realized I wrote the day of the London bombings and didn't mention a thing about them. It was intense to be in NY - there was talk everywhere. The paranoia was palpable. Signs on the highway -- every mile or so -- urged motorists to report suspicious activity. People were skittish about public transit.
At the site of the twin towers, a Japanese man (president? visiting diplomat?) was having a much-ducumented visit to the hole in the ground. It's full of water, surrounded by gray concrete agape with unused water ducts and a high wire fence. The Japanese contingent were on the other side of the fence.
There isn't a whole lot to see. Catwalks. People. There are a few old postcards that showed the pre-9/11 skyline, a few notes form people who had something to say about the bombing, its aftermath, or the state of teh world today. That touched me. This collective grief about events outside our controls. Perhaps that's what fuels American do-goodism: the desire for restitution for being so rich and successful. So unbelievably pampered and spoiled. And yet so listless and lost.
Read Nick Hornby's How to be Good on the plane yesterday. It's good. Disheartening and damning but accurate. Life is long. Strange, but I don't think it's going to get much better. Or, maybe, life really is what you make it.
Alex and I had a hard time traveling together. I don't like to move around so much when I travel. Long drives. New hotels. Bad food. We had all of that, and got on one another's nerves.
I met his parents. They liked me. Why is it so much easier to like other people's parents than our own? Odd, really.
OK, back to work.
Monday, July 11, 2005
home again, home again
San Francisco is lovely, foggy, and blissfully cool. It's good to be home. First of all, my things are here. Remarkable how nice a life I have set up for myself, right down to messages from friends and family, invitations to fiery infernos of outdoor art and camping trips. And it's only going to get better when my old friends Sarah and Andy move back to the States next month. So excited. Finally connected with them via cell in Richmond, Virginia (they're in New Zealand with their two kids). Planning to visit their new home in Portland for Thanksgiving.
Funny how coming home also puts you right back in the groove of your old bad habits, tho. Like knitting in bed (bad for the back and wrists) and playing computer solitaire. Trying to keep some of that anthing's-possible travel spirit. Vowed to read Guns Germs and Steel (or watch the new PBS miniseries!) and finish a scarf for my niece. Learn piano. And do strength training. We'll see how long that lasts.
Tonight: weight lifting and glazing at ceramics open studio
Tomorrow night: first hat-knitting class
Wed. night: last meeting with volunteer group (I'm quitting) and meeting Michael for a giftie hand-off. His wife Stacy hosted me and my niece Katie a few weeks ago for an afternoon of silkscreening. So cool.
I have a nice life. Awful nice to be back in it. Now, must return a few calls and meet my friend Roger for lunch. Who-hoo!
Funny how coming home also puts you right back in the groove of your old bad habits, tho. Like knitting in bed (bad for the back and wrists) and playing computer solitaire. Trying to keep some of that anthing's-possible travel spirit. Vowed to read Guns Germs and Steel (or watch the new PBS miniseries!) and finish a scarf for my niece. Learn piano. And do strength training. We'll see how long that lasts.
Tonight: weight lifting and glazing at ceramics open studio
Tomorrow night: first hat-knitting class
Wed. night: last meeting with volunteer group (I'm quitting) and meeting Michael for a giftie hand-off. His wife Stacy hosted me and my niece Katie a few weeks ago for an afternoon of silkscreening. So cool.
I have a nice life. Awful nice to be back in it. Now, must return a few calls and meet my friend Roger for lunch. Who-hoo!
Thursday, July 07, 2005
dinero por oro
Hello, Atlantic City. It's gray and humid in New Jersey. We left New York a day early to try to avoid traveling tomorrow in the remnants of Hurricane Dennis. We'll see how we do, flood-wise.
I gambled tonight. Broke even on video poker, after drawing to a straight, and hit something or other at the slots and won my money back plus a dollar seventy five. Score!
Bought myself a trio of tennis balls, which I'm hoping to roll around on to loosen up my aching back. Alex paid a man $14 to push us 12 blocks in a wicker basket cart. It was fun.
We're are back at the Sheraton, enjoying the skyline of the strip. Bally's is lit up like Christmas and changing colors; Caesar's is topped with Roman pillars ten stories high. Just blocks away, people sit on stoops of dilapidated houses and smoke. There are many pawn shops, all offering money for gold. The shop windows are full of jewelry and chains. It's an odd juxtaposition, to say the least.
I'm just thrilled there's no sales tax on clothing. I gave the Tahari store at the Tropicana $135 and they gave me two sweaters. Sweet!
And I'm learning about the origins of the Miss America pageant, here at 2 Miss America Way. Turns out the pagent began in 1904 (or thereabouts) from a parade of the same sorts of pushable wicker carts we got a ride in tonight. They were award based on the decorations on the outside and oh yes there were pretty girls inside. (Some of the first Miss America's circa 1922 were a mere 16 years old!). That morphed into a sort of shoe competition that continues to this day, only it is not televised. THe lovely ladies of pageantry don goofy and/or unlikely footwear for their ride down the boardwalk. California was a pair of golden sneakers with suns attached. Pennsylvania was recently a silver pump topped with a Hershey's kiss, five inches tall. Hawaii was covered in frangipani, or some such thing.
OK, highlights of NYC: Avenue Q, Doubt, and a visit to the site of the twin towers. Stayed at the Chelsea. Have seen a lot of people having fights. Last one: man in chicken stand arguing with his brother about hot sauce. NY's just different that way. No one says, "Mellow out, dude." Maybe they should. NJ would be improved with a few "I work here. Can I help you?"s. My two cents.
I gambled tonight. Broke even on video poker, after drawing to a straight, and hit something or other at the slots and won my money back plus a dollar seventy five. Score!
Bought myself a trio of tennis balls, which I'm hoping to roll around on to loosen up my aching back. Alex paid a man $14 to push us 12 blocks in a wicker basket cart. It was fun.
We're are back at the Sheraton, enjoying the skyline of the strip. Bally's is lit up like Christmas and changing colors; Caesar's is topped with Roman pillars ten stories high. Just blocks away, people sit on stoops of dilapidated houses and smoke. There are many pawn shops, all offering money for gold. The shop windows are full of jewelry and chains. It's an odd juxtaposition, to say the least.
I'm just thrilled there's no sales tax on clothing. I gave the Tahari store at the Tropicana $135 and they gave me two sweaters. Sweet!
And I'm learning about the origins of the Miss America pageant, here at 2 Miss America Way. Turns out the pagent began in 1904 (or thereabouts) from a parade of the same sorts of pushable wicker carts we got a ride in tonight. They were award based on the decorations on the outside and oh yes there were pretty girls inside. (Some of the first Miss America's circa 1922 were a mere 16 years old!). That morphed into a sort of shoe competition that continues to this day, only it is not televised. THe lovely ladies of pageantry don goofy and/or unlikely footwear for their ride down the boardwalk. California was a pair of golden sneakers with suns attached. Pennsylvania was recently a silver pump topped with a Hershey's kiss, five inches tall. Hawaii was covered in frangipani, or some such thing.
OK, highlights of NYC: Avenue Q, Doubt, and a visit to the site of the twin towers. Stayed at the Chelsea. Have seen a lot of people having fights. Last one: man in chicken stand arguing with his brother about hot sauce. NY's just different that way. No one says, "Mellow out, dude." Maybe they should. NJ would be improved with a few "I work here. Can I help you?"s. My two cents.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
start spreading the news
Flying to JFK tonight to see my baby. He'll pick me up from the airport, we'll take a driving tour of Brooklyn, and then check into our hotel in Greenwich, Conn. I couldn't be more excited.
There is so honkin' much to do in NY. Shows. Got tix for Ave Q, and my sis is trying for Doubt. Galleries. I'm pouring over yesterday's NY Times, and must pick up New York Magazine for more. Restaurants, like Share. The Guggenheim and Met. Crazy cool stuff going on over there on the right coast. It makes me want to relocate.
The thing about night flights is you have all day to wonder what it is you're forgetting. I'm so bored I'm considering getting a haricut which, honestly, I could use. Never put a pair of trimming sheers in the hands of a bored woman. You just never know what you might end up with.
OK, dishes, trash, nap. There is lots to do, really. Have a great 4th, y'all.
There is so honkin' much to do in NY. Shows. Got tix for Ave Q, and my sis is trying for Doubt. Galleries. I'm pouring over yesterday's NY Times, and must pick up New York Magazine for more. Restaurants, like Share. The Guggenheim and Met. Crazy cool stuff going on over there on the right coast. It makes me want to relocate.
The thing about night flights is you have all day to wonder what it is you're forgetting. I'm so bored I'm considering getting a haricut which, honestly, I could use. Never put a pair of trimming sheers in the hands of a bored woman. You just never know what you might end up with.
OK, dishes, trash, nap. There is lots to do, really. Have a great 4th, y'all.
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