on beautiful summer days (even the rainy ones).