"oh take me some place decent, where we meet up with your friends, where the people are pleasant, where the music never ends"

Sweetest opening act ever.

Jens.











Mingling after the show. (That's Joe's little head in the background.)









Not above hugging his fans.

Joe made brunch. Aimee came over and we ate on the roof.

too harsh?

The publisher of the book I reviewed for Venus asked me to send her my review. Here's the correspondence:

Gili,

Thanks for this. Not an overwhelming success I can see but I am so completely in your debt for a real frank review!

Best,

M
****
M,

Thanks for responding. I can be a harsh critic, I know. I'm a fiction writer so as a reader, my expectations are generally very high.

Best,

Gili
****
Gili,

Good! Never change.

M
****


And here's pictures from my new haircut and hangout with Veronica. (I feel like I look just like my mom in the picture of me.)

my second review is up

my review. I don't know if I'm ever going to be good at this, since I don't like most books. Sigh.

p.s. Thanks, Denise for the amazing coconut tea. I haven't tried it yet because of the rats, but as soon as I do, you'll know.

p.p.s. finally saw Breathless. I thought it was pretty good. I didn't like that the woman had to be sexualized in order to be a writer even though I know that may be the reality. Plus, I thought if she's supposed to be sexy, she was kind of boring looking. As was the main guy. And the last twenty minutes seemed like a cop-out. I'm not sure I understand what the big hubaloo is all about, but still glad I saw it.

Breathless was worth it for these lines:
"It's sad to fall asleep. It separates people. Even when you're 'sleeping together,' you're all alone."

fine, how about something less serious?

When this arrives in the United States in November, should I spring for it? It's 75 dollars, but I could finally crack the code.


Meowlingual: Japanese Cat Translation Device

Meowlingual, much like the dog version Bowlingual, allows a cat owner to finally learn what their cat is trying to say to them.

So you take the Takara Tomy’s Meowlingual cat-langauge electronic interpretation device and hold it next to your cat as it meows. The palm-sized gadget will then interpret what your cats meows and purrs really mean.

The Meowlingual, coming this November, will run for about $75 and should be purrfect for all you cat lovers.

p.s. above is not a picture of cornelius. this is a picture of my princess:

my latest guess

I've been corresponding with a writer friend about why we have such high expectations of almost everything. One-third of me doesn't want to publish this because, at least in the moment, I am being honest. Two-thirds of me (or almost two-thirds) thinks this is another chance for me to try to connect. I'm no philosopher; handle me with care.

Here's my latest guess.

when we write, we are convinced that people will connect with us and we will finally have that real, true connection we are missing in our daily lives. but the real connection is between ourselves and the page, not between ourselves and the reader. that's really why we write: because we need to connect with our characters and this is how we plug into ourselves. we don't/won't get the gratification that we desire from our readers. the only way they live up to what we expect is by making them into characters that we can understand, or try to understand, and control, or try to control. often, wrestling with a character is easier than wrestling with a real person.

in the end, feeling understood by a real person feels nothing like writing. we want all of it: connection to "real" people and connection to our writing.


-movies in the last 48: Mask (I did it for Cher and Jens. Rocky Dennis!): A; The Heart of Me (super boring, but one or two good sex scenes): C; Stranger Than Fiction (Ellen made me): B
-I'm thinking about changing my blog name to "My Main Character" if it's available. Yes? No?
-song: The Opposite of Hallelujah by (you guessed it) Jens
-I'm also missing one of my Cher coasters. Eek.

Lazy Autumn Days

Spent the weekend in a vacuum with Joseph.

movies watched: Turkish Delight (B+), Strangers When We Meet (B-), and North By Northwest (A-).

reading: Twilight of the Superheroes by Deborah Eisenberg

Chuck E. Cheese in Astoria: Did you know that the founder of Chuck E. Cheese, Nolan Bushnell was also the founder of Atari? My latest story takes place at a setting largely based on the Chuck E. Cheese Restaurant of my youth. I finished a first draft and to celebrate, Joe and I thought we'd take a trip to the Astoria location, which boasts beer in addition to pizza.

Changes to C.E.C. include, but are not limited to:
1. Light. I remember fumbling around the C.E.C. in Florida, designed like a casino for children, just light enough to find the slot for my tokens.
2. The disappearance of Whac-A-Mole. That's right. You read that correctly. No more Whac-A-Mole. I asked an attendant where it was and he said, "We don't have that anymore." Had there been an incident, a death even?
3. A missing band. There used to be an entire animatronic band. Now Chuck E. Cheese stands alone on a miniature stage, his music drowned out by the stadium-size room full of families and new video games. (Luckily there's still Skee Ball.)

NEVER RELIVE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES.

Things I keep forgetting to mention:
1. I saw Jade from America's Next Top Model, buying jewelry on the street. Best celebrity sighting ever! She's scary in real life, too.
2. I got new boots, but I think they shrank in the rain.
3. Phillip Lopate read this past Friday. The man is adorable.

(note about pictures: see? my roof is gigantic and amazing!)

encounters with a (legit?) sleaze

Denise and I met up for a Secret Mission. On our way to a coffee shop, we ran into a man, who said he wanted to take our picture. He told us he's documenting street fashion for some website.

I was grossed out and wanted to move on, but Denise did that one-clap-clapping thing she does and before I knew it, we were agreeing.

"I just love your cardigan," he told me, which won me over. But quickly after, he casually mentioned, "You can hold hands, if you want." We weren't having it.

Still, we let him take photos. He snapped a bunch of shots and told us that by the end of the week, they should be uploaded. After we left, we went to see if his website was legitimate. His site is here. I'll keep my eyes out for the photos.





*reading: Collected Short Stories of Babel (Lionel Trilling translation)
*reliving high school with: Let Love In by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
*still needing to: take a bath
*still afraid of, but love: thunderstorms
*things missing after the move: the dress Kimberley and I found at a garage sale in Boston for my first big reading when I'm published; my collection of nail clippers; and a see-through summery dress that Mom and I found at a Housing Works thrift shop
*movie to avoid: Lust, Caution

My supposed friend, Denise

The top picture is what I look like when I am not in a good mood. Though I seem perfectly socially adjusted (just go along with me on this one), some of you who have known me for a while will agree that I am quite shy and not very good at being in crowds when I don't know the people around me. I have found three great ways to deal with this. Writing is one of them.

Riva refuses to accept that I have a friend named Denise. This is the closest thing I have to evidence of her existence. Believe what you will, but if I did have a friend named Denise, this is exactly what she would look like.

Things I have learned about Astoria:
1. Without a granny cart, doing laundry is a muscle-building endurance test.
2. The C Town is much nicer than the Key Foods.
3. Esparks is a great place to sit and write (as I am supposedly doing right now) but their soy latte tastes like fish juice.
4. Army recruitment is big here.
5. My bathtub is super cool. There's this pole right beside it and if you turn the top part half way, the drain closes in the tub. Still, no bath yet. It's much too hot outside.

I want to take a bath, but

I can't figure out how to close the drain so the water stays in the tub. Anyone know what kind of stopper I need? Or where I can get one for this kind of drain?

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

I GOT MICHAEL FOR THESIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Mom! I got Rachel for my thesis reader. Your dream come true!

proof in the sky

As I was unpacking last night, I glimpsed the sunset outside of my living room window. I ran up to the roof to take pictures. These don't really do justice because I have never learned to use a camera, but hopefully you get the point. I am truly living above ground.

p.s. If you have suggestions for places to explore and/or eat in Astoria, I would love to know about them. (Paulette, will you remind me where I can find that amazing bakery?)

p.p.s. Feel free to acknowledge how good I've been about blogging lately.

More Closure

In college, I spent an entire semester gluing tiny pieces of xerox to a gridded board. This obsessive activity calmed me down and prevented me from killing myself or someone else. This is the work I created. I've been moving this picture around with me for almost seven years.

Yesterday, I placed the picture on top of my old roof (in the East Village) and I left her there for someone else to enjoy. Somehow, this felt like perfect closure. And now, I have new rooftop access in Astoria and an amazing apartment where I can obsess over my writing.

Things that I’m going to miss about my basement apartment in the East Village

-walking to work
-living next door to Rob, the pot dealer and ranter, who gets me all riled up about tenant rights but is too lazy/high to do anything about it. His pitbull, the only one I’m not afraid of, Sadie and his lovely wife, Leslie.
-Yaffa Café, Rai Rai Ken, Mud, Angelica Kitchen, Ess-a-bagel, Porto Rico Coffee, the dumpling place, the hippie pizza place
-Movie theaters
-Trader Joes
-the naked guy who lives above me
-rooftop access and my stoop
-running by the East River
-biking to Brooklyn
-coming home at lunch
-the 24-hour corner store with those Mozart chocolates
-my pharmacist, who knows me
-Dexter, the dog with the hot owners
-Jessica B-A, the theater ring, the West Village before it was safe, the dog painting over her bed, and the magic bullet.
-Kaleidoscope and its lack of customers
-Dunkin Donuts and the Cooper Union girl who sits there, web-camming with her boyfriend who lives somewhere else
-Tompkins Square Park
-Tile Bar
-the woman who works at the Laundromat who insists that I split my clothes into two loads and who moves my things to the dryer for me if I don’t get back in time

Bye bye.

song: The Desperate Things You Made Me Do by Magnetic Fields

She packs a punch.

Paulette and I went to Angelica looking for Not-Morris and good food. I had my usual chili and Paulette had the open face tempeh etc. We were too stuffed for dessert. (First time that's happened to us.) No sign of Not-Morris.

Then we got to my apartment and it was like Paulette's tushy was on fire. She ran around my tiny rectangle of a home, folding at high speed, and packing like nobody has ever packed before. The thing is, she never ran out of energy.

Meanwhile, I lazed around putting this or that into a box and chatting away. Every so often I took a picture or ate a ginger chew. I even managed to smash a vase.

Seriously, I have never seen anyone pack like this. Thanks, sweetie!

Still reading Deborah Eisenberg and still loving her. Highly recommended. (Especially to those who like Amy Bloom and Alice Munro.)

After seven weeks, I've finally gotten hot water in my apartment.

Two days until I live in Astoria!