Over the next couple days, I am going to be [...]]]> Today’s my last day of work! The early morning long commute & slow work days are over!! I am BEYOND ecstatic and oooooh so ready to return to my life of leisure & creativity.  But alas, with the job coming to the end, so does my romance with New York.

Over the next couple days, I am going to be working on a NYC tribute. But where do I begin to express what the past two and a half years have meant to me? There were so many fun & hilarious & ridiculous &  serious & devastating & hungry & priceless adventures. What to include & what to leave out?

WELL. I do have one story that for some odd reason was never told, but could have been by  far one of the most random experiences of my life.

It was March 2007 and my friend Geraldine & I were having one of our fantastic ”let’s brain storm while drinking cocktails” kinda nights.  Somehow the topic of artistic photos came up and we both expressed an interest in getting pin up-ish pictures taken of ourselves. It would absolutely be a guaranteed rewarding artistic experience.  The one little problem was that we didn’t have/want to spend money for a fancy shmancy photographer. Ultimately, we placed an ad on craigslist, entitled, “We Need A Photographer, You Need Subjects”.

Within minutes, there were over 150 replies… Apparently photographers are in desperate need of subjects.  Instantly I felt like an in demand model and shooed people away for boring photo websites or non-creative replies.

Then Ned entered the picture. He had a great portfolio on his website & knew all about the pin-up genre of photography.  We decided to give him a test shoot on the streets of NYC… you know to make sure he (a) was legitimate (b) wasn’t creepy or had intentions to kill and rape us & (c) to see if we could establish a comfortable relationship.

Geraldine had to work late, so Emily came along instead.  At the time, we worked together, so around 4:45,  rushed to the bathroom, changed into some clothes, put more makeup on, and off we went to meet Ned.

I can’t recall if he told us what to look for. Emily & I went to the designated meeting spot & looked for ANYONE who holding  a professional looking camera….I had images of  Ned being a super hot creative type, who instantly found his muse (me), and we’d live happily ever after.

Um NO.

There he was…a little man, maybe 5′2, with orange corduroy high water pants, but they were loose exposing his shiny black orthopedic shoes.  Ned needed suspenders to hold up his pants and, honestly, the rest was a blur. I do recall his little teeth shaped like V’s and quickly sniffle-lisped while he spoke.

Emily and I looked at each other and wondered if we should walk the other way.

But we stayed and he took piles of pictures.  It was March and freezing out, but like the professional models that we were, got out there to get the shot. Tourists walked by and whispered pointing at Ned, the exact opposite of style, and Emily and I – obviously not models that they had seen on tv- and probably felt mildly disappointment that their NYC dream bubble was burst by a little man and two faux models.

I knew when he started encouraging us to open up more and be a little saucy that there was NO way I would do anything near a pin-up picture for this little guy who smelled like my Granny’s basement. Oh no no no. But for what it’s worth, we had a great time.  AND midway through the shoot, treated us to grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate egg creams.

He used a super old camera for this photo. There was no flash, so we were put  under a lamp on a scaffold. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think we were in a studio.

After our grilled cheese break, we found this really interesting murial to take pictures  in front of.

Later in the week, he emailed a few times to see when our next shoot would be.  I casually disconnected because obviously in my mind the relationship was over. But ooooh what a random evening that turned out to be.

God help me if I went on vacation to New York and this was what I was in store for. A weird ironic joke where they are asking for peace and relaxation in the land of chaos.

But apparently, people (as [...]]]> I don’t get why they thought this would be a good idea or appealing…

God help me if I went on vacation to New York and this was what I was in store for. A weird ironic joke where they are asking for peace and relaxation in the land of chaos.

But apparently, people (as in tourists) are loving this phenomenonas a chance to sit and catch their breath – which I guess makes sense because in that area there are no places to stop for a second without having someone walking behind them (ahem, me) roaring in the back round angrily pushing  their way through.

I for one hate this lawn chair idea. Being a person who has to at some point walk back and forth through the day, the slow moving tourists are bad enough. Giving them chairs to lounge around is the icing on the cake of laziness. Walking through now feels like your walking through some mystery white trash bbq where I am the only person who has somewhere to be.

Eh it makes me anxious and a little angry just looking at this scene, knowing it’s my guaranteed  future.

The one thing that I loathe about Central Park in the summer is the sea of children that goes along with it. It makes sense: warm weather + no school + zoo, fun, [...]]]> As I’ve mentioned in posts past, when the weather is nice, I usually go to Central Park to eat lunch & enjoy my break.

The one thing that I loathe about Central Park in the summer is the sea of children that goes along with it. It makes sense: warm weather + no school + zoo, fun, horses, & a carousel = an obvious good time for the kiddies.

As long as they stay out of my way, don’t make too much noise, & don’t bother me, I’m fine with them hanging around during my lunch time.

So, picture the scene. It was two Friday’s ago and I treated myself to a delicious chicken salad sandwich. It literally could have been the best of my life. The sun was shining and though it was humid, I didn’t care. It was Friday, I had my sandwich to enjoy, and a good book to read.

THEN, he entered into the equation:

Central Park squirrels are an interesting breed because they heavily interact with humans, making them very social and accustom to being hand fed by children, old people, and animal lovers.

This particular squirrel was a severe attention whore and danced & skipped around people, who in return  laughed, pointed, and took  pictures. I like squirrels, they are fine & all, but it’s not like I have never seen one.

Obviously the squirrel could sense my disinterest, so he decided to do something about it - he quietly crawled up right next to my shoulder and attempted to rob me of my sandwich!

Of course I don’t notice this until a herd of children stopped and swarmed around me pointing, shouting, taking pictures – overall my worst nightmare. I yelled, “ok ok! Let me get up! Move!!”, while grabbing all my scattered belongings and heading over to the opposite benches.

Thinking about it afterwards, as my friend the squirrel hopped and skipped before me, every so often giving me the evil eye, I think the problem was that I gave off a bad energy to the children and squirrel. Maybe if I had good feelings toward the two, the squirrel would have suprised me by treating the two of us to lunch and the children would have all quietly walked past, and apologized for being an interference…..?

After awhile I took a peek up to see where [...]]]> While riding the bus home on Monday, I was deeply involved in the book  I was reading.  Getting so immersed into a book is the best. That way, time moves right on by.  Otherwise, I look out the window and mentally beg and plead to get home faster.

After awhile I took a peek up to see where we were – almost home - hurray! So I put my book away and took a look around at the people around me.  I didn’t notice it at first, but the man sitting to my left was wearing these:

Remember the Walkman? Yeah he was using this very pair.  I would say it was by far the most valuable way to listen to music on-the-go in the 80’s & 90’s. Then the disc-man came…..which was a nice idea, but if you moved even a little bit, the CD would skip. I would generally get frustrated and turn it off. And to my knowledge, the batteries ran out fairly quickly. Yes, the Walkman won.

Anyway, I immediately began to ponder why oh why this man was still using a Walkman.  Really, I would have expected them to be  obselete by now.  HE MUST have been the type of dad who refused to move along with technology.

“Bah humbug!”, he would say to the mp3 player his daughter got him for Christmas. “But Dad. It’s great! And you will be able to find all the music you could ever want online. Enough of hoarding garage sales for other people’s discard tapes. Enough already. Join us in 2009, please!”

“Nah, my Walkman works fine, I’ll stick with it”.

Next question to answer –  what was he listening to:  a self help or relaxation tape?  The radio? Nah, probably a mix tape.

The mix tape was an important part in, I would have to say, most of our young adult lives. Teenagers who would be dating  (my friend Mhern informed me her first boyfriend made her eight) would give each other tapes to express their feelings, share their favorite music, or to simply do something nice. And the mix tape was hard to make. It was not like now where all we do it make a play list on itunes, put it on a cd and voila, there you have it, one mix cd…

Ahhh the mix tape:  The process of stopping and starting, praying you didn’t write over the song before, hunting and gathering various music. Needless to say, if someone made you a good tape, it’s an answer to the question: Does he/she really like me?

My favorite mix tape growing up was shared with my friend Courtney.  Her & I probably had sleepovers every weekend and entire summers  for most of our middle school lives. Every night to go to bed, we would turn on our “103 Love Songs” tape and I would fall asleep somewhere around the song “I’ll Stand By You” & some random by Mariah Carey. I don’t know what was so great about it. I suppose it was comforting. And being young & scared of boys (see: Teenage Date Night), I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d ever fall in love too. Would I have a love story to tell?

The man on the bus also made me think of Rob Sheffield, author of “Love Is A Mix Tape”. Ever read it? Great book.  So endearing and sad.  Sweet. A memorial. I  definitely recommend having a go if you have a moment.

Well he loves tapes and made every girl he ever liked an extremely thoughful mix.  In fact, he had a mix tape for just about every circumstance in life that needed musical accompaniment.  I won’t get into his story though - I don’t want to ruin it for you – but just to say that maybe our man on the bus wasn’t just being middle-aged and refusing technology. Instead, he very well could have been basking in his past, where  he wasn’t riding the bus everyday, working in a tedious job, and instead  enjoying life & everything that goes along with it.

Ha or maybe I’m just reflecting my life into his. I may have to pull out the old Walkman & mix tapes and include them into my commute.