Apart from the hypoglycemia, you all know how much I love food. Whenever I go out to eat now, I’m almost obsessed with it because at work it’s something I have to sneak in – a granola bar in one minute or a bit of pasta in five minutes. So before I’d go, “Mmmm, food!” but now I’m all, “Foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

This work, it’s just relentless and not a place where you can walk off for 5 minutes unnoticed. There’s no buffer of people or space. And as I have Friday off, work Saturday, and have Sunday off, there is no time buffer either. I can’t do anything out of the ordinary because I don’t have two consecutive days off. Whereas on weekends you spend a half day recovering if you need to, and then get on with things like having a life, now I simply have no time. So I can’t stray from my routine. I can’t stay with friends or go out of town or stay out late…

So now the question is, how do I find something that balances the repetitious boredom of a desk job with the repetitious variety of this job?

In other news, I had dinner with Captain America (remember him??) on Wednesday as he was in town this week for work. It was nice to catch up and he wanted to meet me a couple more times but I was usually too tired or the scheduling was wrong.

Because I’d been trying to meet up with Jo and Dave since Thursday, and we managed that on Saturday evening. You should have been there, Matt. It was so great to finally meet them! I had meant to last March when I was in Dallas but was prevented due to family crises. Jo is so chatty and amiable, and she can really tell a story.

We were in the East Village at a tiny wood panelled pub with religious murals on the wall (because it was called a Cathedral of Beer). There was an orderly line at the bar, wonder of wonders. What’s more when the voices got too loud and shouty as they usually do at pubs, someone or two would Shhhhhhhhhh and the volume would go down for a while until the next shush was needed but nobody got angry or annoyed.

(I’m discovering that New Yorkers are good at following rules: I can’t find any of the free commuter newspapers lying around anywhere! People actually read the public announcement ads in the subway: “your city, your litter”. Not honking except in cases of emergency. Not eating on the subway. Not spitting where people will walk on it. Not cussing in public that much. Still haven’t seen anyone get arrested, mugged or shot. Most of the sirens are fire department or ambulances. Lines at bus stops remain orderly even when the doors open, so you keep your place in line. And people have more patience.)

Anyway, back to meeting Jo and Dave.

Along with two of Dave’s childhood friends who also happened to be in town, after the pub we went to a Mediterranean bar and restaurant which smelled so good I wanted everything on the menu. I had a French martini (had chambord in it) and two yummy starters:

tuna tartare with avocado, cilantro and fresh chili on thinly sliced fresh beet and cucumber, topped with toasted slivers of baguette and lambs lettuce

deep fried baby artichoke on a bed of romaine lettuce with shaved manchego cheese and spicy marinara sauce. Addictive!!!

I became so engrossed in enjoying these delicacies that every time Dave addressed me he had to call me more than once out of my little world and once Jo had to poke me! This has HONESTLY never happened to me before. Sorry, y’all!

On Friday the weather was very English, which was ironic as I was meeting someone from a London media co in SoHo. It was about 70 (which feels chilly after the hot summer) and the sky was letting out a substantial autumn rain, rather than the usual short storm burst.

However, over the weekend we were back up there and had the same temps as Houston (86F, about 30C) and it’s humid.

Speaking of Houston, they were pounded by Hurrican Ike, but apart from downed trees, wind and lots of rain, they escaped most damage and everyone I know is fine. It’s Galveston Island that suffered the most starting with storm surge flooding while Ike was still all of 500 miles away.

Anyway, on to lighter topics, my friend Vera came to spend Labor Day with me. She’s having a stressful time right now with a photography exhibit in France which she is not present to oversee. So once she’d made her phone calls, she was thankful that we had a quiet and peaceful time just relaxing and being in each other’s company.

We went for a walk by the water of course. I love taking photos of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge:

SAILBOATS

VISTA WITH TREE

NORWEGIAN CRUISE SHIP KNOCKS DOWN BRIDGE (just kidding, they build them purposely low enough to pass underneath)

CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP HAS SPACE TO SPARE

UNDERNEATH THE BRIDGE

—Which is your favorite?

As it is, no matter how hearty my breakfast – I’ve tried bran cereal, oatmeal porridge, egg and sausage in a bun, even switched to whole milk – I still get shaky by 11.00, and when that happens I can’t retain anything and have to start writing things on scraps of paper, and past a certain point I may even develop a headache. Not one of those people who can function without food. So I need a midmorning snack, a bit of lunch, and possibly a midafternoon snack depending on what I ate for lunch. I wonder…is it because I didn’t eat anything when I was a child that I have created this lifelong problem for myself?

Anyway, I’ve had more assurances that my workload will be halved when the new assistant arrives on Monday, and that I will have more time to learn. Plus, the office will close an hour earlier soon. So, hangin’ in there! But still, I am sad to lose real weekends. I get Friday and Sunday. Not two consecutive days…

Last night I fell asleep in the subway on the way home from 22.00-23.00 (had gone out to buy some chinos and long sleeved t-shirts for the days when I will need them under scrubs, plus underwear – I’m learning that you can never have too much underwear or too many socks), ate dinner (roomie made salad and left me some), fell asleep on the sofa from 1.00-2.00, washed up and went to bed, then woke up at 13.15!!! That is over 12 hours of sleep! I checked my clock, gasped “Oh my gosh!” and immediately tumbled out and tripped over everything on my way out the door, giving my roomie a crooked and drunken smile as I passed her with all my curls sticking up. She had woken up at 10.00 and been in and out of the house 4 or 5 times, made an omelette, and I hadn’t heard a THING.

After work I usually walk out into the Federal Plaza, a large area cluttered with federal, state, and city buildings, and sit in the park to rest, have a drink, and maybe a snack. I don’t know what I will do when it snows, although as I said, my workload will be lighter. City Hall is sort of at the crossroads between Chinatown, Tribeca, and Little Italy. I could walk a few steps in any direction and be in any of those neighborhoods.

This is what it looks like to my right from the bench where I usually sit:

This is the side of City Hall.

Centre Street runs past the State Supreme Court…:

(I work in the brown building you see on the far right side of the frame)

…Towards City Hall:

Went on a walk one day after work:

This behemoth loomed up in front of me somewhere in Tribeca, so I asked a passerby what it was and she told me it is an AT&T telecoms switching station, then she said she used to think it was a prison, which is what I was thinking!

Passed a yarn store in SoHo on Wednesday during a makeup and facecare run to the Origins store. I immediately thought of Jo!

I’ve been looking for a backpack for weeks, but they all seem to have gotten bigger since I last owned one at college, plus the V where the padded straps sprout from the top irritates me – they didn’t used to do that so it must be some newfangled ergonomic feature. When I used to carry 40 pounds of books, which is actually the weight used on basic military training runs, backpacks were much simpler. So I love this cotton canvas bag I found at Paragon Sports off Union Square. It’s lightweight, won’t show dirt, fits my back like a glove without all the annoying bulky padding. It’s also soft, unlike the hard, unyielding, abrasive nylon surfaces of the usual suspects.

Look how green I am – with my neutral colors and natural fabrics and recycled paper and organic products

Literally. It’s like I’m playing “dentist for a day”.

I started work at the dental office on Monday. How is this possible? Unlike Texas, New York does not required dental assistants to be state certified, so dentists can train you from scratch themselves.

For the first two days, each of the two assistants (who are leaving to finish their degrees) showed me how to do things. On the third day I was left alone with the dentist – very hard. One assistant told me that all she could do for the first month alone was observe, and both told me that it took around 3 months to get the hang of everything, and there I was being thrown in the deep end on the third day!!!!!!

The only thing about working at a lab (already 10 years ago) which helps me now is understanding how the autoclave works and sterilization techniques and benefits. While there, I had my own routine down, but it was ongoing work and there are more patients than there were classes to prep for. It amazes me now to think how I used to mix solutions and pour plates. It was very zen-like work. I would read a list of what needed to be done, and I had notes to refer to for measurements and quantities.

Biology, chemistry, physics and geometry classes, also occurring a long time ago, help me now in a basic understanding of anatomy and physiology (the last science class I ever took!), as well as thinking in cc’s and microns, degrees of angles, an axis vs a plane, enamel vs dentin, the behavior of acids and bases, and so on.

Although Monday was the first day, it wasn’t too bad. Tuesday was scary because of the looming prospect of Wednesday. I was rushed off my feet on Wednesday but got to have a few minutes for lunch. However, one person cannot set up and break down two rooms, place patients, assist chairside, AND have time to wash and sterilize instruments. Every time I stood at the sink to wash and throw a load into the autoclave, I had to run off and do something else. So despite getting annoyed that things piled up on Wednesday, the Dr did try to help out with the sterilizing on Thursday since he knows what goes in short or long cycles, etc.

My two new best friends – I love Saucony! It will now be difficult on days off to wear normal shoes.

He felt that Thursday was not too busy, and yet I never got a minute to eat! It is a fact that new recruits in basic military training eat better, and healthier too!

So I spent half the day with a splitting headache, for which the Dr apologized and said it’s not supposed to be like this and told me to ask the receptionist to schedule a lunch break. We’re short staffed obviously, but a second assistant will start on Sept 8 so I will have more time to learn and get my routines down. At the moment I refer to notes in a binder and these photos you see, and I still have to think – the routines will not be automatic for a while yet. He said himself I’d be confused for the first month. This in addition to the solo work is like a baptism by fire.

The practice is in the midst of a changeover – in the next couple of weeks he hopes to scale back the number of patients (from 7-10 to fewer??), go even more high tech with lots of gadgets, and have shorter hours. So whereas I’ve been aiming to be in soon after 8.45 and leaving sometime before 6.30, it will hopefully soon be lights out before 5 pm, hopefully even around 4.30…he said….(by the way, can I just use 24 hour time? Typing am and pm looks silly though speaking it is fine).

So as regards this new schedule – let’s hope! A new hygienist started on Wednesday. We’re both slightly miffed at the current state of things, but we’re going to stick it out to see what it’s like when the dust settles.

Anyway, in the past 4 days I have learned how to:

1) set up a room (gloves not necessary) – relevant instruments and materials on tray and side table), set up syringes with lidocaine and needles and throw them into sharps later, draw bleach into squirting syringes, patient file with Dr gloves on counter, cup of mouthwash beside tray, headrest cover, bib, bendy suction tube on handpiece, small suction tube for root canal (to suck water out of tooth cavity), wide suction tube for any procedure requiring acid etch (to contain the tooth and take up the acid).

ROOT CANAL TRAY:

Tray setup for a root canal (by far the most common procedure and after four days I can nearly do this from memory) – R to L: mirror, explorer, college pliers, syringe, extra vial of Lidocaine, syringe of bleach (for flushing out tooth, syringe of emulsifier to clean interior, small red hand drill holder with measurements, “pin cushion” for holding used files – see how tiny they are – different widths with directional screw threads for extracting the tooth nerves from deep inside the canals. Two lengths: 25 mm or 21 mm depending on tooth length. Then the sensor which indicates how far the drill is from the apex of the tooth.

ROOT CANAL SIDE TABLE SETUP:

Side table setup for root canal. Cotton balls, small jar of cavity filler putty and putty scoop. Two small boxes of 1) tiny paper points for drying out cleaned roots, 2) tiny rubber points for melting into cleaned roots with a handheld device the tip of which heats to 500 degrees (F or C?), blue mouthpiece to keep jaw open without tiredness, sheet of green rubber (dental dam) fit around metal frame to isolate working area from patient’s mouth; the two handled tool is used to make a hole in the rubber to fit around tooth, and small clamp is used to make seal around tooth.

I have also learned to:
2) call in a patient, set them in chair, place bib, ask questions

3) assist chairside – hold suction tubes behind tooth to collect liquid and material and also to block tongue, hold mirror to keep cheek out of the way, mix adhesives for crown repair, or prepare putty for impressions (requires clean ungloved hands), and also to grab anything from a drawer during a procedure whenever the Dr asks. I have to remember to keep a different pair of gloves going for each patient, and during a procedure to remove them from one or two hands in order to reach into a drawer (you don’t want to contaminate all over) or prepare other materials). You have to be generally dexterous and good at doing things with one hand, and that’s always been a forte of mine.

IMPRESSION SETUP:

Impression setup – Two jars of putty which must be blended completely through kneading in under 1.5 min, and placed in the trays for impression of teeth. The putty guns contain a rubbery putty which is applied to top and bottom front teeth, patient bites down and lets it set – to show bite measurements. Three bottles of string of different widths which are carefully stuffed around the base of the tooth, compressing the gums, left for a few minutes, and removed so that the putty has space to go further up the tooth for a more complete impression. All is sent to lab for making crowns or bridges.

BONDING SETUP:

Bonding setup – Green syringe of phosphoric acid for etching tooth surface (after dentist abrades the surface with a drill tip), then three dropper bottles of tooth prep and bonding liquids – one drop of each in little white tray, using brush to apply – and dried with UV light for 10 seconds. Followed by application and shaping of composite material from the yellow syringes, and drying with the light. Patient bites down on a small blue indicator paper (forgot to lay that out) to show what areas of the teeth need filing down.

POST SETUP:

See descriptions under “bonding”. For a short 6 gold post see upper right of tray – set up similar to bonding with flowable material, bonding droppers, tray and brush, UV light, green phosphoric acid, cotton wads for holding lips away from teeth, etc.

EXTRACTION SETUP:

Only one so far. Usual basic setup of mirror, explorer and college pliers. Then larger pliers for removing loose tooth, two special tools which provide both lever and fulcrum which dentist places at base of tooth and twists to loosen. Long tool for scooping? Suture ready with clamp, small scissors for cutting suture, lidocaine needle and there is always a cotton bud which will be covered with numbing gel before Dr administers injections in any procedure.

There was also a bit of microscopy surgery during one particularly long root canal, something like this (courtesy of microscopy website):

I got to try it out too so I could see the debris inside the tooth

There is a lot of juggling on the dentist’s part. He can work up to 20 mins screwing material out of a tooth root using the tiny hand drills (I bet it’s like trying to turn a tiny screw all the way down using gloved fingers) or sometimes attaching them to a handpiece. Someone who has come in for a crown repair or a consultation may wait in the next room, fall asleep, or get restless wondering where the dentist is, or why assistants keep walking past. That would be me trying to get the sterilizing done, or running off to get more supplies for the ongoing root canal.

Back to the topic at hand, I learned to:
4) break down a room – while wearing same gloves used in procedure, throw out sharps (needles and vials) into sharps container, disposables like paper, gauze and suction tubes into trash, and biohazards (anything with blood on it) into waste container. Remove sterilizable instruments, brush debris off, and place in ultrasonic detergent bath. Use hospital grade spray detergent to spray down tray, sink, chair, and handpieces (like drills and suction/water thingies). Wipe down starting with cleanest and ending with dirtiest: chair, tray, handpieces, sink. Then wipe down handpieces with alcohol pads. Then it’s back to step one for setup.

5) perform X-rays (still ongoing, I suck at this) – I hate this the most because placement of the film is so hard for me, deciding when to tell them to bite down, and then it shifts and you have to place it again. It’s all about the axes of the tooth versus film angle, but then the cheek and tongue gets in the way. Also to get electronic film holders for upper left vs upper right, top, bottom, whatever. At least some holders have a ring outside so you know where to direct the beam. Place lead apron on patient. Also knowing on the computer software which numbers to assign different X-rays, three teeth at a time, grrrr. Go behind wall, wait for blue signal on computer screen, press button, hear buzz, let go button, then wait for image to process and see if you got it right. Yeah, I hate this aspect the most – even though it’s the cleanest…go figure.

I work on a street which separates Chinatown from City Hall. Every day after work I’ve been walking out to Federal Plaza, where there is a nice tree-filled park with benches, surrounded 360 degrees by courthouses and federal and state buildings, and also New York’s absolutely gigantic City Hall which faces down Centre Street (yes, spelled the English way). It’s all quite pretty and serene. There are of course a lot of official vehicles, various uniforms, some dogs, guard posts and moving road blocks – mostly out of sight of the park but down side streets and entrance driveways. Interesting, but a bit hard for me considering how much I have always wanted a federal job! After work they’re all out there reminding me!

Yesterday I was so exhausted from skipping lunch, and the resultant headache, that I sat in the park to devour some Fig Newtons, finish my bottle of Pepsi, and I felt about 50% better. I rested for an hour, then gathered the will to walk to the subway and head home. Popped some takeout Chinese from the day before into the microwave, ate it, had some water, and slept for a couple of hours, then woke up for a glass of milk and some Oreos. Oof…………hope this does not happen again………

So there, that’s my new job. 90 day probation period. Eventually I will ask about bringing in my own scrubs so I’m not wallowing in size M, and also perhaps campaigning to get one Saturday off per month, since it’s tough to never have two consecutive days off, and you all know how wonderful my Saturdays have been since coming to NYC.

In closing, next time you’re at the dentist and it seems quiet and you feel neglected, you can be sure that it’s not because the staff are sitting down.

1. I have not yet heard back from the vet’s office – I was supposed to on Wednesday. Does nothing mean no? Or maybe they just spent more time calling people’s references than expected, and the outcome is delayed….

2. In reply to Um Naief’s comment in the last post about V and me looking like sisters, I said that as we were passing an old guy on a bench in Prospect Park he said, “Sisters?”

New Yorkers have mastered the art of random comments. For instance, the day I went to my interview here in Bklyn, I emerged from the subway and stood to cross the street. As I was putting my sunglasses on, a trio of middle aged men passed me and one commented, “That’s right sister, get ready for the sun.” Generally they say these things not too loudly in passing so that you can choose whether to hear them or not. So I gave a tiny chuckle as I started to cross the road and he gave one back.

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OK, now it’s time to fasten those seatbelts folks! My good old friends from St Thomas and I had a day out on the town.

We gathered at Grand Central:

Crossing to the NY Public Library to see the foyer:

When we came out, a non-UST) member was added to our group:

We went into St Pat’s cathedral – I love the smell of incense:

Went to the Rockefeller Center:

Saw this landmark a few days later in the movie “On the Town” with Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, et al:

GE Building, frieze based on William Blake’s “Great Architect”:

GE Building lobby, Great Depression: last great era of craftsmanship:

GE Building, murals of the working man on the ceiling:

Resting in hotel lobby while we waited for Derika to check in:

Who takes pics of Times Square *in the day*?

Just prior to a hot dog stop:

Garmet District – had to take a photo of the store across the street:

The wonderful Empire State Building is always dramatic:

The quirky Gershwin Hotel and the Museum of Sex…SoHo of course:

I was teasing myself and Vera copied me:

The graffiti changed “feet” to “frap” making a funny statement even funnier:

Two special girls:

Approaching the Flatiron Building (1902):

It’s the second version of this type of building, the first being in the south somewhere:

The base of the Flatiron at the crossroads of Broadway and 5th:

A Presbyterian church in Greenwich Village:

Greenwich Village – Part of the Washington Square Mews, a very English holdover from the days when grand mansions had stables and cobbled streets behind:

(I would rather live in a cute mews house than in the cavernous mansion in front)

Washington Square Arch (1889) commemorated the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as first President of the United States:

Most of the historic buildings around Washington Square Park are used by NYU but local residents have managed to keep the park for public use:

Greenwich Village – walking away from Washington Square:

Resting on the subway down to Chambers Street/World Trade Center:

A reflecting pool inside the World Financial Center where Chris works. Droplets of water fall periodically from the wires breaking the mirror surface of the water:

It is a very quiet memorial to 9/11:

The Winter Gardens inside the WFC, surrounded by nice shops and cafes to serve the public and the office workers inside:

V and V eat a salad in the Winter Gardens:

Now hurrying out of the WFC, we have a ferry to catch!

Walking walking, we pass this interesting little feature in Battery Park:

What is that wierd sci-fi looking building behind this jetty?

I messed up Vanessa’s serious shot:

It is the Children’s Holocaust Museum on very serene waterfront:

Surrounded by hibiscus bushes:

I love this, totally sci-fi, don’t know what it is:

We are on the ferry:

Being chased by a very tiny plane Can you spot it?

A patriotic image:

Lady Liberty:

She’s getting smaller:

Pierre, Vanessa and moi:

Me, Pierre, Vanessa, Liberty, Vera, and Chris:

About ten miles south you see the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, where I live!

A big Norwegian Cruises ship crossed our path:

Ellis Island, the gateway for many immigrants of previous centuries:

One of two exhausts, opened 1950, for the Holland Tunnel; it renews the air every 60 seconds:

One of Olafur Eliasson’s NYC waterfalls:

Manhattan Bridge, and look! can you spot the tiny Empire State Building on the left?

Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges:

Another waterfall off Governor’s Island:

A sailboat off Governor’s Island (high zoom):

What’s taller, the building or the boat nose up?

Back to being landlubbers – NYC Mounted Policeman in Battery Park:

The New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street:

And across the street, Federal Hall where George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States:

A sculpture in a plaza in the financial district:

A dizzy upshot:

While waiting for food to be served, Vera and I walked to the waterfront at the end of the street to see the sunset from the Irish Hunger Memorial:

Under the Irish Hunger Memorial:

The garden of the Irish Hunger Memorial:

After dinner at Chevy’s Mexican Restaurant (pretty good):

Equipment at Ground Zero:

The mosaic theme at this subway was EYES of every description:

Back to Times Square:

Where McD’s and even subway signs sparkle:

And even the US Armed Forces recruiting station!

Aaaannnnnnd it’s a wrap…

HALF DAY ONE

Houston Sunrise……………………………..

Vanessa arrived early Thursday afternoon (having departed Houston at sunrise). We grabbed a Chinese lunch round the corner from me and just spent time with each other, in fact I even gave her some of the dresses I’ve grown out of. In the evening, we headed into the city to meet one of V’s friends from tango who happened to be in town (happens every time that someone somebody knows is always in town), and then back to Laguardia to pick up V’s boyfriend Pierre.

Home

Most NYC subways are filled with mosaics, each stop having its own theme. This could be a blog post in itself.

City of contrasts (between 5th and Madison)

Apple and Bergdorf Goodman

On the way back through Manhattan to Brooklyn we got out at Union Square and went to the University Diner (near NYU). At 10pm we had a salad Nicoise and some REALLY good handmade pasta in a pink (between red and creamy) vodka sauce with zucchini and portobello mushroom. It really was deliciously yummy and I can’t wait to eat it again. I’ve never eaten such tender, springy pasta – maybe THAT’S what al dente means…

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DAY TWO – BROOKLYN WANDERINGS

We were a bit useless, despite waking up rather early, we only managed to make brunch (my now famous scrambled egg in a wrap with sausage patties), and left the house in the afternoon! The afternoon, I tell you!

Going up a few stops into another part of Brooklyn, we got out at Union Street subway and explored Park Slope towards Prospect Park (there’s even a mini-movie), where we saw Grand Army Plaza and the Brooklyn Public Library.

No two houses are alike in this city…

Fairytale alert!

Grand Army Plaza, in memory of those who died to preserve the Union (Civil War, 1860-1865)

A gazebo at Prospect Park

The Brooklyn Public Library (wiki), built between 1912-1941 (no typo here). Brooklyn borough is the fifth largest public library system in the USA.
Apparently from above it resembles an open book, with this face being the spine


All variety of symbology and literary figures cover the doors. All three entrances are flanked by excellent quotes carved in stone

If I had to choose, I would be Athena, and I like owls

We kept walking and saw some of the park. It is an intriguing park. After entering between two columns you find your way to a sort of keyhole tunnel, which transports you into a rolling meadow filled with ancient trees. It felt a bit like English countryside and we wanted to explore more. There is a lake, a boathouse, a Quaker cemetery, a Dutch farmhouse, the Botanic Gardens, and and and….but it was nearly 4.30pm by the time we’d snapped a few photos, so we legged it to the Brooklyn Museum (website) and had about 20 minutes to breeze through the decorative arts and room displays on the 4th floor.

The Brooklyn Museum (wiki), opened in 1897, is the second largest museum in NYC and one of the largest in the USA.

The Jan Martense Schenck House, built in the 1670s when Brooklyn was still Broekelin. Dutch houses abound in this part of the city and I would like to explore them.

Half is laid out in the original Dutch colonial style of Jan Martense and the other half in Nicholas Schenck’s 18th century style.

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THE DINNER PARTY, Judy Chicago:

This exhibition, which has travelled far and wide, is over 30 years old and represents many of the most powerful and influential females of history – warriors, rulers, writers, poets, innovators, activists. This one is Boadicea. Emily Dickinson’s setting is pink and frilly and her embroidery more delicate.

Rodin’s Burghers of Calais

Rodin sculpture gallery in the lobby

Inside the lobby at closing

In the Museum Plaza after a surprise sunlit rainshower

We ate hot dogs at the ubiquitous Sabretts stand outside the museum, then walked back into Prospect Park where we attempted to rescue a giant lost caterpillar on the pathway that refused to stay on a tree, so we abandoned him to his fate. But at least he was on the grass by then.

We returned home where we ate leftover egg rolls. Pierre stayed to take a nap (he was fighting a cold) and Vanessa and I walked to Shore Park to see the sunset. We went all the way to the veteran’s memorial/POW-MIA pier at the top of the park, then into the pharmacy to pick up some meds for Pierre, and then took the subway two stops back home which saved about 20 minutes.

We were hungry again, so we went down to a sushi restaurant that I love. Had crispy tofu, seaweed salad, three types of sushi maki ($2.50 gives you 6 rolls); Pierre had beef teriyaki.

It was a pleasant stroll back home as we were very full.

……………………………………….New York sunset

[P.S. cross your fingers - I have an interview at an animal hospital on Monday.]

On Friday, Vera flew in from France. She’s been there for 3 years studying photography – she is “one of the gang” from university in Houston (and was nearly my second roomie until Residence Life gave me Vanessa). She is staying with Chris while she undertakes a 2-month internship at a magazine. The three of us met up at Union Square for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Being experts on Tex-Mex and Chris’s family coming from Mexico, we were not impressed.

But the decor was fun!

Poor Vera was so tired from her flight that when we finished dinner at 11pm her body clock was at 5am, so she fell asleep at the table, and the waiter thought she was drunk!

On Saturday we were to meet up at Lisa’s house at 12.30 pm for a pot-luck brunch (she who had the housewarming party last month, Chris knows her from his MBA school).

It was hard to get up because I’d been up past 3 am chatting with roomie’s gay friend from high school. He sees in me a fellow artist, some of his more whimsical little photos are much like mine (playing with shapes and light, etc).

However, mid-morning some amazing storms swept throught the Tri-State area
That’s me sounding like a local.
(Tri-State refers to the Manhattan area commuter belt of New York/New Jersey/Connecticut.)

Raindrops on the glass-enclosed revolving doors at Lisa’s apartment building. The doorman thought it was a great idea.

Anyway, the rain held a few people back from arriving at brunch on time, including Chris and Vera, who arrived last at nearly 3pm bringing a giant Spanish omelette when everyone had stopped stuffing themselves an hour before. Because Lisa had worked in Mexico City for a while, she always makes great pico de gallo and has tortillas on hand. There were all sorts of brunchy food and drinks, even white wine!

Chris, Vera and I were the last to leave – after that we went back to his place in Jersey City, which is now full of boxes and new things. Vera has an air mattress in the living room, but she is very much the starving artist type, and so she deflated that because she prefers her sleeping bag directly on the floor!

We got into the car armed with directions to Wal-Mart in Union City, NJ. I love being Navigator.
For the first time in my years in the US, I actually like, um, Wal-Mart….Plus shopping in NJ is great because you pay 7% state and county tax instead of NY’s 8.5ish% (depending on your county). BUT the counties/boroughs that make up NYC have eliminated all sales tax on clothing and shoes that cost under $110 each. These are Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Kings (Brooklyn), Richmond (Staten Island).

And there is no Wal-Mart within reach of the Metropolitan Transit Authority so I can’t take the subway. Since Chris has to shop there a lot in the next month, and because he is sure it can take him less than half an hour to drive from Jersey City to Bay Ridge, he promises to let me shop with him and then drop me off at home! Woot! No bag-lugging across Manhattan (it takes an hour and a half on the subway, but by car across bridges and through Staten Island, it is much shorter because this area really is quite compact.

Wal-Mart is so amazingly affordable that they felt bad for all the purchases they had made at Target the day before. Target is the cool and trendy fashionista’s version of Wal-Mart. And I felt bad that I had bought anything anywhere else too.

We were there until closing at 10pm, then we headed back to Chris’s place for dinner using whatever he had in his fridge (eggs, ham, English muffins, and salsa). The night views of Manhattan from his living room window are great, and the breeze is wonderful on the 23rd floor.

The brightest and tallest spot in Manhattan is now the Empire State Building, a reinstatement as it was from the 1930s to the 1960s. Fitting because it is a symbol of New York, “The Empire State” – but imagine how it would have looked with the WTC twin towers…

Then I worked the kinks out of Vera’s neck and shoulders while she fell asleep, bless her, because she had been in pain throughout the day. Chris dropped me off at the Pavonia PATH station at quarter to midnight, and I arrived in Bay Ridge at a quarter to 2am. The New Jersey PATH trains and the NYC subway were as busy at this time as they are in the daytime. I don’t know how long it will take me to get used to this pattern.

And so, today, Sunday, I am doing what you should on Sundays: resting. Oh, but I do need to pop out to buy more bagels, Swiss cheese, and whatever other foodstuff takes my fancy.

On the real Saturday, I met a couple of friends at the MoMA. I never thought I would say this about a modern art museum, but I think I will have to go back. You can’t see everything in one afternoon, and I’ve just found out I missed a lot of stuff I would know about from my art history course, including Dali’s Persistence of Time, and Oppenheim’s Fur Cup.

On the top floor was a special Dali and surrealist film exhibition, so five sections were showing screenings of:

Un Chien Andalou – the famously weird one where the cow’s eye is sliced open, the ants crawl out of a man’s hand, or the man hauls two priests (Dali and Bunuel) attached to two pianos with two bloody dead donkeys inside. Seriously. The music gets a bit stuck in your head too, and like any of Dali’s paintings, it leaves you feeling unsettled.

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l’Age d’Or – a longer film by Dali and Bunuel, slightly erotically charged, and with a plot.

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Spellbound – a Dali/Hitchcock collaboration starring Ingrid Bergman and a young Gregory Peck. One of the backdrops was on display, along with Dali’s sketches for scenes.

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And Destino, a short from the Disney studios chock full of iconic Dali imagery. Imagine, back then Walt Disney was so cutting edge that Dali chose him to bring his works to life:

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After the museum closed and we were ushered out, we had dinner at a Thai place. I had never tasted plum wine before, but it was delicious. The color of tea, it tasted like sherry and pecans.

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On the way down to Times Square later on:

Walked into the NBC store for some quiet during a phone conversation

Public concourse on the ground floor of the Rockefeller Center (GE Building).

A really nice staircase and floor. This (like the Empire State Building) was one of the large public works projects enacted during the Great Depression to give men jobs. In my opinion, it was the last time things were made to last forever – they really knew how to build ‘em back then. Black granite and brass everywhere, and great murals too.

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And that’s not the end of Saturday:

After dinner, I parted with Dan and Laura, and met Chris in Times Square to see Dark Knight. It was sold out again, so we got tickets for The Stepbrothers, which was good for a wicked laugh. The theater was so full at 10pm that we had to sit on the second row and gape upwards.

When we left near midnight, people were still going in for more shows and the streets were full of people of every description. This is indeed the city that never sleeps.

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On Sunday, I met Denise and Clif in the East Village for brunch at a little Ukrainian spot called Odessa. There was the original little cafe with tiny booths and red bar stools, which is where we met. The newer and larger restaurant next door was packed, but we opted for authenticity.

The East Village is just as you would imagine: tree-lined streets of character brownstones including little old Catholic missions behind ivy covered walls, lively little walk-down basement shops (which I am sure appeared in You’ve Got Mail) offering vegan food, tattoo parlors, vintage clothing, etc. I saw a few punks but I guess being right next to NYU, more numerous were young intellectual types who wear hats, glasses, waistcoats with t-shirts, and sit and read poetry on doorsteps or under trees. They exist!

Anyway, at Odessa I enjoyed the Chef’s Special as my intro to a hearty Yiddish breakfast: a sweet cheese blintz, four assorted pierogies, and a potato pancake, served with a side of sour cream and apple sauce. You also get a choice of coffee or tea (I chose the latter), plus a mimosa, screwdriver or bloody mary. I chose the mimosa. The staff look Mexican and are very polite and careful, and when you say “thank you” they say, “my pleasure”.

After that satisfying lunch or even early dinner we walked around the farmer’s market in the park across the road. Pretty soon a storm blew in so we legged it to the subway four blocks away and made it in time, but I stood outside taking in the wind which nearly knocked me backwards, but boy was it fresh! While waiting to cross the road it was blowing so hard there was dust sandblasting the back of my legs.

Then the sky came down and I spotted a Kmart-Sears so ran across to buy a hand drill because Chris had suggested that before he starts work on Monday he would like to help me assemble my bed which has been sitting in its lovely flat pack IKEA boxes for the past month. And I keep complaining about it. My friends are the BEST.

Because of the cooler weather, roomie wanted to cook some fresh fish she had bought. Pollock, the new cod. Americans are much more familiar with pollock, which comes out of the Alaskan waters. I’ve noticed some fish n chip shops in London are trying to phase it in during the critical cod shortage.

So, while Chris and I did the building – which according to the instructions needed 3 people after all and we could have done with 4 – roomie helped when needed and the rest of the time prepared dinner.

The pollock was grilled with olive oil and black pepper, and topped with an Italian salsa of diced tomato, chopped garlic, basil, and black pepper. Very yummy. We also had a spinach and rocket (arugula) salad with feta cheese, avocado, and papaya dressing.

No carbs, but we were satisfied and felt better for eating such healthy fare.

So all in all, a wonderful weekend. I am happy

Fingers crossed everyone!

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I didn’t tell you about my wild karaoke weekend, did I? Well, on Friday, one of my old uni friends (Chris) from Houston moved up to NYC, and on Friday we went to a housewarming party put on by one of his friends from the MBA program they’ve just finished. A lot of them are moving up here at the moment. After we’d eaten and mingled, and most of them went home after 11pm, about 7 of us walked down to Korean Town for green tea ice cream and karaoke. Two of the group did a Madonna number, but mostly we sat and watched the surreal proceedings. Before we left around 2am, I joined C and his friend singing the Beatles (Obladi Oblada). For the second time in my life, I sang karaoke and it was fun

I left my sunglasses at Lisa’s place that night, so we arranged to meet for a movie yesterday evening. Lisa couldn’t make it, so it was just Chris and me, and Dark Knight was sold out so we saw H*llboy II (don’t feel like showing up on Google), which was acceptable viewing since it would be full of weird creatures from the minds of the creators of Pan’s Labyrinth. Afterwards, we walked to her place 7 blocks away, and on the way passed this behemoth, the United States Post Office – and at 10.30 pm it was open, probably for the use of the automated machines.

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”, commonly but mistakenly thought of as the USPS creed, it is really only the inscription above the NYC Post Office. It is derived from a passage in the Histories of Herodotus (5th century AD), in reference to the couriers of ancient Persia.

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****[ADDENDUM] I have found out that this post office was opened in 1914 and then doubled in size in 1934. It takes up 2 city blocks and 1.5 million sq. ft. of space! It is home to 2,500 employees. It is indeed open 24/7. The lobby retains the vista of the exterior colonnades with Corinthian columns. The building is surrounded by a dry moat, giving light and air to the basement levels.

In 2005, the USPS sold the Farley Building to the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation to develop it into the new Penn Station, its original designation. However, the USPS will still retain 250,000 sq. ft. and 900 employees in the facility.****
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Today after the interview, I went to Steve & Barry’s, a unique store in the Manhattan Mall, where everything costs $8.68 or less. Not kidding! Sarah Jessica Parker and Venus Williams both design their own lines exclusively for S&B. When I moved here, obviously I didn’t pack old clothes for knocking about at home or in the park, so this is the next best thing…

Six items for the price of one or two at a regular department store? Wow.

It rained this afternoon, and because the weather has been so hot, it feels like a sauna outside. I came out for a breath of air but didn’t find much out here!