the governor's island

on friday afternoon s got a text from a friend from work, j-dubs, asking if we wanted to go to governor's island. i had been noticing the posters on the subway, and it felt like synchronicity, so we decided to go.

the ferry is free from battery park, and only a few minutes' ride (which i was appreciative of.) admission to the island is also free--it's a national park now. the island used to belong to the armed services (i think first the army and then the navy), and they left in 1996 and donated it to the city of new york. they've slowly been rehabbing the island, returning it to greenspace for recreation. they have concerts on saturdays, and we made it there in time to listen to the roots music of eric bibb, a really incredible guitarist. it hardly felt like we were in the city; we wandered down bricked side streets (no cars are allowed on the island) and sat on a wide grass lawn under an avenue of tall trees. even the air was cleaner and fresher.


eric bibb and friends

after we listened to the music, we wandered around the island. because the island was first fortified in the late 1700s and was still inhabited until the late 1990s, there are many generations of buildings and fortifications all over the island, so it was fun to explore those. (although i think next time i want to take a tour.) ALSO, and pretty cool, i think they recently filmed an episode of top chef on the island, because i found this spike tape on the ground.


(it says tom and padma, in case you can't read it.)

one of the old houses on the island was hosting an international exhibition by members of the sculptors guild called in-site, with some really incredible sculpture and installation pieces. it was really great to stumble on the surprise of impressive art in the middle of nowhere (in the middle of new york.) it felt like a treat to stumble on governor's island in general; it's like a well-kept secret. the island wasn't crowded at all, and it is full of rolling green hills and tall shade trees. i plan to go back again and again. who's with me?

real fandom

overheard last night at the laundromat.

major mets fan (in jersey and hat, attached to transistor radio): mets, baby, mets! (this was said repeatedly, to no one in particular.) i just want 'em to beat those yankees. i always say, if the yankees got in a plane crash and died, i wouldn't cry. i don't wish 'em dead, but i wouldn't be sad if something bad happened to them.

i don't think i have ever been that invested in any thing (people certainly, but not a sports team.) it's a devotion i don't totally understand.

tonight: governor's island updation--with pictures!

rock stars

as i have mentioned before, my friend my neighbor is in a band that plays around the city, and as friends, we all try to support him by going to concerts. (easier said than done--many nights i am more into pjs than djs. ha ha ha ha. just kidding.) last night, his band was playing a festival he had organized at fontana's on the lower east side. (fontana's was actually pretty nice inside, and much larger than anticipated. i did not enjoy wading through the garbage of eldridge street, however. but i do want to go back for the dance parties.)

mk and i dragged s along to have a drink before we paid the cover and went to hear the bands. (he had a late-night session, so he couldn't stay.) the band that played before them, king charles, was actually a lot of fun, very high energy, falling all over the stage. sad red is, as the name might imply, a little quieter than a band of old rock and roll covers, but they played an excellent show. i think they played new material, or at least it was new to me, and it was louder and faster, with more words, than i had remembered. (the last show we went to, though it is a little hazy in my memory, felt a lot sleepier.) i had a really good time. i also got to meet his dad, who you may remember i heard speak about his work at the national gallery back in june. i told him my dad was a long-time admirer of his work, and he thanked us for supporting his son. i love having friends in bands; i really like going to live music, and it's always more fun when i know someone on the stage.

the f wasn't running downtown from delancey (thanks, mta) so we had to take a cab. our driver had no idea how to get to park slope, so we tried to direct him. (i have little sense of direction, but after two gin and tonics, i was even more confused.) i finally got home around 1 am, which made this morning a little rough, but i only had to work a half-day, so it could've been worse. i had originally planned on visiting my sister in boston this weekend, but i had a long week and she has to work on sunday, so we decided we would plan for a future weekend when we would both be less tired and more available to do fun stuff. (plus she's coming to visit in a few weeks before she flies to uganda.) this means that instead, i get to sleep in tomorrow before s and i meet up with some friends to go to governor's island. more to tomorrow, then.

stay-cation

i've said it before, and i'll say it again: one of the best things about living in new york is that everyone comes here to visit, which means i keep getting to see people i would not get to see otherwise.

sunday i had brunch with a friend of mine from college (she is still finishing up, spending the summer interning in nyc) at the marvelous sette in park slope (i say go for brunch; it's fixed price, including unlimited cocktails, whee!), and we spent a few hours catching up on each others' lives and college gossip. afterwards i headed uptown to spend the afternoon on the backyard patio of a garden apartment on the upper west side, sweating and cracking jokes with s's studiomates at their summer party. (it has been a very long time since i sat in someone's backyard. i want a garden apartment.)

today i had dinner with my high school boyfriend, now someone i can consider a friend. (it took some work.) his great-grandmother, a fantastic old new yorker who i had the pleasure of getting to know when i was at nyu, just passed away at 99 years old, and he was in town for her memorial. i got to see his parents, too, whom i had not seen in a few years (apparently the family were all asking about me.) we went to curly's lunch (he's a big vegetarian too), and caught up about our lives and the lives of our high school friends. it was really fun to see him again--now that we've gotten beyond the tears (me) and weirdness (him) of our high-school-sweetheart-break-up, i really enjoy his company as a friend. he also lives a totally different life from me or anyone else i know (river raft guide/snowboarding instructor/nature teacher--aka, most like to go "into the wild"), which makes for very entertaining stories.

it's always fun to see old friends. thank you, new york.

holy hotness, batman

i just saw christian bale.

not in a cool way, not in a bumped-into-you, you're-kind-of-pretty, come-be-in-my-next-movie way. in a usual way. "the dark knight" is premiering at the theatre down the block from my office, and i am currently holed up here until 7 pm, and i watched them set up the tents earlier today, and could hear the screaming as i typed, so when ls and the new girl went running down the hallway to go see the celebrities, i abandoned my post and went running with them. we got there in time to see christian bale walking the red carpet, smiling and signing autographs. good gracious, that man is gorgeous. it was worth it just to see him.

though it would be more worth it to bump into him. and then get to be in his next movie. just saying.

also? this never happened in bloomington.

back in the bk

i know it's been a whole week since i blogged, but for good reason. i got home yesterday from a family vacation in maine. (my grandparents owned a cabin there for many years, and my mother often waxes poetic about summers spent canoe-ing across the pond, walking into town to the pine tree frosty, and playing softball on their lawns.) we stayed in a beautiful lodge right on the waters edge, and spent our days reading, hiking, canoe-ing, and walking into town to the pine tree frosty. (seriously, so good.)

being in maine brought up a lot of feelings i have about where i have chosen to live. i grew up in oregon, and i loved it while i lived there, and there are things i miss. i miss the cool smell of pine forests, the blue of the sky on a clear day, the sound of the windchime on our front porch. it was a grand and beautiful place to grow up; as a child i felt safe, loved and encouraged by my parents and my community, and i feel that it helped make me open-hearted and excited about the world. but it is not a place i could ever return to. my heart truly belongs to this city we live in, and despite its dirt and grime, i love it in an often irrational way. being out of new york made me realize what a new yorker i have become. (s laughed at me when i was trying to explain this and said "and the bagels weren't bagels!") i feel tied to this city, i feel connected to it in a way i never felt about oregon (or it wouldn't have been so easy to leave.) i am the only person i know who left without hesitation, who moved on to such a tremendously different life. most of the people i went to school with are still in our little hometown, married with children and working local jobs. (a lot of the people i went to college with are still in the midwest, married or engaged and pursuing their dreams out there.) my choices have always felt different, and often difficult, in part because i have always chosen another path. not necessarily in a rebellious way, or in a particularly alternative way, but i guess i have felt that i could see the traditional option, or an option that felt safe, and i have chosen instead something that excited me (even as it scared me a little.) i am living a life i have fought for, a life that requires effort, and thus brings me a lot of happiness and satisfaction.

the other day, we were on the train and i looked up and saw the following quotation, which i have meant to share for awhile, and that i think sums up what i am trying to say (i am quite sick, so my powers of explanation are not at their best.)

there are roughly three new yorks. there is, first, the new york of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. second, there is the new york of the commuter--the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. third, there is the new york of the person who was born somewhere else and came to new york in quest of something...commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.

--e.b. white, here is new york

urban parenting

little girl, maybe four years old, looking at broken glass spilling out of a brown paper bag: what's that?
father: broken glass.
little girl: what happened?
father: someone dropped their beer.

i'm not sure my parents would have been so honest.

history in the making

hey, america. happy birthday!

in honor of your special day, we spent the day yesterday at the international nathan's famous hot-dog eating contest.



s had done his research, and we knew we needed to get there somewhat early in order to get a good view of the contest. we showed up around 11:30 am (it is supposed to start around noon) and were able to squeeze in close enough to get a view of the left side of the stage. there's quite a bit of pre-show (got to give those espn talking heads time to speculate about kobayashi's odds), and we immensely enjoyed the dancing hot dogs. after a half hour of bad emcee jokes and ineffectual cheerleaders, the eaters took the stage to pumped-up music and bios like "the mayonnaise-eating champion of the woooooorld!" while something like 10 people competed, including an old man and a couple of women, as well as a possibly-retired rapper who had entertained the crowd during the pre-show, the real contest was between "america's son" joey chestnut and the injured-yet-still-fearsome takeru kobayashi. the two have squared off on multiple prior occasions, and seem to trade titles back and forth. (i highly recommend reading their bios, if only for the hilarity. they discuss their training regimens, previous world records, and other ridiculousness typically reserved for actual sports.) after the introductions, there was a big count down, and then they started the shoveling. (at that point i turned to s and said "so now we just watch them eat for ten minutes?" he just laughed at me.) it ended up being remarkably entertaining, as i felt a kind of disgusted awe and began cheering along with everyone else. seriously. the emcee would yell "and joey chestnut has just eaten TEN hot dogs in ONE minute!" and the crowd would go wild. this year, they both managed to get down 59 hot dogs in the regulation ten minutes, for a history-making tie. the overtime round required one to eat five hot dogs faster than the other, and joey just barely eked out a win. (an OT that favored his start-strong, finish-weak style; had it been to eat more in a certain amount of time, i think kobayashi, even injured, could have pulled out a win. but that's just my amateur opinion.) it was over quickly, and the crowd didn't stick around to watch the closing ceremony.

we wandered along the boardwalk, avoiding the fried clams and freak-shooting, and eventually ended up near the wonder wheel, which at 150 feet is the tallest ferris wheel in the world. i wasn't about to jump on the cyclone (the scary rattling wooden coaster), so i convinced s to go on the wheel with me.



it's a fairly calm, slow ride, but you do get a great view of the beach and surrounding area, and we enjoyed sitting on top of the world for awhile. once we got back down, we strolled around a bit more, looking at the rides and snack shacks and old posters. i had wanted to come to coney island before it's changed by gentrification, and we got to see a little bit of everything it's known for; dirt and grime, games, rides, an old-fashioned freak show. i don't know how to feel about "the future of coney island"; on the one hand, it's kind of a gross place. on the other, it's always been that way, it's sort-of famous for being proud of being that way, and i don't agree with the need to clean everything up. i'd like to go back, if only to take more pictures and maybe to work up the bravery to ride the cyclone. s considered a hot dog (in honor of the day), but the wait was at least a half hour (everyone else was feeling honorific), so we headed home to eat.

the former co-inhabitants of boyland moved out to a former furniture factory in greenpoint and they've carved out a recording studio and some bedrooms on one of the floors. (it's really an amazing space, although the entrance leaves a little something to be desired. let's just say i'd rather visit.) their building has an incredible roof, with amazing views of manhattan, so last night we camped out up there to ooh and ahh over the fireworks. last year i spent the fourth in d.c., but i honestly felt the display here was more beautiful and inspiring. i'm not particularly patriotic, but i do love fireworks. (as ls and i agreed, i like to feel the boom.) we were a little far away to feel anything, but we had an excellent vantage point, and watched the fireworks explode over the river with the skyline in the background. it rained a little, but, intrepid city-folk that we are, we stood around under umbrellas watching the fireworks light up the sky. there were people i knew, and people i didn't, but i felt no shame in clapping my hands with glee over it all. i felt proud to be a new yorker, at the very least.

mom genes

i've got babies on the brain, not because i want one right now (no worries, dear s) but because there have been cute babies galore popping into my life: my cousin just gave birth to a precious child, one of my ex-coworkers brought her adorably fat infant in to visit, and many of the blogs i follow keep posting pictures of their (super cute) pregnant mama bellies or too-sweet toddlers (i'm looking at you, clark kent.) plus there was this really funny little baby on the train this morning in a front-carrier who looked like a little man trapped in a parachute. he was gripping the straps around his shoulders and had a very worried look on his face. the girl sitting opposite me couldn't stop smiling at him. i love observing people's secret baby smiles, half at the baby and half to themselves. it's one of the cutest things you can catch a person doing (especially a boy--swoon), and everyone near me couldn't stop grinning at the nervous little guy.

we've been watching a lot of episodes of the wire recently, and it has made me desperately want to adopt everyone last one of those corner boys and take them home and bake them cookies and give them back some innocence. (call them my angelina jolie mom-to-the-world genes.) it also reminded me that i really miss volunteering with kids, and i want to volunteer. i am going to re-apply at 826nyc and look into becoming a big sister. i love this city, but i just move through it, and i want to have an impact while i am here, even if it's just on one or two people.