Overheard in New York

Hey I had an overheard quote published on Overheard in New York!

The Wednesday One-liners K-Hole
Woman: Hey, so have you ever tried crack? --78th & Madison
Overheard by: Andrew C

Girl: So I say to her, "It's just a fucking junkie, step around him and let's go already." --Park Slope
Overheard by: jake

Hobo: Will somebody please give me $20 so I can buy crack-cocaine? --6 train

Girl: I don't like anything snow-like. Except maybe cocaine. --110th & Broadway
Overheard by: djlindee

Suit on cell: I am so fucked. So fucked. I'm going to be at the office all fucking night. I need some energy. I need some coke. Where's the closest high school around here? --40th & 6th

Girl: Wow. I never knew bongs were so pretty. Oh, sorry, "decorative tobacco pipes". --Washington Square Park

Dude: We were doin' blow and she was 14. It was weird. --Silver Swan, East 20th Street Overheard by: Katie Jeffreys

Man: If you have some pot, please let me know! --Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, West 46th Street

Man on cell: The thing about Alberto is that he criticizes everybody's drug use except his own. --22nd & 7th
Overheard by: Mark M

Girl: What do you mean, you don't smoke weed? That's mainly what niggas be doin' these days! --Wendy's, 56th & 8th
Overheard by: Melissa Gluzband

Teen boy: Come on people, I'm not selling crack...Y'all want some crack, then? --F train
Overheard by: PSE

via Overheard in New York, Mar 29, 2006

February Books Bought/Read

February Books Bought
On Bullshit by Henry G. Frankfurt

February Books Read
On Bullshit by Henry G. Frankfurt

On Bullshit is a little essay getting to the bottom of what bullshit is, essetially comparing it to lying and humbug, mostly in terms of what the intent of the bullshitter is. Thought it would be great but was hardly exhaustive. Probably sold most of its copies because of the title (guilty as charged!)

Friday - Sunday in AZ

On Friday morning I headed out to Tucson to visit Mindy. It was a long drive but I made it in time for dinner at a Mexican restaurant (Charro's) and meeting up with some friends of hers.

windmills on the drive to arizona

I stayed with her at her parent's house Friday and Saturday night. It was good catching up with her and meeting her Tucson crowd. I was able to take care of some errands (such as shipping back some purchases and souveniers) while in Tucson since it was a less crowded schedule.


katie and mindy!

On Saturday morning Mindy had to work, so I went up to Mesa to see Jon, Lisa and Aislyn Boggs. Aislyn is such a little doll! They had a wedding to go to, so I headed back out to Tucson just in time to catch another beautiful desert sunset


sunset

Saturday night we went out to dinner with her mom to a nice restaurant called Elle in Tucson.

Sunday morning I packed up the car and my things, had a liesurely breakfast at Mindy's. As I was getting ready to drive away from Mindy's two little quails chased each other across the road! Finally, I headed off to Vegas for my flight home, again amazed by the scenery. It was a long drive (including passing the Hoover Dam) and I was nervous I would miss my flight, but it was delayed for over an hour. I sat watching the Olympics and planned to do this blog, but my computer battery was dead! Finally made it on the plane (a Song flight which I love for their tvs at each seat).


neat clouds

All in all I drove over 2000 miles!

Thursday - Mexico!

On Thursday I awoke early again to get down to Ensanada, Mexico. First I hopped on the San Diego Trolley (light rail) for a 45 minute ride to the border. Then a quick walk across a footbridge, and I was in Tijuana.


The Border

Then I hopped on a coach bus for the ~2 hour ride to Ensanada. It is further south down the coast of Baja California. They are known for being near wine country, as a stop for cruise ships, and for the blow hole ("la bufadora") which I had hoped to see, but didn't make it to. I arrived during the siesta hour, so walked around for awhile just seeing the sights (including these mariachis).



Then I stopped into one local winery located in town rather than in the hills. I bought some real vanilla and a bottle of wine before heading on my way.


Winery

I happened past a fabric store, so had to check it out. I ended buying some typical mexican woven fabrics and some others that I thought were unique. The exchange rate is about 10 pesos to 1 dollar, and the dollar is pretty strong in Mexico now.


fabric store sign

At this point I was famished, and the restaurants had reopened. I went over to a wine bar to get some lunch/dinner and to sample wines from up in the mountains. While sitting at the bar I struck up a conversation with an American businessman who does his manufacturing (of traffic lights) in Mexico. It was nice to have someone to chat with and he even picked up the tab for my dinner before heading out! I wrapped up the night with a quick stop at Hussong's, where the margarita was supposedly invented.

Wednesday - Going to San Diego

On Wednesday morning I headed out of LA, stopping at the La Brea Tar Pits. It was interesting to see (and smell!) the pits, and see all the reassembled skeletons of mastadons, wooly mammoths, birds of prey and big cats. There were many school groups there so I tagged along with some of their tours to pick up little tidbits offered by the guides.


The La Brea Tar pits

Afterwards, I headed out to The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. I toured the library (including an illuminated Cantebury Tales and Gutenberg Bible) and the art museum before having high tea in the tea room.

Then it was off to San Diego... another beatiful ride. I stopped to take pictures (my digital camera was acting up, so they are on film) and a little chipmunk or something came right up to me to say hi!

I checked into the 500 West Hotel, which was formerly a YMCA but now is an inexpensive, European style modern botique hotel (simple, nice furnishings, shared private bathrooms). I relaxed for a bit before heading out to dinner at a veggie-friendly Mexican place called Pocquez. It was ridiculously inexpensive, and I enjoyed the tofu options on the menu!

Tucked in early that night, pooped from several days of hard traveling.

Tuesday - Back in LA!

Tuesday morning I woke up at the hostel around 5am and headed back to LA to get there by 8am for The Price is Right. The sunrise was beautiful, and at one point I came around a bend and the view (of a bay and mountains) was like a Monet painting, all pink and blue and green.

I met my sorority sister Cristina there. We had some time to kill so we sat at a cafe in the mall next to the CBS studios. Finally at about 2pm we got called in for the pre-show interviews (used to decide who gets on the show) apparantly you need to be bonkers to get called on. Then the taping started. It was a lot of fun, although NOBODY won anything! (71st time in the show's history). Bob Barker was funny, and as he left the stage I got to shake his hand! The show airs(ed) Thursday, Feb 23rd , and I am sure you will see me as 2 people in my section were called and I high-fived them as they ran to contestants' row.

After the taping Christina and I had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I did a little shopping and then Jody came and met me for dinner (he ate, I was stuffed from lunch still) and we had some wine. We had to sit at the bar in the restaurant though, since it was packed for Valentine's Day.


random duck at the mall

Monday - Santa Barbara Wine Country

On Monday I woke up early to head up to Santa Barbara wine country. I started out in Santa Maria, about three hours north of Los Angeles and worked my way down the Foxen Canyon wine trail, visiting several of the locations featured in Sideways (including the winery where he drank from the spit bucket and the restaurant where she orders the "fucking merlot").


one of the wineries

I found out early on that mentioning I work at a wine bar ("in the industry") got me free tastings and a 10-33% discount on wines. I tried to buy a bottle everywhere I stopped if I found something I liked. I didn't buy anything at Firestone (or tire and "The Bachelor" fame) because their wines were pretty disappointing.

Driving through wine country was really peaceful, and everyone I met at the wineries (mostly couples touring together) was really nice. The wineries all close by 6, so afterwards I had dinner in Los Olives. Since I was tired and had spent the day wine tasting I decided to stay at a hostel in Santa Barbara rather than drive all the way back to LA. It was a decent spot and at $21 was a bargain.


bucolic roadside scenery

Sunday - Vegas to LA

Sunday morning I picked up my rental car... a hunter green Chrysler Sebring convertible with a GPS navigation system. Because I was traveling alone, I knew the GPS would save me the hassle of trying to read a map while driving, plus I could be spontaneous and go anywhere without having to plan a route.


my license plate

With the top down, I set out for LA. The weather that day (and for most of the trip) was in the high 60s/low 70s and sunny!) - a little cool for a convertible, but with the heater on, enjoyable. As you can see, even the gateway to Death Valley was temperate.



Once in LA, I heaaded straight for the LA County Museum of Art in Hollywood. It is a beautiful building with a large outdoor courtyard and several galleries surrounding it. Jody came to meet me and we went to have dinner at Toi, a funky Thai restaurant with an East Village vibe. Jody lives nearby, in Hollywood, and was nice enough to let me stay at his house.

Friday - Sunday - Las Vegas

I landed in Vegas on friday for Jenn's bachelorette party. We spent the weekend celebrating -- dancing, walking the strip, eating and drinking! There were nine girls - one is not pictured here, and I don't know why I was grabbing my butt in this picture (taken with a singer in a restaurant we thought was good)

January/February Bought/Read List

Books Bought
Here is New York by E.B. White

Books Read
Here is New York by E.B. White
One Man's Meat by E.B. White
The WPA Guide to New York CIty

So I was watching Sex and the City one night, and Carrie quoted E.B. White, who wrote "No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky." I thought that was a great quote, so looked up where is came from, which brought me to the fabulous tribute to the city called "Here is New York." It was listed by the New York Times as one of the ten best books written about the city, so I went ahead and checked it out from the library, along with other E.B. White books and some other top books about New York City. I am enjoying reading about the city in the 30s and 40s, so much and so little has changed.

Katie Needs

so there is a thing passed around where you google "[your name] needs"

apparantly (a small selection of the 800+ hits):

Katie needs to get out of the house a little more and and fix hersel a "dang
quesa-dilluh!"
Katie needs to see a specialist for her skin and ears
Katie needs to use the litter pan on her own
Katie needs to raise £3000
Katie needs to talk to her friend
Katie needs a hug
Katie needs to get a grip
Katie needs to figure out if she wants to move forward, maintain old friends, or
what kind of person she is going to be
Katie needs to get over herself
Katie needs to say NO.
Katie needs a family who will be patient, giving her time to trust and feel
comfortable
Katie needs her head examined
Katie needs your help with vocabulary words
Katie needs a pre-nup just because this relationship could turn into a destructive family bond
Katie needs extra time
Katie needs a C-section
Katie Needs Attention
Katie needs a wand
Katie needs a wake-up call from her childhood fantasy
Katie needs an experienced family without any younger children who she may see
as rivals for affection
Katie needs to hold her head to the side. to deal with visual challenges
Katie needs to change her bday to be closer to the rest of ours
Katie needs to add more emotion to her journal
Katie needs to know HTML
Katie needs to dress up like a man in a suite with a tie and a mustache to full-fill your fetish
Katie needs psychiatric help
Katie needs to put all the pieces together
Katie needs to talk at talking times only
Katie needs a new space where she can groove and hang with friends for the ultimate
slumber party
Katie needs rescueing from the sheriff after her attempt to kill Sheriff
Jack Strickland.
Katie needs to stand up to the bullies
Katie needs no introduction really
Katie needs is a bit of bleach and some red highlights and the transformation
will be complete
Katie needs another colostomy
Katie needs to think like a man
Katie needs to lay off the ageing make-up, get rid of the self-tan, and stop
inflating her lips
Katie needs to apply the tangent ratio to the problem quickly as Jamie is.
beginning to feel seasick
Katie needs to be punished for her behaviour every time she does something that isn’t typical
Katie-needs-to-take-a-break-so-we're-gonna-have-to-do-something-a-little-weird-for-a-while
katie needs to stop being a slut
Katie needs to make a life-sized Blue Fairy Penguin by Friday
Katie needs no deadheading, and will continue to flower all season long, and is
just as tough as its species parent
Katie-needs-money-to-pay-her-landlord-thing
Katie needs implants to make herself luk gd bt i dnt gt yu need implants js mkes
u more ov a slag. Jodie wtf is da deal wit ur nose? u fkin fat whore bag
Katie needs to hit Carl over the head with that Cow bell of his!
Katie needs to take her responsibilities seriously
Katie needs to put that finger away
Katie needs to get hit by a truck. An eighteen wheeler. She deserves it. I mean,
smush, squish, squash, the whole kill-Katie process
Katie needs to get her head out of her ass and start to have a little fun
katie needs a cold shower
katie needs a spanking
Katie NEEDS his crotch in her face
Katie needs to be watching her back
Katie Needs A Husband

ok now guess which ones refer to Katie Holmes!!!

and the two for katharyn

Katharyn needs to elucidate .....illuminate.....broaden (no pun intended)
and make known the universe of the properties of calves
Katharyn needs to stop being mean to me Or i will
start taking Prozac

December Books bought/books read

Books Bought
none yet!

Books Read
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (library)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (library)
Rats : Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan (library)
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (library)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (borrowed from Gram)
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (borrowed from Gram) - reading now
Why do Men have Nipples: Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini by Mark Leyner & Billy Goldberg (library) - reading now

October Books Bought/Read

Books Bought
Black Belt Sudoku by Michael Rios

Books Read
The Kite Runner

Not sure if the Sudoku book counts as a book to read, since there are few words, and I didn't read them. But I did buy it at a bookstore, so I will say I bought it, but not read it :)

The Kite runner was a recommendation from Gram, a cuturally interesting read and a riveting story. I read it in about 2 days, in part while waiting in lines at Six Flags Great Adventure.

September Books Bought/Read

Bought:
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes
Girls' Poker Night by Jill A. Davis (signed, to "Amanda")
Betty Crocker's Desserts Cookbook
Cooking with Bon Appetit: Vegetables
Collected Novellas by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Pat the Money by Diane Wachell
Earth from Above - 35 Days by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Schott's Original Food Miscellany
Reunion by Alan Lightman

Read:
Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes
Girls' Poker Night by Jill A. Davis
Betty Crocker's Desserts Cookbook
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinella
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
Pat the Money by Diane Wachell
Reunion by Alan Lightman
Collected Novellas by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (started)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (started)

I have been reading a lot of Brit Lit (a la Bridget Jones' Diary) and its really getting me inspired to get some writing in. A bunch of he books I bought were from the New York City Opera thrift shop, which I found has the best used books, and often marks them 50% off the thrifty price :) I had been eying the Earth from above book for years, and finally saw it at a cheap bookstore in the west village for about a third the cover price. the last two boks I scooped up at my favorite little bookshop in Coolidge Corner, in Boston - Brookline Booksellers (?). I had heard buzz about Alan Lightman, but didn't know why I knew the name. Only after reading the book and looking at his bio did I realize he was a prof at MIT and wrote Einstein's Dreams (which I never read) while I was at MIT.

August Books bought/read list

This post will be updated throughout the month as I read more stuff.

Bought

Robert Burns Poems and Songs
Cassell's Styles in Art Series:
Antique Jade
Chinese Painting
The Age of Louis XV
The 1920s Style
European Enamels


Read
3 Plays by Thornton Wilder
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Girls' Night In ed. by Lauren Henderson, Chris Manby, Sarah Mlynowsky
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood King

Books Bought/Read

In an homage to, or perhaps just copying, Nick Hornby's Book "The Polysyllabic Spree" I decided to keep track of the books i've bought and the one's I've read. These are different lists because not all the books I buy will I read right away. Some are destined to be shelved indefinitely, some are for reference, and some I just won't get around to in that calendar month. Additionally, not all the books I read do I buy in that month. I may have purchased them in the past, borrowed them from a friend, or checked them out from the library.

For the month of July this is the list:

Bought
Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
Candide by Voltaire
Wake Up, Sir by Jonathan Ames
The Letters of Virginia Woolf
Wines and Spirits by Alec Waugh (Time Life Books)
3 Plays by Thornton Wilder
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

Read
Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
Candide by Voltaire
Wake Up, Sir by Jonathan Ames
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Kidd
Life after God by Douglas Coupland
Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
The Small Bachelor by P.G. Wodehouse

most beautiful poem

this is the most beautiful poem i have read in a long time.

Song
By Allen Ginsberg

The weight of the world
is love.
Under the burden
of solitude,
under the burden
of dissatisfaction

the weight,
the weight we carry
is love.

Who can deny?
In dreams
it touches
the body,
in thought
constructs
a miracle,
in imagination
anguishes
till born
in human--
looks out of the heart
burning with purity--
for the burden of life
is love,

but we carry the weight
wearily,
and so must rest
in the arms of love
at last,
must rest in the arms
of love.

No rest
without love,
no sleep
without dreams
of love--
be mad or chill
obsessed with angels
or machines,
the final wish
is love
-- cannot be bitter,
cannot deny,
cannot withhold
if denied:

the weight is too heavy

--must give
for no return
as thought
is given
in solitude
in all the excellence
of its excess.

The warm bodies
shine together
in the darkness,
the hand moves
to the center
of the flesh,
the skin trembles
in happiness
and the soul comes
joyful to the eye--

yes, yes,
that's what
I wanted,
I always wanted,
I always wanted,
to return
to the body
where I was born.
San Jose, 1954

random subway story

I was on the subway recently doing one of my little logic puzzles and a man sat down next to me. I didn't pay attention to him until he asked what kind of puzzle I was doing. (they are called "paint by numbers" - I am addicted) He then continued on to say that he had seen me earlier that day on the downtown train doing them. I laughed and said we must have the same schedule. The coincidence made me smile.

Nancy Drew

So today I was heading out to meet a friend. as I opened the door to my elevator there was an old man waiting on the other side to go up to his apartment. I didn't recognize him, but he had a load of groceries in a wire cart. We said hello, as I live in a very friendly building, and I went on my way.

When I reached the front door of the lobby, it was beeping. I saw a set of keys in the lock and assumed they were the old man's. I went back into the building with the keys thinking, ok, he probably can't get into his apartment without them but maybe his wife is home or something and he will just ring the bell. should i leave them on the table in the lobby? on top of the mailboxes? with the ladies who live on the first floor who act as doormen and tenents' association officers but who are just nosy? do I wait for him to come back down?

As I was thinking I looked at the set of keys. No apartment numbers engraved on them or anything, but then I realized one was a mailbox key. Debating the legality of opening someone else's mailbox, I realized if it weren't the old man's keys, whoever it was would want it back. So i started trying the boxes. Finally, on the sixth floor, I found the match. I triumphantly pressed the elevator call button so i could go up to meet the key's owner. As the door opened, there stood the old man, cart still in tow. He said, "I'm going down" (I immediately thought, ah to the super's apartment... I've so been there when I lock myself out!"), and I said, "Are these your keys?"

He took them from me and said something to the effect of "Oh, thank you! God Bless You child!" It made me happy to give a little kindness back to a building that always gave a lot back to me over the last 2 years. Plus I felt a little like nancy drew.

another one!

Another old friend just outed himself on friendster! Funny thing was he was the one everyone expected to be gay but he kept denying it. Guess we were right all along!