September

Yesterday was a productive and fun day. And I saw 5 dim stars last night! And traffic wasn't too loud. And traffic isn't too loud now either, minus a few obnoxious moments (upside to the convention, I guess).

Today was another long day. First I tried to get the books for classes (since used books online aren't much cheaper and I'd rather get them sooner rather than later). That didn't go well. I hate that there are 2 bookstores that instructors use, both with ridiculously long lines (it can take an entire afternoon just buying books and most likely they will be out of stock on at least one). The school bookstore stocked the visual elements book and Shakespeare stocked the play analysis books (and I'm not sure where to get the drafting kit for visual elements- I'll ask tomorrow). The school bookstore actually had the visual elements book in stock (a first in my experiences there). I have no idea if Shakespeare had the play analysis books since the line of students waiting to get books was too long for me to wait in (and I thought I allowed plenty of time). I'll go after classes tomorrow (and spend my evening there, I guess).

Since I didn't wait in line for books, I had some extra time before class and it was a nice day, so I continued walking up Lex to see if anything new has popped up (nope, nothing new). I don't know why I let myself walk so much today with my heavy bag. Now I have back pain (but knees and everything else feel fine). The most annoying thing about walking on Lex is the people. It seems this is the worst place (other than Times Square, of course) for stupid walkers. Three people walked directly into me without apologising, countless people were weaving due to cell phone usage, and I don't think one single person was aware that anyone else was around them. It's a crowded street, people, it would be nice if you didn't make it so difficult for those of us who would like to get to our destinations without unnecessary obstacles.

After class, I headed crosstown to hang out before "A Clockwork Orange". I walked around some more, taking pictures and noticing all the convention security (it was a strong presence in the 50s, I can't imagine what it looks like near The Garden).

It was great being back at EST. I really like that space. This was my least favourite production I've seen there (it was okay, but the script felt rushed and most of the acting was just average- the music worked well though and language was nice to hear), but I was just happy sitting in the intimate space with some interesting people. I talked briefly to a woman in the lobby- she was a director from London hoping to find some work in New York. Then I eavesdropped on the people sitting behind me- they were talking about convention-related stuff (one guy worked at Redeye Grill and said there were debates between the New Yorkers and the Republican senators who chose to frequent the restaurant that afternoon).

Tomorrow's movie night with Andy. I probably shouldn't take the time, but I am anyway.

Traffic was back last night. But I got to see a bright moon through the clouds.

Walking on Lex is already difficult, and with 3 major construction projects on my block, trying to walk around 100 construction workers having lunch all over the already partially obstructed sidewalks is pretty obnoxious. I think for my Hunter commute, I'll walk the extra 2 avenues to walk up Park instead, where the sidewalks are wider and less crowded (always thought about it, never bothered).

And in other neighbourhood news, yesterday, a car hit me (I wasn't hurt- he just tapped me as he was trying to turn behind me). The guy who helped me up said the same thing happened to him about a month ago- a car turning from behind, not having the patience to wait until you cross the street. Then this afternoon, a bus almost hit me. It came flying in front of me to make a left turn and beat the oncoming traffic. Maybe people are especially impatient now that the convention's over? Are all the streets open now? The security is gone from my street. They sure didn't wait long after the convention to leave. Have they stopped worrying about the Citigroup Building?

Besides almost getting hit by a bus, today has had other irritating things. First, I got an ocular migraine in the early afternoon and then it came back a few minutes after I got home later in the afternoon. And now I still can't see well. That happened the last time I got one, when I was in Maryland. Usually after it goes away, my sight returns to normal. I hope this poor-eyesight-for-the-rest-of-the-day isn't a new trend. The other annoying thing today was that both of the edible take-out lunch places in my area had cleared away their lunch before I got there (I got there a little after 2:00). So that left me with a few crappy delis, Subway, Subway, Subway, Subway, Subway, Subway, McDonalds, McDonalds, Wendys, Starbucks, Starbucks, and Starbucks. And I'm sure once the Bloomberg Tower is in business, we'll just get more of the same crap.

And yet even with all the irritating things, I'm in a good mood, mainly because of the poor concept of time I'm having right now. I can't believe it's already the weekend and yet this past Monday feels very far away. I understand rationally that it's September, but it doesn't feel like September. It doesn't feel like any month in particular. It doesn't feel like any particular time either. I love this feeling of no-time. It's relaxing.

Yesterday we got the syllabus for visual elements, and we have a final paper instead of an exam. Which means it's probably due the last day of class and I won't have to be there on the 23rd, which means I won't be rushed with getting down to Maryland. So happy- I was really not looking forward to dealing with the tight schedule.

I had some good luck yesterday. We got out of visual elements a little early, so I went across the street to the drug store and happened to notice there wasn't a line at Shakespeare. I couldn't believe it, but I walked right in, went downstairs to the textbooks area, and there were only about 15 people. So I was able to get my books (except 2 that were out of stock) in less than 30 minutes. I found the lucky window of opportunity- there was a huge line in the morning and one about the same size later in the afternoon. So instead of waiting in the line, I was able to run some errands and still get home earlier than planned.

Verizon's doing work on my street for a change.

Paula and Harvey's schedule for the next few weeks is ridiculous. First of all, they just went to Singapore for a few days and will now have one evening here before they go home for the auction tomorrow night. And what are they doing Sunday evening? Having people over for dinner (Paula told them all to bring something so at least they don't have to do anything other than provide the house). Then Monday they're going to Jay's BBQ. Then I told them they should take off on Tuesday, since on Wednesday they have to come up to New York and then from here, go up to Maine to close on the house. Their schedule is always pretty crazy, but when it gets this bad, I tend to worry a little. I really wish they could figure out a way to be less busy and still live their lives the way they want.

Traffic was quiet last night. Have people left early for Labor Day weekend? Maybe they all left Thursday night through Friday afternoon. I have no idea what's going on around here other than it's quiet and hope it stays like this through the weekend.

Launch seems to be back in the habit of playing my highly rated songs- Tori's "Tear in Your Hand", Tull's "Rocks on the Road", The Doors' "Moonlight Drive", Emmet Swimming's "Arlington"... (all in an hour last night). And it's playing a lot of cool stuff I haven't heard before too. Thanks guys.

Put up some more pictures last night.

Today's been productive. I've finished everything on my to-do list, did one thing from tomorrow's list, and now I have the rest of the day to myself. This is amazing. I can actually have a relaxing Labor Day weekend. I feel a little guilty because I could be in Baltimore for the auction, but I wasn't really needed and with probable transportation issues, it didn't seem worth it. So I'll try to enjoy myself as much as I can and not think about the hell everyone else is going through. I deserve this time. My hell will come soon enough.

Last night I watched "The Usual Suspects" with Andy. That was fun. Then I watched local access channels for a bit- haven't done that in ages, but I should check it out more often- got to see the annual downtown dance festival and liked what I saw (Dha Fuzion, Changing Times Tap, and Tokounou), but I couldn't watch too much before it started depressing me. And I half-watched Pandemonium (Chris Pan's show), which had his tribute to his friend Vinny, a firefighter who died September 11th. It brought back many memories (probably would have brought back many more if I had fully watched it, but I didn't want to fully go back there last night). I also liked one of the 311 commercials, when the guy went to a psychic to find out what day his garbage would be collected. I still feel weird about this unusual free time, but I am enjoying it.

The people above me were making a ton of noise late last night- sounded like they were building something at 2:00 AM.

When I was in Grand Junction last year, Josh pointed out the strangest road name concept I've ever seen. The road names had fractions. Now I understand if you're 20� miles away from something and you might possibly want to name your road "20� Mile Road", but Grand Junction took it one step further. They had fractions with letters! So I found myself driving on "F 3/4 Road" (tried to take a picture- it didn't come out well). Odd. Anyway, I finally found out why they do this:
"Between Grand Junction and Fruita, rural roads that run at every one-mile interval don't have proper names. Instead, the north-south roads are numbered, as in 19 Road, and the east-west roads are lettered, as in J Road. Roads running between one-mile intervals have fractions, as in J 6/10 Road or 19� Road."
What was wrong with giving the roads real names? "J 6/10 Road" is just stupid (and if they really wanted to be serious about it, "J 6/10 Road" should have been called "J 3/5 Road").

Since there's no SFU tonight, I'll watch last week's again. I can't believe next week is the last episode of the season. The past 3 months of shows flew by. I feel like it was just a few weeks ago that Keith said, "I feel like I've been eating this cake for 12 months." Maybe I'll rent the first 2 seasons sometime in the next year.

Why is it that right when I catch up on my personal emails, I get several more? And when did personal emails get to be a chore? I have plenty of time to respond to everyone right now but just don't feel like it.

I don't really know what I want to do with the rest of my leisure time this weekend. Maybe I'll watch another movie- I seem to be on a movie kick these days.

I couldn't watch last week's SFU since I taped over it by accident (I almost never do that- figures I did it on a good episode) and it's not on again. Oh well.

I did a ton of organising today. I now have this week planned to the minute (other than the late-night hours- those depend on how much I get done during the day and what time I go to sleep) and the rest of the year is loosly planned as well.

I also got a head start on reading for classes.

Paula and Harvey are coming up tomorrow rather than Wednesday morning, so after my long day tomorrow at museums (for visual elements) and errands (also for visual elements- this class is keeping me busy), I'll be meeting them for dinner at Maya.

I'm definitely going to Zurich. I'll only miss one visual elements class and 2 play analysis classes, and it's way before the show starts, so I shouldn't be missing much as far as school's concerned. I'm excited. Zurich's been on my "top 5 cities to visit" list for a while. I'll only have 2 free days there (and 3 working days), but I can pack a lot into one day, so I think it's worth it.

Launch is being nice and playing mostly mellow music tonight with Dead Can Dance, Tangerine Dream, and Pink Floyd. I need to get mellow so I can fall asleep somewhat early and quickly tonight.

Got a late start today because of another ocular migraine (these are getting really irritating). But even with the unreliable transportation today, because I spent less time than planned at the museums, I finished everything on time and even had a little time to spare before dinner.

Speaking of dinner, in keeping with the trend to get rid of things I like, Maya got rid of 1 of the 2 things I'll eat there. Last night the same thing happened with my favourite delivery place. Of course I'm not surprised the American public doesn't have my taste, but I'm getting really tired of every single option getting taken away one by one. Every time I find something I like, it goes away rather quickly. It's happened my whole life, but it seems to be more common now. And it's not just restaurants, it's grocery stores too. They either don't carry products I like or the companies don't even make the things I like anymore. And it's not limited to food either. Have I mentioned that I haven't liked a single movie that's come out in the past 2 years (at least I can still rent good older movies at TLA)? I'm just in the wrong country.

After the incident a few weeks ago with me fainting and Paula being at the wrong location and us having a difficult time connecting, Paula decided she didn't want anything like that to happen again, so she got a cell phone. Wow, Paula with a cell phone- now I think we can say that everyone in the northeast has one.

Speaking of Paula, she almost got hit by a van tonight (she was on the outer part of the crosswalk and the van drove a bit onto the crosswalk to get around traffic). My intersection is way too dangerous.

Tomorrow's my appointment to get my thyroid retested. Slightly nervous and slightly in denial.

The non-stop honking woke me up this morning. They were particularly obnoxious out there. I guess the storm didn't help matters.

My visit to the doctor was quick and painless (I like the nurse [or whatever she is] who does the blood tests- she doesn't have trouble finding my vein and I never feel a thing). I also had another EKG done (even though the last one was fine) after I told him about my fainting incident.

We're not Florida, but we're certainly having our share of rain. My experience with it (other than dealing with walking in it)? Trying to cross the 59th Street Lake with traffic that did not want me to do that (even though I had the right-of-way and they needed to wait for me before they could turn).

Jeopardy is in a new season (didn't know that show had seasons- guess all shows do- never really thought about it- I know so little about TV), so Ken's back. I still wish they would show the other contestants when announcing Ken's total at the beginning. The flood-watch notices came on several times during this half-hour, so I missed some of the show, but I think I did rather well, given the annoying categories (like "my newt" and "the vast and the furious"- they were on a size theme, as "historic mediums" was the final Jeopardy category). And they did have my favourite, longest word as an answer- "What is antidisestablishmentarianism?". Got that one right, of course. I'll take "When Do I Get to Be on Jeopardy" for $2000, Alex.

Also, my EKG today was fine again, and he didn't say anything else about my fainting. But when I was walking to class today, I felt faint (scared me, but I just had some coffee and was fine). I thought it might be because I had just eaten for the first time today (hadn't had time to digest yet) and I just had blood drawn. But Paula suggested that maybe it was the weather. Then I realised that the last time was right around the time of Hurricanes Bonnie and Clyde (or whatever the "C" hurricane's name was) and now we're dealing with Hurricane Frances. So maybe it's the humidity or air pressure during a hurricane that bothers me. Something to check on when I have some time. At least hurricane season's almost over.

Traffic was truly appalling last night. Maybe because people had to find new ways home because of the flooded areas? I still can't believe how many people are heading over the 59th Street Bridge between 11:00 PM and 3:00 AM.

Every Thursday we're going to be drafting in visual elements, but fortunately, today they still didn't have the paper we'll need, so we didn't draft today. And since there aren't classes next Thursday (or Wednesday), I get 2 weeks before the nightmare of drafting starts.

And in other school-related news, play analysis was a waste of time today. We spent 50 minutes discussing how it's impossible to read a play and be completely objective. The point was made within the first 2 minutes, but everyone needed to add their 2 cents (which was the same thing said 15 different ways).

I remembered to walk on Park today, and that was so much better. As long as I don't have any errands, I'll make that my regular commute.

Paula and Harvey close on their house tomorrow!

Time to reply to those long overdue emails.

Noisy day! Traffic's definitely back to its usual obnoxious self, there's major jackhammering on my street, and someone in my building is playing their music so loud that my picture on the wall next to the stairwell is shaking. If I didn't have to wait for a grocery delivery, I'd take my computer with me and leave this neighbourhood for the afternoon.

Didn't hear from the doctor yesterday, so I guess I'll hear from him on Monday (and he'll probably call when I'm in class, so it will probably not be until Tuesday that I find out about my thyroid issue).

Andy just called me from the Tech game. Right, it's college football season. I keep forgetting. I don't think I've been this disinterested in sports in about 10 years. I just don't care about any of it. I'm aware that it's still baseball season, but I don't know about any of the teams that have a shot at the World Series (or any of the other teams, for that matter). It all just seems so pointless.

Put up a few pictures today.

Paula and Harvey had travel issues yesterday (they were trying to get from Maine to Baltimore) and, to make a long story short, wound up renting a car and driving here. They took the train home this morning, which got in 45 minutes late. I think 45 minutes late is actually on time for Amtrak.

As for me, I had travel planning issues yesterday (trying to find the best way to Maine on Thanksgiving weekend). I swear it gets more and more difficult to find a way to/from your destination. It's either impossible or ridiculously expensive. And if you go with the ridiculously expensive, shouldn't you at least get a smoother experience? So, I think I'm going to wind up driving to Maine and paying the $130/day rental fee (that includes insurance, but it's still outrageous). It's only about $100 more than airfare to Portland (the cheapest, easiest flight), but if I did that, I'd have to either pay for cabs to/from the airports or rent a car in Portland. So, with price being about equal (and with the possibility of flight delays), I'd rather drive. The only problem with renting a car is that the locations near me aren't open on Thanksgiving and close early the day I'm driving back, so I'll have to take a cab to a crosstown location and then drive back this way to head out of the city (and do the reverse on the way home). It'll take an extra hour, so the whole trip driving will take about 6 hours. For $130, they should pick me up at my apartment.

Next I'll have to work on my Zurich planning. I'll do that later this week.

Home Depot's getting ready to move into the Bloomberg Tower- the walls are being painted that hideous bright orange.

And in other annoying news, the traffic right now is awful. There seems to be conjestion to get on the bridge for some reason, and the honking is non-stop.

I've been thinking a lot about the value of things. How the human race collectively decides what's valuable (in terms of people, places, and things) and how, other than pop culture, those values don't change much over time. And how I often don't agree with the collective decision. And what would happen to value if we put more emphasis on individual subjectivity.

Busy day yesterday with both work and school. I also stopped by Daffy's and managed to pick up a neat looking shirt and a boring but comfortable sweater (what I really need are pants, but I can never find any that fit). Good thing it wasn't too crowded when I went, since the cashiers were almost as slow as the ones at the grocery store in College Park.

Watched Jeopardy last night- I did extremely well (did well in all categories but especially in "River Sources", thank you weather and climate). I liked Alex's comments on Reality TV- pretty scary how easily those people can get into show business and have no training or experience- talent is just not important anymore.

I guess our ABC local news is trying to dumb down their news some more, as their commercial showed them and their "viewers" as rather silly (The Daily Show is more respetable). Is that what our television news has become? I don't really know as the only time I watch the news is at Neil & Maxine's, and even then I'm only half watching.

My cordless phone is still hanging up by itself at random. Luckily it hasn't happened on any important calls or during the countless hours I'm on hold.

Had some annoying phone calls to make today- long hold times, complicated (and sneaky) automated phone systems, obnoxious customer service people... And with one, the phone call wasn't enough. I now have to mail stuff to them and put stuff in writing (and the woman only gave me half of their address and then hung up so I had to spend time getting the rest of their address myself since I didn't want to call back and be put on hold again). Why do things have to be so complicated?

Every one of the 10+ blocks I walked today was under some form of construction. At least construction workers can continue to be employed, but it really adds to the chaos of the streets.

And on a related note, am I invisible? Why do so many people walk into me? Whether I move out of their way or not, they always hit me. Today, a construction worker carrying heavy material was one of the many who walked right into me (I was already as far to the side as I could get and he had plenty of room but hit me anyway). I have this problem everywhere, but especially in New York and airports. Does everyone have this problem?

Our country and its "family values" has really been pissing me off recently. Maybe I'll elabourate when I have more time. For now, I should get back to being productive.

But first, the best news of the day: my doctor called and said my thyroid is completely normal and has no idea what happened on the first test. So I'm fine :)

Sleeping didn't go well last night. I slept in bed for a few hours and then dozed on and off on the couch in the early AM. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight. Fortunately, I have an easy schedule this week thanks to the Jewish holidays (not having classes today or tomorrow is very helpful, so is not having anything else scheduled for specific times). Okay, I guess holidays are good for something then.

Jeopardy last night: boring categories, boring questions. Learning the timing for the signaling button really does give long-term players an unfair advantage; a woman on last night struggled with it the whole time. You'd think they would have found another method by now.

Spent a lot of time this morning/afternoon doing some legal work. Well, not legal work exactly, but looking into legal issues. It went smoothly, so I enjoyed it, but I can't imagine having to deal with law like that on a daily basis. It's so frustrating how things work (or don't work).

Just read about more major construction in my neighbourhood: 2 new luxury towers are going up on 57th between 2nd & 3rd- one demolishing the old The Wiz store (see, someone can beat The Wiz) and the other demolishing the movie theatre (that's the 3rd movie theatre to close in my neighbourhood within the past 2 years or so). It will be interesting to see how all this residential change will change the rest of the neighbourhood, but I'll no longer be here to see the effects.

That hits me once in a while- that my time remaining in New York isn't as lengthy as it once seemed. Time flies. As much as I hate the major suburbanisation of Manhattan, there are still some rather amazing pockets of greatness, and I'll really miss that. Starting now, I'm going to take advantage of one "great" thing a week. This week I think I'll take advantage of movie delivery. Maybe next week I'll do a museum or try a new restaurant or walk around a neighbourhood I don't know well...

Just looked out the window and saw that there are 3 times as many cars coming into the city than heading out. Should make for a lovely night of traffic.

We're now in the middle of a serious storm- looks nasty out there.

School does come in handy for Jeopardy. I got one they all got wrong- something about Nero's advisor- "Who is Seneca?" Last night was actually a good game though- Ken had worthy competitors (but not quite worthy enough- Ken's now won 47 games and has broken the record for most games in a row).

Comment on TV: I find it odd that television stations will have stars from other networks on their talkshows (like Donald Trump being on an ABC talkshow). Why would a network want to plug another network? Why wouldn't the star be on a talkshow on their own network?

Paula wanted me to mention 2 new words we came up with last night. Hers: Gruppies- Yuppies who are of grandparent age. Mine: Clippets- a small audio or video clip.

I was looking around American Airlines' site the other night and discovered they list this and next month's movies that they'll have on their flights. So unless it changes, I'll get to watch "Prisoner of Azkaban" again and see if I can find anything more redeeming in it. Did I mention I booked my flight to Zurich the other day? I'm glad I get to fly American Airlines; I've had the best luck with them (and, knock on keyboard, hopefully it'll stay that way).

I was also booking a flight on US Air, which was such a hassle (they make things so complicated, especially their website). And what's happened to email confirmation? Every single travel reservation I've made recently says they will send an email confirmation and none of them have done that on their own (I have to call, email, call... several times each).

And don't get me started on the price of car rentals in the city.

This has been a BUSY week. Glad I haven't had to deal with school as well. I have been jotting some things down though, about what's been bothering me about our society/culture/political system. Hopefully I'll have time to flesh it out to put in an entry this weekend.

Got a call from Rachel (Rebecca's sister) this afternoon. She's coming up to the city on Monday for an audition and to look at a few apartments, so I'll be getting together with her Monday night. That's after having a virtual meeting for work. Which is after classes. In short, Monday's going to be a busy day. After this busy week, I hope to rest up this weekend. I still have a lot to do, but hopefully it will be less hectic than this week was- this week was filled with overlapping chaos.

Last night the storm continued... And continued... And continued. I might have fallen asleep for a few minutes in the early AM but soon after that, HUGE amounts of thunder woke me up. It sounded like WWII outside my window. Seriously. So I slept from about 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM. And woke up with awful congestion from the air pressure (I wonder if this being affected by air pressure is a phase or a new long term semi-problem). So even though I haven't gotten much sleep the past few nights, I'm still not tired now. But rather than be productive, I think I'll use a little time to write this now and then use some time tomorrow at some point to write my rants- although I may save one (dwindling states' rights) for a long time from now, since I don't have that one fleshed out at all and don't want to take too much time tomorrow for complex rants like that (and no clue when I will have the time). And maybe I'll have an hour or 2 more of productivity before I go to sleep today.

The rain ended this afternoon, but the wind continues as I type. In fact, it's been so windy, all the clouds blew away and I was left with a clear view of 12 stars out my window (including Ursa Major)! Amazing amazing amazing!!! Actually, just looked again- the wind has died down and the pollution's coming back. Oh well, at least I had an hour or so of the clearest sky I've ever seen in the city.

Can't believe it's already the 19th of September. I swear it feels like September started a few days ago.

Launch was in a Celtic mood last night: Altan, Maddy Prior, Loreena McKennitt... I still find it odd that it makes moods on its own.

I thought Nick Hornby was kidding when I met him a few years ago and he told me of making another "Fever Pitch" movie involving a Boston Red Sox fan. No, he wasn't kidding. I just learned that this will indeed be a new movie. Guess he wants the money.

But on a good movie note, I really enjoyed both "84 Charing Cross Road" and "Enigma" this weekend. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a movie so much, and I can't believe I had 2 in the same weekend. So it definitely was a good choice to take advantage of movie delivery this week!

I hate AT&T. They charge my account sporadically (never can figure out what their system is) and their website is down so often, I can never easily check to see what my balance is (and find out if I need to call to see what their latest situation is). And how many times did they randomly cancel my online bill pay? And why do they make signing back up so difficult?

I'm also currently having trouble with Citibank's website. They don't seem to want to show me any of my account information (and calling just gives summary info; I was looking for specifics). I'm not really complaining though- I don't usually have too many problems with their credit card (I have many more problems with my Bank of America card).

I've gotten a point in my life again where I can't think more than 12 hours in advance. Any more than that and I get overly stressed. There's just so much going on. I'm not so busy, as I was earlier this year, that I can't take time for rest/fun, but those times should probably be spontaneous (when it works) rather than planned. But a lot of the things I was hoping to do kind of have to be planned (tickets for shows). So far I only have 1 planned ("Blue Flower") and 1 I'm 90% sure I'll plan really soon (Martin Barre show). I probably shouldn't plan any more, but there are 2 more things I'd really like to see: "The Bald Soprano" and Frayn's "Democracy", but I think I'll have to let those be a little more spontaneous.

Gonna try to get some sleep now.

These are a few of my current problems with our society:
- Misleading medical research reports and incomplete research being reported as definitive information. I can't mention details for obvious reasons, but I know for a fact there are government agencies reporting incomplete and misleading information because the Bush Administration told them to do so (I know someone who works for an agency, and he's told me what he's had to report). People need to remember to take information with a grain of salt, see where the information comes from, try to find other reports on the subject to see differing views, and try to piece things together on their own to figure out what they think is most accurate. Then maybe we won't have 42% of American citizens thinking Sadaam Hussein was responsible for the attacks on September 11th (I've seen that percentage or a percentage close to it in numerous polls over several years, so I think I safely say that information is accurate).
- Marriage being the be all and end all of life. It's getting to the point that, unmarried people (gay or straight) are treated almost as second class citizens. While our government keeps pushing family values, more and more people in this country are staying unmarried or becoming unmarried. With the amount of unmarried people, one would think that the institution of marriage isn't as important as it once was. But that's not the way it's working. Unmarried people don't have the rights that married people have. And that's just wrong. This being a "free" country, people shouldn't be penalised and/or intimidated for being unmarried (either because they prefer to live independently or live with another but not have a legally binding marriage).
- And what is marriage in this country? Throughout the history of the western world, marriage has changed from being religious to being non-religious and back to being religious over the centuries. During Colonial times in this country, marriages were allowed to be either religious or civil. It seems in our modern times, with so many people being from different backgrounds/cultures/religions, that we would want to take religion out of the marriage ceremony. If it's the state (and that leads me to states' rights, but no time for that today) that recognises the marriage as legal and we're supposed to have separation of church and state (which could lead me to a rant on prayer in public schools or the Christmas tree on the White House lawn, but no time for that today either), why are marriages still conducted as religious events? And if couples want to have a religious ceremony, they certainly should be allowed, but that should be separate from the document they sign making their marriage secularly legal.
- Public service announcements in general, but especially the ones about how to talk to your kids. Um, people have been successfully raising children since the beginning of the human race. Do we really need these tips? And of course the tips are ridiculously simplistic and way too one-sided ("this is bad", "this is good", "do this", "don't ever do that"...) and some of the tips do a complete 180� over time (like "always pick up a crying baby", "never pick up a crying baby"...). If you listen to enough of these messages, you'll find you shouldn't do anything ever- everything will cause harm and/or death. People need to remember how to think for themselves and learn what works or doesn't work for them.
- How almost all of our modern culture revolves around children: movies, fashion, food, marketing trends... This is just another way childless people (and people who don't gear their whole lives toward their children) get overlooked and looked down upon.
Bottom line of what I'm trying to say? I guess I just wish people would question why things are the way they are rather than just blindly accept things as fact. The more government, companies, organisations (religous and secular) tell us what to do and not do, what to like and not like, the more people stop thinking for themselves. Thinking and making choices are our right and responsibility. It really bothers me that people in this country are ignoring those rights and living the way we are being told to without asking why.

Traffic is being ridiculous today. There aren't that many cars on the road- just a lot of impatient, repugnant drivers (and some of the most obnoxious motorcycles I've ever heard- maybe there's a rally today or something). And there are 2 traffic cops in my intersection right now. This would be a perfect opportunity to enforce the no honking rule. Why isn't that enforced?

I decided I don't feel like watching the finale of SFU again. Like their other finales, I didn't care for this one (it definitely had some interesting points but also some uncharacteristic and some unnecessary dramatic stuff as well). Maybe I'll just try to remember to watch it right before next season.

I don't really want to take this time, but I feel if I don't update now, I'll stop altogether, and I'm not ready to do that.

Until last night, I hadn't gotten more than 4 hours of sleep each night in a week. Last night I slept on and off (guess I was tired enough to eventually go back to sleep each time the traffic woke me up) for 8 hours!

Monday night: after going back and forth 20 times about whether or not to meet Rachel (I was in a bad mood, tired, had cramps, and had a lot to do [still do] but I also thought going out for an hour or two sounded like it might be a good idea- especially if I could pick where to meet), I decided to go. I suggested Mod but they were having a private party, so we went next door to Prohibition, which was actually a better choice- calmer but still good drinks. I actually drank and enjoyed myself like a normal person (can't remember the last time I actually felt the effects of alcohol that most people feel). I left in a good mood. Every time I tell myself to "go out, maybe you'll have a good time", I don't wind up having a good time. But this time I did. And it was a great time for it- I was really not doing well before I got there.

There's security on my street again and signs saying "no trucks, vans, or limos on Lex". I figured it was for the UN stuff, but it's still there, so I'm not sure why. Maybe because of the Jewish holidays? Or they'll stay through the election?

The building next to me is moving along quickly. Juan Valdez coffee is about to have their first coffee-to-go retail shop in it. Too bad they don't believe in a relaxing/social coffee shop experience. It would be nice to have something other than the sanitised Starbucks in my neighbourhood.

I had a nice few hours in the West Village on Tuesday. I was reading "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (for visual elements) at Tea and Sympathy (love that place) and someone at another table started talking to me about the play. It was so nice to meet someone who knew quite a bit about Albee. I don't get to surround myself often with people who talk about things other than what's in the zeitgeist. Then I went to pick up "Virginia Woolf" at TLA and checked out 2 clothing stores quicky and actually found a pair of pants that fit well enough. So it was a good day in the Village.

The day went downhill after I went back to Midtown. First, I encounted the man-hole explotions taking the bus up 8th. Very scary! We didn't know what was going on- only saw all the smoke and emergency vehicles everywhere. I only found out the next morning, when I read an article about it. What a mess! And are there more man-hole explotions this year or does this year have the average amount and it's just that the media is reporting on it more? Then Tuesday night, I got an ocular migraine. Enough said. When that finally finished up, it was late when I tried to watch "Virginia Woolf" with Rachel (she went to sleep about 30 minutes into the movie). Forty-five minutes into the movie, it stopped playing- checked it out and the problem was from scratches on the DVD (this is a fairly common problem with renting DVDs- what do people do to them?). Not a big deal- just a little frustrating.

Wednesday I was exhausted and my good knee hurt A LOT. No clue what I did to it- maybe I slept with it twisted backwards or something. It's fine now though.

Nice to have summer now that it's fall. I think that we've had more summer-like days in September than in June, July, and August combined (and that's not an exaggeration).

Delta's abandoned their "no waiting" advertising campaign and is now using one that's almost identical to Continental's ("fly from point X to point Y, non-stop, expanded service from point X...") around the city. Didn't know companies could steal advertising ideas like that.

Launch had a classic rock mood last night (Bad Company, Rush, The Doors...)- still no Tull though. Why doesn't it like playing them anymore?

They started ripping up my street for a few hours last night at 11:00. Of course we all know what that did to the traffic's patience. And on my brief walk in my neighbourhood this afternoon, I encountered 2 Verizon trucks and 1 Con Ed truck, plus the usual building construction. Who decided my neighbourhood was the next "Manhattan neighbourhood transformation" and when will we start to see more about it in the media? The media's been so quiet. If I didn't live here, I wouldn't know about anything other than the Bloomberg Tower (and I wouldn't even know much about that).

Currently, I'm having RCN problems for a change.

With what have I been so busy this week? The usual stuff (work, school, company, cleaning, errands, organising finances, waiting unnecessarily long amounts of time for public transportation...), nothing out of the ordinary, but each thing was chaotic and took longer than necessary. And this will be my life from now until the end of December (when it gets busy with travelling so many places in 3 weeks and trying to keep up with everything).

I'm back to my 4 hours of sleep. Really wanted to sleep more last night since this next week will be particularly busy, but I woke up at 7:00 and just wasn't tired enough to fall back to sleep.

When's the last time I mentioned how much I like Bill Maher? I told myself I could watch half of his show last night as a break, but I was bad and wound up watching the whole thing. It was a good discussion (I particularly liked Larry Gelbart's comments). If the majority of people thought the way these people do, we might have a fighting chance of having a country we can be proud of instead of this hypocritical, "moralitstic" place we call "the land of the free". If people aren't doing anything that can harm others, leave them alone. And on a more political note, Democrats really need to step up to the plate and fight the opposition. Kerry's going to lose because he doesn't fight dirty like Bush. One thing Republicans really are good at is fighting dirty. They know how to trick the ignorant American public into thinking if they elect Kerry, their children won't be safe anymore. They say, if Kerry is elected, the terrorists will get us. If Democrats would create nice little sound bites like the Republicans, this would be a tighter race. Not that I approve of dumbing things down for your audience, but in a situation like this, I think it's a little necessary. I don't love supporting Kerry (I'm 95% Libertarian, Kerry doesn't really stand for anything of which I approve), but at this point I'd take just about anyone over another 4 years of Bush.

Speaking of the election, if the majority of residents in Florida had to evacuate until after the election because of hurricanes and had to do absentee ballots, would that help Kerry enough?

Creepy Doorman called me "Dear" yesterday. Ick.

What movie will win Best Picture this year? This year's selection was/is so awful.

Just checked the construction permit listings in my area. My street (east side) has 66 permits. Most streets seem to have an average of ten.

Traffic's been particularly obnoxious this weekend.

"Blue Flower" was amazing! Fascinating subject, good story, intriguing music, and an all-around unique production with a talented cast and great musicians. And the theatre space was neat too. Once I pretended I wasn't in a church, I enjoyed the interesting architecture, artifacts, and had fun "exploring" the inside of the building. Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a better performance. So glad I made the time for it. And so glad something like this exists. To anyone in the local area, if you can make the time, you should see this (there are still 2 more performances- Thursday @ 2:00, Saturday @ 8:00)!

And I still really want to learn how to play the bassoon.

Still overwhelmed with the way my life is currently, but as long as I don't think too far ahead, I'm okay.

We're having some of Jeanne up here today. Currently there's a tornado watch and flash flood warnings (and there's been some serious rain against my window on and off today).

To open my windows, I pull it toward me and push it in to close. When I opened my window this evening, the wind blew it shut. That means the wind would have had to swing around the other side to push it closed. Don't quite know enough physics to see how that would work. And the window is heavy too- I often have trouble pushing it shut.

Happy birthday, David.

And I'll mention early October birthdays now since between the auctions, papers, and a possible last minute visit from Rebecca (she'll know more this weekend whether or not she's coming and for how long- my guess is she'll come Monday-Wednesday), it could be a while before I update this site (although I may take the time on Sunday night as a little break). So happy birthday to Paula, Tonya, Jason, Stephanie, Neil, Eytan, Ben, and any other early October people I'm forgetting.

HORRIBLE traffic this morning!!!!! I actually left earlier than I needed to so I could get away from the noise. Traffic's pretty bad right now too. Wonder if Neil's able to sleep through it.

Juan Valdez coffee shop is open. It looks more like a cafe than I think they wanted. The food and drinks look like Starbucks, the decor is modern but more interesting, and so far, the employees seem similar. But for this neighbourhood, I think it's pretty good.

I checked the weather forecast yesterday afternoon, and it said "abundantly sunny". Where do they come up with this stuff? It was cloudy the entire day. Today too, actually, with some periods of rain.

This weekend is particularly overwhelming. Well, it's not really overwhelming more than it is time consuming- consuming time that could be used for other things that are also a priority. Hate when priorities overlap this much. That's where the overwhelming comes in.

On that note, think I'll go respond to piled up email and snail mail so I can at least get those things out of the way.

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