Last Weekend in Inspirational Quote Form

This is really the only way I can think of to do this properly. That and I think that concision is a virtue. That and I’m gonna show you all that YOU TOO can give inspiration. YOU TOO can be pseudo-wise. YOU TOO can survive very awkward familial dynamics. So here goes, a series of inspirational quotes/fortune cookie messages.

Even the most uncomfortable of situations can be broken up with a good story.

Old people are legitimately funny too.

No matter how far away some people are, and for however long, family, however you define that, will always stick with you.

Nothin like a smoke to bring good people together. (DTYM, for sure.)

Politics is best left discussed by the younger generations. The older you get, it seems, the harder it is to rationally discuss differing opinions.

Love does not die with death. In fact, in some cases, it grows stronger.

It takes a little bit of growing up to begin to fully appreciate the people who love you.

New York really is the Big Bad City to a lot of people.

Facebook is not always evil and stupid.

The celebration of the right occassion (and the right person) has an incalculable ability to bring people together.

There are a ton more, I’m sure, but I’m hungry, and I can’t really think when I’m hungry. That and the sentiment here is (appropriately) gooey(ew?) enough that I can’t bring myself to stew in it too long. But I do mean it.

 

A Monumental Event! A Momentous Occasion!

So last night I went to my first Yankee game of the season. Yes, the LAST SECOND GAME AT YANKEE STADIUM. EVER. And somewhere between the LAST FIRST A-ROD HOME RUN OF THE SEASON IN YANKEE STADIUM EVER and the LAST LAST PITCH OF A SECOND GAME OF THE SEASON IN YANKEE STADIUM EVER, my scarf and blazer and $9 beers really stopped cutting it. I had to leave. The game was (kind of) awesome. Yankee Stadium is always great, and A-Rod home runs are sexy as hell. But we were losing, and it was October cold, and I’ve got lots of games to look forward to this season. So I left. (Sue me.)

Always a subway girl, I was planning on taking the 4, switching for the 6, and making the 10-15 minute trek back to my apartment. Until Marshall suggested quite casually as we pulled away from Yankee Stadium, “you should take the bus”. Now, the casuality (really?) with which he made this suggestion was quite well juxtaposed with my reaction. “The bus?! I never take the bus.”

Now let me be clear, I am not a bus snob. I don’t look down on people who take the bus. Yes, I like the subway, and maybe on the hierarchy of public transporation, I put the bus lower than the subway (and probably lower than those bicycle carts too.) I just really know NOTHING about it, and have never had much of a necessity to learn anything about it. Blissfully ignorant, I suppose. But as the thought of that miserable windy walk after 3 hours in the cold kept popping up in my head, I realized just how good a recommendation that bus idea might be.

So instructions were given (thanks, man!) and I was on my way. And well, while the details of my bus trip of all…oh i don’t know…15 blocks, weren’t terribly exhilarating, the point is that I TOOK THE BUS! BY MYSELF! LIKE A BIG GIRL! HOORAY FOR ME!

LAST FIRST ALONE NEW YORK BUS RIDE EVER.

 

Sunrise, A New Day, A Fresh Start, yea yea yea

Games can be dangerous sometimes. We play them, thinking that no one is going to get hurt. How could anyone possibly get hurt? It’s just a game! But treating life like a game can bring a lot of damage. I know that firsthand. And trying to repair that damage can be pretty exhausting. But I suppose the conclusion should be drawn that what’s done is done and there’s really nothing we can do about it. And talking helps up to a point, but there comes a time where you just have to say, “enough.”

I’ve been told I need to stop writing. But I can’t stop writing. Maybe I’m a writer. Who knows. Some of the things I’ve written may be scary to people. I don’t know. But I’ve been writing to myself for so long now. I don’t want to keep it all to myself anymore. And IIII think it’s kinda cool. A little crazy? Yea. Duh. But as my good friend David and I like to say, “boys are stupid and girls are crazy.” In some respects, anyway. But I also think that we’re all pretty smart, and the world is totally crazy.

So I (might) be taking another hiatus until I actually finish getting my shit together and can write about something that people actually care about reading. (Though it seems I’ve gotten a bit more popular in recent days. Go figure.)

So for now, laterrrrr.

and p.s. it seems that there’s a whole new generation of hipsters: the anti-hipsters. think about it. (more on that later, most likely.)

 

Laughing at Yourself Part 1: I Don’t See Race

And now I think the jokes can start. This Near Life Experience that I mentioned earlier contained all kinds of juicy bits of drama: race, religion, music, mother-daughter relations, male-female relations…the whole bit. Race is the one I want to cover right now, in a little list I would like to call: Stupid Things White People Might Say or Have Said to Black People.

“You look familiar.” (Connoting that all people of another race look the same.)

“Well, YOU call US crackers.” (as a rebuttal against the hurt felt by the use of the N-word.)

Black person: “it started on street corners.”

White person: “yea, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Amazing Grace is one of my favorite songs.” (well, I mean, it IS devastatingly, heart-wrenchingly beautiful.)

“Obama is my homeboy.” (No, Obama is BLACK people’s homeboy. Or is there just enough love and hope to go around? I like to think so.)

So, please, if you are not black, do not say these things to a black person. It will just make things a little bit uncomfortable. We can all be friends, but there are just some things you don’t want to say.

 

I can’t…

Trust the internet anymore…

Go to sleep…

now it seems that things are really getting better…

N.E.R.D.

 

Learning…

…to control the anger…

…to tune people out sometimes…

…to stop the nervous tics…

…to close my eyes and dream…

…to be good…

i hope you’re listening. reading. looking. whatever.

and i hope you get here soon.

 

But I do know…

…that i owe at least some of this to you. i think.

ha.

 

…

and we all get by in our own ways…but maybe those ways aren’t all that different…or maybe they are. i don’t know.

 

Things I learned last week

1. The new generation has arrived: 2007 word of the year according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: w00t. (yes, those are zeros.) FINALLY, the high-tech new age vocabulary is being accepted in the mainstream! yippee! it’s our world now. bitches.

even more evidence: the runner-up word was “facebook”, both as a noun and a verb. you know, “so i facebooked that guy i met the other day, and HE likes ‘Lost’ TOO! tee hee hee. (sigh.)”…though in cases like that, i really prefer the phrase “facebook stalk”. i feel it’s more precise.

2. Proportionate to each of their respective popularity and “importance” in society, pigeon racing definitely has a better steroid policy than baseball. In a lovely article in the Times about pigeon racing a few weeks ago, the author paints a delightful picture of the few hundred homing pigeons left in New York and their proud, dedicated owners. Showing that no sport is without its drug concerns and no athlete exempt from scrutiny, the article explains, “steroids are forbidden, and there is random drug testing at many larger races.”

One thing is for damn sure–I would definitely not want to run into a roid-raged pigeon on the street. Good lord.

3. Jack White LOVES redheads. The songs “Icky Thump”, “Fell in Love with a Girl, “Take Take Take”, and “300MPH Torrential Outpour Blues” all have references to redheads. Jack White knows where it’s at. (Though I didn’t actually learn this this week, I was reminded of it when “Take Take Take” came up on my shuffle…i **heart** technology!) Strangely enough (gingers: ew. sick. gross.), he’s not the only one: A few months ago, i was at a deli and a guy who i’ve seen around a few times said to me, “so, is it true what they say about redheads?” In true coy form, I deflected with: “I don’t know, what DO they say about redheads?” He got tongue-tied and fumbled around for something to say. I paid for my sandwich and left. typical.

4. The Jeff Buckley version of “Hallelujah” just might be the most beautiful pop song ever performed. (other suggestions requested…)

5. Rest in peace Evel Knievel. After years of “failing health”, Knievel dies at the age of 69. At his funeral, they played “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. Which is quite wonderful, if you think about it. Instead of playing a song that makes everyone break down, I’m sure that song made people smile. Remembering is good. What song do you want played at your funeral? (yikes, that’s morbid…)

6. A lot of people heart Huckabee.

7. Nino’s Pizza on St Marks and Ave A might be the best pizza in New York. Or at least that’s what it seems like at 4 am on a Saturday. It’s glorious.

8. Germs are contagious. Especially when hookah is involved. (who’d have thought??)