finally a productive day/ ps 1 how i missed you

got so much done today (brunch, ride on historic/vintage subway car) ps1 and if my roommate ever gets out of the bathroom so i can shower the gym and hanging out with grad school friend. feels so nice. unlike most of my 'break' where it wasn't that i was unproductive i just didn't do anything interesting.

i am passively very annoyed with my roommates over their changing the furniture and redecorating in part b/c its change and in part b/c they didn't ask me. but they took down a piece of 'art' i made a couple actually but one i am particularly attached to and did not rehang it anywhere. and i kinda hate some of the stuff they put up.

i didn't make it to smileys to get my free shots this holiday season or the park slope barber for the beer. oops. in some ways this holiday season has passed me by and that's a ok.

was sitting in james turrell skyspace installation at ps1 when it started sleeting. that was pretty cool. ut then i left b/c i didn't feel like getting sleeted on and i got a piece in my eye when i was looking up through the hole.

are you aware there are only three days left to make your tax deductible donations?

many a non-profit has been informing me of this.
went to a show at ps122 last night for the first time in ages. it was silly and fun and basically without a plot, just a treatise on a theme-which is really all you can generally ask for in performance art. also sent an email to the kitchen requesting a bunch of dates to usher, they have some good looking stuff this spring.
ok. gotta do work. bleh.

i'm not a fan of leonard lopate

he talks too much and leads his guests

i just made reservations for my celebration dinner. so i need to fucking finish this paper.
at least its greu out today so that's a motivator.

bathroom graffiti

are you a fan? who writes it? i'm kinda fan, esp of the conversations and one upsmanships between people who will never meet. do they return to the same stall to see if anything has been written in response?

saw some of the new greek and roman galleries at the met, the space is pretty darn cool-i love museum architecture esp the big old kinds that john dana cotton hates. the architecture of the building itself is a reason to go to the met. pressed for time so i didn't get to fully check out the galleries but i will.

in the true spirit of the holiday

went to yummy indian and a movie last night. charlie wilson's war. marathon refuses to sit in crappy seats at movies which were all that was left when we got into the theater so we sat up on the emergency exit stair at the back of the theater. wasn't so bad.
intellectually i know that the shot the movie showed and talks about happens, but its hard for me to really feel it. 2 things in particular 1-that part of the world looks like Afghanistan (or morocco where it wa filmed) in terms of its topography and natural features, it don't look like the NE SU that's for sure. 2-that people really shoot and kill each other, and warfare looks like that. again just so far from my daily existence.

now i don't think anyone will agree with me, but i think that think coffeeshop may be nyu's answer to the hungarian pastry shop. only better (in food, drinks, lighting level) but the nostalgiaist in me-even for shit that i never took part in-will always love the hungarian pastry shop. but i am happier to be at think.

and if you are looking for a good time to shop at the coop-8am on xmas day. finally did that make up from the summer, so i'm good to go.

fyi i'm looking for per diem jobs on tues/thurs or elementary school/6th grade tutoring gigs

general store

didn't really go out last night like i kinda wanted to--i haven't 'been out' in ages. seriously. but the folks i was with were good company and categories is a great card game even without its drinking component.
yesterday went to a coffeeshop that i have known about forever but for some reason had never been in. it rocked. i think i am going back this afternoon (hopefully the gym will be hit before then, since i didn't make it out of the house for yoga...) it remidND me of soME of the aspects of the good coffee shops inst louis and of the southside beehive--which i of course loved!
NO BIGS PLANS FOR THIS VACATION. HOPE I DO SOEMTHING WITH IT. marathon and i have some movies on the list and i need to do a make-up at the coop and a bunch of grading, and get this final fucking paper for grad school in!
there are some museums i want to hit, but i don't know if the crowds will just be out of control or not.

in the end i don't think i'm going to go to the burgh to see peeps. even though its pretty sad to me that i won't be there for mickey's first time int he burgh. but slipnslide and mickey and hoya all have family obligations and home bases and my parents won't be there and with no grandmothers living anymore it seems weird to go back.

oh facebook. how you have the ability to start rumours

met grad school friend's father tonight. he was cool. hamishe even, if i were one to use that word. words i should be using currently involve how a musuem experince can bring about spiritual connection, uh...i don't know.

not in the business

its holiday party time. i have to admit that this holiday season may pass without making much of an impression on me. haven't done any shopping so don't have crazy amount of music in my head and its hard to believe break starts next week.
but went to party last night where i got rather drunk rather quickly, but it was wine drunk so i mainly just feel asleep. passed out last night with lights on.
today wento to a shwanky pre-war apt on the uws for a party of a friend of marathons. everyone was really friendly but somehow in the business, either production or direction or trying to be an actor/actress. was glad that i dressed up a little, made me feel more comfortable around strangers, although they were all super friendly as well.

one of my students turned in a 15 slide powerpoint presentation for a 3 minute presentation. i made her cut a couple. sheesh.

in other news i'm, going to per diem some tours for school groups at ESP this week and maybe for the future. its not a great rate, but its an easy gig. well as much work as subbing if not more, but i can get up later...

happy birthday slipnslide buddy! wish i was there.

do you give your bank tellers presents?

i was depositing a check the other day and another customer walked in and announced that they would have to open the door to the teller area. I Looked over and saw the woman head rto the door with several wrapped gifts and announce they were for the tellers. I think she was a small business owner and lived in the neighborhood and i was in an old school type italian neighborhood but still. first i had seen that.

other things of note? not sure. need to do some serious work for grad school so i can be fucking done already.

marathon wants me to go to family christmas at his roommate's on long island and be stuck out there for the night. no fucking way dude. i do think everyone i know will be out of town then, but i'll spend two days by myself. not even for the cultural experience.

speaking of which the middle school independent book project is on reading a book on/from another culture. there are so many inappropriate books and fucked up notions of cultureon there. why are there any books about ashineazic jews, even if the book takes place 100 years ago--thats a different time period not a different culture. one kid signed up to read '[the things they carried' by time obrien. its an excellent book, but its about an american solider in the vietnam war. it si in no way about a different culture, i kinda want to bring it up wit the teacher and in some ways its not my place.

so many potential titles

who knew that slipnslide buddy has more vampire points than i do. i'm not surprised when she joins a website she's full force. procrastination must be hitting her hard.

have another work fucking me over story. so i got offered a full time position for next year-good news. still 2-8th science and then 5th grade math. it will be a lot of work but i'm in no way like arg 5th grade math. the money is less than i want so i may still look around. the cutting fucked over is that my salary is about to decrease by a fourth--a significant amount b/c they have been paying me too much this year and it just got found out. i better not have to pay them back waht they have over paid me and i better fucking learn to budget. i need a high paying tutoring gig. i'm available tuesday afternoon if you know anyone.

had other things to say but don't remember what. is it bad that i want my 6th graders to fail my test to teach them a lesson that they have to do work for me. no becasue that's not setting them up for success and better learning skills

who knew-i'm part of a class action case and get $25

cool. glad i actually opened that piece of mail.
last year my chanukah gift from work was cash. this year it was the same amount but in an amazon gift certificate. i was pissed. another coworker said it was good and they didn't want us to use it on rent. fair enough but you can't use it for plane tickets or theater tickets.
finally went to tiengarden last night. it was ok.

so we all know how much i love moving water. so i went to this peice at bam on wed and they literally played water. and they viedoed it. it was very wooster group esque. but i was loving the the use of water as an instrument.

use of a fake id is a crime

why am i so tired all the time?
too tired to post real stuff so here is a quick synopsis
what a shitty friend this weekend, the kind i didn't want to turn into
went to the banksy opening today, was in the first group to go through, surprised there was a line. didn't make me feel cool or itn but there were some pieces where i did really like the ideas, and i did have to look twice at them before i saw how the message had been changed from what you would expect from those types of images.
eldridge street reopened today and it looks fantabulous. seriously i cannot get over the change from construction site to this. looks like i'll be starting to docent again. i am so rusty i need to study.
marathon is very cute about the snow, and the cold. clearly did not grow up in this part of the country.
went to a middle eastern resturant in bay ridge the other night. tangreen. damn yummy, lots of food for the price. makes me wish i ordered lamb a little bit.