Sickness

Erin and I snuck into a computer lab before the class started and it turns out that the class in here now is some sort of agricultural dairy course and he keeps talking about rump width. Heeee.

In good news, my French Syntax professor told us today that we'll be allowed to use a half sheet of paper with notes on our test Thursday. I couldn't stop giggling with relief. This test was proving to be the bane of my existence.

I've been megadosing on high-pulp orange juice, Vicks, and menthol throat lozenges to rid myself of this pesky bug. Luckily, today I'm not miserable so much as irritated by my coughing and having to blow my nose all the time. I was able to get to sleep last night as opposed to the night before, when my poor swollen sinuses wouldn't let me breathe.

Gift Shop and Symphony

We tried to do something fun as a family today and go see the new dinosaur exhibit at the Carnegie museum, but it was booked three and a half hours in advance so we settled with driving through downtown and stopping at the Goodwill on the way home. I was in luck, though, since I got pictures of pretty things that I would like to own from the gift shop.


























































We used to scoot Kitty off the dining room table when she'd jump up there but she knows that we don't even bother any more.





Alex scored some tickets to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra tonight which was awesome but even better was that I was sitting right next to this old, old lady who kept falling asleep. Not only that, at one point there was a dramatic pause before the next movement began and she let out a huge gasping snore and her companion had to wake her up and shush her. The old lady then became belligerent and embarrassed her poor friend even more.

Other Stuff

After waiting for over an hour to get Asssscat tickets, the hander-outer lady had mercy and told us that we could go get something to eat and come back by nine for the show. I had seen this weird-looking fast food place that was kind of like a greasier version of the Ikea restaurant.

It was unsettlingly empty inside.











Their specialty seemed to be the veggie dogs.







I deliberated for awhile and finally chose the fish and chips option. Oh, the fish was so good! And the fries were good!









A shot of the fries. They even came with a little fry-fork.








Travis got the beignets for dessert. Oh, tasty fried pastry. That almost rhymes.










I overestimated the amount of condiments that I needed.








Nice flowers.











On our way back, we got this ambiguous signage. What do I do? Should I stay? Should I walk? Ah!







I still really like the subway. I wish I had the colored ornaments that they advertise in almost every car.







Art on the walls.








This escalator was almost as steep as the zoo escalator.








Believe it or not, the transit workers appear to have some free time on their hands.

Secrets

Everyone should take a look at Steph's Secrets of a Korean High School page, which highlights one of her lessons from the Changpyong school. It seems very popular to worry about studying and getting fat. I think if I were a teacher this would be the best part of the job.

Sunday in New York

I'm going to go all crazy-ordered because I have a random assortment of pictures that I wish to feature. These are from Sunday. Enjoy.

I passed this learning center on the way to the subway and there were three things about it that made me laugh. First, the drill sergeant-like ordering of Math! Reading! Success! We will not tolerate failure!
Secondly, I'm not sure if they were invoking students to 'come on' and learn with everybody else, but if they were and they intentionally spelled it like 'kumon', that's weird.
Finally, that child's face really looks like he is enthusiastic to begin his studies. Super-excited. Rah.

The entrance wasn't any cheerier.








Fodor's had recommended Magnolia bakery, so with trusting faith we headed southward and stood in a really long line during a drizzle since the entire bakery is the size of our kitchen. They even had a bouncer that let in small groups as soon as enough people had left. The excitement really heated up when this kid in front of us tripped and fell over absolutely nothing but then started to bawl and kept crying long after anything could have possibly hurt. His mom made various threats but to no avail.


Mmm, the icebox peppermint pie was deeelicious. And then, after I was picking off some of the crumbs from the cupcake liners, this old guy chastised me like I was five years old for throwing some to the pigeons.



It seems as if there has been an odor problem in the area.










So... the Guggenheim! Fun! It was one of the few places that we had to pay admission, but it was worth it because of the free audio tour. I love the free audio tour with a fiery passion. It makes the museum about a hundred times more interesting to me.






Travis looked really, really cool with the headphones on.








I enjoyed the ramps. They had stairs available, but only fools would take the stairs when such a ramp was offered.

Asssscat

This evening we stopped by to get tickets to Asssscat, since I'd read that it was a fun thing to do and more important, the 9:00 show was free if you got there early enough. Free? I'll take it! I figured that it was some college improv show that may not be very good but entertaining. I was so wrong - Amy Poehler hosted and there were people that I should have recognized there. And Jim from The Office! Jim! He's cute! They were all very funny and I would go back.

I want to put up some pictures mainly of my food but it's 1:34 in the morning and I am excited about spending the third night in a row (thanks Continental!) without roommates. Good night, all.

Day One, New York

I'm having an exciting and lucky voyage so far, and it seems that every bit of bad news is followed by great news.

Bad news: JFK airport is really, really far away.
Good news: We got the right subway; then I risked a bus in midtown Manhattan and it took us right near the hostel.

Bad news: The hostel room is kind of hot.
Good news: The windows open; even after getting upgraded from a 6-person to a 4-person room, in actually it got even better since our other bunkmates never showed and thus gave us a private room. Sweet!

Here are the bunkbeds with the two-inch mattresses. They're covered with plastic, which can be a little distracting with all the rustle, but I was so tired last night I could have slept anywhere. Travis is the shapeless lump on the second top bunk.


Larger view of the room. It has a mirror!











Bad news: We got really lost trying to find the MoMA.
Good news: We eventually found it; it was free Target night so we didn't pay anything; our ticket also gives us free admission to PS1.

Bad news: I got really hungry walking around the museum. Really hungry. Then we had to walk around forever to find a suitable eating place.
Good news: It was a fantastic eating place. I ordered the lasagna and it came in this cute little dish and had spinach pasta. I would have taken pictures of everything but it was fancier than we had expected and I believe photographing the food would have seemed out of place. Travis got the salmon, which was super tasty. We also got a side of onion rings, which looked like onion shoestrings but came with some very good garlicky sauce.

Bad news: We went way past our stop trying to find Sing Sing, a cleverly named karaoke bar.
Good news: We managed to find our way back without much hassle and rode in a brand new, state of the art subway car that had the stops listed electronically on a panel above the seats.

Also, we had a homeless person in the car.







Oh, look. Here's Travis and me enjoying a subway ride.







Zzzz, five minutes later. Travis can't be on a moving conveyance for any length of time without falling asleep.





Bad news: We had a complicated time finding the karaoke bar.
Good news: I got to see Meredith for the first time in two years, and there was some crazy girl who was bankrupting herself with many, many karaoke songs. She was sort of impressive, though, since she wasn't content with just singing the words and would vocalize the intro and synth parts as well. I bet she was a professional.

Bad news: We left the bar.
Good news: We went to an automat! Because I am sheltered and know nothing of the world, I was like 'is this going to be some sort of laundry facility that has vending machines? Ew." Bamn! I was so wrong!

It was this neon pink room with no door that you could just walk into, not talk to anyone, and pick your food out of little glass windows. It was called Bamn!

So many options, so many fried foods.











I ordered a swirl cone in vanilla and green tea. Tasty, tasty.








Unfortunately for us, the fried macaroni and cheese was all sold out. It had to have been a popular choice.





Now, we're just relaxing in the Google lounge absorbing the free internet. I figure we'll go somewhere for breakfast-lunch and browse through the Fodor's guidebook that I had the good sense to bring along for what we're going to do this afternoon. I'm thinking the Forbes museum, since it has the original Monopoly set and a collection of over 10,000 toy soldiers or something. Oh, how exciting.