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!

attempting to eliminate my D.C. phobia

Effective Treatment(s) of Social and General Anxiety:

1. visit a friend like Jen G.




2. take pictures.



3. drink a lot.



4. get beat up.



5. make friends with a gnome like Seamus.




6. go to the Peach Pit, I mean the Black Cat.






7. play in the dirt.



8. make friends with a french bulldog.



9. look at amazing murals hidden in the back of restaurants.






10. eat at ben's bowl of chili.


Follow these ten steps and you're on your way to recovery.

If you want to see more, check out Jen's flickr site. She's a way better photographer than me. But then, who isn't?

*books: James Salter's A Sport and A Pastime (felt so-so about it), Dennis Cooper's Closer (didn't like this very much), and currently reading Deborah Eisenberg's The Stories (So Far) Of (I think she's a keeper).
*watched Klute (can't believe Fonda won an Oscar for this unthrilling thriller), Logan's Run (just as good as the first time), Kong (movie they played on the bus), and some artsy porn by Richard Kern (hit or miss. mostly seems to be made for boys however I recommend chapter two until the cheesy lesbian part at the very end.)
*New York is not the same without: Aimee
*procrastinating on: packing for my big move to Astoria
*still coveting: new boots and a new bag
*favorite omelet: Joe's home-cooked specialty
*a better basement than I have ever lived/worked in: Jen's home
*who hasn't changed one bit: Erin from Amsterdam, who lives in D.C.
*who needs to stop making lists and should go home and pack up her books: Gili

Help Wanted

Quandary of the month:

I'm about to move to a non-basement dwelling. I will still be working in a basement.

Should I change my blog name, and if so, to what?

My Half Basement Years?

My Will She Ever Truly Get Out Of The Basement Years?

Please post suggestions.

Jewish Haiku For Rosh Hashanah

I found this site with Jewish haiku. (Unsure who wrote them.) Here are some highlights:


On Passover we

opened door for Elijah.

Now our cat is gone.


*****

Today I am a man.

Tomorrow I will return

to the seventh grade.

*****

Testing the warm milk

on her wrist, she sighs softly.

But her son is forty.

*****

The same kimono

the top geishas are wearing:

I got it at Loehmann's.


*****

Mom, please! There is no

need to put that dinner roll

in your pocketbook.


*****

Is one Nobel Prize

so much to ask from a child

after all I've done?


*****

A lovely nose ring,

excuse me while I put my

head in the oven.

Kid Sister and Me

One of the high school youth that I used to work with, Lilly just moved here from Oakland to begin her first year at NYU. I haven't seen her in two years. She's kind of a little sister to me. Having lived in Oakland her whole life, New York is freaking her out (in good and bad ways). One great thing about Lilly is that she has a gap in her teeth, and I am a sucker for a good gap. So dreamy! (When I was young, I also had a magical gap, but braces/retainers stole it away.)

Other news:
-I got the place in Astoria! Moving in at the end of this month.
-Finished the horrible book I was reading for my review and started Red Ant House by Ann Cummins. So far, really good stuff.
-Saw Parker Posey and her dog on the street this morning. (Why do I continue to report these sightings?)

You have to admit, they're kind of adorable

I try not to take it personally that my parents love the theater more than they love me.

Minuscule

This is getting absurd. Hashem must be trying to tell me something.

I sat down at Mud and Cassie, another girl that I was kind of best friends with for a while in the Bay (and worked with) is sitting across from me. I'm unable to move. I'm not sure why.

I guess we had a falling out, but still, it's been years. Why not just say something?

She's leaving now. No words passed between us.

What's wrong with me?

*song: Julie Ruin's Apt #5

And Smaller Still

Got back to New York and went for a run. Who walked by me on the street?

Haley Shaw (school of the arts).

I thought of stopping, but didn't since she was involved in playing with her ipod and I was involved in not wanting to talk to her. What's weird about this run-in is that I had a dream about her two weeks ago. (Mary O'Malley was in my dream, too. Will I see her next?)

As far as I know, Haley is still dating James Weingarten (random!) but the good news is she toned down the cake make-up.

That's three run-ins in one week. As Brian would say, "What does it mean?????"

*song of the day: I'd Like To Know by Dntel (thanks Jen G)
*lesson of the weekend: Riva is too self-involved to bless me every time I sneeze (her words).

pet peeves

This is what I look like when I touch a wet, shredded piece of paper:
AND
This is what Riva looks like when she writes in a book for the first time in her life: