Media Barrage

There's a ton of pictures that I have and are in no real order, so let's go chronologically. Journey to the past month...

The handsome fellow on the right is the German that I have described previously. He's back in Stuttgart now, playing his new guitar and charming the ladies, I'm sure.




I did not realize that there existed a market for hybrid Easter/Christmas tree ornaments. This is a disturbingly expressioned bunny snowman.




He's watching you... always watching...








This was awesome. I had a stressful, low-paid night at Swanky's (what night was not stressful or low-paid?) and wanted to stop by a local bar for a cheap beer. As I approached I said to myself, "dear, the cigarette taxes did not hinder the smokers one bit" because there was this squadron of people just hanging outside. Turns out, there was a burst pipe or clogged drain or something up on the 4th floor of the building and water was pouring out of six or seven holes in the ceiling. It was coming down the lights, onto the bar, and then finally in a big puddle on the floor.

The firefighters arrived and told the super to turn off the water main. They then took this grappling hook thing and smacked it on the ceiling a bit to pull down the loose tile. They declared the building fit to enter and everyone who was still waiting inside came back in and resumed drinking. Note the paper towels at the end of the bar. Everything was soaking wet. Luckily, somehow all of this water managed to miss both the pool table and the DJ setup.

Check out my video of the occasion - my favorite part is halfway through when some guy is like, "this is realllly bad". I think I played pool with that guy last week.

The weather on Friday and Saturday was superb. Daniel and I had a mystery shop at Texas BBQ in midtown, and we paused here on the steps of the post office by Madison Square Garden next to some crazy guy who kept yelling.



The flowers looked so nice over by Rockefeller University that I had to stop what I was doing (walking) and take some pictures.





















































I have such a love/hate relationship with typos on business' signs. I crave them...but I loaaaaathe them....





This was taken in the middle of Central Park last week. There were lots of children, strollers, frisbees, and dogs.
































Am I not turtley enough for the turtle club? In the pond by Belvedere Castle. By the way, I just noticed this castle for the first time like, last month. I'm quite observant, don't you know.



This guy was so adorable I had to take a picture of him. Adorable. So I have a type, don't judge.







I was assigned a mystery shop last night for a hospital hotel over on 68th and York, and the hotel room itself was fantastic. There was a full kitchen and very comfortable beds. The only downside was the extreme heat and dehydration that I always experience in hotels. I never seem to get a restful night's sleep. I should try that wet towel over a chair thing next time.

Anyway, this was the charmingly olde timey notice they had on the back of the door about the safe. It seemed decidedly pre-depression '20s style.




Small print: "Whenever the proprietor or manager of any hotel, motel, inn, or steamboat"... Steamboat? Like on the ole Mississip? When the heck was this written?



They needed to replace the flowers in the lobby.








I cannot even tell you how much I laughed at this sign. People were staring at me in the street, and that is something in this town. It was in the window of a pottery ceramics do-it-yourselfy kind of store, usually populated by kids' birthday parties. Anyway, they used props along with window paint to create this work of art, but they should have invested in better tape because the 'you' plate that had been there on previous days fell off.

Now it says, "roses 'r red, violets 'r blue, sugar is sweet, and so 'r adult nights". TRUTH! Bwahaha, I am still chuckling.


Speaking of things that made me laugh: fat dog in a little coat, over at CraftFail.

I was waiting in line for the Q46 last month in Queens on my way to class and I noticed this bag going crazy in the wind, American Beauty style. Check out the video.

Back on my Game

It's on! Pictures! A day in the life! Daniel and I decided to take the subway down to South Ferry (because he's my southern fairy) which is the bottom tip of the island of Manhattan. Originally, we were just planning to walk around Wall Street and Battery Park and check out the sights and then come home. Well, since we have become such intrepid walkers of late not only did we weave around downtown we walked home. That's right. Up to 107th and Broadway. That's about ten miles. It's not as bad as you'd think.

What did we see on our journey?

The shrine of Elizabeth mumblemumble, the first American female saint!









Had I been so inclined, I could have paid $1.00 to press a button.







It was about as realistic as you would expect from a light bulb in a plastic cylinder.















I have no idea what this guy was selling, but I love love love when people are semi out of costume and doing normal people things.





The Wall Street bull. That woman looks like she is contemplating climbing on top of it.






Strangely enough, there is like this Irish pub alley that was jam packed with young folk ready to drink their cares away. This was at about 2:30 PM, on a Saturday.













The only flowers out at this point were brown and dead.


















When you order anything in this restaurant, they tell you to get in the friggin' kitchen and make it yourself.





Avenue of the Finest.... what? Parking meters? Car thieves? Turns out, it's New York's finest... police officers.





Right under the Brooklyn Bridge there were a ton of street kids using the ramps.






Now we're into Chinatown and their massive live seafood displays.







Weird looking shrimp.

















He's watching you... always watching...







Babe?!?








Where's Daniel?








He was very, very invested in this mah-jongg game.







We stopped at a bakery even though we didn't have the best of experiences last time we went to one. I got this custardy pie looking thing. The greenish part on top was like really firm jello. There was vanilla cake underneath.



Panda cupcake! Words cannot describe this goodness. There were sprinkles on the outside, and the middle was vanilla cake with icing in between two layers. Then, there was the face hard shell, edible, and underneath was this soft butter icing. Mmmmm... it haunts my dreams.

Sadly, Daniel's experience was not quite as good. He picked up this cakey thing in plastic and asked the counter lady if it was angel food cake. She enthusiastically agreed that it was. He purchased said cake. It tasted like salty pork.

Near Union Square. This statue has probably gotten a million times more attention than it would have on the ground.





This was across the street from the U.N. building (I almost typed 'Model U.N. building).







There was a beautiful apartment building in midtown that had a fountain.







Closer-up of the fountain.








I love lighting stores, and I want a crystal disco-ball lamp.








Sparkles!








We walked home through Central Park and stopped by Belvedere Castle. For some reason, neither of us had seen this thing until last week.




There was a rustling on the path, and surprise! Raccoon! It was digging all over the place probably looking for food.





We disobeyed the posted signs and gave it a bit of dried pineapple. So cute!







This was pretty.











Daniel is brazenly flaunting the rules!







Right now, I'm sitting near one of the food service places at Columbia and there's this guy behind me that is having this bizarre, personal phone conversation that is basically him rambling on and on about his family and his issues and whatnot. It could be a therapy session. After about fifteen minutes of listening to this I'm not entirely sure that he is actually talking to anyone as there is no break in conversation. I want to turn around to see if he's on the phone or just talking to the wall. Let me be subtle....

Hm, yes, it looks like he's using Skype or something and talking to someone online. But it can't be a very rewarding conversation for the person on the other end.

There's a guy in front of me who just took out a Styrofoam container of some kind of Chinese dumplings and they smell amazing. I want to ask him where he got them but he is listening to music and I don't want to interrupt his reverie.

New York has been good lately, except today it was rainy and the bottom of my pants are soaked through. It went up to about 68 yesterday afternoon. The flowers are coming out!

Wow, this guy behind me is so weird and loud. I wish he would take it somewhere else. Thirty minutes later and he is still talking. Now he's snapping his fingers. Apparently his mom is "anti-male".

[note: it's been over an hour and he hasn't stopped. Man's got problems, yo.]

[direct quote: "I just don't feel like I'm a prophet... I mean, I have prophetic insight.... I don't want to be weird, but I feel like God's been training me, and telling me that I've graduated from church and I see that every place outside of four walls, that's like my church. That's like, my pulpit is the Earth.. and whoever I'm around, you know, and there's a flow. I don't understand it, and I could be wrong, but I feel like there's a graduation that I haven't understood... (loooong silence)]