November

BUSY!

Here are notes from the past few days:
- The marketing, I mean social psychology class is getting old. So is rehearsal- can't wait until the show's over.
- What's replacing all of the stores closing in my neighbourhood? Banks. There are 3 new banks opening up.
- We went to Teodora Friday night after work (I picked it for the conveniece- didn't want to be out any later than necessary). Turns out, we went there this time last year as well.
- The virtual world was fun on Saturday, especially after I figured out all the possible issues- it went much more smoothly after that.
- Saturday night, we went to Opia- Lynn's choice, but I was happy that it was another close one.
- Wish I could have seen Tech pound Miami.
- Yesterday morning, I went to Norma's with Neil, Maxine, and Abby. Maxine pointed out one of the women from Sweet Honey in the Rock in the lobby (of course I wouldn't have recognised her on my own)- that made me look forward to the concert in January, and there were lots of people there for the marathon (I was there with Maureen on the day of the marathon last year- it was a weekend of traditions, I guess).
- Maxine pointed out that my toilet was leaking on Thursday night (just what I needed, one more thing to deal with). I waited around on Friday as late as I could for them to fix it, but when Scott finally came up, he wasn't able to fix it. So, I had to wait around yesterday for David to fix it (he did).
- Still enjoying Carnivale- it's fun trying to put the pieces together, but did they have to play "Paper Moon"? I'm getting really sick of it (can't wait until the show is over).
- Now I'm waiting for Bob to arrive with my bookshelf; then it's off to class and rehearsal (show opens tomorrow).

I now have a beautiful bookcase. Bob arrived yesterday morning and the delivery went smoothly (no thanks to my building rules). What didn't go as smoothly was the soundproofing foam. Bob helped me put it up and it looked somewhat sturdy, but when I came home, it had all fallen down. Maybe if I attach it with tape to the blinds as well as the sides of the windows it will stay better? I'll try it out tomorrow if my vertically-challenged self can manage (it was nice of Bob to help me out with it yesterday).

Bob wanted to check out his old neighbourhood (West Village) and asked if I wanted to join him for lunch. With my busy schedule, I should have said no, but it was a beautiful day and lunch with Bob sounded like fun, so I went. That was the start of my downfall. We had lunch at Greenwich Cafe (which I now know is a wi-fi hot spot and is practically empty during the weekday daytimes- good to know) and then went to Gourmet Garage. When I went home to drop off my food, I realised how exhausted I was. I spent 15 minutes contemplating skipping the psych class and after another 10 minutes, decided to skip rehearsal as well (if my presence was completely necessary, I would have gone). I spent the entire evening resting and even got to sleep early enough to have a 7-hours-of-sleep-night. I'm not sure what the consequences of my quiet evening will be, but I decided the rest was more important than the consequences.

Today I plan on doing some gift shopping (mostly baby/children gifts), catching up on my psych reading (we have a test a week from Thursday), and then meeting Robyn for coffee.

I still don't know how many shows we need to do- Hunter theatre is always so organised.

I kind of enjoyed the cold, clammy, drizzle, and fog yesterday. And I did get to walk around in it all day: first on Madison in the 80s & 90s, then from my polling place (57th & 2nd) to Daffy's (57th & Lex) to Coffee Times (62nd & Lex) and then to Hunter (68th & Lex).

I almost forgot to vote yesterday (fortunately I saw "vote here" signs in another district and made time to run to my polling place before meeting Robyn (I was a few minutes late meeting her- I can't remember the last time I was less than 10 minutes early for something). After going to 2 different tables, I finally found out where my voting booth (booth 34- there are a lot of areas at our new polling place) was located. And the woman at my table, when I told her my name, told me that with my name I should be a poet. Haven't heard that one before.

The gift shopping didn't go as easily as I thought it would. I was trying to find something that the various people wouldn't already have but then gave up since I really couldn't figure that out. I really have issues with gift giving. I love giving gifts when I can think of something I know someone will like, but that seldom happens. For the rest of the time, I struggle to find something and usually wind up with something the person already has or doesn't like just because giving a gift is expected. And sometimes I really want to get someone something but just can't find anything appropriate- this is frustrating. So after 2 hours, I just wound up with generic things for Ryan and Steven. Hopefully I'll have better luck at the Union Square Holiday Market next month (although the selection there seems to be getting worse).

But after the exhaustion of shopping, I got to have a wonderful afternoon catching up with Robyn over coffee. It's great spending time with someone with a similar lifestyle to mine and, in some ways, a similar personality.

Today is a happy day! I'm not doing the matinee OR the evening show tonight! An entire day to take care of work and things around the apartment! And tonight I plan on turning off the phones and closing down all email programs and having some alone time (something that's been greatly lacking in the last month). Between Monday and today, I'm getting more of a balanace back into my life. It's wonderful. Tomorrow will be a busy day, but after today, I won't mind one bit.

All caught up on work, hair is coloured, and I've done a little more apartment organising. It's been a productive and relaxing day and a half (got most of the stuff done this morning). Todd wound up not being able to make it last night (hopefully I'll be able to catch up with him tomorrow), so I had the entire night to myself. Spent most of the time goofing off and not really thinking about anything important- what a lovely thing.

I've been having great dreams recently; I just can't really remember what's involved.

Last night, for [I think] the first time ever, I had a flashback of Phoenix. I was listening to Holly McNarland's "Stormy" last night, and I had a flash of backing out a parking lot in Scottsdale at a shopping centre I only went to a few times (but I remembered it vividly). That might have been the last time I heard that song. So now I have a slight desire to visit Phoenix for a long weekend. Technically, I could probably do that in January, but I seriously doubt I'd take the time to go.

Hey Maxine, guess what song I had in my head yesterday? "Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home...". Not fun.

Paula and Harvey finally took 2 days off- so happy!

Today's another errand day, including running up to Todd's briefly (not exactly convenient, on the UWS, but oh well).

In between shows.

I watched the horrendous traffic on my blocks (and the surrounding ones) yesterday afternoon while waiting for the bus. No wonder everyone honks non-stop; the amount of cars and the traffic patterns (turn arrows, blocked turn-only lanes... it's obnoxious. And last night while trying to fall asleep (around 2:00 AM), I heard another accident. What a mess.

Yesterday, on the bus up to Todd's, I saw a woman from my psych class. I almost never run into people I know.

This morning, I did a million little things, but didn't finish any one thing. That still felt productive though.

I wonder how long it will take after the show closes to get "Paper Moon" out of my head?

Time to go study.

Happy birthday Carol!

The show should feel easy today- only one show? and not until 3:00? Easy.

On my short walk to and from the deli this morning, I enjoyed the crisp winter day. Yes, it was cold, but in certain circumstances, I really like the cold.

What I did not enjoy was last night's traffic. It sounded Philip Glass on crack. I need to get moving on putting the soundproofing foam back up. Maybe Tuesday...

Every time I hear the opening chords for any Emmet Swimming song, a smile spreads across my face. And the same goes for the Beta Band's "Dry the Rain". And King Missile's "Martin Scorcese" is the funniest song ever. Launch is feeding my happy mood today. But does it think it's being funny by following "Martin Scorcese" with the opening number from the 2001 touring cast of "Godspell"? And then after a commercial, plays "Tower of Babble" from the same album? It's never done that before. Maybe it's starting to interact with me like all my other music-listening-devices have done.

In 2.5 hours I can watch the latest episode of Carnivale and then try to get to sleep not too many hours after that.

Today Launch is going for the high-energy theme (ATB, King Missile, Dead Milkmen...)- just what I need to keep me awake after getting up very early this morning. But waking up early was a good thing. I finished reading the theatre chapters and had some hot apple cider at Cosi.

If only the air could be still in the winter. On windy days like this, I go back to the idea of wearing a ski mask around the city (although technically, that's illegal).

There was entirely too much traffic for a Sunday night last night. And there were also too many squealing tires from cars avoiding accidents. There are just too many private vehicles in the city these days. You used to look out the window onto any street and see a sea of yellow (taxis) with some white mixed in (buses and delivery trucks). Now you see mostly black & grey (the colour of most people's SUVs and cars along with many limos).

Last night's episode of Carnivale was the slowest (and longest) one yet. And only 3 episodes left. Where are they going with this?

I was not in a great mood yesterday afternoon/evening because of a lot of little things: traffic issues (too much of it), time issues (not enough of it), food issues (neighbourhood options suck), test issues (harder than I thought it would be), car rental issues (all too expensive). And then I listened to the CD that Andy just made me and the entire day faded away, replaced by a million thoughts of past, present, and future. Thanks again, Andy, for a fascinating evening.

I asked Bob if he knew an inexpensive place to get wood around here (to put around the windows for the foam), and he said he could just send me some. And then he said he also had an extra staple gun that he never uses and could send that up as well. Not quite sure why he wants to do this, but I'm not complaining- one less thing for me to worry about.

Yesterday's marketing/social psych class was semi-interesting. I learned a term for what bothers me the most about people in general: Cognitive Bolstering Processes- ways people's minds process information so they are always able to find support for their expectations. Basically, it's memory reconstruction. People are more comfortable when things make sense, so they'll fill in gaps with what they think should have happened even if it's not the truth (happens a lot in crime reports). People oversimplify when things are too complex and add dramatic details when things are too general. My least favourite of the processes is Selective Interpretation- once people have an expectation, they will take ambiguous information and use it to confirm their expectation. I can see how this could be a more comfortable way to live, but I just can't do it. Personally, I feel more comfortable when I try to figure out why something is exactly what it is rather than throw in my own opinions to make it fit with my theories and accept this shortcut to knowledge as truth.

And this is what I'm spending time thinking about rather than learning the rest of the material that will be on Thursday's exam. At least I still have tomorrow, and a little time on Thursday, to study.

I still don't know enough of the psych material, but I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow afternoon. It's strange studying how we think, since I get caught up in applying it to relevant things in my life. Then I start getting confused about why I'm doing/thinking certain things. Do I have certain thoughts because I had experienced cognitive dissonance or do I truly believe some of those things? How were certain decisions based too much on my current mood? Or am I basing my hindsight too much on illusory correlations?

This is kind of exhausting, but I really believe that right now, this is how I need to be thinking. I guess I've always been someone who likes to figure things out to some extent, but it feels like it's gotten more complex in recent months (I think I've noticed the change since late April or early May). I have such a strong desire to question things. Don't know why. Some of the time I think it will lead me to something, some of the time I just think it will help in some way, and some of the time I think there really is no point and I'm just driving myself crazy (analysing almost everything that is observed really does get complicated and tiring).

Not much sleep last night. I was too busy thinking. One thing I thought about was the situation of 2 social psychologists having a conversation. If they remember most of what they learned from their education, do they incorporate it into conversations with others who learned the same thing? In other words, if one asks the other a question and that person responds, does the first person ask if their response was based on internal factors (their personality, their values...), external factors (something that happened that day, the weather...), or was it just based on their current mood? If they didn't have time restrictions, these conversations could take a while ;)

One of these days when I feel like taking the time, I want to look into getting a humidifier.

Andy arrives today. It feels like just a few weeks ago that we first talked about his trip up here. See, I knew these past 2 months would fly by.

We'll probably get our SM tests back this evening. Should be interesting to see what Duane says about my crappy essay on regional theatre vs. Broadway/touring shows. The way the question was worded didn't make any sense, and I double checked the material on that subject and no where did it have any information that would have been of use to answer the question. I'm wondering how other people answered it. Maybe he'll be nice (but he doesn't seem as laid back for this class as he was for the production class).

One Sunday matinee for me (there are 4 other shows, but I don't have to deal with them), and then the show's over.

I can't believe presidential elections are in less than a year. I think the recount election is still too fresh in our minds, but who knows what could happen next year?

I'd like to write little notes on my psych test today- something like, "I think the answer is B, but maybe I just chose B because I was unconsciously applying a cognitive bolstering process and filling in the gaps of my knowledge with ambiguous information to make it fit together with my previous knowledge." But fortunately, it's a scan-tron test and I can't make notes (if it was a hand-graded test, I think I would do it once as a joke- I could send him an email mention my little joke, but I doubt I'll take the time to do that). And now I'm worried that because this is my current attitude going into the test, I'll have a self-fulfilling prophecy and really get confused about how to answer the questions ;)

I don't even know how to begin writing about this weekend. Think I'll try something different.

The bottom line:
I guess the bottom line is that it was ridiculously perfect. And it was the little things that really made it amazing: walking by a restaurant with surreal decor in Tribeca on a street I've never heard of, discovering a charming coffee house in the Village and then stumbling upon it from a different angle the next day, riding in an empty subway car in the middle of the day, Andy recognising the parking lot where we stood in line for the "Rent" audition 2 years ago, seeing a delivery truck from Roanoke, VA parked on my street, not only seeing 11 stars one night (something that recently has become near impossible) but actually seeing Orion, seeing the gorgeous Gothic church in the East Village that I'd never noticed before... I love the little things.

The chronological version:
Thursday night: stayed up late and watched "Force 10 from Navarone".
Friday: walked around Park Slope and Chinatown, barely made it to Penn Station to catch the train to Red Bank, stopped in for a drink at a pub in Red Bank, saw the Rubbing Elbows show at the Count Basie Theatre (great show, beyond-obnoxious crowd).
Saturday: walked around the West Village taking lots of pictures and having coffee at Mona Lisa, came back here and watched "The Emperor's New Groove" and part of "The Sting" until I was in too much pain to enjoy it anymore (more on that later).
Sunday: I went to work on the show while Andy walked around Times Square, went back down to the West Village and had coffee at Mona Lisa, took a long walk from the West Village to Tribeca to the Financial District to Chinatown to Soho to the East Village to Union Square, came home and watched "The Sting".
Monday: went to the "Toys R Us" to ride the Ferris Wheel, walked around Times Square a bit, went to classes, and went to Town Hall for Rubbing Elbows (even got to sit together for the second half because of nice guy next to Andy who offered to switch seats with me).

The minor downside:
My knee. My good knee, actually. Sometime on Friday, it started to hurt. By Saturday night, the combination of a lot of walking favouring the good leg and thereby hurting almost everything else and the fact that I'd only had about 1 full night of sleep in the past 3 put me in a very cranky mood. I was getting a little nervous that my good knee was bothering me so much, but yesterday and today, it's suspiciously fine, so I'm not going to worry about it anymore.

My mood:
Except for the moments of dealing with my knee, I spent the entire weekend in some form of a good mood: relaxed, giddy, comfortable... It almost didn't feel real. But it was real, and I can't help but look forward to more times like that in the future.

Yesterday was fairly unproductive. After I dropped Andy off at the airport, I intended to do some work but just wasn't ready to face reality. I wound up near a movie theatre and spontaneously decided to see the first thing showing. That turned out to be "The Station Agent", which pretty much turned out to be a good one to see in my melancholy mood yesterday. It was different, had a great pace, and some of the most interestingly simplistic characters I've ever seen. The only thing that bothered me was that these people could find each other so easily.

The rest of yesterday was spent in a bit of a daze. I was even in such a daze, that after returning home from running errands (and taking a little time to sit quietly at the edge of Central Park at Columbus Circle), I stopped to pick up some dinner from Subway (after complaining all weekend about how many there are in my neighbourhood now- it's now 1 per block).

Today was more productive. I'm all caught up on work and a few little things (like fixing the soundproofing foam, ordering stuff for Thansgiving, making a car reservation for Christmas, and running some errands), now I just need to deal with the huge pile of mail and then I'll only be as behind on things as I was before Andy's visit (my to-do list through the end of the year keeps growing rather than shrink or at least stay the same size).

Two one sentence rants:
1. The weather has been so extreme recently (hurricaines, floods, earthquakes, blizzards, tornados- these are becoming regular events).
2. There are still too many accidents on my street- there have been 2 today.

Late to bed (around 5:00 AM), late to rise(around 11:00 AM)- having this foam makes my room awfully dark and cozy (although the sound still isn't quite muffled enough- I'd like to try to find some kind of heavy fabric to put over the foam).

Yesterday was an average day with a balance of work (boring market research) and school (had a psych class where I actually didn't have a need to learn more about the subject [manipulation/impression management]).

Ran a few errands this afternoon (including picking up my latest pictures- hopefully will be putting those up this weekend along with my SE Asia trip).

Tomorrow is the Rock Albers show with Robyn and possibly tea with Marcell in the afternoon (I'm going to try to get her to come to my side of town this time).

Today is a comfortable day.

To whom it may concern:
I'm very good at questioning everything, including (or especially) relationships. I look at things from all angles and if something doesn't work, I'll be the first to find it. So while I appreciate everyone's concern, I think I'm more than able to handle any situation. And right now I'm happy. I'm nervous about the future and about my ability to do anything long term (that includes everything- jobs, homes, friends...), but right now I'm happy and have a hopeful picture of the future. And I hope those of you who know and care about me will be happy for me too. Everyone has diffrent life situations and different ways of looking at life, and what works for one person might not work for another. I hope everyone remembers that before forming their own opinions.

I'm not a big phone person, but once in a while a day turns into "phone day". Today I wound up talking to: Paula, Harvey, Neil, Maxine, Abby, Andy, and Marcell (good thing Eytan and I no longer talk since I would have been on for at least an extra hour- he was always so hard to get off the phone, but I miss that in a lot of ways). So much for having a full work day. That's okay though, as long as it's just once in a while.

So now I'm procrastinating some more. Just uploaded the recent batches of pictures to my files (will be putting them on the site tomorrow) and now I'm writing this entry. I guess I should at least get part of one project done today before meeting Robyn. I have 2 hours.

I forgot to mention yesterday that on Friday night I watched "Yellow Submarine" and realised that Daniel reminds me a bit of the Nowhere Man.

Last night I heard from Leo out of the blue (always nice to hear from an old friend)- he also reminds me a tiny bit of the Nowhere Man (and of Daniel).

The Rock Albers show wasn't great, but some of it was fun. It was funny hearing all of my rants (chain stores, reality TV, weddings...) in song form. After the show, we stopped for a slice of Joe's pizza and called it an early night.

Not in a great mood today, but that's okay. We can't be happy all the time- the happy times wouldn't seem as good otherwise.

Launch is playing a Queen song I haven't heard since high school. I just had a vivid flashback of Rick Millman (I can't believe I remember his name, sometimes my memory amazes me) and I walking to my car (my little Geo) in the Greenspring Shopping Center parking lot.

And now my mood is shifting. Memories of my "depression" years are resurfacing, and I'm remembering the enjoyable aspects of being depressed. It feels really strange in a good way. I'm not explaining this very well, but I really feel content. I don't feel like I'll slip into those old patterns at all, I think I'm just enjoying a mellow Sunday in a different but familiar way.

My memories:
- walking around Fells Point (Reptillian [with their bright green door], Sticky Fingers, Karmic Connection, Chat Street, Oh Susannah, Daily Grind...)
- hanging out with Greg from Pizza Hut: driving around, hanging out at Matt & Sylvia's apartment when they were away, going to Andy's to hang out in his hot tub...
- writing at odd hours (at Dunkin Donuts, hotel lobbys...)
- warehouse parties, raves, dance & live music clubs in DC & Baltimore- I don't even know where I was some of the time (and didn't want to be there at other times)
- hanging out with Stephanie: practically living at her house for a while, going to parties, pool halls, walking around Baltimore, going to auditions
- living out of my car, finding quiet neighbourhoods for my nighttime naps, putting on ridiculous amounts of miles between work and school and theatre and friends' places and late-night and/or country drives
- all of the Rich, Dan, Andi, and other Columbia/Ellicott City people times (one time that stands out? going to a party, sleeping there for 2 hours, and then going to take the SATs [and I got a much better score that day than then first time I took them])
- therapists
- random people (at clubs and pubs, state fairs and hotel stairs, and plenty of other places that don't rhyme)
- music: Queen, Legendary Pink Dots, Crass, Dead Kennedys, Dead Milkmen, Pink Floyd, Violent Femmes, Minor Threat, They Might Be Giants, "Hair", "Godspell", local/friends' bands...
- dealing with insomnia and irritating living conditions in the Village- walking around late at night, writing for hours at Cozy's drinking Red Zinger tea (which I now can't stand and have no clue how I ever drank the stuff)
- hanging out with Ilene from NYU: going to shows, PhilCon (one of the most bizarre evenings of my life), going with her to her home in northern Virginia for Thanksgiving and feeling uncomfortable around all her friends...
- going back to Maryland for the first time after moving to New York and wondering how I ever survived without good public transportation and 24 hour delis

And while typing all of that, Launch played Sarah McLachlan's "Gloomy Sunday" (a song I would have loved during those years, but I did not discover Sarah until slightly after that period).

And now I think I'll start on putting up my latest pictures.

All my pictures are up now.

The soundproofing foam is pulling away from the window a bit; I'll need to fix that later. And at some point I'd really like to take the time to find heavy drapes or something to go over the foam.

Yesterday was a long day: a few hour chat with Andy, Tonya, and Rhonda in the morning, classes in the evening, and a lot of work at night. I was exhausted, but I wouldn't have changed a thing- it was a good day.

I've been too much of a night owl recently, but I'm sure having Neil, Maxine, and Abby staying here for the weekend will help me get back to a slightly more useful sleeping pattern.

Almost ready for Thanksgiving. The food gets delivered tomorrow, so tonight I need to clean out the fridge (and finish cleaning the apartment as well). Looking forward to some family time.

I can't believe the holidays are upon us already. The year started out at a normal pace, but sometime around July, things started flying by. This weekend I should start seriously thinking about end-of-the-year logistics (travel plans, finances, Christmas gifts, next semester of classes...).

Neil called last night to tell me about their sick ward down in College Park (both he and Abby have colds). Don't know yet if they'll make it up here or not. A repeat of last year would not be a good thing, so hopefully they'll be well enough to make the journey and have a nice weekend.

I'm having fun spending way too much time chatting online these days (Josh & Andy last night, Rhonda as I type this...)- fortunately, most of the things on my to-do list aren't time sensative.

I was really in the mood for this album today (I actually picked it rather than let the CD player pick my music like I almost always do). It's putting me in a winter mood. Do other people categorise music by season? More and more these days, I'm finding albums that belong with a specific season. I'm mostly finding ones for fall and winter though. Perhaps as the next spring and summer roll around, I'll hear music appropriate for those seasons.

The turkey and stuff just arrived. Now I need to take a shower, run out for a few minutes, and then figure out what I've been in the middle of since this morning.

Neil, Maxine, and Abby are coming up tomorrow! I'm thrilled and really hope they feel well while they're here.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Not only do I get to spend time with Neil, Maxine, Abby, Paula, and Harvey, but Marcell's hopefully going to stop by sometime in the evening and Robyn's coming by in the morning (only to pick up some CDs, but maybe she can hang out for a bit too). I've always liked the idea of some sort of open house, so maybe tomorrow can be a bit like that.

But tonight I plan on a nice quiet evening of "me time".

Today was good. Neil, Maxine, and Abby arrived early to go to the parade, and Harvey and Paula arrived early afternoon. It was a nice, relaxing day (Robyn stopped by for a while, which was nice) and dinner went well. Marcell stopped by in the evening, so I did sort of have an open-house type day. Mental note for next year: get some folding chairs and eating utensils.

Why do lightbulbs always seem to all go out at the same time? Yesterday, the living room bulb burned out. Today, I thought the kitchen light burned out, but Abby seemed to fix it, and then the hallway light went out this evening (Abby couldn't fix that one- not that she really fixed the kitchen one- I'm not quite sure what happened with that one). Fortunately, I can just reach the hallway light as opposed to the kitchen light, which I'll need to borrow a ladder from the building to replace the bulb.

And in other things-falling-apart news: part of the soundproofing foam came away from the wall today (the part that until today was the most sturdy). Maybe tomorrow I'll put some wood strips at the top of the windows to see if that helps the foam stay more easily. It'll be a little tricky since the window sill (where I would stand to fix the top part) is partly covered with the bottom pieces of foam, so I'm not quite sure how I can reach the top of the windows, but I'll figure it out tomorrow.

The only other plan for tomorrow is to go to the Holiday Light Show at Grand Central in the morning. It's supposed to rain most of the day, so tomorrow would be a good day to stay home and take care of things (as long as I can do the work around everyone's nap-time).

I just noticed I have a huge cut across my leg- I noticed when it happened, but it didn't hurt at all so I didn't realise how deep the cut actually was. One of the hazards of typing in bed, I guess- it's from the corner of a picture frame that I'm using as a flat surface for my mouse. It's comfy though, so I ain't movin' (I'll just watch where I put my legs).

This morning we went to Grand Central to check out the electric train exhibit and light show (neither were too exciting, but it was nice to have an outing). We looked around at the holiday craft fair there as well, but I still didn't get very far on my holiday shopping (although I at least have ideas for everyone except Maxine- I just have to get/make everything).

Now Neil and Abby are taking naps, Maxine's shopping, Harvey's working, Paula's busy, and I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. Oh, I should start studying for Monday's theatre test. Yeah, I'll do that in a few minutes.

Abby found my Bugaloos video, so we've been watching that for the past 2 days. It reminds me of the "crush" I had on the girl who played Joy. It's such a cheesy show, but I have fond memories of it (even though I probably only watched it a half dozen times).

I tacked the foam up to the top of the windows this morning, and it's better. Hopefully it will be good enough that I don't have to take it all down and start over.

Yesterday, I met Paula for a drink, and then we all went to dinner at Rue 57 (once again I barely ate anything- just haven't been hungry recently- which was good last night, since I don't really like anything on their menu).

Neil, Maxine, and Abby left this morning around 7:00, and Paula, Harvey, and I are all having a work day. Tonight I'm meeting them for dinner at Compass. Last time I was there was with Chris about a year ago- feels so much longer- time is so strange.

Chatted with Jeff a little today. He just got back to the States this morning. He's thinking about coming up to NYC in a few weeks, so maybe I'll get to see him before Christmas. Looking forward to hearing about his trip.

Once again, Launch played 2 songs from the same album in a row and happened to be from something I just listened to earlier this week ("Jekyll and Hyde"). Guess it didn't want me to be finished with that music yet.

COLD last night! During dinner, I ran over to Lincoln Center to see if I could get Paula a ticket for tomorrow's matinee of "Henry IV" (I knew it was a long shot- they were completely sold out). On the walk back to the restaurant, the wind was beyond belief!!! After dinner, an available cab was coming down the street as we were walking out (I know it was only there because Harvey was looking for it- he has good luck with travel stuff), so we took that back and avoided any wind. Oh, and it was clear enough to see the moon last night (but no stars- I kept checking between 10:00 and 3:00, and every time I looked out, I only saw the usual pink haze).

So instead of "Henry IV" today, Paula and I will go see "Beckett/Albee" on Wednesday night (after having dinner at Craft- I've been wanting to go there since it opened).

Every time my heat comes on, it sounds like the opening measures for Ian Anderson's "Eurology". Then I'll either hum the melody to the rhythm of the heat or count out the beats of the fun time signature.

I'm having phone issues. My cell phone is dropping calls and getting terrible reception more and more frequently in my apartment and the cordless phone for my land line is not charging well again. I'm not a big phone person, but it's nice to use them issue-free once in a while.

Today flew by quickly. I didn't study as much as I probably should have (although I still have some time tomorrow), I didn't finish cleaning the apartment (I'll finish that tomorrow too), but I did get over 7 hours of sleep this morning.

Tonight I'm having a long distance "Jethro Tull Christmas Album" listening party with Andy!

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