I just saw the coolest thing… May 30, 2004 ~ 10:07 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedMy friends and I often have what we call “Only in New York” moments. Meaning something so weird, or off-the-wall, or cool that it could only happen in New York. At least we think so. Well, I had one of those tonight.
I had to get transfer trains at the station above the Lowe’s that I mentioned the other day. This station is above ground, and has a view of the Statue of Liberty (albeit from afar). Well, as I was waiting for my train to come, I hear fireworks. I spin around to see…you guessed it, fireworks going off over the Statue of Liberty. I got to watch almost the entire display! Even took pictures, although I want to tweak them a little and see if I can edit out the chain-link fence I had to shoot through before I post them.
Only in New York. I love this town. 
The Tale of the Precariously Perched Porta-Potty May 30, 2004 ~ 2:39 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedI debated on writing this yesterday, but since I’m killing time till I go to Jordana’s, it’s funny, and I have no problems laughing at myself, I’ll post it today.
Yesterday, Rick and the girls wanted to ride the Pirate Ship at Coney Island. I had no desire to do so. I told them that I would go find a bathroom, then meet them back at the ride. Now, Coney Island rides are infamously long in duration. I guess they figure since they’re charging you mad amounts of money (the Pirate Ship was $3.50/person), they might as well make it worth the cash. So I figured I had a while to find a bathroom, but at the same time I wanted to get back and see if I could get some photos of the three of them on the ride. So I rush off to find a bathroom. Easier said than done.
I knew there was one at Nathan’s Famous, but I didn’t want to go all the way over there. So when I saw some porta-potties in a side street by the Freak Show (there’s a play title in that…), I decided to go there. I’d already been searching for what seemed like 5 minutes, and had a bad feeling they would be waiting for me when I got back, instead of vice versa.
Anyway, I slipped into the Porta-Potty to find that it (1) rocked back and forth rather alarmingly and (2) had no tp. No problem with the latter, I always have kleenex with me for allergies, so I had that part covered. But there was the rocking motion to contend with. It wasn’t so bad once I was in “hover position” (you ladies all know what I’m talking about). I guess the fulcrum was closer to the door. But there was still a little bit of motion, and with nothing clean to steady myself on, I had to rely on the door. So there I am, squatting, bracing myself against the door, and I realize that I don’t hear anything. No pee hitting water, to put it a bit crassly. However, there was no stopping, and I didn’t feel it on my skin, so I assumed I was safe.
When I was done, I checked my shorts just to make sure I hadn’t hit them, but they were dry. Must’ve been imagining things. I leave the porta-potty, and with my first step I realize where at least some of the pee had gone. Into my left sandal. Gross. I hadn’t felt it because my feet are very calloused. At least I think that’s why, I’m trying not to dwell on it. So I double checked my leg, etc., and see that it’s only in my sandal (Tevas, made for white water rafting, they don’t absorb much water at all). So I went to the nearest food vendor and bought a bottle of water to wash my sandal out with, and headed back to the Pirate Ship, where I was just in time to see the ride get started. All my rushing had been for nothing. Damn rocking porta-potties.
Needless to say, the sandals took a shower with me when I got home…
Coney Island May 29, 2004 ~ 10:59 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedFun, as always. Rick and the girls actually came out with me, which meant we started later in the day (the younger girlchild has dance on Saturdays till 12:30), and stayed later, but had a blast. Ate Nathan’s, went wading in the surf and made sandcastles, introduced the girls to the Cyclone (the “world famous” wooden roller coaster), played some arcade games, rode the Cyclone again with the older girlchild (amazing how kids go from “I don’t wanna ride that!” to “Can we ride that again? It was really fun!”), and set off for home. Now I’m exhausted, but am staying up for no reason to watch the “Degrassi: The Next Generation” marathon on TV. So sad…I’m actually getting sucked into the junior high drama.
Tomorrow Jordana and I are experimenting with making sangria out of Shiraz. We’ll see how that goes…but I’m looking forward to just kicking back with J and Tony and various spouses and kids. I met J and Tony the first week I moved here, since we all went to the same grad school for theatre (they for the MFA in directing, me for the MFA in dramaturgy). They are two of my closest friends in the world, people who never demand anything of me, but I always know I can count on them. We formed a theater/film production company together. Unfortunately, Tony and his wife and kids are moving across country at the end of July, so we are trying to hang out as much as possible before then. We’re gonna miss them.
I’m rambling now…time for more “DeGrassi”. I repeat - “So sad”.
Darn it. May 29, 2004 ~ 10:32 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedWow, Brian May dropped a bombshell on his blog yesterday, which I didn’t read till just now. He and JTE played at the Astoria in London last night with Ian Hunter. Why am I never in the right place at the right time?
In other news…the Andy Kaufman blog has not been updated for over a week. That’s just no fun.
Jesse eats an Oreo May 28, 2004 ~ 7:34 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedI blame Rick for this. Rick is the one that fed him Oreos to start with. Now the little pig goes for them whenever I have them. I took this picture the night before last:
No beach for me. May 28, 2004 ~ 4:57 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedAt least not to go swimming. It’s only gonna top out in the low 70s here this weekend, which means the water’s gonna be colder than a witch’s tit. So I will still go to Coney tomorrow, get my traditional Nathan’s Famous fare, ride the Cyclone, and then go to the Aquarium. Might dip my feet in the Atlantic, but that’s probably about as far as it’s gonna go.
Sunday I’m heading to a party at my friend Jordana’s. Our buddy Tony turned 45 this year, so we’re celebrating that as well as Memorial Day…I should pick up a cake or something. Would back one, except I don’t have an oven in my apartment. 99% of the time, this doesn’t bother me. I get by just fine with a stovetop and microwave. But when I want to bake…well, it bites.
The nasty thunderstorms seem to have cleared for the moment, so I’m leaving the office while there’s still a chance of getting home dry. Gotta stop by the fruit stand on the way there - grocery store produce is never as fresh or as cheap. I think these guys import from Jersey or the Island or something.
With thunderstorms predicted for Monday, I’ll probably be in on the computer, so there should be a blog entry over the weekend. And when I come back to work on Tuesday, there will only be 4 more days till my vacation. Bwahahaha!
Chickens…in Brooklyn? May 27, 2004 ~ 1:00 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedSo I found out that the Best Buy deal was an rebate, as opposed to a refund. Evil people, why don’t you post this in BIG PRINT?? This meant that I didn’t have to go there last night, which was a relief. I went to Lowe’s directly from work, and got my first up-close view of the Gowanus Canal.
Now, in case you didn’t know, at one point Brooklyn had a massive shipping industry. We have a huge waterfront, so it’s only natural, I guess. The Canal was put in to make the shipping easier. It fronts land that used to be heavy industrial sites, and if you look at the water, it shows. The Gowanus is a truly acid green color, with large blobs of oil, water, what-have-you floating on the surface. As the water current is flowing one way, the blobs are flowing in their own, completely independent direction. I am convinced that if someone fell into this water, their days would be numbered. Rick adds that you can probably walk on the Canal without divine powers. Yecch.
Lowe’s is about 500 feet from the Gowanus. To enter the parking lot, you have to pass under the subway bridge (it runs above ground there, in order to go under nearby Park Slope without massive amounts of bedrock blasting). As I was passing under this bridge, I noticed a vacant lot to my left. Nothing special about it…weeds, gravel, dirt, a couple of old trucks…just like a million other vacant lots in the city. So of course when I saw a black blob and a white blob at a distance, I figured they were plastic bags that had blown in. But as I got closer to them, I saw they were…chickens! In Brooklyn! Two of them, a black rooster and a grey dustmop-like rooster. Someone was taking care of them, as they had feed and water. And while I was experiencing this true miracle in an urban setting, where was my camera? At home on the dining room table. So you’ll just have to trust me on it. There were chickens. And my mother is convinced they were going to be used in a voodoo ceremony, which are actually pretty common up this way.
Oh, and the Lowe’s was cool. But not as cool as the roosters.
Blah May 26, 2004 ~ 5:26 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedThat’s how I’m feeling today. Mostly because it’s just blah outside. 60 degrees, grey, and drizzly. The kind of day where you just want to stay inside. I’m trying to decide: Do I go to Lowe’s when I leave work tonight (which could be any time now, it’s 5:30) to pick up the stuff I need, or wait till this weekend, or what? It’s four stops past my house on the subway, and I don’t know if I want to schlepp. Plus, I went to Best Buy this morning to get a Compact Flash card reader, and they overcharged me for it. The sign said $9.99, and they rang it out at $19.99, the cost of the high-end one. I of course didn’t discover this till I was on the subway. Now I have to go all the way back into Manhattan to point this out to them. $10 is $10. I don’t want to go all the way back tonight, but I also want to use the damned thing, so I guess I have to. Because they won’t refund me on something I opened. So I guess I’ll go into Manhattan and hit Lowe’s on the way back. Pleh. Not my idea of a fun time.
Oh, yeah. And I saw my eye doctor this morning. I’ve been having problems with Recurrent Corneal Erosion for about a year now. What this means is that I injured my eye back in college (completely stupid, I was collating papers and nailed myself in the eye with a corner of one), and it didn’t exactly heal right, so now the layers of cells don’t line up. Occasionally while I’m sleeping, the layers adhere to the inside of my eyelid, and when I open the eye, they yank off. It’s every bit as fun as it sounds. (And WebMD.com explains it much better than I have.) So I’ve been going to the eye doc every couple of months, putting goo in my eye before bed, putting moisturizing drops in, all sorts of stuff.
Today the doc tells me “Well, maybe we should do a Puntal Occlusion” in which he inserts a little silicone plug into the tear drain in my eye. The drain being thus blocked, moisture doesn’t evaporate from the eye as quickly. He thinks this will help, and he can do it in office. So I have two months until my next appointment to decide if I want to do it. At this point, I’m thinking why not. I’m tired of sticking drops in my eye, I’m tired of sticking goo in my eye, and I really don’t want to be doing this the rest of my life. But I’ll think it over some more, do a little research, and see what I come up with.
Now I guess I’m running my evening errands. Double blah. See you all later.
Crapmonkeys May 25, 2004 ~ 10:21 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedHey all…if you have a link to me, could you do me a little favor and remove the “www” bit before “jhegner.blogspot.com”? Because if the “www” is there, the link won’t work. Frikkin’ Blogger.
And crapmonkeys is my own invention. It’s a word I came up with so I wouldn’t swear in front of Rick’s kids if I screwed up while playing gameboy with them. You know, like if my Kirby or Mario died, I wouldn’t have to say “Motherfucker!” I could just say “Crapmonkeys”. Yeah. Their mother isn’t happy with “crapmonkeys,” either, since both kids now say it, but they could be saying “Motherfucker”, so I don’t think she should complain too much.
Happy Birthday… May 25, 2004 ~ 9:46 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closed…to our college boy, Michael! I hope you have a great one, Michael. (Sorry, no fancy graphics from here…haven’t mastered that yet!)
