« June 2004 | Main | August 2004 »
Chris and I finally caught Spider-Man 2 today, and I was mostly satisfied with it. Everyone had been telling me it was fantastic, so I think my expectations were raised a little high - it was good, but I was assuming it would be better. It was really just more of the same, which isn't a bad thing at all. I liked the first one a lot. When this one is available on DVD, I'll probably buy the pair and watch them again, I think it would be more fun that way.
Since I'm no longer a college student and don't have to carry around twenty eight pounds of textbooks (yes, we weighed them), I thought I'd try making the switch to a purse. All I really need with me is my iPod, my GBA, a book or magazine, and my wallet. And it turns out that this purse (in green) is perfect for all of that. In case you're, you know, in the market for a new purse. The mini version is also good if you're just going to dinner or drinks and don't even need the book.
Whenever people refer to Wednesday as Hump Day, I take it in entirely the wrong way and am very startled until I remember what hump it is they're talking about.
I hit up Zanzibar on 49th and 9th with the crew after work tonight, and while word is it's not as cool as it used to be, I was mostly satisfied. The food is "Mediterranean-inspired" and tasty - all the various platters make for good sharing among groups. Drinks were surprisingly cheap considering the location. The downside was getting half a vodka and tonic spilt on me by the waitress, but I got about seventy billion apologies and a free drink out of it so I can't really complain. At least it wasn't red wine.
Two days in a row, now, my commute has taken half an hour longer than it usually does. Yesterday I sat on the 3 for an extraordinarily long time between 72nd St and 42nd St (it may have seemed longer than it really was due to the Captain Body Odor effect), and then somewhere south of 14th St the train decided not to be a 3 anymore at all, so I had to get off and wait for my third train of the morning. (I always change from the 1 to the 2 or 3 somewhere uptown.)
This morning, Chris and I got on the 1 only to be told it was being taken out of service at the next stop, along with the 9, 2, and 3 above 42nd St. We later found out that service was cut off on these lines because of a "suspicious package" at 79th St, but at the time it meant we had to get off at the next stop, walk east to the A, and pay two more fares. And the thing we keep remembering is that we're told fares are either going to go up again (they recently went from $1.50 to $2 per ride) or the discounts you get by buying a card over $20 are going to be eliminated. It's nice to know we get to pay more for increasingly fucked up service.
And now for something completely different: as I was waiting for the elevator in the lobby of my building when I finally arrived at work, a little hipster twentysomething asked me how I got my iPod remote to stay on the strap of my purse, which was puzzling, but it turns out that she'd had a remote for six months without realizing that it has a little clip on the back. She had had the wire for hers wound in an elaborate manner up the entire length of her purse strap, all so that the remote could rest precariously in the middle of the tangle. I wonder if she has the same problem figuring out other things, like belt loops and doorknobs?
This week has been about leaving my Skinny Puppy smart playlist on shuffle and repeat.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your enthusiasm for chatting with fellow iPod owners. On the other hand, I didn't buy a five hundred dollar mp3 player so that I could listen to other people on the train.
PS: Buy some deodorant.
It's funny how going to Batcave seems like such a great idea when your groups has already been drinking at a bar six blocks away and doesn't want to go home yet because hey, it's only one thirty. I don't actually remember the last time I was there (before last night, which I do remember, mostly), but I do know that a Red Bull didn't cost seven dollars. Seven dollars! And that's without vodka! If I had actually paid for any of my other drinks earlier in the evening, I bet I would have been mightily pissed off.
There's nothing like ending a work week with excellent pizza and Indiana Jones. I just thought you should know.
I got sent an application for the PhD program at Cambridge, I guess either because I recently graduated or because I requested an application from NYU's GSAS last year. I haven't started asking for applications since the spring semester ended because it's not yet clear what year I'll be applying, but getting this stuff unrequested is still kind of fun. In high school it was almost a competition after we took the SAT: "I got a packet from Stanford yesterday," and "Oh yeah, well I got one from Princeton!" This might just be because most of my friends were really neurotic honors students. I guess some things never change.
On my way home today, my train pulled into the station just as I was swiping my Metrocard, so I hurried to get on without putting my wallet away in my bag. The car I jumped into, though, had no air conditioning, and I had a half hour ride ahead of me, so I opened the between-car door and started to go through. Unfortunately, the train began moving just as I was going through the door, which slammed into me - making me drop my wallet. (My wallet, incidentally, contains my only two forms of identification, my only debit card, my only credit card, my work ID, a few bills, and an uncashed check for $500.) Here's the scene: the train is already moving and I'm halfway between cars, and my wallet is balanced precariously on its side on a skinny little piece of metal beneath one of the cars. It was like something out of Speed - I had to crouch down between the moving trains while trying to hold onto the two bags I was carrying and still keeping a hand free to reach very carefully for my wallet, which looked ready to plummet onto the tracks at any second. My first grab only knocked it even closer to the edge, but the third time I actually grabbed it. I've never been so pissed off (at almost losing my wallet in such an incredibly stupid way) and so relieved (at not actually losing my wallet in such an incredibly stupid way) at the same time.
