new york public library

after sitting around, wondering how we were going to spend the day yesterday, r and i finally mustered up the energy and made our way to the giant library in mid-town, the humanities and social sciences library, upon r's suggestion. the building is something both of us have talked about exploring. we figured it's a historical building and would be kind of awesome to see the old architecture. little did we realize the grandeur extends beyond the opulent entrance lobby.

we saw a little exhibit on graphic modernism, a style that r is really into. i loved the stripped down form of the genre. we, then, stumbled upon what i'm guessing is their A/V section that must've been the newest part of the building, glass being the mostly used construction material. we proceeded to wander into a room where they've photocopied all the cards from the catalog. there were enough of these books to line the four walls of a huge room. the volume was mindboggling. the ceilings of all the rooms we saw were decorous, with paintings and beautiful moldings. even the railing along the staircase was sculpted with intricate designs. there is such attention to detail in the construction of the building that we were completely impressed and wished we would still build edifices like this. the other wonderful aspect of the place was that it was quiet, ultimately being a library, an escape from the city in the heart of the city.

having to hurry back to catch the ups driver, we have definitely put the library on the list to revisit. it was a breathtaking experience.

thanksgiving philly style

i spent thanksgiving in philadelphia with b&d this year. i took the bus up on wednesday and came back to nyc just yesterday. we went over to d's friends' house. the center piece was the turducken, which turned out to be phenomenal. the fact that the birds were all pretty much deboned made it easy to serve. carving was not necessary. we just cut it into slices. the 10-pound turducken was accompanied by decadent gravy, tasty cranberry sauce, infallible apple-sausage-cranberry stuffing, scrumptious mac and cheese (i didn't try this since i don't like dairy, but i would totally have scarfed it otherwise), sweet butternut squash, savory mashed potatoes, and garlicky collards.

after only one plateful, i had to take a break. while vegging in front of the television, i managed to make two more trips back to the delicious smorgasborg. after we watched the dallas cowboys slaughter the new york jets, we played apples to apples. it's sort of a word game where you match nouns to adjectives. like "hopeless" to "republican" or "ludicrous" to "tom cruise". during the game, we dug into an awesome pumpkin pie and a sugary cherry pie.

i have to admit, as much labor that goes into cooking such a grand meal, the result is definitely worth the hard work. i miss leftovers, not wanting to travel with tubs of food on the bus. luckily, there's still pumpkin pie in my fridge, from our trial run of the pie...not that it'll last much longer in there!

love in old age

today, i read this article on nytimes.com about love in old age. it referred to former justice sandra day o'connor, that she is happy for her husband, who has alzheimer's, having a new lover. it goes on to say that as we age, our definition of love changes. when we're young, it's all about ME being happy, and we tend to respond to negatives, like our partner having a new lover is hurtful to ME. as we age, however, the focus of love changes to the other person being happy, and our responses begin to shift to the positives, like our partner having a new loves makes he/she happy.

it reminds me of losing a sense of myself when i'm deeply engrossed in a project, particularly writing when i used to write. there were moments when it's all about the story, the writing, as if it has consumed so much of my mind that there was no room for even me. being so deeply in love seems to be similar to this, that our heart and mind are so consumed by this other person and his/her well-being that we don't think of ourselves. my heart is still vulnerable enough to be broken, if not shattered. but if it does happen, i feel i can move on past the pain and try to focus on the new opportunities that might be open once life moves me in a different direction. hopefully, i will not have to reach that point, and right now, i have a feeling that it won't reach that point. otherwise, if i do, indeed, have doubts, i should move on now.

screenwriters

last night was the last new episode of the office that will air until the screenwriter's strike ends. not that i've been watching the show religiously, but when i have time on thursday evenings, i look forward to it. it's one of the few shows on television that i make the effort to see. if i had tivo, it would be programmed, along with the daily show with jon stewart, the stephen colbert report, and project runway. now that i've listed the shows i watched, i just realized that 3 out of 4 of them rely on writers. i'm a supporter of the writers since i have friends who write, and i wrote in college. i feel doomed, with only one show to remind me what day of the week it is. dear studios, please concede to the small, justifiable request the writers are making and give them the additional booger-size piece of the profit that you're making on their work.

p.s. i'm not sure who to root for yet on project runway this season. i really liked rami's and victorya's pieces though. christian is going to be the pest of the show, like marcel to top chef, being the youngest but also the most stuck up. i don't doubt his talent but don't like the lack of humility and respect for his fellow contestants. definitely the bitch-queen of the season.

money on a subway

today, i saw a woman who gave two street/subway musicians, one guy playing guitar and the other playing a small accordion, a $10 bill on the subway. i've never seen anyone give that much money to street musicians. i was totally impressed. the only time i've ever seen anyone who gave that much to street musicians was in new orleans.

my friend wanted to give a guy playing the trumpet a dollar. she only had a ten on her so i gave her one of my ones. as we walked past the trumpet player, she nonchalantly pulled out a bill and dropped it in the trumpet case. about five steps past the guy, she got a hunch that she might've dropped the ten dollar bill instead of the one. she checked her pocket, and sure enough, she still had the one but not the ten. she appreciated the music, however, and decided to leave it. also, she felt too embarrassed about retrieving it.

that was only an accident of generosity. this woman on the R-train intentionally gave the ten to the guy. she asked that he split it with his accordion playing partner. i don't think i'd ever give that much to any street artist, but i'm glad someone, like this woman, does.

time warner SUCKS

i'm pretty much over my fury from this morning, but i feel it's my civic duty to inform whoever is interested that time warner SUCKS. i try to give big companies the benefit of a doubt because they sometimes do employ real individuals who are probably decent people just working to make a living.

so when we moved into our current apartment in brooklyn at the end of august, we had so many problems getting service. first, the person helping us screwed up on the paperwork, and our account was never set up. we're jaded enough to not be surprised so my sister went in and got it straightened out. they even gave us 1/2 off on our first two months of service. yay. but then, the technician who was supposed to install the service was provided with the wrong apartment number. no one called to verify the information once they realized it was wrong. my poor sister waited all day (they always give you a 4 hour window which really translates to a 12-hour windown) in vain. so to make up for this mistake, they told us, over the phone, that we would get the third month free. finally, our service was set up about 3 weeks after our initial attempt.

so think about it. we're asking them to help us give them business, to give them money, to help them increase their stock value. we could've gotten the same type of service elsewhere, like through verizon with their direct tv service and dsl. but we stuck with time warner.

we did receive the 1/2 off for our first two months - september and october. but we've recently received our november bill, and we're charged for the full price. so i called time warner about 3-4 times between last week and today. they refuse to honor the deal they offered us for a third month free. they only offered because they screwed up. not only will they not honor it but the jerk i was given to deal with today kept talking over me, infuriating me to the point of accidently dropping the f-bomb once. the jerk then got defensive about my use of language, and i had to just hang up on him. the lady i talked to last week was at least patient and nice, listening to the issues regarding our account.

so when we move again, which i know we will at the end of our lease, i will find any necessary means to avoid using time warner again. with netflix, i don't need cable tv.