My Coney Island celebration never ends.

To continue my celebration of Coney Island, I ordered Coney Island Lager at Bingo Tuesdays tonight. Because she's such an amazing friend, Alexis stole the Coney Island cup for me from Blackbirds. We may not have won bingo, but we're still winners.

Escape to Coney Island

Spent the day at Coney Island. No explanation necessary. A perfect place and time.
Happy Birthday, Dad!

Beautiful things in New York

First time at the Ess-a-Bagel in midtown.


First musical I've seen on Broadway.


Best holiday window display at Bergdorf Goodman's.







watch: A Christmas Tale
read: Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
tip from Riva: in order to figure out if someone is Jewish, imagine them in either a yarmulke or a long denim skirt and a wig (preferably pushing a stroller).

Jews at rest

Last night, I beat Riva 2-1 in a Rummy Kub tournament up in Woodstock.


Chaya (like my own sister) has gone vegan since I last saw her.


The Chabad made it up to Woodstock.


Menorah hugger.


We made a splash on our return to Manhattan at my favorite cheap restaurant, 16 Handles.


A perfect day with my bff.

Movies and Chinese food: that's how we do it.

It's a tradition, one night of the year, for the members of my tribe to join forces with Chinese cuisine. Tonight was my first time ever at Taste of China, which is on the corner of my street. I can't honestly say that I'll be rushing back for seconds, but if I'm still in Astoria next Christmas, they will probably see me again.

Typically, I celebrate Jesus' arrival on Earth with a movie marathon. Because of the recession, this year I cut back to two movies. First, I saw Wendy and Lucy, which bored me. Then I happened upon the French movie, The Secret of the Grain, which was beautiful and smart. Neither was as addictive as the television show, Friday Night Lights, which has consumed me for the past couple of days.

The best part of my day was my train ride home. A woman sitting near me watched as I scribbled some notes in my journal:
Woman on the train: Are you a writer of something?
Me: Trying to be.
Woman: Because you write so small.
Me: Yeah, I guess it's kind of compulsive.
Woman: You should write a book, a novel; make some money.
Me: I don't think there's much money in books.
Woman: Well, it's an investment.

I'm still not sure what she meant by "an investment" (besides time); I didn't ask. When I got off the train at my stop, I thanked her and told her to have a nice night. I'll take any encouragement I can get, even from strangers on the train.

Hanukah observed

In the beginning,

G-D created

an unhealthy Hanukah treat

made with sugar, flour, butter, salt, eggs, preserves, and

LOTS of hot oil

known as

Sufganiyot.

Happy Hanukah!

My name is not Bagels.

This is the story about the ways in which UPS does not care about me, or perhaps the Jews as a people.

Almost two weeks ago, I had the idea to send my darling friend, Sandra a dozen Ess-a-Bagels for a surprise Christmas present. I wanted her to get the delivery while the bagels were still fresh and with plenty of time to enjoy them before she left Cambridge for Winter Break. I hand-selected a dozen of Essa's finest, and then walked south to the East Village UPS store to overnight the gift.

The charming and attractive woman at UPS took care of my order with ease. Nothing to worry about, I told myself. The bagels were estimated to arrive by the following afternoon.

I took the train back to Queens, checked "send Sandra bagels" off my to-do list, and patiently waited for the thank-you text which would clearly appear on my phone within twenty-four hours. Nothing happened.

The next evening, I checked UPS' site, and found that the package had been marked "Delivered." But no text from Sandra? It didn't take long to discover the bagels were missing.

Sandra scoured her apartment building and her neighbors' homes. I called UPS, and was sent through a series of phone calls, holds, more phone calls, and more holds with a random apology here and there. I was met with some assurance that the good people of UPS were concerned and had an investigative team on the job, searching for my bagels, everyday in the wild growing a little bit staler.

As time moved forward, I would call UPS and as soon as they heard my voice, they would ask, "Is this the bagels?" Sadly, I would answer, "Yes." This point of recognition evolved. When UPS picked up, I would say, "Hi, this is the bagels." Not "This is Gili, calling about the bagels." To them, I became a doughy treat with a hole in the middle.

This Friday, after being given the run-around about my refund all week, I received a phone call from Sandra. Her neighbors across the street were holding a mysterious package from a "Gili Warsett." Ten days had passed.

Sandra finally had a dozen mostly stale, but still edible bagels.

Our strategy is to not tell UPS that the bagels have been found. Instead, I will go in to the store this week and demand my shipping.

Bagels wants her money back!

a-muse-ment

Gossip never changes from my old workplace. It's strange to leave a job and then continue to drink with my old coworkers. Not so secretly, they talk quite a bit about the main inspiration for one of the characters in my latest story, so there's some greater motive for me to socialize. Luckily, they know that I'm stealing information from them.

So far, my goals for the last two weeks of the year are going much slower than anticipated. (I know, it's only been a day.) Today my calendar is cleared.

Plans for the rest of the year

Back in Queens, hanging out with my dear friend, Veronica. She helped me create a list of goals for the remaining two weeks of 2008:

1. Write fifty pages of fiction (preferably of some quality).
2. Apply to twenty jobs. Hopefully most of these positions will be desirable.
3. Submit to four contests or lit mags.
4. Research (and consider applying to) two summer writing residencies.

Here I go...

Just as I suspected

Matt and Connie are my suburban-couple-friends. I wouldn't know what to do if they decided to get divorced, I mean if they broke up. No matter how much things change, life remains calm and consistent in their home.

I like knowing what's around the corner.

Ah, stability.

Brunch at Soundbites. Matt and Connie, wise old friends.


And of course, Riva.




Sandra and little Chippy!







I've never seen Sandra so stressed. Here she is, double-fisting at Ben & Jerry's in order to make it through finals and winter.