saturday evening involved some combination of meeting up with the visitors rannie and jay at jayme's pad in the continuing monsoon light that is the current new york springtime. after hot dogs in the east village, it was to delft to meet up with a whole spate of friends.

of course, everything afterwards became hazy.

future evidence includes 90 new pictures on the digicam (which i'm reluctant to peruse quite yet), a credit card bill somehow paid by me, one umbrella strapped to my wrist that was consequently lost in the boisterous cab ride home and fighting against eating any food. one hot dog, strange cheese fries, six caucasians and vast amounts of bottled water (forcing everyone else to do shots).

rickey has pictures, which will involve further time to build up my stamina to actually look at (i mean, how much wider can my mouth open and my eyes roll up to the back of my head? wait, don't tell me). not complaining about the quality of the photos. and i have been told that my behaviour wasn't damning or leacherous in any way. or at least it was within the same ballpark of debauchery. so i give massive props to my cohorts for guiding me as i stumbled through insobriety and thank them for keeping an eye on me.

hall of fame:

and i apologize for staring at the goth waitress' ....eyeshadow. yes, her cleavage was impressive, but i was more taken by her pale swollen eyes. really. no matter who chastizes me.

karmic balance: i'm still paying. whoo doggie.

firstly: siberia,
the big apple blogger bash,
then time to reload.

celebrity watch continues. a few months ago, i saw maggie gyllenhaal close by the office (which, incidentally, is having its entrances renovated, leaving it in an exposed brick and concrete state that looks both funky and oddly flimsy).

this recent week, i've been walking home as late, down lafayette towards city hall...

[carla: stop reading until you catch up on season 3 of 6 feet under.]

gothamist reports about an old best resurfacing itself here: the 2nd avenue subway, considering it's been years since there was the overground EL train.

the buzz is starting to circulate, with various presentations on the local and express lines and the possibility that they could use the existing infrastructure from an earlier attempt. the only catch is that it will take up to 20 years to complete, so no one's holding their breath.

i'm not sure if this justifies the rate hike and what possible corruption may happen during the construction, but this is good news for riders on the jampacked 4 5 and 6 trains. i just want to know what letters they'll use for the trains, considering which ones are taken already. i say T/U or X/Y, especially the latter. it means something when you take the X train in the morning.

everything's coming up springtime, although now's the time for it to be too cold for the a/c but too warm to not have something to regulate the temperature.

today was the five borough bike tour (where you can even go across the verrazano bridge legally), but i gave it a pass, considering the day before i did one of my first cardio-based bike trips. all the time i bike, i don't really consider the exercise aspect; i prefer the ability to travel and explore at my own pace. however, i did about three and a half laps around prospect park before becoming curious about the pedalboats. i saved my leg strength in vain, since they were all reserved for a prior event, which i consider a farce but it was nice to see the lake absorbing the sunlight. took one of the lomos with me, so hopefully the photos turn out.

anyways, i need a new bike seat since my ass is sore, which is one partial reason for not doing the bike tour. i'm an antisocial cyclist (as with many other things), i didn't feel like an 8am start time and i didn't want to throw down fifty dollars for the honour, albeit going to a good cause promoting local biking. two things i hope for still: a proper manhattan loop and more places to park your bike. using building scaffolding is not exactly consistently available and most buildings don't have the proper space or allow bikes in the elevators.

it's mayday, otherwise known as international labour day. many european cities have the day off to celebrate the working spirit (and protest against corporate greed). in finland, vappu is also timed to graduation ceremonies of university students, making it a loud almost riotous day in helsinki.

it's worth a walk for labour here with thousands of new york city municipal workers being given two weeks notice in advance of a monstrous bloomberg budget (quickly: cutting $1 billion in spending and raising municipal taxes). this despite the mta's apparent $850 million money hole, although quite possible tied to the the bush's federal tax cut.

critics blame bush for new york's woes, which may make for some rough times ahead when the republican convention hits town in 2004, timed almost shamelessly for the 3rd anniversary of september 11.

two weekends ago, i went for yet another bike ride, this time along the way to rockaway beach. however, i left a bit late, so i reached my midway point at plum beach, which is east of coney island and right before the way to jfk.

the weekend previous, i went on my first bikeride of the year. pointed the compass to coney island and realized how warm it wasn't quite yet.

managed to take a few pictures, especially of astroland amusement park, home of the cyclone rollercoaster (opens april 13, act now!)

one day this summer, i will spend a day around the boardwalk. see the freakshow and the mermaid parade, catch a minor league baseball game, kick up some sand, stroll the boardwalk and eat some sausage.

this turned out to be a great big list, so i'll thieve myself but touch it up a bit.

not to maintain a newyorkcentricity here, but i've made a few copies of a mixed cd with a rough new york city theme. one helluva town is the title, songs for the five boroughs is the subtitle, various artists are the sources, small is the music library at present, hence a few repeat offenders.

last night, around 10, as the blogger meetup at remote lounge wound down (from not really winding up: only 3 other people attended), i started to receive the first wave of calls that the american president gave authorization to light up the baghdad night. the mood in the city was dead, as people stayed home, with a mix of dread and defiance, hoping that casualities are kept to a minimum.

right now, police presence is much stronger now, with more boats in the water joining the already omniscient force in most of the major subway stations. helicopters and what sound like jets woosh overhead and people are riveted by the video game news broadcasts. nightvision goggles, fast moving graphics and ominous music. the amount of planning into this force is obscene to the point of disgust, since if you actually just watch the raw video feed, this is scary beyond belief.

someone at work thought that we had hit red alert from the homeland security department, although it turned out to be false, considering they want to redo it now to put some more colours now to further differentiate trouble (nothing beats being placed on vermillion alert). the cold rain and low clouds provided a empathic sadness, like a familiar blanket to hide underneath.

tonight, i have a more canadian style: newsworld international's even, steady and calm take on events and some good old hockey on espn.

and doesn't cbc's subsite on iraq look great? when the old corp learn good design? damn...

got measured for a tux today, four months and change prior to actually wearing it. this will mean naturally that figures are subject to deviating once the weather warms up, i get into the entire biking thing again and the reality of the younger bro getting married sinks in.

meanwhile, after running away from the big department store, overeager to sell overpriced goods, i encounter these large numbers along park avenue, that look like the same font used in that classic LOVE design. turns out they're done by the same fellow: robert indiana and this is the first time these numbers have ever been shown in public.

handy too, since they match up with the 60 streets along park. my only wish is they'd spend the time to make proper pedestrian signals along the north-south sidewalks, which means you have to pay attention when crossing. a minor point, for sure, but every other part of the city is well designed for foot traffic. park avenue north of grand central only has an esplanade going for it, one that you can barely walk around too.

c'mon, you banks!
not everyone drives!
share the love!

a decision has been made for the world trade centre replacement — daniel libeskind's crystalline offices, which was my preference of those that were submitted to the site and especially the THINK proposal, which looked like skeletons of the former towers. having seen the photos of the jewish museum in berlin and the proposed ROM glacier in toronto, libeskind has a natural eye for shapes. i just hope that his memorial for the dead doesn't impede the resucitation of lower manhattan.

still, i wished for the one design from 100 years ago that would have looked like a shimmering mountain: gaudi's grand hotel for new york, drawn back in 1905 and to be built on a site eeriely close to the world trade centre. imagine looking at a giant rocket, making manhattan look like the rio de janeiro skyline.

the plan last night was to see the hidden cameras open for the slideshow family at the mercury lounge, but i doddled getting the tickets and the show was old all solded-out. graig will kindly point out that this is probably the 6th time i've missed the hidden cameras and he even told them to expect me there last night. argh...

so, instead, i saw 25th hour last night, which was quite a freaky mirror to put up to the city. bit of an outside call for me, since i need to get fitted for a tuxedo. it's my brother's wedding in july, but he needs the measurements, or he needed them last week and i haven't had a chance to get tailored yet. not to say i haven't tried, but i guess i have to do that pronto tomorrow. that and see two towers after finally seeing the fellowship of the ring over the weekend, kicking myself for not seeing it before.

meanwhile, in true news, this monday has my first real true doctor's appointment in ages, including my first medical/physical in 12 years. which will most likely be humiliating in many ways, but at least i'll get to know what this shell has become during that time. this will also be my first HMO experience, casting aside my canadian history with universal health care. this could be an adventure, but i figure the challenging one won't be until i see a dentist for my first x-rays in 3 years. that'll be a nightmare and a half.

i've been down here in nyc now for about six months now, and one of the questions i keep getting asked by those back home or otherwise not here is "so, have you seen any celebrities?"

even though i'm right by the hotbed of posh bohemia in soho, i haven't really seen that many. i'm not even paying that much attention. but with 12 million people in the city and thousands of visitors, my daily scan of faces as i saunter by doesn't bring much familiarity. i know there are models and other public figures, but i'm not going out of my way to find who's what. so no harrison ford fiestas, although that's one extreme example.

however, this all changed this morning when i paused outside the barrel & crate crate & barrel to look at a strange fracture point in their window, turned to head off to the office in close proximity and came face to face with the pretty maggie gyllenhaal walking down broadway.

the peanut gallery says who?

maggie's not your hollywood a-list star, granted, but it's a bit disorienting, especially when i consider that 3 of the first movies i saw in manhattan all had time for her on the big screen (secretary, confessions of a dangerous mind and adaptation). but there she was, huddled up in a long woolen coat with a tuque covering her head. and i realized how tall she actually was, which is one those oddities you'd never expect, since we tend to find out most celebs are shorter than we perceive.

being the humble canadian, i gave her privacy. either that, or i maintained my morning uselessness until i stepped into my building's foyer. think she went into the building beside, where matador is, but i didn't keep track. and that was that.

seriously, anyone who's known me can tell that the first 2 hours i'm awake, i barely know what's going on. the first half-hour, i can't talk to people. i'm that spacy when i wake up.

not to be vain, or anything, but realistically, i think she's stalking me.

we'll see what i'll see next. when i was in toronto, i saw a fair deal of famous people, from cronenburg to a few of the kids in the hall (dave and scott and bellini twice!). which makes my average .....uh, quite low.

[listening - rain tapping against the windows and
nuspirit helsinki: you're in my mind.]

nothing like manipulating walking skeleton to make whatever you're listening to more hypnotic. found via jmz's livejournal, which is where, you'll notice, i copped the listening headers from.

lot of fires in the news. yesterday, there was a huge explosion at a staten island oil refinery, which was a bit of a spook initially, but calm came pretty fast. the city's still copes, after all, but it's pretty quick to determine what's an attack and what's an accident. unfortuately, 2 people are dead from that, though. it's not as bad as the chicago club fire or the horrific rhode island great white pyrotechnics accident, butperspective makes us overrational beings. every tragedy shares the same root.

[listening - the rapture: modern romance.]

like the haiku said, the snow really did fall here.

so, since it was a day off (thankfully for most, since no one could really go anywhere at all), i went about the closest neighbourhoods and snapped away pictures of the presidents' day blizzard.

effectively, 2 feet of snow fell in the past 24 hours, shutting down most roads. i heard the snowplows scraping asphalt last night and the personal snowblowers this afternoon as people repeatedly dug their way out. the wind made drifting much higher and whiteout conditions made visibility quite low.

since the sidewalks were only partially cleared, most people walked on the empty roads, occasionally stepping through deep patches. children used drifts or brownstone stairs to sled down. big dogs were having a field day of fun whilst the little toy dogs were instantly fed up.

meanwhile, thursday night, william gibson stopped at the union square barnes & noble as part of the pattern recognition booktour.

the cold kept many people away, but the turnout was strong still, so i had to fight to get a seat. many a digicam popped out to capture the author, who looked tired but game to what was happening. he kept the excerpt short and before the signing of books, a few questions from the field were handled.

now, the fanboy factor was high, as evidenced by the questions below:

• "how prone do you think the internet is to terrorism?" to which william said (paraphrased) um, i'm not a computer expert. bruce sterling could tell you for a few hours about the woes, but i just have the abstract sense of things.
• "why did you use that word? why didn't you use a word like ruminate instead?" because she's not a cow.
• "hi! i'm a big fan! i like how you make calculators seem poetic. did you ever think of writing in the style of using only one half of the keyboard? in pure poetry? in the style of...?" [this went on for a minute of obscure writing gimmicks, like not using the letter E, before william cut him off] i'm not interested in that post-modern gameplaying.
• "do you have an interest in children or innocent characters?" the easiest way to be introduced into my worlds is through the eyes of the innocent.
• "did you think by using the word otaku that people would understand what it would mean?" the japanese effectively grow up with that ideal, but there's always google.

there were a few more, including his reaction to the nonscifi movie adaptation of new rose hotel, but that was it. 30 minutes and people lined up for a one-on-one chat. so, i headed to the scifi section then to pick up .... neil gaiman's american gods! and neal stephenson's cryptonomicon! because i'm no fanboy and no slut.

that said, mr. gibson has had a profound influence on me, in both subject matter and writing style. i should thank him at some point, but i want to make sure i don't gush and idiot gibber.

i should go to sleep now. i am pushing my human boundaries of usefulness now and this will not make for quality writing and/or humour.

you are so reading this.

[listening - beth gibbons + rustin man: out of season.]

right.

i've taken my time so far about posting about this since i struggled to remember who was where and where was what and when is why and how are you and before i knew it, i had a brief nap before telemarketing tried to subscribe me to yet another newspaper. so as i burn curry and curse at the foundation for chipping, let's go on about last night:

zanzibar was the place to be last night and turn out for the annual blogger bash was mighty impressive, as opposed to the nyc blogger monthly meetup as of late.

familiar people: the kumquat harvester rickey + gangsta bitch ursula + wonder librarian liz aka zeebah.

hosts: the 646 pimp daddy brian + gi jane camryn caryn.

then there's the wonderful new shiny people i met there (especially the ones not on the list that memory has crammed in one those locked drawers): alex and conny, the savage mike wolf, the lighted pen (by stoli!) dispensing kambri crews, the "doesn't blog when drunk" paul frankenstein, the wonderful asparagirl, msnbc's will femia, ari, bob the girl, activewear ken, eric, tom, lady crumpet, god of the machine, stephen, jimi ...okay, i'm already mixing things up.

[listening - stereolab: abc music - the radio 1 sessions (disc 2).]

in the midst of the weather deciding what season it is, thursday night, i walked home for the first time in a while and after i had just left a voice mail with my brother, i stopped in front of this wild toy store on lafayette south of canal.

an army of pimping bruce lee action figures! man, if they could clone bruce lee fifteen times, and pick out the 1970s coolest fashions, it would be safe to say that any homeland would be secure.

[listening - solex: low kick and hard bop.]

i'll elaborate later, but this week has been a fucked up week. weather alone, the first part was pure tease, with springtime temperatures, allowing the scarves and overcoats to hide, bringing out light jackets and a bit more skin. however, by midweek, everything froze again and on friday, it snowed, putting the dust on the seasonal cluemeter.

here's the view from the apartment:

i'm thinking i should create a photo category for this site, but i'm thinking about doing it in another way. maybe a subblog, or something independent. the drawing board is still blank with meaningless doodles on it, but in time, i've got a plan. meanwhile, down on the street

[listening - soul coughing: a murder of lawyers [live, apparently].]

the photos above ground were taken a walk last weekend as i attempted to walk to the home depot in bay ridge, mostly due to the N/R trains being offline that weekend for some reason. as well, it was close and i wanted to walk around my new borough some more to figure out what's around.

boerum hill, cobble hill and carroll gardens are lovely. however, once you cross the gowanus canal, it becomes gritty industrial, the type of area you don't walk through during night. 3rd avenue down towards the bqe is boarded up, litter infested and generally beatup.

once the streets become numbered, there's this little fake brick building on the west side called the good news barber that is apparently both a church and a barbershop, a good combination in my books.

a shave and be saved!
cut and confess!
lather, rinse, redeem!

you sit along the side, listening to the pastor, waiting for your turn. spinning parables like sports scores, counting hairs like rosary beads. when it's your turn, you sit in the chair, ask for what style you want and tell what's happened since the last time you were there. you might change your cut, go for something new and if he doesn't like it, he'll stab you in the throat with his scissors as a sacrifice! what more could you want?

a barbershop quarter choir!
okay, you can run away now.

[listening - orbital: dr. who/chime [live, somewhere].]

not impressed with the latest world trade centre redesigns?

well, why not use the 16 acres for free roaming bison?

richard linklater's latest movie, live from shiva's dancefloor, being shown right now at sundance, raises this idea, and as an adopted colorado boy, i'm total pro this. there's nothing like seeing these large hairy livestock roaming around (note to missouri tourists: they're not rocky mountain hippopotamuses), and placing them in a heavy urban area would be completely 12 monkeys.

and we could ride them.
or use them for light haul goods.
bison couriers.
then i'd get trampled over in a stampede.
and the doctors would laugh,
saying it was the best time ever.
then the medication would kick in.

[listening: richie hawtin: essential mix.]

it was meetup time for the nyc webloggers this evening at the cramped jazz & java. attendance = 3: me, fearsome josh and liz the zeebah. sometimes the small groups work best to really meet people, since the entire social obligation is kept rather simple. still, even with just 3, it was a fight to get a table, even an odd moment where one coffee jockey tried to stir an older reclining lady from her spot by the rocking chair.

meanwhile, let's delve into throwbackland.
slashdot points to the cutting edge as always: speak & spell!
except, uh, modded, which makes for a gripping glitchpop sound and a definite device of nostalgia. i remember going to a family friend's place, with similarly aged kids who were never home, so my brother and i would almost ransack the toybox. the speak & spell was almost hypnotic, with its rhythmic responses for right and wrong answers.

you can scare your memories back by using an emulator, but i'll probably snag samples off it and come up with a song. after my other thousand projects that need work.
grrr.

dissemination of new york city attitudes.

scene: gourmet supermarket, dairy section. there's little soft cheese cubes with toothpicks in flat wicker baskets to sample.

one hobbly old man shuffles by, grabs a handful of the free cheese and stuffs the congealing mass in his coat pocket.

another younger fussy man sees this, flags down a floor guy:

you better change that tray right away; some old man just stuck his whole hand in your cheese tray and took a big handful. with his fingers! it was disgusting...

all the time, they both crane their necks to find the old hobbler, but like any old new york store, the floorspace is angular, meaning the shelves are as well, so you can't easily track someone once they make a corner.

i'm just happy i grabbed my cheese prior to this fiasco.
mmm, brie, especially when free.
freebie free brie.

...what?!
everyone else is!

after the brooklyn bridge and the manhattan bridge, all that was left for me to tackle was the...

williamsburg bridge
[i.e. the funky out-of-the-way where-am-i-going one.]

continuing my fervid arm leap of crossing bridges, tuesday's chilly night had me tackle something new:

manhattan bridge
[i.e. the longer non-obvious child.]

using the cloak of night isn't necessarily the most brilliant way of exploring, but i never professed to being wise to what's always the best. it's a good thing that i was properly dressed as the wind was crisp, for the walkpath is on the southside of the bridge, making you exposed to the river a bit more.

although i'm a firm believer in not resolving things to do in the new year's, one thing i made sure i did was return to walking home from work whenever possible. another task was to restart my random exploring of the city and environs.

a perfect merger, like lager and curry: take a different east river bridge home each night, which is cool in very many ways, one being that all the places i've lived in the past had no real bridge.

of course, with only three reasonably close bridges to take (sorry 59th street bridge; don't need to figure out queens quite yet!), this week went:

monday: brooklyn bridge
tuesday: manhattan bridge
wednesday: brooklyn bridge
thursday: williamsburg bridge
friday: brooklyn bridge

back in the apple again, after ten days in deceptively mild thunder bay. i'll get photos up later.

right now, there's work to catch up on, so, until i next lose my mind, keep watching the stars.

then here's (not-so) humble brooklyn right before christmas, although in more of the quiet area.

then there's those of us who can't wait for the snow:

christmas time in new york can be a fairy tale. however, you're getting photos from me, so watch them.

and instead of packing, how about some photos from the american museum of natural history? went on sunday, intending to see the einstein exhibit, but the lineup was too long, so i went with the general admission, which meant i didn't get to spend too much time in the hayden plane_arium. ah well: return visit then... and hopefully some of the machines work next time.

new york city transit strike averted.
lo, a cost: a possible fare hike.
there's a compromise hidden there somewhere, although other factors whirl overhead.
and we're all trapped in a tornado in a can.

hbo's been airing a.i. and after catching parts of it again for the third time, the emotional resonance has struck. when i first though the coda was a strange little tack-on that made the entire story overlong, after catching it again, it's heartbreaking to see the dream of reality slip through david's fingers and how abandonment wrenches the orphan. but he's still around, after the world has frozen over, with his teddy bear. and it's scary and eerie. i never give kubrick and spielberg enough credit, although spielberg's coda for minority report deflates the overall story theme.

blue steel and fluorescent lights.
i miss the future already.
or how i always saw the future, like cyberpunk.
decayed circuitry, modified biology.
and better use of space, like a low-orbit hotel a few hundred above the earth's surface. we have the matrix as the internet, but we still haven't fully disappeared and recreated ourselves yet as we want. corporations are the new governments though, so maybe we're on our way. good to see honest soil though, so maybe we'll never give that up.

but we can't give up the damn space station.
after ditching the previous one.
(although, the parallels between star wars and our space stations is rather uncanny:

Well if those pesky rebels hadn't destroyed the first fully-operational station, we wouldn't have to hobble along doing shoddy science with this partially completed one. --flakeloaf.

whither now?
no space: where does our 20 minutes ahead lead us?

it's handy that i find this flash file of a map of the new york city subway system in time for a possible transit strike. having lived in toronto and going through the biannual possible ttc strike, i won't be worried about the mta until it gets really close to the sunday midnight deadline.

that said, if the strike kicks in, it will be bad in an immeasureable way. the city still is reeling from last year's attacks, meaning that retail for december will be relied on heavily to improve the basic economics around here. the strike would mean instant traffic congestion, a lack of available taxis and people staying close to home. carpooling, full bridges, full regional transit: all in the midst of a holiday season with unpredictable weather. if the weather was like today then it should be all right. however yesterday's rainfall and last week's snowfall may compound an already tense situation, one where the city is refusing to budge (so far).

that said, the last strike, which lasted 11 days in 1980, was approached with the typical new york spirit, so the world won't end. but the timing could have been a lot better. for me, i'll probably be biking across the brooklyn bridge, maybe with hundreds/thousands of others, unless it's icy. then i'll amble to work to make sure everyone else can connect remotely.

[17.18 update: 38 boxes of fear were left around union square station this afternoon. police are still investigating, but 10 lines were detoured for about 5 hours as various squads searched the station for these strange black-painted boxes. man, this city's never boring.]

a new place is in the works, over the bridges into brooklyn.

soon i will finish unpacking, or at least make the place somewhat photogenic (or make the digicam stop hissing out weird photons, making it look like it's snowing inside), before you get the full shebangarang. but it's a big small room. high ceilings, picks up a lot of sunlight, wooden floors and the dishwasher. god bless the dishwasher, with its loopy little indent to accommodate the sink above.

you shall soon see.

...because there's no green/brown/grey christmas anymore. new york city has its first snowfall (well, accumulated snow anyways) for winter. 15cm of the white crystalline dirty water flakes. the ground suggests cleanliness and possibilities, like a blank paper. however, road salt will suggest shoe and car deterioration.

you figure you go out during the long weekend and do a simple photo for the holidays, then stall for a long time prior to showing the random viewer. why?

because....

well i knew the weekend would end sooner or later. but i've got an early unpleasant morning tomorrow with what hopes to be a progressively better afternoon.

no matter. i've wandered about the city and my thoughts the past few days, seeing the lights and ceremony rise up for all the holidays this month has here. trees are raised, department store displays are shown (lord & taylor's being quite impressive), menorrahs are lit. the bells from the salvation army ringers play counterpoint to the usual percussion the streets offer. and pickpocket warnings go up on all the subway stations.

stopped by the scandinavian house to see what nordic goodies they had, then jetted over to the international photography center to catch the last day of several exhibits, including garry winogrand's 1964 phototour of the united states (love that cover photo) and several september 11-related photos, from afghani women to the last ever shots by bill biggart.

aside from all that, i caught die another day, but my internal jury's still out on that. maybe it's one of those problems when you watch movies in the front row at a slight angle; i feel like i've been napping and god i look/feel like it yet i'm watching the movie. maybe it's the loss of the glamour that the connery era films had, since after watching this, you don't really want to be beaten up like brosnan is. then again, john cleese, michael madsen, halle berry (fact: #6 searched for term across the entire sauna: who knew? and what do we have that matches? i go sniff). maybe it's that madonna theme, although people were singing it behind me. do i have to see this again? oh boy.

madcap weekend thus far. yesterday was the holiday feast, so after missing the big macy's parade with all the inflatable goodies, i swung by upper west side to visit a co-worker's sister's place for an indian-styled thanksgiving (like east indian, not pilgrim-indian) with plenty of spicy foods and flowing alcohol.

after sipping cognac, playing some chess and watching kiteboarding footage (i have to try that at some point), my slightly tippy self met up with another co-worker to see eminem's 8 mile movie. the plan was originally for the latest bond shebangarang but since it was sold out, i was pleasantly surprised by this gritty up-and-comer.

today: buy nothing day (i've linked enough to it already), so i finished a mixed cd for graig with another 2 in the pipe (which should be flexible enough for any other interested soul) and went to see mike doughty live and in front of people. other than that, it's approaching midnight, so i can buy things again.

but i'm getting all sleepy like.
graig's gone all entry manic style now; go read for a bit whilst i assemble some imitation of life again.

i love autumn in new york. the fact that there are leaves waiting to fall and the snow is still quite a ways away still provide plenty of space for the season to stretch its reach. with warm weather and the occasional rain, it's a very moody feel but lovely nonetheless.

after being stiffed last night by the property management over lower east side, tonight, i made it to brooklyn heights and was floored by its feel. the promenade, the brownstone houses, the very quiet neighbourhood...you can see manhattan across the east river, but it seems like an emerald city. a mountain range of glass and concrete where three bridges extended themselves like they could draw back at any given moment, like fingers curling back to the hand. (although why i keep thinking brooklyn is long island's outboard motor is beyond me. could we escape mainland america at a moment's notice?)

as apartments go, it's cozy, nice, a deceptively beguiling view out the sidewindow to the tops of other houses, trees and the southern sky. i have to leave the hotel soon, and it's getting time to identify my belongings again. (that and i think triumph is in the next room: i hear barking and smell cigars nonstop now.) i've gotten to know the entire kips bay area quite well now, but i'll be back to visit. i'm in this metropolis for a few years, so i promised.

meanwhile, i finished reading irvine welsh's porno and i've been really letting beth gibbons' album start to creep into my soul, although i'll follow whimsy and start getting all criminal vice city style shortly. i should really sleep though; i'm start to get a wicked headache from my many late nights going all metageeky.

behave yrselves.

my brother flew back to southern ontario this morning, after a very intense trial by fire tour of lower manhattan over the past day and a half.

he showed up friday, running a little late after taking a communcal limo to the workplace, which confounded me a bit to the point where i ran out of the office, scanned the dropoff corner and found him by a payphone. he found the office, but no one answered the door and he forgot he had my phone number packed. in the evening, after walking back via union square and park avenue, we went to empire street building in the nighttime where we caught the twinkly lights, some bonus fireworks and a vicious wind.

saturday: one heckuva mad walk, from the guggenheim through central park, where we stumbled around and rented a rowboat to chase after the ducks and see the autumn foliage. indian summer kicked in this weekend, so the entire park was very active and it was comfortable walking. from there, it was times square, chelsea, tribeca to ground zero and the recently re-opened winter garden, then through battery park to the brooklyn bridge, which was crossed back and forth right away for sunset. after dragging ourselves to canal street to check out the cheap wares, we finally made it back to the hotel via the subway and took a quick breather before grabbing some food. filled up the digicam for the first time, but (again) i'll upload them later.

today, with the cablecut tv set to wake us up with heavy static, a quick escort to laguardia left mark on a plane back to canada and me with enough time in the morning to go to the temporary home of the musuem of modern art in queens, which finally placed me properly in each of the five boroughs of new york (airport landings are iffy to count, although that accounts for my only visit proper to los angeles, taipei, london and göthenberg (frankfurt was a 14 hour stop, which in my books counts as a damn visit)). small quarters, which reminded me of a backalley ikea store, but the highlights of their expansive collection were mindblowing.

i was tempted to go visit their video-based gallery west of the area, but passing the bleak industrial landscape wasn't doing it for my double-cramped legs, so i figured out the 7 train ride back, when line construction meant the W to the 6 again.

aside: i need highspeed now dammit.

mark's already sound asleep and i was supposed to nap. but hey, you have the pointform, mostly detailless version of the past 2 days. tidbits of knowledge will slip forth later, but for now, i'm wiped, i made progress in vice city, i keep finding and losing things and there are wolves after my picnic basket. argh.

ever fall asleep in the bathtub? fortunately, i woke up before i:

1. drowned
   
2. froze when the water cooled down
   
3. dropped the magazine i was reading, ensuring i didn't become a papier-maché mannequin.

bathtime was part recuperation (other parts comprised of a weak sauna and a tricked-out steam room that hit 10 degrees fahrenheit higher than normal, which made me lightheaded) from the fun saturday afternoon after a chilly day where i biked up to central park and did a few laps around the ring road, although parts of the road were formally closed as part of the setup for the new york city marathon on sunday, meaning i had to scoot through some pathways illegally to avoid crossing the finish line the wrong way as they slowly setup the cameras and fencing. the fall foliage is approaching full colour exposure, so this coming weekend should make for some proper photos. i took a few, but i'll upload them later, when i have more of a break from work.

and as graig dutifully pointed out, posting from work isn't always a given. i feel sometimes my entries work as a quick aside from a more busy atmosphere, a proper escape whilst a task has been completed or whilst waiting for a background thing to complete.

meanwhile, saturday night was spent enjoying the chemical brothers and labelmates play the finale to the cmj marathon, showing my dutiful brushes with long-distance events. i just wish i had seen more of the marathon shows since there were a lot of acts i would have seen if i had known or remembered who was playing when and where.

other than that, there was something else i was going to say, but memory has failed me along with a few machines here at work, so let this entry hang like the wet sock it is and hope its internal logic shines through in the end.

well, i'm back in the big apple again and i'll be filling in the gaps of the weekend later, but...

of all the days to not bring my camera along...

there was a guy pushing a stroller kid along and he had a diapered monkey on a leash racing around and jumping on the kid's head, jumping on the handball court fence and shaking it, jumping on the soho park bench and otherwise going apeshit.

fuck.
i was looking out the window, hoping they wouldn't leave, but they left. i've reached a point now where i can fully expect not being surprised after seeing a horde of monkeys leaping down one of the streets here, but i'd be happy.

meanwhile, the weekend will be written shortly.

a monkey with a diaper.
looked exactly like one of those rally monkeys for the world champion anaheim angels.
now, i'm sad, although that's partly from the heavy allergy medication after the tiramisu did have eggs after all. where are the people who look out for me? and why can't we eat in cheaper places??

a new york city monkey.
i wonder how an apartment listing from craig's list would look like.

monkeys are OK - eeek!

and now, a simple crude self-interview...

so what happened thursday night?

well, i left work in time to go to the bike shop to pick up madeleine before the store closed and then go back to work to otherwise beat my brain up over a silly website.

wait a tick; who's madeleine?

it's my long-time faithful companion from when i left thunder bay. my source of sanity, exploration and fitness. my black nishiki bicycle, bought used from outside a police auction. whilst all the families were buying $300 canadian tire bikes, i spent $140 on a brilliant used roadie from a man who happened to be hanging around the crowd expecting a quick sale. she's been with me through waterloo and toronto.

but weren't you in colorado from 1997-1998? didn't you ride then?

i brought madeleine with me, but for some reason, i didn't have her re-assembled from her carrying box. perhaps i was suspicious of how she would be handled by the denver city bike shops, perhaps i was lazy from driving around all the time. all i know is i should have hit the open road with her, since the weather was always perfect and i gained about 30 pounds otherwise.

but you brought the bike with you to new york city, where you would figure the weather is worse, the roads are terrible and the traffic is nuts. why new york city over denver?

how i function during the daytime is a miracle that needs to be explored.

last night, after pearly's fateful intervention pointed me to finally subscribe to a mailing list, the venue for the meetup changed to the remote lounge again (the previous meetup joint, for your benefit), which must have confused a lot of people, along with a previous event in the basement, meaning that turnout was really random.

however, rannie made it from t.o., along with known new york lifers jen, jayme and rickey, along with the new (to me) ursula and the meetup man himself, scott.

of course, my empty stomach processed any liquor fast, so i rapidly became a bad influence on people and after a bar hop, became useless, so hometime it was to eat the fastest ham'n'cheese sandwich on earth. i think cheese is a brilliant tool in my fight against nausea. no matter where it lurks.

jayme found additional flashy cats, this time providing theatre to one of those loopy little songs: elbow's ramshackle cover of destiny child's independent women (woman? ahhh). i think jeff needs more cats.

then again, amon tobin's latest video is sexy like black plastic. if tron met death rally, methinks.

sometimes, brute honesty carries you a great distance, like advertizing an apartment for rent:

Small dirty studio in soho going for $1395/ month. Umm.. it gets some sunlight. Really you're paying for location here. If you're daring, you can smuggle in a cat.

Shoot out an email or call if you're interested...

i'll get photos up later.
i'm finally going to pick up my bike today and hopefully not get promptly run over/stolen/smashed on the sidewalk.
and wait in anticipation of the 2nd series of bmw films.

i had my dry deli turkey today for the big holiday meal, although, yeah, it was from the lunch deli close by. i looked yesterday for a fitting meal, to harbour my canadian givings of thanks, but the american amounts of dollars some places had was enough to put the gobble out of my wobble. (thus, i didn't get robbled.)

beside, i was a little over meat after the day before (sunday), when i went to katz's deli for a late lunch and ended up eating the hugest, hottest, expensivest pastrami on rye i've ever had and felt like a diabetes hammer was thrown down my throat. handling the multiple lines, tasting the sample cuts, picking the type of pickles you want. the only thing i didn't do was tip an extra dollar, but it's good in hindsight since i left by being pushed on my side and rolled out. i sat in the table next to the when harry met sally table, digging the scene.

other than that, just more central park rambling (and somehow catching the last and first episode of cheers on nick@nite). i was expecting fall foliage, but even without, it was a great day to be out in the anti-concrete jungle.

now to run off to mercbar to see old faces and hide from pretty broken machines.

well, i'm doing better this morning, even though the body count from the bali bombings has risen to 187 killed and 309 injured.

i pre-occupied myself with a valiant search to find out when david holmes would be playing new york, since i overheard someone say something at other music about opening for him next weekend. of course, looking through the other music site would have been the smart things to do, since that's one place to buy tickets for the october 18 show at apt in the meat-packing part of chelsea. mr. holmes is quite the funky irish dj, scoring for out of sight and ocean's 11 (where he was the one who dug up that old elvis song a little less conversation [google cache] prior to the remix and its global success) along with having a gorgeous mix of soul, funk, dance and techno.

of course, that same night has underworld and clinic in town, although clinic play the next night, which also has badly drawn boy in town. the game plan for me is david holmes for friday and clinic (with openers the apples in stereo) for saturday, but we'll see what happens.

meanwhile, i'm trying out a lighter offshoot of the mozilla browser, called phoenix. don't remember the last time i used version 0.2 of anything, but as browsers go, it looks pretty sweet already.

"i was sitting around, wondering why the lights kept going on and off, but then, i realized that it was just me blinking."

these past two days of work have been brought to you by: the department of unplanning, who now provide you with last minute notice and repeated status updates!

(yes, work's been grand.
and that might be my first ever exclamation mark here.
whoopee!)

the weekend seems long ago now, although i'm relieved to hear that i'm not losing canadian thanksgiving as it's the same day as columbus day here in the us(of)a. i can't remember whether columbus day was celebrated in colorado, though, so maybe it's a state-level holiday. no idea what i'm doing yet for the long weekend, but maybe i still have to recover from this past one.

of course, i'd write up about it, but i'm at work late again, waiting on something and hopefully not falling over, hungry, in pain, cranky, cold, where the wolves will get me. then again, maybe i can't remember much anymore. time, alcohol, latest short-term memory bank. excuses that fit the sleeves of this rumpled shirt.

there was an old co-worker friend of mine,
lived in nyc for 3 years,
(approximate time since i last saw him)
moved back to toronto,
but does business frequently here.
there was also a restaurant,
a few pubs,
bars (lesbian or otherwise - no dancing),
restrooms,
trick shots (i.e. shots you drank then tricked into buying)
and then .......

good: 4am closing time.
bad: saturday full of nausea.
ergggggh---

didn't know this before, but come april 2003, new york city callers have to dial 1 before the area code of any local call. the system is already in effect, but i still can't find the reason why the north american long distance prefix is needed to dial the borough, the building, the person beside you. but 11-digit dialing is de facto now.

meanwhile, the last time i was in thunder bay (807 baby!), it was an eerie flashback to what i and most people are used to: 7-digit dialing. of course, when i was a wee toddler in wawa, apparently 4-digit dialing was easy for me since i apparently called the townsfolk frequently when i was 18 months old. i think it drove everyone nuts, hence why i got one of those white fisher price smiling pull phones, which i promptly chewed on.

go 212, 718, 917, 646 and 347. but go 1 first.

okay.
not really.
mr. show live review was written by me.
on the possibly professionally written by me and cg on the eg blog named after a photo of mine.
which i'd link to.
but work is long slow dark mindful of taking thoughts away crunch.
i mean, i've had a long day.
for real.

and now, it's time for an abridged weekend summary.

so, the short answer is yes. yes, i missed the nyc apple blogger shizzah at somewhere and something. i went out drinking with some co-workers at the faire puck fair. they slowly trickled home save for a few including one who was going meet up with his friends at guernica in lower east village.

the friends were all fine ladies, one of which commented i had beautiful skin, which is a first for me, considering i'm used to being told how pale i looked, how unhealthy i looked and how i should get some sunlight before they could see all my blood vessels glowing underneath the epidermis.

i think we hit it off, but i didn't get her number. sometimes, i just like the fact that i can pique a woman's curiousity and leave it at that. most of the time, i'm just a damn goof, moreso after a half dozen pints, contacts that start sliding around, a vicious headache and a lack of concentration. there were sparks, so maybe one day again...

(idiot.)

saturday, after eating waking up late and having a huge seven-ounce hamburger from the jackson hole, which is mighty tasty but an odd brunch choice on a light stomach, i finally went to the metropolitan musum of art, except i paid this time and i didn't sneak in through the gift shop. i could only explore the southern half since the collections they have are huge and immaculate. spent most of my time in the modern art wing with warhol, lichtenstein, picasso and klee, although i found parts of the indigineous arts exhibit, the 19th century european masters and the hall of statues and palace fronds quite gripping. i have to go back, to see the american art exhibits, along with the chinese, islamic and renaissance works, but i wore myself ragged wandering around, sneaking camera shots when the guards weren't looking.

sunday was more modest, with exploring lower east side and traipsing back up through the village until i cramped my leg and then shuffled home. there was a fashion show in the bargain district that had cheap hats and leather jackets, with models slowly spinning themselves around on plastic buckets, but i didn't need anything, not even a bowler hat, so i shuffled through tompkins park, bought great soft ice cream and tried finding a pair of sunglasses, ones not necessarily for shielding my eyes from the sun, but from masking my bleary eyes in the morning whilst looking hipstery doofusy. then, after a solid night of hbo programming, a mad dash to the town hall to see mr. show live, which was good equally solid. first experience with a nyc crowd and man we can be rowdy. can't even hear half of what bob and david are saying. i'll write a little more about it later when i have a chance.

meanwhile, the fauxmo grows longer to the point it's dropping like a heavyweight, meaning i have to figure out a stronger gel (thus loosing my hair's light texture) or i have to try to cut my hair myself since i'm feeling cheap. stupid nyc banks requiring a permanent residence for an account. how can i get a permanent residence without paying for it using an account? sheesh </mutter>.

that's enough griping for now.
time to head home and maybe sleep for a bit more than 5 hours.

let's visit a few cities and see what's striking my chords in the local press:

• chico, california: an interview with the dentist who tinkered on tojo's dentures, masking a morse code message about pearl harbour in the japanese wartime minister's new teeth. remember pearl harbour (yes, yanks, i spell canadian) comes across as the longest-standing prank that strikes as cruel and ironic yet fitting.
• toronto: approval has been granted for a pair of condominium towers to be built by yonge and eligible (er, eglinton, my old stomping grounds). there was a big fracas about this construction for a few years now, considering that 51 storeys exceeds the old height barrier considerably. they mention "twin towers" but since the other one will be 37 storeys, it's more fraternal and identical.
• thunder bay: tomorrow night sees paul shaffer get a street named after him in front of the auditorium. this has been discussed already in the past, but rumours abound that david letterman might show up. i await the accosting of my hometown on late night television.
• fort worth: daisy the burnt dog has healed after a torturous ordeal where a man doused her in gasoline and set her on fire. after extensive surgery, her burns have healed and her fur has regrown and most importantly, she has regained her doggy joie de vivre: playing, sniffing around, being all curious like. the man is appearing in court shortly to answer for this heinous act.
• new york city: um, aside from the usual plenty, yet another blog meetup.

last night (spell it right, strokes): jayme gave an impromptu invite to join up with the new york city blog crew as part of the international blog meetup at the ever cool remote lounge (bowery between 2nd and 3rd).

jen, überchick extraordinaire, has provided an easy list of the attendees that were jotted down repeatedly on a whirling hot potato of notepads. it was an unabashed pleasure to mee